Sunday Writings in WFM... 3/6/16

Good Morning Everyone

I am about five hours from home in Visalia. It has been an enjoyable four days with my cousin visiting her daughter and her granddaughter, and seeing her graduate from her nursing program. Today we are heading home. Last night we got back to the hotel late and so I am  finishing this post early Sunday morning. My cousin is about to take her dog out for her first walk of the day. She will come back with coffee for me. Sweet!

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Scriptures that give promises of God. 

Romans 8:38-39
The Living Bible

For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow,  or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us

  

Romans 8:31-39
The Message

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate youWe’re sitting ducks;

                       they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

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  Sunday's Devotional  

PERSPECTIVE

This weekend I saw something curious in the sky.  Since I was near an air force base, it isn't uncommon to see military maneuvers going on in the air.  What I saw in the distance appeared to be a huge gathering of hot air balloons hanging in the sky, with a military helicopter flying nearby and around them.  It turns out that the balloons were quite a distance further away than the military base, at the local stadium for a hot air balloon festival.  But from my perspective, they were in the same vicinity as the military helicopter that I saw flying around.  Since both were in the distance, and I didn't see them in the proper perspective; I was mistaken about them being in the same place in the sky.

Everyone views things from a different perspective.  We all have our own view points shaped by our experiences.  So when two people go through or hear the same thing, they may report it completely differently.  That is why eye-witness accounts of happenings can be totally different, including the colors they recall seeing, the sequence of events, and the identity of the people involved.  That makes convicting criminals based on eye witness accounts tricky at best.  It can also cause discord when something we say is misconstrued due to the other person perceiving what was said differently than what we intended.   Our frame of reference can make all the difference in how we view things.  

Christians have a perspective on the world that is different than non Christians. We view this world as a temporary home.  Our "job" while here on earth is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and how we are saved by grace through faith.  And our good works here are not to earn us a place in heaven, but rather our thank-offering to God for already promising us eternal life.  We have to be careful not to get sucked in to the world-view of unbelievers.  Even so, our perspective is not perfect.  We may think we know the Bible well and what it teaches, but being human there are probably many things we only know in part.  But we can be absolutely confident that Christ died in our place to give us life eternal, and we will know all that we need to know once we are in heaven.  God's perspective is that he loves us all, no matter what we may have done or not done.  We can be sure that His love never fails!

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 (NIV)  Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophecy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  

Thank you, my dear Father in heaven, for all of your blessings on earth and for the greatest blessing of all, forgiveness of all my sins so that I may enjoy eternal life with you in heaven.  Help me to have your perspective when I see things in this world.  Give me strength to persevere, courage to share your Word, and love to see others as you see me.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

written by Jan Andersen

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Obituary

 

ur church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else.
      
      Someone's passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person's share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone's list, "Let Someone Else do it." Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; "Someone Else can work with that group."
      
      It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most liberal givers in our church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.
      
      Someone Else was a wonderful person; sometimes appearing superhuman. Were the truth known, everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do.
      
      Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?
       

      When you are asked to help this year,

remember  

we can't depend on Someone Else anymore.

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Some of the  Wisdom 

of Corrie Ten Boom

• Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.
  
• Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
  
• When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.
  
• Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
  
• Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.
  
  Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/corrie_ten_boom.html 
  
  
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  Sally just came back from walking Daphne with my coffee. The sugar packets had hearts on them, and the name of the company is "Sugar for the Soul" Very cool!

Have a wonderful Sunday!