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| July 4th fireworks from the United States side in an international park without any border control. I was ignorant this existed. |
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| We took this photo from the United States side of the international park... |
Romans 12:9-21
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; [a]give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
13 contributing to the needs of the [b]saints, [c]practicing hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute [d]you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but [e]associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. [f]Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but [g]leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Footnotes:
Romans 12:10 Or outdo one another in showing honor
Romans 12:13 Or holy ones
Romans 12:13 Lit pursuing
Romans 12:14 Two early mss do not contain you
Romans 12:16 Or accommodate yourself to lowly things
Romans 12:17 Lit Take thought for
Romans 12:19 Lit give a place
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
End
'Chuck driving by 0 ave figures we might accidentally be in the USA. Well get us out...'
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| My refrigerator. This demonstrates my tremendous commitment to Perrier from France, blueberries, English peas, boxed fish. and non-fatass foods. |
A HOODED ROBBER BURST INTO A WISCONSIN BANK AND FORCED THE TELLERS TO LOAD A SACK FULL OF CASH.
ReplyDeleteON HIS WAY OUT THE DOOR, A BRAVE MINNESOTA CUSTOMER GRABBED THE HOOD AND PULLED IT OFF, REVEALING THE ROBBER'S FACE.
THE ROBBER SHOT THE CUSTOMER WITHOUT A MOMENT’S HESITATION.
HE THEN LOOKED AROUND THE BANK AND NOTICED ONE OF THE TELLERS LOOKING STRAIGHT AT HIM.
THE ROBBER INSTANTLY SHOT HIM ALSO. EVERYONE IN THE BANK, BY NOW VERY SCARED, LOOKED INTENTLY DOWN AT THE FLOOR IN SILENCE.
THE ROBBER YELLED, "WELL, DID ANYONE ELSE SEE MY FACE?"
THERE ARE A FEW MOMENTS OF UTTER SILENCE IN WHICH EVERYONE WAS PLAINLY TOO AFRAID TO SPEAK
THEN, ONE OLD NORWEGIAN NAMED OLE' FROM MINNESOTA TENTATIVELY RAISED HIS HAND AND SAID
"MY WIFE GOT A PRETTY GOOD LOOK AT YOU."
=
CANADIAN JOKE
ReplyDeleteAn American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived.. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.
'Well,' said the American, 'I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St.Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and said that for a donation of $50, we could return to earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here'
'That's amazing!' said the one of the doctors, 'But what happened to the other two?'
'Last I saw them,' replied the American, 'the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay his.'
Answering machine message,
ReplyDelete"I am not available right now,
But thank you for caring enough to call.
I am making some changes in my life.
Please leave a message after the beep.
If I do not return your call,
you are one of the changes."
My wife and I had words,
ReplyDeletebut I didn't get to use mine.
Frustration is trying to find your glasses
ReplyDeletewithout your glasses.
Blessed are those who can
ReplyDeletegive without remembering
and take without forgetting.
The irony of life is that,
ReplyDeleteby the time you're old enough
to know your way around,
you're not going anywhere.
God made man before woman
ReplyDeleteso as to give him time
to think of an answer
for her first question.
I was always taught to respect my elders,
ReplyDeletebut it keeps getting harder to find one.
Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
ReplyDeleteAspire to inspire before you expire.
ReplyDeleteWhat Do You Call God?
ReplyDeleteThat life with the Lord, what is it like? It comes down to this: "be holy as I am holy, says the Lord." Our deep calling is far beyond being good people, it's that we be like our Father. Our own identity is to resemble his. Look again at his Ten Words, coming from the One who has led us out of the land of bondage into a place of new freedom. We see how to see our Lord. Negatively, don't use his name in vain! We are used to thinking of our names as arbitrary labels, something that was in style the year we were born. (My mother taught high school in Eau Claire Wisconsin, so she named me Clair). But Bible names have real meaning and hope for life. There was Abram, Father—the old man who with his wife had no children. Then God got his attention by calling him Abraham, "father of many." His wife was Sarai, "my princess," a pretty name, but God said now she would be Sarah, just "princess," maybe everyone's princess? She laughed out loud when God promised she would have a baby, so God picked up on that and named the baby Isaac Laughter. "Just look at that new-born, isn't he hilarious?" Later on came Simon Steadfast—how could you be better than that? But Jesus told him, from now on your name is Peter the Rock, since you are the first to see that I am the Christ. Being a Rock in trusting Jesus beats just any old Steadfast, don't you know?
So what is God's name then, his identity, who he really is? The Lord is Holy, set apart different, not like us, much greater than our expectations of what a decent god should be like. See again Hosea 11:9, the reason God doesn't give up on us is because he's Holy! I've been surprised many times, when I was sure I knew what a Southerner or German or Black must be like—then I got to know one up close and personally, and my universe quickly expanded. God is the same way, much more so. Don't bandy around his name when you're not talking about him. That's more than, don't cuss, we Presbyterians are upper-class and don't talk that way anyway, for us it would be just like saying, "between you and I," infra dig.
ReplyDeleteDo people still say, live up to your family name? Your new family name is "Jesus Christ disciple," isn't it? You can make your name ridiculous, as in Amos 2:7: "father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name." Hear this interview: Q. We want the world to get to know you, sir, what it is that makes you tick. A. Wonderful, I hope I can help. Q. We all have been noticing how you treat your wife, you seem to be ignoring her all the time. Why is that? A. Well, I have a lot on my mind, many heavy responsibilities, I can't just walk away from them. Q. Thank you, that's helpful. Could you tell us what is by far the most important thing in your busy life? What is your first allegiance? A. I'm so glad you asked. I am a Christian, and Jesus is the most important person in my life. A. That's so helpful, sir. Would it be fair to say then that the main reason you ignore your wife is because you're a Christian? Are you giving us a moving example for all believers, would you say?
ReplyDeleteThat is hard to hear. I don't want to think about myself that way, but I have to. Here's the eye-opening Bible: Hebrews 6:6 "to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Romans 2:24, "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." No honor and glory for Jesus, but public disgrace and blasphemy.
ReplyDeleteWe can't stop there. The upside in John 17:5 is so amazing, so blessed to our hearts: "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." That was how Jesus saw his life, and your and mine is like it, Matthew 5:16, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." The point of your life is that people will praise God for it? Really!
ReplyDeleteRemember how the Lord's Prayer begins, "Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed." First of all we see our own identity, God is our Father (more than just my, but our). We are in his family and we live there, so first of all what we desire, with all of our hearts, is that his Name receive all the glory belonging to it. That daily bread we need comes later, but our desiring with our hearts the glory of God, that's the top. That's where the Catechism is too, "man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." The whole point of our lives, as God's creatures, as rescued by the Cross of Jesus, as having the Holy Spirit bringing our hearts to fulfillment, as living in God's promise that we have all we need for life and godliness—our reason for living is that by all of our lives we bring praise to God! Not as yet another intolerable oppressive burden, but as the great liberation and completion of who we are.
ReplyDeleteWhat is that name, the one that identifies Him and then us? The stupendous name is "I Am." The Lord is there, he is real, he is not a figment of your imagination, not your yearning for a better world. Against all that philosophy, He is not what's left over after science quits. He is all that we desire, but so much more. We are to see him as he is, to not assume that anything of what he does is irrelevant—but that it is what we desire without him that is. Why should we be satisfied with the applause of men and women, when we are called into his own arms? Is it too hard for us to praise him for who he is, when that is not what has made the world important for us?
ReplyDeleteRemember Fran Schaeffer's The God Who Is There and Who Is Not Silent? That title says it all, I believe. How do we come to place the Lord's Name upon our fuzzy cute idol? How can our non-existent fantasy seem bigger to us than I Am? It comes from our treating Him as silent. That Book does nothing on the shelf. It is as we read it with diligence and expectation and joy that we learn his identity, his reality, his fullness. "The Word of God" is not a figure of speech, it says it as it is. The Lord Almighty is not the silent god of the philosophers, he is the one who speaks and it happens, the one who speaks and we hear, who speaks and we see him in his glory. We are called to hear him in his Word, to ponder what he says to us, to call upon him for wisdom when we can't understand him, to know the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we read and hear him. Our Awakening begins with "work with the word," always has and always will. As we know and hear him in his word, so we see him as he is, worthy indeed of all our honor and worship.
ReplyDeleteWe may not fritter away our lives playing games with who He is. We must open our hearts, pray for us all to open our hearts to see him as he has revealed himself to us, far beyond our pitiful gaming at life. That is much more than we could ever imagine doing—but it is his desire, his power, his love that causes it to happen, right now and with so much more to come. O Lord, forgive us for talking so much about you and then living foolishly as if you weren't there. O Lord, we know your plan and purpose is to show yourself in all your glory to us. Do that now, Lord, not at all because we are worthy, but only through your certain and sure promise. In the name of our Mediator your Beloved Son Jesus we pray. Amen.
ReplyDelete`
D. Clair Davis