Daily Manna from the Net for Sunday, September 5, 2010 [Psalm 34:9-14]
Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:9-14 NIV [Link]
John DeButts was the CEO of AT&T just prior to its breakup in the 1980s. At the zenith of his power, he had more than 1,000,000 employees around the world. DeButts retired very wealthy. Not long after that, he needed to have a leg amputated.
He later said, "In spite of all that money, power, prestige and influence, do you know that as I lay there in my hospital bed, not one person came to see me, called me on the phone, or dropped me a card? But there at my bedside, tending to my needs day-by-day, was the woman I had ignored for 30 years."
If you haven’t let your wife know lately how much you love and appreciate her, send her an e-mail or text right now. Better yet, stop by a flower shop on the way home tonight.
"Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8 (NAS)
The thunder and lightning of a powerful storm rattled our house last night. As rain slashed against the windows and lightning lit up the dark sky, I woke up just long enough to make room for my youngest son and yellow lab to join me and my husband in bed. I remember thinking with surprise that I didn’t even know it was going to storm.
What a picture of my life lately. It’s been a year of unexpected rain. Some just drizzles, but others, like the storm hitting me most recently, have rattled windows with wave after wave of thunder and bursts of lightning.
What about you? Is there stormy weather in your life right now? Where are you finding shelter from the storms?
My friends and family have been a shelter for me this year, just like my family was last night as we all huddled together in bed. They’ve encouraged and supported me. And most importantly, they’ve pointed me to the strongest shelter from the storms, my Heavenly Father.
As I’ve turned to Scripture this week, I’m amazed at the number of times it reminds us God is our shelter. God knows that we will encounter hard times and His Word reminds us that the strongest and safest shelter is God Himself.
As always we have a choice: get drenched in the rain or seek shelter. You see, the storms of life can cause us to run toward God, but just as easily they can cause us to turn away. A whole range of emotions can leave us standing in the rain to get drenched: bitterness, anger, confusion, helplessness, or hopelessness. If you can relate to these emotions, you might feel badly for having these emotions, but don’t let these feelings keep you from God.
Read the Psalms and you’ll see that God can handle every emotion. Negative emotions are not a reason to turn away from God. They’re the very reason to turn to Him, desperately wanting the kind of faith and strength only God can provide.
Keep turning to God, continue to tell Him in prayer how you feel, and leave your emotions with Him. As you do, you’ll start to feel His nearness, His hope, His promise, and His comfort. If you find yourself returning to feelings of fear or hopelessness, just go back to God. Be honest in your prayers. Acknowledge that you’re having a hard time, but that you want to trust Him in your circumstances. Know that He loves you and will consistently and constantly be your shelter from the storms.
- Maintain absolute integrity.
- Know your stuff.
- Declare your expectations.
- Show uncommon commitment.
- Expect positive results.
- Take care of your people.
- Put duty before self.
- Get out in front.
This is a quiz for people who know everything! These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers.
1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine, it hasn’t been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.
7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."
Answers To Quiz:
1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends. Boxing
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward. Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute..)
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. Asparagus and rhubarb.
4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside. Strawberry.
5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.
6. Three English words beginning with dw. Dwarf, dwell and dwindle. (Isn’t "Dweeb" a word?)
7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
8.. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh.Lettuce.
9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "S".
Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.
Why does God love you and me so much? Why did He send His Son to die such a horrible death for us on the cross? It is not because you and I are so wonderful; it is because God is so wonderful (Deut. 7:6-9). The Scripture clearly tells us "God is love" (1 John 4:8). Love is a BIG part of His nature.
God chose to love us regardless of who we are or what we do. Because it was a choice of God, it is not dependent on you and me. Talk about getting off the performance-based acceptance train! Here is truth to put in your heart: There is nothing you can do to get God to love you any more than He already does, and there is nothing you can do to get God to love you any less than He already does. HE JUST LOVES YOU!
Our job is to receive His love and rejoice in His love. Obedience to His commands comes when you realize that everything God tells us to do or not to do is for our greatest good. The God who loves me tells me "yes" to some things and "no" to other things. His commandments are not given to deprive me; they are given to bless me because every one of them is given in love.
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." Jonah 2:8
I am a consumer who needs to carefully start to look at my possessions in light of the realities of the world, the Church, and the Kingdom of God. We live in a consumer culture. We consume goods, endless cups of coffee, worship services, sermons, Bible studies, church programs, food…the list is endless.
I’m convinced it’s time to move from being a consumer to becoming a giver. I challenge you to join me. Instead of trying to get more things, how about if we decide, starting today, to concentrate on giving more…loving more…reaching out more… and looking at how the Kingdom of God can touch people’s lives through us?
Jesus calls us to be givers rather than consumers. Remember, he said, “Freely you have received. Freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)
Look out Professional Bowlers Association… here we come! A great night of fellowship, laughter, and a some good competition was had by many of the Tusculum Men at Tusculum Lanes Monday night. Quoted from David Moon, our emcee for the night… “These men have amazing skills with a bowling ball. I just would like to see them work on their grace, poise and coordination a little more. It’s not a pretty site to behold men tripping and falling over the line when trying to roll a simple ball down a simple lane to knock over 10 simple pins.”
Champion bowler for the night ended up being Steve “Hamburger” Cummings with his high score of 202! (If you look closely at the picture above you can see his 202 score on the red screen just above my head.) Steve walked away at the end of the night with the coveted Champion Bowler medal and is now the envy of the maintenance guy and soda fountain worker at the Tusculum Lanes.
As so aptly stated by Steve in humbly accepting his award, quote… “On behalf of my wife, kids, and all of my fans nowhere, I humbly accept this honor. Thank you! (bow) Thank you! (bow) Thank you! (bow). Joe Bennie, you owe me a hamburger for picking up that split that I will probably never pull off again.” Steve is apparently trying to get a Big Mac out of Joe on this deal, but we’re all in agreement that the split he made only warrants a plain Krystal burger. “Good luck next time Steve on earning that Big Mac.” Now that “Hamburger” Cummings has high score in bowling and low scores in golf, we’ve all concluded that he must either be a great athlete or he is living right…or maybe a little of both. Congratulations Steve! Tusculum’s Bowler of the Year (for now…).
A big thanks goes out to David Gee for organizing our Guys Night Out. Thanks David… it was a lot of fun and a good bonding time for us all. For all you guys that could not make it, be on the lookout for announcements of our next event… you really don’t want to miss the high level of competition and the chance to kick Hamburger Cummings off his throne!
