What is your comfort zone? How far can you go without being put into a situation that becomes uncomfortable? Why do we have to be uncomfortable anyway? Our comfort zone is a place where we like to be. It is free from conflict and any activity that we don’t want. I like to camp, but I don’t like wilderness camping. I don’t have to have a cellphone, but I don’t like to live off the land. I like sleeping in a sleeping bag. Waking up at the break of dawn to watch a sunrise in the woods is exciting to me. Preparing food and drink over a campfire is fun. This is my comfort zone. I like animals. Most domestic ones, cats and dogs, even gerbils are interesting. I don’t like snakes. I can be at home with most any animal. Some people take me out of my comfort zone. I don’t mind talking to most any stranger. It has always been interesting to me to find out about people. So why do we have a comfort zone? What is that all about? How many times you have wanted to accomplish a goal? And you knew that you couldn’t do this inside your comfort zone. You had to go until the task was completed. And where it took you, you would never normally go. It meant that you had to go through every emotion in the book. I hate to be embarrassed, because I feel like a fool. But I know that many times the only way to accomplish my goals is through it. Each time that things happen to me I grow. This is the only way I can move forward in my life. God says that we go through temptations all of our life. And with each different temptation God always makes a way of escape. He does this so we are able to bear the temptation in our lives. So press through your comfort zone and find out what is out there for you.
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President Franklin Roosevelt in one of his famous speeches said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We live with fear all of our lives. Some fear is necessary for us to function in the world. There is a response that keep us safe from harm. It is the fight or flight response. When we are frightened, our body produces this response. We have learned that putting our hand into fire hurts. So we develop a fear of fire. This is a natural response. When my oldest son was 6-7 years old, we took to a firework display. He had developed a fear of the dark. When the fireworks started to explode, he drove for my arms. He was terrified. I asked who made the night. He said God did. Then if He did make the night, there is nothing to be afraid of. He began to turn and look at the fireworks. He enjoyed the firework display and never was afraid of the dark again. Fear can be unreasonable. People can fear things that don’t exist. It can become so bad that they don’t leave their home for fear. Fear can stop you in your tracks for no reason. President Roosevelt was speaking to the nation about the fear of the depression. He wanted to show people that it can be turned around. God also talks about fear and what it is used for. He said that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God also said that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He also said the because of the fear of death, people are held in bondage all of the lives. Jesus said that to whom is set free, is free indeed. Let God set you free from fear to live the life that He has planned for you.
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From a young age, we are taught that we must judge what is good or not. To survive in this world we must judge what is right or wrong. But we apply this to every part of our lives. Before we could speak, we were judging what food we needed to eat. Judging has become a part of all of our life. We like what we like and don’t want or need anything different. Do you know why you crave the same chocolate candy? Or you want to go to your favorite food place for your favorite foods. Mine is a freshly cooked beef hamburger fully dressed with fried onion rings. But if I ate only that food I would probably get sick from malnutrition and die. I have to eat the correct foods to maintain a proper diet. My wife’s food of choice is seafood. With the same discrimination we pick and choose all the things in our life. And many times it is applied to people because they are different from us. Everybody thinks that it is on the line of race, creed or color. But it goes way beyond that. Sometimes it is because they smell bad. Or it could be because they are poor. Or maybe they are not educated. Jesus would go the tax collector’s home to eat. Their friends were the local prostitutes. The religious leaders would condemn Jesus for going into a house of unclean people. Jesus told them that the well don’t need a physician. I came to seek and save that which was lost. People are people. God made every one of them. And He has called all to His dinner table. When you begin to think that you are more important than anyone else, I tell you a truth. You have lost your way and it is time for you to come back to God.
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Having the ability to believe in someone or something. As I have been keeping track of current events, I have noticed a shift in attitudes toward people. There has been an attack on believability. People have been making a pretense of telling the truth. Then turning around and calling everyone a liar. One event comes to mind of Dan Rather and the CBS evening news. All you have to do is follow the presidential race and the media says Republicans bad and Democrats good. There is very little news coverage that is worth wasting my time listening to. But you have to remember that anyone isn’t all bad or all good. There is a happy medium in there, somewhere. I want to be an optimist about our future. But I can’t find anything that man is doing that is righteous. When Paul traveled the world teaching about Jesus, he always encountered people who agreed and disagreed. It seemed that the people that disagreed were more vocal than the others. That is why they stoned him, imprisoned him and chased him out of every major city. Because he really spoke the truth which most people don’t want to hear? It hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. Man is still the same. He would rather believe a lie than have to deal with the truth. Believing takes faith and hope. If those parts are not there, there isn’t much believing going on. It takes faith that what is being said is true and will help you. The hope is wanting to change and be different or better than before. God says that if you want a person to change, you have to tell him the truth. Because with the truth, God can deal with the person.
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A definition of the word faithfulness is strict or thorough in the performance of duty;
true to one’s word, promises, vows, steady in allegiance or affection; loyal; constant; reliable, trusted, or believed; adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate; full of faith; believing. Every morning when my alarm rings there is a presence in my bedroom. After I silence the alarm, I hear this quiet little meow. Then I feel this nudge to my hand as my beautiful calico cat greets me in the morning. She waits until the alarm goes off before she does anything. She may sit on the bed for a while until the alarm goes off. That is her signal that I am awake and getting out of bed. And she will not approach me until that alarm goes off. She is faithful in her duty toward me. She is constant and true to herself. She will perform her duty to me every day no matter what. This is a true definition of faithfulness. If only people were so faithfulness. Unforntunately people are more faithless than faithful. It is about themselves not others. Selfishness is the order of the day. Of course it leads to nothing because selfishness is empty and has nothing. We were put on this earth to serve a cause. It isn’t all the causes that people get themselves into. The cause that we are tasked with is service to God and being faithful to Him. All those wonderful passions that we have are meant to work in God’s behalf. The dedication to being consistent in God’s plan for our life. Faithfulness is a wonderful human attribute if it is used in the correct way. That way is God’s way. Mt 25:23 “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Are you faithful in the few things?
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I must admit that I was drawn to God because I was so powerless. I didn’t have any power to do anything. People are drawn to power like moths to a flame. Because in and of ourselves we are powerless to do anything. Some people join gangs, some join the army and some go into politics to receive power. People don’t want to admit that we can’t do anything on our own. And I am not talking about eating, dressing, driving a car or going to school. I talking about making a difference in this world. Being able to help or control our situations with people and things. There is a limit to what we can do. God gave us this limit. Can you imagine what the world would be like if Hitler had conquered the world? Genocide isn’t something new to the 20th century. People have been killing off other people for their goods, resources or lands since time began. The old adage is true, absolute power corrupts absolutely. No one can rule the world without becoming a homicidal maniac. History is replete with people who have tried to rule the world. All they had to do is kill off everybody who disagreed with them. That is why the real power resides with God. God doesn’t give His power to anyone but His own children. And then He is selective on who can have it. As it says in the bible, Joh 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” Again, God says in the bible, Ac 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” So as God says His power is for His children.
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I love to cook. I started when I was a teenager. My dad only like meat and potatoes. It was boring and bland. Back then there wasn’t many cooking shows to watch. The food network had not started yet. So the pickings were slim. But there was a doctor from England that was a gourmet cook. The only problem with the show was that he was an alcoholic. Everything he cooked had wine in it, as well as himself. He was a good cook and I learned a lot from him. I started cooking at home. My mom was a school teacher and didn’t have time to really cook for us 4 boys. She was thankful that I helped out in the house. My dad at first would complain about the food if he found out that I cooked. Soon we just didn’t tell him. He loved the food. I learned how to make all kinds of things. My wife loves it when she found out I could cook. Unfortunately her mother never taught her anything about the kitchen. She couldn’t boil water. After many years of marriage and children, her skills haven’t gone far beyond that. I got into baking. I love baking cookies and pies, also cheesecakes. I have a killer orange oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip cookie. I make a vichyssoise, to die for. I have forgotten more recipes than I remember. My sons have grown up and I hardly cook any more. One of the things that I had thought about seriously was a restaurant. But I was already married. My life has had many twist and turns. Some of the turns were good and some well thank God I had a chance to correct my mistakes. I have always wanted my life to be worth something. I tried very hard to make my way in this world. But I never really wanted to be part of this world. My heart doesn’t belong here. I gave my heart to the Lord and am seated together with Him in heavenly places. And this is where I want to go. So I am writing to let you know that you can make into the same heavenly places. All you have to do is ask God to go.
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Contentment is being satisfied with who you are and what you have. In today’s world this seems like a tall order. Everybody is pushing to get the latest craze. If it isn’t a new phone, it is a new watch, phone, and a computer put together. Then there is the new car syndrome. If your car isn’t 6 months old or less, you haven’t succeeded. Let us not forget clothes. If you don’t have the latest clothes, you just can’t go out of you house. And if your house is not up to date, Lord have mercy on my soul. There seems to be a driving need to acquire things. We must acquire bigger things or better things or our life isn’t worth living. That idea is a total lie straight out of the pits of hell. It is an idea to make you discontented with your life and everyone and thing in it too. Do you remember when one toy at Christmas was a real blessing? Or do you remember going to get an ice cream cone with your family? I can remember going with my family to get a cold mug of root beer. It was so much fun and I was with my family. Your life is what you make it. If you don’t participate in it, it still goes on without you. That is even sadder than being greedy. Take back your life and be who you are supposed to be. Don’t let everybody else tell you what you are supposed to be. It is for your self-worth and inner peace that you need to do this. Don’t let the world dictate to you what is important to you. Stand up and be yourself. For as God has said that contentment and Godliness is great gain.
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All my life I have been interested in patchwork quilts. Some have been very simple while some are very complicated. It is taking some material that has been discarded and using it again to make something beautiful and practical. Today we don’t look at old cloth as something of value. But at one time woven fabric was priceless. There was very little of it and the cost was very prohibitive. So people would save old shirts, dresses or pants and reuse them. They would take this mismatched group of fabric and create a very practical and beautiful work of art. It was in the form of a quilt. Usually the quilt was something that the women in a family got together and made. It started as making a quilt for a wedding gift. It would take many man-hours of work to complete a quilt. Depending on the design of the quilt is depending on how long it took to make it. You couldn’t go to the store and buy a quilt. Many people just couldn’t afford to purchase it anyway. So this was a real gift to a couple just starting out. Today they are real works of art, even the ones from 100’s of years ago. And they are very valuable. I have always wanted to do this work. It takes time and patience to complete a quilt. It is the same with God. He takes the old discarded parts of our lives. He sews them back together in a way so that we look and feel like a work of art. Then we become something of beauty and very practical. Or I should say we become functional. Let God create in our lives that beautiful and practical patchwork quilt. Then people will admire and value your life. All you have to do is ask.
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It is French for left and right. The word droit not only means right, but correct, straight, careful, skillful, nimble, able and expect. The word gauche not only means left, but clumsy, awkward, ungainly, left-handed and sinister. That is an unusual meaning of a word. It really isn’t if you knew where the word came from. We use the words gauche and adroit in English as well as French. There are many words that are in both languages at the same time. America is called the melting pot of the world. There is many words from all over the world that are used in American English. But getting back to the two words, gauche and droit. Left and right are used everywhere. Our hands are left and right. Does that mean that our left hand is sinister? Or that our right hand is an expert? Or could we say that our left hand is ungainly or awkward? Or maybe is the right hand that is handsome? How can you tell which is which? Do they look different from the other? The words don’t mean that our hands have any ability one way or the other. They are just hands. But it does speak to which way our heart is going in. You have to go back to the original meaning of the words to understand what they mean. The words come from the bible and are referring to the two thieves that hung on the cross next to Jesus. The thief on the right asked Jesus to be with him when He entered His kingdom. Jesus said today you will be with Me in paradise. The thief on the left just cursed he way into eternity. The thief on the right became righteous and the thief on the left became sinister. Which are you? Will you ask God today and become righteous or will you curse your way into hell?
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