SelahV Today by hariette petersen

IN CHRIST ALONE

Oh to stand in before the throne of grace and sing this song to the Lord in heaven.  Even then, any glory I would offer is nothing.

Please take time to listen to this song and pray for others to hear the Voice of God, and know the conviction of the Holy Spirit to the darkest depths of their souls.

May your morning in worship to the Redeemer of man fill you with His eternal love.  May thousands upon thousands be added to His church in the assembly of the saints today.

POKERS, PRODDERS, AND SPURS

A poker is one of those long metal (usually iron) rods which a person uses to poke at coals and logs in a fireplace.  It enables its user to stand safely away from the heat of the flames, as the hooked end catches hold of an errant log--which is not burning as expected.  A poker, put simply, pokes.  It pokes hot coals and nearly charred logs to get the fire going, should it try to die down.  It changes the position of logs in order to get a fire blazing.  Are you a poker?

A prodder can be a shepherd's staff, an elephant trainer's stick, or even a person.  A prodder tries to urge another to move in a specific direction for a specific purpose--sheep which are dumb as dumb can be, are prodded.  A prodder can guide or provoke.  It can nudge or needle--punch or punish.  Are you a prodder?

Spurs are those pointed objects a cowboy wears on the heel of his boots.  They act to poke a horse in its side, to prod it to move in a certain way with measured urgency.  Do you spur others on?

In the world of blogging and beyond, we find pokers, prodders, and sets of spurs.  A question came to me as I have seen my words used to poke and prod others in the last few days.  We need pokers, prodders, and spurs.  We need folks willing to approach the flames and readjust the burning logs.  Some fires need to die out--others need stoking with a poke here, and a breath of fresh air now and then.  We need someone to poke the coals and shuffle them about so the best of their heat is used.  We need folks to spur one another to action.  To move forward.  To run the race as courageously, as boldly, as honorably as possible.

The discerning mind, the yielded spirit, and open heart have the wisdom to see the difference between a prodder of unity and a provoker of divisiveness and animosity.  May you find yourself among the discerning, the yielded, and the open.  May I be counted among those who enrich, create comfort, instill warmth--where others may separate, and inflame to destroy or quench the Spirit of God.  Lord knows I fail so often to tend the fires He calls me to light.  It's not from lack of desire--some things need to burn--and burn like a bonfire.  Other things need to be kept under control--a little shifting here, a bit of prodding there.  When one sees a fire in need of another log, they must be very mindful of offering to add the wood.  It could very well come slamming down on a foot you've left too close to the fire.  selahV 

RESTORING HONOR with Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck believes America has lost her way.  He has some heavy-duty critics who slice and dice his every word.  He's been threatened and condemned--lied about, and ridiculed.  Yet, he keeps on speaking what he perceives to be the need for America to stand up and meet the challenges of today head-on.  He tells us that it will take sacrifice.  It will take courage.  It will take character.

Today Beck is issuing a clarion call to Americans.  They'll meet at the Lincoln Memorial to emphasize the honor of America.  We have traveled far away from the principles upon which our founding fathers intended.  Beck seeks to kindle enthusiasm for that lost honor among men.

Glenn hopes to restore honor to the American spirit.  He plans to spotlight people who desire the same thing--character, integrity, truthfulness.  Faith, hope, charity.

Some folks say he is self-aggrandizing.  Some are angry that he would dare choose to meet on the steps where Martin Luther King stood and gave his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago.  Some have gone so far as to threaten Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther, because she would dare to speak alongside Glenn Beck.  Such irony.  MLK spoke of being defined by character--not the color of one's skin.  Yet critics would silence Alveda King; they would silence Beck.  Just this week, Eugene Robinson wrote in his editorial for Washington Post that the best way to respond to Beck's call for Restoring Honor is to ignore it.  "Ignore him."

Friends, we've ignored honor long enough in America.  We've ignored the voices of those who cry out for justice and listened to the voices who would silence them.  I don't know exactly what Beck has planned for today.  But I'm willing to listen.  Will you?  selahV 

WATCH FOR TWO MOONS TONIGHT

UPDATE TO POST BELOW...it's a hoax.  Duh...oh well...Guess I'll just lift mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help.  Jesus is the greatest Light anyway.  How about everyone look to Him instead of the moon? 

I was sent an email that Mars will be the brightest planet in the night sky in August.

Tonight it will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This occurs because on Aug. 27th, Mars comes within 34.65-Million miles of earth.  I hope it's really there.

Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.

I'm hoping to see it...if it doesn't appear...at least I can be caught looking "up" towards the heavens.  And that is worth the peek, no matter if there are two moons or one new moon.  Don't you think?

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

GLENN BECK IS PREACHING...

Jesus is King.  That's why the British wanted to stop our early forefathers.  They were preaching Jesus as King and serving Him as king.  Wow.  Turn on your television sets.  This is powerful.  TIVO....now.  selahV

ADDITIONAL QUOTE: "God's not on our side.  God's not on our side; we must put ourselves in the position to be on God's side."  Glenn Beck on his show one minute ago. 4:39 p.m. Central Time. 

Hey, Glenn Beck is pushing the Bible and explaining how our founding fathers didn't start speaking about all our rights till after the preachers were in

He's holding up a Bible and saying our country is failing and what is the blueprint? Moses was their (our founders) blueprint. "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience is to God."

Better tune in. He's got David Barton of Wall Builders on. This is good stuff. Really Good stuff.

CONQUERING VINES

Kudzu is a vine with a beautiful blossom.  I just learned of Kudzu yesterday.  It was used in a comment stream in reference to "lunch" in a blog-post I was monitoring.  Since I love to eat new things, my appetite was whet.  Yeah...it really is edible.  The word "kudzu" grabbed my attention as easily as the Kudzu vine reaches out and encircles objects within its reach.  It grabbed my curiosity and wound its way into my thoughts until I had to google it and discover what it was.  I found more than meets the eye about Kudzu.  It has all kinds of twists and turns a writer could use as illustrative fodder.  Indeed, one, among many of Kudzu's uses is fodder to feed livestock.

It is a plant that made it's way from the Asia, specifically China and Japan.  So we have a foreign plant that has made its way into Southeastern America to embed itself and twist its vines around everything around it.  Kudzu literally grew so fast that it gained other nicknames--one of which was "the vine that ate the South". Tennessee is using goats and llamas to eat it down to its roots.  They want rid of this fungus.  Another nickname is "foot-a-night-vine".  So if kudzu embeds itself within a given area, it can rapidly grow and take over the area in a few short nights.  Another nickname implies, a "mile-a-minute" growth.  Amazingly, it takes several clusters of little pods to produce a couple of seeds.  So it needs to grow a lot, and wiggle its way into the grounds in order to create enough clusters to yield a couple of seeds.  But oh the damage those two seeds can do when they fall to earth and embed beneath the soil.

It makes me think of how Jesus would have been able to parable-lize this plant in the Kingdom of God.  Can't you just imagine Him saying, "The kingdom of God is like Kudzu.  Though many pods cluster--only two seeds amid them will fall to earth.  Each seed dies, takes root and gives birth to a vine which grow into more vines.  Are you a seed amid the cluster?"

Kudzu is fungi.  It's hated among men.  Some men take Kudzu and use it medicinally.  Its roots.  Its vines.  It has anti-inflammatory properties.  Harvard is studying it as a possible way to reduce alcohol cravings.  The Chinese use it to help get over hangovers. It's shown value in treating migraines, and cluster headaches--apart from alcohol. It is recommended for allergies and diarrhea.  It may help women with postmenopausal symptoms, such as hypertension and diabetes type II.  In China it's also used to treat tinnitus, vertigo and other things. (See Wikipedia)

Wikipedia writes, "Kudzu has been traditionally used as a remedy for alcoholism and hangover in China. The root was used to prevent excessive consumption, while the flower was supposed to detoxify the liver and alleviate the symptoms afterwards."

Kudzu may be a good thing for some good uses, but it destroys croplands.  Man and animal feed upon Kudzu.  Kudzu may appear to offer good things in the world, but not the "best thing".  Can you hear the Master?  I can.

It's amazing to me what a rambling kudzu vine could do in blogland--in the bogs of blog-streams, if only they were concerned with the "better" thing instead of their own things.  I've always loved wildflowers--ones that seem to appear out of no-where and bloom.  Sometimes I've called them God's bouquets.  But so many on this earth see wildflowers in the meadows of life and call them weeds.  Some want to conquer the vines...others watch as the Vine conquers them. selahV

SAVED AND CERTAIN

Some folks wonder where they will go when they die.  Some believe they will simply be no more...they will rot and become part of the earth again.  Indeed, science shows us that this is true of the body.  But religion causes folks to wonder...is there more?  Some folks struggle with that question.  They settle things in their minds based on variables in their upbringing, or what they have or have not experienced.  Some struggle with salvation--and they come from evangelical backgrounds where Jesus is taught from the cradle to the grave. Some are teenagers; some are adults--who were saved as young children.  What they believe as a child, is scrutinized in light of greater understanding as a teenager.  Then as an adult, salvation is scrutinized again in light of greater understanding as an adult.

Can a person still be saved even though they do not understand all the particulars surrounding salvation?

I was seven-years-old when I walked down the aisle of Triangle Baptist Church in Triangle, Virginia.  Pastor James Weaver asked me a few questions, but I have absolutely no recall as to what he said.  Yet, I clearly remember telling him that I wanted Jesus in my life.  I later told my stepmother, when she was getting me dressed to go to church for my baptism, that Jesus washed away my sin.  I knew that I needed to obey God and do what the Bible said.  I understood that with all the understanding a seven-year-old child could, I suppose.

However, I did not understand grace.  I did not understand faith.  I didn't understand justification, or sanctification, election, nor any of the other doctrines which many people argue and debate today.  For that matter, I didn't really understand baptism.  I did understand that without Jesus I was going to hell.  I wanted Him in my life even though I wasn't sure how He became a part of my life.  I didn't understand all the things that made that so, but I believed the Bible and the preacher when he preached those things.  I believed that God had to do something inside me and that I needed Him to do it.  I didn't understand exactly how He was going to do that, but I believed He would.  I believed as I walked that aisle as a child that He would do in me what I needed in order to go to heaven.

I did not believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny.  Those myths were debunked with reality:  Teeth beneath the pillow the following morning.  Letters to Santa that went unanswered.  Decorating my own eggs the day before Easter.  I still wished upon a star, and tossed coins in wishing wells.  I still made wishes when I blew out my candles.  But most childhood fantasies were just that--fantasy.  I didn't even believe in happily-ever-after.  So I can only surmise that my belief in Jesus was strengthened by solid facts.  People in my life, school teachers, and Sunday School teachers trusted in God and the Bible that documented His words to us.  After all, the Ten Commandments were posted on the wall of every classroom.  It had to be true, didn't it?  I saw my school teachers in church--it had to be trustworthy. 

I spent nearly all summers in Tennessee with my step-mother's family--if not the entire summer, a large portion of it.  I remember going to a little country church in Butler, Tennessee and singing a special, The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rocks.  After I sang my song, the visiting preacher began shouting and getting all red in the face.  He went out in the crowd and stuck his finger in various faces and said, "If you don't have Jesus you are going to hell."  I remember hoping that the preacher wouldn't come poking me in the nose.  I figured I had Jesus, so I wasn't going to hell.  But he sure made me wonder.

Throughout my life, I felt like God was somewhere doing something to keep me saved because of that moment when I was a child.  I counted myself as a Christian.  As I grew older I fell prey to many temptations and failed miserably at living the life Christ expects.  I will not bore you with the dirty details; suffice it to say I had reason to doubt that a Holy God would allow me next to anyone in Heaven--let alone His Son.  So when I was twenty-eight years old, I came to question my salvation.  I looked at my past and believed I couldn't be saved.  My life was a mess and I lived for myself--not Jesus.  I realized the depth of all Jesus did on the cross, and that through His death and the sacrifice of His blood, He had paid the price for my sins.  Today I am certain I am saved.

I realize salvation is because He alone paid the price and changed me from within.  It says so in God's Word.  I also know because I know.  I know who I was before Jesus, and who I became afterwards.  Desires changed.  My mind changed.  My feelings changed.  I wanted to be more for others than have others be more for me.  I was a selfish, self-centered individual.  I didn't feel like that anymore.  I wanted to make wrongs, right.  I actually cared for others more than myself.  All I wanted to do was talk about Jesus.  Learn about Jesus.  Talk to Jesus.  And it's been like that in my life ever since.

^"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

"The old has gone, the new has come!"

Sometimes I look back on my life and see how He was with me all along--with every step and every stumble--with every rebellious act of disobedience.  When I read various scripture passages today, I realize how God was always drawing me to Him.  Sometimes I rejected Him and His teachings.  Sometimes I sought His face.  Often, I grieved Him; I quenched the Spirit on many occasions.  But He never let me go.  He loved me long before I ever knew Him.  He died for me long before I was even a thought in my parents' minds.  He had a plan for my life.  He sent His only begotten Son, to suffer, to die, to rise again.  In suffering He shows me how to live.  In His death, He paid the penalty of my sin and showed me how obedience to the Father is not just lip-service.  He rose from the grave, conquered death, and made it possible for me to live eternally in His presence because I trust in Him.  His grace is indeed sufficient.  Glory to His name!  selahV

[Butterfly photograph provided by an Oklahoma lover of nature.  thanks Rose.]   

THIRTY-NINE YEARS LATER, I still remember

It was 2:00 a.m. when my water broke and began the most amazing, gratifying, joy-filled, gut-wrenching, heart-rending 33 years, 5 months, 13 days and 2 hours of my life.  My son, Chad, was born this day, August 25th and I so miss the sparks, flames, and warmth that his life kindled in my heart.  I cannot begin to write what I truly feel.  I just know that though the world keeps turning, the moon keeps shining, the sun keeps rising, and his two little girls keep changing shoe sizes each year, I still remember how vital he was to my life.  How much I miss his hugs--of seeing the joy he grabbed from every moment of life.

I long to be with him in glory.  I long to see his face once more.  Occasionally, the Lord gives me dreams of him--such sweet moments in the stillness of my nights.  Sometimes I recall a particular phrase he eternalized in my mind.  And I smile.  I remember one in particular that he coined from some movie, I've been told.  But when I felt defeated and thought I just couldn't go on anymore with a situation, challenge or task, he would change his voice and say, "You can dooooo it, Momma."  And it gave me the energy to tackle life with his spiritual wind at my back.

That tad of encouragement has often come to me in moments when grief seems too much to bear.  When seeing his girls grow up without him.  When I need to be a part of something that he should have been in attendance for--my heart wants to run.  But I hear his voice--"You can doooo it, Momma."  And by the grace of God, and through Christ who strengthens me, he is right.

"Happy Birthday, my son.  Tell Jesus thank you for making it possible for us to see one another again when my days on earth have come to a close."  Love ya, bunches and bunches, and until then I'll just keep on "remembering the good times".  Momma

GRACE UPON GRACE

Jesus was full of grace and truth.  "Full".  And He came to give it to us in all its fullness.  We do not deserve it, but He loves us and wants us to know Him through His grace.  It is absolutely glorious to contemplate--to ponder this truth.   

^"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." John 1:14-18

"The Word..."

God Himself, the incarnate, only begotten Son of God..."became flesh and made his dwelling among us."  Here on earth, Jesus came and dwelled.  He left the comfort, joy, majesty and glory of heaven and became a mortal so we could have everything in Him.  He showed us exactly Who the Father is: sacrificial, loving, compassionate, righteous, holy, miraculous, gracious, forgiving.

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16

"From the fullness..."

We have "all" received.  Each of us has been given "one blessing after another".  Think about it.  Our lives are full of difficulty, challenges, obstacles, trials.  We can probably list every negative thing in our life--one right after another with no hesitation.  But do we really see the blessings we have through the grace and truth of Christ?  Can we list them as readily?  Someone asks us to give a word of praise, and crickets can be heard all over the room.

Salvation--reconciliation, fellowship, justification, sanctification, righteousness, and some day--glorification.  They're such big words.  Yet, forgiveness, faith, power, wisdom, discernment, goodness--we can relate to these words.  Hope, love, joy, peace, patience, humility, kindness.  Provision, protection, watch-care, guidance, compassion.  Blessings--"one after another".  It's mind-boggling.  All these blessings are wrapped up in the Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ who is full of grace and truth.  Do you ever take His blessings for granted?  What blessings can you claim for yourself today?

I have one I shall write about on Tuesday.  It is, perhaps, one of the most overlooked blessings we have.  Want to guess?  selahV

Are We Too Comfortable?

I sit here in my air-conditioned home sipping on freshly brewed hot coffee.  I thawed out some shrimp to make a casserole for dinner.  I'm watching cable television and wondering.  Am I too comfortable?  People in Pakistan are clinging to patches of dry land--waiting hopefully for a cup of water, wondering when they'll get a bite to eat.  Earthquake victims in Haiti are still trying to figure out how to live beneath sheets of cardboard, sheetrock and metal.

I am by no means wealthy, but neither am I what some call impoverished.  I have a home.  My home is filled with furniture, books, dishes, artwork and conveniences.  I turn on the faucet and out comes water--not just cold water, but hot water.  I flick a switch and on comes lamps, computers, hairdryers, curling irons and microwaves. I open a door and grab cold drinks, and frozen Popsicles.  I am rich in comparison to so many in life.

How about you?  Are you comfortable?  Do you feel a bit too comfortable?  I am so grateful for the comfort I have tonite.  With a hacking cough and sore muscles, I have nothing but gratitude that my air-conditioning is working in this 105-degree heat.  I am grateful my husband is able to make the money to pay our bills so we have electricity, a home.

I am grateful I have a venue to share how grateful I am for the greatest comfort--the comfort of knowing Jesus is my Savior and He is keeping me in all situations.  I take comfort in knowing God is always present in my life.  He will never ever leave me.  He fills me with peace.  He gives me new mercies each day.  He pours out His grace.

Tonight I pray for those who do not have that comfort.  I pray the Lord draws them to himself--and shows them the glory of His grace and the comfort of His completeness.  I pray for you if you are heavy-hearted and need comfort.  For those who have lost loved ones this week, who have loved ones suffering from terminal illnesses.  I pray for those poor souls around the world who wonder and wait for help.  May God's grace abound.  selahV

ANALYZING MY PRAYER LIFE

I always wonder about my prayer life when I have a week like I had this past week.

Let me tell you a few of the oddities that occurred this week.  Then I'll tell you what I had prayed at the beginning of last week.

First day out of the gate my husband got a ticket.  Seems the motorcycle police officer wasn't happy with how long my husband sat at a stop sign.  We both chuckled over the rare fact that my husband got a ticket.  The second day my husband went to inspect a vacant house and make a property report and got stung several times by huge wasps. (So glad he isn't allergic to bee stings.)  His ear was two times the size of normal.

Well, one of hubby's part-time jobs, is custodian of a Christian elementary school, for those of you who do not know.  So after being stung, he went to work that day, and the principal tells him they'd had the plumber come and clear out the lines of a small bathroom in one of the rooms so they could use it as a new school room.  All was good, except when the plumber blew out the line and cleared the years-old plugged toilet, all the junk blew out into the kitchen sink of the room next to it.  The sewage was all over the cabinets, the kitchen sink, the countertops and floor.  And guess who got to clean up all that mess?  Yeah.  I'm glad I am married to a saint.  Otherwise he might have been in a really grumpy mood when I told him what had happened to me that day.

I went to the Water-park with my granddaughters and after making several rounds around the lazy river with my inner tube, I discovered I'd taken my cell-phone swimming with me.  The cell-phone did not enjoy the swim--even though I'd given it a break from the 107-degree temperatures.  It didn't work to take it apart and blow-dry the phone.  It's dead.  I drowned it.

So I go to AT&T to get a new one.  They don't sell mine anymore.  I hate the new ones.  (Then again, I don't much like change of any kind.)  So, I didn't get a new phone.  But my daughter had an old one that didn't have a back on it that I could use till I made up my mind what I wanted, (or, if I wanted anything at all).  I'm contented to just have a phone I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for.  So I took my sim-card out of my old phone so I could have my address book with my own numbers.  Well, who knew that a person must save the numbers to the sim-card as well as the phone or you don't have any numbers?  So, I've lost dozens of telephone numbers I had stored in my phone.  Who writes them down on paper, anymore?  Annoying?  Not nearly as annoying as going swimming the next day and drowning my daughter's phone, too.  Yep.  I'm serious.  I had tucked it into my bathing suit pocket and forgotten it--Again.  So I took it for a dip in the lazy-river, too.  Cannot believe I am that dumb and forgetful.  But....well, I am.

It reminds me of how forgetful I can be with my commitments to the Lord, too.  I seek His help to become less aggravated with circumstances, then I get aggravated.

I won't bother telling you the rest of the stuff that went on this week.  Totally mind-boggling.  But I will share what I prayed at the beginning of the week:  I asked the Lord to make me more sensitive to Him, to what He wanted for my life as His child.  I committed myself to a deeper walk with Him.  I didn't want to get all caught up in the mundane, little aggravations of life and miss out on the most valuable opportunities He had for me to be a witness of His love, patience and steadfastness.  I committed myself to a better attitude in the midst of trials.  I told Him I wanted to experience the contentment found only in Him.  I committed myself to complaining less and praising more.

Well, here I am. I recognize that my life is full of junk--just like that toilet that was plugged.  Sometimes God has to clean out all the junk in our lives to get us to recognize He is in control--and the habits we've formed must be changed to be the light He wants us to be.  To have patience, I must learn to be patience and less frustrated in the annoyances of life.  To be content, I need to relax and allow God to work out His will as I let go of my own.  To be calm in the midst of chaos happens only as I let go of my expectations, my pre-conceived ideas of what I deserve in life.  Life is not about me.  It's about a God so holy, so gracious, so magnificent than everything pales in comparison to walking with Him.  My faith in Christ calls for a kinder, gentler nature in the pathways of disruptive situations.  Living contentedly requires a total surrender of my comfort to His sovereign control.  Stuff in life is just stuff.  How I react to all that stuff is what God is concerned about.  Looking back, I see how little that much of the annoyances affected my attitude toward others.  I didn't get upset.  I didnt' allow it to carry over into conversations with others.  God was at work in me.  Then...

I got a quick lesson in this when my laptop that came back from servicing quit working.  Yeah.  It worked for two days, then stopped connecting to the internet.  So I am back to limited use of the computer.  At first I was so ticked off I couldn't even reply to emails from people I care about.  Then I calmed down and realized--this is the lesson--the real lesson God wanted me to learn this week.

The communication I need to think about is what God wants me to have with Him.  When I communicate with Him, He opens the lines of communicating with others.  Laptops, cell-phones, computers--they are a means, but my attitude is what God cares about--otherwise, any message I convey is worthless.  He wants my attention.  "He will keep me in perfect peace when my mind is stayed on Him."   Prayer is a dangerous thing sometimes.

WHEW! THREE WHOLE HOURS!

Somehow, the Lord allowed me to sit here at this crazy computer for 3 hours today.  I've written and posted a new devotional for Devotional Christian (won't be posted till approved by the editor,though).  Tony Kummer must be ready to give me the old heave-ho.  Can't blame him. I've been soooo remiss in writing for his site.

I've sent my Thursday column off to the editor of County Times.  By the grace of God I've managed to give Stacy something each week to share with her readers.  Now here I sit writing to you.  My neck and back have about reached the end of their staying power, but I wanted to say a little something to you:

Life is good.  God is so very wonderful.  He is blessing me far beyond measure.  He's teaching me so many little lessons of His steadfast love.  He's giving me so much peace amid the wackiness of life.  He's opening doors to my life that I never dreamed possible.  He's testing me to the outer limits.  It's exhilerating.  It's mind-blowing.  It's fabulous!  I feel more alive with my miserable degenerative disc disease and other maladies than I ever felt with perfect health.  Ever feel that way?  Ever feel so grateful to be alive that you actually praise God that you feel pain?  Unbelieveable!  His grace is so sufficient.  So very, very sufficient.

Well, that's it.  Time to go rest my back and have another cup of java. No sugar. No cream. Just java.

May the grace, favor and blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ--the Messiah, the Redeemer and only Saviour of this world, surround you and fill you up and carry you through this day!  Amen?  selahV

Where is SelahV hiding?

She has NOT been lying around in her hammock.  That's for sure!

She has been laying low and under the weather with a summer head-cold and a balancing act of all kinds of annoying interruptions to life--like a missing laptop.  That is like loosing several appendages at once.  The technicians tell me it might be back to me by the end of the week.  I can only pray.  I've got writing assignments that are screaming at me in the dark of night--and this computer--though very, very reliable, is detrimental to my health.  Just can't sit here like I can with my laptop in the recliner. Positioning is everything, folks. Pain gets the better of me.  And, trust me.  You wouldn't want to read what I think when my back is throwing fits because I've demanded it sit still in one position more than thirty minutes.

Life's a bear.

So, bear with me.  I should be back and running (or typing more, soon).  Thanks for asking.  Thanks for praying.  Thanks for congratulations (45th wedding anniversary in July).  Thanks for loyalty.  I love you all.  May God give you special blessings today just for reading my blather.  I'm sorry I haven't been reading yours.  Just can't sit here that long.  I'm going to have so much catching up to do.  That's rather exciting actually.

Meanwhile, don't forget to pray for India's flooding, Pakistan's flooding, and the blessed Christians who were murdered in Afghanistan.

School starts back very soon here in Oklahoma.  Life will begin to take on an odd normalcy, I suppose.  Though there are some, my granddaughter, included, who have made commitments to live a life pleasing to God--to follow Christ in word and deed.  Satan will be there to buffet them (already has, actually).  May God give our teenagers and college students strength and tenacity and boldness to live the life they have commited to live in Jesus.  May their love for the Savior increase and ooze out of them.

May we each live our lives this coming week with the desire to bring glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Bless ya.  selahV