Boojoyful

  And let us consider how to stir one an other to love and good works,  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,  but encouraging one another,   and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.   Hebrews 10:24-25 I adored my grandmother. She lived one block over and about five houses down. In elementary school, any day I didn't have an after school activity I went by her house for a popsicle and a game of Crazy Eights or Seven Up. E very Sunday when we both were in church I would snuggle up beside her in the pew.  At least a couple nights a month I would spend the night with my grandparents.  Starting in 1961 Sunday nights were a plus because they owned a color TV and I could watch Disney's "Wonderful World of Color"! When I stayed overnight, Grandmama would come in the room to awaken with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  Th photo below is of one of the glasses she would use. I still use them to this day. When I wa...

A summer view from God's creation  in Utah This summer I watched the movie Miracle from Heaven. It is based on a true "Life is a lot" family experience with a very ill child. A few days after this an email came from  Billy Graham Ministries on the topic of  "Why do Christians suffer?" "Rest assured that there is a reason for Christian people being afflicted. One reason why God’s people suffer, according to the Bible, is that it is a disciplinary, chastening, and molding process. From the Scriptures we learn that the chastening of affliction is a step in the process of our full and complete development. Affliction can also be a means of refining and of purification. Many a life has come forth from the furnace of affliction more beautiful and more useful than before." PRAYER FOR THE DAY  "Lord, whatever I have to face, through it let me learn more of Your love and compassion. "  BGM Years ago, a very close friend was in a drug induced coma and ...

This past spring I attended a "Gifts of the Spirit" workshop led by our daughter. It was a powerful time of teaching, worship, listening and then getting alone with a couple women whom you did not know to listen and see if the Spirit would speak.  WOW! So, much goodness occurred, but one bizarre thing was that the Lord prompted one of the women sitting at the same table (a total stranger)  to draw the same sketch of peaks and valleys by still waters that I had drawn.  She lives a couple hours away, but I said to her, "Hmm, I think we need to get together." She quickly agreed.  I filed it in the back of my mind. Since that time the song "Still Waters" has come before me several times, an old bookmark fell onto the floor in front of me one day with a very similar sketch to what I had drawn and it had Psalm 23 as the scripture reference. The question now is how obedient will I be to follow through and seek what God is calling to happen beside still waters?  I...

A shared photo from one of our sons atop MacAfee Knob in Catawba, VA A week later another son went with his wife and son. As I was praying for a friend whose mother was actively dying, the Lord kept impressing on my heart the word    journey.    Her mom has almost completed the incredibly earthly journey to eternity with Jesus. I suggested she speak these verses over her mom, believing, even though unresponsive, her mother's spirit can hear these words from the Lord. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.   Philippians 3:20 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.  1 Chronicles 29:15 James teaches how many people brag as though they will live on earth forever, but for those of us who know God’s promises we believe our earthly time is just a mist that will dis...

We are coming off a wonderful time with these grandsons at what we call "Camo Camp." Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4 Can you remember times in your life where you felt as if you were in a doctoral level course titled "The Testing of Your Faith"?  My prayers have been going out to the families of the victims of the recent flooding in Texas that claimed so many lives.  How do you stand steadfast in your faith after seeing so many lives literally swept away? In 2003 our son was in a horrible car wreck resulting in a broken neck.  He didn't want us to tell his younger siblings and ruin their time at a Young Life camp.  We said, "If one person comes to know Christ from the sharing of our faith related to this accident, then that is a life saved ...

A Shiloh Scripture Sign A recent sermon series at our church was on "Living With Hope in a Broken World."  One week, three key points on how to do that were: (1) Life a Holy Life  (2) Life With Fear of God  (3) Love One Another Earnestly With a Pure heart. One of my favorite young mothers at church texted after the sermon and said, "Could I come speak to you about the sermon?"  She came the next day and said, "I want to live a life that is holy, but how do you do that?" Before she and I looked into God's Word in  1 Peter 1:13-24 where  Peter packs a purposeful punch on this topic I said, "Think about this. Daily we wash dirty dishes and clothes, we wipe out messy sinks and potties, we squish spiders found in the corners, pick up after ourselves and others, pull up weeds in the yard and clean up debris that has blown in the yard. Physical clean up is none stop.   Likewise, being Spirit controlled isn't just a daily choice, it's a moment by ...