I knew a man, he was a wonderful, loyal, family man and friend. He was in church everytime the doors were open and when there was any work to be done, he was right there, tools in hand, ready to help, even after finishing a long day at his own work. There was one puzzling thing about him, he was convinced that he was predestined not to go to heaven. I'm not sure if there was something in his life that he had done, or was ashamed of, that he felt would doom him to an eternity without God. I believe in predestination myself, yes I do, because we are all predestined to be sons of God! John 1:11-13 He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten. Romans 8:28-31 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (1Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; 2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,& 2 Peter 3:9b not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Not to mention John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes on Him will have eternal life!) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? God has foreordained, determined, and predestinated that all men be called to salvation, but only the ones who accept become genuine called ones to be justified and glorified. It is left to you to accept His free gift of salvation and eternal life! Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. You, yes you are His child! You are chosen, called, justified and glorified, all you have to do is say YES! Don't you feel special now? I do! Nothing you have done is beyond forgiveness, He loves you that much!

This is almost the end of the first month of the New Year, how many of your resolutions have kept? I plead the fifth! Just because you haven't kept them, doesn't mean that you have to quit! Quitting means you will never get it done! Look at yourself, your surroundings, are you where you hoped to be at this stage of your life? I was thinking about myself and feeling disappointed that things I really felt I had been called to do, have not materialized, as I had hoped they would. As I mulled this thought over, a louder thought came through, Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul. Another translation says: He renews my strength. So I looked at a couple of examples from the Bible. First there is Moses. You know his story, destined to be killed when he was born, he was saved, and then ended up in the back side of no where tending his father-in-laws herds! When he was eighty years old, God spoke to him from the burning bush and his life took on a whole new meaning! He went back to Egypt, freed his people from slavery and led them to the gates of the Promised Land! Joseph, who as a boy had dreams of grandeur, seeing himself as a ruler, found himself forgotten in prison, until he had the chance to interpret a dream for the King, becoming second in command to the King and saving his own family from starvation. Samson, who had led his people as Judge for over 20 years, ended up blinded, pushing a grinding wheel like a mule, being made the brunt of all the jokes. God gave him the strength, restored his soul and allowed him to be the weapon that would destroy thousands of Philistines as the final act of his life. Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Does He really care about what happens to us?  He answers prayer and gives me solutions to problems I can't solve! Does He have a plan for our life? Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  Did you read that? He has plans for us, to give us a future AND a hope! Think about Jonah ending up in the belly of the great fish, why? Because he was being disobedient to the plan of God! He repented, from the depths of hell, Jonah 2:9 When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, And my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your Holy Temple.Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds, walk away from their only true love. But I'm worshiping you, God, calling out in thanksgiving! And I'll do what I promised I'd do! Salvation belongs to God!" When he prayed, God made that fish taxi Jonah all the way to where he had been told to go, and spit him out on the shore! He kept his promise to preach to the people, and they repented! Is there a promise that you haven't kept? Ecclesiastes 5:6 Don't let your mouth make a total sinner of you. When called to account, you won't get by with "Sorry, I didn't mean it." Why risk provoking God to angry retaliation? Want to change your life? God is on your side, He has a plan for you. Psalm 19:11-14 There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way?Or know when we play the fool?Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. Don't quit, start over and Be Blessed!

Coming home from church, after daddy's Bible lesson, I looked up into the sky and saw the waxing cresent moon, and the sparkling stars, my heart heard Psalm 8:1-5 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars you set in place,what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. I love the full moon shining into my window. It never ceases to amaze me, that beautiful orb. I have always been a star gazer and look for the moon every evening, enjoying each of it's stages, but it came more clearly into focus for me one night as I read an old novel. It was written in 1847 by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre. The writer was describing how the full moon was peering in at her window, and it struck me; the same moon that girl wrote about in 1847, was the same faithful moon I was admiring here in my present. I imagined Jesus walking in the evening with His disciples under the moonlight, sailors as they sailed the ocean at night using the moon and stars as their guide across the pathless water.The endless light of the moon,the sun and the stars, never asking the earth to pay for heat, light or their display of beauty, they just do their job.We get so busy with living our life that we rarely take time to just enjoy it. Matthew 10:29-31 "What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries. If your worry could change anything in your life, I would say "Go for it", worry all day and night. You and I both know that it would do no good. Matthew 6:27-29 "Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. God knows when a sparrow falls, he dresses the flowers of the field in beauty, and He cares for you. When you lay awake at night and worry about things you can't help, you are robbing yourself of healing sleep and opening a place for sickness. Do you think that's God's will for your life? 1Peter 5:7 So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. When you leave your house today,notice where you are and what is around you! Psalm 100 On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,sing yourselves into his presence. Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep.Enter with the password: "Thank you!" Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever. Let go and let God take control, to look at the good side of life! Be blessed! PS From now unti the Presidential election, remember to pray 2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

I was teaching the Sunday School class of children, ages 8-10, and at the end of the lesson I said, "Let's run over the lesson...." that was as far as I got, my problem child, Ricky, had thrown his Bible on the floor and was proceeding to run back and forth over it.. you can go ahead of me here as I asked him what in the world he was doing! He was "running over the lesson"... I thought of that as I started to write because I was thinking of the old hymn "Standing on the Promises of God", it brought a smile to my lips remembering old Ricky, and thought of all of us standing proudly on the Word of God. The real reason, I'm getting there, is that listening to politicians talk,  I wonder how many promises they will make in trying to get elected to the highest office in the United States and will they keep them? Some of us have been around long enough to hear the promises and see them erode into nothingness as the years went by. Who can we believe? I have mentioned before that I never lied to my children about things like "Is that shot going to hurt?", "Yes, it will hurt a little, but I will be standing right here by you and it will be over soon." "Am I going to die from this operation?" "No, the angel of God is standing with you, and I will never leave you either." In my house there was no Santa, although I was not against him being a part of decorations, or an Easter Bunny or a tooth fairy, so that when I told them something, they never had to doubt I told the truth. Jesus had a bunch of men, chosen to be sure, but just ordinary men, and He was constantly having to explain the parables to them and speak emphatically and using the word "verily", which was used by Jesus 99 out of 113 times that it was used in the whole Bible. It means in truth; really; indeed. He gave them promises Matthew 18:18-20 Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." John 6:47 I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. John 14:1-4 "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father's home. If that weren't so, would I have told you that I'm on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I'm on my way to get your room ready, I'll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I'm taking." In that small selecton of verses, in which He vowed the truth, how many times did you see a critism of His enemy, the devil, or the Romans, or anyone? He promised us answered prayers, through the unity of agreement, food for our soul through Himself, the Bread of Life, and then He promised the ultimate, ETERNAL LIFE! Did He hedge or mince words? No, He spoke the truth straight forward, He told us what to believe and only spoke of the enemy in John 10:10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. "I'll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. The only promises we can stand on and believe are found in the Bible, If Jesus said it, I accept it, I believe it, that settles it for me! If Jesus were running for President the choice would be easy, but since He isn't we need to exercise our Christian unity and pray! Be Blessed!

Someone made a call to me just to remind me about the Presidential debates tonight. "You mean this is between our current President and a Republican candidate?" "Of course not, it's between Gingrich and Romney!" I am not stupid, I know it is important to know what each candidate thinks, the problem is that we are not finding out what they think about the things the American public really wants to know, it is about tearing new rears in each other and exposing things that we don't need to know. For them to attack each other is the stupid action here. If a party wants to win, they have to stick together behind one candidate and urge everyone to go out and vote, not tear into each other so deeply that it is impossibe to pull out without scars, and wounds that won't heal. In the meanwhile it is you and I that are suffering. We need to have a united front in order to bring our country back, our united front should be to pray the way we are instructed in 2 Chronicles 7:14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. It is the same in anything you decide to do, you need help, you need cooperation. What does that word mean?  "1: the action of cooperating : common effort 2: association of persons for common benefit."  How many of us actully SEE cooperation in action? I grew up listening to my parents worry and pray about the lack of it among church members. People will cooperate with a project if they are going to be the head of the committee but when it came down to working behind the scenes or actually raising/giving time or money, not so much. Is this a new problem? Read the Apostle Paul's letter, 2 Timothy 4:10 Get here as fast as you can. Demas, chasing fads, went off to Thessalonica and left me here. Luke is the only one here with me. Bring Mark with you; he'll be my right-hand man. In King James he says, "Demas hath forsaken me". Now there is another great word, "forsaken." Jesus said: Matthew 7:12 "Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get. Matthew 18:19  When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."  A song from Sunday School days said: "When we all pull together, together, together, when we all pull together, how happy we'll be. For your work is my work and our work is God's work, when we all pull together how happy we'll be!"  Let's add, at work, school, play and in Presidential elections. Pray to hear more policy and less personal garbage! Be Blessed!