Happy Jesus Day

He laughs.  He lovingly laughs.  I can’t find it in scripture, but I know God lovingly laughs, at his children.  He laughs as he says – “make your plans, go ahead and nourish your dreams… your hopes… but don’t forget that I have my own plans for your life.  I have my own dreams for your future, and mine are greater than yours”.  This last year.  This last month.  This last week has given me pause to consider that even though my plans are necessary, I should always look to my father for guidance.  I should daily say “your will not mine”.  I should daily say “you lead and I will follow”.  Still I make plans.  Daily… weekly… monthly… even as a year progresses, I look to the future with every intention of fulfilling all of my hopes… my dreams. Our father loves us more than we could ever know.  When he laughs at our plans it’s because he knows what is best for us. We don’t always know why he leads to the places he does, but we must follow. We must have faith.  So make your plans. Have your dreams, but remember, when and if it changes, he is the one giving guidance.  He is the one doing what is best for you.  There are no better plans than that.

Isaiah 55:8 

I Love You!

Perry

Today the streets of heaven are crowded with too many angels.  This week someone very close to my heart, and a once in a lifetime friend of thirty years, went home to be with our Savior.  No warning… no preparation…  just gone.   I don’t really understand, but I’m trusting my God.  On top of that this week, we have watched as the weather took its toll, and we lost many things including animals.  I don’t understand, but I’m trusting God.  Our God uses everything for glory.  He will take my dear friends life, and her death, and use it to bless others and to forward his kingdom.  He will comfort… he will bring peace… and he will guide… as we walk thru this journey.  Without a doubt, he will find a way to use all of our lives, to bring glory to his kingdom, and further his love in this world.  I don’t understand his ways, but it is not my place to have understanding.   It is simply my place to trust.  On February 14th the streets of heaven become crowded with one too many angels.  Still I am trusting!!

Proverbs 3:5 (msg)

I Love You!

Perry

Recently I read the work of an astronomy professor.  He shared in his writing that fifty years ago we believed there to be six stars in the sky for every one person on the planet.  WOW!  Because of the Hubble Telescope we now know there are six galaxies in the heavens for every one person on the planet!! WOW! WOW!  The God we follow is huge. This is a God that can never be understood… he can never be pictured… he is beyond all human comprehension. In our feeble efforts we put him in a box out of a need for control.  Out of a need for intellect… which can never be fully achieved.  Do you honestly think that this God, who created all we see or know, will let anything stand in the way of his most prized creation? You!!  We have an immense God who climbs into our lives. He feels our hurts.  He laughs at our joys. He giggles at our feeble attempt to know him.  At the same time he loves… he forgives… he understands and he chases.  He chases after each of us desiring simply a relationship.  He is a father that sees his children and wants nothing more than our love. Next time you look at the heavens… think about the vastness of God.  Then remember he loves you more than you could ever imagine. 1 Corinthians 13        

I Love You!

Perry

My wife, Lorna and I, love to dance.  We have danced a lot over the past 37 years.  We have danced for so long, we now move together as one. Thought is not on the dance, but simply on each other.   So it should be, in our relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit.   As we spend time in contemplation… as we spend time in prayer… and time in stillness with God… we will get to a point of unending flow.  We will come to understand, the energy and love of our father, and become one with him.  God intended for his children to participate in the dance that takes place between the Trinity.  We were intended to move in a rhythmic flow between God and all creation. We will come to see Christ in everyone and everything.  As that happens, the rules fall away one by one.  The striving to please God, and the striving to earn his favor, become as natural as breathing.  We no longer see the need to prove anything, to anyone, we simply dance in a life giving flow.  A flow of love with the Trinity, that is mirrored in our human love here and now.  I love the flow that my wife and I have.  I truly believe it is of the Father.   Galatians 2:19-21 (msg)

I Love You!

Perry

He is a liar!  

He delights in chaos!  He cheers as we dislike others.  As we see differences in ourselves, he dances.  He finds pleasure, as he watches us look at others with hatred, instead of seeing our Savior in them.  He lives to divide… to cause fear… and to make us turn from one another over differences.  He hates our hope, he hates our love, he hates our compassion and most of all, he hates the one we get that from.  Satan has spent a lifetime driving humans to what we have become.  He will continue to push… to influence… to lie, too so many people as they fight… as they fear… as they look everywhere else, but up.  Want to defeat the evil one?  Take to your knees in prayer.  Love others regardless of nationality… race… religion… or lifestyle.  Whether they are good or bad.  Look to Jesus for all the answers and not to the world.  Focus on our Fathers words… our Fathers wisdom… and lean not on your own.  Those simple things will cause satan to run and hide.  He is not welcome here.  Drive him out of hearts with unending love for all, and worship to our Savior.   Ephesians, Chapter 6

I Love You!

Perry

As I read the account of a slave market my tears flowed in abundance.  Men and women were forced to stand on a block of wood… naked… as buyers examined. As buyers threw insults. As they yelled out prices they would pay.  In my mind I could see it… I could feel the pain… the humiliation.  I then pictured myself on that block.  Naked and afraid and wondering “why me”?  I pictured myself full of sin… full of selfishness and ashamed of who I was.  I could hear the small amounts that satan and his demons would pay for me.  One who worships God but falls so short.  One who loves God but is so full of sin… so full of selfishness.   Then I heard his voice!  Above the noise.  Above the insults. Above the humiliation.  Jesus… standing at the back of the crowd yelling “I will buy him”.  Don’t care what he has done, who he is or what he looks like.  I want him.  Name your price and it is yours.  I love him that much.  He then walked up to where I was standing. With outstretched hands and love in his voice said “let’s go home”.  Slavery was and still is a horrific thing that in the name of Jesus we need to eliminate.  We are all slaves to sin.  Thank goodness Jesus is willing to pay the price for our freedom.

John 8:34

I Love You!

Perry

Thursday was a day just like any other.  Same routine.  No appointments. A day to laugh and spend time with my work family.  Lunch was relaxing. Then as I made my way back to my desk… in a matter of seconds… life took a dramatic turn.  A young man that has a very special place in my heart was found unconscious in his apartment and then later went home to be with our Savior.  No warning.  No preparation.  No time.  Just one minute everything is good and the next tragedy.  We are a people that are addicted to comfort.  We are a people that are addicted to control.  We work tirelessly to make sure we have everything in order.  We spend day after day in search for peace, that we think is found in order and control.  There is no control.  There is no order.  There is no peace to be found on this earth short of Jesus Christ.  All the plans in the world… all the money in the world… and all the control is but an illusion.  As a people we have to put our faith, our hope, our comfort in one place and one place only.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Anything other than that… is time wasted.  John 16:31-33

I Love You!

Perry

She was like a picture out of a magazine.  A little girl all dressed up… sitting with mom and dad enjoying dinner.  As we admired her from afar and then as we were leaving she displayed an unbridled love to us.  Her smile was contagious and the eagerness with which she shown love was heartwarming to say the least.  Then it hit me!!  When Jesus said we should be as children this is what he was meaning.  Children, unless taught otherwise, have an infinite abundance of love and hope. They do not worry about who you are or what you look like, they see love… they see hope.  Children will display the love of our Savior without hesitation, until which time they observe in us, the opposite.  As they absorb all levels of the world around them they learn to be intimidated and scared of others… by watching us.  They lose that level of Gods love that they remember from having been in his presence.  When our Savior said “be as children”  he was telling us to love unconditionally.  To hope without end. To see everyone as a product of God. Made in his image and holding his DNA in their souls.  And mostly, he was telling us not to forget the love that was given to us, by him, when we were created. 

Matthew 18:1-3 

I Love You!

Perry

At an early age I could hear the music. I could see it everywhere.  I could feel it in my soul and hear it in my head.  As a gift from God I learned to play the guitar without lesson. Music is not about notes on a page or theory in books.  You have to feel the music in your very soul and display it in your heart.  Since the age of thirteen I have used the musical talent he gave me to his glory.  As time has passed and I have walked in communion with our God… I have come to learn the same of him.  God… and his Son… and his Spirit… is not something that is simply words on a page.  He is not found in the church you attend or the ministry you are a part of.  You have to feel him in your heart.  You have to experience him in the deepest part of your soul.  He has to become, not just knowledge to you, but you have to become as one with him, to experience his flow.  I have heard it said that you know you’re a writer… if all you can think about it writing.  You know you’re a musician… if all you can think about is music.  When you get to a point when all you can think of is Jesus.  When he is a part, of every minute, in every day, then you will know you are his child. 

Only then will you experience his peace!

1 Corinthians 3:16

I Love You!

Perry

Two days have past.  The presents are gone.  Hugs were given and I love you’s exchanged… but those are just a memory.  For one fleeting moment we forgot about the sickness.  We forgot about the worries.  We put the hatred, the financial woes, the stress and the troubles of this world on hold.  All was forgotten, but for a brief moment, to celebrate the birth of a King.  But in that moment.  In that brief second.  Lives changed and the world changed because of a baby.  JESUS!  He is still here.  Doesn’t matter what those worries were.  He is still here!  Doesn’t matter what the sickness is.  He is still here! The financial woes and stress are not important.  He is still here.  Emmanuel – God is with us.  Christmas is not about family… friends… gifts… food… or trees. Those are good but temporary.   Christmas and the glory of it is about a King that came to save us from ourselves. A King that came to give us more love than we could ever comprehend. A King that climbs into our lives to carry our burdens.  He is still here… He still cares… He still saves…  That makes everyday Christmas!

I Love You!

Perry