True riches

I found this great little story on another blog site and though you'd enjoy it.(http://kingdomstrider.wordpress.com) The following is taken directly from that blog:

I love little stories like this. So much truth in simple, memorable form. Told by Anthony De Mello, as quoted by Bradley Holt in Thirsty for God:

A monk in his travels found once a precious stone and kept it. One day he met a traveler, and when he opened his bag to share his provisions with him, the traveler saw the jewel and asked the monk to give it to him. The monk did so readily. The traveler departed overjoyed with the unexpected gift of the precious stone that was enough to give him wealth and security for the rest of his life. However, a few days later he came back in search of the monk, found him, gave him back the stone and entreated him: “Now give me something much more precious than this stone, valuable as it is. Give me that which enabled you to give it to me.”

A Lutheran's attempt at humor

Hey, it made me laugh!

Why me?

In difficult times, times of loss, tragedy or suffering, we may be tempted to ask, “Why me?” Now ponder this, “Why not you?” The answer is usually the same for both questions.

“He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45

There are certain exemptions we can claim when filing our tax forms. But there is no “exemption from difficulties box” to check simply because we are people of faith. Though we can avoid many things by being good stewards of life, living wisely and trusting God, often people with great faith are “spiritually taxed” at a higher rate.

But let us not forget the words of St. Paul in Romans 8:18 NLT, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later.”

Just make sure you have a good Accountant.

Notre Dame Students Take a Stand!

A group of Notre Dame seniors are refusing to attend their own graduation, rather that compromise their faith. I commend them for their courage to do this.

His delight

Psalm 37:23 in the NKJV says this, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way."

The New Living Translation puts it this way, "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."

Prayer
O Lord, grant that my life and every detail of it, might be Your delight. Amen.

Just hanging around?

Often while reading, a paragraph, sentence, phrase or merely a word will jump off the page and stick in my mind. Thought-pictures form around it and inspiration, conviction or simply a new angle from which to look at something is birthed. This happen quite often when I read from the book, The Valley of Vision. The Valley of Vision is a book of Puritan prayers that will humble you, grip your heart and bring you to the foot of the Cross. Those who don't like to think of themselves as anything but victorious saints and royal children of God and worthy of every possible blessing may not care for this book. Those who think more along the lines of the Apostle Paul, who thought of himself as “the chief of all sinners” (Timothy 1:15) and a “wretched man” ( Romans 7:24) will appreciate this wonderful book. Understand, however, this book does not dwell on our lowliness, but focuses on God's loftiness.

I will share a few lines from one of these prayers and point out the word that has been rolling around in my brain for about a week now. The prayer is entitled, Christlikeness:

May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love!
May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example!
May worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance with thee!
May the timid and irresolute be warned of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus!
Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace, to show others the joy of thy service,
May my lips be well-tuned cymbals sounding thy praise,
Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness sparkle around me and a lamp of kindness sunbeam path.

Wow!

The word that has set up camp in my mind is, “loiterers.” A really interesting word when applied to the Christian life. I looked up “loiter” in the dictionary and found these definitions:
1.to linger aimlessly or as if aimless in or about a place
2.to move is a slow, idle manner, making purposeless stops in the course of a trip, journey, errand, etc.
3.to waste time or dawdle over work

Wow!

I am sure you would agree, there are sure a lot of "Christian loiterers!" The question we each need to ask ourselves is, “Am I one of them?”

If we have loitered, let us quicken our pace!