Happy Fourth 2017!

True freedom was bought with a price...forever free - no matter the circumstances.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for the ultimate price you paid for my freedom.

Our church had its annual 4th of July festivities last Tuesday.  Hot as usual, but the fellowship and fun were as fresh as ever.  Enjoy the pics!

Peter lost a tooth on the water slide.

 Kristin and Karen, I mean Bonnie and Clyde.

Our awesome hosts, Marlon and Karen Littlejohn

Wow, this couple looks tired.

Becky, Me, and Karen saying "Happy 4th y'all!"

Let's Go To Garner State Park...

Do you remember that song from the 60's?  It has been in my head lately, having spent a couple of days in West Texas at Garner State Park with four of our grandchildren.  We used to camp there - in tents, mind you - ages ago when our boys were little.  It's probably been thirty-five years since our last visit.  I am glad to say it hasn't changed a bit, though our accommodations have.  We stayed in nearby Uvalde in a hotel.  I think we will go again, and forego the hotel for a rented pop-up.  It was inconvenient with our things in two places.
My brother and his family, niece and her family, and our friends, the Littlejohns were also there - spread out, but not too far from each other.
Here are some pix of our fun.

This is how I saw Luke most of the time.

Tommy is in the light colored hat.

Look at the guy in the top of the tree.

Marlon, Owen, and Tommy grillin' and chillin'.

Ivy needing some love.

Cherith loving on a frog.

Bella, Emma, and Maggie looking for some other frogs to dance with.

Three musketeers.

Owen's campsite.

Ivy and Oliver talking to Hope.

Old Baldy.  

Hayden and Luke

Karen and Ivy.

Stevie in the rapids.

We found a cove to swim in.

Holden and Cherith dancing at night.

On top of Old Baldy.,,sing with me.

Owen and Ivy

Karen and me..without a stitch of makeup.

Bunny hoppers

Secret handshake or something like that.

Back in the room.  Everyone seemed to like my bed the best.

Emma danced with eight boys.  

Josh and Ivy

Owen and Emma

She danced her heart out.  She is done.

It's Like Dominoes

"And you, who were dead in your trespasses 

and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God 

made alive together with him, 

having forgiven us all our trespasses, 

by canceling the record of debt 

that stood against us (me) with its legal demands. 

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." 

Colossians 2:13-14  

I was reading through Colossians and these verses grabbed me as if I had never read them before. Does that ever happen to you? It was as if I had just discovered a black and white masterpiece and it jumped from the page right into my heart. What great love God must have for His children! He set aside what I owed and paid it with His own Son's blood. God nailed my sin to the cross, with the same nails that killed His Precious Son, Jesus Christ. He nailed my debt - past, present, future.  So...why, oh why do we hang on to the debts we think others owe us?
We keep accounts of wrongs done, words hurled in anger, being mistreated or left out, or having to watch loved ones suffer, and endless other things. The freedom from slavery that we experience, we can share with others, but not until we free them from the bondage we have held over them in our hearts. Take hold of the freedom given in Christ and let go of the debts you might be owed. It's like dominoes falling.

O Lord, let me never forget what it cost You to save me. You paid the debt I never could. You forgave me so I could forgive others. Let my life be a living testimony of gratitude, love, and forgiveness.  

 

I Am So Unholy

I am reading The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges.  Little did I know what effect it would have on me when Tommy suggested this book for a summer study. Let's just say that with knowledge comes accountability and the responsibility to act on what has been learned. Let's also say that I am undone...completely.  I have been slapped in the face so many times while reading this book that my DNA is surely on every page.  Both shame and pain that pierces the heart have been my companions throughout my read.

Holiness is required for those who call themselves Believers. Through Christ's death on the cross, we have His righteousness, but we are to pursue holiness daily with diligence and purpose.
2 Timothy 2:22  So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
It sounds so unattainable to me, but God wouldn't call me to do something without giving me what I need to do it.  Surely if He knows me at all, He would see the futility in that. 

So often we find ourselves striving for everything BUT holiness. Why?  Because there is no one to stop us from making decisions that lead us astray. We have choices.  We can ignore the Holy Spirit that speaks to our hearts every day, telling us what is good and right and perfect, but perhaps we don't recognize those things best for us because we also ignore our bibles.  It's all in there - everything we need to discern right from wrong, good from best.  While I try to be steadfast in my reading and studying of God's Word, if I'm not applying what I read, then what's the point?
If we call ourselves Christians, but continue to ignore His prompting, then perhaps there is a bigger issue at stake.  Maybe there is no salvation to begin with. If we are making choices according to how we feel or what we desire, our efforts for holiness stand little a chance.  Our wills must be involved and our minds must be informed correctly on what is most pleasing to God.  If left to those emotions and wants, we are doomed.  At least I am.

This book addresses the whole body - from the physical to the mental to the spiritual and back.  So, I have decided to travel a narrower path than the easy road I have been on for awhile now. (My will is involved in this or I will surely fail.) Concerning my body, I have joined a gym and started a diet. Concerning my mind, I am focusing on the things Paul tells us to think on and choosing not to be critical or negative in my thoughts. Concerning my emotions I've discovered that if my face is toward the Lord, the problems around me lose their hold on my heart. Concerning desires - I am steering them to categories of 'need' vs. 'no need'.
I have a ways to go for sure, but this book is a game changer as it reminds me that I was bought with a price and am not my own. (Thank the Lord. I am awful on my own.)
1 Corinthians 6:20  For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 

Two Rulers in Our Hearts

There is, I hope, a fraction of maturity in admitting that my heart still deceives me...even as old age would have me hope that the wickedness in me might be abolished with time.  If only.

While sin's presence will never be found before the throne of God, it can and does dwell side by side with truth after salvation where Goodness defeats evil at its source...the heart.  While deception is a byproduct, it isn't permanently dominant. There is a battle that takes place daily.

We must be filled with God's Word and His Spirit that we might suffocate the darkness.  We can consciously choose which impetus will drive us. We are designed for worship. That is it. That is our reason for living.

Aside from worshiping our Lord God, we also at times love and worship ourselves. How easily and naturally do our desires, pleasures, and those things that make us comfortable creep in and take over first place.

Thankfully, my own weaknesses can't dictate whether or not God is on His throne.  He forever and faithfully reigns. He will have no other gods before Himself. His eternal rule is not dependent on how good or worthy I may be, or how sinful I am.

Wickedness in my heart can only exist because I allow it. O Lord Jesus, help me to be faithful in Your sight.

May I Take Your Order, Please?

Our grandchildren can come up with unique ways to entertain themselves. Emma wanted to be waitress to our crew last week, an idea stemming from an order pad I stuck in her Easter basket.
She decided that Bella and I should be kitchen staff...hmm.  Well, I guess there are worse ideas. Actually, Bella and I work very well in the kitchen together.

Emma styled the menu and even made a 'coler' sheet for Ivy, the child customer. Ivy was delighted.
As the orders came in, Bella and I busied ourselves and filled the plates.  Emma flirted with the customers a while and then came in to pick up their food and returned for drinks. Everything all at once became a true picture of what a real restaurant's kitchen must look like.

After delivering Ivy's meal, Emma put in her own order and Bella and I were glad to be done...except not really because refills were requested.  Emma returned for them with a sandwich hanging from her mouth.  Nice.  I told her waitresses could be fired for that, but she did not seem to care.
We then fixed our own plates and by the time we were done, the dirty dishes were being brought back. I put in my resignation to be effective immediately. Surprisingly, no one showed up for dish duty...until my sweet husband/busboy walked in, took one look, rolled up his sleeves, and went to work.

Emma is great at planning, but not so hot at following through.

There is a moral to this story...but I haven't the vaguest idea what it is.
Life is good and I am greatly blessed.  Yes, that's it!

Who Killed Jesus?

I teach first and second graders in Sunday School and I love them.  They teach me almost as much as I teach them, though often it is about snakes and camping, baseball and what they did on Saturday.
Once in a while I get to share something with them that stops me dead in my tracks...as if my own words were forging a truth deep into my heart.  So, I asked them"Who killed Jesus?"
And then I read:
Luke 23:3-25  And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." 
Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." 
But they were urgent, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place." When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. 
Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him."  
But they all cried out together, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas"- a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, "Crucify, crucify him!" 
A third time he said to them, "Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him." 
But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. 
So, I asked them again, "Who killed Jesus?"
And they answered, "The people."
Most people say that they would never have done what the people did back then. I must admit, it was a horror that delivered us from eternal death.  I have learned through the years that most of the time, I do not even know my own heart...my real motives and needs for self-preservation.
So I ask you, "Who killed Jesus?"
We all did.  Our sin did.  But praise the Lord for forgiveness and redemption and salvation that is made possible by His death and resurrection.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us (3rd verse)

I will not boast of anything: No gifts, no power, no wisdom;

But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer;

But this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my ransom.