Have you ever worked hard on a project and then someone else got the credit? Done a favor like planning a wedding for free, or given a big party for someone and when the thanks were handed out, you were forgotten? Taken for granted? Well, Reader dear, we have ll been there at one time or another. There is an old hymn that speaks to our "soul" man, written by Lucie Campbell-Williams: He'll Understand and say Well Done If when you give Him the best of your service,Telling the world that the Saviour has come.Be not dismayed if men don't believe you,He'll understand and say, "Well done."Oh when I come to the end of my journey, Weary of life and the battle is won Bearing the staff and the cross of redemption, He'll understand and say, "Well done."  Seems like "Sister Lucie" might have had those same feelings when she wrote this song! But let's go to the scriptures for our hope! Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. With me, He just has to keep up with the COLOR of my hair! Psalm 147:2-6 He heals the heartbroken and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and assigns each a name. Our Lord is great, with limitless strength; we'll never comprehend what he knows and does. God puts the fallen on their feet again and pushes the wicked into the ditch.Sometimes it just has to be enough to know that God knows what we have done, and sometimes (if we listen to gossip about ourselves) what we have NOT done. He is our righteous judge and knows all things! God always comes through such as the time I, out of the goodness of my heart, helped a bride-to-be plan her wedding, from the shower to the reception and I did the music! She was very sick with the flu and I caught it! Problem is that I was very pregnant and caught it! My baby was due the week of February 25 and this was December 17, I was so violently ill that I went into labor and had pains all night long. I wouldn't go to the hospital, just wanted daddy to lay his anointed hand on my stomach and pray, and each time he did the pains subsided. Next morning I was much better and did go see my doctor. He told me that my baby had moved into the birth canal and I could easily lose her. I told him that I had been prayed over and I wasn't worried, but that I would be very careful, it worked, I had to be induced into labor on March 11! Next time Satan or any of his helpers try to put you down or make you feel less than, shove the words to these scriptures down his throat! These scriptures let me know that one day God will look at me, recognize all the good I have done, forget all the bad I have done, and say "Well done, my good and faithful servant! Enter in>"

Be blessed, pray, look up, God knows where you are, even if it is in an old green plastic recliner!

concerning the reality of angelic and spiritual visitations! I got this message from Barbara Brummett Teaster, who resides in Tennessee, and I wanted to share it with you.The Bible tells us that Faith comes by hearing and although I am taking it out of context, it is still true. Out of the mouth of two or three witnessess every word is established!(Matthew 18:16)If you have something to share, email it to me! Here is Barbara's story in her own words, enjoy!

I am convinced that angels are present in our lives always protecting us from danger. I tease my oldest son that his angel has asked for a transfer several times (he is always getting hurt in one way or the other),

My father had surgery for cancer and we thought he was going to survive, but one day my sister and mother went in his ICU room and he was telling them all of the popele who have been to see him; C.E. French, Charles Beach and others then he announced, "Paul & Margaret( Paul H. Walker) came and they both looked better than I have ever seen them and they are so happy,, They told me how great their ministry is and how happy they are, then he said, I know they are dead, so I must have been dreaming." He died two days later.

I was telling a friend from WV about this and she said, "I know this happens, because Uncle Tom and Aunt Lilly came to see my dad before he died. (They were an older couple in the local church that were spiritual leaders and had been dead for several years.)

Also you probably know the Carpenter family and Brother Carpenter's granddaughter was in a car wrecck and before anyone could call and tell him that she died she appeared and waking him up told him that "Papa, I have to leave now."

Then the COG early ministers have lots of stories of angels bringing groceries to their family when they had no money for food.

When Barbara mentioned that last about the groceries, I remembered that I have related to you about the time that my grandfather Paulk put his family to bed hungry with the promise that God would supply food for them by breakfast time, and before sun up next morning two ladies were at the door saying that God would not let them sleep, He told them that the "new preacher and his family were hungry, to get up and take food now!" They had obeyed the voice of the Spirit and in doing so, became Angels on this earth! Angels are messengers to carry out an order from God, so whether it was a human doing the will of God or an angelic being, Mission Accomplished! AMEN!

These verses from Psalm 91 tell the story:                          Yes, because God's your refuge,
      the High God your very own home,
   Evil can't get close to you,
      harm can't get through the door.
   He ordered his angels
      to guard you wherever you go.
   If you stumble, they'll catch you;
      their job is to keep you from falling.
   You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
      and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

Be blessed, Pray, God has His angels watching over you!

note: If you have something you would like to share, please email me!

Today is my brother's birthday. Since I was older I was the one who took more responsibility and was responsible for him most of the time at home while my parents were doing church work and the social things that being a preacher in the South calls for, yes Fried Chicken dinners are included in this. My brother always said he wanted to be a preacher, of course he tried a variety of other occupations first such as being Zorro (black cape), Superman (red cape), Kit Carson and the Cisco Kid, they didn't require capes but we made up costumes to fit the bill..plus bending hangers so that we could have sword fights when he was being Robin Hood (green tights). Our play yard, for five of our growing years, was the church basement. We were living in a 16 foot trailer right outside the HUGE church and the dark hallways of the basement left lots of room for our imaginations to run wild, and we did, up and down those halls and playing hide and seek in the Sunday School rooms. Of course we had to be careful not to get anything out of place, we would have gotten our hides tanned for leaving a mess in God's House! And speaking of tanned hides, we had those too, every Sunday night. We knew it was coming, daddy would get the razor strap and sit down on mother's cedar chest (which is in my line of view as I type this) and then give us however many licks we had earned for talking in church. He would generally follow the spanking with praying for us and then giving us something cold to drink to "cool us off". Now for anyone of you reading this that is "younger" you might not understand the era of "spare the rod, spoil the child" but we turned out OK, don't want to sound like he "beat" us, he did not, it was a spanking and we deserved everyone of them..at least my brother did, I was just guilty by association! My brother was finally given the opportunity to preach! We were at a Campmeeting and whoever was in charge of the service announced to the people, and there were hundreds there, that this 6 year old boy wanted to preach. He got a chair and put it behind the pulpit, my brother got up there with all the intentions of preaching a "stem winder" but there was a lady sitting pretty close to the front with a great big pink hat on, that caught his attention for some reason and he never opened his mouth! Then there was the time we were riding in the mountains and he took a rope with him, when daddy asked him why, he told him that he was going to catch a bear and bring him home. Pretty soon we saw some bears on the side of the road,  daddy pulled the car over and started to open the door, he turned around and told my brother to get his rope, there is your bear! Where was he? Hiding under the back seat is where he was. OK, the Coconut Cake..there was a lady in the church who was famed for her wonderful Coconut cakes, none finer in the South. One Sunday she brought one of her prize cakes for us to take home for lunch! Mother told us to take it to the car and be very careful. The cake was in one of those plastic cake boxes and we just wanted to see, smell and maybe pinch off a little of that yummy icing. ONE of us pulled at the container top and DOWN went the cake, right into the foot of the car, right where our feet with all the gravels from the parking lot were, and came apart, we panicked! We picked up the cake, put it back together keeping a watch for our parents. Just as they got to the car we had put the top of the cake back on and mashed the icing around to make it look OK. We were very proud of our effort, however, when it was sliced, there was hair and bits of gravel and my parents were shocked, how could this woman, so famed for her cakes have made such a terrible mistake? We never told, we let her bear the shame, don't you think they knew? Happy Birthday Brother! Be blessed, pray, eat some Coconut cake..for me!

How many times I have heard that,(It's MY body, I'm not hurting anyone but myself), especially from young people. The old saying was "if it feels good, do it" and they do, to the max! So when there is an STD or a pregnancy, when someone's heart gets broken because they thought that having sex with someone meant that person was "in love with them" and they find that it was just "feeling good" they are devastated. When Jesus died on the cross and purchased our salvation, we became His! When you buy a new car would you appreciate someone opening the doors and dumping their week's garbage in it? Light a fire that doesn't burn it, just smokes it all up? Takes a key and goes along the side and ruins the pain job? Well God paid a big price for us, His only Son, Jesus, and what are we doing with His Temple? We over eat, over drink, over take drugs, don't get enough rest and then expect for God to keep us in tip top health! We get in emotional trouble with someone and then blame God for it, saying "Why does God always let this happen to me?" Did He? 1Cor. 3:16-17 You realize, don't you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God's temple, you can be sure of that. God's temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple. If you are still with me, read this next scripture! 1 Cor. 6:16-20 There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one." Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. As you can see in this scripture, God is serious about us taking care of ourselves in a lot of ways! One thing of which I am guilty is not taking a Sabbath! Oh I go to church, is that taking a Sabbath? No, that is going to church, and we should do that, assemble with other believers and worship God, BUT when God created the Heavens and the Earth, what did He do? He rested! My Sunday's are so busy! So when I wear my immune system down and get sick, is it God's fault? Yet I (we) expect God to keep us in tip top shape, healing instantly! God gave us the commandments for our good, we just need to obey them for optimum health and good feelings! The Bible is our "users manual", so use it!

Be blessed, pray, know that you are God's child and He loves you and wants you to take care of yourself!

Two people that had great influence on our fashion, dance, the way we wore our hair, maybe wore only one glove, got us to go out and buy the first video of a song, all the boys who put up that famous poster of the girl in the red swim suit with the dazzling smile...Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, died yesterday. Also this week one of the most, to me, recognized voices in television, Ed McMahon, died. My grandmother used to say when there was one death that two more would follow closely, well it certainly happened this week, didn't it? There was a report on the news of a young man killed in a car crash coming home from vacation in Florida, I am sure there were others killed in action over in the war zones, not much said about them, but there are families grieving for them also. Farrah was ravaged by cancer and has suffered over two years, MJ had just passed an extensive physical exam in preparation for a "come back" tour. It just points out the fact, once again, that we are mortal, that no matter how much or how little money or possesions we have, Hebrews 9:27 And it is appointed for men to die once, but after that the judgment. So we should live each day as if it were the last day we would ever live so that we are prepared to meet God. There are some, like my dad, who are looking forward to it, no dread or fear, but many who are terrified at the thought. If you have accepted Jesus you do not have to fear, at all! Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.  Isn't that a wonderful thought? The scripture that I really want to share here today is:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

   A right time for birth and another for death,
   A right time to plant and another to reap,
   A right time to kill and another to heal,
   A right time to destroy and another to construct,
   A right time to cry and another to laugh,
   A right time to lament and another to cheer,
   A right time to make love and another to abstain,
   A right time to embrace and another to part,
   A right time to search and another to count your losses,
   A right time to hold on and another to let go,
   A right time to rip out and another to mend,
   A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
   A right time to love and another to hate,
   A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Knowing that God has a master plan we can put our life in His hand, knowing that when the end comes for you and me, we can say with assurance, "IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL."  I Pray for the families of these people who gave us so many hours of entertainment and who, especially Michael, were so very multi-talented.

Be blessed, pray, don't be afraid, there is a time for all things and it is your time to live and be productive and happy! AMEN