THE QUESTION THAT HAUNTS ME

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God has been exceptionally good to me.

I have passed my three score and ten years.

And am now very close to the four score years.

He not only has he given me life.  But eternal life through

the death of Jesus Christ in my place.  God has kept me 

from suffering major illnesses or injuries.  He has always

 kept me clothed and fed.  I do not remember ever missing 

a meal out of necessity.  Some times by choice.  But not 

necessity.

The Lord has provided me with a comfortable home.

A loving family, and even permitted me to have

some "toys" to play with.

Yes I have had heartbreak, tiredness, hurt etc like

everyone else.  But that's life.

But God has been good to me.

However.  As I read God's word something keeps popping out

at me.  And that is the call of the disciples, especially as

narrated in the Gospel of Luke.

In chapter five we see the fishermen fishing all night.  But

caught nothing.  And we all love it when they follow the

Lord's instruction, and catch so many fish that both boats 

begin to sink.  Hey Lord.  Join me in my business.  O.K?

Boats full of fish.  Business is booming.

But,

"They pulled the boats up on the beach,

left everything,

and followed Jesus.

(Luke 5:11 GNB)

Next Jesus goes to the tax collector's office.

Told Levi to follow him.

"Levi got up, left everything and followed him"

(Luke 5:28 GNB)

The question that haunts me.

WHAT HAVE I LEFT FOR JESUS?

"In the same way,' concluded Jesus, 'none of you

can be my disciple unless you give up

everything you have."

(Luke 14:33 GNB)

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TODAY'S PROMISE

"God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains be

carried into the midst of the sea;"

(Psalms 46:1,2 AKJV)

"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;

they are as genuine as silver refined

seven times in the furnace."

(Psalms 12:6 GNB)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.

2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.

3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.

(William Gurnall)

DOWNLOAD THE HOLY BIBLE

Photo courtesy of: www.freefoto.com

Would you like the entire Holy Bible downloaded

on to your computer?

you can.

The "Updated King James Version" is available for free download.

What is the Updated King James Version?

That was my question.  In one of brother David Wilkerson's

books he quoted from it exclusively.  If you know who brother

David Wilkerson was, and he used it, you know you can

trust it.

I found out that the Updated King James Version is a version

that has been updated using modern technology.  A brother

in the Lord came up with a computer program to simply take

the King James version and replace the archaic words with

more modern words.  An example would be "thou" replace

with the word we would use, "you".

Best of all, this brother was doing this out of a love for

Christ.  Not for fame or profit.  The result is that he

 put it into Public Domain.  Yes you can copy it to your

hearts content with one or two small provisions.

If you are interested here is the link to download it.

www.oocities.org/updatedkjv

God bless you as you load up your computer with 

God's word and then download it into yourself.

WHERE IS MY LOVE?

"Love not the world, or the things that are in the world.

If any anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not

in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust

of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is

of the world.

And the world passes  away, and the lust of it; but he that

does the will of God abides for ever."

(1 John 2:15 - 17 AKJV)

RENEWED HOPE FROM GARLIC

I AM NOT A GARDENER.  I AM NOT A GARDENER.

I AM NOT A GARDENER.

However,

Since retirement I have been "playing" with a few plants.

(O.K.  Killed a bunch of plants.)

My favorite is garlic because it is harder for me to kill.

I have been playing with garlic for four or five years.

As a result I have learned two or three things about garlic,

if I could just remember what it was.

This year I put out several different kinds of garlic I

wanted to try.  [I know.  It works best for me in the fall.

But I am not always in the mood in the fall.]

However due to the drought, it looked like a complete loss

for several that good money had been paid for.

While walking around the "forsaken" garden plots

one day - Praise God - I found these plants.

The top picture is an "elephant" garlic that somehow

survived.

The above picture is the result of cloves brought in from

Bangkok Thailand, and promptly killed - all by myself.

This one is "Fred's" garlic.

Fred has been dead for years now.  But in a gardening effort about

20 years ago he gave me a garlic start.  He did not know what kind

of garlic it was.  Only that it was, Good.

Of course I soon gave up on my gardening efforts, including the 

garlic.  But after about 20 years of total neglect, in the bushes,

 under a tree, here is some "Fred's" garlic trying to go again.

Praise God.

Through this God drew my attention to the apostle Paul's comment.

"For this reason we never become discouraged.  Even though our

physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being

is renewed day after day.  And this small and temporary

trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory,

much greater than the trouble.  For we fix our attention, 

not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen.

What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot

be seen lasts forever."

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18 GNB)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"The LORD knows the days of the upright:

and their inheritance shall be for ever.

They shall not be ashamed in the evil time:

and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

I have been young, and now am old;

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

or his children begging bread."

(Psalms 37:18,19,25 AKJV)

"The promises of the Lord can be trusted;

they are as genuine as silver refined

seven times in the furnace."

(Psalms 12:6 GNB)

1. Meditate on God's Promises.

2. Plead the Promises at the throne of Grace.

3. Act in Faith that God Will Perform His Promises.

(William Gurnall)

FOSSILS ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM

THE OLD FOSSIL

No that is not me.

It is better looking than I am and better preserved.

Just another one

The picture below is the area where the fossils were found.  With out trying very hard I have found at least half a dozen fossils in an area of about 40' X 40'.  Most of these are (were) sea shells.

Now what were sea shells doing on top of a hill about fifteen hundred feet above sea level and four hundred miles from the closest sea?

Believe it or not,

"The flood continued forty days upon the earth: and the waters
increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth; and
the ark floated on the face of the waters.  And the waters prevailed
so mightily upon the earth that all the high mountains under the
whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed above the
mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh
died that moved upon the earth, birds, cattle, beasts, all swarming
creatures that swarm upon the earth, and every man; everything
on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.
He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the
ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of
the air; they were blotted out from the earth.   Only Noah was
left and those that were with him in the ark.  And the waters
prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days."
(Genesis 7:17-24 RSV)