A Good Question

Hebrews 9:28 English Standard Version (ESV)

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Revelation 22:12 English Standard Version (ESV)

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

Matthew 24:44 English Standard Version (ESV)

44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

My husband had on a history show tonight about the life and death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of our country's greatest presidents.  When he died, he was with his mistress and not his wife; and she was a woman he had promised his wife he would never see again.  It made me think what I'd want or not want to be doing when Christ returns or calls me home.  I'd like to go out in a blaze of God's glory and not a pathetic puff of my own making.  I'm thankful I don't have to earn my way to Heaven, because I'd never make it.  It's all about Jesus.   He will deliver us as He as promised.

Third Day - Our Deliverer (Official Lyric Video)

Be Glad...

1 Peter 1:6-7 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 So be truly glad.[a] There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

...after this comes Paradise...and Jesus paid our fare.

Crowder - After All (Holy) (acoustic) Official Music Video

The Lord is Near

Philippians 4:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Matthew 5:46 New Living Translation (NLT)

46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.

The other morning while I was in bed, my cat walked across my closed right eye drawing blood with her claws, leaving me with a black eye.  She's an old cat, pushing 90 in cat years, suffering from dementia and capable of waking me up from a deep sleep with blood curdling cries.  Sigh.  She was so much easier to love when she was younger.  That's probably true for most of us, easier to love when we were cute and cuddly and harder when we're fast approaching our shelf life.  God tells me to be gentle with all and to love all without reciprocity.  So I will try.  We all need to love and to know love.  Jesus is near.

 So Close (Featuring TaTa Vega) - Jeremy Riddle 

Third Day - Victorious (Official Lyric Video)

Matthew West - My Own Little World (Official Music Video)

So I Was on Skype Again...

...with the young man in the dorm, and now it's late.  Sleep well.

Such Hate, Such Love

Matthew 16:26 New Living Translation (NLT)

26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?[a] Is anything worth more than your soul?

John 17:16 New Living Translation (NLT)

16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.

I need to get over my desire to be liked by the world and embrace being hated by it instead.  If my Jesus was hated first, then I should line up with all eagerness raise my hand and say, "Me, next!"  I am most definitely a narrow minded, fundamental, politically incorrect, born again follower of Christ on the wrong side of history, and that's okay.  I'm on the right side of eternity.  Praise God I'm not in but out!  Now I am to love as God would have me to love and live as God would have me to live, as a child of God's own heart.  

NEEDTOBREATHE - The Outsiders (Acoustic Version)

"Though You Slay Me" - Shane and Shane (featuring John Piper)

Made to Thrive

Psalm 1:1-3 New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 1

1 Oh, the joys of those who do not

    follow the advice of the wicked,

    or stand around with sinners,

    or join in with mockers.

2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,

    meditating on it day and night.

3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,

    bearing fruit each season.

Their leaves never wither,

    and they prosper in all they do.

K-LOVE - Casting Crowns "Thrive" LIVE

When the Stars Sang

The bright stars of the Pleiades or The Seven Sisters

Job 38:6-7 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 What supports its foundations,

    and who laid its cornerstone

7 as the morning stars sang together

    and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

Psalm 8:4-6 King James Version (KJV)

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

I uploaded to Youtube today the Appalachian folk hymn or spiritual, "Bright Morning Stars," this version sung by Abigail Washburn.  When God speaks from the whirlwind in the book of Job about his creation, He does so with authority, because He was there.  He heard the songs of the morning stars and the angels' shouts of joy.  It's amazing to consider that this same great God considers us.

Bright Morning Stars - Abigail Washburn

It's Sunday!

It looks like Sunday School is about to start.

Hard Times

John 21:18 New Living Translation (NLT)

18 “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others[a] will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.”

Yesterday I found myself home alone and unable to work the remote controls on the television and discovering another good use for men about the house.  I emailed the young man who's now living in a dorm (I haven't yet figured out how to text.) and he Skyped (Is Skyped a word?) me back.  With me pointing the camera on my tablet at the controls and the TV he did his best to help.  Then my husband walked in and together on Skype they got the TV working again.  Some day I will be telling small children how in my day we walked to the TV to change the channel and then prattle on to describe a channel knob with only thirteen choices and something called rabbit ears.  Hard times come again no more.

Mavis Staples - Hard Times Come Again No More (live in studio)

Channing Eleton - Big Top (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

Just a Little Reminder...

Heaven's Little Reminder • Giclee

...of a very great truth.  It's late.  Sleep well.

Psalm 118:5-6 New Living Translation (NLT)

5 In my distress I prayed to the Lord,

    and the Lord answered me and set me free.

6 The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear.

    What can mere people do to me?

DC Talk - I Wish We'd All Been Ready [Live]

The Beulah Land Way

Isaiah 62:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 No longer will they call you Deserted,

    or name your land Desolate.

But you will be called Hephzibah,[a]

    and your land Beulah[b];

for the Lord will take delight in you,

    and your land will be married.

Isaiah 62:4 New Living Translation (NLT)

4 Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City”[a]

    or “The Desolate Land.”[b]

Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”[c]

    and “The Bride of God,”[d]

for the Lord delights in you

    and will claim you as his bride.

I've been spending more time talking with the elderly on my new job.  It has occurred to me that one blessing of old age for a Christian is having more time to spend contemplating an eternity with Jesus.  It is a sweet and longed for hope.  On the other hand it is nothing but tragic for those who have gained years but not their salvation.  To be so close to Beulah land but not able to enter is truly terrible.  I'm glad that I'm not God.  I'm even more glad that God is just and merciful and can be trusted with each soul that He has created.  As I live this life, while I yet have breath, I must tell others the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Sweet Beulah Land [Live]

My Real Life

Heinz Held - Untitled (girl with balloon), ca. 1960. S)

Colossians 3:2-4 New Living Translation (NLT)
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[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

I like this picture of the girl with the balloon.  I find myself wondering what she was thinking about; and, as I wondered, the passage in Colossians came to mind.  My real life not of this earth but is safely hidden with Christ.  What will my share in his glory be?  This song was one of my favorites from childhood.  I'll just have to sing along...and enjoy the big hair of that decade.

A New Name in Glory [Live]

Work Like a Dog, Work for The Master

Colossians 3:23 English Standard Version (ESV)

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)

10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.[a]

Philippians 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV)

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

As much as I would like God to free shower me with cash to provide for my needs, He hasn't.  What He has done is provide me with a new position in my company which would give me much needed time on the clock.  I was told today that I have one more day of training before they turn me loose on the job.  That's good!  Now if I can only remember everything I've been taught that would be even better!  So prayers for my idling brain to get into high gear would be greatly appreciated; because I'm about to go out and work like a dog...but I do have a most excellent Master!

Because It's Presidents' Day

1 Timothy 2:1-4 English Standard Version (ESV)

Pray for All People

2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Isaiah 40:23 New King James Version (NKJV)

23 He brings the princes to nothing;

He makes the judges of the earth useless.

I have to give a shout out to my favorite President, Theodore Roosevelt.  When I  find myself dissatisfied with my President, I remind myself that he is but a caretaker of the office and God can still use him to do His will for our country.  So I pray for him and for our country.  I pray too that we may not wander so far from the God who has blessed us so greatly that we suffer the consequences of our wanderings.  

How Firm A Foundation - Michael Card 

Matthew West - Do Something

For Those Who Struggle ...

Romans 5:8 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Luke 12:6-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?[a] And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Psalm 139:13-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

13 For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

...to believe they matter.  You do.  You matter very much as you are very much loved.  

It's Sunday!

...and we're pretty in pink!

I Just Liked This...

Dave Barnes - God Gave Me You

My Jesus, My Love Song

Isaiah 12:2 New Living Translation (NLT)

2 See, God has come to save me.

    I will trust in him and not be afraid.

The Lord God is my strength and my song;

    he has given me victory.”

My husband tied up my computer last night making Valentines for his students and fellow educators.  I did like this one.  I also like this love song Phil Wickham sings to His Savior, because Jesus is also my love song.

You're Beautiful - Phil Wickham 

With God...There is no "He Loves Me Not"

I'll Walk With Him Always

Psalm 23 New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3     he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

    for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk

    through the darkest valley,[a]

I will fear no evil,

    for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

    forever.

It's an old-fashioned image of Jesus, our Shepherd, but I like it, because it takes me back to my childhood when I first learned of the tender care of my Jesus.  I have sweet memories of singing with my sisters, the song in the round, "The Lord is My Shepherd, I'll walk with Him Always."  I thought we sang it beautifully and I'm sure we did, because the songs of little children must sound especially sweet to the Savior's ears.

Sunday School kids singing "The Lord is my Shepherd"

Because He Lives [Live]

Kayla Jean Mueller

Kayla Jean Mueller

Psalm 116:15 King James Version (KJV)

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else….+ by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall. - Kayla Jean Mueller

I was saddened by the news of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller, the young American woman from Arizona, who was killed by the Islamic terrorists we know as ISIS or ISIL.  I would recommend reading the complete transcript of her profoundly moving letter written to her family while in captivity.  Now yet another young life has been taken and another family left to grieve.  We must support them all with our prayers.  

Mary- Patty Griffin

On My Own - Les Misérables (cover by Selah)

Well, I Blew This...

...today.  Sigh...I'll try to do better tomorrow.  

Matt Maher - Because He Lives (Amen) - Band Performance

It's Never Easy

"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.”

― Frederick Buechner, Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith

I uploaded a song by Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors today, "Ain't Nobody Got It Easy."  It's good to remember whenever I'm feeling like I've been singled out for some special grief to be delivered to my door.  Life isn't fair for anyone, which makes life fair for all.  Yes, God is good and good to all; but He is also righteous and just, and, thankfully, merciful.  I don't get what I deserve; but I do get what I don't deserve, grace, forgiveness and abundant love, because Jesus was ransomed in my place.    Yes, take heart and don't be afraid;  we're in this life together so represent Him well.

"Ain't Nobody Got It Easy" - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

It's Sunday!

The Singles are planning something special after service.

The Queen...

...is tired and must go get her beauty sleep.

Sister Wynona Carr - "Operator, Operator" (1954)

Ginny Owens | I Will Praise You (LIVE)

Because I'm Still A Little...

...under the weather.

Hosea 6:3 English Standard Version (ESV)

3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;

    his going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us as the showers,

    as the spring rains that water the earth.”

I'm Needing A Joyful Heart Tonight...

Proverbs 17:22 English Standard Version (ESV)

22 A joyful heart is good medicine,

    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

... because my stomach has called in sick.  

Your Joy - Josh Fox 

David Dunn - Today Is Beautiful (@davidtdunn) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Gotta Go!

Matthew 28:19-20 King James Version (KJV)

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Isaiah 6:8 King James Version (KJV)

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Anywhere With Jesus - Amy Grant

Crowder - My Beloved (Lyric Video)

When It Rains

No Ride Today by Charles Burton Barber

Matthew 5:45 English Standard Version (ESV)

45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Leviticus 26:4 English Standard Version (ESV)

4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

This lovely painting made me think of the Seahawks' 12's the day after the Superbowl, wondering why it rained on us.  (We were a little shell-shocked this morning and prone to cry, "Why? Why? Why?) Well it did and still does rain on all of us.  God is more concerned about how we'll handle the rain than whether we win or lose.  A little rain never hurt anyone anyway. 

"When the Rain Comes - Third Day 

Seahawks and the Super Bowl

Matthew 5:4 English Standard Version (ESV)

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

I was so glad that the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl that I didn't spend any time preparing myself for a loss.  So we are mourning in the Pacific Northwest today.  What are those seven stages of grief that we'll experience?  I know...I know...it was just a game; but when you're the 12th Man wearing blue every Friday during the football season, you feel like you've got a stake in the team.  My husband and I were screaming in disbelief at the TV and each other, "But the Seahawks don't lose!"  But lose they did.  Sigh.  I'd still rather be a Seahawks fan than any other team fan.  Go Hawks!

Crowder - Come As You Are (Music Video)

It's Sunday!

And this is just beautiful.

My Jesus Lights My Way

Isaiah 60:1 English Standard Version (ESV)

60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,

    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Psalm 27:1 English Standard Version (ESV)

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold[a] of my life;

    of whom shall I be afraid?

John 8:12 English Standard Version (ESV)

I Am the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Halo - Abigail Washburn