Psalm 58 ~ Surely GOD

Our Backyard in 2016. See the Magnolia.

 Psalm 58

A Miktam of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.

3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,

5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.

6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.

8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.

9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!


10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.


11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

This was our Magnolia tree in 2001, about the time we moved in our home. I love my gardening.

This is a 'baby' Green Heron. If you feed them shrimp when their mother leaves the runt of the litter, the unhook their jaw and it hangs to the feet, creating awesome terror for your hand. 2018. Ebert brought back many nests filled since 2012.  The Magnolia is in the left corner.

This is the Magnolia in 2018. Amazing Golden sunset. The Magnolia is HUGE.

It's interesting to see photos belonging to other people - the view changes. 

In 2008 of September, I started to receive calls asking me to take the family well away from South Texas and Houston because Hurricane Ike was across the entire Gulf of Mexico. I couldn't. I was pregnant with our 3rd child and this couldn't happen to travel. Giving birth fleeing a Hurricane is generally not a good idea.

Dee and Cindy arrived to pray for our house, baby Isabelle and all the circumstances to be safe. It was earnest and we sat for an hour overlooking my backyard and prayed. We all wept.

We had the hurricane hit. And our street had a tornado that was seen in the first and second houses on our block. Jumped up over 3 more houses and came down in our backyard. One giant oak was spun at the top and lost 20 feet of the tree twisted in a circle and landed East. The Huge Oak requiring a crane from Colorado to remove it fell straight South.

Clean up was extreme. And all of this landed outside our property. The tree top was almost flung into the pond. Dee had no tree damage and Cindy lost an outside staircase she said was ok.



That was Eleven Years Ago.

This May, Dee lost her giant Oak tree and it fell mightily. Right across her driveway. Missing - her porch, her cars and her house. And Dee and her family!

On Tuesday, we returned from vacation and there was a very lovely breeze. Our puppies watched the tall trees and saw a huge wind. The puppies were not hard to convince to come inside. We opened the windows to enjoy the cool breeze. Suddenly we were riveted on the window and the wind. It was Utterly Astonishing. I ran from my armchair and ran for the first time from windows to the other side of the Kitchen. The Wind was amazing and Tremendous. I thought something is going to go. The top of the house? I looked away in fright. But something Huge flashed in my peripheral vision. A tree. It was the 25" and 25 year Magnolia.

We waited for the rain to stop. The Magnolia had been placed on the ground by God's hand. The fence was spared. The other trees were spared. The flowers were intact. It looks like the sprinkler is intact. A plastic flower pot held the large trunk. And the hill helped it to rest missing the swimming pool. The patio held the tree.

The Magnolia had never liked having wet roots by the pond and hill. It had lost branches and worked mightily to put out new branches growing vertically to make up the difference. I'd just been on the second floor looking at the top of the tree and wondering if the tree was ok. Edward had wanted it cut down to see the pond.

The tree was removed in about 30 minutes. I saved all the seed pods I could and have found they are turning red as they should. I'm hoping to have more Magnolias.

And now we have a flower bed which will fully appreciate the sun. The pool will be warmer year round. The view is better of the pond and the Cypress Tree. Dee and I discussed a loving prayer has carried us 11 years. Prayed once. God has blessed us to have this prayer. This one time prayer has been our Blessing from Father God.

1 Corinthians 13

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast
 it is not arrogant 5 or rude.

 It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends.







We got together in June and prayed for our friend Elliott. Elliott at age 27, while working with us, he dreamed he would have cancer at age 42. He does. He was helping people in the floods around Beaumont for Ike and was in biohazard water to do his insurance job and to help the elderly affected by the massive flood waters. He's 42 now. With serious blood cancer and 3 children and his wife he is so wonderful with.

We all cried for Elliott. Elliott has done Youth Ministry and played the Guitar for Church. I have cried on and off for two months. At first it didn't seem Elliott would live. And now he is making long car rides to the doctor and has strength left over. We are so hopeful that with this amount of love and the support he is receiving from Church, Elliott will be carried to being completely well by Jesus. And our Willing Father God.





Abba,

We Thank You for Your Blessing of Jesus. Today. In the Nature of Jesus, we are given Your Exact Nature.

Finding You Alive and Loving. Discovering again how 'for' us You are. God of Love.


Bless us to see You more clearly. Love You more dearly.
Bless our family. Bless our Loved Ones.

Let Your Glory sweep our Nation Trusting in You.

Let Your Majesty put all of Creation bringing more Heaven on earth. Bless the nations living in Your Brightness. Uphold, Bless, Keep Safe, Strengthen Encourage and Build up the Kingdom of Heaven in Your Beloved children all over Your Good Creation. More Jesus.

We are praying for Elliott to find his life is Blessed to be healed by Jesus and cancer is gone forever.

Let the Light of Your Love far outshine the darkness, to see the Victory of Your Son Today.

In Jesus, the Lord, God's Only Son, Alive, Working, Loving, Guiding us to Live.

Jesus God, Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

John 8:20-59 ~ Abraham rejoiced that he would see Jesus' day. He saw it and was glad

The Treasury is the Royal Stoa

John 8:20-59

20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” 25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. 

28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. 29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.


31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 

36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”


39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 

43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 

47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 

49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 

52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 

54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 

57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 

59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

We know the Gospel of John and we know the 8th Chapter. Almost too well. Nothing is new.

Why? Why did John put these the woman in Adultery in the Life of Wonderful Jesus together with being stoned? We read at the end of John's Gospel, Chapter 21, Jesus' life was so involved with so many events happening that is was perpetually confusing.

And in the Second Century John was asked by Bishop Papias of Hierapolis if John approved of the other Gospels and found them to be conflicting. John replied, having lived with Jesus for all of his ministry, the other Gospels were indeed Gospel and to be believed. John was confirming many, many aspects of the day surrounded Jesus all the time.

Why did John place Jesus with the adulterous woman and with the stoning event? Jesus protects the woman and says she is free to go. Jesus displays being God and this chapter gives witness to John Chapter 20 - God's Sacrifice for the world.

Luke 10:27
He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"




Why wasn't this Good Friday? Jesus clearly demonstrates He wants Life. And Jesus is capable of saving Himself. So why wasn't this Good Friday? To demonstrate Jesus is God. Because the High Priests have not told the Sanhedrin Council yet Jesus' death is for the sake of the Nation. They have not shamed themselves yet with a false trial leaving fair judges uncalled.

And Jesus has just shown us - Love yourself - do justice for yourself - is as important as doing justice for a neighbor.

John has very correctly placed Jesus in this Chapter.




Aren't we Privileged to live in the New Covenant, when dreams of seeing Abraham would be met with interest and warmth and Love!!!


Abba, 

Blessed are You, Lord Father God,

Giving us this Good Shepherd.

Jesus the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His Life for the sheep. Jesus teaches us Abundant Life.

Jesus restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name's Sake.

This Good Shepherd cares for the sheep, sees the wolf coming and stays. He does not leave or forsake us. Jesus does not let the wolf snatch them nor scatters them. Jesus tells us, "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me."

Jesus shows us our Father. Jesus has compassion for us, because we are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Scriptures tell us when a man loves the Lord, even his enemies are at peace with Him. Jesus says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

In His Name we place our cares, our gratitude in Your Hands.

We pray for healing for our friend who is still alive and improving. Jesus said always to pray with hope. Dee and Cindy and I met and prayed so earnestly to not have tree damage from Hurricane Ike. We couldn't leave I was pregnant. It was very earnest prayer in 2008. Thank You the tornado spared the house in my backyard. This year I lost a tree and Dee did as well. The trees were placed on the ground by Your Hand. There was no damage. The Prayer You Answered 11 years ago held forth with Love.

You answered the healing of 89 year old Priest from heart failure. You answered the man who had no one to pray for him with oral cancer - healed.

We have met and just as earnestly prayed for Elliott. Believing if You stop hurricanes and tornadoes and continue the prayer 11 years later, our heart felt love and affection for Elliott and Harby and their children, will be Heard and Answered for all Goodness.

We join with all the Nation praying The Lord's Prayer and the people of Jesus praying for more Heaven on this earth, to see His Good Will.

We pray for good health to surround us.

Amen and Amen in Jesus Christ the Lord.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

1 Corinthians 13 ~ Love believes

Summer has become methodical. Most of us feel we have what summer offered. The forecast on the west coast is wildfires. The forecasts for the coming week indicate this is Texas. And we have violence in El Paso and Ohio.

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

When we fully know Jesus - we know the greatest of all hopes - He is Love.


Jesus is beyond what men say and further than what the Angels themselves have to say. Jesus is Love.

As Christians we know this.  

And then, in the routines of a season we look forward to, as temperatures increase, as the season departs, we see a pattern of violence we are becoming familiar with.  Mass Shootings.

The innocent are harmed. The non-violent have life changing injuries and death occurs. Terror has made an impact.


2 Corinthians 4:8-12 

We are afflicted in every way, 
but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 


12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Ephesians 4:14-15
So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

Seasons.

Thomas Jefferson dealt with terrorism at Sea. Our Grandparents dealt with a World at War. The goals of the wars created - do not sound feasible or possible. Anger, Greed and Death. Power and Despair.

My in-laws, in elementary school, had Spring Break taken away. The Dallas School Children brought in the cotton crops for the soldiers to have clothing.

In the 1950s, school children heard sirens and got under the complete and total safety of a 2 foot by 2.5 foot desk to take cover from atomic bomb. Cuba let us know this was completely feasible and we could all roast immediately.

We were out of Oil in the 1970s. To get gasoline, one waited in line for two or more hours. It just didn't make sense.

When I was in elementary school, commercial airlines were in the news to a considerable degree - of entire planes hijacked. The Olympics saw all the Israel Team murdered.


Eventually, there will be a formula - fame for killing, won't motivate the haters. 
And there will be a different type of trouble, oppression and adversity. Hatred is not sustainable. All wars, all conflict has a time and a season. And hatred and violence end, we have a time for rejuvenation and positive changes will happen.

Life will always present a way for the fiery ordeal to be shocking.

1 Peter 4:12 

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial
 when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

We will face mortal injuries and illnesses. We will have loss as people we love suffer. We will see the circle of life and the Scriptures sometimes call this The Day of The Lord. God says these are not pleasant times. Ecclesiastes is serious work - with age and true life.

Life really has seasons we feel - endangered.

We all work very hard to put suffering from us. 

This is the circle of life. 

It's not wrong to put down the trouble we can with faith God is Working.
 Jesus found Joy knowing life. Jesus touched lepers. He placed in fingers in deaf ears. Jesus touched mute tongues. And in touching what needed God desperately and in the joy we all find in God's Gift of LIFE - we find mature life.








When we see Politics - we see policies of life and situations we don't control.  We reveal our lives in the political talk. We tell our fears and our anger.

When we see Mass Shootings. We see the craziness of anger and selfishness ruining innocence senselessly. We see the faces of the bystanders and we wonder why those who are so angry can't be touched by the intense sadness of Innocence. The Scriptures will carry us an amazing way - to great depth. The Disciples told the children to make time for adults now, leave nice Jesus alone. It was God Himself who held the innocents to Himself. God cares for the people with kind hearts wondering - why the fiery trial.


We do ourselves no favor to rush past. To pretend safety.

Luke 13:4
Those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - - -

3 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

We are all perishing.  Good News. We just don't have to be so afraid. Jesus Christ told us we are Flowers of the Field. Dust to Dust, Ashes to Ashes. We pray to go far, far, far and finish well. And in God's Grace, we believe we will.

And then God says the impossible.

Ephesians 4:13
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

This isn't the end, this is the Beginning. Sunrise. Light of the World.

Jesus turned the Roman Empire "Upside Down" - - - people Knew Jesus was Alive. Bodily Alive. Witnessed. God has a PLAN.

Even the dust God has pity on.

Psalm 102:14
For her hard as stones - life paths - are dear to your people; her very dust moves them to pity.

Life can be so difficult. So hard. So entrenched. The Valley of Bones and dust.

Ezekiel 37

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
 ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 

5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”




The Word of God manifest and laughing with delight with Father God as Creation was Spoken. Jesus the Christ was there to see prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, mountains moved.


To be grace and truth.

God's Only Son, The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.


Jesus gave away all He had, and He delivered up His body to be destroyed - for Love. To gain you, to gain me, to gain Heaven.


With us, Jesus is patient and kind. Jesus is love and does not envy or boast. Jesus is not arrogant or rude. Jesus as Father God, with the Prodigal son - does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful.

Jesus the Lord God, Christ does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.

Love never ends.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.






In Christ Jesus you are all sons and daughters of God, through faith. And in Christ’s love, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

We are
                 under obligation
                                             to have a response to the Love God has for us.

We are
                   under obligation
                                             to have a response to the Love God has for us.


The one who looks at Jesus, is seeing Father God, who sent our Jesus.

Anyone who has seen our Jesus, has seen Father God.


Abba, Our Father God,

Please fill us with all joy and peace in believing.

We know we pray because You know the Beloved One has needs You already Know. We are asking You our Loving Abba.

We will 
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We pray 
this upon the ones we Love, our Church, our co-workers, our neighbors and our Nation.

We Know
the power of prayer from around the world to You, our Willing Father. We cherish the people and nations around the world - praying with faith and Love.

In Jesus the Lord! Amen!

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! † 

Psalm 128 ~ May you see your children's children! Peace be upon Israel!

This is one of the wedding gifts Maxine gave us ~ Look down with favor, O Lord on these Thy servants, who, by Thine Divine Authority, are one in Holy Matrimony. Grant them Thy loving protection through days of lasting peace; and bless them with the love of their children's children. Amen.


Psalm 128 

[1] Blessed is every one who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways!

[2] You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

[3] Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.

[4] Lo, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.

[5] The LORD bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!

[6] May you see your children's children!
Peace be upon Israel!


This Psalm of God's always fills me with hope and raises me up. I like it more & more as I grow older, when I was younger I expected all the bounty and blessings of God, without a lot of real prayer. Not only is it a Psalm about Heaven, where the best is yet to be, but it is the promises of the Lord's goodness for this life.

When we are young, life is so very pleasing. As we grow older, we have a greater appreciation for what our parents and grandparents did for us. God says it is more blessed to give than receive; I am grateful for Maxine's prayer gift, I look forward to my grandchildren. My son Alexander laughs like my paternal grandmother, it is an echo of love. A hearty laugh from the belly, like being surprised at joy & overtaken. I look forward to seeing the next generation and to have the opportunity to be the love and caregivers my grandmothers & parents were to me.

I try to picture heaven & my limited vision gives perhaps a tiny glimpse. This Easter I was blessed to receive a Jacquie Lawson card, wow, it was what I think of. If you've ever seen the movie "Places in the Heart", 1984, it won 2 Oscars? Fabulous ending scene in the Church over Communion. If you are looking for a quiet Saturday afternoon, watchlastmovies.com has "Places in the Heart."

Blessings to you this Saturday.

Abba,

We will pray the prayer David knew of the business of Shepherding from his father: Jesse.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy will "be the fruit of my life" all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the House of the Lord.

We would follow the example of Jesse - we would add this to our own beloved Family. To the people Father God has given us. The people we pray for daily.

To the Nation trusting in God. All the Nations trusting in God. Our employments, our communities, our Churches, our schools. Our friend to be healed of cancer for his Psalm 128.

More Heaven on earth and Holy Spirit, we ask in Jesus.

May we see our children's children! Peace be upon Israel!

 Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! † 

Psalm 125 ~ Do good, O Lord, to those who are good

Surprise Mother's Day Gift

Psalm 125

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time forth and forevermore.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wrong.

4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts!

5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways
the Lord will lead away with evildoers!
Peace be upon Israel!





Do you ever sit and think, ponder, wonder about mankind and God.

The Bible says when we have reached the point of 50% have no faith, the Word is preached all over the world, travel and wisdom have increased - we will have the beginning of the end. Jesus wonders in the Gospels if God will find faith when He returns.

Jesus tells us He knew:

John:2-24,25
Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men. 25 He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.

Proverbs 8 tells us God delights looking into mankind. And Jesus has found us, this planet, this world, worthy to be saved in Jesus Christ.

This is what causes the stock market emotions of life. The ups and downs of intensity God told us about finding in this life:

1 Peter 4:11-13
in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.


We find the Good Days are 1 Peter 4:11

and then we read this in the Word of God:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you,
as though something strange were happening to you.



13 But rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed at the revelation of His glory.

How would we relate asking Jesus anything in prayer and if we believe, then we have the prayer answered and then have suffering and rejoice?

God is not mocked. God does not lie, and yet the Disciples were free to ask Jesus what they wanted. Sometimes they shrank back from questions and sometimes they were bold and wrong.

The Bible very famously tells us there are Seasons. 1 Peter 4 tells us we can be on the boat with Jesus and suddenly there is a storm. Jesus has told us there will just be trouble in life. The Scriptures tell us all things interweave for the good of those who Love the Lord and Work According to His Purpose.

Philippians 2:13
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Job discovered this. Only with sincerity of thought and in this abiding belief God is Good, Job began to discover the waves of life. The Boat Jesus calmed to the complete astonishment of His Disciples who had seen Jesus, "Heal them all."

Jesus told us to expect to see "more" after He ascended to Heaven. Paul began His work to fulfill ever dot and iota:

Ephesians 4:13-15

Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. '

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. 

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the Head.



What will we call out to when we feel tossed in the waves? Love. The father Jesus encountered coming from the Mountain with Moses, Elijah and Peter, John and James definitely felt tossed about in the Very Presence of God Himself. He so very earnestly desired goodness and wellness for his son. Jesus patiently waited for the father to find his faith. Find his feet in faith and stand firmly.

The Scriptures, Jesus told us, are to know the Scriptures and the Power of God. This is not humanism, this is Jesus as God helping us in all the seasons of Life. Daily.

Abba, Father God, 

We pray for our Good Works pleasing to You. We ask You and to give our worries to  Your guidance, Love, mercy and direction. Letting You, Jesus, to to be what centers us and leads us in our lives. Keep us in You, always. 



Amen in Jesus.

For the healing of Elliott, to live a long life, among his 3 children and to grow old with his

beloved wife Harby. To have years of many grandchildren. The end of cancer and the dreams of long life and plentiful years in the willingness of Jesus. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! † 

Philippians 3:12-16 ~ Christ Jesus took hold of me

Philippians 3:12-16

2 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Papyrus 46, 1 to 2 generations from Jesus. Near perfect condition for 1,900 years later.

Why have Philippians 3? What is God saying?


This is another aspect of the Holiness of God - reaching to us in our human frailties.


Paul could have stood saying how he was just that strong. He could have talked about his background. Paul choses to say that in life there are times of strength and weakness.

Would we place bets on the longevity of the Bull,
 the Bear or the Papyrus?

The Prophets die off or are killed.

Israel was deconstructed.

Jesus was always in trouble with the Governing of Temple Guards.

Jesus was killed and died.

Israel was deconstructed.

The Christians refused to scatter and quit.

And the Work of God continues. Past Anti-Popes and Empires. When the pendulum seems stuck.




Daily we are part of the stock market. The vast unpredictable emotions, events, good news, Glee, sorrow, memories of good, memories of bad. Hopes for Today.

We face the grizzlies of life - by being honest.

We lived in Cameron County, Pennsylvania for 4 years when I began High School. The Black Bears of the entire State are relocated to this excellent and beautiful county and the great Game Warden Country. My father's co-worker Bob, as a child, loved to scare his friends by screaming, "Bear!!! Run!!!" At believable intervals.

One day, they were on a ride up South Mountain on bicycles.  And the boys exactly repeated to Bob, "Bear!!! Run!!!" Bob laughed and said he was not falling for that old trick.... Something this time seemed - different. Bob, it is told, picked up his Bicycle and ran up South Mountain with his bicycle over his head. The Black Bear decided Bob was just too wound up tight to eat. Bob would later admit for decades and decades this was not strategy, so much as pure terror.

... Be like the Bible, don't be like Bob...

Jesus called this, "In this life, you will have trouble."

Appropriately this quote:

James 1:11
For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.


I love this. We are from the South, so, heat - check. We have all loved our gardens and yards - check. My grandmother and her sister, Eloise, prayed for decades to die like Camellias and fall whole to the ground, beautifully intact. Don't we all want to fade quickly away in the midst of our pursuits?

The Bible tells the truth, explains life is difficult (for north and south) and gives immeasurable Hope.

My first cousin, once removed,Maxine, was my Ward in the State of Texas for 12 years. We generally are a long-lived group of people and when she went into the Memory Loss Building of CC Young in Dallas - she was 81 years old - with her aunt still living at home in Louisiana. Maxine was an only child, who had no children. All 5 of her first cousins had tried to take care of her fiercely guarded wish for independence. Most of our family has died doing what they like to do in their 9th decade.


Well, her mother and father loved their home from 1931 and in the year 1999, my first cousin and Ward, Maxine, was living in the house after - 23 - twenty-three strokes. In life today, it's rare when we get to see a house deconstruct. But when you live alone and 5 first cousins are trying to help a family member in the 8th decade - things get pushed aside. My Ward was strong, strong willed and she dismissed Adult Protective Services - 5 times. (We called Adult Protective Services.)

The yard man died. And my cousin grew old, the grass became a forest. The driveway was always in full view of the house. No more. No view. The plumber was charging too much so the kitchen floor fell into the basement. (Food was being brought in daily.) And all of the family was very, very sad to see their childhood memories decay with our cousin.


The house today is on the 3rd owner since 1931. A family fixed it up. Enjoyed it. Got overwhelmed at more to do and after fixing it up, sold to house enthusiasts. The house looks as good as when Eloise and Cary and Maxine where young. I'm sure someone let them know in Heaven. Back in the 1930s, they broke a car axle on family vacation - bringing back as many boulders as a car couldn't quite carry.


After having been a witness to the family aging. The house falling to loved and then terrible decay, I'd have to say the Mercy of God is Quite a Gift.

The story of the house, rather mirrored some of the old age.

My Newlywed first married neighbor was 80 years old when we moved into our total fix up cottage. She had to have a professional painter come in when we had lived there the first 5 years. After 41 years of perpetually fixing her house, painting her own house, she hired the first painter the house had ever seen in it's 4 decades - she had worn the texture off the walls with so many coats of paint. There was never a ladder this 80 year old lady didn't like. Doris collected all her pecans and sold them for about a thousand dollars back in the 1980s.

I watched Doris fall into sadness when her second husband had died of old age. And then rise again.

That very brittle papyrus of 1,900 years is quite correct. Daily, we fall and rise with glee and joy and sad thoughts. Yet when we find God giving us His Willing Daily Blessings - we find we have the Strength behind the Very Word of God.


If this set of Papyrus from the long life span of John the Beloved Disciple can tell the truth, believe in the mercies of God and endure this long - I'd have to say God is still in the Answering Prayers With Steadfast Love Action.


Abba,

We Thank You for Your Blessing of Jesus. Today. In the Nature of Jesus, we are given Your Exact Nature.

Finding You Alive and Loving. Discovering again how 'for' us You are. God of Love.


Bless us to see You more clearly. Love You more dearly.
Bless our family. Bless our Loved Ones.

Let Your Glory sweep our Nation Trusting in You.

Let Your Majesty put all of Creation bringing more Heaven on earth. Bless the nations living in Your Brightness. Uphold, Bless, Keep Safe, Strengthen Encourage and Build up the Kingdom of Heaven in Your Beloved children all over Your Good Creation. More Jesus.

We are praying for Elliott to find his life is Blessed to be healed by Jesus and cancer is gone forever.

Let the Light of Your Love far outshine the darkness, to see the Victory of Your Son Today.

In Jesus, the Lord, God's Only Son, Alive, Working, Loving, Guiding us to Live.

Jesus God, Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †