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BEYOND OURSELVES Help us Oh Lord To move out Beyond ourselves Away from the spotlight And center stage Into the shadows Of humanity You know how far We have to travel still To get beyond Our own periphery Let us Be unafraid To travel on To thy trajectory And become A reflection Of thy own
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PSALM 100:1,2,3,4,5 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands Serve the Lord with gladness Come before his presence with singing Know ye that the Lord he is God It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves We are his people and the sheep of his pasture Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise Be thankful unto him and bless his name For the Lord is good His mercy is everlasting And his truth endureth to all generations COUNTING PUMPKINS Back in October, with frost and a smidgen of snow on the ground, as we put the lawn mower away in our shed, we realized that fall and winter were now well on the way. And one night as we laid in our bed trying to go to sleep and keep warm at the same time, we tried going to sleep by counting... pumpkins. Wow, talk about orange. Too much orange, not enough sleep. So, as we laid there, these thoughts came to mind... God will help me because he can The more we learn about purity, the wider and deeper it becomes Let us stay awake in Christ, and go to sleep in Him as well THANKSGIVING (1978) Our kind Heavenly Father... Once again, across this great land, we pause from the normal routines of our lives to offer up this prayer of Thanksgiving. We thank you, Heavenly Father ... For this beautiful land called America For parents and grandparents near and dear For family ties;please strengthen them For the laughter of children For this gorgeous autumn splender For the privilege of living freely For the blessing of worshipping openly For the stillness and and peace gracing our shores For your loving kindness and tender mercies Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. PSALM 88:1,2,11,13 O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee Let my prayer come before thee Incline thy ear unto my cry Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction But unto thee have I cried, O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee .
OUR GOOSE IS COOKED "The process of living," wrote Stanley Sarnoff, "is the process of reaction to stress." Quite often when Donna is cooking something in the oven while we're all sitting in the living room watching TV, the oven alarm will suddenly go off and she will say, "Honey I'll be right back, I've got to turn off the buzzer." Maybe it would be helpful in times of stress and confrontation with other members of our family to simply say..."I'll be back in a minute, I've got to turn off the buzzer." Then we could quickly make our exit, go in another room, kneel and pray for help before our goose is cooked. OUR LAUGHING FIRE Sitting by our laughing fire We watch the embers glow And remember when as youngsters We thought we'd never grow. But we, like sparks aflyin' Hoped and dreamed and dared Reached ever onward, upward 'Neath our parents's loving care. Now we have children of our own That spark us with desire That leave warm feelings in our hearts And set our souls on fire. We knock now at your door Oh, Father, please come and let us in That we may sit and laugh with You And know you as our friend. THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN Near the close of summer, we are did a bit of remodeling in our home, patching ceilings filling cracks, and painting walls, At first, it seemed as though we would never finish. And yet, as each day progressed, we could see further progress, and this gave us hope that we might eventually finish our tasks, which after a few weeks we actually did. That's the way it is in our personal lives. At some point in our lives we realized that we need a refurbishing. Damage, to our soul, due to lack of concern and care, had taken its toll through the years, and the task of renovating called for the skills of the Master Craftsman. We needed to have Him restore our soul. It was obvious that we badly needed Him to be our interior decorator. We were greatly in need of repairs. Because of the material he has had to work with, progress has been slower than we would have desired. We often become impatient with Him. We so often have wanted immediate results. We have wanted the job done yesterday. But, we are learning to be still and trust and have faith in Him. And, we are confident that the results shall one day grand.They always are when the builder's tools are wielded by the hand of the Master Craftsman. PSALM 87:1,2,3,5 HIS foundation is in the holy mountain The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God Selah And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her, and the highest himself shall establish her BARE TREES Around our home at winter time Are many trees just standing there So silent, cold and bare And if they but chose to speak In one accord, we think they'd say "Doesn't anybody care?" For we know it isn't easy To stand when beauty's gone And sunlight's rays are rare Stand, unbowed, unbroken Not a single word be spoken Let all scorners, scoffers be aware That even in apparent nakedness God is changing and reshaping Our limbs for springtime fare So we pause and offer praise And speak in silent awe Of trees that stand, though bare. |
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