The Dead End Face of God

A Dead End can be a great place for a young couple looking for a place to do some private parking and sneak in a smooch or two. Reaching a Dead End on the roads of life is usually a sign that your journey was a waste of time. A dream ended, a divorce happened, or maybe your company went bankrupt. We travel on Dead End roads in life everyday. The sour taste from a Dead End journey can be sweetened with the honey of wisdom from the lessons you learned along the path.

After traveling on a particularly painful Dead End life road, I was wallowing grief, pain and self pity. I thought I had been following a path that God wanted me to travel and it lead to a Dead End. In self righteous anger, I asked God:

 "If You knew this was going to be a Dead End road, why did you let me travel this way?" God's answer was simple (it always is!) "If you hadn't traveled on this Dead End road, you wouldn't have learned what I wanted you to learn."

On Dead End roads I have learned about things like humility, poverty, compassion, kindness, empathy, faith, appreciation, serving, communion, understanding and yielding. Dead Ends have birthed new understanding in my soul. I have come to a place of seeing God's face at the Dead End.

I've seen God's face in the hug of a widow whose husband was murdered while fixing his granddaughters pink bike. 

I've seen God's face in the tears of an innocent 17 year old girl wearing an orange jumpsuit sitting in jail.

I've seen God's face as I placed my hand on the chest of a 14 year old boy. I felt his final heartbeat. He was murdered while riding his bicycle.

I've seen God's face in the foggy look of an alcoholic looking for his next drink.

I've seen God's face in the reach of a man searching the dumpster for food.

I've seen God's face in the cries of a heroin addict at 3am asking for milk to calm her stomach.

I've seen God's face in the dirt of a freshly dug grave as I stood on the dirt of a freshly covered grave.

I've seen God's face in the voice of a ten year old girl who asked: "Why is my daddy's arm cold?" Her fingers were touching the cold arm of her father in a casket.

I've seen God's face in the words of an 8 year old boy as he says: "Come around this side of the casket. You can see where they shot my daddy's ear off."

I've seen God's face in the struggle of teenagers as they climb mountains.

I've seen God's face in a stillborn child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying on a nurse's cart.

I've seen God's face in the tears of a teenager who bore the stillborn child. 

I've seen God's face in a young man smiling as he shoveled horse manure in a barn. Tragedy had divided his family. 

I've seen God's face in the glass eye of a homeless man. His other eye had a tear in it because we remembered his birthday.

I've seen God's face in the darkened blood stains on city sidewalks. 

I've seen God's face in the broken hearts of fractured families.

I've seen God's face in the desperation of homeless teenagers searching for a safe place to lay their heads.  

I've seen God's face in the joy that comes from sharing burdens and struggles.

Someone sleeps here under the expressway. Can you see God's face.

 Have you ever seen what it looks like in the "home" of a homeless person. Under a viaduct, a block from 2 churches, 4 blocks from the City Mission and within a shadows distance of City Hall is a 'home" for the homeless. You may have driven by and looked up at what appears to be a garbage strewn mess. I found books, shoes, crutches, pillows, blankets and more. I flinched when I saw a pillow on top of concrete in what appeared to be a bed. Imagine your self esteem so low that this was the place you called home. I found a dime, something of value. God desires that none should perish - not even people who live under a bridge.

Authors Note: "When I read this chapter to my wife, we both balled our eyes out. We were overcome with deep pain. It's okay to cry. Don't hold back, don't hold it in, let the River flow!" 

 Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:13-14.

 Proverbs 24:13-14

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 26

¹³ Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
    honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
¹⁴ Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
    If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14

The Message (MSG)

26

^13-14 Eat honey, dear child—it’s good for you—
    and delicacies that melt in your mouth.
Likewise knowledge,
    and wisdom for your soul—
Get that and your future’s secured,
    your hope is on solid rock.

Proverbs 24:13-14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹³ My son, eat honey, because it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

¹⁴ So shall you know skillful and godly Wisdom to be thus to your life; if you find it, then shall there be a future and a reward, and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13-14

King James Version (KJV)

¹³ My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
¹⁴ So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

Dead Ends can become Honey Streets.

 Heart-Storming Challenge:

• In what adversity have you seen God's face?

• How can you give someone a heart-smile?

• How's your level of compassion as indicated by empathetic action (do you serve others?)

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
 Jesus loves you and so do we.

The Snitch

What crowd are you hanging with?
You could be found guilty by association.

A loud noise woke me out of a sound sleep. It was around 1:30am. I lifted my head to listen, thinking that I would hear more noise. Hearing nothing, I drifted back to sleep. When I finally got up and left the house, I saw the cause of the noise in the middle of the night: the back window of my van had been punched out. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind was: "Snitch."

Earlier in the week at our Youth Center, there was an incident that required me to act responsibly and call the police. A boy on a bike rode by as I stood on the curb talking to a cop in a patrol car. It didn't take long for him spread the word in "the hood." Later the next day, someone came into the gym screaming at me that I was a "Snitch!" It was easy to string the events together and know why my window had been punched out in the driveway of my home. Yeah, I felt violated, frustrated, hurt and intimidated. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.

A few of the guys were sitting in the Youth Center just clowning around. One guy was snoozing on a couch. Somebody thought it would be funny to harass him while he was sleeping. He woke up and got angry. This guy was a big teddy bear who would not harm anybody. He was a big guy and his mannerisms could be kind of intimidating to a smaller person. The antagonizer backed off and complained to another guy who stepped in to rescue the antagonizer. Angry words were exchanged and a threat was made. "Stay right there!" Screamed the guy who had stepped in as the supposed rescuer. He marched out of the Youth Center. The words: "Stay right there!" are verbal graffiti that convey the message: "I have a gun, or I'm going to get a gun." The message was clear that the big teddy bear guy was in trouble.

I was closing the Youth Center early that night as I had a doctors appointment. One of the requirements of working with young people is the ability to be intuitively aware of your surroundings at all times. Sensing the current emotional moods that will forecast the future emotional climate is imperative. Temperamental moods can erupt violently if they are not addressed immediately.  I listened and watched as I began to close the Center. I could see and hear danger signals. After ushering everyone up the stairs and locking the door, I turned and saw the angry guy who had yelled: "Stay right there!" The teddy bear guy had left and disappeared fearfully down the street. The angry guy was asking people if they knew where he was and they pointed down the street. He took off looking for him.

Everything I heard made me suspect that this could be a very volatile situation that could end up with someone hurt seriously or even wind up dead. I quickly made the decision to call the police. No one was hurt that day. I believe that I may have saved a life that day. The label of "Snitch" was placed on me for my efforts. Having my personal property violated at my own home was unnerving. I know of several murders that occurred after people testified regarding their knowledge of a crime. It's not easy to make the decision to call the police. It's easy to judge others. It can be downright scary to give information to the police if you think you or your family will be murdered. 

The only way I know how to have courage is through my faith in God. I know He's got my back.

It takes courage to go out on the edge of life.

Deuteronomy 31:6 New International Version

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

   

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:10-12.

Proverbs 24:10-12

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 25

¹⁰ If you falter in a time of trouble,
    how small is your strength!
¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death;
    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
¹² If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
    Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Proverbs 24:10-12

The Message (MSG)

Rescue the Perishing

24

¹⁰ If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
    there wasn’t much to you in the first place.

25

^11-12 Rescue the perishing;
    don’t hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, “Hey, that’s none of my business,”
    will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know—
    Someone not impressed with weak excuses.

Proverbs 24:10-12

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

¹¹ Deliver those who are drawn away to death, and those who totter to the slaughter, hold them back [from their doom].

¹² If you [profess ignorance and] say, Behold, we did not know this, does not He Who weighs and ponders the heart perceive and consider it? And He Who guards your life, does not He know it? And shall not He render to [you and] every man according to his works?

Proverbs 24:10-12

King James Version (KJV)

¹⁰ If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
¹¹ If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
¹² If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

 Jesus told us to love God and love our neighbor. Turning a blind eye and having a deaf ear to a neighbor in trouble is cowardly. 

Leviticus 5:1 The Message

“If you sin by not stepping up and offering 

yourself as a witness to something 

you’ve heard or seen in cases of wrongdoing, 

you’ll be held responsible.

Heart-Storming Challenge 

• How do you get your courage muscle pumped?

• Can you encourage someone to tell the truth when they are threatened?

• What are you afraid of?

• How do you face your deepest fears? 

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.  

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A YOUNG PERSON'S LIFE?

Too many young people are inmates.

As a Youth Director, one of the last places you would like to be is in Federal Court. There were approximately 15 young people led into court shackled in handcuffs with a chain wrapped around their back. Most were connected on conspiracy charges allegedly committed over a 12 year period. Some of these young people are only 22 years old. That means that they started their alleged life of crime when they were approximately 10 yrs old. The Prosecutor noted that in a similar case, an 8 yr old was selling drugs. 

I know that the job of a Prosecutor is to uphold the law and convict people. I feel bad that the rest of us have not done a good enough job of providing opportunities for these young people to lead law abiding lives. The courthouse we sat in supposedly cost over 164 million dollars. Do you know how many youth programs we could operate with a fraction of that?

What is the value of a young person's life? I won't find that value by searching in my own resentment. That would be like wallowing in my own self righteousness. I cannot stand up in court and yell: "This is unfair! Let these children go!" That may have worked for Moses when he spoke to Pharaoh, but God works differently in each new season. I need words of wisdom to give to the young people on both sides of the prison doors. It's easy to find shelter in the belief that says: "This happened because it's the will of God." It's an act of sweating spiritual bullets to put that belief into practice.

A cold heart can be a cause or an effect of a cold cell.

"You will be in jail until you figure out what God wants you to learn from your circumstances." That's what I told one young man who was among the accused. I also told him that we would be spinning our mental wheels by moaning about unfairness in the world. Let's focus on God's will. The greatest shapers of our world are those who have experienced the harshest adversity. Embracing brokenness is a thought from the mind of Christ. The will of God often seems antithetical to the desires of man. 

Would man choose to break down his muscle to make himself stronger?
Would man choose to create a tree that will lose it's leaves, appear dead and bud again?
Would man choose to break ground, let go of the seed and hope for growth? 
Would man choose to create a diamond from something that makes his life hard?
Would man choose to create a pearl from something that irritates him?
Would man choose to create a cocoon of struggle that will help give him freedom?

The Bible is a textbook that explains the will of God. Here is a passage from Romans 12:2 from both the King James Bible and The Message:

Romans 12:2

King James Version

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:2

The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

 You can know the will of God if you seek it.

I saw this sign on a lonely country road

as I drove home from a jail house visit.

Jesus is the only answer.

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:5-6.

Proverbs 24:7

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 23

⁷ Wisdom is too high for fools;
    in the assembly at the gate they must not open their mouths.

Proverbs 24:7

The Message (MSG)

22

⁷ Wise conversation is way over the head of fools;
    in a serious discussion they haven’t a clue.

Proverbs 24:7

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a ^[a]fool; he opens not his mouth in the gate [where the city’s rulers sit in judgment].

Proverbs 24:7

King James Version (KJV)

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Heart-Storming Challenge:

• How do you deal with unfairness in life?
• What does the "Will of God" mean to you?
• How can you have the "Mind of Christ?"
• Do you have a plan to read the Bible consistently?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we. 

 

A Laptop Death Threat

A homeless person can become a habitual hoarder

who will plunder anything just to have something.

My laptop was beside me as I sat in the drivers seat of our van. I was taking some young people home on our nightly neighborhood cruise after we close the Youth Center. I knew I would have to leave the van and escort a young girl up to the 8th floor apartment where she lived. I reasoned that it was safe to leave my computer case in the van because I trusted several of the young people in the van. There was one guy that I wasn't sure I could trust. I lost more than my computer that night.

After I escorted the girl up to her grandmothers apartment, I climbed back into the van. I saw that my computer case was still there and I even lifted the case to see if still had my computer in it. Once again my faulty reasoning told me that if the case had weight, that my computer must still be in there. After driving everyone home, I walked upstairs with my case and went to bed. Early the next morning, I had a strong urge in my gut to check the computer case. My laptop was missing. In it's place was a quart of oil that had been in my van. I had been fooled through a weighty deception.

This pelican is stealing a fish that we intended to release back in to the ocean!

 

It was easy to figure out who took the laptop. It is not easy to prove it and get it back. The people in the van that I did trust and believed that they would not steal from me told me who took the computer. They said that their lives had been threatened if they snitched. A death threat is something we take seriously here in the hood. I have watched people die. I have stood in the streets and watched hooded figures fire guns at their fingered targets. The people in the van would talk to me but not the police. Perhaps, I thought, if I talked to family members before I went to the police, they might persuade him to give it back. I was not looking to press charges at that point, I just wanted my computer back. I waited a couple of days but the family was unable to persuade the young man to return my stolen computer.

I did go and file a police report. They were not very adrenalized by the opportunity to retrieve my computer. After I filed the report, I never heard another word from them. I saw the young man on the side walk a few weeks later and I pulled over to talk to him - he ran. I was confronted by a young family member who told me I was not safe outside the Youth Center. He said this was his territory and I had disrespected his boy. He moved toward me in a threatening manner. I looked at him and said the same thing I've been saying for over 10 years: "There is something you need to know. Jesus put me here and only Jesus can take me out. If you think He's going to use you to take me out, go ahead because I don't care. If I die today - 'Cool beans!' It doesn't matter because I know where I'm going if I die today or I die when I'm 115 years old. I'm going to heaven!" At that point he backed off and another guy said this wasn't his fight and that he should just leave. I saw that young man several years later and he is doing good in life. He even gave me his business card. I never saw the thief again.

There are some people in life who we cannot trust. Sometimes in our Youth Center, we are on high alert when certain people walk in. We watch our phones, purses, wallets and anything else that can easily be pilfered. A reputation of being a schemer and a thief is like having a label on your forehead - nobody trusts you. As far as I can remember, that laptop was the last thing I ever had stolen from me at the Youth Center. I've developed a lot more wisdom that helps me identify potential schemers and thieves.

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:8-9

 Proverbs 24:8-9

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 24

⁸ Whoever plots evil
    will be known as a schemer.
⁹ The schemes of folly are sin,
    and people detest a mocker.

Proverbs 24:8-9

The Message (MSG)

23

^8-9 The person who’s always cooking up some evil
    soon gets a reputation as prince of rogues.
Fools incubate sin;
    cynics desecrate beauty.

Proverbs 24:8-9

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁸ He who plans to do evil will be called a mischief-maker.

⁹ The plans of the foolish and the thought of foolishness are sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men.

Proverbs 24:8-9

King James Version (KJV)

⁸ He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.
⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

Heart-Storming Challenge:

• Can you identify untrustworthy habits?
• Do you cut off scheming people from your family?
• When do you let go when you are in a dangerous situation?
  

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we. 

You're Not My Father!

Authority can be a nasty word. Especially in a place where the authority seems to be the gang with the most guns or the judge who hands down your jail sentence. For many generations now, young men have grown up abandoned by absentee authority figures. Mom's have had to play the role of authority. Most have done a great job at wearing the hats of both mom and dad. Still, the dad walked out on a family. Abandonment is like the first shot in a war - the war of survival in a young persons life. "You're Not My Father!" That's both a battle cry and a plea for love and discipline. Do you know how to balance the battle between love and discipline? The secret is combining them.

Climbing the mountains of life requires a Fathers love and guidance.

Acting as an authority based on actions of unconditional love is a struggle.

Step off the trail and you might lose your life over a cliff.

An authority figure is compelled to selflessly persevere

 in the best interests of those he disciplines.

For those who persist, the view from the top is unbelievable!

What is discipline?

Administering discipline is a necessary means of instructive authority. Discipline could be described in the following ways: 

1. A controlled behavior; self-control.
2. An enforced compliance or control.   
3. A systematic method of obtaining obedience.
4. A state of order based on submission to authority.
5. A punishment to train or maintain control.
6. A set of rules regulating behavior.

What is love?

The best description of love is from the Bible:

1 Corinthians 13 The Message

The Way of Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹ When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
¹² We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Yesterday (7-10-13) I was cleaning out my office at our Youth Center. God told me to clean it out awhile ago and I've been dragging my feet. Removing memories and moving on is hard. I came across a poem written years ago by a 13 yr. old girl. Her words included a phrase that said: "A friend always tells the truth even when it hurts." True love will risk anything in the best interests of the person they love. Discipline is teaching a more excellent way that will result in the ability to love in a greater way.  Yes, free will does enter into the equation. People become bitter or better; it's a choice of whether or not you will learn from discipline or become resentful and yell something like: "You're not my father!"

How do you know when to use discipline?

 The Holy Spirit is a great revelator. Patiently ask God for the wisdom to discern how and when to administer discipline. You will know and feel in your gut when something is wrong with the way someone is behaving. Love is like a tree that soaks up the rain of empathy and understanding. Will you selflessly give shade, shelter and allow nourishment to flow to a sapling? Do you have the courage to speak into a storm of arrogant pride? Will you risk shedding relationship leaves and believe in the spring like buds of behavioral change? The whole process starts with your own character. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. The best teachers are those who teach from experience and provide a path of self application for those they teach.

An old, dead tree is an example of wisdom. It's still standing providing life in many ways. People with wisdom may appear lifeless to brash young people who think they know it all. This tree is still standing tall in a graceful state of decline. Discipline stands tall in the face of stormy resentment. Love will find a way.

 The Steps of Disciplining through Love

• Identify the need for discipline. Sometimes behavior can be corrected through self realization without any need for intervention by others. Is the behavior infraction worth causing conflict over? If someone is slowly learning about their own character through trial and error without hurting others, leave them alone. 
•  Spend time in prayer. After you have noticed a behavior that you believe needs discipline, ask God how you should respond. I should not have to tell you that some responses are immediate. If you have a regular prayer life, your response is most generally reflective of your own personal relationship with God. Patiently pour your heart into God's cup and you will receive direction. Journaling is perhaps the best method of giving orderliness to the message  God wants to give you.
• Begin with a compliment. After you have your answer and you need to move forward with discipline, approach the person you love with a compliment. Find something positive they're doing and praise them for it. Tell them how much you admire the way they are maturing and growing. Explain to them that you want to be their partner and help them grow even more. Try to smile as they scowl through untrusting eyes. (Most children do not trust adults.) Tell them gently what part of their behavior needs to be changed. Explain what consequences will accompany their continued misbehavior. Repeat several times that you love them. In our Youth Center, I always tell children: "Jesus loves you and so do I." It doesn't matter if they are yelling at me or not. Do not expect an appreciative smile!
• Be Patient yet firm. The growth of trees depends on condition and maintenance. The atmosphere of love that you create will help people grow. All people grow at different rates, even the children in your family. A bamboo tree can grow as fast as 39 inches in 24 hours. The slowest-growing tree is a white cedar in Canada. After 155 years, it grew to a height of 4 inches. I hope your discipline through love will grow fruit before 155 years!

  

  If you look closely at this picture, you will see a deer peering intently through the foliage. Even when you think a child is ignoring you behind an impenetrable fog of defiance -

  BE DILIGENT!  DON'T GIVE UP!

  PERSEVERE IN LOVE!

Today's Wise Saying is from Proverbs 24:5-6.

Proverbs 24:5-6

New International Version

Saying 22

⁵ The wise prevail through great power,
    and those who have knowledge muster their strength.
⁶ Surely you need guidance to wage war,
    and victory is won through many advisers.

Proverbs 24:5-6

The Message (MSG)

21

^5-6 It’s better to be wise than strong;
    intelligence outranks muscle any day.
Strategic planning is the key to warfare;
    to win, you need a lot of good counsel.

Proverbs 24:5-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵ A wise man is strong and ^[a]is better than a strong man, and a man of knowledge increases and strengthens his power;

⁶ For by wise counsel you can wage your war, and in an abundance of counselors there is victory and safety.

Proverbs 24:5-6

King James Version (KJV)

⁵ A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
⁶ For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Heart-Storming Challenge:

• What helps you grow your level of patience?
• What part of your own character could use some discipline?
• Can you define humility?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we. 

Heart Chambers of the Morning Star

Your heart is the place where the morning star of life rises over your day. Newly risen thoughts appear over the mountains of your unconsciousness. What or who is your morning star? What is important in your life? What have you allowed to become the primary focus in your heart? What have you allowed into the chambers of your heart?

Your heart is a house of many rooms. When the content of those rooms is visible to other people, your morals and values are on display through your actions.

Proverbs 4:23 Amplified Bible

²³ Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

The front door of your heart is the gateway where seeds flow into your heart. If you are not diligently guarding that entrance, darkness has a way of slinking in. Listening to negative people can influence your own tongue. What seeds are growing in your heart?

Proverbs 4:23-27 The Message

^23-27 Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
    that’s where life starts.
Don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth;
    avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
    ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
    and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
    leave evil in the dust.

The Living Room of your heart is where you entertain friends and social acquaintances. There are voluntary associations and involuntary associations. There are some folks you have to be around whether you want to or not. People like fellow employees, grocery clerks or even church folks would generally be classified as involuntary associates. There are other associations that you have actually made a choice of inviting them into your heart - that's voluntary. The people you spend time with and allow to influence your way of thinking hang out in the Living Room of your heart.

Jesus is the Bright Morning Star.

Will you climb the mountains of life

 to see the Bright Morning Star?

There are many other rooms in your heart. 

• The dining room is a place of digestion - do you digest good or evil?  If you allow gossip into your gut it will come out of your mouth. Character defamation is like a birds regurgitation. Swallow some gossip, mix it with some dirty laundry and up it comes even juicier as you slander it on even thicker.
• The bedroom is a place of intimacy - with God and people. Will you allow just anybody to get intimate with you because you are lonely? Patience would say: "Guard your heart. Intimacy is reserved for "Till death do us part" kind of commitment. 
• The bathroom is for confessing and cleansing. Everyone needs a good cleansing on a regular basis.
• The basement or attic are rooms of storage. Are you keeping good memories or harboring grudges? Cobwebs of failure can cause entanglements of negativity that spin through all the chambers in your heart.

Proverbs 23:7

King James Version (KJV)

⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:   

Even in the cold of winter, a warm heart will grow.

A rock hard heart spreads waves of gossip.

A compassionate heart drops slander in the sand at the waters edge.

The tide of grace washes it all away.

Heart Nuggets

• Wisdom allows you the knowledge of making good choices.
• Wisdom allows you to discern what room to allow somebody to enter.
• Relationships are built through wisdom.
• Houses and hearts need maintenance.
• Some people allow you into their heart to gain access to your heart so they can spread the woundedness of their own heart into your heart. God can heal.

Today's Saying is from Proverbs 24:3-4.

Proverbs 24:3-4

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 21

³ By wisdom a house is built,
    and through understanding it is established;
⁴ through knowledge its rooms are filled
    with rare and beautiful treasures.

Proverbs 24:3-4

The Message (MSG)

20

^3-4 It takes wisdom to build a house,
    and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms
    with fine furniture and beautiful draperies.

Proverbs 24:3-4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

³ Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation],

⁴ And by knowledge shall its chambers [of every area] be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 24:3-4

King James Version (KJV)

³ Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
⁴ And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Heart-Storming Challenge 

• How do you clear your attic? 
• Do you ask God to bless your thought life?
• Do you put a stop to gossip?
• How do you maintain your heart?
• What do you do to maintain your closest relationships?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.

ANGER SPILLS BLOOD

The body was still laying at the spot where he had been fixing his granddaughter's pink bike. The Detective wearing plastic gloves lifted the sheet covering his body, looking for clues regarding the angle and trajectory of a bullet. A fire truck stood nearby with firemen poised to hose off the bloody sidewalk. Yellow "Crime Scene" tape kept a large crowd away from the area of investigation. Somebody had fired a gun and killed a grandfather fixing his granddaughter's pink bike. Why did he die?

A burned out tree is a cairn of carelessness.

There are sometimes in life when there are really no words to say. Praying almost seems hypocritical in the face of such extreme personal agony. Yet, praying was the only sensible thing we could do. We hugged and cried as we sat in a state of disbelief. Voices in the large crowd began to create a history with words that hung in mid air: "He was a great neighbor and friend." "He would do anything to help you." "He was a wonderful Dad." "He was a loving Grandfather." "He worked really hard when he was my employee." Why was such a good man dead?

One moment of anger can burn many futures.

A little over a year later, a man was arrested and subsequently convicted of murder. From testimony at the trial, we know that anger caused a man to pull the trigger that resulted in a good man's death. The day before the murder, the convicted man had an argument with another man. He wanted revenge. Most of the witnesses for the Prosecution were involved in illegal activities and were either currently incarcerated or had pending charges. It seemed like everyone involved in the trial had something in their lives that helped beget anger and violence. Some of the words used during the trial were: drugs, gangs, guns, stealing, jail sentence, - any one of those words could lead to another of those words. On some days when the drug business is good and you're in the same gang, you've got peace. That doesn't last long. There's always the threat of being arrested and subsequently betrayed by someone looking to save their own skin. There really is no honor among thieves and murderers. Anger amidst people involved in illegal activity lead to the death of an innocent man.   

There is always hope amidst barrenness.

Today's Wise Saying is taken from proverbs 24:1-2.

Proverbs 24:1-2

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 20

24 Do not envy the wicked,
    do not desire their company;
² for their hearts plot violence,
    and their lips talk about making trouble.

Proverbs 24:1-2

The Message (MSG)

Intelligence Outranks Muscle

19

24 ^1-2 Don’t envy bad people;
    don’t even want to be around them.
All they think about is causing a disturbance;
    all they talk about is making trouble.

 

Proverbs 24:1-2

Amplified Bible (AMP)

24 Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them;

² For their minds plot oppression and devise violence, and their lips talk of causing trouble and vexation.

Proverbs 24:1-2

King James Version (KJV)

24 Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.

² For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

The very first recorded murder in the Bible was caused by jealousy and anger. Here is what the Amplified Bible records in Genesis 4:5-8:

⁵ But for ^[a]Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed.

⁶ And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected?

⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

⁸ And Cain said to his brother, ^[b]Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

 Anger rooted in disrespect will destroy.
 
 Heart-Storming Challenge:

• How do you control anger?
• When do you feel disrespect? 
• Can you identify activities that lead to envy of evil?
• Is it easy to apologize when you have disrespected someone?
• How do you "master the sin at your door?"

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.