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Let our charity be courageous…
A smile in a crowd of stony faces,
A kind word let loose in the air of judgment.
Let our charity be courageous…
A gentle touch in a violent world,
Salt in all that has lost its flavor,
Let our charity be courageous…
Light in the shadows of darkness,
Life in a culture of death.
Let our CHARITY be COURAGEOUS!
“Love never fails” 1 Cor 13:8a
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When we become supple to His sculpting…
We become vessels of His charity.
“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” Is 64:7
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“It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead. I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus. ” Phil 3:12-14
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Holiness is an Everyday YES…
In the midst of life’s ups and downs.
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Make us today preachers of the Resurrection by Your Light in our lives.
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Through wordly eyes we see fragmented bits and pieces of a person…
But to “heart-know” as God sees…
We see instead a blend of all that was…all that is…and all that could be…
the broken…the open…the healed…
in a whirl of beauty that strikes one’s own heart with the words of Jesus….
“Father, they are your gift to me.” (John 17:24)
Work and Prayer…
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We don’t have an either…or… Faith.
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We don’t have a neither…nor… Faith.
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We have a both…and… Faith!
Work and Prayer.
May everything we do begin with God’s inspiration. May everything we do continue on with His guidance. And may everything we do come to completion all for the glory of God.
“Pray without ceasing” 1 Th 5:17
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A “bummer lamb” is rejected by her mother, so tries to “bum” milk from other ewes, who too reject her. The bummer lamb may have been rejected for being different, the runt, or the third of a triplet. The mother ewe will kick the lamb away. The lamb will die without milk
But…
The Good Shepherd is on the look out for bummer sheep (Lk 15:4). He will take a bummer lamb from the flock and hand feeds the lamb sometimes 5 times a day (Is 40:11). The Good Shepherd talks to the lamb and once a day holds the lamb to his chest so she can hear the Good Shepherd’s heartbeat (John 10:14). Eventually the bummer lamb can be introduced back to the flock (John 10:9) and yet the bummer lamb will always be the first to come running when the Good Shepherd calls because she recognizes His voice (John 10:27).
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Aren’t we all bummer sheep? In need of His reassuring presence with us? Knowing we are connected Heart-to-heart? Hearing His voice as His grace feeds us? It is the bummer sheep who know the Good Shepherd most intimately…and who follow Him most obediently.We are bummer sheep when we recognize our brokenness…our littlenss…our need for Him.
“As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cludy and dark.” Ez 34:12
A Real Bummer Lamb!
What to do?…
in the mixed up, muck filled, muddled mess of the world?
in the darkening, dismal, disconnected, depressing days?
A friend whispered….
defiant joy…
defiant joy?
Ah Yes, DEFIANT JOY!…
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challenging, daring, defying, commanding JOY!
bold, brazen, hardy, gutsy JOY!
resistant to the opposing force…
DEFIANT JOY!
“rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength” Neh 8: 10b
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There is a profound BEAUTY….
in the LETTING GO…
to make way for NEW GROWTH.
through Him with Him in Him... 