Rain

NOTE: the following poem is part of Gracie’s Storm Story.

This rain is falling so perfectly. It comes in gentle showers so it permits the ground to soak rather than just run off.

Rain softly falls
Earth opens her mouth to drink
Green returns to cover the brown
Leaves turn upward
Giving thanks
Blue skies
turn grey
brown grass
turns green
Wash the dust
from my feet
Fill the air
with fragrance sweet
As flowers lift
pretty faces fair
Insect, birds, return
their song
They fill the air
with praises strong
Glory to our God
who formed us from this sod
who gave us breath
and life sublime
a wondrous gift
to last all time

Hot sun:
leaves turn down
grass turns brown

Cool rain:
leaves lift up
grass greens up

Moving swiftly through the air
lifting faces fair
scurrying cross the wire
hiding from the sun’s fire
The birds, flowers, squirrels
and insects respond to sun and rain.

My Dagon cell phone…

Something I received that I believe is worth putting “out there.”

It just brought home the fact that we do need to be Christ Centered, and God will remind us of that very fact in subtle ways. 

“I’m persnickety.  I might as well admit it; many of you already know it.  I like things a certain way.  I have definite ideas of how I want things done.  I’m also particular about certain of my possessions.  I have my favorite pens, and you’d better not ask to borrow them.  A number of years ago, I had a pair of dress boots and my kids knew not to step on the toes.  Recently I switched cell phone providers because the company I’d had for 16 years no longer carried the brand of phone I “prefer”.  The only problem is that for almost a month now, I’ve had to carry two phones while they try to switch my number to the new service provider.  This means that I make calls on my new phone and receive them on my old one.  Very inconvenient, but I can tolerate it.  The agonizing moment came last week while carrying both phones in my pocket, when the old phone scuffed the screen of the new phone.  It’s not even a month old!  I must have loved it too much.  The Lord has a way of humbling us and getting our affections back on Him.
 
A while back I was reading the account of the capture of the Ark by the Philistines (I Samuel 5).  Pleased with their battle trophy, the Philistines put the Ark in the temple of their god, Dagon.  The next morning they found Dagon on its nose before the Ark.  They set the idol upright, but the next morning Dagon had again fallen before the Ark, only this time its head and palms were broken off.  What a vivid reminder that God wants our heart’s devotion.  We tend to use God and love things, rather than to love God and use things.  I have risked being transparent with you because I am fairly certain that you also have your own little idols.  And while you may not be as fastidious as I am, the Lord nonetheless probably has His competitors in your life.  Let’s resolve to be sincerely and purely devoted to Christ.
 
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.  But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  II Corinthians 11:2-3″

 

From Rick Hattan.  He and his wife are AWANA Missionaries in Nebraska and eastern Wyoming.

The Spirit-led life vs. natural man continued

Col 3:1-15

3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. (author’s emphasis added)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

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      Do not be enslaved to natural man’s emotions, thoughts, and actions.  Be set free to the life led by the Spirit, His Spirit leading our spirit, ever in tune with Him.

Setting our minds above, not below, raises us “above the land of earthly disputes and focus(es) us on our Father,” knowing how to live peacefully with one another, knowing we can live eternally with Him.

Not filled with”anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language,” all these tear down.   But clothed in “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,”–these build up.

When the logs of discord, be they from memory or present, come by you in the sream of life, let them pass.  Recognize them, the feelings, the events, the words, the actions, but let them pass on by. Don’t stop them, pull them up on the bank, build a house of pain and disruption with them, then live in it.  It becomes a prison of your own making.  Christ set the captive free.  Let the logs go by and reach that place where you can “forgive as the Lord forgave you.” 

Then you can act in the victorious lifestyle of “over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Therefore, you can express compassion toward those who have brought you harm, treat them with kindness, remain humble in the Lord for he raises you above the hurt, be gentle in response to harshness, and have patience as you see the Lord work out His will in you and others.