2006

APRIL 2006. A woman from Canada once wrote, "Life is fresh with the Grace of God." And so it is, if we are willing to see. It is springtime in Connecticut and yesterday I was looking at the delicate, pink blossoms of a Weeping Cherry Tree, so beautiful with their pale yellow centers. In this beauty I see God's great love for us.

MAY 2006. Perhaps we have disobeyed God. There are consequences that flow naturally from such disobedience. God allows these consequences to occur that we may come to repentance, see our own brokenness and arrive at a deeper understanding of our need for Him. Life goes on.Like a loving parent, God desires that we learn from our mistakes. Experiencing our consequences is usually unpleasant, like tossing and turning through a long, sleepless night. Then, as the sun rises in the morning, we once again take comfort in the warmth of God's love. Of course, that love never went away - we were just turned away from it. When we turn back to the warmth of God's love, there is a special joy that follows the cold, dark night. God loves us enough to allow us to choose which way we will face.

MEMORIAL DAY 2006. "Who gathered the flowers?" The gardener answered, "The Master." And his fellow servant held his peace. -- Epitaph

JUNE 2006. There may be times in our despair and pain that we feel totally alone -- helpless and hopeless. We may feel that we are too sinful, too lost, too far away for God to hear us. But feelings are not facts. We have the testimony of the prophet Jonah, "Out of the belly of hell I cried and you heard my voice." That testimony assures us that we are never so far away, either physically or spiritually, that God cannot hear us. We are never beyond the reach of His mercy and His grace. All we have to do is call upon His name. All we have to do is seek Him and He will find us. There is no limit to the power of God's love.

JULY 2006. Psalm 1:3 tells us that the Godly man, "shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The words of the psalm create an image of the man. In my mind, I see him as stable — planted, rooted and grounded. There is balance in his life; therefore it is manageable.You will usually find him at home. He doesn't move out at two in the morning, leaving no forwarding address. He has had the same phone number for years. He has God in his life and he knows peace.

AUGUST 2006. "Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, 'Let Justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.'" The words of Amos (5:24 NKJV) were originally written about 750 BC in response to the rampant injustice in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, They were quoted on April 3, 1968 by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaking at the Mason Temple (COGIC) in Memphis Tennessee in his "Promised Land" speech the night before he was killed. The words he quoted were just as relevant to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of the 1950s and 1960s as they were when they were written. They are still relevant today. Injustice is disobedience to God. Injustice is a sin.

SEPTEMBER 2006. About half way through the genealogies in First Chronicles, we suddenly come across the name Jabez, which appears nowhere else in the Bible. Jabez prays an extraordinary prayer . "Oh, that you would bless me indeed..." (1 Chronicles 4:10). Rev. Bruce H. Wilkinson brought the prayer to public attention with his book, The Prayer of Jabez. I urge you to read it. I would also like to call your attention to a significant difference in the New King James Version (NKJV), compared to all other translations that I have seen. In all the other versions, Jabez prays, "...make me not suffer pain." (Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society 1985). In the NKJV, he asks, "... that I may not cause pain." It all turns on the Hebrew word bow (Strong's #935), which appearantly can be translated either way. To me, it comes down to one simple question. Which version would be more pleasing to God?

OCTOBER 2006. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. - Matthew 5:9 Jesus led his disciples on a retreat. He took them to a mountain, away from the crowds, away from the pressure of daily life. There he spent a few days presenting to them this guide to Christian living which we call "The Sermon on the Mount." Jesus expected the lives of those who chose to follow him to change, to be different from the rest of the world. The Sermon on the Mount describes those changes and is given in Matthew 5,6 and 7. Jesus begins with the "Beatitudes" - the blessings. In verse nine, Jesus tells us that the blessing of happiness will belong to those seek peace rather than conflict. In an age when people seem to cherish their anger and get offended at the least little thing, the teaching of Jesus is still revolutionary.

NOVEMBER 2006. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. -Psalm 136:01 This is a good time of year to make a Gratitude List. Sit down with a lined pad, divide a page into two columns by folding the paper in half lengthwise. Use short "bullets" - a couple of words or a phrase to represent each item on the list. You might start with "life, health and strength." Remember, even if something could be better, be grateful it is not worse. Look at the lighthouse and not just the rocks.

DECEMBER 2006. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. -Luke 2:8-11. The birth of Christ the King is announced not to the rich and famous, but the poor and downtrodden. No matter how unimportant we may be to the world, Jesus loves each one of us as individuals.