Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother. The first said: "I built a big house for our mother."
      
      The second said: "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver."
      
      The third said: "You remember how our mother enjoys reading the Bible. Now she can't see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot recites it."
      
      Soon thereafter, their mother sent out her letters of thanks.
      
      "Milton," she said, "the house you built is so huge. I live only in one room, but I have to clean the whole house.
      
      "Gerald," she said, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home so I rarely use the Mercedes. And that driver is so rude! He's a pain!"
      
      "But Donald," she said, "the little chicken you sent was delicious!"

A devotional that touched me deeply today

Hope Is Faith Waiting for Tomorrow
by John Ortberg from Know Doubt

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. — C. S. Lewis

We all are hopers. We are creatures who cannot stop wishing. We are four-leaf-clover collectors. We wish on the evening star. We tell stories about genies coming out of a bottle to grant three wishes.

After a turkey dinner, my cousin Danny and I used to grab the ends of the wishbone from the turkey and break it in the belief that whoever got the longer piece would get his wish. Where that came from I have no idea. The bone didn’t do the turkey much good.

We teach our children to make a wish before blowing out the candle. When my children were small, they loved the movie Pinocchio; especially they loved a plucky, chirpy, irrepressible character named Jiminy Cricket. If you go to the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland, the "happiest place on earth," you can still hear him sing, "When you wish upon a star... "

We all hope.

There is even an anonymous online wish list where people by the thousands record what they’re hoping for — some of the entries are funny, some are scary, and some are heartrending. "I wish to be rich in the immediate future." "I wish to be very happy because every aspect of my life is going fantastically well forever." "I wish my wife would die." "I wish it wasn’t pancreatic." Many of the wishes are followed by the word please. We just can’t help ourselves.

George MacDonald has said, "Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon."

We all hope, but hope comes in two flavors: hoping for something and hoping in someone. Now, when we are hoping for something, we are hoping for a particular outcome. "I hope I get that job. I hope I get that house. I hope I get that girl. I hope I get that girl and she gets that job and we get that house." Sometimes the thing we hope for is life or death: "I hope this depression lifts." "I hope it’s not cancer." But one day it will be. If not cancer, it will be something else.

One day — and this is the truth — every thing we hope for will eventually disappoint us.

Every circumstance, every situation that we hope for is going to wear out, give out, fall apart, melt down, go away. When that happens, the question then is about your deeper hope, your foundational hope, your fallback hope when all your other hopes are disappointed.

The difference between hoping and wishing, says writer William Sessions, is the presence of strong desire. In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, the two central characters, played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, have a running argument about hope. Morgan Freeman has learned to manage disappointment by giving up hope. "Hope is a dangerous thing," he says. "Hope can break your heart." To Tim Robbins, though, to quit hoping is to start dying. And the final line of the movie, as Morgan Freeman has left prison and headed for the blue waters of Mexico and the reunion with his great good friend, is "I hope..."

Hoping can break your heart. That is why we carry one big hope, the secret hope you don’t even dare to breathe: that when you have lost the something you were hoping for, and it might have been really, really big, there is a Someone you can put your hope in.

The whole testimony of the Scriptures points to this one Man, points to a God, not because He will be able to give us this thing or that thing we were hoping for — because that’s always going to give out eventually — but because He is the one we can put our hope in. And without hope, as Pope John Paul II once said, there is no faith.

Hope is faith waiting for tomorrow. Faith requires belief, and believing is what we do with our minds. Faith requires commitment, and committing is what we do with our wills. But faith must also have hope, and hoping is what we do in our hearts.
Much love, Dennis



　

the rooster crows

Careful when you wish

Two men died and went to Heaven. St. Peter greeted them, and said "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but your mansions aren't ready yet. Until they are, I can send you back to Earth as whatever you want to be."

"Great!" said the first guy, "I want to be an eagle soaring above beautiful scenery!" 

 "No problem," replied St. Peter, and POOF! The guy was gone. "And what do you want to be," St. Peter asked the other guy.

"I'd like to be one cool stud!" was the reply.

"Easy," replied St. Peter, and the other guy was gone.

After a few months, their mansions were finished, and St. Peter sent an angel to fetch them back. "You'll find them easily," he says, "One of them is soaring above the Grand Canyon, and the other

one is on a snow tire somewhere in Detroit!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jesus said, "Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32–33).

Peter said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.”
³⁰ Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.”

If Peter struggled, after walking with Jesus for 3 years, I'm certainly glad that I was not taught to follow the 613 laws of the Jewish religion. Then told that I could obtain everlasting life through faith in a carpenter's son... WOW.

It baffles me how any of the Jewish people were able to embrace God's Grace.
But a hundred years from now, all that will matter to you is your life pattern of loyalty to Jesus Christ. And you’ll rejoice that whenever the rooster crowed, it wasn’t crowing for me.

much love, Dennis 
  



　

Book Review

 After a hardy rainstorm filled all the potholes in the
 streets and alleys, a young mother watched her two little
 boys playing in the puddles through her kitchen  window.

 The older of the two, a five year old lad, grabbed his
 sibling by the back of his head and shoved his face into
 one of the water holes.  As the boy recovered and stood
 laughing and dripping,  the mother was running towards
 them in a panic. Why on earth did you do that to your little brother?!
 she says as she shook the older boy's shoulders in anger
 combined with relief.  We were just playing church mommy, he said. And I
 was just  baptizing him.....in the name of the Father,
 the Son and in the Hole-he-goes.
----------------------------------

This is a review of a book written by Lysa TerKeurst. Her new book, Uninvited, deals with rejection. It is brutally honest, yet there are sprinkles of humor and wit.

The enemy wants us to feel rejected . . . left out, lonely, and less than. When we allow him to speak lies through our rejection, he pickpockets our purpose. Cripples our courage. Dismantles our dreams. And blinds us to the beauty of Christ’s powerful love.

In Uninvited, Lysa shares her own deeply personal experiences with rejection—from the incredibly painful childhood abandonment by her father to the perceived judgment of the perfectly toned woman one elliptical over.

With biblical depth, gut-honest vulnerability, and refreshing wit, Lysa helps you:Release the desire to fall apart or control the actions of others by embracing God-honoring ways to process your hurt.
Overcome the two core fears that feed our insecurities by understanding the secret of belonging
Stop feeling left out and start believing that "set apart" does not mean "set aside."
End the cycle of perceived rejection by refusing to turn a small incident into a full blown issue.

Through the pages of Uninvited, you will be taken on a journey of finding the acceptance and love you’ve always longed for and start to pick up the pieces that maybe you’ve been trying to put back together for years. You’ll laugh, cry, and best of all discover that with Jesus you are safe, forever accepted, forever held, completely loved, and always invited in.

much love, Dennis

 

 

　

　

 

 

Butt Prints

BUTT PRINTS IN THE SAND
Otherwise known as the sequel to “Footprints in the sand.”
Footprints in the sand

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,

But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
“But Lord, they are too big for feet.”
“My child,” He said in somber tones,
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.”
“You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up’
And there I dropped you on your butt.”
“Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.”

–Author Unknown


I've not posted in a while. It is more of lack of dedication and abundance of laziness. I'm still battling pressure sores. They have caused me to be limited on my time spent out of bed. About 6 hours daily. However the one thing that I want to avoid is "pity parties". It's getting easier to drive right through the middle of the valley and not to be worried about anything.
Because of my set up that God has provided I can watch my TV with surround sound while I am in bed. My wife & mother-in-law have been recording movies for me to watch in the late afternoons. There are all kinds of movies available through DirecTV, but I find myself watching old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. The content is very PG with the exception of a few choice words. It seems like too many current movies have a dark overtone with plenty of sexual scenes. All the things that I used to find interesting are now the things that bother me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not speaking from the values of my 20-year-old self. I am now 58 and born-again. I have the Holy Spirit telling me that those "things" are not the kind of "things" that I should be doing. Thank you Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit to guide and direct me.

Much love, Dennis

 

LIFE

12 LESSONS OF LIFE
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.....
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles,

use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words, ‘In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

For those of you looking for the joke, it's in the title :-)
Much love, Dennis

Grace

 

How to Get to Heaven?

A teacher asked the children in her Sunday School class, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?"

"NO!" the children all answered.

"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?"

Again, the answer was "NO!"

"Well," she continued, "then how can I get to heaven?"

In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted out,

"You gotta be dead!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Most of the things that I write are not my original thoughts. I put together what I have read. I just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of that.
 
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. — Ephesians 2:8

Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules. — Hebrews 13:9 NCV

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. — Matthew 11:28 NASB

Biblical grace is God's unmerited favor. God doing good for us what we don't deserve. In the Bible, grace and mercy are like two heads of the same coin. Mercy is God withholding judgment or evil that I deserve; grace is God giving me blessing or good that I don't deserve. Because of God's mercy, I do not receive the judgment of God against my sins. Because of God's grace, I receive eternal life and a promise of heaven though I don't deserve them. Both mercy and grace come to me though the Lord Jesus Christ.

Max Lucado video

much love, Dennis
 

hearing from God

Brake Fluid Addiction

It's much more prevalent than we realize.  A good friend of mine related this story to me. Evidently, one of her college buddies knew about this firsthand.
It's a sad story.

                        

A mechanic noticed his co-worker drinking brake fluid at lunch.

"What are you doing, man? You can't drink that stuff!"

"Relax," replied his co-worker, "this stuff tastes pretty good, and I don't drink it all the time."

"Seriously," the mechanic exclaimed, "that brake fluid is poison!"

"Hey, man" yelled the co-worker, "back off! I can STOP any time I want."

Of course it's a joke, but my friend "Debbie" set me up perfectly. I fell for it hook, line and sinker.

It does however remind me of a Scripture that I can relate to. I don't consider myself to be influential, wise, or any type of nobility.

1st Corinthians 1:26-31

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

I find myself more and more at ease speaking about my faith in God and what Jesus has done for me. I think that 1st Corinthians is a fairly good description of my life after my accident.

Much love, Dennis