I’M NOT AFRAID TO DIE Part I

     My grandma lived to be almost 103 yrs. old. She was famous in our family for many things including fruitcakes at Christmas! There’s two things that really stand out in my mind about Gram.
               1. She was always shrinking (all old-heads shrink!) My cousin Tom originated her nickname: “The Incredible Shrinking Grandma!
               2. One of Gram’s favorite sayings was: “There’s better days ahead!”
It didn’t matter what life threw at Gram, she just knew there were better days ahead. I tell folks I believe I’m going to live to be 114 yrs. old. It’s possible, I’d only outlive Gram by 11 years! If I live to be 114 or if I die in the middle of writing this, I’m happy either way. There’s better days ahead!
     Some folks are afraid of suffering, dying a horrible death or losing their independence by living in a nursing home. I’m sure none of those would be your preference and they wouldn’t be mine either. We will not avoid bad things by worrying about them.
     While it is true that healthy life styles and choices can help us live longer and healthier lives, we have no control over many things that affect us. We do have control to accept things that will guarantee there’s better days ahead.
     Grace is the answer. As a kid, I knew grace as the prayer before meals. As an old-head, I know grace to be the underlying confidence in knowing the hope of better days ahead. I have to tell you, I’ve already been dead. My life before understanding and knowing how to grow in grace was a death march. I made immoral choices. Some things I did required no decision making whatsoever. I did things without thinking. Bad habits became rationalized as acceptable behaviors.
     Grace is like a river. You can walk on the dry land of worldly behavior, but sooner or later your feet will get washed as the river of grace rises above your conscience. The wrongs of your life will float to the surface. Your heart will feel dirty and heavy laden. Sin will drag you under. Grace will make you float.
     God set a boundary for His river of grace. The way I see it, that boundary is our acceptance. Accept grace and be free, or reject grace and live in fear. Grace is not just something we say. Grace is the acceptance of a gift from God. That gift is better days ahead wrapped in our faith in Christ.
     We can’t earn grace. We can’t work hard enough to gain grace. God knows we’re all gullible people. We all fall into temptation as many times as a baby falls trying to walk for the first time. Grace grows in us and through us as our faith becomes stronger. God loves us so much as a Father, he gave his Son as a role model and mentor. Jesus taught people, healed people, served people and in the end of a new beginning, He died for people. Grace paid the penalty of our dirty deeds and made a way for us to have better days ahead.
     If I die today or when I’m 114 yrs. old, it’s all cool beans because by grace I’m saved and I’ve got better days ahead!

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#ywap4God #JLYASDW

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
9:40 AM MST

“From Death to Life
In the past your spiritual lives were dead because of your sins
and the things you did wrong against God.
Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives.
You followed the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth.
That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God.
In the past all of us lived like them.
We lived trying to please our sinful selves.
We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted.
We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature.
We were the same as all other people.
But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much.
We were spiritually dead because of the things we did wrong against God.
But God gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace.
And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens.
He did this for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.
He did this so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace.
He shows that grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.
I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believe.
You did not save yourselves.
It was a gift from God.
You cannot brag that you are saved by the work you have done.”
Ephesians 2:1-9 ICB

So I Said To The Three Legged Dog.....

          The Arizona Trail can be a fairly busy thoroughfare on fair weather days. Some folks are thru-hikers trekking the entire 800 mile Trail from Mexico to Utah. Most people I come across are just out for some woodsy exercise, and a fair number of them have dogs.
          Dogs come in all sizes and temperament's. In six weeks of hiking various sections of the Trail, I think there's only one dog who looked at me in an unfriendly way as its owner kept a very taut leash. Sometimes you'll see the same dog twice on an out-and-back section of an adjoining trail. One dog growled at me the first time and seemed happy to see me the second time around. Don't judge a dog on first impressions (or growls!)
          Some dogs love attention. I read once where dogs love to be hugged. Whenever I'm pretty sure that a dog won't attempt to remove my nose when I get too close, I bend down and give a dog-hug. Yesterday two ladies were being lead by a happy three-legged dog on a leash. They were coming down the trail toward me and this dog looked happy! That dog reached into my heart and brought up a happiness that spread throughout my entire body!
          So what did I say to the three-legged dog? "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!" Those words just leaped out of my mouth straight from my heart. I never asked the two ladies why their dog had only three legs. I didn't pity a poor dog missing one of its limbs. The beauty of the moment of being happy in the middle of the forest was all that mattered.
          I said it several more times, "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!" I got down on my knees with a smile and gave a dog-hug. The dog and I smiled in each others eyes as we got nose to nose. The dog gave me a ton of air-kisses with its tongue as the tail wagged like a tree branch in a wind storm.
          Both of the ladies smiled. One of them said, "He needs to hear that!" I gave the dog appreciation and approval just the way he was. God loves us like that - unconditionally. There is a time to ask about an apparent deformity, and there is a time to ignore a deformity. Some folks need an outlet to share their tragedy, and some want to be seen as normal people who've overcome and continue to persevere through a hard time.
          My approach is not the only correct approach when you meet an animal or a person who's experienced hardship. I think the key is to love everyone as they are, unconditionally. Go the extra mile and let your encouraging words be like a hug that gives acceptance. Be real, be authentic, don't be afraid to get personal. If you get rejected, it's okay - it may be a wound that you're the first person who's applied healing words. They may have a history of being stabbed in the back by everyone they've allowed within close proximity to their heart. Show love in what you do and say, unconditionally - don't expect a response to your words of love. They may be received now appreciatively, or they may be rejected only to become seeds of gratitude sometime later in life and you won't see it.

"I may understand all the secret things of God and all knowledge
and I may have faith so great that I can move mountains.
But even with all these things,
if I do not have love, then I am nothing.
I may give everything I have to feed the poor.
And I may even give my body as an offering to be burned.
But I gain nothing by doing these things if I do not have love.
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous,
it does not brag, and it is not proud.
Love is not rude,
is not selfish,
and does not become angry easily.
Love does not remember wrongs done against it.
Love takes no pleasure in evil,
but rejoices over the truth.
Love patiently accepts all things.
It always trusts,
always hopes,
and always continues strong."
1 Corinthians 13:2-7 ICB

Thanks for your time. 

Go do something nice for somebody.

Jesus loves you and so do we.

November 11, 2019

9:04 AM MST

#ywap4God 

#JLYASDW

There's A Swirling of Revelation In The Air

Amid the accusations that fill the atmosphere of our lives is coming a revelation of God's Truth.

Those who accuse will be exposed.
Those who cast shame will have their secrets revealed.
Those who cry guilty will be found out as liars.

Deceit is in the air.
Hypocrisy is in the water.
Fault-finding is in the land.

The Truth that's been hidden will no longer be silent.
The Son will rise in the hearts of liars.
The Holy Spirit will flood away the rivers of shaming.

The powers of the world will fall on bended knee.
The towers of the world will be overwhelmed with Truth in the face of fake news.
A more excellent Way of Love will be revealed to man and woman alike.

God is cleaning house and will burn away the chaff of counterfeit motives.
He will bring all darkness into His Light.
The church and the government are His.
Moral and spiritual integrity will become the foundation of His kingdom on earth as in heaven.

November 9, 2019
9 AM MST
#ywap4Truth
#ywap4God
#JLYASDW

A CONFEDERATE FLAG MADE MY HEART KNEEL

          A man walked into the gym with a Confederate Flag on his shirt and the name "Gettysburg" printed above it. Immediately a sadness washed over all of me. I was on a stationary bike and my legs went weak. I lost the will to continue physically exercising, I felt spiritually wounded.

          In Gettysburg I walked on battlefields that were once covered in blood. I still hurt when I think of what slavery did to generations of Black families. In Selma, Alabama, the Holy Spirit had me apologize to a man for what my Race had done to his Race. I wanted to kneel in sorrow and ask God for mercy and grace to cover folks who don't know what they're doing.

          All of us are made in God's image and He does not show favoritism to any race, neither should we. My wife and I had to leave, so I (grudgingly) uttered a prayer and asked God to show the man love as we left the gym.

          In the meantime, I hope I see him again and I will pray that God gives me words from His Word that will give the man the desire to kneel before God.

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

Jesus loves you and so do we.

#JLYASDW

 Mark 12:31 The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

1 John 4:19-21 We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen. And we have this command from Him: The one who loves God must also love his brother.