living on just in time

As a musician there are times I am inspired and there are times I am just tired.

At our church we have had a time of transition. Last year our old Pastor resigned and we went through a search process to find our current Pastor. He is a good man, a dedicated follower of Jesus and he has a shepherds heart towards us.
As any church that goes through this kind of thing we have a falling off in our attendence which also leads to shortfall of money that has caused us all to be concerned about. I have watched Pastor ask us to pray for God's will to be done in this matter and this past week we saw a miracle take place before our eyes.

God has His own timing in all of our lives. In mine it seems to always be slower than I want it to be. And He always answers just in time. In our church He did the same thing about our need for money, He waited until the last Sunday to show His hand in our needs.

Well, in my prayer time He gave me a song that seemed to fit the occasion, it is called Just In Time;

Chorus
Living on just in time, Living on just in time, Lord you'll never leave me, Your always there to hear me, Your Blessings are just in time.
Verse
I got down in corner on my knees to try and call ya, I was just about to lose my mind,
Well the times they aren't so easy, Lord you said you'd never leave me But Lord you sure do take your time.
My parents said I'm crazy and my freinds all said I am lazy, but Lord I'm praying all the time.
When my faith gets kind of hazy and the devil comes to chase me Lord your always just in time.

verse 2
You know the bottom fell out, lost my job and now theirs no doubt my faith fell back in a hole,
They said they'd turn my lights out and the kids all came and cryed out
Abba Papa make it so.

You know my faith felt real low and your days always seem slow But Lord you always take the time,
Sometimes it's never easy and the devil wants to squeeze me But Lord you always save my soul !!

Living on just in time, that is how my God is!! He is never too early and He is never too late !! Amen.
I would rather He be early, let me know in advance about things, but if I am in His will with my prayers He is Just in time.

Tomorrow our girls are going to share with a Girl Scout troop about coming to America. I hope it Blesses all who listen, I know they have Blessed me with what they have accomplished.

Spring

Last week Snow......this week spring.

We have an orchard on a corner of our property. We have two peach trees and three apple trees. Last year I started too late to spray for bugs and some kind of rot that gets on the peaches. As a result we got a couple of hand full of peaches and a bunch apples. This year I was ready and waiting to spray. I noticed over the weekend past that the trees were budding up and getting ready to bloom. Monday I went ahead and sprayed for the first time. I hope to have a good crop this year. I read up on how to prune the trees,which I did one cold day last January, when to spray them and how often.


It never ceases to amaze me how God has created this earth to do what it does. Reproduce. To see bare branches turn color and bud up and then produce a flower and then watch as the bees do there job of pollinating and then see fruit grow. Wow.


Like wise we go through the same kind of seasons in our lives. There are times where I feel God has stripped me down to a bare branch by laying open my innermost thoughts only to bring back a new growth with something much better than I had known before. By trimming and pruning me He is able to make me a better person. Even a little spraying here and there helps too.


God is good..... all the time!!!

Spring

popcorn christians

POP CORN CHRISTIANS
Romans 12:1-2 read.
A Sunday school teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible....Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Bobby was excited about the task, but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Bobby was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the mike and said " The Lord is my shepherd...and that’s all I need to know."
Lets just suppose a huge storm came by and blew that church to nowhere.
I want you to think for a moment about the church you attend. Would it have been a real loss? Would anyone outside of the church have noticed?? Would the presence that the church was making ,of being the salt and the light, be missing??
How many of us had popcorn, microwaved or other, and noticed that when it was done some of the kernals had not popped?? They experienced the same blast of radiation from the micro=wave as the others or the same amount of heat as the others yet they did not pop.
Some Christians read the same Bible passages as others, but some Christians don’t pop. They hear the same spiritual songs, but some Christians don’t pop. They here the same sermons, but they don’t pop. They are issued the same challenge to witness, but some Christians don’t pop. They know the same teaching to tithe, but some Christians don’t pop. They hear the same call to service, but some Christians don’t pop.
Charles Stanley in his book Confronting Christianity asks, " Why do you suppose that there are close to 100 million church members in America yet they are not making more of a moral and spiritual impact? Why is it that on Sunday morning thousands of church’s have more empty pews than full? Why is that the average Sunday school in America has less than 66 in attendance and that the average worship service has 84? Why is it that only 50% of the number on any church membership roll can be expected to attend? If Christians really believe in a real heaven and a real hell, how can we be so silent?


He says, " The answer to all these questions is tragically simple! God’s people have made a decision about Jesus... but have never made a commitment to Him."
When a pilot speeds his plane down a runway, there is a certain point where staying on the ground is no longer an option. When he crosses that line, he is committed to the air. He’ll either leave the ground or crash the plane. At that point the pilot can not change his mind.
Unfortunately , churches are filled with members who’ve never taken off.
They’ve been sitting there gunning there engines, making noise but getting nowhere.
They’ve been planning on it, meaning to, trying to, going to, aiming to and hoping to.The tragedy is they have never gotten off the ground.
I think the reason that Christians don’t pop or get off the ground is because they have a mis-conception of worship. Worship is seen as something that happens on a Sunday morning with a group of people. Many think it is something that happens at a certain time, like 11am or 6pm or Wen. 7pm. It is also viewed as something that has five parts to it: singing, praying, giving, communion and preaching. Those five things are not worship in themselves collectively or separately. These are only an extension of a lifestyle of worship.
Read Romans 12:1-2. But, for those of us who have seen worship as an event, how can we adopt it as a lifestyle? The scripture gives us three things that will change our view and transform our lives.
# 1 ; regard yourself as a living sacrifice.
There is a story about a hen and a pig that were out taking a walk one day when they passed a church. The sermon topic on the sign board was, " How can we help the poor". After a couple of moments reflection the hen said, " I know what we can do. We can have a ham and egg breakfast." It took several moments before the suggestion sunk in, but when it did, the pig protested: " That breakfast would be only a contribution for you, but for me it would mean total commitment".
You see, the problem is that a large number of those who claim to be Christians are only willing to make a contribution to the cause of Christ, but very few are willing to give a total commitment. It’s where they think it is the home of the 5% tithe, the thirty minute service with sermonettes for Christianettes. It is the place where the hymn of commitment is "I surrender Some". Instead of Standing on the promises we are sitting on the premises. But this isn’t what God had in mind at all.

In the church of today we have all kinds of people; Church members, pew fillers, hymn singers, sermon tasters, Bible readers, and simple believers. But there are very few who are walking , talking, breathing, living sacrifices.
How many of you woke up today and thought" Today, I’m going to Die?" Most of us spent more time thinking about how we were going to live instead of how we were going to die.
In the OT one of the key elements to worship was the sacrifice. It was critical because it gave the people an understanding that worship costs something. In the N.T. God has changed something...He is asking for a living sacrifice, not a dead one. God asks for our bodies as well as our souls.
William Barclay wrote " True worship is the offering to God of one’s body and all that one does every day with it. Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, nor a ritual, however magnificant. Real worship is the offering of every day life to Him. Take your body, take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the office, the home and offer that all as an act of worship to God."
Read Col. 3:17.
# 2 : Revise your mind set.
Our natural mind set is to do what is natural. Read 1 Cor. 2:14.
In our scripture we see two things that will help us to revise our mind set. 1) Don’t be conformed, don’t let the world squeeze you into what it wants you to be.
Read 1 Peter 1:13-16.
2) Be transformed or changed. The same term was used to describe Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.
But what motivation is there to transform?? The mercy of God is the motivation.
It is that He offers us something that we do not deserve, a relationship with Him and eternal life, instead of what we do deserve which is eternal seperation from him and eternal punishment.
We exist to put the glory of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ on display. That is the reason we are to be living sacrifices.
#3 Relinquish your will to God’s will;
The will of God is good. God only asks us to that which is good to us. He will hurt us by His will. He wants what is best for us. Jesus died for us, how could God want anything but what is best for us?
The will of God is pleasing... It pleases God and will ultimately please us. It will result in a right relationship with God and assure us of all His blessings for us.
The will of God is perfect; God does not want us to settle for second best, He wants us to have the best.
William Borden was a millionaire, a grad. Of Yale, a handsome and privileged
man. God called him to the cause of world missions, and he said Yes. His friends thought he was crazy. One of them wrote to him " You’re throwing yourself away". It did’nt stop him. But, at the age of 25, in 1913, on his way to China, Borden contracted meningitis and died. He left a note as he lay dying, which simply said, " No reserve, no retreat, no regrets". He was totaly committed. A friend of his wrote " No one would have known from his life and talk that he was a millionaire, but no one could have helped knowing that he was a Christian".
Borden trusted the promise of 1 john 2:17- The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
John and Betty Stam were missionaries to China. On 12/8/34 hey calmly and bravely laid down there lives for Christ - martyred by the Chinese communists. Nine years earlier Betty had dedicated her life to Christ with these words: " Lord, I give up my own purposes and plans, all my own desires, hopes and ambitions, and I accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be thine forever. I hand over to Thy keeping all my friendships. All the people whom I love are to take second place in my life, at any cost, now and forever. To me to live is Christ. Amen".
Now that is total commitment. The Christian life is all about being worshipful to God in everything that we do, say, think and feel.... it’s about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.
Now some of you may thinking why is God interested in my body? It’s over=weight or under-weight, It’s too old or too young, it’s wrinkled, blotchy, achy, diseased, nervous, unattractive, disabled, near-sighted or far-sighted, hard of hearing, stiff and brittle. What kind of sacrifice is that??
God doesn’t want your capability, He just wants your availability.
Are you one of those Christians who didn’t pop, or one who didn’t get off the ground?

das ve danya

We have a new dog that has been added to the mix. This one is only 4 yrs. old and is full of energy. Our other three dogs are 13, 12,and 10 so this one is a ball of fire. She is cute,all black with a white spot on her chest and a white foot. She loves to chase after balls and return them to you. She will not let them go for the kid's but will for me.





She has found the horse to be something differant and the horse has taken careful aim at her a few times with her back leg. The horse has missed but the dog is learning quickly that this big dog means biz. She has also found out about the electric fence around the horse pen. It has shocked her twice so far, but she has only been here since 2/8/09.



Her name is Hadsa, Esther in Hebrew. We call her Dassie, or as I like to say Dassie va danya or good bye in Russian

Time to pray

This is an interesting quote I recieved via email from a freind.
The money the Fedreal government wants to throw out to help stop this economic slide we are in can have a huge impact on how we live our lives from here on out.
Before September 2001 we enjoyed a freedom that many of us didn't realize we had, until we lost some of it do to the terrorist attacks. Now our ease of travel has been impacted by those attacks. It was also the start of this economic mess we are in. It costs money to fight a war. We have and are fighting two wars. On top of the way we allowed our banking industry to give high risk loans out at will it was only a matter of time before we were to feel this burden we are entering.
I am all about helping those who need a hand, who are on hard times and need to get by. I am not about the entitlements being thrown in to this package that is now being debated in congress. The elected officials in Washington D.C. need to stop looking at each other with contempt because they are in a differant political party and need to sit down and see that they are there now for a purpose that far exceeds party policy. It is thier destiny to figure out a way to help our nation through this.
When it is all said and done, they will be looked at as the ones who helped pull us through this or they will be the ones who are at fault for letting it go in the wrong direction. We need to pray for all those involved in this process, to have the wisdom to make the right decisions that will impact all of us for years to come. God Bless our country!!


You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." ~~ The late Dr. Adrian Rogers ~~

LOOKIN' UP !!

If there has ever been a time where there is nothing but bad news all around it is now. It seems every other poiticain is guilty of coruption for taking advantage of their postion, the economy is in a shambles, everybody is mad at somebody about something that most people involved dont understand. This world is a mess ! My retirement has been cut by about 60 %, the profession I am in is in a death struggle to stay alive and I wonder what this year will bring with a new President in Washington DC. It is almost enough to make you give up but instead I chose to look up for my redemption drawth nigh !!
I heard a story that goes like this....
If you put a Buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of it's ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is the Buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary Bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, can not take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A Bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the side near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
In many ways , we are like the Buzzard, the Bat and the Bumblebee. We struggle about with problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we to do is look up.
God is always there to meet all of our needs, all of my needs, no matter how big or small. I am thankful for all of the Blessings I have been given. Given because I didn't earn them, Thankful because I didn't deserve them. What an incredible God I serve !!!