Little Jason

By Carin LeRoy –

Years ago when teaching Kindergarten, I had the cutest little boy in my class. Jason was a lovable little guy and would walk into class and say, “Mrs. LeRoy, I love you!” His smile was contagious, but he had a big problem. He couldn’t sit still. His constant wiggles and lack of attention provided many distractions for the other children in the class. Some days I needed to send him out to sit in the office so the other students could concentrate. As he would walk down the hall to sit in the office, he would turn to me and say, “But Mrs. LeRoy, I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” As hard as he tried he couldn’t sit still. He wanted to learn, but his mind wouldn’t let him.

That reminds me of our lives as believers. God commands us to live holy lives, but we stumble along trying to meet God’s standard of godly living and many times fall short. Even the apostle Paul said, “For what I do is not the good I want to do” (Romans 7: 19 NIV). He saw the sinful nature at war with our desire to please and follow God. It is a struggle we all have to face. We are much like little Jason as we continually try hard, but often fail to get it right.

I’ve often wondered where the years have taken Jason in life. By now he would be a matured adult, and those wiggles would have disappeared. In a similar way, as we mature in Christ and become sensitive to His guidance, we learn to keep those sinful desires under control.

Charles Stanley says, “Every believer is indwelt by God’s Spirit, but the extent of His rule is determined by the Christian’s freedom to comply.” It’s our choice whether we will let God have control or give in to those desires. Let’s choose to live a life that is dependent upon the power of God.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that I have Your Spirit to guide me and prompt me as I walk through life. Thank You that I can depend on Your power to live an obedient life. Help me to learn to be sensitive to Your leading each day.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8: 5, 6 NIV).

You Know It’s Too Hot When…

By Jodi Whisenhunt –

You know it’s too hot when…

1 ) You fry your morning eggs on the front walk.
2 ) Your neighbor brings over cookies she baked in her car.
3 ) Your swimming pool turns into a hot tub.
4 ) Your hot tub is bubbling and it’s not turned on.
5 ) Your aerosol sunscreen shoots flames.
6 ) Your dog sheds her coat bald when she steps outside.
7 ) You drop two pounds in perspiration just by walking out the door.
8 ) You get a second degree burn when you touch the handle of your car door.
9 ) The hummingbirds are fanning the squirrels.
10 ) The ice cream truck melts.

Temperatures have soared across the country this summer, breaking longstanding records in several states. I live in Texas, and you’d think I’d be used to the heat, but I am longing for the cooler days of fall. Until they arrive, however, I must keep in mind that the God of creation sets the earth’s thermostat.

Although I don’t recall Ecclesiastes mentioning a time for sweltering heat, the Lord reminds us in Job 38:22-35 just who does ordain the weather: “Have you entered the storehouses of snow or seen the storehouses of the hail…What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm…Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” God basically slams Job with tell me, man, do you control all this? Job’s reply, of course, is, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand” (Job 42:3). I’d be quaking in my boots too, Job!

God knows what He is doing, even with the heat, so I will be grateful that the seasons change, and I will thaw my chills in the summer sun. Before I know it, leaves will blaze with autumn color and snow will again fall. You know, it’s only four months till Christmas!

I Love a Parade

By Cheri Cowell –

I love a parade. I love the excitement that builds as you wait along the parade route for the police car’s sirens signaling the start of the big event. I love the clowns, the floats, the antique cars, the equestrian units, and of course, the bands.

For many people the bands are the highlight of the parade, but for me the highlight has to be the children. There is something magical about a parade to a child. With every passing band, float, or clown a child’s eyes fill with wonder and awe.

That same childlike awe and wonder is what the prophet Isaiah was trying to stir in us as he wrote about Christ’s coming. When you hear these words does your spine tingle and your eyes fill with wonder and awe at the thought of such a spectacle?

In studying this passage, it is interesting to note the darkness and gloominess of chapter 59 that gives way to the Light in chapter 60. In this chapter Isaiah calls on the people of Israel to “look up” from their sad situations and “see” the Light piercing the darkness. What a great image for those of us in the midst of our own “sad situation.” This implies that even though the Light is currently filling the earth some of us could actually miss it if our eyes are cast downward.

Where are your eyes focused today? Are they focused down on all that is wrong, or up where God’s light pierces the darkness?

PRAYER: Lord, God, how I long for Your return. Excitedly I await the trumpet sounds signaling Your entry, and ask that in the meantime You help me to keep my eyes lifted up away from everyday struggles and toward You and Your kingdom. I wait for the beginning of the Grand Parade.

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you” (Isaiah 60:1-2 NIV).

Sunday Inspiration

By Hally Franz –

A vibrant and beautiful spring season, middle-school kids and pop culture, good song lyrics and travel—these are a few of my inspirational things. Here’s your challenge for the day. Try singing that like Julie Andrews would have as she romped around a bedroom wrapped in drapes or flitted around Austria. I couldn’t get it quite right.

Who doesn’t savor blooms bursting forth with color and smell, like those we enjoyed during this year’s exceptional spring? How refreshing is a change of scenery? Are we not thankful for ballads that bring tears to our eyes? Young teens are full of entertaining comments, and the entertainment industry never fails to shock. These often provide things to write about. However, when these usually reliable arenas of material fail me, I can count on Sunday service for some good food for thought or a message to chew on.

This past Sunday our minister, LaMar, introduced his lesson on Acts 14 with some comments about the wonder of a child. He reminded us how toddlers find cardboard boxes and cords just as interesting as high-dollar toys and giant stuffed animals. And, he shared an experience he had in India as a young adult. He observed a young person hold a Bible with pure unadulterated excitement and joy that may never be seen in our country, where we take our Bibles for granted.

As we grow older, things that once seemed exciting become ordinary, places once grand become small. When we talk about the “eyes of a child,” we feel melancholy, because we know our adult eyes often fail to appreciate what we see or even recognize what is in our presence. Once those childhood days of discovery are behind us, we can’t get them back, but we can pray that God will help us see each day anew with a grateful and inspired heart.

Honestly, there are those dreary days when my own kids annoy me, and the outside world is just discouraging. I can’t travel more than a few times each year, and some days there isn’t anything I enjoy on the airwaves. On Sunday mornings, though, it is hard to leave worship without a feeling of hope. His word, well-written and artfully-delivered truths, and the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ; these are a few of my most wonderful blessings.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me always appreciate the wonder in Your creation, and remind me daily that the greatest inspirations come in Your Word, readily and freely available to me whenever I may need it.

“Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen” (Psalm 105:4-6 KJV).

Looks are Deceiving

By Liz Cowen Furman –

The day before we were to leave for home from our little family business in Dubois, Wyoming I ventured down to the old garage that houses many of my father-in-law’s treasures, God rest his soul.

Remembering that the roof leaked last winter, I wanted to get a patch on it so more items wouldn’t be lost to the mold and mildew pit. I climbed up the ladder and peered over the ridge. It didn’t look too bad so I walked over to the spot I knew from the inside of the garage had the leak and started to sweep it off so I could roll the liquid patching material onto it. Soon I felt a squishy feeling under my tennis shoes.

A few sweeps later I stepped and crashed in up to my ankle. Slowly, carefully I pulled my foot out of the hole and crawled to the edge of the garage roof. I sat on the brick edge thinking that it didn’t look that bad from the outside. Still because of what just happened, I laid a board on the roof to walk out on then peeled back the shingles. Much to my chagrin, under the seemingly intact roofing, were water damaged rotten boards. Some places were rotted half way through the beams.

I had purchased $50 worth of patch material to hold the water back for the winter and was planning to take the morning to complete my patching job by noon. Two and a half days and $585 later we have a new roof on the old garage. We were late leaving for home, and spent more than quadruple our planned budget for the project. All that after our good friend donated the shingles so we didn’t have to purchase that part of the roofing. We have a standing joke at our old motel that whatever job you plan to do you should double the amount of time and triple the budget it will take to get it done. One thing about the motel, I have learned how to do so many repairs, plumbing, tiling, painting and now roofing, to name a few.

Sometimes I get the feeling our hearts are like that old hail damaged roof. From the outside, we look like we just need a few repairs. But lurking under our Sunday smiles lies a heart that is black and rotten and in serious need of an overhaul. Thank goodness our Savior is up to the task of heart overhauls.

He performed heart overhauls for the people of Israel and He will do it for us. Check out what God’s Word says in Ezekiel 11:18-20a: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

Just like the new roof will protect the treasures in the old garage until we can get in there and take care of them, so our hearts will serve us well after the Father goes in and does his magic of overhauling them. I can think of few things I want more for me and those I love than that… “They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

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