Todays Beginning

Monday... Ok, Sunday is over and it's now Monday. Look at this, Psalm 150:1 (MSG) says, "Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies." We tend to dictate how others do stuff dependent on our own ways of doing them. Yes, Church is a great place to praise God but so is being out in nature. Yes Sunday is a great time to praise him but it is not the only time. We each are uniquely created by God. Yes we praise him on the weekend in a building but we also can and need to praise him the rest of the week in other places besides a church building. Praise isn't based on where or when. Verse 3 says, "Praise him with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings." God loves it when we praise him. Do you realize he created trumpets and he created soft strongs? Maybe you were created for loud or maybe you were created for soft.  Now he doesn't limit us in how we praise him, he just wants us to praise him. Verse 6 (N...

Saturday... From my point of view it doesn't look new. It really doesn't. I'm looking out of the window of the Skye Canyon Starbucks at a parked RV that looks like it has been used and maybe abused. For sure it has a flat tire so it is not going to be driven off the parking lot. But it's possible that someone slept in it last night. Now I haven't been in it so I don't know what it is like on the inside. But from my point of view it doesn't look too good but what if a new owner took over that RV? Changes could happen on the inside.  Our lives can be like that, can't they? Now we would like to change our outside but time can hinder that but Christ can change our inside which affects our outside.. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 says, "So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new pe...

Friday... The weekend is coming. For many Friday is the last day of the work week and the weekend is coming. And they are so excited. I have a standard joke that I know some get tired of me saying. But I say that I never have a day off, I never have a vacation, I am always retired and it took me a lifetime to get this job. And all of that is true and for many that is what they are looking forward to. There are so many that would love to just quit what they are doing.  The truth is, I loved what I was doing and I had some problems with retirement until I realized that God still had a purpose for me and that I wasn't quitting, I was still living the life God had given to me.  Now there is this verse written by Paul in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians church. It is in chapter 4 verse 1 (NLT) and it says, "Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up." Another way to say the word way in this verse is ministry." We are not doing what we d...

Thursday... Here are two of them. As you read through the Scriptures you will pick some of them up. In Psalm 147 there are two of them. In verse 5 (NLT) two of God's attributes are mentioned. It says, "How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!" He is all powerful and all knowing. We don't serve a God who is weak and doesn't know anything.  The Amplified Bible says, "Great is our [majestic and mighty] Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is inexhaustible [infinite, boundless]." So what are you going through? Could it be that our God has what it takes to handle it? The answer is yes.  And then there is another one, down the way.  Look at this. Verses 8-10 (NLT) says, "He covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures. He gives food to the wild animals and feeds young ravens when they cry. He takes no pleasure in the strength of a hors...

Wednesday... Our load can get so heavy, can't it? And we need all the encouragement we need, don't we? Look at this. David in Psalm 146:1 & 2 (NLT) says, "I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever. I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever."  Now our praise seems to get our eyes off of the impossible situation that we are facing. And there are so many who are in impossible situations and that is all they see. And that is so understandable. But David is saying that we need to exalt not the problem but our God. And in that our faith will grow even just a little bit and our hope catches a spark. And in that our mind starts to look for solutions instead of discouragement. Verse 3 says, "Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness." Verse 5, "I will proclaim your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles." Think back on other impossible situations tha...

Tuesday... Our questions and answers tell a lot.  Psalm 145:2 & 3 (NIV) says, "Why do the nations say, 'Where is their God?'" The answer is, "Our God is in heaven;" and I love this, "he does whatever pleases him." Three important words here, why, where and whatever." First of all, "Why do the nations say?" Well, it may be because of what they are going through and they know where their gods are and how useless they are, so they want to know. Verses 4-5 says, "But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see." Yes they know where their gods are but they don't do anything, they don't make a difference. Maybe they are looking for a god that will make a difference in their lives. So why ? So many times we think that they are putting us down but maybe they really want to know. So then where, "Where is their God?" We don't see him so maybe...

Monday... Yes, we are. Yes, we are.  We may not think we are as important as many may think they are but we are important. Yes, we are. I was headed into Aspire Coffee this morning to get a cup of coffee and do my writing and I heard someone calling my name. It was the manager who came to tell me that the air conditioning was out and that it might be a good thing for me to go to Starbucks. Now she didn't need to do that but she did. She was thinking about my comfort. And I appreciated it. Now I wasn't the only one that she did that too but I did appreciate it. Look at this. Psalm 144:3 (NLT) says, "O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them?" He's talking about God here and he's talking about you and me.  It is true that we think about ourselves, it seems, all the time. We for the most part don't think about people around us, we don't even notice them. They are just mere mortals and I am rea...

Saturday... It doesn't just happen and it is worth it. Life is tough and God is with us, he has and will and is doing so much to make a difference in and through us. But there is a part for us in getting us out of difficult situations and getting us through and making a difference in this life God has given us. Now Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLT) says, "But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me - and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the others apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace." Yes we have a part to play. He gives us the opportunity and wants to see how we handle it.  I am a baseball fan and I have been a LA Dodgers' fan all the way back to when they were the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yes I am old. Well, I was watching them on TV the other night and one of the announcers said that this year's team has grit. He then explained that they were a team that never quit, tha...

Friday... Yes, it is personal but there is more to it. Yes, our relationship with God is very personal. I love my time each day that I commune with God but I also love the time that I share from that time. There is definitely a love relationship with God but from that comes a love for others. Here is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14. He has just shared the fact that love is greater than faith and hope. And he starts off this chapter in verse 1 (MSG) by saying, "Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does." So love is very important. But he goes on. Verse 2 says, "Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth. If you praise him in the private language of tongues, God understands you but no one else does, for you are sharing intimacies just between you and him." And those times of intimacy are very special and needed but they also can become very selfish and we can become very prideful. Look at me, Go...

Thursday... Could that be what we have become? Could it? The Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13 and it was a very important Word from God then as it is now.  He starts by saying in verse 1 (AMP), "If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God's love for me], then I become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]." And therein is our potential in our family, in our church, in our community and in our world.  Have we lost our influence because we are an annoying distraction? Could that be what we have become? Could it? Later in verse 7 he emphasizes what love does. He says, "Love bears all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening]." Could it be that during the time of pandemic which God allowed us to go through so we could show that we look for the best in each one, that we remain ste...

Wednesday... Would it be a good and profitable thing for us all to be alike? Our culture it seems thinks that it would be a good thing. I mean no more men and women, no more boys or girls. no more red or yellow black or white, no more rich or poor. We must all be alike. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians 12:18-21 (NLT) says, "But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, 'I don't need you.' The head can't say to the feet, 'I don't need you.'" Look how the Psalmist puts it in Psalm 139:13-16. He says, "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven toge...

Tuesday... They seem to go together. In Psalm 138 there are two verses that seem to go together. Verse 3 says, "As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength." And then verse 6, "Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud." Have you found that as soon as you pray, the Lord answers you? Now the proud would say, no, because I don't ask him, I know what to do so I don't need God and that could be the reason why he keeps his distance from you with your pride. Now God does answer us as soon as we pray but maybe the answer isn't what we want and so we disregard it. But the humble don't have all the answers and they have a trust in God and so they are in tune with God to the point that they hear the answer as soon as they pray. Now even if the answer isn't the one they want or they don't understand it, they trust God. He knows what is best and he knows what he is doing. Vers...

Monday... Encouragement has two sides to it.  One side is to be encouraged to live a different way, to see our actions from a different perspective and to be encouraged to not do something. Proverbs 17:5 (MSG) gives us a great encouragement. And we need it in the day in which we live. It says, "Whoever mocks poor people insults their Creator; gloating over misfortune is a punishable crime." I have kept coming back to this verse as I have read my three chapters today. So it seems like we must need this encouragement. It can be so easy for us as Christians to look down on other people but in reality we are insulting God. When we put down poor people, or people of other races and gloat over them, we are in fact insulting God, their Creator and that is not a good thing. It is a punishable crime. This verse is encouraging us to live a better way. We don't want to be punished by God, do we?  1 Corinthians 10:12 (NLT) says, "If you think you are standing strong, be careful ...

Saturday... Oh to have a good day, but. That word, but, can make such a difference. Oh to have a good day but I am miserable, but I am having so much trouble, but I am afflicted, but, but, but. See what I mean? Just to want to have a good day without the but can make such a difference. The difference comes from what God/god we put our trust. Proverbs 15:15 (NLT) says, "For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast."   The Message says, "A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song." The Amplified Bible says, "All the days of the afflicted are bad, but a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of the circumstances.]" Now look at this.  Psalm 135:5-7 (NLT) says, "I know the greatness of the Lord - that our Lord is greater than any other god. The Lord does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, and on the seas and in the depths. He cause the clouds to...

Friday... It is a tremendous tool, but. The writer of Proverbs 14:13 (NLT) shares, "Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains." Are you a laugher? Do you use it to take you through difficult times? It is a tremendous tool. But it can also hide pain that needs help in healing. I have found that there are times when I need to just give out a laugh. To see whatever has happened from a humorous perspective.  Again, laughter is a tremendous tool that God has given us to take us through life but there are also situations where we need help and grief is one of those areas, We really can't laugh away the grieving process.  When my dad was killed, I needed help. Too many times in grief people try to hide it and go it alone and get stuck at one of the steps. Like the anger step. If we don't work through the process we can have a deep felt anger that can stay with us and damage our life and our relationships. We can't hide our grief th...

Wednesday... It is good that we at least strive to do it. God gives each one of us a purpose, a reason to get up each morning and He wants us to strive to do it. Why do you get up each morning or do you have a problem at getting up? Well a purpose does it for me. Today our schedule is a little different so I got up earlier, now tomorrow is another day. Look at this. Proverbs 12:18 (NLT) shares a problem and then gives a solution and my purpose each morning and hopefully the rest of the the day is be a part of the solution. It says, "Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing." So much of the time we are a part of the problem and for sure we are the receiver. There is a whole lot of cutting remarks going on in our world. The Amplified Bible says, "There is one who speaks rashly like the thrust of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." So where do we start? We start with a time each day in God's Word and viewing it thro...

Tuesday... We can be all tied up in knots. Our anxiety it seems is in control. And it isn't just true of us but also those connected to us, but it doesn't have to be true.  Now David, the writer of Psalm 131 (NLT) gives us some reasons why this is true in us and also to those around us and shows us the remedy for it. He learned what to do and shares with us.  He says in verses 1-2, "Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty." Those are two things that God doesn't like. David goes on, "I don't concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead," Such a great word, "Instead, I have calmed myself like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother's milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me." And here is the key, here is what makes this possible in getting our act all together. It takes care of our pride, our haughtiness, our taking on more than we can handle, and it gives us calmness. Ver...

Monday... Just longing for the Sun to come up. I never have been a sentrie at night and had a longing for the Sun to come up so you can go home and go to bed. I mean, you are out there walking around and you really can't see anything and you are doing everything you can to stay awake. I can see that could be rough. I can see how your longing would help you handle the darkness. Well the writer of Psalm 130 says in verses 5 & 6 (NLT), "I am counting on the Lord, yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn." You're out there walking, waiting for the Sun to come up. Now you have put your hope in the fact that when the dawn comes something new will happen. For one you can see. You're counting on it. And for another, you can go home and relax and go to bed. "I am counting on the Lord, yes I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word." ...

Saturday... There are so many voices, there is so much to eat. Now there are so many choices in each day. There are so many voices that clamor for our attention. And our day and our life is dependent on which one we listen to or feed on. The Psalmist in Psalm 128:1-2 (AMP) says, "Blessed [happy and sheltered by God's favor] is everyone who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience], who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandment. For you will eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, you will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you." So what are we eating today, what voice are we listening to? Now the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 (NLT) says, "Dear brothers and sister, when I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren't ready for anything stro...

Friday... But we want it to be deep. There are so many that when comparing people say, "But they aren't deep." They are too shallow." That is said so much in the church. But look here at the Apostle Paul and what he said in his letter to the Corinthians. I Corinthians 2:1-2 (MSG) says, "You'll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God's sheer genius, I didn't try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did - Jesus crucified." He said, "I deliberately kept it plain." He also said, "I didn't try to impress you." The older I get the more I desire to deliberately keep it plain and simple. Life is so complicated, isn't it? He goes on to say, "I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate - I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it - and so nothing ...

Thursday... Why, oh why? But we can! Here, look at what the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 1:24-25 (NLT) says, "But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength." But the two verses right before this, verses 22-23 says, "It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it is all nonsense."  And I ask, why, oh why?  Now, I understand that many people didn't have the opportunity to be raised by Christian parents. They may have been raised by parents who put down the fact that some simpletons believe there is a God. They look down on believers so they never have given themselves the chan...

Wednesday... They definitely have a purpose. We just got back late last night from Denver, Colorado where our son, Brett and his family live. Denver on its western side has beautiful mountains that protects them from some of nature's storms. Usually the tornadoes happen out on the eastern prairie except this past month. There were trees all over the place even in their yard that came down. But it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Here in Las Vegas we also have mountains that protected us from some of the storms that come our way. And they can't be moved no matter the storm. The snow that we have seen all winter up on Mt Charleston is a reminders of the protection they have given to us. The snow piled high up there this past winter. Now the writer of Psalm 125 in verses 1 & 2 (AMP) says, "Those who trust in and rely on the Lord [with confident expectation] are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but remains forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the ...

Monday... Here I am again. This is a great place to be. I am sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Denver. The last time I check in here was in February, 2020. We lived here in Denver then and I spent a lot of writing and reading here in this Starbucks. There are two streams that come together outside this Starbucks in this downtown REI. I wrote many Just Continue That Thought Blogs here. So here I am again. This is great place to be. Now I am in the middle of Psalm 119 in my daily reading and this is also a great place to be. Look at these verses. Verses 129-132 (NLT) says, "Your laws are wonderful. No wonder I obey them! The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand. I pant with expectation, longing for your commands. Come and show me your mercy, as you do to all who love your name." And then over in Proverbs 3:1-2. It says, "My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many ...