There are signs everywhere

The first scripture I ever highlighted in any bible was Hebrews 12:12-13. At the time, I was 15 or 16 years old and can only be described as incredibly self absorbed. Faith was far from me, I was working hard to be an atheist - the earth was too messed up to have a benevolent "god" running the show. I spent most of my time feeling sorry for myself and being grateful for nothing.
Oh, what a silly girl; I had never been homeless, gone hungry or been abused - and yet my gratitude did not abound.  As I sat crying on my bed overwhelmed by the world that day, somehow my Mother's Living Bible had found its way in to my hand, it fell open - and there it was before me:
Hebrews 12:12 So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

Sitting there reading, it was as if this was a message written explicitly for me, speaking directly to my heart. I'd love to say that as my eyes devoured the words on the page before me that I had a great revelation - that I became a better person instantly- faithful, giving, grateful, a strong leader - but that's not what happened. It would be almost a decade before I would consider setting my own self and desires aside for a greater good, before I would even begin to understand how much I had to be thankful for.

That day however, there was a shift in me, and the path I was on changed course. While I would continue to struggle with belief, faith, self pity and weakness, wanting to give up whenever any adversity presented itself in life, a new voice was now whispering in my ear. A voice proclaiming the knowledge that most importantly we must be strong not for ourselves, but for the others. Yes, God can seem far away and unknowable. Yes, life is hard. Yes, we are tired and weak. We have reason and must, however, walk on.

How easily we forget facts we've memorized, lessons we've learned, memories fade as life presses in. When it seemed I was under attack, when I just wanted to throw in the towel - I would most generally turn to Hebrews 12 to be reminded, it was not about me - but the others. When I neglected to turn to this scripture, wallowing in my own despair, somehow it would find me.

On a day most like any other, with the exception that on this one, I could not seem to get beyond the horror and sadness that my dear Grandmother was losing her battle with Alzheimer's. The long goodbye was more painful than it seemed I could bear, on this day, the scripture found me. First, it was shared on the radio in my kitchen - giving me a glimmer of hope for a moment - but the dark shadow cast across my heart was too big to be overcome with a mere reminder. Then I walked in to my living room, as I passed the television it happened to be tuned to the Crystal Cathedral program and as I went to change the channel, Dr. Robert Schuller proceeded to begin reading from the book of Hebrews, and not just any chapter - you guessed it, Chapter 12. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, I knew I was not alone.

God gave me the strength to care for my Grandmother Mahota as Alzheimer's claimed her personality, mind, body and finally life. Spending days with her laughing at silly things like children, feeding her and clothing her as she had done for me. Near the very end, when she was confined to a hospital bed in the front room of her home, mostly unresponsive and not able to communicate, my dear friends "The Glory Girls" singing group stopped in to share some hymns. We sat around Mahota's bed, the words of "Amazing Grace" and "In the garden" bringing us all some peace. Then as we began "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", Mahota not only sat up - but lifted her hand into the air- keeping time with the music. An Okie, a lady of the Southwest at heart - I know the words of that hymn for my Grandmother were a sign from the Heavens -just as Hebrews 12 has been for me. Reaching her in her lost state, she knew she was not alone.

This fall I dropped my son off for his Freshman year at college, 17 years flew by and as we carried his things in to his dorm room I kept seeing him as a baby just learning to walk - a 4 year old just learning to read... the vision of the grown man before me seeming surreal. His is a private Catholic school nestled on a mountain side in New Hampshire, we were blessed to attend a beautiful mass before leaving him that Sunday in September. As the Priest opened the book, my broken mother's heart was looking for some sign that this was the place for my son - that he would be okay here, that I could let go... "our reading today", he said, "is from the book of Hebrews, Chapter 12."
None of us is alone.

JOHNNY CASH SINGS BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9quPWDoLxF0

#believer

#fearnot

Cooking with Grace....Bread Pudding

Out Of This World Bread Pudding

(3) Black Dog Bakery Muffins (or 3 cups any other stale bread) (I had 2 blueberry & 1 lemon poppy seed kicking around - thanks to a lovely housewarming gift from  my neighbor Kristen Gosselin)

1/2 c vanilla sugar

1/4 c maple syrup

2 regular eggs +1/4 c egg whites

1c Almond Milk

2 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon 

Topping:

1/4c Granola

1/4c Oats

1/2c chopped pecans

1/2c brown Sugar

1/2 stick softened butter

Crumble bread/muffins into a greased baking dish, combine ingredients & pour over - let soak 10 minutes. While soaking blend ingredients for topping - drop topping over bread mix & bake 45 minutes @350 degrees or until bubbly/lightly brown. Let cool for a few minutes to set, before serving.

I topped mine with a dollop of Creme Fraiche :)

A poem by Destin Hockaday, guest of the Beach Plum Inn's 2013 American Heroes Saltwater Challenge

I am in a place...

where natives treat you like natives,

treat you like neighbors,

greet you with favors.

 

A place where a drive-thru means lunch at a friends house,

Can you guess where I am?

 

I'll give you a hint the scent of sense can not be earned with cents,

A place where one forgets about complacency needs,

start fishing with ease,

not to mention inspiration is free.

 

I'll tell you where I am.

 

People in this harbor don't harbor negative vibes,

they instead cast lines of respect and friendship...

you WILL bite!

 

The people of this island are veterans for veterans' hope.

And I hope it remains.

 

-DJH

http://saltwaterchallenge.org/

When the winds blow

Praying for any in the path of the storms.

Psa 55:8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest

.

http://www.thelocalvoice.net/oxford/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/book_blank.jpg

The Gate of the Year

God Knows

 ^-Minnie Louise Haskins 

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:What need our little lifeOur human life to know,If God hath comprehension?In all the dizzy strifeOf things both high and low,God hideth His intention.

God knows. His willIs best. The stretch of yearsWhich wind ahead, so dimTo our imperfect vision,Are clear to God. Our fearsAre premature; In Him,All time hath full provision.

Then rest: untilGod moves to lift the veilFrom our impatient eyes,When, as the sweeter featuresOf Life’s stern face we hail,Fair beyond all surmiseGod’s thought around His creaturesOur mind shall fill.^[1] 

1^ The Rotarian Oct 1940. Vol. 57, No. 4. Rotary International. ISSN 0035-838X

Ben's 17th birthday dinner

Happy Birthday to Benjamin Charles Jude Grace, the Son of my right hand ...

Ben''s 17th Bday Menu

SAUTEED RADISH GREENS W/GREEN GARLIC & ONION
http://vegetarianlost.com/2013/04/sauteed-radish-greens/

DILL & LEMON SWORDFISH KABOBS W/Beetlebung Farm GREENS
Baste fresh fish with butter,lemon juice & dill, serve with Mizuna, Arugula -lemon & garlic vinaigrette                     [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizuna ]

Just picked ASPARAGUS W/HOMEMADE HOLLANDAISE

DILL MASHED BUTTER POTATOES

Nate Grace's PERFECT MEDIUM RARE STEAKS

LEMON CAKE from The Black Dog "Happy Birthday Benny BoBo The Fat Head Jammer"

a room with a view

I used to pray for a place to sit,
where I could see the sea.
Where I could write a letter
and preserve the bittersweet memory
of you.

I used to dream of a day that dawned,
when I knew the comfort of your nearness.
A time that had no limits, a forever void of fear.

We have always been bound together,
even if for a thousand years
we have not touched.

My heart would recognize you
no matter the disguise.

What Does School Really Teach Children?

What Does School Really Teach Children?

“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.” -Ivan Illich

“When Students cheat on exams it's because our School System values grades more than Students value learning.” -Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.” -H.L. Mencken

Enlightening blog IMO :)

The Case For The Resurrection

Does circumstantial evidence confirm the resurrection of Jesus Christ? 
{Circumstantial evidence is indirect testimony,  evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. EX. It was circumstantial evidence that earned Timohty McVeigh his death sentence for the OK City bombing. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumstantial_evidence}

If I was sitting on the jury the following would be enough for me:

1. Within 5 weeks of the death of Christ more than 10,000 Jews had suddenly altered or abandoned rituals that had long given them their national identity (animal sacrifice, Mosaic law, Sabbath keeping...). The implication was that something enormously significant had occurred.

2. The emergence of new rituals (Communion & Baptism) 

3. The rapid rise of a new church (begun by the companions of a dead carpenter), withing 20 years it had reached Caesar's palace in Rome and eventually spread throughout the Roman Empire.

4. Every one of Jesus' disciples was willing to suffer and die for his beliefs. At the time of Christ's death they had all run away, abandoned and denied their teacher. Following His Resurrection they spent their lives witnessing about the risen Christ - it seems ridiculous that they would have done this for a lie.
{www.pfm.org, BreakPoint 4/19/01}

5.The empty tomb still exists.

6.The location and names of political leaders who sentenced Him are historically recorded by a variety of sources/cultures.

7. There were more than 500 eyewitness who saw Jesus after the Resurrection, recorded by New testament writers.

8. The very existence of the Christian faith, based on His death and Resurrection.

9. The cultural and political evidence of the time, including the Roman calendar separating all time into Before Christ and in the year of our Lord.
{Garry T. Ansdell, D.D.}

10. This one solitary life did more to change the world than any other. Of all the gods in the pantheon of history none was born as a baby and lived as a man. Only Christ offers mercy and grace, Following Christ is the only of the world's beliefs systems that salvation is based on faith not one's "good works". This is why I beleive.
-jlrg
http://graceilluminated.blogspot.com/2013/02/one-solitary-life.html

  

Vanity of vanities - Ecclesiastes

Sometimes its a good idea to just calm the fuck down.

Big sigh. 
I need a reminder pretty much daily on that one. 
I heard a great teaching earlier on Ecclesiastes from one of my favorites, Dr Jeremiah, it really got to me, and so I recommend it to you. http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio_archives.aspx

For me personally, the inclination to see the glass as half empty - to let fear penetrate into my bones is innate... to throw up my hands and say 'oh well', simply comes natural like.  I very often need to be reminded to take a big deep breath of 'man the hell up' ---  if you know what I mean. 

 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%2011:1-12:14&version=NKJV

Ecclesiastes 11-12:14

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Value of Diligence

11 Cast your bread upon the waters,
For you will find it after many days.
² Give a serving to seven, and also to eight,
For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.

³ If the clouds are full of rain,
They empty themselves upon the earth;
And if a tree falls to the south or the north,
In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.
⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow,
And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

⁵ As you do not know what is the way of the wind,^[a]
Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,
So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
⁶ In the morning sow your seed,
And in the evening do not withhold your hand;
For you do not know which will prosper,
Either this or that,
Or whether both alike will be good.

⁷ Truly the light is sweet,
And it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun;
⁸ But if a man lives many years
And rejoices in them all,
Yet let him remember the days of darkness,
For they will be many.
All that is coming is vanity.

Seek God in Early Life

⁹ Rejoice, O young man, in your youth,
And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth;
Walk in the ways of your heart,
And in the sight of your eyes;
But know that for all these
God will bring you into judgment.
¹⁰ Therefore remove sorrow from your heart,
And put away evil from your flesh,
For childhood and youth are vanity.

12 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:
² While the sun and the light,
The moon and the stars,
Are not darkened,
And the clouds do not return after the rain;
³ In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
And the strong men bow down;
When the grinders cease because they are few,
And those that look through the windows grow dim;
⁴ When the doors are shut in the streets,
And the sound of grinding is low;
When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
And all the daughters of music are brought low.
⁵ Also they are afraid of height,
And of terrors in the way;
When the almond tree blossoms,
The grasshopper is a burden,
And desire fails.
For man goes to his eternal home,
And the mourners go about the streets.

⁶ Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,^[b]
Or the golden bowl is broken,
Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
Or the wheel broken at the well.
⁷ Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

⁸ “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“All is vanity.”

The Whole Duty of Man

⁹ And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright—words of truth.¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars^[c] are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. ¹² And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
¹³ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Saved?

Grace Illuminated

Chapter One

When did you get saved?

“Saved, from what?” was my initial response.  This was not a question that entered my life until I reached my early twenties. It wasn't that I had no idea that I needed a saving, that I was a lost soul in a fallen world had been clearly evident to me since childhood, and I was not even a church goer.  Then there was the second part of the question, “when?”. When…well, firstly I was not the one doing the saving so I felt strongly that only my savior could answer that one, was not He the only one who truly knew?

According to some, once saved always saved, you recite a simple prayer and poof! Rescued from the fires of hell, salvation is yours. Really, that’s it? This was a challenging concept for me, what of those who are just paying lip service but in their heart, they do not truly believe? It could not possibly all be wrapped up in one prayer in my opinion, could it really be that simple? I did not pray the “Sinner’s prayer” until I was almost 30 years old, but I know in my heart my Messiah saved me long before then and continues to save me daily.  

My family was “unchurched”, no services or religious instruction for me unless I took the initiative and walked down myself, which at the age of about 8 - I did. The local Methodists welcomed me with open arms, this seemingly strange little girl from up the street, who was apparently seeking something. My Grandmother, in whose home I resided most of my life, was all about free-will when it came to relationship with God. Born at the height of the dust-bowl in the midst of the great depression, she spent her youth as a migrant farm worker in the southwest. At an early age she witnessed people fall flat out on the floor at tent revivals writhing, spitting and mumbling incoherently for hours at a time, handling snakes to prove they had been “filled” with the spirit. These behaviors, my Grandmother said, did not seem to testify to the Holy Spirit – but instead “scared the bejesus” out of her and led her to stay away from “church”. Mahota Walker Salerno was raised a bible believing Christian, her parents taught her it was not what proceeded from your mouth but instead what fruits came from the work of your hand. “Feed those that need feedin’, love those that need lovin’” is what her Father Benjamin Franklin Walker recommended as true “Christian” behavior. Ben was a member of the Choctaw tribe of Oklahoma and declared that his church was the woods and he went there far more often than Sundays. The bible was a part of their daily routine as a family; it was from this book that my Grandmother Mahota was taught to read and write before she went to Kindergarten. They were followers of Jesus Christ, but followers of organized religion they were not.

Quiet in her faith, Mahota would teach you if you had ears to hear. It wasn't until I was a mother and began a study of the Old and New Testaments myself that I discovered so much of what she shared in life, her words of wisdom - were scripture. You had to choose to seek God for yourself; there was never a time I was told what to believe or what truth was. And seek I did, from the little girl who went down to Sunday school alone, I grew into an agnostic adolescent -  Jesus in my mind, became way too narrow of a path, there had to be a broader gate – so I began to look for a more profound and all-encompassing answer. In college, as a feminist I was drawn to Goddess worship and the New Age earth religions, the duality of God was appealing to me. When I was married at age 19, it was in a Christian church, but I rewrote the ceremony and insisted that when we recited the Lord’s Prayer we did not say “Our Father” but instead, “Our Creator”, as to not offend the divine feminine. I became a practicing Wiccan, dipped my toe into Druidism and even read the Satanic bible- just to see what all the fuss was about. It didn't take very long for me to deduce that I was worshiping creation- not the Creator, and yes maybe gods, but not God (with a big “G”).  

The world of secular humanism held no appeal for me; the answer there said I was the same as an animal, the result of a series of a million accidents that yielded “life”. If God does not exist, then there is nothing special about human beings. I knew in my bones that I was not just primordial ooze, only a random collection of atoms with no greater purpose.  Everything within me cried out that this idea was wrong, I had no doubt that there was a spirit within me that said I was destined for more, that I was wonderfully and fearfully MADE.  By the age of 25, I had made an examination of all the world’s major religions and most of the minor ones as well.  A similar pattern had begun to emerge, they were based upon works – how “good” could you be – how many rules could you follow. There is no grace in Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism. My revelation was that all of the religions could be wrong but only one could be right.

In my youth, my Grandmother had quietly introduced me to the God-Man, at this point in my journey she encouraged me to take a second look at Jesus Christ. Mahota encouraged me to seek the real man not the caricature that was created by the church that came after Him, instructing me to not accept the misrepresentation of God by religion. “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9) 

I was not one who could just believe blindly. It may be the case that blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed, (John 20:29) but I was a lot like the doubting Thomas. How could we know that this man had really existed, fulfilled prophecies and was God on earth? Claims so incredible must have evidence, that I had to go on faith alone was unacceptable to me. It did not take that long for me to see that God Himself has given us sufficient reason to believe. I do not believe in Jesus Christ because It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, I believe because the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming that He lived, was crucified and then rose from the dead - the only one in all the recorded history of mankind to pull that off.

Dearest Reader, the reality is we are each of us walking corpses. Whether you have been given a clean bill of health or a terminal diagnosis, when you leave that Doctor’s office you could get hit by a bus – no encore. No one can live forever; all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave. (Psalm 89:48) The fierce urgency of now compels me to write this to you. We live in a world today that tells us to live for the moment, that there is no absolute truth or right and wrong. I’m here to tell you that is a lie. One man was born to testify to this truth, everyone who belongs to the truth listens to His voice. (John 18:37)  Can you hear it today? He speaks to you, it is no mistake that you are reading these words; He is calling your name :)

1 Corinthians 2: 1-4;  And when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come with wise words of knowledge, putting before you the secret of God.  For I had made the decision to have knowledge of nothing among you but only of Jesus Christ on the cross.  And I was with you without strength, in fear and in doubt.  And in my preaching there were no honeyed words of wisdom, but I was dependent on the power of the Spirit to make it clear to you:

Ashes to ashes

Pondering on Ash Wednesday...

Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, Genesis 18:27

Mortality, the world around us doesn't generally encourage the topic. The daily grind is a great distraction from the bigger picture. The world wants you to be busy, and thus we are told to work hard and to buy more - time and again offered the assurance that we can purchase comfort and security. Worse yet, we seek fortune, fame and celebrity -  as then we will be comfortable, known and surely not forgotten. 

Well Dearest Reader, hate to break it to you - but its a crock of shit. You will be forgotten - you are just a speck - the briefest breath - a fleeting moment in time. Even the greatest among us are forgotten by most. To live only for this world is death itself.(John 12:23-50).
You can choose to only live in the moment, to be apathetic  - or selfish - or you can choose to bear witness that you are a part of a much bigger story.  
We are each of us supposed to live this life to the fullest, Christ died not just for your salvation but so that you could enjoy this life now. In the face of hardship and trial we can take comfort in the knowledge that we are loved. The reality is that life is fleeting and as my Aunt Billie June would say, "everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die". 

By the sweat of your brow

    will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground

    from which you were made.

For you were made from dust,

    and to dust you will return.” Genesis 19

I believe that the lost don't need to be told again how lost they are, they instead need to know God loves them in spite of it all. There is right and wrong, there is truth. He punished His own son instead of you. There is MERCY, peace between God and Man was won at Calvary's cross. God is no respecter of persons but He would have walked to Golgotha if only just for you.

"So I walk on uplands unbounded

and know that there is hope

for that which Thou didst mold out of dust

to have consort with things eternal."

- Thanksgiving hymns/The Dead Sea Scrolls

One Solitary Life

Dearest Reader, 
I choose to believe there is more than this world, than this life. 
Many would respond, isn't this world & life enough? Aren't you just being greedy? Childish even? Silly and naive enough to believe in myth and fairytale, finding comfort in stories- tales designed by men solely for the purpose of providing just that. 
Well, maybe so, thanks to freewill, each of us is entitled to our own opinion- however - 
everything within me declares there IS more.
After spending many years as an arrogant "thinking" atheist, I discovered that existence required far more faith and belief in mankind than I was ever going to be able to drum up.

I don't just believe but I KNOW, mankind is different from his fellow mammal - from the beasts of the field. We are filled with wonder, we -unlike any other - are made in the image of our creator. We exist in a universe created FOR US, it is not by a series of a million accidents that we are here, there is a designer - an architect.
My beliefs are based on more than just a warm fuzzy feeling, I was a person who needed proof - what I felt in my heart needed also to make sense in my mind.

Of all the world's systems of belief, Christianity happened to be the one I was most resistant to. I could possibly rationalize that this "Jesus" was an actual character of history - perhaps even a great teacher, but God on earth? Puh-lease. A laughable thought. And then there was his church, doesn't the corruption of that establishment PROVE there is no God? Well, it seemed that way to me.
Thus began my search, setting out with my own preconceived ideas - I found myself surprised at every turn. 
First- the documented evidence that 2000 years ago a poor boy from Bethlehem, a rough neck nobody carpenter from Nazareth lived an unselfish life of good for his fellow man and then died an unwarranted death is indisputable --- As is the fact that he rose from the dead, conquered the grave, a feat achieved by no other.
Second - He claimed to be God. This makes him one of two things: a madman/liar or exactly who he said he was.

I ask you to examine the evidence for yourselves, its abundant. 
The message of this one man is different from any other who has walked this earth. I believe His message, and if I am able to share it in this fallen & dark world - than I am blessed. There is meaning, there is purpose, there is hope.

In my experience it seems we humans have a hard time seeing beyond or looking behind our own lifetimes - we are people of NOW - all about immediate gratification and "living in the moment". I am a student of history, and the more I examine it , it seems all we do is repeat it. 
I believe there is a reason that mankind has been telling the same "stories" for thousands of years, why the same archetypes and heroes exist, there is nothing new under the sun. From culture to culture across the eons  - our stories don't change. We just get more and more full of ourselves, pride goeth before the fall (and increaseth steadily after, IMO). The more we "know", the more we advance - the more we are are able to delude ourselves that we no longer need God.

My Grandma Mahota was opposed to organized religion, but she was a bible believer and a follower of Christ. During my "search for truth" she often let me know I made things far to difficult and added a level of drama to my journey that was truly unnecessary.  For her the following short essay summed up her thoughts on why a through examination of this one solitary life was warranted:

"He was born in an obscure village, the son of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he became a wandering preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't go to college. He never visited a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of those things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through a mockery of a trial. He was executed by the state. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind's progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that One Solitary Life"

http://www.john3-16.net/OneLife.htm

http://evidencebible.com/witnessingtool/scientificfactsintheBible.shtml

http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/ChurchAndMinistry/Evangelism/What_Makes_the_Christian_Message_Unique.aspx

Storms

When I think of the blessings of my life, I am overwhelmed - why is it we allow ourselves to lose sight of truth, to become so distracted by the pressures of this planet that we forget He has overcome this world and its troubles.  

We spend our days sometimes filled with worry, rarely choosing contentment and gratitude - allowing anxiety to overtake us. When truly we need to see the joy in such small things as a child sitting on your lap while you read to them....warmth, firelight, a garden, being with those you love and listening to their stories....breaking bread with friends & family, singing, dancing - these are the most precious of gifts. 

The treasures we should store having nothing to do with gold or silver and everything to do with the memories of times with those we love. 

Our Father in heaven rarely gets credit for these times, instead He gets the blame for the storms that rage - the "acts of God". 

However, let me remind you Dearest Reader, the act of God is the shelter in the storm - the love, compassion, care giving & generosity of our fellow man...beauty and goodness simply for loves sake.

In the face of fear, find strength in knowing He is bigger than any storm and He values you as His own child. Even at our worst, we love our children when they are rotten, even when they don't love us in return. In spite of them turning away from us we remain steadfast in our love for them. God's love is more than this,  far greater than any love we could comprehend - never with motive of self. 

Oh you of little faith. Be Bold. Be brave. Be strong. Be courageous. Be Happy. Believe. 

One God is different from all others, coming and living as one of us, a man of great sorrows who knew what it was like to bear the pains & burdens of this fallen world  - no other offers what Christ can give. 

All others ask "How good can you be, how much can you give?"  Christ says:  

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”  Matthew 8:23-27 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reM-Wbzzp2g