Love in a mirror.

Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.—1 Corinthians 13:12

The city of Corinth was known for the mirrors it made. They were distributed throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. They weren’t the same as mirrors we have today—made of glass with a silver backing. Corinthian mirrors were highly polished metal. Even the best were blurry. You could see yourself, but it was like looking into a car’s shiny hubcap or bumper. And the cheaper models gave a hazy reflection at best.

That’s a picture, says the apostle Paul, of our current level of knowledge and understanding. We can see the broad outline of things. But there’s a lot we don’t see; there are many things we don’t understand. What we know about God, about ourselves, and our world is limited. Our knowledge is incomplete. So anyone who takes pride in having great knowledge is a fool.

In the era of unclear mirrors other people knew better than you did how you actually looked. They could see you face to face. But God’s Word promises that one day we shall see things as they really are. Even better, we will see God. Clearly. Face to face. It won’t be like looking into a hubcap or through a haze. Meeting God will take our breath away—and our pride.

Until then, wise and helpful people major in love. Because love lasts forever.

Prayer:

One glorious day, Father, we will see you face to face. We will be filled with a wonder that is everlasting. We long for that day. Amen.

Important recall notice

RECALL NOTICE:

The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units.

This defect has been identified as “Sub sequential Internal Non-morality,” more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed.

Some of the symptoms include:
1. Loss of direction
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Amnesia of origin
4. Lack of peace and joy
5. Selfish or violent behavior
6. Depression or confusion
7. Fearfulness
8. Idolatry
9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required..

The number to call for repair in all areas is:

P-R-A-Y-E-R.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure.

Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the
heart component.

No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it
with:

1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self-Control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions
Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING: Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction
voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and
problems too numerous to list, and will result in the human unit being
permanently impounded.  For free emergency service, call on Jesus.

DANGER: The human being units not responding to this recall action will
have to be scrapped in the furnace.  The SIN defect will not be
permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that
facility. Thank you for your attention!

– GOD

P.S. Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important
recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by ‘Knee mail’!

Because HE Lives!

The Auction. A must read story

The upstate NY man was rich in almost every way. His estate was worth millions. He owned houses, land, antiques and cattle. But though on the outside he had it all, he was very unhappy on the inside. His wife was growing old, and the couple was childless. He had always wanted a little boy to carry on the family legacy.

Miraculously, his wife became pregnant in her later years, and she gave birth to a little boy. The boy was severely handicapped, but the man loved him with his whole heart. When the boy was five, his mom died. The dad drew closer to his special son. At age 13, the boys’s birth defects cost him his life and the father died soon after from a broken heart.

The estate was auctioned before hundreds of bidders. The first item offered was a painting of the the boy. No one bid. They waited like vultures for the riches. Finally, the poor housemaid, who helped raise the boy, offered $5 for the picture and easily took the bid. To every-one’s shock, the auctioneer ripped a hand written will from the back of the picture. This is what it said: “To the person who thinks enough of my son to buy this painting, to this person I give my entire estate.”

The auction was over. The greedy crowd walked away in shock and dismay.

How many of us have sought after what we thought were true riches only to find out later that our Father was prepared to give us His entire estate if we had only sought after His Son alone?

Who’s packing your parachute?

parachute (Photo credit: o0bsessed)

Charles Plum, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a Communist prison. He survived that ordeal and now lectures about lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!”

Plumb assured him, “It sure did — if your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform — a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good morning, how are you,’ or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day.” Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory — he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead.

SUGGESTION: Recognize and be gracious to people who pack your daily parachutes, and strengthen yourself to prevail through tough times.

1 John 4:7-8  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

The visit to the Church a man would never forget….

I took photo with Canon camera in Caldwell Parish of Grayson Baptist Church. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One night an unemployed man was worrying about how he was going to pay his bills, that were already over due. He had searched and searched for a job, but he couldn’t find one. The man was down to his last 50 cents. The two quarters in his pocket, was all that he had to his name. He looked around at his wife and children and was feeling so ashamed that he had failed them. He decided to use the 50 cents to buy another Newspaper. Maybe today someone had placed a help wanted ad in the paper.

He got in his old run down car and drove down state highway #1947 towards Grayson, Ky. Two miles from Grayson the car ran out of gas. He got out and started walking, the rain was pouring down hard. When he got to Barretts Creek church, 1.8 miles from Grayson, the man was soaked from head to toe.

Barretts Creek church is building a new church beside of the old one that they are using now. The new church doesn’t have any doors or windows in it yet, so the man went inside the rough structure that was soon to be Barretts creeks new church. His plan was simply to get in out of the rain.

While he was standing in God’s church, waiting for the rain to slack down some. He could feel God’s presence’s there. Tears started to roll from his eyes. He knelt down on his knees to pray, he said: Lord, it’s been a long time sense I’ve been in your house, too long I know.

Lord, I’m sure you know the mess that I’m in. It’s my fault for trying to do it all on my own and forgetting about you. I’ve been so foolish Lord, please forgive me. I need to get back in church and sense I know for sure that you are here in this one. I think this is the one, this is where me and my family should be. I ask that your will to be done, and in Jesus’s Precious name I ask, A-men.

The man got up and started on his way again, on the long, wet walk to Grayson. The two quarters, jingled in his other wise empty pocket as he walked. He was now filled with joy and hope, for he no longer felt like he was walking alone. He knew Jesus had always been there by his side and ready to help. But he hadn’t asked Jesus for help lately. He realized that he couldn’t possibly be fruitful, when he was so far removed of from the vine.

When he had walked a little ways farther, a pickup truck stopped and the drive offered him a ride. The driver asked if that was his car that was sitting beside of the road? The man said: Yes, I ran out of gas. The driver said: Your lucky I came a long, I’m on my way to Grayson to get a newspaper. The man said: So am I.

The driver said: I wanted to see if they put my ad in there today, the newspaper forgot to yesterday. They pulled into the parking lot of the Super Quick in Grayson. The driver said: I just want to see if my add is in the paper and then you can have it, I don’t need it after that. He said: There is a empty gas can in the back of the truck, you get some gas and I’ll get us a newspaper.

The man put 50 cents worth of gas in the gas can, then set it carefully in the back of the truck and paid for it inside. The driver had already looked at the newspaper by the time the man had returned. The driver handed the man the newspaper and said: They didn’t put my ad in here again today either, and I need some one to start first thing in the morning. Do you know anyone that needs a job?

The man said: Yes, I do! Thats why I wanted a newspaper. The driver said: I need help, the job is yours if you want it, I pay 9 dollars an hour to start out. The man said: I’ll take it, I put the last 50 cents I had in that gas can back there. The drive said: That is not enough to get you to work in the morning, I’ll follow you back to Super Quick and fill your car up. I can take it out of your first weeks pay check. The man said: Will you do me one more favor?

The driver said: What is it? The man said: Stop at the church so I can thank God for your help and for the job. The man went inside the church again, he knelt down to pray. He said: Dear Father in Heaven, I wanted to stop back in your church and give thanks for how you have jumped in there and straightened me out, and to thank you for the job. Now I can go home and face my family again. Thank you, in Jesus Precious name, A-men. As he started back out the opening of the church, he stopped and said: Oh by the way Lord, like Jesus once said: ” I’ll be back again”.

Taking Good Friday Personally

It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the Spirit. John. 19:30.

They call this Good Friday, but to many it’s bittersweet. This is the day that we choose to remember the self-sacrifice Jesus chose so we could all have a second chance and forgiveness. This is the day that always brings me to tears. While many people see the event of this precious man’s death as far off and in the past, I see it as an act that is played out every day as He continues to forgive all of us for our sins. I see this painful death as the most incredible act of love that anyone has ever shown me.

When I read the Bible and think about all the pain and humiliation that Jesus went through for me, I take it personal. While He did this act for everyone that draws a breath, I like to bring it closer to my heart by remembering that He knew me then, and took the pain and sorrow on His back so that I could be forgiven and loved now. What kind of person have you ever met would do that for you? How many people do you know would plead guilty to a crime that their friend committed because they loved them that much? How many people would do this  knowing that they would endure pain  beyond our imaginations. Knowing they would literally have nails driven through their body so you could go free. Has anyone you known ever done this for you? I know someone who has done it for me and the person was Jesus. He didn’t have to, but He did. What a friend we have in Jesus.

Today as we think about the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made for us, let’s remember to keep our relationship personal with Him. Do whatever it takes to feel him in your heart every day. I don’t care what it takes to do that, but allow the emotions we feel on this sad yet joyous day, become something you experience on a daily basis. Please just make sure you allow Good Friday to be Good Every day by never forgetting that special relationship you have with Jesus.

Keeping it real and close….