3 Startling Graces of God

Provision
Psalms 37:25 - I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging [their] bread.
Thanking God for my streams of income and that they are all ministry



Posterity
Psalm 127:3-5 
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,So are the children of one's youth.5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;They shall not be ashamed,But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Peace

Philippians 4:6 -  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Joy Dare day 10

A Gift Sour:
Dill Pickles...love em.  Especially Anna's home made DP's


A Gift Sweet:

There's no place like home.  It's the people that make up the place that makes it sweet...warts and all

A Gift Just Right:
A hot cup of Joe on a Raw n Rainy day...

Joy Dare Day 9

Dusky Light:  

Opening Day of Bow Season hunting Rum Creek WMA.  

Surprising Reflection:

Years ago while living in Florida I was getting ready for bed and caught a glance of my reflection in the mirror.  I was shocked because I saw my Dad with his 5 o'clock shadow and broad shoulders bearing the weight of the world.  I think that was the first time I thought of my self as a Man.

Lovely Shadow:

My parents at the Carols by Candlelight Christmas Eve Service

Emma's little light

Joy Dare Day 7

Three Graces from people you Love:

Elizabeth:  The Grace of Belief in me.  Sometimes I think that she must be crazy to trust me so implicitly.  It's not like she's ignorant of my numerous weaknesses.  She has the Spiritual Gift of Faith.  It's become clear that it's not me she trusts...it's God.  I can't adequately express the transforming effect that her gift of trust has had on me over the past 25 years


Jim Williams:  The Grace of...well, Grace.  This man has embodied grace to me as his Pastor.  I've experienced his 'wounds of a friend' and also his wise & unflinching support.  I cannot imagine being in Ministry without him.

My Parents: The Grace of Investment.   I don't know how you call your son Pastor.  Dad has other names for me but behind them I see his pride in my calling.  Mom and I are so much alike that we tend to butt heads every now and then but her support of my calling has never been in question.  They have invested so much in me that numbers fall short to quantify their giving.  It goes so far past money and time and even support.  They have raised the bar high for me in my calling as a Father.

Joy Dare day 8

A Gift Held:
My younger children's hands at the end of every worship service during the singing of the Doxology.  I don't remember how it started but I know that Sam was the genesis for this tradition.  Somehow he began toddling down the aisle to me when the doxology was played at the benediction of our services at Lake Wildwood Baptist Church.  This tradition passed to Ben & now Emma.  Emma still insists on being carried.  It's so apprpriate...Praise God from whom all blessings flow - and my hands are literally full of those blessings.

A Gift Passed By:
Farm Land.  My Dad rode with me yesterday on my Help Link route.  We were out in the country & in some rural areas of Georgia that he had never seen before.  We both LOVED the farm land & rolling hills.  I realized yesterday where I got my love of land from and I was blessed to spend the whole day enjoying it with my Dad.

A Gift Sat With:
I sat with one of my best friends last night as a doctor explained to him that his wife was with Jesus.  Grief is a gift from God & we shared it together starkly last night.  Real men do cry - loud, long and like a man.  The gift is being allowed & invited to walk the valley of the shadow of death together.

Joy Dare Day 6

Something in your Bag:  No man purse here but I do carry a backpack full of my hunting supplies.  My wife bought me a baclavia years ago.  Like an tube of cloth that you wear around your neck and can even stretch over your ears.  It's amazing how warm that can keep you on a cold hunt

Something in your fridge:  Green Olives!  Jesus surely ate them and I love them!


Something in your Heat:  Joy.  Having all the kids home for Christmas, seeing God move in people's hearts yesterday, the manifold blessings I enjoy but do not deserve.

Something You're Reading:  The Richest Man in Babylon


Something You're Making:  A commitment to eat healthier & to exercise 3x a week

Something You're Seeing:  God moving in People's hearts today in Church.

Joy Dare Day 2

A Gift Outside, Inside & On a plate:

A Gift Outside:  The smell of autumn leaves with the caress of coolness on the breeze...dressed in blaze orange, in a tree stand praying for a deer to walk by

A Gift Inside:  Sitting by a warm fire in my living room with a hot cup of black coffee & God's word in my hand

A Gift on a Plate:  Beth's Chili - especially last night's.  Nothing like a bean saturated, venison infused, sour cream adorned bowl of Beth's Chili.  When the Lord created the white tail deer - He had a bowl of chili in mind

The Joy Dare...Day 1

3 Gifts Heard...

1:  Emma Grace, "Dad, its monin' time" - best alarm in the universe,

2:   Ken Davis talking about kids and Sunday mornings - laughter is chocolate to the soul,

3:   Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons - I was made for Worship!

http://www.aholyexperience.com/joy-dares/
Join the daily Joy Dare and enjoy 1,000 gifts by the year's end

Cat Theology

Well, this blog has been abandoned...or so it would seem.  It's a new year & a new day and I'm making some new plans.  "His mercies are NEW every morning".  

So here's some of my plans.  I'm going to live joyful this year - no excuses.  Looking at the blatant positives with thanksgiving & digging out the gold of dark days.

Let's start with Ellie's cats.  I have never been a cat person. I've never made that a secret.  However, I am an Ellie person and she's a cat person therefore - you can finish this conditional syllogism (thanks to Jim Nance's introductory logic).  I have come to not only tolerate but enjoy these two familial felines - Rory & Rose (apparently named from the Dr. Who tv show).  They are brother and sister and Ellie got them while I was in Brazil this summer.  Did I mention that Ellie is smart like her Momma?

They have been expensive, smelly & a pain - like having two nocturnal toddlers set loose in the house every night.

Rory lets us know when he wants to come in from the outside by hanging on the screen in the living room.  He's already ruined one of the screens and is working on the other.  It's like a cat version of Spider Man - splayed out on the living room screen.

The sad part is...he's got us trained.  They say that there's no training a cat but they are sure good at training us.

Rose is the feline version of Ellie.  She is private, aloof & tempermental.  Those aren't bad things...they just are things.  You have to take them both as you find them and love them right where they are no matter what.  She runs away from everyone...except Ellie.  If you do catch her and pet her, she immediately has to clean herself where ever you touched her.  Pity & offense are simultaneously felt by trying to love this cat.

Yet I've come to love these furry flea infested felines.  They think they are worth it and wonder why we don't do more for them.  There is no such thing as gratefulness with cats...just expectation.  Someone astutely noted that cats don't have owners, they have staff.

I've come to realize that i'm a lot more like a cat in my relationship with God. I have a bad case of Cat theology.  You take a dog off the street, bathe it, take it to the vet, feed it, give it a warm place to sleep and when it looks at you the dog thinks, "This guy must be God".  You do the exact same think with a cat and the cat thinks, "I must be God".

So here's to Cats!