Parting the Waters for You!

Happy Sunday to all! Waine and I are in Hawkinsville this weekend and the weather was perfect for playing golf and then snuggling to watch football in the evenings. Waine was in Jamaica for 10 days and was able to participate in the inauguration of Portia Simpson Miller, the Prime Minister of Jamaica. You can learn all about it by going to his blog, http://www.jamaicachapter.blogspot.com/. He is back home in Atlanta, safe and sound and thank you for your prayers. I wanted to share something that happened to me on Thursday of the past week. I was at a client site in Monroe, Louisiana Wednesday and Thursday. I was flying back to Atlanta on Thursday from Alexandria (90 miles from Monroe) on a 5:30 PM flight. I electronically checked in for my flight at the hotel but couldn't print my boarding pass because the printer was out of paper. I told myself that I would print it later but never got a chance to. I was pacing myself to leave at 2:30 PM but was delayed until 3:00 PM because there was an opportunity to assist a friend of mine to land a position with this client. I left at 3:08 PM and prayed that God would get me to Alexandria safe and on time to make the flight which was the last flight for the day. I needed to get back to Atlanta because Waine and I had to get up at 5 AM on Friday to come to Hawkinsville. I arrived at 4:50 PM, turned the car in and went to the ticket counter which did not have any agents. The kiosk indicated it was too late to check in and get my boarding pass. I went to security and asked one of the agents to ask the Delta ticket agent to print my boarding pass and then give it to me. There was a lot of discussion and at that moment I said out loud "Lord I need you to take care of this problem right now!" I got my boarding pass and the other passengers for other flights "'parted" and told me to go ahead. My luggage went through, I didn't set off the alarm with all my jewelry and I boarded the flight at 5:10 PM.  When I was seated I asked the Flight Attendant why there was such a hurry to leave before 5:30 PM. He said "Honey, this flight is scheduled to leave at 5:13 PM". Don't tell me I don't serve an on-time God! Hallelujah!

I am continuing my journey with Jeremiah 18: 13-18 "Therefore this is what the LORD says: Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing? Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built up. Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their disaster. They said, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says.” May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

God cannot believe that this chosen race of people, Israel, would rather follow false gods than the God that provides their sustenance. He continues to tell Jeremiah to provide guidance but now they are even turning on Jeremiah! They don't want to hear the truth of their disobedience. They would rather rely on their own thinking and judgement than to be faithful to the promise made by Abraham to follow the one and true God. What Book of Jeremiah is teaching me is the length to which God continues to provide us opportunities to exercise our faith and follow Him. He is the God of the "everyday"; the God that cares that I  make a flight or that you are fulfilled in your job or relationships. When we let go and stop sweating the small stuff it allows God to work His Perfect Plan for our lives. I have found when I actively release my cares on Him, my peace is un-ending and the Plans that He has for me marches forward like a well oiled machine. Satan would have you believe that God doesn't want to be involved in the small things in your life. It is not true. God is interested in every aspect of your life. He provided water to these Israelites by melting the snows of Lebanon. When you let Him, He will melt what ever snows that prevent you from experiencing the abundance He has in store for you. Be blessed today and rejoice!

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

What a Beautiful Pot You Are!

Good morning to all on this 2nd Sunday of 2012. The weather in Atlanta is very mild (50-60's) which is unusual for this time of year when we usually get a dusting of snow. Waine and I had a blast with Kai and Hailie last weekend and miss them already. Freddie landed a big contract so has made his marketing sales number for 2012 already! Everything else is gravy for him in 2011 so thank you for your prayers for our children. Also not sure that you know that Portia Simpson Miller is now the new Prime Minister of Jamaica. She is the head of the People's National Party (PNP) the party of Norman Manley. They had been the minority party for the past four years and Waine has been laboring with them to put forward a platform that would benefit the majority of Jamaicans, not just the rich and middle class. My husband was able to attend the inauguration and had VIP seating. As you may imagine Waine was very thrilled! Good things do come to those that wait and are patient!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 18 verses 1-12, " This is the Word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the Word of the LORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word!

In my travels as a Health Care administrator, I have come across so many staff members that "continue with their own plan and follow the stubbornness of their own hearts" much to their and the organization's detriment. I could never quite understand why you get some employees that just can't follow direction even when it is for their own good. When you hire them, they put on a good front of wanting to be a team player; eager to support the organization and my position in it and then the 1st day after their probation period instead of Mr. or Ms. Hyde coming to work, Dr. Jekyll show up! Sound familiar. Many of us when we are in trouble and need God are just like the employee I described. We are humble and seek the face of God; when the crisis passes we turn not to God but to our own way of thinking. I think God at time wonders why we think we know best when, He as the Creator of all things, not only knows best, Is the best. He knows every inch of our psyche, our emotions, our thoughts and He knows them even before we do! Yet we will follow the stubbornness of our own hearts and not obey His commandments; which are to love Him with all of our heart and mind and then to love one another as God loves us. When we asked for repentance and asked God, through Christ, to be Lord of our lives, God shaped the "marred" person we were and formed a new vessel. If you are wondering why things seemed out of sync, it may be because you are trying to be a vessel that no longer exists. That old vessel is gone and now you have a NEW FORM that can only take in new sustenance from the Word of God. You may try to do the old things of the old vessel but they will be very uncomfortable for you. You can remain and be both stubborn and uncomfortable but you only hurt and deprive yourself of the new life that God made for you. Christ taught us this with the parable of the Wineskins.

Resolve in 2012 to leave your stubborness behind and embrace the new YOU. Look at God and your relationship with Him with fresh eyes and be blessed. Now, may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

When You Obey God You Prosper!

Good morning to all on this new year of 2012. Waine and I were blessed to bring in the New Year with Freddie, Tracy, Kai and Hailie. Waine and I are already having "grandchildren withdrawal" as we didn't have little ones crawling into bed with us to wake us up in the morning. What a blessing to have grandchildren in your life to remind you that you indeed walked this earth! I am more convinced tan ever, that if you stay in "Christ faith" your day, your week, your month, and your year will be blessed and runny over.

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 17: verses 19-27, "This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.  Say to them, ‘Hear the Word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.  But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD. But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses." Amen and may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

I just love the Lord because He is good, righteous and generous! This is a commandment with a PROMISE! He is commanding the Israelites to keep the Sabbath Day HOLY by not "trading in commerce" on this one day. He specially told Jeremiah to tell them not to bring goods either in or out of the main gate of the city. To not concentrate on making a living on this one day but instead learning how to live by focusing their attention on God and their relationship with God. But it was not just a message to the Jews but to everyone living in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the equivalent of New York city. Many people of many faiths lived there. It was the seat of commerce for that region. Goods and services were always being traded and when you are focused on making money, God knows this will consume you. God was not condemning commerce, He just wanted the inhabitants of Jerusalem to not have their focus on it for 1 day a week. When you think about these verses they also have a practical message; if the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not busy blocking the gate to the city on the Sabbath, there would be a clear path for folk living outside of the city to bring in their offerings and also give them an opportunity to trade with the folk inside of the city walls on the next day. By obeying God, the inhabitants of Jerusalem would prosper!

Now some folk will focus on what they have been instructed to do which was to "not trade" in commerce for 1 day. They will focus on the lack of the opportunity to make money or become economically enhanced. These folk's glass will always be half-empty. There are others that will thank God for the rest provided and the enhanced opportunities for their future. These folk's glass is always half-full. Which camp are you in? Do you see a faith in Christ as restricting; a religion of do's and don'ts or do you see your faith in Christ as liberating and energizing? You will only have a relationship with God through Christ as you read and learn of them through the Word. When you come to know God through Christ and are able to walk daily with God through the Holy Spirit then you will LOVE God! When you love God then you will be made whole! When you are WHOLE then you will be victorious in all things. Never second guess that path that Faith and Obedience takes you down. There is a "pot of gold" at the end of the trail and it is yours know and into eternity. To know God is to Love God. To love God is to Serve God. Be blessed today!

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace!

Stephanie

God, Your Life Planner!

Good morning to all on this Monday after Christmas 2011. If your Christmas was as enjoyable and filled with love as ours was, then you had a good weekend. Given our schedules, Waine and I don't entertain often however we hosted a party Friday night and we had a blast with new and old friends. We had dinner at our house yesterday and I can officially say that I have mastered the art of cooking lamb! Waine and I woke up praising God for His goodness and for each other. I fall more in love with the guy daily! I had the occasion to watch a movie, Soul Surfer. If you haven't seen it then you should make time this week to catch it. It will make Jeremiah much more meaningful for you. Also one of the Special Treasures I was given was a DVD that contained moments from my past. My niece found some old 8 mm film and put together a montage of images of our family. I saw my mother when she was young. There was footage of my baby brother Yoshio and my Dad, both of whom have passed. There is footage of my brother Koichi playing football and participating in a karate match. It is truly the gift that will keep on giving.

I am emboldened and continuing my journey in Jeremiah 17 verses 9 - 18, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools. A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away from You will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the Spring of Living Water. Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. They keep saying to me, “Where is the Word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!” I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you. Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction. Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

Jeremiah truly had a 1 on 1 relationship with God. He talked to God; he conversed with his Lord and spoke the things that were on his mind. Jeremiah knew the Lord could read his thoughts and that the Lord knew his heart. That being said Jeremiah is still speaking his heart out to God. Jeremiah was being persecuted for his beliefs and wanted assurance from God that He would continue to be the Refuge that Jeremiah needed. God loves this! If you believe in God enough to tell Him about your fears; about your need to know that there will be retribution for the persecution you have undergone;about your desire for prosperity, God will reward your faith. It is hard to have perspective when you are up close to a situation; when you are in the heat of battle you only see the enemy in front of you. That is the time to remember that God always has a 50,000 feet view of you. He has your front, your back, your left side, your right side, your top and your bottom. You are not vulnerable other than to your own doubt. Be encouraged today and pray for your enemies because God will deal with them for you. The God of Jeremiah, of Abraham, of Issac, of Paul and of Peter is your God. He is the SAME, yesterday, today and forever.  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Amen and hallelujah!

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

What Color Are Your Leaves?

Good morning to all on this wonderful December Sunday morning. Waine and I are in Thomaston, Georgia and are enjoying a restful morning. I had 9 babies in the nursery this morning but still was able to make rounds and be back at the hotel by 9 AM to watch CBS Sunday Morning, one of our beloved Sunday rituals. Freddie sent a beautiful picture of our 2 newest grand pickneys and I tell you the truth I can be having an intense day and then I look at a picture of any of my grandchildren and a smile will come across my lips. I hope you are also having a great Sunday morning!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 1-8 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”  This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Amen! May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

As Christians we are to be known by the "fruits" that we bear which is a beautiful metaphor to reflect what we are intrinsically; what we are at our core is what will eventually manifest itself especially in times of stress. I was driving on Friday; my usual Friday errands run. I was on a street with only two lanes and my lane was stopped because a care that was 2 cars ahead of mine was trying to turn left and was waiting for the the traffic in the opposite lane to clear. There was a man two cars behind me who began to beep his horn very vigorously even though he could see that there was no where to go. The traffic began to move at which point I approached the shopping center I wanted to go to. I slowed down to turn right and now the same man was behind me and beeping, waving his hand and had a beet red face. I really didn't understand why it was important for this man to insult my humanity over his frustration with traffic. I remember thinking would I trust this man to teach my children, fix my car, handle my money? His core, his intrinsic values bubbled to the top under the stress of going from point A to point B. I also reflected whether my core values as a Christian were evident to people I interact with and I admit that when I am not stressed it is infinitely easier to move myself out of the way and let the Love of God through Christ shine through. These verses underscore that as Christians we are planted in the love of God. Our roots receive nourishment regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in and as we spread our branches so that others will experience the Love of God through Christ, our roots become that much stronger.

I don't know where you find yourself today but I know that if you have professed a belief in God you truly do not have anything to be concerned with. Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie



They Will Know That My Name is Lord!

Good  morning to all on this Monday  morning. The weather is overcast in Georgia and temps hovering during the day in the 50's and 60's. The temps are going into the mid 30's at night which makes for good weather to light a fire. Waine and I were in Thomaston over the weekend and we need your prayers as we seek God's guidance in starting a practice there. The community is only about 70 miles south of Atlanta which will make it easy for us to come home on the weekends that I am not covering the hospital. There is a ready made practice and it would appear that God wants us there because when I tell you every thing has been going smoothly, it is not an exaggeration. So keep us and this project in your prayers.

During this Advent Season, I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 16 verses 14-21; "However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors. “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.” LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods! Therefore I will teach them— this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that My Name is the LORD. " Amen and hallelujah! They will know that My Name in Lord!

There is so much hope in these verses, not because of anything the Israelites were doing about turning from their practice of worship of idols; the hope here is that God never breaks His promises!! His promise was to Abraham and He intends to keep His promise DESPITE the disobedience of this set of Israelites. They are going to reap the wages of their sins but the inheritance promised to Abraham would go forward for future generations. As Christians, we are under the New Dispensation or New Covenant so as it says in  Romans 11:29, “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”. The promise of abundance that God made with us through Christ is irrevocable. Nothing can separate us from the love of God; nothing including our knuckle head behavior. We may have starts and stops; we may have hiccups but our course to abundance has been set not by our own merits but by the Merits from the Blood of the Lamb! Hallelujah for the Love of God that is a constant in the sea of our own sins and disbelief.  During this Advent Season wake up each day praising God for the abundance that will be revealed to you this day. Thank Him that when you thought all was lost, He was there to calm your seas; thank Him because when you gave up on yourself He was there as your strength and fortress.  I thank God for His Son and His unwavering love for you and me.

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie

Just Two!!

Good  Sunday morning to all from Hawkinsville, GA. Waine and I are working covering Taylor Memorial Hospital and Waine is also playing in a golf tournament at Southern Hills Country Club which is a very nice Club here in Hawkinsville. The weather is very pleasant at 60 degrees and although I have been busy I have been able to enjoy the outdoors each day. Waine and I watched LSU beat the Georgia Bulldogs yesterday in the second half and of course this has been the topic of conversation throughout Hawkinsville today; that and Tiger's quest for his first win in over 2 years. Aleron's birthday is on 12/5/11 and I can't believe our "baby" boy will be 30. Wow! Waine is getting old!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 16, verses 1-13 "Then the word of the LORD came to me: You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place. For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.” For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD. “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them. And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place. When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor." Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.

One of the reasons that Jeremiah has been a struggle for me is that this is not the God I know. The God I know through Christ is compassionate and forgiving. This God of wrath in the Old testament is not the God that is revealed to us Christians because of the sacrifice of Christ. This is a sacrifice that erased and erases our sins on a consistent basis which means that God only sees us through His Son, Jesus the Christ or through the eyes of perfect LOVE. In these scriptures God is telling Jeremiah that he must conduct himself as one who expects to see his country ruined very shortly. In the prospect of sad times, he is to abstain from marriage, mourning for the dead, and pleasure. In other words, those who would convince others of the truths of God, must make it appear by their self-denial, that they believe it themselves. By so doing, the peace of God that should be present, inward and outward, can be acknowledged to be wholly the work of God. By withholding His loving kindness and mercy the disobedient people of Israel will now experience the natural distress which is a consequence of God withdrawing His forgiveness and peace. God is also telling Jeremiah that there may be times when it is proper to avoid things that bring us pleasure and comforts as a demonstration to those watching that a relationship with God is a serious matter. Also, Jeremiah is being given guidance for those who quarrel at the Word of God, instead of humbling and condemning themselves and who justify themselves, as though God did them wrong. A plain and full answer is given. Jeremiah is instructed to tell them that they were more obstinate in sin than their fathers, walking every one after the devices of their own heart as opposed to hearkening to the instructions of God; they shall be hurried away into a far country, a land they know not. They will be driven there without God's favour which will result in their captivity and subjugation by the idol worshippers. Thank God for the Blood of the Lamb that covers my transgressions! Hallelujah!

Whether in the Old or New Testaments, God states that there are TWO (2), just two commandments that we must abide by that is to Love the Lord with all of our hearts, mind and soul. Forsaking any worship of any other man made gods or idols. God also instructs that we are then to love each other as God has loved us. This supernatural love would then dictate our behavior as being that of Christ --long suffering and forgiving.  God says on these two commandments hang ALL the laws of the Universe. Just 2! We are commanded to follow JUST 2 commandments--so why then does man make up so many rules that cloud the simple relationship we are to have with God through Christ. My belief is that man seeks to be god through these rule makings as opposed to just following the Commandments of God. This sin nature has been present since the beginning of time starting with Lucifer, continuing through Eve and then Adam and through us. Our sin nature will full you into thinking that you are in control of your life and destiny. I would invite all who believe that to delve into the Old testament and read what happens to people who turn their face from God and try to become gods themselves. I am convinced that God never allows that to happen.

During this Advent season leading up to the celebration of the Birth of the Christ, it is a good time to get back to the Basics of what makes us Christians. Love God and then love someone who you find it hard to love.

Now may the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Stephanie