Moving into the New Year..... Thanks Dana.

The University of LaVerne, is one of our Denomination's schools in Southern California. One of the many programs they support is a Summer Service Worker program.  They supply a student to the local church to come and work for the church for the summer in most any role the church might have.  It is an excellent program for both the student and the Church.  Through the years we had a variety of students come and work for us .  We mostly had them work with our youth groups and our summer camping programs.  Down through the years it has been good to see those young people as grown ups. 


Dana Hawley is one of the young ladies that served our Salkum Church in Washington State.  Dana, has had some rough health issues the last several years.  She is a person I have a deep respect for.  She has a deep faith and even though her health has not been good has one of the most positive attitudes that i know of.  Her posts on Face Book seem to always minister to me. 


She posted her 2018 Happy New Years post this morning.... i wanted to share it on my Blog Page.  She suggested on Face Book, that we could copy it and share it and as usual i found it good advice.  here it is....


"  I'm walking into 2018 with an open heart and mind. I have a clear conscious for the choices I made in 2017.....


If you owe me, don't worry about it - You're Welcome!...
If you wronged me, it's all good - I learned a lesson! ...
If you're angry with me, you've won....
If we aren't speaking, I'm good!! (I wish you well) ...
I know my effort & integrity....
If you feel I wronged you, and you have told everyone but me...
Peace be unto You....
Life is too short for me to have the pent up anger, for me to hold grudges or to not receive the same love that I have given you.
We all must learn to let it go.
Strive to be Gracious and show mercy at all times.
Teach children the same♡.
Accept that being Humble is the better path.
So, here is to 2018!!!
Spread Love not Hate.
Merry Christmas to Everyone!
Joy Noel! Happy
Yule! Peace,
Love, Health, and Happiness!
🎄🎁🎅🏻🤶🏻🍷 
Feel free to copy, paste and share.


Thanks Dana  This is just outstanding advice.


Lets all pass it on......

Mamma Said

Mamma Said

In another life, I was a retail salesman and manager. .  I truly enjoyed my work and was successful at it.  I worked for J.C. Penny’s, my first years in Kansas, also Dryers Shoe store there.  When Deanna and I moved back to Idaho I became a sales man for Bon Marche in Boise. 

As I worked there, I moved up the ranks to a manager and we moved to Tri-Cities Washington to open the Tri-Cities Mall as the divisional manager for the Shoe Division there. I was sent to close the Bon’s Shoe store in down town Richland.   We were then to be over the Naturalizer, Florshiem, Red Cross, and Hushpuppies store, as well as Manager of the Bon Marche shoe store.  It was a big job.    I was a success as far as many were concerned. I was the youngest divisional manager in all of Allied Department stores. 

 But I Learned that store politics and back hand stuff were are work. I wanted no part of what I considered bad business practices.   It simply was not going to happen, so I transferred to run a small department in Pendleton Oregon.   

While in Oregon, I learned that Pastor Dick Kiem had passed at Bowmont Church of the Brethren.  I applied for the position as Pastor, and we were called to Serve.  Deanna and I moved back to Bowmont and I began selling Shoes in Boise again. 

We enjoyed ministry a great deal at Bowmont.  Larry Dahle was opening a new Store in Boise and asked me to come manage his shoe store.  I accepted.  Dahle’s was a great company and Mr. Dahle and I became good friends. 

When the Store Manager at Dahle’s resigned, I was asked to take the position.   It was a good move and we soon found ourselves busy with church and shoes.   Our first inventory was not good.  There were shortages in my shoe department.  Big shortages.  I was devastated.  How could this be.  We will never know…. Only Mr. Dahle came to see me.  He was sure that I had not misappropriated anything, and I had not.  I was thankful for his support.  But He added “David, I will have to have you step down as Store Manager… There will be no change in your pay… “ 

 Wow, what a blow.  First the Bon, now Dahle’s.  Success, was difficult.  Got a taste and then it was gone.

What came as a second blow he was putting a bookkeeper, that I had hired, in charge as the Boss.    While she was a great book keeper I did not see her as a store manager.  Well I still had a job and the money was pretty good.  Ego is a tough thing to swallow sometimes.  This new manager was definitely “the Boss”.  I did not care for this retired Marine’s managing style.   The “Dragon Lady”, and I had many long-heated discussions. 

Her redeeming quality was she was truly a good Christian. We had a love hate relationship for a time, but eventually we became good friends.    

The following year, our store sold a million dollars’ worth of shoes and merchandise. I won a trip for two weeks to Hawaii for Deanna and myself.  Mr. Dahle made me salesman for the year for the company.  

Success? I don’t know ….

I had received a note from my mom with a different thought  about success.  I want to give you what she said…. (I carry it on the  cover of my Bible.) 

Mamma Said:

“God is not interested in our image to the world.  He only wants that our lives reveal His Son to the world.  The question is , Can He be seen in me?    Success is not being at the top, but a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The way up is often down.  God is not interested in possessions, or position.  There is a great difference between livelihood and life work.  The only Jesus some people will ever see is the one they see in you.  Success is out of our control….. but Faithfulness is completely in our control.  “   

 

King Solomon, in  the book of Ecclesiastes, summed up life as a lot of Vanity.   And in the end he said that,  “all that mattered was to please God and Keep his commandments.” 

Guilty, as charged

 

I like things that make me think….

Recently on Facebook, I received and posted two posts (you may visit on Facebook) about:  1. (A Video) A homeless man walks into a church and what he did next shocked everybody. 2.  The 2nd one by David Hayward, titled: Why I Would Not Attend Pastor Jeremiah Steepek’s Church.  I posted the first one before reading the second. And before reading that there probably is not a Pastor Jeremiah Steepek.

When I posted the Video, I felt that It gave us a good lesson from Jesus, teachings about how to treat the hungry, naked and homeless and how we often don’t do what we should be doing ……When I read the second article, it made me feel guilty…

Thus todays blog today: 

 

I like stuff that makes me think ….. I mean really think…

I like people that make me think.  There are a lot of people, on Face book, friends, family, people I have known.  Some I keep there, I really don’t agree with.  Some who really make me angry….. I have hit the un friend button several times, only to go friend them again. 

Why? You ask. 

Well the truth is they are friends and I need their perspective.  Also, I don’t find Jesus throwing people away.   So, I hang on to them…… and try to love them……for me hanging on, is a basic of who we need to be, as Christians.  Hanging on, despite of, for me, is living “God’s Grace.”

Hard thing at times.  But that is not what I want to write about this morning.

I liked both the video and also the blog from David Hayward.  

I wanted to talk about guilt.  It’s a funny thing…. After Reading what brother Hayward wrote, I felt guilty. 

I had posted something that made others feel guilty…. The truth is I have preached guilt driven sermons for years….

Wow, how can this be?

 Yep I have done it …….and maybe I should not have…. There may have been a better way…As I think about it, I probably have lived and done a lot of things, wrong and poorly…. I have used a line that went something like this…… “Well you pray about it, and see what God tells you to do.” That line got a lot of people to do what I wanted……My Friend and Brother, David Bethel, had a response.  “Pastor, I went home and asked God, and He said I didn’t have to.”   I didn’t have much of a response….. I do know I prayed a lot, before asking David to do anything again.

Guilt is not a good thing…  So I write this blog today for a number of reasons.

1. So I can say to many, “I’m Sorry”, I probably did harm, by making you feel guilty….. especially if you were not.  I don’t know what lays in your heart, or life.  I have not walked in your shoes…
    
2. But wait….  I don’t feel guilty if you were and are guilty……We need to feel guilty,  when we are wrong….. Guilt can change us. It can drive us to repentance.  Especially if we Love God and seek to serve Him. 
3. Why did Jesus tell the story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46)
   Well probably, it was not to make people feel guilty, as much as it was to say, Christians do and will do these things. They will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison.
    
   Now that is a scary thought, isn’t it?”   It should help shape our daily attitudes and actions……
   The truth is we are all guilty….We might ask, .How can any one be saved? 
    Grasp this….. God knows that we are guilty.
   Could it be, that is why He provided and provides a Savior? 
    
   That knowledge should change our path, our heart, and how we respond….
   When we ask God to come live inside us He comes and changes us.  Time to listen more to our wee small voice, could be God speaking……. If you hear him…. Listen please. 
    

THE PROBLEM WITH POWER

"Maybe the Christmas Story needed and Augustus to  make it believable.  The world is fallen and troubled because seek power and wealth.  If there were no emperors, no powerful empires. no oppressors and intolerance, would there be a need for a Savior?  . It is no accident of history, then, that Jesus was born in the days of Caesar Augustus. It was Roman power that scourged Jesus and Crucified Him.  But it could not obliterate Him. Jesus was born into the world of Caesar to show us how insubstantial great power is. Think about that as you reread the opening verses of Luke's second chapter."  (The Magnificent Story 2017 Advent devotional by Daniel Laymen)


As I read the above I was reminded what we find in James 4:1-10 (The Message)

Get Serious
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.” So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.  

God goes against the willful proud.  We must really be careful when we begin to seek and use power over others.   I  could not help but think of the times we are living in and how applicable all this is in our world all around us.  God will speak, me thinks soon.....  

The Story Line......

I really enjoy a good movie…… a good book…. A good story.  

Some of my favorite readings is the book by Owen Wister, The Virginian.   A few years ago, I enjoyed reading Gene Edward’s book The Divine Romance.  and one of my favorite of all times stories is Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

How wonderful, the idea of a Love Story?  The Song of Solomon.  A Groom’s love, for his Bride.  Early Hebrew and Christian scholars long maintained that the love story is an allegory of God’s love for humankind, or of the intensity of divine love within the human heart.

Rides in the Hero....... rescues the fair maiden from the villain...Rides off into the sunset...some day to come again.......

Setting the Stage for a wonderful story.....   The Christmas Story. 

Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, Mary,

This time of year, some of my favorite lines from the story:

 

Luke Chapter 1  (The Message)

Zechariah:
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
    he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
    and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
    through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
    and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
    as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
    a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
    made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”
    will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
    the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
    God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
    those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
    down the path of peace.

Elizabeth: 
You’re so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
    the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
    greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
    skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,     
believed every word would come true!

 And Mary said,
I’m bursting with God-news;
    I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
    I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
    on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
    scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
  beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

 

 

The Blank Page.

Looking at the page for this blog..... It was blank. 
Not a thing on it.....  and then i began typing.  and words formed. 
Not sure what I should write. ???  




Oh....
Maybe i should write about a blank page.






What do you put on a blank page? 
Words..... pictures , photo, or a drawing. 




The words should have meaning. 
They must have punctuation.  
They should form sentences.  
The sentences need to use grammar


Words, that can not only be understood but is in the  right tense...... past, present, future....(Mrs. Miller's High School English Class)




Why would anyone write about a Blank Page? 








Life given us is like a Blank page.  I realize that when doing a blog , you cant have blank pages.  You have to write something. 


Life is like that too..... One can not have life...... unless they live it .  as one growing older .... i realize if i don't live this day...... it becomes a blank page.  We simply must put something into it.  or else ..... well  Blank pages.... could be like something else.....




Many of us older folks can just stop living .... we can set in a chair and stare at the wall.  We can just be there .....but not really...... temping some times....... just wait till we are not there any more...


I hope I can always find blank pages and put something on them........ produce something meaningful.




God gives us days to live.. me thinks.....
I and others have talked about simply "Being '
But I'm not sure about that any more......not simply "BE" ......
Being can be good,  but BEING, without DOING something.....I'm not sure is Being at all.   Just to BE, might not be good for anything. 




Blank pages.... are just kind of empty....
So, 'Filler up.'


Thanks God, for another day with meaning , for purpose....

Growing up !!

One of my great teachers, when asked,  How he was?,   Would almost always answer, " Growing up."


I saw him just several days before he died.  He was in the hospital.  When I asked him how he was?, He smiled and said.... 'David, i almost have grown up.....


Several days later, he did.  He grew up.

When we raise our children, we learn that they grow.  They can grow in size but there is more to the growing thing. 




I can remember buying and selling kids shoes.  We use to offer a deal when selling kids shoes. 
We guaranteed the children's shoes, that we sold,  and said, no child could wear out a pair of our shoes.  Of course they could not. For certain sizes, they would out grow them, before they wore them out. 




Children can grow very fast at certain times in  their lives.   We called those times 'Growth Spirts".


"Growing up". ' Being a grown up."  Terms about maturing.  Again wording not all about size, a lot about the maturing process. 


We think about the "Grown up".  Not just a physical process.  Can mean a mental and spiritual process as well. 




We think of terms:  baby, toddler, adolescent, teen, adult.  old.    We  see progression in the usage of these terms.  yet we don't just see them in respect of the  physical.   We recognize we see change and show it in the use of the words.  We think in terms of growing.  We can use these words when talking about people, animals and plants.  We can also use these terms when thinking bout organizations, groups, businesses,  churches, and governments.   




As the new month begins.  we also think about what new month it is.  The last month of  the year.  New, yet older...... it always amazes me.  Right now it is morning for me.  Yet i wonder where yesterday went and i could  say that about this past year.  More wonder,  Where, can't help but wonder where life has gone and where it is going? 




I  am the baby in my family.  The youngest son of my parents.  Back in June this year, i turned 71.  For some, they would say babyhood has passed me long by.  As it should, it has passed, but only in some ways.  




Each day holds for me a newness.  Each day is wonderful. I see a baby just born.  Throughout the  day, it grows.  Grasp each moment as it ages.  We call this day, Life  and Living.  Hopefully as the day reaches fullness, we can find full meaning  and purpose. 


Happy Birthday its beautiful.....precious .