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PSALM 80:4,14,18,19 O LORD God of hosts How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts Look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine So will not we go back from thee Quicken us and we will call upon thy name Turn us again O LORD God of Hosts Cause thy face to shine and we will be saved
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RELY ON HIM We are constantly surprised and amazed by the beauty of nature. Particularly in the Autumn months. The other evening as the sun set, it appeared as thou God said, "Amen" to the day by gently laying two shimmering pink quill pens upon a soft blue downy blanket. Alas, we needed no fancy handwriting in the sky to remind us who was in charge of the universe. And our world was at rest and in His care. We knew we could...rely on him. THE RING Peggy, one of our teaching colleagues, stopped several teachers in the hall recently and asked us to place a value on a large, shiny, topaz ring she was sporting. Some guesses were as high as $20.00 Diplomatically, we estimated the ring' s worth to be $5.00. Come to find out, it a dollar-ninety-five ring bought on sale for for a dollar. We then showed Peggy our wedding band told her it was made of French gold and asked her how much she thought it cost. "Thirty dollars?" She said. "Oh, I don't know, it must have cost a lot. How much." "We started paying on this ring eleven years ago, and we're still paying on it. In fact, we're deeper in debt for it now than we've ever been." A Peggy laughed in amusement, we thought to ourselves, "Maybe a ring on the finger is still better than a ring in our nose." (Written in 1977. After 49 years of marriage, we're pretty rung out.) COME SOFT SPIRIT COME
Come soft spirit come Whisper to our heart Words we need to hear Tap us on the shoulder And let us know That thou art near Come soft Spirit come Swiftly as a flame Burn away our dross Take our worn-out eyes From off our wearied selves To focus on the cross Come soft Spirit come Let your mercy flow Gently as a dove And let us sing With one accord And publish forth Thy love PSALM 79:5,8,9 How long, Lord? Wilt thou be angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? O, remember not against us former iniquities Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low Help us, O God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us And purge away our sins for thy name's sake NO RUB-A-DUB-DUB It's time for me to relax, folks. How do I best do that? I go upstairs and draw me a nice hot tub of water in cool weather, or a nice comfortable slightly cool tub of water in warm weather. Then I submerge myself up to my chin in my delightful watery comfort zone (yes, my knees stick up out of the water. but they don't think for me, so I don't worry about them. I let my arms float to the surface of the water. I push them back under. I then let remain under or stay on the surface. I close my eyes and think of nothing. If a thought comes to mind, I quickly push it away. Now all is quiet, silent, peaceful. I remain at rest. Nothing disturbs me. The cares of life or the triumphs thereof are not remembered. All is calm. All is quiet. All is well. I remain relaxed as long as I wish. Yes, this time of quiet will eventually end and I will find myself once again in the busy realm of activity. But the moments of quiet and calm that I give myself are now eternally mine and cannot be taken from me. I shall fondly remember them, and look forward toward the time I engage them again. (Written on September 12, 2015) PSALM 78:1,6,7 Give ear, O my people to my law Incline your ears To the words of my mouth that the generation to come might know them even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children that they might set their hope in God, and forget not the works of God but keep his commandments SIGNALS In this emotional world we live in we do not have too long until we personally experience such emotions as anger, fear, worry, frustration, etc. Quite often these emotional traits are labeled sins, and many of us spend our lives fruitlessly striving to overcome them. Perhaps, we would be better off, both psychologically and spiritually, if we saw these irrational tendencies as "signals" rather than sins. Signals that tell us that we are depend- ing too much on ourselves, and not enough on God. Signals that indicate that we need to read the Scriptures more, or increase our private prayer time. We live in a world of signals. If we permit them, most signals will let us know that we need a closer walk with the Lord. WE WOULD DRAW NEARER TO THEE In our running and rushing around Amid all dissonant distracting sound Amid all the worldly quicksand ground Constantly tempting and dragging us down We would draw nearer to thee, O Lord We would draw nearer to thee All our youth appears misused and spent We wonder where all the good times went As the winter of our life approaches fast Our seconds and minutes don't seem to last We would draw nearer to thee, O Lord We would draw nearer to thee In the days that lie ahead let us be bold May we be shepherds to the sheep of thy fold Keep us and mold us as we grow old Let us see visions more precious than gold We would draw nearer to thee, O Lord We would draw nearer to thee THE JOURNEY Every day we have a journey Regardless of the terrain Or the height of the mountains Or the depths of the valleys We must go We must go Some would make the journey Out of tradition and duty But we sense a better way Let us pursue our journey Out of love Out of love Every day we have a journey To touch the broken hearted To life up the down trodden To rescue the perishing To set the captives free Now let us go Now let us go |
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