Everyone has a purpose. There is no one that doesn’t have a purpose in this life. You may not have found what it is yet. But there is one for you. I learned long time ago that my cat has a purpose. I was full of myself one day and declared that my cat was just a ball of fluff. I was immediately corrected by God telling me that my cat has the life of God in it and has a purpose on this earth. I began to see my cat’s purpose. My cat serves her purpose to the ninth degree. She never stops. She will be who she is until she dies. Now that is dedicated. Her job in life is to bring comfort and consoling me. I have seen my cat sit by my dog who was shaken violently because of the lightning. She stay with her until she had stopped shaking. She was performing her purpose in life. How many people do you know that are as selfless and dedicated to God and His work as my cat? It is easy to get lost in this world. To find yourself wanting what the world has. But it is an illusion. It will all disappear in the end. It is just temporary and has little value. What is more permanent? What can I put my hands on and hold on to? When we go on to the other side of life, heaven or hell to be specific, we can’t take anything but ourselves. So what can we have that is permanent? There are several things that you can have and take with you. Let me spell them out. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. These things are permanent in your life, if you accept them. So what is your purpose in life?

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There aren’t a lot of things in this world that are hard to handle except fear. My oldest son and our family went to a 4^th of July firework display, when he was about 4 years old. My wife was holding him, it was nighttime, and the sky was dark. When the first aerial firework exploded, he became afraid. He turned and held my wife close. I saw the fear and talked to him. I asked him who made the night. He said God made it. Then I asked him, would God make anything that would hurt us. He said no. The fear left him as fast as it came and he watched the firework display. If only we could get rid of fear that fast all the time. Fear is insidious. It creeps in silently and most times unaware. But once it takes hold, it binds us into slavery. There are so many examples of fear in this world, I don’t know where to start. One is road rage, another is violent protest. Fear will make you do things that you wouldn’t normally do. God said He came to set us free from fear. He did this so that we can actually choose to serve God. Our life is strewn with potholes. Some are big and some small, but if we fall into those traps, we may never come out of it alive. The only way to get rid of the fear is to face it head on. It requires a lot of courage and God’s help to be free. It is an achievable goal. God says that we are held in slavery by the fear of death. But He also says, for whom the Son set free, is free indeed. Choose life and be set free from the fear of.

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What does time look like? What shape does it come in? How can you define the shape of time? What are the expressions of time? Time can be compressed. Time can be expanded. Time has sand. Time had seeds. Time has space. Time has a yesterday. Time has a tomorrow. Time can’t stand still. Time has always been used to tell you where you are in the universe. Time waits for no man. Time is relentless. Time continues through forever or infinity. Time can be slowed down. Time can be sped up. Time has consistency. Time is the most important element in our lives. Then can you tell me why you waste most of your time on nothing. There is a limited amount of time given to each of us, no more or no less. Once it has been used it is gone. It vaporizes into the universe. Yet people consistently throw time away. It is more valuable than gold or silver. It is the only thing that will get us from here to there. And when you run out of time, you are gone forever. Again, I will ask you the same questions. Why do you waste the time you have been given? Make no mistake, you were given this time at your birth. You can’t change it or exchange it. You can throw it away. You can end your time on earth, but you only have so much and that is it. There are absolutes in this world and time is one of them. Man can’t do anything about it. The only thing that you can do is make sure you use your time wisely. Because as they say once you are gone, you are gone and your time has ended.

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Anyone who has lived for any length of time has wished for a gentler and simple life. When we were kids, we were always wishing to be adults. Because we could do the things that adults do. We thought that be adult would give us freedom from our parent’s rules and regulations. That drive to freedom modeled our lives into the people we became. Never once thinking of the responsibility that our parents carried. We never saw that burden, because our parents never wanted to show that side of adulthood. So we were starry eyed and wishful about being our own boss. When I grow up I can do what I want. No one is going to tell me what to do. What people never said was that as you get older more responsibility must be carried. When we reached adulthood, we found out that there are more rules and regulations. It comes from everywhere. We begin to carry a larger load. Until one day the load buries us. That gentler and simple life seems to evade us although we long for it. I felt that way and was disappointed with everything. I felt that everything was taken from me. Then I reached out to the only person who change anything in my life. I discovered that Jesus was the only person who loved me just because I was me. My parents loved me, my brothers loved me and family and friends loved me. But no one was willing to accept me for me. Jesus helped me to become the person that I was always meant to be. In the process I discovered the gentler and simple life that I always long for. It is there for anyone who is willing to accept that way of life. It is in Jesus’ name.

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How long have people longed to come to these shores? It has been a least a 1000 years. What did they see or dream about? Can you imagine what America looked like 1000 years ago? It was filled with trees and wildlife. It had beautiful pristine rivers and lakes. It was filled with everything people dream about and want in their lives. So many people came to these shores that no one will ever know about. They lived and died here on this land. And I am not talking about 500 years ago. Only 200 years ago, people came and moved west only to die of violence by man or animal or by sickness. And no one knows who they are except God. Yet people kept coming. They wouldn’t stop. America has always been referred to as the promise land, a land flowing with milk and honey. People saw a chance to improve their lives and their families. So they sold everything they had and came to America. Most of those people died within a year of coming. Those that survived carved out a piece of America for themselves. First it was the people of Siberia. Then the Vikings came. Then the people of Europe came. Then the Africans. Poor people from almost every nation. Our country is called the melting pot of the world. If you look at our language you will find words from every nation. One things has always been true, when we are threaten our people come together as one. We have lived through many wars. I have lived through 5 wars just in my lifetime. And still today, people from everywhere still want to come to come to America, the Promised Land.

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My wife and I went to a movie. We were both off and had time to spend together. It is a movie about young men in the army, who suffer from PTSD. That is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It was called many things before, like battle fatigue or shell shocked. We have been involved with the US military, through my service and my three sons. So, our prospective is first hand in many cases. Our young men went off to war and came back different. The average age of a soldier is 20 years old. Many grow up in a hurry. Some just can’t handle the pressure of war. I have a friend, who was a marine in Vietnam. He lives in my home town, but he never came back from the war. Back to the movie, it is about a squad of soldiers, who all came back wounded. Some had physical wounds, others had mental wounds. One soldier killed himself. Three others got help after they stumbled over life at home. It was based on a true story. What the story was saying, is that we as mankind aren’t invincible. We all suffer the same hardships and tragedies. Whether or not we come out of these tragedies is up to us. If we are willing to accept help to overcome our problems. At the end of the movie, they showed the real soldiers and how they are doing now. My wife and I cried at the end of the movie, because it is real to us. We have walked through this already. We knew when our sons went off to war, only God could keep them and return them safe to us. Place your trust and belief in the one person who can make a difference, God Himself.

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We are talking about enduring hard things in your life. It is like being caught between the rock and the hard place. We don’t go looking for the hard things in life. They seem to find us wherever we are. Learning to deal with hardship is just part of life. Depending on how hard it is, will depend on whether we need help with our dilemma. When my parents died, it took a long time to get over each one. When my younger brother died, I haven’t talked to anyone about it. it is still hard. I’ll tell you about a time in my life when I took on the hardest challenge I have ever done. I had to change. My life was in a death spiral. I didn’t know what to do. A friend introduced me to the one person who could help me change. His name is Jesus. I needed the power of God to change my life. God wasn’t going to zap me with His power to change. I had to choose to walk it out. When I say that I literally walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I mean it. God’s transformation took a while. It is still going on. That was 40 years ago, when I first met Jesus. When I go home to heaven, I will look and act like Jesus. So, when we are caught between the rock and the hard place, know that it isn’t there to stop you. The hard place is there for you to grow and change.

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Through the Black Swan is a beautiful bird and quite unique in nature, but it isn’t what I am talking about. The Black Swan is a theory that states it is a surprise that you weren’t expecting and it changes everything you are doing. How many times has this happened to you and didn’t know it had a name? I don’t know if you ever read John Steinbeck’s book “Of Mice and Men”. There is a quote from the book that says, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. We plan everything. Our details are precise and extensive. Then our plans are shot to hell, when someone walks in with a better plan. That is a black swan. A black swan, though it is unknown to us, will improve on what we are doing. In hind sight of course. No one is perfect and we can’t plan for every contingency. So change will happen to us on a regular basis. Sometimes it is maddening. When you have put so much time and effort into it. Some people just can’t except that their plan is flawed. But if you can adjust you thinking and go on, it will benefit you. Sometimes the black swan doesn’t show up, because our plan is right and will work. It is all in the accepting the changes in our lives. This applies to all aspects of life. My wife was a black swan for me. She got me off dead center and propelled me into a world of change. Changes such as marriage, children and finances to name a few. So don’t be so surprised when a black swan shows up in your life. Look for the change that is coming and accept what you can’t change. Your life will be enriched by it.

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Have you ever been caught between the rock and the hard place? I can remember my dad saying you have to be hard to endure things. If you are going to play football with your brothers, you will have to be tougher than you are. I never did enjoy getting run over by football players. I finally decided not to play football, instead I played tennis and ran track. Both sports require building your endurance. But not suffering cuts and bruises. It’s funny, I have a high tolerance for pain. I just didn’t like getting hit. All my brothers and cousins played football. My sport was tennis and track. I was a very fast runner. My best time ever was about 11 seconds for the 100-yard dash. Unfortunately, it was practice, and I never could repeat it. But that was when I was young and in shape. There was something about running fast that released a joy in me. So, I ran. In each stage of my life, I had to learn to cope with growing up. There are hardships attached to each time in your life. If there is no adversity in your life, you will not grow to your full potential. It doesn’t mean you have to like it, but you need to work through it. As you do, the things of life will begin to open, and you will grow. I’ll continue the story tomorrow.

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