SUPER SUNDAY

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Exodus 20:8 (ESV © 2001)

Next Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday and people without a single pigskin gene will watch to see what all the hype is about. Some just want to catch the creative ads for products they don’t buy. Others want to make sure they have seen—and hopefully understood—enough of the game to be able to hold their own in an office or coffee shop conversation.

As for me, I have my own football Sunday routine. Two bowl games ago, I separated all the yarn to a beautiful cross-stitch I had bought the year before, arranging them by their bright colors. Last year, I pulled the yarn into usable, two thread strings. This year, my plan is to thread a crochet needle with one of the double strands, then pick up one of the many unread books I have on my shelf and read until I hear everyone cheer. There will be an instant replay for the benefit of others like me who are "in the room" but not "of the room," as well as for those who didn’t believe what they had seen the first time the play was run.

Some of you have planned your menu, invited friends, purchased soda drinks at a reasonable price, and rented the rug scrubber from the hardware store just to impress your friends. A few of you are wise enough to place a hold on the same unit for the evening after the bowl party once the other fans are gone and the mess has to be cleaned up.

No, this is not a rigid piece about doing nothing on Sunday except Church. It is a reminder about keeping it holy. To be holy and to do holy is to remember whose we are, every day, including Super Bowl Sunday. Enjoy the game with holiness of mind and words. Laugh, yell, jump and scream, but do not hit anyone if the play fails to score. Do not scold a small child for wanting your attention. And, do not drink to the point of losing your ability to be holy. You are a masterpiece of creation. Do not soil the image of God that others see when they watch you, even on Super Bowl Sunday. Let us pray:

"Father God, you are holy and full of grace. Your name is above all names. May my home be within your kingdom, Lord, and may my words and actions there honor you. Forgive me when I allow myself to get out of control and slip into an image that would make it hard or impossible for others to see or recognize you in me. Next Sunday we will celebrate good friends, plenty of food, and the only time we will think we know more than those who are in the game. How silly we are, Father. If we are mean, or rude, or take your name in vain, there is no winning score that will ever be able to erase our out-of-control behaviors. We pray that next Sunday we will present the fun side of Jesus Christ, who also laughed and enjoyed his friends. May next Sunday be a Super Sunday because you will be in our midst again, just as you are every other day. We pray for love to fill us and shine through our expressions and words. In the name of Jesus, your son, I pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp
To have a glimpse at what our country may be like if our love of political correctness continues to the extreme, read "Length of Days—the Age of Silence" - available as an ebook at www.amazon.com  and www.bn.com

To realize more clearly the blessings American have, Read "Holding on to Sand—From the Interactive Journal of James Rapp" - available as an ebook at www.bn.com and www.amazon.com

Inauguration Day

"And Jesus said unto them, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. And they marveled greatly at him.’" Mark 12:17 (American Standard Version)

Today, the United States inaugurates our 45^th President, President Barack Obama. For this day, put partisanship aside, and enjoy all the great blessings we have here, including the right to elect our leaders. The official theme for the 2013 inauguration is "Faith in America’s Future." President Obama will describe the image he holds that epitomizes that theme and I ask that we all do the same.

For a great majority of us, our faith in the country’s future will first embrace our faith in God. With a spirit of abundant generosity, we render unto our government the taxes that will pave our highways, protect us from those who would seek to harm us, and help those who are just awakening to a new awareness of the possibility of their own future. That, with help, they too can claim the promise of America: they can improve their lives with education, hard work, and paying forward the blessings they have received.

We will also give to God the things that are God’s. Our faith belongs to God; our loyalty belongs to God; our love belongs to God; and our soul belongs to God. When we are true to Him, we lift up our neighbors so they can be successful, and live honorably, and love the Lord God — for they will have seen His face in the acts we do and the words we use.

We are destroying this wonderful country by fighting to be the party who is the most generous. Generosity should wear no political pin. We can truly help others when there is no contest among us for the "Most Caring Award." Wouldn’t it be wonderful if blessings could flow from God and we made no claim to the generosity? We could bully people into giving away all that they have, and that would work only ONE TIME! Once we have given the oil from our lamps, the world will go dark. We can only give the light, so that the world will be lit with love and freedom for days and years to come. Let us all have Faith in the God who blessed this country with a unique mission: to open hope and possibilities to all those who will seize the opportunity, and work hard to make it happen. Glory be to God, for He has created a shining light for the whole world to see. If we extinguish the flame willingly, so as not to upset others and remain politically correct, the world may sink into darkness and remain there for a long time to come. Let us all renew our Faith in God who inspired, and continues to inspire, the foundations of our American Dream. Let us pray:

"Father God, holy and unspeakably precious is your name and the name of your son, Jesus. Please flood us once again with your light and love, so that your kingdom may be experienced here as it is in heaven. For this blessed day of Inauguration, we ask that your generosity reign above all petty differences. May we be wise enough to realize that we do not possess all your truth. We must open our ears to that piece of truth you have given others. May we all, every party, every faction of our society, open our hearts to you, that we may reveal your abundant generosity to others in a responsible way, so that we may be good stewards of what you have given us, while sharing it lovingly. Forgive us when we have arrogantly assumed that our knowledge is all the Truth there is. How can we possibly know all of your mind and heart? Each of us holds a tiny piece of you, and we can only know more of you when we listen to the heart of others. May this be the day when we rededicate our lives to you and the people around us whom you have given us to love and care for. In the name of Jesus Christ, your son and our redeemer, we pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp

To have a glimpse at what our country may be like if our love of political correctness continues to the extreme, read "Length of Days—the Age of Silence" - available as an ebook at
www.amazon.com  and www.bn.com

To realize more clearly the blessings American have, Read "Holding on to Sand—From the Interactive Journal of James Rapp" - available as an ebook at www.bn.com and www.amazon.com

IN GOD'S TIME

"Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16 (NIV©1984)

Today, the fourteenth, we are nearly halfway through the month after the end of time, terminating our length of days. The Mayan calendar came to an end last month, and we were all supposed to fold up in the dust of time and blow away. But, that was not written in God’s book.

People said the Mayans had identify the very date when time would cease to be — on the last day of their ancient calendar. When a tornado came through Whitley County on June 29, 2012 and took the roof off the little church my husband would start serving on Jule 1, people outside the church said it would never be rebuilt. Letting the bricks lie in the neighbor’s soybean field and nails that had been sucked out of the timbers and blown to the far corners, lie in the street, was not God’s plan either. The Mayans only measured time, as best they could. God is outside of time, and he measures it with the beat of his own heart.

The little church on the corner of Love and Service did not follow man’s logic either. The people who form that church follow the will of God as best they can — and wanted God to decide the use of the brick church on that corner. Three seasons of the year, on two Saturday mornings in each month, they pass out coffee and doughnuts and a generous portion of love, to all who happen by. They provide toys and tokens of God’s love at Christmas to children who have little. They provide prayer support to all who have been lifted up. The world would not dictate the fate of the church. Only God knows when we have reached the end of our length of days or the usefulness of a church building, for he has written each of our days in his book before they even happen.

Yesterday was the day of rededication for Washington Center UMC. It was a wonderful day of celebration of God’s love and an act of appreciation to all those who had stopped that day in June and ran into the church to help bring out all they could salvaged. "The Lord is in his Holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him." (Habakkuk 2.20) Let us pray:

"Creator and keeper of time, we bow before you, knowing that you are in charge of more than we could ever know. We pray that your will and your time may come into our lives that we may make our home with you, every day of our lives. We thank you so much for all the saints who have gone before us, the little Sunday school teacher with the sensible shoes who taught about the travels of her best friend, "Paul," and the generous round man who was always willing to underwrite a youth program if funding was short. They have kept your story alive as they bore witness to your love. Every little church that cradles your children within their loving arms and send them out into the world to spread the story of your grace to all they meet, was represented by the rededicated of our building to your service. Your huge church structures that draw your people through their doors with the music of guitars and drums, can never replace the love that pours forth from each little brick country church. As the joy of the rededication still warms our hearts, may we all, both near and far, rededicate our lives to your service with a spirit of generosity. May there always be enough time, enough love, enough encouragement and enough support for all those around us, regardless of the corner on which we serve you. We lift you up and glorify your name. In the name of Jesus, our Savior and your son, we pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp

A few pistures are posted.

　

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not
consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3: 21-23 (NIV©1984)

It is the first Monday of the new year. We often groan over the dawn of another Monday because we don’t want to face the loss of carefreeness we experienced over the previous weekend. You will always dread Monday if you don’t eagerly embrace the excitement of a new week, in work, family, relationships and activities. If you don’t like your work but can’t quit, find an avocation you can be passionate about. You might take up a hobby you’d postponed enjoying. Or, you might begin a small, side business. It may grow to become your major source of income or it may provide satisfaction and interest, well into retirement. You do not have to hate the whole new day God has given you.

Start a scrapbook of Monday blessings. God is faithful and will bless you every day, including Monday mornings. Rather than being consumed with your own self-pity over having to get up on Monday morning—poor baby—give praises to his holy name for the opportunity to get up and receive his blessings on the first day of each week. Then, write down the blessings in your scrapbook. If you can’t feel or recognize the brush of angel wings in your morning, then you are still focused on yourself—oh, ain’t it awful?!

God is faithful and will bless you with his compassionate love. How do I know? Because, he is God and that is the nature of God, as described by Jeremiah when he remembered God’s faithfulness. That memory changed Jeremiah’s mood.

We too can change our mood on Monday morning as we remember God’s faithfulness and the promise of his blessings. Our mood can change if we want it to. If we get more milage out of being down and dreadful, then we have no need to become happy and content as we remember the faithfulness of God. So, by focusing on our woes, we reject God’s blessing and cling to our dark feeling. We miss angel kisses and the warm embrace of the Lord, each new day. Let us pray:

"Holy Father God, so very great is your faithfulness. Your compassions, they fail not. We would stumble every day and lay in a deep puddle of our own wretched feelings, if you did not pick us up as we remember you, and as we re-experience you every morning—even Monday mornings. Let us always remember that you live in the freshness of a new week. You seek to bless us every time we open our eyes. Why would we reject you, simply because we must get out of bed? Forgive us for the many times we have not wanted to greet you by opening our eyes. Let this be the first day we recognize and remember every one of your Monday blessings. You send angels to kiss our eyelids and wake us from slumber. We want those encounters, those sweet whispers of love every day, and not reject one-seventh of your love and compassion—those that happen on Mondays. May we be a blessing to someone every single first-day of our lives, as we share your love with others. In the name of Jesus, your son, the true example of your love and faithfulness, we pray. Amen"

Doris
"God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine."
Copyright 2013 Doris Gaines Rapp