We Get to be Co-Sufferers

Though I count it a great privilege to pray for the many needs that are sent my way via email or other means, there are times I feel overwhelmed at the magnitude of suffering endured by my fellow believers around the globe. The old saying that the devil never takes a vacation is certainly true, and yet.
Read more

Porch Swing Retreat

One of my favorite prayer and meditation locations is my old-fashioned porch swing. Often I do too much of the talking and not enough listening when I visit with God, so during this time of refreshing I just try to quiet my thoughts to get in touch with God's will for my life at this point in my journey.
Read more

Enjoying Your Color

By Jarrod Spencer –

Most of you have probably heard for the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” It is a song that I have sung for as long as I can remember. The main verse that is sung mentions that whether you are “red, or yellow, black or white, [children] are precious in His sight.” We normally associate this with the color of one’s skin, to which it doesn’t matter, because Jesus loves all.

I want to take the concept of color into a little bit different direction. We all are a different color and together we make an awesome looking rainbow array of colors in this world.

We all have different skills, talents, favorites, desires, passions, education background, family background, and the list could go on. This brings us to this week’s quote:

The white light streams down to be broken up by those human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern and be just that. – Charles R. Brown

If you’ve never had the chance to ‘break light’ with a prism, it is really a pretty cool thing to see. What seems like just ‘light’ becomes red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Plus, there are variations of each one. There are more intense colors within a color and more dull colors within a color.

Our world is much the same way. The light will come down and be broken up into all of us. People made up of all types of talents, passions, desires, goals, etc.

We are not all administratively minded.
We are not all passive.
We are not all OCD.
We are not all parents.
We are not all CEOs.
We are not all miners.
We are not all artists.
We are not all musicians.

…get the point?

You are a person of color. Not pertaining to the color of your skin, but to what you are ‘composed’ of, inside. Sometimes you’ve been molded to become a certain color, people may have encouraged you to pursue something that you wouldn’t have tried, so they helped you become the color you are.

Appreciate whatever color you are…whether you are red, or yellow, black or white, you are still “precious in His sight” and your color is who you are.

And who you are is awesome!

Enjoying my ‘color’!

“He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:18 NIV).

A Suggested Resolve

By Jarrod Spencer –

2013 is upon us. Did you resolve to do anything this year? How is that going? Of course, we’re only a few days into the year, so hopefully you haven’t lost any “battles” with your resolve thus far.

I didn’t make a resolution, just a goal to read through the Bible with a “One Year Bible.” It has been going well.

I came across this quote at the end of last year and thought it may be a good “resolve” for some to think about in 2013. It focuses on how to have a happy year and also how to create one for others.
With that said, let’s look at this poem from Edgar Guest…

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I’ve played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
– Edgar Guest

So often we think about how we can create a New Year’s resolution that will benefit ourselves. This poem suggests that when we go about the year let’s not just think of ourselves, but think of others.

How will you benefit others?

PRAYER: Dear God, Show me how to touch Your world in 2013.

Creative Jeans

By Janet Morris Grimes –

Cap’n Crunch and the Cereal Killers. The Dead Sea Squirrels. The Band Formerly Known as Sausage. The Dukes of Hazardous Material. Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program. Guitarantula. Shirley Temple of Doom. Vampire State Building. Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death. Amputatoe. Pooper Scooper of Love. Chronic Halitosis. Stuck Zippers. Gopher’s Bow Tie. Intellivisionairies. Elizabeth Taylor’s Husbands. Hockey Teeth. People With Chairs Up Their Noses. Pontius Co-Pilot.

These are all actual names of actual bands. Music groups. But I wonder what type of music they might offer.

I marvel at the creativity, the sense of humor, and the way a name can tell you nothing about what you might get if you open up the package to hear more. Am I likely to be moved by a song from the Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death or the Shirley Temple of Doom? Do the Dead Sea Squirrels have anything inspirational to offer me? Do I want to be a part of the Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program?

There are many times I hear a song on the radio for the first time and think, “Wow! I wish I had written that.”

Whether I love the music or not, I love the creative process and am drawn to it when I detect it in others. I may never hear a song by the Intellivisionairies or Guitarantula, but I am already impressed by them because of the cleverness of their chosen names.

Our God is the Creator of all things. He used color and scents and tastes to develop a beautiful and harmonious world. He stretched the neck of the giraffe and squished in the nose of the Pug for reasons only He will understand. He demonstrates a marvelous sense of humor and continues to create on a second by second basis.

I believe He created us to do the same, by sharing those same creative genes with us. Or is it creative jeans?

Regardless, I applaud those who find a way to do it. I may never be a fan of the music from The Band Formerly Known as Sausage or Pontius Co-Pilot, but I am a fan of the One who created them.

Because creating is one of the most worshipful things we can do, to lay our gifts, whatever they happen to be, at His feet.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for creating us to be creative. Use our talents to point others toward You.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).

« Previous Page — Next Page »