I Can, Through Christ

All of us realize very early in life that we can’t do everything. As hard as we try, there are just some things that we are unable to do. This is not saying there are not thousands of great and wonderful things we can do. In another sense, face it, as hard as you try, a five foot basketball player is not going to set the court on fire with his skills. It’s not because he is not talented or thinks he is good it. It’s just because there will always be much taller people who tower above him. For me, physics! Not going to happen. Not because I don’t think I can do. It’s based on me not wanting to. Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right”. Many things in life we won’t be able to do and that’s fine. Maybe we are not necessarily supposed to. Do you think God might give that to someone else?
A long time ago I heard the story of how God talked to a man and asked him to go out and push at the big stone in the field near his home. He went out day after day and tried but to no avail. After a time of pushing he went back in his home totally dejected. He said he was tired of pushing and not moving the rock. It was then that God spoke to him again and said, “Why have you stopped pushing”? The dejected man replied, “I’ve tried but I can’t move it”. God said to him, “I didn’t ask you to move it, I just asked you to push”.
Sometimes we all feel like that. Fortunately for us, we can read a couple of verses in our bibles to help us. First there is 2 Corinthians 12:9. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. Think about that for a day or two. Does it make sense to you?
The second one we need to imprint on our minds. It's found in Philippians 4:13. “I can do all this through him who gives me strength”. When we read this verse we are reassured that when we get to the end of our rope, we let God take the end.
Something to think about
Rob

What a Day That Will Be

It is never a good feeling when someone hurts our feeling. Then again, some people do it unknowingly. Maybe the line is true, ‘hurting people hurt people’. Knowing this makes me pray for a time when I won’t hurt others and I don’t feel hurt any longer. At the same time I also pray you don’t hurt or feel hurt either. Deep down inside of me is a longing to get to a place in life where I experience long warm sunny days and cool calm nights where warm temperatures surround us all with the feeling that it is well with my soul. A place where we don’t go to work but work at doing something that fulfills our deepest needs.  Have you felt that way? By the way, it’s not called retirement, trust me.

I remember listening to someone a long time ago, after an unfortunate incident say something like; “Oh well, what’s done is done”. God has given each and every one of us a heart that knows right from wrong. It’s there within us. He put it there. We know what it feels like to feel hurt at one time or another. It’s not nice and we would love for it to never happen again. Maybe that is why it has happened to us. It could be Gods way of teaching us how it feels so we never want someone else to feel as we did.

That dream, where we never feel hurt is actually coming. It comes when we step across the threshold of heaven and look into the face and eyes of Jesus Christ. When He calls us home we will start living this indescribable dream as we sing the words of James Hill’s 1955 song;

There is coming a day, when no heartaches shall come

No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye

All is peace forever more, on that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be.

In the meantime, I’m going to tenaciously try to bring a little bit of heaven into my life and the people I love. How about you?

Something to think about.

Rob

Morning & Evening of The First Day

One of the best times to notice delightful things is when you are all alone. Other times it's perfect to share the experience. It was that alone time the other morning as I drove to church.  The sky was that inky black as I started on my morning commute. Not much to notice on mornings like this. Didn’t matter which way you looked, it was black to the left and blacker to the right. That was until the wonder of nature reared its head just before I arrived in town. Off to the east I had opportunity again to notice that sliver of muted light off in the far distance, over across the barren snow covered farmer’s fields.

Gave me pause as I meandered through the words of the song written by Eleanor Farjeon, “Morning has broken, like the first morning”. Couple of hours earlier I had read about the incredible beauty of the first hour of dawn and the last hour of day. In those moments, depending on if you are an early bird or a night owl, we can catch a glimpse, not just of the beauty of nature but the brush strokes of our God.

Someone once said, “We can see God in everything we see, so don’t just find Him in nature”. That person knew the truth. I read in Genesis 5:1; When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. God’s greatest creation is you and me. The next time you meet someone; open your eyes to see in them something of God. Then ask yourself if that person sees something of God in you.

Morning has broken, like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning . . .

Something to think about.

Rob

Time In A Bottle?

There is a conspiracy afoot. I don’t know what’s going on but there seems to be a conspiracy against me. It’s not a serious one so do not get too alarmed. A year or so ago, I was usually having just over three hundred unread emails in my inbox at any one time.  I don’t know if I’m getting too many now or if I’m getting too far behind in my reading or if the latest email are way too long. The thing is, enough time to read these emails doesn’t seem to be showing up too often anymore. 

In spite of the growing number of emails that demand my attention, the number of unread email has just surpassed one thousand, eight hundred. Now, let me assure you, I have read every personal email that comes across my screen. The stuff I’m referring to are emails that I have yet to get to. I deem them important, and plan to get to them, but. . . . Here is the problem, after 5 hours each morning, looking, checking, prioritizing, and getting to them all is not making it. Remember, I think they are important.

The difficulty is, I’m trying my best to stay current.  You know, like how a doctor has to constantly be up to date with the latest break-through. Don’t say that I can just delete them all. Might miss something important and relevant. Just recently, one minister has started an email club. He will now read all the important emails for ministers and then do a Coles Notes edition of them all, for a price of course. Don’t know how he does it but I am guessing he can speed read. Something I can’t do even though I took training in it forty-four years ago.

I think that many of you are saying similar things. There are too many things to read and not enough time. Maybe we don’t, but then again, maybe we do. Just maybe we have enough time to read what’s most important. Maybe we need to start first with God who doesn’t expect us to do everything we think we should be doing. Maybe spending time with Him in prayer, reading just what He has put within our bibles and listening to His still small voice is what we need first think each morning. Could be after you have had your time together with God, you will discover you even have time for people, family and friends, face to face with the tv off, computers off and our cell phones off. Emails will still be there later. After all, didn’t we spend time with God and people before all these modern inconveniences?

Something to think about.

RB