1 Kings 6, 7: Anybody out there need a “do over”? You know you start okay and things are going well then somewhere along the path you veer too far one direction or the other and just start getting further and further away from where you know you need to be. It is not a huge step at first, it is just letting the little things slide, then before you know it you are embarrassed to admit you are far away and your pride may even get in the way of admitting your current status. I think Solomon knew that Israel would need a “do over”. In his prayer in 1 Kings he is asking God to restore and renew His relationship with Israel when they come to the realization of how far they are away from God’s plan and ask Him to make them right with Him again. You know it is not just for the days of old, but it is for us today as well. So you are not where you want to be. Here is how you can be. Admit where you are and ask God to forgive you and bring you close again. Just like that He forgives a repentant heart and restores them with love to the right path. Will there still be scars, possibly, but God loves us scars and all. His love is not conditional. His love is eternal.

Luke 1:57-66; Ephesians 2:11-22; Psalm 119:25-32; 1 Kings 6, 7:
Psalm 119:28 “I weep with sorrow;
encourage me by your word.”
Over the last few days we have had a couple of friends to die and a few family members of dear friends. This verse became my prayer for the families of those who have said “Until we meet again in Heaven.” We know they are with the Father because they had accepted the Lord, but it is still hard and tears still flow. We will miss them, BUT they are at the feet of Jesus. The Word of God reminds us of where they really are. Are find great encouragement and strength by staying in His word. When our hearts are breaking it is always good to be grounded in the Truth of God word!
To those of you who are grieving today, I encourage you to go and listen to an old song, but one that will encourage you as well. I listened to it yesterday and just wept. The song is “I Bow on my Knees and Cry Holy”. It speaks of everyone our loved ones are seeing in heaven. They see the prophets of old and those who were disciples, but the ONE they long to see they finally do see and all they can do is bow and cry Holy. Oh sweet friends, they are in the presence of The One they love!
Absent from the body, present with The Lord! Glory!

“Do you believe heaven is real? Do you believe hell is real? If so, why aren’t we more willing to share our faith.” That is one of the things Mark Cahill said yesterday as he preached. If we really believe that each of us will go to one place or the other then we must be about sharing our faith in Jesus Christ. As I read this morning in Matthew 24:30 “And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” I was thinking about the mourning that will come that day. So many will know for sure then that Jesus really is and was the Son of God but for them it will be too late. My heart grieves to think about the many who will go to hell because they have not believed in the one and only Son of God. Oh Father, give me an urgency to tell. Give us a realistic understanding that those we know who do not know you will spend eternity in a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Please forgive me for my complacency and help me be moved to action as I share the hope I have in You.

Psalm 56: Fear is a huge weapon Satan uses on us. We fear many things, loss of family, jobs, homes, possessions. The list goes on and on. We fear because we can’t control. It affects our health, our ability to function, and even how deep our relationships become because it is rare to open one’s self up if we fear we will hurt through the experience. How do we overcome? That is a great question. The Sunday school answer is Jesus. lol, and deep down that is correct, but what does that look like in our lives? It begins with turning over the reigns of control to the One we know can control all things. God is the creator of all things. He holds them all together. He can be trusted even when we don’t understand all we are going through. We walk by faith not by sight. Knowing He is in control we can follow His instruction and know He has tomorrow in control. It may not be exactly as we had hoped but we know He loves us and is for our good. He sees tomorrow and directs our paths in the right way. Knowing these things we can have confidence and live in peace on the inside and out. His plans are bigger that we can dream or imagine. Ephesians 3:20 reminds us.
On days when I am tempted to be anxious and overwhelmed I run back to some of the verses we read today.
Psalm 56:3″But when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in you.
4I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?”
If you are experiencing fear today these would be great verses to write on a card and place it where you will see it often. For me, I have been ministered to even as I have written these reminders of why I can trust Him. May you be encouraged too.

Acts 27:27-44 It is amazing to me how much credibility and respect Paul had with the commander of the ship. Paul was a prisoner on his way to be tried and yet the captain of the ship he was sailing on listened to him when he told them if the sailors left in life boats they would die. The captain cut the ropes to the life boats keeping all on the ship. I wonder how the sailors felt about the preacher? Did they resent him? Did they trust him? The next morning when they could see the beach they tried to make a landing, but were caught on a reef. I love how the scripture said 42″the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape. 43But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.” The commander wanted to save Paul…Do you think maybe the preaching of the gospel had changed the captain? Do you think his new found respect was because God was stirring his heart? We aren’t told why he had such great respect, but we are told in the last verse, 44 “So everyone escaped safely to shore.”
Their safety was dependent upon their trust not in Paul, but in God. Wow, isn’t it the same with us. We may not be on a sinking ship, but our lives are definitely in stormy waters many days. Who are you trusting during your storms of life? Are you trying to get into the life boat of a secure job, your possessions or money, or even in a relationship? The only way to be saved is to put your trust in the Father. Listen for His leadership in your life and know though the waters may get rough, you will be saved.

“I love you.” Don’t you treasure sweet relationships? I sure do. One of the things I have asked the Father is to help me to see ways daily I can pour my life out on the people He puts in my path. This love takes many different forms like making lunch for workers at the house, listening to a hurting friend, or taking flowers to a sweet widow. I want to be tender of heart and mind and to have ears to hear where others are hurting or have needs. I don’t always say “I love you,” although I do voice that at times. I want them to see by my hearing their needs and trying to meet them that I am saying I care about you. I love you can be communicated so many ways including a smile, a healthy touch like a pat on the back, or just stopping long enough to really hear what someone is saying.
Tomorrow we celebrate a day where love is in the spotlight. Why not pray today and ask God to reveal to you someone who needs to know they are loved and cared about. Listen and think about how you can best communicate care for that person. It may be something as simple as taking them a card or candy. It could be taking them flowers. It could be that God wants you to ask them to join you for a meal or take brownies to them. No matter how you choose to show your love and care for others just do it. Don’t allow inconvenience or lethargy prevent you from doing what God is calling you to do. Most of all, have fun!

Matt. 10:21-42, Ex.1-3: So many wonderful things in today’s scripture reading. Many of the passages today dealt with people who were fearful. The passage in Matthew talked about people who were fearful because of people who turned against them and said bad things about them. Jesus’ response, 28“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” I love it that immediately after this scripture He reassures them that they are of great value to Him. He reminds them that God knows when a sparrow falls and He cares for them much more than the sparrow. He declares that He knows the very number of hairs on their head. He knows us intimately and He doesn’t just say He cares, He really does care.
A perfect picture of this is seen in Exodus 1-3 when God heard the cries of His people who were captive in Egypt. He sent them a deliverer through Moses. To Moses God reminded him that He would be with him and that “I Am” would be whatever he needed Him to be.
How about you, are you facing anything that is making you fearful right now? I loved what a gentleman in my Sunday School class said yesterday, “When fear comes knocking at your door, answer it with faith. When faith answers the door there will be no one standing there. ” What a great reminder to me to answer my fears with faith and to see God make fear run.

One of the things that stood out to me today was Abraham’s servant spirit. When the two visitors showed up his first inclination was to serve them a meal. Granted he did not do all of the cooking, but he did go and have things prepared. He served them his best. What a wonderful example to us of how God would have us treat those who are visitors in our homes, but also in our churches. Here are some principles I took away.
* See them, not just acknowledge they are there, but stop your world to greet them and speak.
* Offer them hospitality. These men needed to eat, your guests may just need someone to sit with or for you to just listen to them.
* Give them your best. Abraham offered them his best food. He treated them as royalty. When we treat others with respect they know they are valued.
* Blessings immeasurable came Abraham’s way because of the way he treated his guests.
* Our hospitality is seen by others and it is an example. Lot, though he made some bad choices, made a good choice when he too invited the men to stay in his home. I wonder if it was because of the example set for him.
In the end Hebrews tells us to be hospitable for by so doing some have entertained angels unaware.

When we were writing Missional Christmas there was NO WAY we could have seen how different this Christmas would really be. I have always decorated big for Christmas. This year my decorating is with insulation and finally sheetrock!!!!! Hooray! Our mission field walks through the door daily. In years past they were church members and community people. I had parties and ministered to those who were lonely but most them had some knowledge of a relationship with Jesus. WELL, we couldn’t be any further from that this year. Some of our workers have spent time incarcerated. Others live in unheated homes and choose which meals they can afford to eat each day. Ministry has looked like a hot meal, sending leftovers home to mentally handicapped younger siblings, and seeing physical needs like coats and work belts. I have never walked into a store and the first thing I thought about was getting small gifts for our workers like electrical tape, measuring tapes, pencils and the like. I have NEVER been so fulfilled in making meals when men eat seconds and thirds until there is nothing left to eat. My heart has been more filled than I can even put into words.

For those not doing the Advent Journal with us, I wanted to give you a taste of what we are reading. Les wrote today’s devotion and here is one of the illustrations he used.
I heard about a mom and kids who begged their husband
and dad to join them for the Christmas Eve service, but
he wasn’t a churchgoer for 51 other weeks in the year,
and he didn’t see the need to make the week of December
25th an exception. No, he would stay home on the snowy
Christmas Eve in New England and keep the fire going.
The man was watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the
gazillionth time, when he heard a thump on the window.
A few seconds later, there was another thump. He
walked to the window to discover that birds were flying
into the window in an effort to escape the cold and the
wind outside.
The man’s heart went out to the desperate creatures, so
he ran to the barn, opened the door, and turned the light
on, hoping they would fly to shelter, but they didn’t
respond.
The man ran over to the birds and began to yell and
wave his arms, hoping to guide them toward the barn
and into safety, but his actions only seemed to cause them
to panic.
The frustrated would-be savior thought to himself, “If
only I could get through to them! If only I spoke their
language. If I could be a bird, just for a few seconds, I
could save them. . .”
At that thought, the man stopped dead in his tracks. Why
hadn’t he seen it before? He quickly checked his watch.
Maybe it wasn’t too late. He ran inside the house,
grabbed the keys to his truck, and drove off into the night
toward the church, where an unsuspecting family was
getting ready to receive their best Christmas present ever.
There’s an old Christmas song that reads,
“Little Baby in a manger, I love you. Coming down to earth a
stranger, I love you. Wise men saw the star and answered, ‘I
love you.’ Little baby in a manger, I love you.”
And that baby grew up to be a man—a perfect
man—the Son of God. He loved us enough to put
skin on, come to this earth, live a selfless life, die a
sacrificial death for our sins, be raised from the
dead, eventually to go back to His Father and
prepare a place for all who will trust and follow
Him. – LH