Where my treasure is

Matt 6:21 "For where your treasure is there will your heart be also."

Where is my treasure? What is it? Think about all the homes and families destroyed and damaged in a few short seconds in the tornadoes. Terrible loss. I know what it feels like. But there is something that happens at the moment of tragedy when our hearts are clinging to the Lord. In spite of catastrophes, we realize they cannot touch the most important treasure we have...The Lord. They cannot take it away!!

In these last days, as we spiral toward the end of time and beginning of eternity, we need to be busier laying up treasures in Heaven, than working harder to make sure we have all the comforts of this world. It is as simple as the verse says, our hearts will be where our treasures are.

We lost many "treasures" in the quake, but we gained so much more. We gained a closer walk with the Lord.

Praying for those of you who have been hit by tornadoes. Praying you find peace in your heart. Praying. Just praying.

God bless you

The Royal Wedding

Did you follow the royal wedding? I enjoyed watching the cultural part of British Royalty. Beautiful! So much planning, time, money went into this wedding. Truly a beautiful wedding. What amazed me most of all is the bride. She was not born into royalty. She was a middle class young lady. What made Prince William choose her? Why would he go below his status to choose his wife? I did notice that she had the mannerisms of royalty. If I hadn't known I would have thought she was born in a castle.

This is a perfect example of what Jesus did for us, the church! He went below His royalty and chose us. We weren't born into royalty. We were born in sin. Yet He chose us. He left His royalty to live among us. Can you imagine? But wait a minute, now Kate is acting and living as her Groom. What about us? Have we taken the life of our King? Do I act the part? Or are people just not sure who I am? I pray people see Jesus in us.

One day soon there will be another wedding. And a supper to boot!! The marriage supper of the Lamb. We will be served in royalty! Heaven. Eternity. Forever the presence of Jesus, our groom. William and Kate had a beautiful wedding, but the one in Heaven will far outweigh it!! There will be no comparison.

God bless you

First Fruits

I am reading a most interesting book "This Blessed Life" (a gift from our son-in-law) which is teaching the value of giving our first fruits. Left-overs are not first fruits. First fruits are our best that we can give.

Malachi 3:10 "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you blessings That there will not be room enough to receive it."

The Lord is challenging us to give to Him our best. Our tithes. Why? So there will be food in His house. I translate this as the church. So should I give just so God blesses me, and I will see what the return is? Of course not, I should give because I love the Lord and He gave His all for me!! The blessings will come, but if my focus is on my return from my tithe, then my focus is wrong. My focus needs to be on Him not on me! And if I am more concerned about my returns than on honoring God and blessing others , then I need a focus change.

Food for Thought: God rejected Cain's offering but accepted Abel's offering because He gave the first fruits.

Lord, help me to bring my offering to your storehouse and not mine. If I store it in my storehouse it will rust and thieves will break in and steal.

Note: I'm feeling ok again. Patrick is home from Haiti. He had a good trip. I'm glad to have him home.

God bless you

Detours

Yesterday was a detour. Not at all, my plan, but God's.

Sitting at my desk, and suddenly a chest pain like never before, then my lips turned numb. Off to the ER, and spent the night in the hospital. Everything from EKG, lung scan (for clots), xray, blood tests, cardiogram, and CAT scan. The answer? "You are in great health". Praise the Lord for a good report. The only test not back yet, is the CAT scan. That should tell me if I'm sane or not! Smile.

Now I am back home, enjoying my freedom. No needle pricks or waking me up during the night.

I was blessed to meet several Christian employees. God has His servants in the field.

God is Good. All the time.

God bless you

Resurrection Day

Jesus is Alive! He is risen! He lives forever. Resurrection.

Without the resurrection our faith would be futile. Without the resurrection, we'd be foolish to believe that there was a God. But there was a resurrection. That is why we believe! He is the Son of God just as He claimed He was.

We have witness of His resurrection all around us...changed lives, answered prayers. The disciples had proof, but they could hardly believe it was Jesus in the room before them. What was it about Jesus? Before the crucifixion crowds followed him everywhere he went. But the night of the crucifixion, Judas kissed Jesus so the soldiers would know who he was. Then after the resurrection, when He walked along the Emmaus road, the two disciples didn't even recognize him.

How can this be? Wouldn't we have recognized him? I doubt it. Why do I say that? For me, we pray and ask God for answers, and because that answer doesn't fit what we thought it should be, it passes us by as being from God. Just like Jesus, He didn't follow the culture so much. He didn't fit the image of a King. But He was.

Last but not least, when Jesus left this world He promised His spirit to be our comforter, to dwell within us. The veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom which gave us entrance into the Holy place, before His throne. His spirit within us, we before the throne of Grace. We have so much praise to give to Jesus!! He is worthy of all our praise.

I pray you each had a beautiful Resurrection Day.

God bless you

All is silent

Today. The Sabbath. Jesus is dead, buried. The guards surround the tomb to make sure no one comes to take the body. I almost can hear the silence in the city. After the uproar "crucify him", then the lashing of the whips, on to Gethsemane and the mockery and cries "save yourself".

The disciples are hiding for fear of the leaders. A mother is silently weeping at home. So alone, so distraught. The son she loved so much is now gone, or so she thought.

Was there anyone who remembered "I will rise again?" Or was his death so final in their minds, the promise totally vanished from their minds?

Jesus gave more promises "I will come again." Have we remembered? Or has the catastrophes of the day overtaken us? Do the political problems steal the remembrance of His promise? He prayed for us. He prayed that His words would bring us joy. Joy? Yes, joy in the midst of suffering. To be truthful, that is when we find real joy. In the midst of suffering. That is when we pray more earnestly.

Prepare your heart for Resurrection Day!!

God bless you

At the Foot of the Cross

What do I see? I see a multitude of people by the cross. Some were mocking Jesus. Some laughing to scorn. Others were crying. Others stunned. Soldiers were playing dice to see who would own the robe of Jesus.

Come closer to the cross. There I see a woman. I imagine her heart being torn in two to see her son hanging on the cross, innocent. She knew he was innocent. She remembered the things she pondered in her heart since he was a child. Next to her stood one disciple. Only one is mentioned— John. Only moments before His death, He committed his mother to John's care. The love of a son for his mother!

Now it is my time to come to the cross. To come close to have his blood flow to cleanse me from my sin. Oh the sin, and He took it all. He went to the cross for me, and you. The grace at that moment. The grace from the throne of God all the way to my heart. Oh thank you Jesus! Thank you isn't enough!

Make your way to the cross. Push through the crowd of mockers, of scorners. Push through the crowd of those who laugh you to scorn, who criticize you. Come to the cross. There you will find grace and forgiveness.

He is Worthy!! He is Majesty! He deserves our praise.

God bless you