I took the picture of this butterfly resting on a tent screen at the community outreach event one week ago. The butterfly seemed to be dancing as he beat his wings in time to the music of the Shenandoah Baptist Boys who were playing some good gospel bluegrass at the time.
Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me...
My heart owns none before Thee,
For thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved me first.
HT: Shawne Ebersole
ave you ever sat in church and felt that God was speaking directly to you? And maybe to you only? Well, that happened to me today. And it wasn’t a terribly unusual or obscure message. It was the simple and well-known directive to seek first the kingdom of God (context in the callout box below).
Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
I am so easily distracted from keeping my focus on Christ. It isn’t particularly smart for me to lose that focus, considering the regular ups and downs, hills and valleys, waves and cays in the roller coaster ride of life (to mix a whole bunch of metaphors). But there it is...I get off track and focus on myself and my abilities instead of “boasting only in Christ.” It doesn’t make much sense and is terribly ill-advised.
And so I head into tomorrow with another seemingly big hurdle in front of me. And I find myself tempted to boast of my capabilities and to defend myself by proclaiming my superiority. But these are not the things I am told to do in scripture. I am told to be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
May God grant me the faith to do so—tomorrow, and in the days to come.
The Discovery of Truth Is Difficult, but God Has Promised that He who Seeks Shall Find. My heart, O Lord, touched with the words of Thy Holy Scripture, is much busied, amid this poverty of my life. And therefore most times, is the poverty of human understanding copious in words, because enquiring hath more to say than discovering, and demanding is longer than obtaining, and our hand that knocks, hath more work to do, than our hand that receives. We hold the promise, who shall make it null? If God be for us, who can be against us? Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, shall it be opened. These be Thine own promises: and who need fear to be deceived, when the Truth promiseth?
The Confessions of St. Augustine, © 1997, Parsons Technology, Inc.
I took this picture at the Third Annual Front Royal Balloon and Air Show just a few weeks ago. It’s a fun event, but the scenery makes it spectacular. We love Front Royal.
This is really cool! Just start typing in the box at the top right and it will almost instantly compile a list of potential verses you may be looking for. It’s not as fast as Google Instant, but it works in a very similar manner.
Now I just hope they can add some additional bible versions to the search engine.
Check it out for yourself at Swiftbible.com
od moves in mysterious ways. I know—that phrase has become a cliché, but it’s still true. God does move in mysterious ways.
When we moved to Front Royal one year ago, I had to put away my bass guitar. It’s a very difficult thing to set music aside when you’re a musician. But I didn’t know any local bands that needed a bass player, so I just tried to cope without the guitar.
This past March I began to ride a bus from Front Royal to my office in Washington, DC. Having avoided public transportation for most of my life, this was a new experience for me, and not one I was really looking forward to. But I learned to appreciate it and it seemed to suit our family’s needs well.
Then, while riding the bus home one day I noticed the guy in the seat in front of me flipping through some photos of very nice guitars. I asked who owned the guitars and the bus driver responded that they were his. These were really nice guitars—including the Ibanez Steve Vai signature guitar, a Gibson Explorer, an Eddie Van Halen look-alike guitar, and a Dean guitar that is beyond gorgeous—more than 20 guitars in the full collection. As I talked to him about his guitars I found out that he is the leader of a Christian band and that he had recently lost his bass player.
We weren’t able to work out the practice times and by the time I was able to figure something out, the bus driver’s daughter had joined the band on bass guitar. But Jeff (the bus driver) and I kept talking about the band from time to time.
Then, just about a month ago, Jeff’s daughter headed to Liberty University—leaving the band without a bass player again. So then a few weeks ago Jeff asked me if I would be able to join the band when they presented a mini-concert for a community outreach event at his father’s church. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and this past Sunday we played. And it was a blast. It was great to play my bass again and it was great to be included in a very good band, entirely made up of Jeff’s family members, except for me.
So, I have a tremendous amount to be grateful for. I got to play my bass—and might get to continue to do so. I’m playing with one of the best bands I’ve ever played with. It’s a Christian band. And I get to be part of it even though I’m not part of the family.
And, while I’m mentioning the family—they’re really great. They’re friendly; they’re talented; they’re fun. Even if I never got to play bass with them, I would consider myself blessed to have met them. The bass playing is just icing on the cake.
Thank you, God. Your blessings never end.
t can be quite difficult to figure out politics. Wouldn’t it be great to have a reliable guide to help point us toward the candidates that would be best for our nation?
As with all matters in life, the bible is the best place to go. And here is a verse that would be good to remember when you step into the voting booth in a little more than a month:
A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.
Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
Ecclesiastes 10:3
