Always There

Hello God, I called tonight

To talk a little while..

I need a friend who'll listen

To my anxiety and trial...

You see, I can't quite make it

Through a day just on my own...

I need your love to guide me,

So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep,

My family safe and sound.

Come and fill their lives with confidence

For whatever fate they're bound.

Give me faith, dear God, to face

Each hour throughout the day,

And not to worry over things

I can't change in any way.

I thank you God, for being home

And listening to my call,

For giving me such good advice

When I stumble and fall.

Your number, God, is the only one

That answers every time.

I never get a busy signal,

Never had to pay a dime.

So thank you, God, for listening

To my troubles and my sorrow.

Good night, God, I love You, too,

And I'll call again tomorrow!

We Lose Our Standard

by Max Lucado

When I was nine years old I complimented a friend's model airplane. He curtly replied, "I stole it." He could tell that I was stunned because he asked, "Do you think that I was wrong?" When I told him I did, he answered simple, "It may be wrong for you. It's not wrong for me. I didn't hurt anyone when I stole the plane. He knew the owner. He is rich. I'm not. He can afford one. I can't."

What do you say to that arguement? If you don't believe in life beyond the rafters, you have little to say. If there is no ultimate good behind the world, then how do we define "good" within the world? If the majority opinion determines good and evil, what happens when the majority is wrong? What do you do when majority of kids say in a certain group it's all right to steal or raid or even fire pistols from a vehicle?

The hedonist's world of no moral absoultes works find on paper and sounds great in a college philosophy course, but in life? Ask the father of three children whose wife abandoned him, saying "Divorce may be wrong for you, but it's OK for me." Or get the opinion of the teenage girl, pregnant and frightened, who was told by her boyfriend, "If you have the baby, it's your responsibility." Or the retirees ripped off their pension by a huckster who believed anything is right if you don'y get caught.

A godly view of the world, on the other hand has something to say to my childhood thief. Faith challenges those with cricket brains to answer to a higher standard than personal opinion: "You may think it's right. Society may think it's OK. But the God who made you said, "You shall not steal" -- and He wasn't kidding.

By the way, follow the godles thinking to its logical extension, and see what you get. What happens when a sociery denies the importance of right and wrong? Read the answer on a prison wall in Poland " I freed Germany from the stupid and degrading fallacies of conscience and morality."

Who made the boast? Adolf Hitlet. Where are the words posted? In a Nazi death camp. Visitors read the claim and then see the results: a room stuffed with thousands of pounds of women's hair, rooms filled with pictures of castrated children and gas ovens that served as Hitler's final solution. Paul described it best : "their foolish minds were filled with darkness" (Romans 1:21)

"Come on Max, you're going too far. Isn't it a stretch to state that what began as a stolen model plane will conclude in a holocaust?"

Most of the time it won't. But it could, and what is there to stop it? What dike does the God-denying thinker have to stop the flood? What anchor will the secularist use to keep sociery from being sucked out to sea? If a society deletes God from the human equation what sandbags will they stack against the swelling tide of barbarism and hedonism?

As Dotoevsky said, " If God is dead, then everything is justifiable."

DRY AND BRITTLE BRANCHES

DRY AND BRITTLE BRANCHES
By Marion Smith

John 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches

With the drought situation in the Atlanta area this year, the trees and shrubs in our yard have taken quite a beating. As I was strolling in our yard with my grandson yesterday, we investigated a part of the yard I usually avoid. Many dogwood trees had seeming dead and useless branches- dry, brittle looking and void of leaves. As I pulled one down to snap it off, I had a surprise. It wasn’t quite as dead as I had thought. I pulled and twisted, but right where the branch met the trunk of the tree, there was life. I was unable to snap the branch as I had intended, and now I would have to get a saw to finish the job.

Sometime our lives seem so dry and brittle..don;t you think? Sometimes I feel parched for strength, peace, and understanding, and I feel so brittle I could just snap and break! But Jesus is the Living Water and if we stay connected to Him we will receive spiritual living water and not wither up. Sometimes, when the valley we are in is very deep and we are not even able to pray, our friends may be the ones who hold us up in prayer to God. Sometimes Christian music will be the source of nourishment, manybe we can just call out the name- “Jesus”- and sometimes God just drops a happy surprise right in our laps to give us a great big laugh! (Laughter truly is such a wonderful thing!)

We may not be as spiritually dead as we think, you know. From all appearances, the dogwood branch(someone feeling lost) was a goner. But! No—there was life left in it… right close to the trunk(Jesus). If you are feeling dry and brittle- ready to snap - remember, God loves you and will see you through your difficult time.

Ask Him..O.K.?

DID JESUS USE A MODEM AT THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT?

* I love this *

Did Jesus use a modem, At the Sermon on the Mount?

Did He ever try a broadcast fax, To send his message out?

Did the disciples carry beepers, As they went about their route?

Did Jesus use a modem, At the Sermon on the Mount?

Did Paul use a laptop, With lots of RAM and ROM?

Were his letters posted on BBS, At paul.rome.com?

Did the man from Macedonia, Send an e-mail saying "Come?"

Did Paul use a laptop, With lots of RAM and ROM?

Did Moses use a joystick, At the parting of the Sea?

And a satellite guidance tracking system, To show him where to be?

Did he write the law on tablets, Or are they really on CD?

Did Moses use a joystick, At the parting of the Sea?

Did Jesus really die for us, One day upon a tree?

Or was it a hologram, or technical wizardry?

Can you download the live action video clip, To play on your pc?

Did Jesus really die for us, One day upon a tree?

Have the wonders of this modern age, Made you question what is true?

How a single man, in a simple time, Could offer life anew?

How a sinless life, a cruel death, Then a glorious life again,

Could offer more to a desperate world, Than all the inventions of
man?

If in your life, the voice of God, Is sometimes hard to hear.

With other voices calling, His doesn't touch your ear.

Than set aside your laptop and modem, And all your fancy gear.

And open your Bible, open your heart, and let your Father draw near.

Tomorrow

TOMORROW
Contributed by Melanie Schurr

There is a song by the popular music group Fleetwood Mac entitled, "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." This sentiment is quite contrary to how our current generation often lives, since most of us tend to exist solely for today, the here and now.

Without concern for what tomorrow may hold, many live their lives as if they are walking along a narrow trail in a dense forest. On such a path, one cannot see what dangers lurk or stand before them. All that can be seen is the beauty and pleasure within the immediate visual realm. If one is not careful, a seemingly unassuming path can lead right off a deadly cliff.

In the Bible, we are told not to give too much worry for tomorrow, but, in the same breath, it is certainly not our Heavenly Father's intention for us to be ignorant about one's future either. For
decisions we make today can determine where we will spend our eternity.

Do you desire to spend your eternity with God, to partake of the salvation only His Son Jesus Christ can offer? If so, then don't just live for today, lift your head up, see the big picture, and, as the song goes, "don't stop thinking about tomorrow."

Call on Christ. He will answer.

Holding Pattern

Many times God will allow a painful situation or a painful circumstance in our life to "swallow us up." This season in our spiritual growth is a holding pattern. We can't move to the left or the right. All we can do is sit, like Jonah sat in the belly of that great fish, so God can have our undivided attention and speak to us. God put Jonah in a holding pattern because He needed to speak to his heart. Jonah was all alone. There were no friends to call, no colleagues to drop by, no books to read, no food to eat, no interference, and no interruptions. He had plenty of time to sit,
think, meditate, and pray.

When we're deep down in the midst of a difficult situation, God can talk to us. When He has our undivided attention, He can show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise have seen.

A Few of God's Holding Patterns:

1. When you are sick in your physical body and you have prayed but God has not healed you yet, you are in a holding pattern

2. When you are having problems with your children and you have put them on the altar, but God has not delivered them yet, you are in a holding pattern.

3. When you have been praying for the salvation of a loved one and they have not been saved yet, you are in a holding pattern.

4. When you are in a broken relationship and you have given it over to God, but it has not been restored yet, you are in a holding pattern.

5. When the doors slam shut before you can knock on them, you are in a holding pattern.

When we are deep in the belly of a difficult situation, there are no interruptions. God has our undivided attention. All we can do is sit, think, meditate, and pray. We cannot run from God because there are no Mountains that are high enough, valleys low enough, rooms that are dark enough, or places that are hidden enough from Him. We must remember to praise Him while we're waiting and remember three things:

1. The pattern has a purpose.

2. The pattern has a plan.

3. The pattern has a process.

So stop struggling and start listening, praying and trusting. He'll keep you right where you are until you can clearly hear Him say, "I love you."

Prayer : Father, forgive my unbelief. I know You Love me and will turn anything around to benefit me. You have planned nothing for me but victories and I am ready to receive them regardless of how difficult the path. Amen.

The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord can stand up to anything.

The Water

It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk.

The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through. Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon...we would lose everything.

It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes.

I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods.

This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't
need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped
his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat
exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand.

When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.

It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the
tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked up at the sky.

It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride. Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like that actions of one little boy saved another.