STAND OUTS

Image courtesy of:www.Pixaby.com

I am sorry.  I missed the picture of the actual flowers and had
to rely on good old Pixabay.  The flowers I wanted to show
were absolutely beautiful yesterday.  But, I forgot to get my
camera.  Today -  well, you don't want to see them.

But the story.
Yesterday I went out to my scrap metal pile for something.
You know what I mean.  You do have a scrap metal pile
don't you?  You have to have a scrap metal pile to make
stuff.  Think about the grand kids if nothing else.  You
cannot whittle it all out of a tree.

So, here I am standing at the scrap metal pile behind the
shop.  To most people it would look plain old junky.  It is.
But out of that pile of junk stood two totally gorgeous
white morning glory flowers.

WHAT A CONTRAST.

Beauty in the midst trash.

You and I live in a trashy junk pile of a world.
I never have been and never will be good looking.
But I do not have to be like the old rotten world I
live in.

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless
and innocent, children of God above reproach in
the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world,..."
(Philippians 2:14,15 NASB)

THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME

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You have seen it too.  Well, that is if your wife has a cat.

The cat may even be well fed.  Not hungry at all.  But 

explain that to the hapless mouse it catches.

The cat by nature is a hunter and when it catches the 

mouse - that mouse is in trouble.  The cat will throw the

mouse around, bat it around, pounce on it and antagonize

it every way possible.  It will ignore the mouse just daring

it to try getting away.

What's the point?

You and I have an enemy that wants to destroy us just

as the cat will ultimately destroy the mouse.  It is Satan

the enemy of our souls and every thing that is of God.

God sent us a warning saying;

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls

around like a roaring lion, seeking

someone to devour."

(1 Peter 5:8 NASV)

What are some of the traps the Devil sets for us?

The Bible describes some of Satan's traps as:

"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which

are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry

sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of

anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying,

drunkenness, carousing, and things like these,

of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned

you, that those who practice such things will not

inherit the kingdom of God."

(Galatians 5:19 - 21 NASB)

What can we do to avoid being destroyed by

the multitude of traps the Devil has for us.

I want to say - "Well nothing."  We do not

have the strength within our selves to fight 

back.  But God gives us the answer.

"Submit therefore to God.  Resist the

devil and he will flee from you."

(James 4:7 NASB)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from

the dead dwells in you,  He who raised Christ 

Jesus  from the dead will also give life to your

mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in 

you."

(Romans 8:11 NASB)

HUMMING BIRD LESSON

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This morning I was watching a humming bird feed outside

the kitchen window.  Utterly fascinating.  It tires me out

just watching them hover there in the air while feeding.

And just think, it had to take less than a million years to

learn to fly.  They do have to eat you know.  Perhaps it

only took a few thousand years to find their food this way.

Or, maybe they were "monkey" birds and climbed up the

flower stems until they learned to fly.

What can I say but, WOW!

I punched into eBay this morning.  Typed in "wow".

They had 363,097 "wow"'s on sale today.  Maybe

that is how many years it took the humming bird

to learn to fly.

Any way, rather than learn to fly, I think I will just eat 

vegetables.

TODAY'S QUOTE

Images courtesy of:www.Pixabay.com 

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed

that all nature seems renewed around me

and with me.  The sky seems to be a pure,

cooler blue, the trees a deeper green.  The

whole world is changed with the glory of

 God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

-Thomas Merton

THE CRAFTSMAN'S WORK

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A craftsman is known by his work.

Look at any product and it will tell you a lot about

the individual or manufacture producing it.  Is it 

cheaply made?  Or made with precision and quality

materials?

Even "the Good book" states;

"Do you see a man skilled in his work?

He will stand before kings;

He will not stand before obscure men."

(Proverbs 22:29 NASB) 

John Ruskin made an accurate assessment when he said:

"Quality is never an accident.  It is always the result of 

intelligent effort." 

Now that is an interesting truism.

Consider the image below.

Image courtesy of:www.bigfoto.com 

Now to me that looks like an accident if I ever saw one.

But you and I both know that "someone" designed and 

made that thing.  Even if it was only to confuse us.

Consider something much more precise.  With far 

greater quality and requiring infinitely more intelligence -

NATURE.

You know.  Trees, rocks, people, earth.

Truly;

"The fool has said in his heart,

'There is no God.

(Psalms 14:1 NASB)

When we try to excuse the work of God himself

and credit it to chance or an accident, or any other

cause we expose our own ignorance and rightly

anger the one who gives us life it's self.

Speaking of God we are told:

"For since the creation of the world His invisible

attributes, His eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly see, being understood through

what has been made so that they are without

excuse.  For even though they knew God, they

did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but

they became futile in their speculations, and

their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to

be wise, they became fools, ..."

(Romans 1:20 - 22 NASB) 

Some day every one of us is going to meet the 

master craftsman whether we like it or not.

May it be as His long time friend and servant

rather than as his opponent.

HEY STUPID, IT'S THE GEARS

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There is one model of motorcycle out that is a good

solid motorcycle, EXCEPT, for it's starting system.

The motorcycle is notorious for this weak point.

After a little wear on the motorcycle, the gears begin

to sound like a bunch of marbles rattling in a can when

the starter button is pushed.  And of course the engine

does not turn over.  That should be obvious to anyone

listening as to the problem.  But, it's not.

I have a friend with one of these motorcycles.  That

means I have much more experience with them than

I want.  After working on this thing several times

and searching the internet over there seems to be

a dozen or more "fixes", none of which work.

However I have found that if I go into it and 

"dress up" the gear teeth with a die grinder it

will work just fine - for a while.  But nobody

seems to want to do this.  They want to put on

a new switch, or change the battery cable, or

put in a larger battery, or change the tail light

bulb or something.  ANYTHING but go down

into the gears where the trouble is.

That is just the way we humans are.  We are

a mess and we want to try to fix it with a  new

law, [And we need laws.] or a short course in 

how to be nice,  or a medicine, or a pat on the

back and a little encouragement, or a little love,

or, or, or.  But these do not work.  The problem

is down inside.

We need a complete redesign just like that motorcycle

starting system does.

Several thousand years ago, even before you and I

were born, king David of Israel messed up real bad.

He recognized it and also that it was just his nature 

to mess up.  [God calls it sin.]  So, he prayed:

"Create a pure heart in me O God,

and put a new and loyal spirit in me."

(Psalms 51:10 GNT)

God who give you life it's self said:

"I am telling you the truth: no one can see

the Kingdom of God without being born again." 

[Or, from above.]  (John 3:3 GNT)

Quit trying to fix yourself.  You cannot,  the 

trouble is to deep.  Jesus Christ died to fix it 

for you - if you will let him.  Turn to Jesus Christ

and ask him to take over your life.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"So our Lord God commonly gives riches

to those gross asses to whom He vouchsafes

nothing else." 

-Martin Luther 

TODAY'S PROMISE

"The reward of humility and

 the fear of the Lord

Are riches, honor and life."

(Proverbs 22:4 NASB)

A SHORT MEDITATION

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I am in the process of changing versions of the Bible

that I read from again.  Generally I will read from one

or the other versions for several years.  Hopefully this

gives me a little better understanding of the Scriptures.

This time when I changed the purpose was to have the

most accurate version in English, not the most readable.

[No, I am not trying to change your mind on the version

you read.  Read the one you like - and keep your nose in

it.]  It came in a few days ago so this morning I was reading

at random.  I ran across a thought I had never noticed.  So,

I had been thinking about it for several hours.  I was even

trying to find other Scriptures that completed the thought.

That did not work.

So, back to the passage of Scripture in mind.  OUCH!

For some reason I had no noticed three small letters.

The letters were: n, o, t.  Yes, the word "not".  That

changed the whole meaning of that passage of Scripture.

My point is, are we reading the whole thing?  Or just

reading the parts of Scripture we want to try to make it

say what we want?  Are we reading only those parts of

the Scriptures that make us feel good?

TODAY'S QUOTE

Images courtesy of: www.Pixabay.com

"A young man who wishes to remain a sound

atheist cannot be too careful of his reading."

- C. S.  Lewis

ANOTHER LESSON FROM NATURE

Notice how in this neglected garden spot

the garlic stalks are leaning - toward the sun.

That is because they need sun for life.

This poor old cedar tree grew to the right to get 

to the sun.  That is, before the two trees were cut

off the stumps to it's left.

Because it's life depends on the sun.

The main part of this tree - the trunk and main branches -

is just left of center on this tree.

But, the tree is growing toward the right which is South,

toward the sun.  It needs sun for life.

You and I are no different.

Jesus Christ the Son of God gives us physical

life.  And he alone can give us spiritual life.

If we want life, real life, we had better be

leaning toward the "Son", the Son of God.

"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does 

not have the Son of God does not have life."

(1 John 5:12 NIV)

FACTS

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"FACTS"

Facts are stubborn things.

But if they keep changing,

are they facts?

No longer than you have lived you probably have

not noticed how "facts" change.  But at my age I

have noticed many changes in so called "facts" by

so called "science".

Do you want to trust something that keeps

changing?????

Especially when the changes always fit their

agenda??

As for this old man,

I chose to trust something that does not change.

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday

and today and for ever."

(Hebrews 13:8 RSV)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"But I am poor and needy;

Yet the Lord thinks upon me.

You are my help and my

deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God."

(Psalms 40:17 NKJV)

A SHORT MEDITATION

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"A faithful man will abound with blessings,

but he who hastens to be rich will not go

unpunished."

(Proverbs 28:20 RSV)

Years ago a man came into the shop in his pickup

for something.  I would guess that the man was in 

his "fifties", a mature man.

The man was a machinist by trade.  And he explained

to me that he always went to the area that paid the 

highest wages in his trade.

He told me his wife had gotten tired of moving all

the time, so she was not with him.  All so, that every 

thing he owned was in the pickup.

So much for top pay.

You see it in the news all the time just like I do.

Some sports figure or celebrity who was worth

millions is now bankrupt.

"A miserly man hastens after wealth,

and does not know that want will

come upon him."

(Proverbs 28:22 RSV)

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,

but every one who is hasty comes only to want."

(Provers 21:5 RSV)

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"It is God who is the ultimate reason of things,

and the knowledge of God is no less the beginning

of science than his essence and will are the beginning

of beings."

-Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

German philosopher

LOOK ALIKES

It looks like garlic.

It grows like garlic.

It smells like garlic.

It tastes like garlic.

It even has a garlic name,

Elephant garlic.

But the scientist, botanist and smart gardeners tell

us it is not.  It is a leek.

You may go to church.

Give to the church.

Sing in the choir.

Teach a class at church,

 drive the church bus, 

and call yourself a "Christian".

BUT, if you do not have a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ

you are not a "Christian"

only a look alike.

"Jesus answered him,

'Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless one is born anew,

he cannot see the kingdom of God."

(John 3:3 RSV)

And at another place said,

"Not every one who says to me, Lord,
Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of my Father who
is in heaven.  On that day many will say
to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy 
in your name, and cast out demons in your
name, and do many mighty works in your
name?  And then will I declare to them,
'I never knew you; depart from me,
you evildoers.'
(Matthew 7:21-23 RSV)

DO YOU WANT WHAT YOU PRAYED FOR?

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Years ago I heard a song that said something like"

"... he got what he wanted . . . lost what he had."

It seemed to me that the idea was, he was worse
off for getting what he wanted.  That is not a new
thing.  At one time the nation of Israel faced a 
similar situation.  They complained to God for
something, BUT.

"he gave them what they asked,
but sent a wasting disease among them."
(Psalms 106:15 RSV)      

Looks like they lost out for wanting the wrong
thing.  I take that as a warning to myself about
what I want.  Would it be good for me, or bad
for me.

Another place we are told:

"You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you
ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions."
(James 4:2,3 RSV)

I do not know about you.  But I had better check
with God first about what I ask for.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Therefore whoever humbles himself

as this little child is the greatest in

the kingdom of heaven."

(Matthew 18:4 NKJV)

A SHORT MEDITATION

"For I am the Lord who heals you."

(Exodus 15:26 NKJV)

Four years ago today [ July 4th. 2013] I was enjoying

 the weekend at Fort Rock Family Camp in good health -

I thought.  But it was only a week or two latter that I was

in the emergency room of the hospital.  My body had

quit making blood.  It looked like the end had come.

Yes, I "used" doctors.  When you are dying you will

take all the help God will send your way.  But it is
God who does the real healing.  The doctors can

only "assist" in the healing process. In fact my
oncologist insists God had more to do with my
healing than she did.

Today - at 83 years of age I again am enjoying July 

the 4th. - working in my shop on one of the daughter's

car and repairing the son-in-law's lawn mower. In fact,
might even have gone for a motorcycle ride - but it
rained most of the day.

PRAISE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR THE
HEALING HE HAS GIVEN THIS OLD MAN.

TODAY'S QUOTE

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"The most significant moment

of life is death."

- Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D.

WHAT AN AMAZING CREATURE

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What an amazing creature.

Consider the chickens, and the hen in particular.

It only took the hen about a million years or so

to learn how to lay eggs and hatch them.  That is,

if I understand evolution correctly.

The chicken probably only became extinct about 

three times during the development process before 

learning how to reproduce it's self.

Absolutely stunning.