An app for that?

Our Daily Bread

I found a free app (it was temporarily free) called SayHi that translates English into other languages and vice versa.  Wow!  It works pretty well!  While reading the devotional today, I mused if there was a Holy Spirit app that I could access whenver I need it!

Fortunately we don't need an app or a smart phone to gain access to the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit before he ascended into heaven.  As usual with God, we got a lot more than we ever expected or imagined!  Praise God!  How often do we really call on the Holy Spirit when we pray or as we go along our daily lives?  Let's think about that during Lent and all throughout the year!

Lord, we thank you for direct access to the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit!

Foodie Friday

Bravo

I felt like I was visiting an old friend last night when I ate supper at Bravo cucina Italiano. Very good food as usual.  Nice ambience even if I was eating alone.  I had one of my favorites -- Romano Crusted Chicken Salad.  It had a nice balance of chicken, romaine lettuce, bacon, cheese and Parmesan dressing.  Two people could share this huge salad and walk away full!  

As usual the foccacia bread was delicious even though it was different than the last time I was there.  The new tear-apart loaf was easier to tear apart and eat.  Mmmmmm!

I ate at Bravo a lot when I lived in Cincinnati.  Very good place.  Check it out!

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We can thank the Lord that through His grace and power, our past is forgiven, our present is changed, and our future is bright with hope for all He has prepared for us - Our Daily Bread, 10/13/13

What an example

Our Daily Bread
One of my favorite stories to tell my family is about one of our family trips in the large station wagon we used to own (before the days of minivans!).  We stopped to get gas and use the rest room, then headed down the road.  After a few miles I looked around and asked "Where's Karen?"  We inadvertently left one of my sisters behind at the gas station!  We turned around and went back for her.  We found a calm little girl with long red hair waiting patiently for us to return.  No crying.  No fear.  She seemed confident we would be back for her!

I like the images here.  Patience.  No fear.  Confidence in her father's return.  Doesn't that sound like the way a Christian should be?  Shouldn't we have patience for the good things God has for us?  No fear in what life throws at us because we have the Holy Spirit leading out way.  Confidence in our Savior's return.  Wow!  Let us think on these things during the Lenten season and all through the year!

Lord, we thank your for being with us and leading us!  

Technology Thursday
iPhone headphone tricks
The earbuds that came with your iPhone (and many third-party earphones) have a Volume Up button, a Volume Down button and an extra button in between. Of course you can use these to control the volume, but, oh, they can do so much more:

In iTunes:
• To play a song, press the center button.
• To pause a song, press the center button.
• To skip to the next song, double-click the center button.
• To go back to the start of a song, triple-click the center button.
• To go back to the previous song, triple-click the center button again.
• To fast-forward within a song, double-click the center button, holding down that second click. Release it when you’ve fast-forwarded enough.

When a phone call comes in:
• To answer, press the center button.
• To hang up, press the center button.
• To send the call straight to voicemail without answering, press and hold the center button for two full seconds.

To start Siri:
• Press the center button for two seconds.

To take a selfie:

• First, fire up the camera, and then tap the Volume Up button. And don’t forget to smile.

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Trusting God’s faithfulness helps dispel our fearfulness.

Did I do that?

Our Daily Bread
There was a corny TV show on a few decades ago where the lead character would cause some kind of funny calamity, then ask innocently "Did I do thaaaaaatttt?"  The audience would laugh at his voice and facial expression.  I think my grandparents said the same thing to each other at a family gathering with their six children, 27 grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren!

The devotional was nice.  God giving us dominion and responsibility over earth.  Yeah, I got that.  I really liked the Insight section today.  Christ saw, felt and did something.  Wow!  During this season of Lent (and all throughout the year), I challenge each of us to look around us for the folks we need to help.  Feel the compassion and love that God gave us, then do something about it!  Christ did!

Lord, we learned from your example.  Please help us be like you!

Wellness Wednesday
I try to explain to folks that living a life in Christ is not only the most happy and peaceful, but it is also the healthiest in many ways.  The article below is an example of how to use Lent as a way to give up unhealthy and unwelcome things in your life (and we are not talking about food!).  Give it a read.

http://gs4nj.org/20-things-to-give-up-for-lent/

As one friend suggested on Facebook, we could try to giving up two or three a year!  Praise God!

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Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40

Another reminder

Our Daily Bread
While praying over the weekend, I was reminded about my motivations and actions at times.  Was I praying for God to be with me during my concert so I wouldn't embarrass myself and so others would admire and praise me?  Or was I praying for God to be with me so I could glorify him with my singing?  What about in my daily life?

The devotional reminded me about it again today.  Do we look at others with the love Jesus gave us or do we look down at them because of their position in life, their ability (or inability) to sing, or any other reason to look down our nose?  As humans, we long for power and superiority.  There is nothing wrong with that as long as we focus on our mission from God.  The power from the Holy Spirit to live for God.  The superiority over Satan and the sins of our flesh to praise our Lord.  We can do this!

During the time of Lent that starts tomorrow, let's look at giving up our sinful selves instead of some earthly pleasure or treat!

Lord, we know you want us to love others.  Please help us put aside all the things that keep us from doing that!

Teaching Tuesday
We studied I and II Timothy and Titus this week in EFM.  Here is what I liked and didn't like.

All the books had great intentions in my opinion: encourage the church, warn against false teachings and help move the church forward by defining some structure.  All good things.  You should read these three books to get the entire picture.

While reading these books, especially the Timothys, I was reminded over and over about how these passages are abused over and over in our churches.  They are used to exclude people instead of include people and define the roles of leadership too narrowly for any age.  I knew a Godly man in my home church that everyone admired for his spirituality and good works.  We all loved him and looked to him for inspiration.  The kind of church leader any church would be happy to have, BUT he married and divorced early in his life before he accepted Christ.  The church deemed him ineligible to be a deacon or preacher because of that.  Seriously?  Restricting women from being leaders in the church?  Seriously?  I have had a problem with this interpretation for decades!

There are other passages that I have issues with as well.  I try to focus on the positive passages and the passages that warn us against false teachings.  I wish more folks looked at the false teachings passages and honestly evaluate if they are guilty or not!  We should focus on loving God and loving others!

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The Bible is a like a "tweet" about God.  We don't have enough characters available to tell of His glory! - Fitzpatrick

What time is it?

Our Daily Bread
I remember being warned when I started taking business trips about wearing a watch.  There were pickpockets that would walk up to unsuspecting strangers and ask the time.  When they saw how nice your watch was, they would decide whether to target you or not!  Yikes!  It was sort of like stealing time!

As children of God, we can also try to "steal time" from God by doing things our own way in our own time.  We aren't patient enough to wait for the good things that God has for us so we choose to accept lesser things.  I first heard this called "lesser things" in the song Blessings by Laura Story.  God loves us too much for us to accept things lesser than he intends for us!  Let's think about that today as we make our decisions!

Lord, you love us too much to give us lesser things.  Please help us wait on you!

Movie Monday
I didn't make it to the movies this week.  Busy week!  I managed to watch some movie in my home theater.  I watched two of the "direct to video" Stargate movies.  My baby sister and I love the Stargate series of TV shows and movies!  Both are available on Amazon Prime.

Stargate: Ark of Truth
The story line in this one was odd and the action spotty, but it was still fun to watch.  These "movies" appear to be more like extended episodes rather than full-blown movies.  I give this one one bear paw.  Fun to watch if you are a fan.

Stargate: Continuum
The story line in this one was more interesting than the first.  Lots of plot twists and interesting story lines.  I give this movie two bear paws.

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“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21 niv).

Love remains... and continues

Our Daily Bread
Tina Turner recorded a song decades ago called "What's Love got to do with it?"  She was asking about romantic relationships between men and women obviously.  I ask the question today as a follow up to my blog entry yesterday (a whiteout in our spiritual lives).

What does love have to do with it during these times?  Just like a snowy day doesn't seem to serve any purpose at all other than to annoy us with more wintry weather, we can often fail to realize that love is at the core of our spiritual whiteouts!  I don't know about you, but God made me pretty independent.  I would have trouble serving a God who smothers me with love and attention all the time just like I don't appreciate it in my human relationships.  You need time away (even though God never leaves us).  "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."  Is that the saying?

God's love for us in never ending.  He allows things to happen to us to help us grow in faith and closer to him!  Praise God!

Lord, we don't always appreciate the way you help us grow, allowing us to be pushed to our limits at times.  If we think back, we can see the pattern of growth that your love inspired in us!  Praise God!

Psalm Sunday
We are reading Psalm 133 today.  It is very short, but it has a lot of meaning just in the first verse!  I don't think we understand verse 2 very well unless we have had to use some kind of oil to keep our skin moist during the winter.  It is very soothing to bath or rub on oils.  That is what verse 2 talks about.  Verse 3 is a reference to the mystery of how dew falls from higher mountains to lower mountains, in this case from Hermon to Zion. Very interesting reference to this here.

Psalm 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life forevermore.

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 “The highest pinnacle of the spiritual life is not happy joy in unbroken sunshine, but absolute and undoubting trust in the love of God.” = A. W. Thorold

See through the busy-ness

Our Daily Bread
My aunt posted on Facebook the other day "There is a white out in Litchfield" referring to the heaving. blowing snow that hit her little town.  I am so tired of Winter!

I thought to myself that our busy schedules can be a "white out" to seeing the things God has for us to see each day!  We get so focused on getting the mundane (or seemingly important) things done that we forgot to be open to seeing the things that God has for us.  We don't see the needy, the homeless, the lonely, the aged, or our own families.  We also don't take the time to appreciate the beauty of God's creation or the miracle of our lives!  As much as I am "done" with Winter right now, I am still in awe of how God created snow out of rain!  Wow!  Let's do our best to have our eyes open during busy-ness!  ;-)

Lord, we thank you and praise you for wonderful full lives.  Please help us always keep our eyes open!

Simply Saturday
Grace
A short entry today, bu there is homework!  ;-)  I heard a new song on the radio the other day, so I looked up the lyrics.  Wow!  It is Your Grace finds Me by Matt Redman.  Here are the lyrics.

I read over them several times and thought about the instances in my life where God's grace found me.  I am sort of old so I know I didn't remember all the times.  I am sure there are times when I didn't realize that God's grace found me.  I thought of one example recently that I often overlook -- avoiding a car wreck.  I was running a few minutes late to work.  If I had been on time, there was a very good chance that I could have been in a four car pile up on 670 West!  Yikes!

Review the times you know about.  Thank God for them.  Thank God for the times you don't know about.  As the devotional says above, pray to keep your eyes open!

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The Lord gives us His grace to live purposeful lives of faith as we await His coming.- Our Daily Bread