My mind seems to have radio waves in it! Yesterday I had two songs on my mind, today it is only one! The lyrics to this song, recorded by Whitney Houston, started going through my mind, I haven't heard it in a long time and yet those words, "One moment in time" kept playing in my brain. I was thinking how one small incident can change the course of your whole life, and it makes you want to be very careful and prayerful every day of your life. One moment before I was rear ended while sitting motionless wating to make a left turn, I was happily listening to my radio and going to my office in the church to do some work, my car was smashed, but I was not harmed! It happens to many people every day in every place on earth. I was telling someone today about the summer that lightning struck my house. I was working in the kitchen and suddenly out of nowhere a thunderbolt sounded and my house seemed to rock on it's foundation. I could smell smoke and went to find it, the power had gone off so I was just trying to feel my way around and ended up in my bedroom where everything was all over the floor from the power of the strike hitting right behind a book case. The fire department finally found us and determined that the fire was out. Next day in the day light I could see where the beam,inside where the sheet rock had been blown off, the wood had been on fire and was charred and had supernaturally gone out. The insurance man couldn't believe his eyes and it gave me another opportunity to witness to him about God's miracle in stopping my fully cedar wood house from burning to the ground. I pray Psalm 91 over my household and family.Here are a few verses from it:That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you-under them you're perfectly safe;his arms fend off all harm.Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,not flying arrows in the day,Not disease that prowls through the darkness,not disaster that erupts at high noon.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. It is true that one moment you may be happy and tragedy strike, then just as well you may be in trouble and suddenly you get a miracle and everything is all right once more! Lack of space keeps me limited from giving a long list of all the miracles I have seen! Remember that God can use YOU as an angel to someone in need. Always look for someone that needs an encouraging word or a prayer. How do you want to remember your 'One Moment In Time'?  "Each day I live I want to be a day to give the best of me. I'm only one but not alone, My finest day is yet unknown!

Be blessed, Pray and make all your 'moments in time' the best you can, remembering that you can do all things through Christ which strengthens you! Philippians 4:13

The lyrics from two songs are in my head right now, one, by Dave Mason, says "there ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy, there's only you and me and we just disagree", speaking of friends that have been separated for awhile and find that they no longer agree on many things, good friends becoming "former friends." The other song, by Joni Mitchell, says "But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed. Something's lost but something's gained in living every day. I've looked at life from both sides now, From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall. I really don't know life at all." Both songs find friends at odds, looking at the same things in a different way, One agrees to disagree, the other is just disallusioned with life, period. I know both of those emotions up close and personal. Sometimes people take a different path, one that you find you can NOT walk down, so you go your separate ways. It doesn't take away from the good times you used to have, it just means there are no more good times to be had, with them. A lot of things you can just let go, like whether you prefer Chinese or Mexican take-out, but things that make a difference in your life, or the way you live it, can't be compromised. One thing I hate is to be around someone that takes for granted that I agree with something outrageous, without knowing it. Makes me think of some of those "fighting" talk shows where someone addresses the audience with "YOU don't know me!" The man who wrote the greater part of the New Testament, Paul, and Peter, the disciple that recognized Jesus as the Son of God, had a major disagreement concerning Kosher vs non-Kosher! Paul had an argument with Barnabas over young John Mark, who got home sick! Yes, these "holy" men had major conflicts, we won't even talk about the one concerning circumcision! Point: you can disagree on minor things and still have communion. Denominational differences? Stupid! What difference does what you wear or how you sing make, will it damn your poor soul to hell? No! What matters? Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." I can love my family the way I love myself, it gets a little harder with some others, so I look to God for strength knowing, Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

As long as you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, that He died on a cross for our sins, was buried and raised again in three days to live eternally with Father God and one day return in the clouds, as He went away, to take us home with Him, then....there ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys, there's only you and me and we just disagree!

Resurrection Day is April 4, be ready to celebrate His death, burial and resurrection by practicing love! Be blessed, pray, looking at life from both sides now, I have been young and now I am, well, a little older!    harolene@att.net

Last evening my teen-aged granddaughter and friends came in to watch a movie. I hadn't seen it, to be honest, never wanted to, but with one eye on the TV, another on the stove and the kitchen floor, which needed mopping, I got interested in it, I Walk The Line, the story of Johnny Cash. He was treated horribly by his dad. When his brother died, the dad, with young Johnny listening, cried out, angrily, "God took the wrong son!" Seeing that one scene made me understand the darkness in his soul and the need, on down the road, for drugs and alcohol. The reason this is important is the song I had on my mind since early this morning. It is special to me because of the person who played the piano and sang it often, back in the day, you know who you are, and is "I Saw A Man". I didn't know that it was written by Mr. Cash until I Googled it to find the lyrics, wow. This piece is dedicated to the person who sang this, through his own broken heart, and I wonder if he reached into his dreams seeking "the Man", the man who would love and respect him for who he was, who would take up for him when he was abused, who would offer the helping hand of encouragement in a time of need. This person who wrote great short stories, poems, played piano, and made all A's in school, all without the love and approval of that one person he needed it from most, yet, he beat the odds, he is a very respected person in his community. There was another man that saw a man on the road to Damascus, and it changed his life. This was a man educated in the finest manner who sat at the feet of Gamaiel, a respected teacher in that day, a Pharisee of the highest standing, he was "serving God" by persecuting those of "the Way". Dragging them out of their houses and to their death, because they were following Jesus. He stood and watched as Stephen, the evangelist, was stoned to death. Paul gave his testamony to everyone. Recorded in the book of Acts, this account is found in 22:6-10 “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.“And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me. “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told every thing you are to do.’  Paul became the great Apostle, the writer of the greater part of our New Testament and died as a martyr for the very One he had so ardently persecuted. I have spoken of three men, a tortured songwriter, a persecuted young man, and a persecutor, what is the common thread? They all saw "the Man", and He gave them each the chance to become something better than they could have imagined, whether recognized by their peers or not. Jesus can make the difference in your life, if you will just really see Him, for yourself. I can't talk you into it, you have to want to see Him and want the change that only He can bring into your life. A few words from the song: "Last night I dreamed an angel came he took my hand, he called my name, he bid me look the other way, I saw a man, I heard Him say, He said if I be lifted up I'll draw all men to me,He turned and then I saw the nail scarred hand that bled for me, I touched the hem of His garment that fell round him there, my life, my heart I gave, my soul was in His care."  Seek to find, and see the Man, He gave His life, for yours. Be blessed, feel the love.  harolene@att.net

Yesterday I wrote about trying to please other people in order to be accepted. When I was young I would have given anything to have blonde hair and blue eyes, and until Annette Funicello came along on the Mousketeers, I was unhappy with myself! She changed the way I looked at myself! We all have someone that we wanted to be like "when we grew up" and sometimes we found that our heros were really just big zeros! Sometimes the people we have looked up to turn out to be the biggest sinners, in our eyes, but my constant prayer is: open my eyes Lord, open my ears, let me see myself the way YOU see me. Help me not to judge others for who they are and what they do, just let me be the best person I can be! Matthew 7:1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. Sometimes it's hard to know the difference between "judging" someone, or, as we used to say back in the day, being a "fruit inspector", but there are times that I see someone do something that I know will result in a tragedy, but they do not want to be warned. We will critisize someone for doing something that we will turn around and do, but we think it looks different on us, it doesn't. God is faithful, if you ask Him to help you, He will! More from Matthew 7:"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better? Do you want to know what's coming for your life? What God wants and will do for you? Psalm 25:12-15 Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose.They will live in prosperity,and their children will inherit the land. The Lord is a friend to those who fear him. He teaches them his covenant. My eyes are always on the Lord, for he rescues me from the traps of my enemies. We can't live our lives in the fear that something terrible is going to happen that we don't know. We trust in God! Psalm 91:14-16 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”  I would love to be a little child again, protected by my parents,but since I can't, I will say, "the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!" Be blessed, feel His love!    harolene@att.net