Generation X dominants the retail market today. The word of the day is convenience. It is instant gratification. There is so much technology, it is hard to keep up with it. someone is always inventing something new. The cell phones companies are trying to keep up with the market. They add this or that and charge extra for it. Information has increased a 1000-fold. And sorrow and grief have increased just as fast. Solomon said this over 3000 years ago. And it is still true today. More information doesn’t make for a better life. If it is, why are there companies to stop thieves from stealing our info. Technology has made our and the criminal’s lives easier. God designed simplicity for our lives. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have convenience. It means that it can’t control us. If you don’t think so. Then why are there laws against texting and driving? And soon there will be laws against talking on the phones and driving. The simple life God wants for us, is that we are free to choose His life. Free from the condemnation of this world. God’s life is free from guilt, anger, condemnation and confusion. We become free to go about our lives as God plan it. This life is there for anyone to choose. It is as simple as turning to God and asking for forgiveness. This is for everyone.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

It is interesting how affluent we are in America. Our poor people are richer than most of the world. You ever wondered why so many people want to come to America? It is the American dream of a better life. The dream and pursuit of living the good life. What would you do to live the good life? What would you give up? There is a story in the bible about Jesus going to a dinner a pharisee’s home. Jesus and some of His disciples were seated at the table, when a prostitute came into the home. She went straight to Jesus and began washing His feet with her tears. She dried them with her hair. Then anointed them with ointment. The Pharisees got upset because they knew her biblically. Jesus told them that her sins, which were many, were forgiven. He said those which are forgiven much, love much. Those who are forgiven little, love little. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, so that we can love unconditionally. God gives us everything we need to make our way home. Being thankful for what God has given is how we approach God. It is with a grateful heart and praise that we enter into the courts of heaven.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

In the first century, Ephesus was the center of Christianity. Ephesus was a city of 100,000 people. Outside of Rome, it was the largest and richest city in the Roman Empire. When the church began, it became powerful and fruitful. 7 other churches were started in Asia Minor. There was only one church per city in the first century. If you were a Christian, you couldn’t leave and go join the 1st church down the street. And if you didn’t belong, it meant your life and your families. After 40 years in Ephesus, the church lost its way. Everybody was more concerned with money and the world than the things of God. God sent the Apostle John to pastor the church in Ephesus. Because the church was weak and had no power, John was arrested and put on the island of Patmos. God still had work for John. He wrote Revelations and the epistles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. His epistles were teaching basic Christianity. Because the church had lost its way, the teaching had to be simple. But God wants us to go on from basic teachings to warfare in the kingdom. Only you can decide what you will do for God. Step out for the shadows and use the faith God has given you. Learn of God and read the bible on a daily basis. Then you will know the truth and power of God in this world.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

Let us begin in the beginning with Adam and Eve. When they sinned against God, He promised them a redeemer. It didn’t happen in their lifetime. God chose Abraham to be the father of many nations. God made a covenant with Abraham for a redeemer. It didn’t happen in his lifetime. God chose Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. God made a covenant with Moses for a redeemer. But it didn’t happen in his lifetime. God chose David to be king over Israel. God made a covenant with him not only for a redeemer, but He would be a descendant. It didn’t happen in his lifetime. The Redeemer would arrive a 1000 years after King David. When the time came, Adam, Abraham, Moses, David and all the faithful of God lifted up their heads from hell and saw our Redeemer, Jesus, born. 33 years later, after His death, Jesus stormed hell and lead captivity out of hell and into heaven. Everything is answered in God’s time. It may be seconds or it may be years. But what we are to do is believe and trust that God will answer. For without faith it is impossible to please God.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
Www.joseph1637.com

What are you going to choose today? Everybody has a free will and can choose each day. It’s never just one choice. It’s usually a 1000 choices. Just driving your car, how many choices do you make? We had a men’s supper last night. I was talking to someone who came. He was saying that he couldn’t stay away from women. We told him the truth. It was a choice on his part. No one made him do that. Sometimes making a series of wrong decisions will get you killed. No one wants to listen to the truth voluntarily. But there is a way we can learn the truth. No one knows the whole truth except God. With our free will, we can learn and avoid bad decision. Everybody knows about consequences. We learned as a child. The consequences got bigger as we became an adult. Did you know that the consequence of Abraham’s sin of taking a second wife, Hagar, is still with us? The consequence is the Arab nations. God forgave Abraham, but the consequence is far reaching. This is why we must seek God and His wisdom. So, that our consequences don’t last 6000 years. God will forgive us and cancel our consequences. All you have to do is ask.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

You ever had to go to someone and ask for forgiven. It is a humbling experience. Some people will forgive and forget. Then there are some who say they will forgive and never forget. And you get reminded of your transgression, every so often. It’s hard sometimes, you want to forget your transgression and move on. But it pops up and smacks you in the face. We aren’t perfect people. We will never be perfect. But we can try to work out our lives as best as possible. What if you could find someone to love you despite your shortcoming. And would forget your transgressions. It is a person that you would want to know. Because they would love you unconditionally. There is a person like that. Most people know who He is. But have never met Him. I don’t know what you are trying to prove. But how long will you run away from Him and deny His existence. I don’t even have to say His name. But I will. It is Jesus. He loves unconditionally and forgives and forget our transgressions. God says in Psalms 103:11-13 “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” (KJV).
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

We can think of many things that has happened. Some are pretty good, some we want to forget. It’s funny how that is. I have always heard that history repeats itself. But why? Why can’t we remember what has happened and not repeat it. There are wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes are increasing on a regular basis. There is a worldwide drought. There are famines. Nations are rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom. But that is only the beginning. A person who looks in the mirror and forget what they see, is doomed to repeat their mistakes. God has given us a gift, that we should eat, drink and enjoy the labor of our hands. I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God does it, that men should fear before him. That which has been is now. And that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

A song kept playing in my head. Its a song from the past. It struck a chord with me then and it still does today. It’s interesting how that works. The song talks about who we are what we want. It says that nothing last forever. The song tells the truth. One of the band members plays a dulcimer. It makes the song. The song talks about seeing your own goals and not seeing the bigger picture. Nothing last forever. If you only seek your own pleasure, you will fade into History and be forgotten. There is a whole world in need. If you would stop looking at yourself and turn around. It isn’t any further away from you then in front of your face. Open your eyes to what is around you. It doesn’t make any difference how much money you have. You can open a door for someone, literally and figuratively. It strikes a chord inmy heart. Look and See if it does the same for you. The song is “Everybody wants to rule the world. ”
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
Www.joseph1637.com

There is no one that hasn’t made mistakes, some small and some large. It’s the large one that really follow us around. Most people don’t know that small mistakes always lead to the large ones. Then comes the regrets. The fear and guilt that I carried around weighed a ton on my shoulders. That is the killer, fear and guilt. If we don’t deal with the mistakes, it will destroy us. When I came to the Lord, He didn’t expect me to be perfect, but willing. I have made mistakes since I came to the Lord. Some have been enormous. But now my mistakes have eternal consequences. I prayed and God has corrected my mistakes. One took 15 years to correct. But the difference, between being alone and with God, is night and day. God defends me. Because He loves me. And that love has no fear or guilt attached to it. God’s love is like a fortress that surrounds me. I’m not perfect, I’m forgiven. As God says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear. Because fear has torment. We love God, because He loved us first.
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com

God is specific about our life on this earth. He shows us how to live and how to die.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
11 ¶ He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (KJV).
Crain Blanchard.
Crainb52@juno.com
http://www.joseph1637.com