faith

Packing a Suitcase For Heaven

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Cast your burden on the Lord , and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalms 55:22 ESV

Some burdens feel like an overweight suitcase dragging behind us as we run through the airport of life.  But God promises us that if we ask Him, He will carry it for us. In God’s calendar He has marked a day for our departure from our planet and like every other trip we must pack our suitcases. We have a close friend who has traveled so often that he joked that he could pack for overseas in 15 minutes. The reason for his boast was that he had learned the secret not only of what to bring, but also what to leave behind. When we pack for heaven that is doubly true. First be sure to include lots of mercy. Mercy takes up almost no space at all and considering how often we mess up here on earth I need plenty! 

Second be sure to include the portion of faith that God has given you. Remember that in heaven we will still walk by faith because even after we see His face we still need to trust in His goodness. And don’t forget to stuff in so much love, joy and praise that you may need to sit on your suitcase to get it closed. The way to have enough room for all these is learning what to leave behind. The first thing to take out is bitterness because it will make our luggage way too heavy. And as you are tossing that out you can put complaining back on the shelf as well. God won’t be interested to hear from us about our brother or sisters faults. He will instead show us how much it cost Him to forgive ours. God is so good and any day one of us will stand before Him. What we choose to pack or not pack for our most important journey will stay with us forever. Be sure to travel light!

 

 

Slow Down!

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But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.            Matthew 6:6 NIV

There are always dangerous curves ahead in life, but if you are anything like me you find the urge to I hit the ground running in the morning. We are anxious to not fall behind, but speeding ahead is not great if you are on the Titanic sailing straight into an iceberg!

Jesus teaches us that before we talk to anyone, do anything or make any plans we need to go alone with our Father. Remember that angels fly, the unbelieving world is always on the run but throughout the Bible we read that God walks. If we want to spend our day close to Him we must find a way to slow down our pace so that we can hear His voice and walk one step at a time with Jesus!

Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly. Mother Teresa

sunset over schooley pond

Growing Older With Jesus

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I am grateful to my friend Robert Keller for his guest post today. Recently as he was recovering from a medical incident he spent three weeks in a long term care setting. That experience put him in the same kind of situation I see every week as I visit in facilities around our community. It is easy to forget that residents in long term care are no different than any of us on the outside. But God remembers! Here is my good friend’s perspective on growing older and learning to lean more and more on the Lord.

Robert Keller

 

As we grow older, we become painfully aware of our increasing physical limitations.  Although outwardly there is a slow decline which results in restricted activity, inwardly the Spirit of God is carrying on an amazing process of revitalization and transformation that results in an ever-increasing freedom unlike anything we experienced in our youth.

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It gets harder and harder to make out what friends are saying to us in a noisy restaurant, but our hearts hear the Shepherd’s voice more clearly than ever. We find that our legs cannot carry us as far or as fast as they used to, yet our walk with the Lord is strong and steady and it leaves us energized instead of exhausted. Our minds are now slow to process new information, but through the Holy Spirit, we are gaining a progressively deeper understanding of the truths found in God’s word. We do not see as well as we once did, but spiritually, our eyes have grown keener and we clearly see the hand of God moving in marvelous ways. Life in this world may become increasingly difficult as our bodies wear out, yet our hearts are filled with peace, hope and joy because

As we focus on the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. (2 Cor 3:18)