WE are the church

Today in church, our pastor challenged us that we are the church. We need to make changes by seeking out people with problems and inviting them in. This will help others to experience God's love by giving them an internal make-over. On television, there is the hit show, Extreme Makeover-Home Edition that has a team of designers over a week rebuild someone's home to meet a specific need in their lives. The church in a way has the same function, yet, it takes a lifetime to have that process take hold.
The disciple's makeover is not instant, and it can not be done in a week. It requires a lot of work. For it to work, a team needs to be put in place. We are cracked pots that can only be of use if they are strengthened by God. But we must not allow to cracks to be patched since God's love can be shined through us. This I learned from today's sermon at my church. May God bless the reader of this.

Ups and downs

Any journey has its ups and downs. I would like to think of life as being constant with nothing ever going wrong. But it does have those moments.
The wrong times happen when I do not let my instincts work right and refuse to yield to God to get on the right path. I like to follow dead ends and just end up getting lost and unfulfilled. But God is there to nudge me in the right direction. Just need to re-learn self control!!!!
Job whom I will be reading about shortly sure had some major struggles thrown his way in how he lived his life. Makes my problems puny in comparison.

Hard to imagine

Christmas was peaceful in Portland, Maine and elsewhere in the world. Then on the day after, as in the movie of that name, lives as known were changed forever.
Like egg beaters, people's homes and lives were changed and churned in an instant. Striking with violent force, it seems unfair. Nature can not always be controlled. But human hearts of relief workers do make a difference -demonstrating the power of humanity's compassion toward each other.

Preparing for a trip

Many people in life take much time in preparing to move to new and bigger apartments and homes. Lists are made and vans are lined up and change of address labels are done.
This morning I meditated on how important it is to prepare for the final move after one's death. Heaven is a place that I am looking forward to, yet I do not spend as much time as I should in reflecting how great a place that it will be. In scripture, it states that no eye nor mind can comprehend how much God's love is for us in that He has gone ahead and prepared a place for us. I understand how great it is to have a place prepared since when I graduated from college, my parents had my apartment all set for me to move into and had built around me a neighborhood where I never have felt alone. That is what the angels and those who have influenced us have done in preparing our place in the heavenly realms. What a journey that will be when this life has been fully lived. May you be filled with peace and strength.

a need to be more accountable

I realize the need to be more accountable to others. If I invite others into my life, then I will be able to make needed progress by having them be aware of struggles in my life since I tend to hide behind a curtain.

A twenty mile journey half way around the world

Today, I attended the Knights of Columbus exhibit of David Robert's journeys of rediscovering the Holy Land through the use of lithographs. The details of the hills and mountains along with the buildings and people of the time was a good way to tell the history of a region that I have learned and read through my involvement with my faith journey. A friend of mine commented that people do have great amounts of talent and it is amazing to see what can be done when the mind is put to active use. At times, my mind is on a neutral mode where I don't always challenge myself to do things that will bring myself and others closer to God.
There is a lot of history to that region. If only the inhabitants there would appreciate their unique contribution to society, then the world might be able to get along better.
It was fascinating to see how the land looked when it was painted compared to how it looks today and to see how the painter altered the landscapes a little to give it more color.
Some of the local catholic schools had different christmas trees decorated with images of Christ and different attributes of Him. It was good to see Christmas trees decorated the way that the children did. Different style of art but that which has come from the heart and soul of the artist.
A good way to see a cheerful scene of art and a good way to escape the gloom of a rainy day and a 1 point loss to Tennessee by Uconn women.

Abraham believes God

In life, believing in the impossible is a difficult thing for me to do. In reading scripture today, Abraham is faced with similar difficulties. Here God has made him a promise to provide him with a son with his wife, Sarah. Yet, they are way past the normal child-bearing years. Yet, this was a precursor to one of the challenges that God would be placing in his path after Isaac is born and is asked to sacrifice him. God interacts with Abraham and brings him to the night sky and asks him to look up. The essense of stars, grains of sand and even dust in scripture point to the endless possiblities that God has for us and the connections that they can lead to.
Belief for him didn't come easy and by having his wife agree to have him sleep with their servant, it caused a conflict in history. But, God can use different groups of people to get his plan accomplished.

Sleet amid the snow

I walked to the bus and my road to work as the sleet fell on the freshly laid snow. Sleet is a heavy rain that doesn't fall as rapidly as rain. But it is still messy. Cars and trucks throw the mixture in the direction of the grass with fragments of the liquid heading toward the curb. But there is something special about that first appearance of falling snow that makes the world a very special and magical place.
In scripture this day, I covered some of Revelation which is an apocolyptic book talking about the future of the world in imagery. The constant theme of the book is to pay attention to matters in life. In other parts of scripture, the writers warn to pay attention to obeying the laws of God and it will go well with you. And it can also pertain well to work, especially in the world of reviews. Having intention of doing better is not always enough. Still have to work on communication and organization. But the fact of seen progress seems to be enough to keep me on the team of employment. May God bless you.

Reaching to the top of the Tower

In the journey through the Old Testament, the Israelites desired to build a great city with a tower that would show others how great they are. They had an honest intention of bringing themselves together in unity, but ultimately it caused them to be separate as a result of their pride. Ironically, they did not work as cooperatively as they could have. The end result of this tower is that their connections became even more scattered than before. Monuments don't always bring about greatness in a culture. They can be taken down in an instant as we learned with the World Trade center on sept. 11th and even earthquakes and tsunamis can bring down castles in an instant. Let us let the tower of Babel teach the lesson of how family and close ties with one another can help build our identity even better. May God bless you.

Noah and the flood

Unfortunately, in southeast Asia , the nations are facing horrendous floods and devestation. These scenes provide insight into a story from the old testament of Noah and the flood. The essense of the story of the Ark is how God made a plan for animals to be included for sacrifice and for provision of food. And the story shows how God uses a man such as Noah who had talents of shipbuilding and a perseverence to get the job done even when many outsiders ridiculed what he was doing-building a boat on dry land. But he believed God. This is what many of the old testament leaders did and that is what made them successful.

faithfulness in family

Upon the reading of Scripture today, two individuals stood out. Enoch got special mention in that he never tasted death and went straight to heaven. Also, Noah stood out since he was to bring the world relief in farming and also ushered God's announcing his plan for Christmas ahead of time with the creation of the Ark. God always starts out with His plan using ordinary people which I find very cool.

Boundaries

Upon observing the first day of the Old Testament reading in chronological order, I noticed how God placed boundaries upon time, place and people. In time, God placed boundaries by creating the essense of day and night. In the area of places, God set up a boundary around the tree of life and was not pleased when the fruit from it was taken ahead of when it should have been. And in the area of people, God clearly shows the importance of how unique we are in His creation and how Adam recognized his wife when he awoke after God created her out of his rib. just some quick thoughts and I need to apply the idea of boundaries in making sure that I know how to make better of use of my visits in time, in places and with the people that God has placed me around. Happy New Year to all.