Chosen

 

You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.

Jn 15:16

The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985)

REFLECTION from John Gilmary Shea, Pictorial Lives of the Saints (New York; Cincinnati; Chicago: Benziger Brothers, 1887).—When you see any one standing in need of your assistance, either for body or soul, do not ask yourself why some one else did not help him, but think to yourself that you have found a treasure.

It was out of the common thing that the precious thing was brought; and it is out of the common things of daily life, presented obediently to Jesus and laid at His feet, that He brings His own glorious gifts, so that our whole lives become one great sacrament.

W. Hay Aitken

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

Ther are paths in our walk through life that we often question "How did I get here?" Looking back at my life, I have often asked that question. I am not good at standing in front of a gathering of people and talking. It is not a place of comfort but a place of uneasiness. Even writing these posts can be a trial. For many years my question has been "What is my purpose in life?" It has been a struggle to understand how this could possibly be helpful to our Lord. It is understanding that we are chosen and Not that we have chosen Him. He chose to bring us to where we are in Christ that matters. He knows our short comings and weaknesses. He turns them into strengths. If we allow Him to guide our walk through this life we become living examples of Him. He chose us, we did not choose Him. We need only to say yes and follow Him to find what we are meant to be. All of our questions are answered when we say yes.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas to everyone visiting this blog. May you be blessed and safe this most blessed day.

Infinity and Christ

(another post from 2015)

True religion is real living: living with one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.

An Einstein Quote From www.simpletoremember.com

I love astronomy as many of you already know. The inconceivable vastness our environment is a sobering realization. There are things that will never be known to us. Science may try to unravel the mysteries of "why" and "how" but for every answer there are many more questions that come to the fore. The farthest regions of space can never be seen and every time the smallest of the small is realized something smaller is found. The complete answers will never be known. THAT is the beauty of our Lord. Religion is not something exclusive to any sect or teaching but life itself. The whole of the word of God is a teaching on how to live and the rewards of that journey when we acknowledge the truth found in them. It brings pure humility to know some one so great can create on scales we will never comprehend. The season coming up, Christmas, has many things that defy explanation. Angels, and the Holy Spirit are some things that vex science to this day. Immaculate conception? How is that possible? Hearing voices and no one physically there? Mary must have eaten something that did not agree with her or she was inebriated when those voices came to her to tell her of the Christ child to come! It must have been a coincidence when Joseph was told about Mary, right? Angels and the Holy spirit are VERY real for me and many like me. My doubts were wiped away many years ago. What about you? Do you celebrate Christmas as a holy time or is your Christmas just for the presents? If you are going to celebrate the season then celebrate the only gifts that matter, the birth of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. They bring the gift of forgiveness for all who believe. With them come the healing of mind body and spirit. I assure you these gifts are real.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Has This ever happened to you?

 

The Amazing Thing about Scripture is that it Is Timeless. It is accurate and relevant more than 2000 years after it was written.

There are times when reading the scriptures and the gospels that I stop and ask why that is happening this way. Has this ever happened to you? There are some things that the scholars are trying to explain but find it difficult if not impossible to explain and prove. Others are relatively simple to explain. Much of the New Testament is fairly cut and dried, or is it? The star of Bethlehem is a mystery and probably will always be so. There are many theories and suppositions as to what it could have been, none of which are proven or universally accepted.

For me there are many questions. Two of them are:

1. Why did Herod send troops to kill children from 2 years of age and younger if Jesus was in swaddling clothes?

2. Why is there no record of the deed in historical records?

Interesting enough the answer can be had by knowing the conditions and times that Jesus lived in. First of all is the slowness of transportation at the time, mostly by foot or camel. Until the wise men traveled to Israel, stopped and queried Herod of the birth of Jesus, found Jesus and left Israel without returning to tell Herod what they found and the time it took Herod to realized they would not return, it is most likely that the better part of two years had passed. Jesus could have been more than a year old when the slaughter of the children took place. As to why the deed is not in any records, Bethlehem was only a small village at the time comprising only a thousand or so inhabitants. unlike today, this was not an uncommon occurrence in ancient mid-eastern civilization. The deed would not necessarily have been taken note of for a small settlement such as Bethlehem in historical records. 

What is my point? Knowing some of the history and living conditions at the time of Jesus brings the reality of the life of Christ into vivid focus and brings better understanding of some of the things Jesus and the others mentioned in the bible said and did. It is not a lessening of the reality of Christ but an enrichment of it. It creates a feeling of being there. It gives an understanding of the conditions and what the purpose of the actions and words were at the time. For me it is astounding that to this day the words of Christ and God are still very much alive. By understanding the reality of the living conditions then it becomes even more wondrous.

(This is an old post corrected for errors and punctuation.)

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Increased Love

 

You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am.

Jn 13:13

The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985)

How wonderful a Teacher we have! Sometimes we seek Him in the house, but He is not there. We go forth seeking Him and find Him perhaps in the wilderness or on a mountain praying, or leading some poor blind man by the hand, or eating with publicans or sinners, or asleep in a storm, or conversing with a Samaritan woman, or surrounded by wrathful men, or bearing a cross. It is not merely His words that instruct. His place, His occupation, His companions, His environment, His garment, His silence, His submission—all teem with instruction. And they that learn of Him are made like unto Him.

George Bowen

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997)

How does God cause our love to “increase more and more”? By putting us into circumstances that force us to practice Christian love. Love is the “circulatory system” of the body of Christ, but if our spiritual muscles are not exercised, the circulation is impaired. The difficulties that we believers have with one another are opportunities for us to grow in our love. This explains why Christians who have had the most problems with each other often end up loving one another deeply, much to the amazement of the world.

Warren W. Wiersbe

 The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996)

The words of the Lord are life. He spoke them and there was life. If fact, He speaks today, and there is life. Live by that word and you live the eternal life.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."

Called to serve

 

At this, Yahweh turned to him and said, ‘Go in this strength of yours, and you will rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you myself?’ 

Judges 6:14

The New Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1985)

God never leaves His child to fail when in the path of obedience.

Theodore Cuyler

Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).

As with Gideon, the Lord calls whom He wills to due His will before the world. The least of the least, the humblest of the humble, is often his chosen for His tasks. It is His to say "You have been chosen for this task." Be of steadfast heart for you are blessed to be His chosen one. Test to see if it is the Lord who calls, then hesitate not for He is your strength, your shield. You shall succeed with what you have been chosen to do.

May the good Lord bless and keep you safe.

Remember to "Always Love The Details."