Leaning or standing?

 

Leaning or standing?

Remember the words from the old song “Leaning on the everlasting arms, safe and secure from all alarms…”and think about what that actually means.

Exodus 3:5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

When the people looked into the Ark of the Covenant, 1 Samuel 6:20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?"

Psalm 35:1ff A Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me; Fight against those who fight against me. 2Take hold of shield and buckler, And stand up for my help. 3Also draw out the spear, And stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, "I am your salvation."

Psalm 89:28 My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Isaiah 10:15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!

Isaiah 11:10 "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious."

Zechariah 14:4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.

Malachi 3:2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap.

John 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.

Peter tells us in his first letter in chapter one that our trials are more valuable than gold. The tribulations we suffer as Christians, Jesus warned us about for He said that as the world reviles Him so shall it revile us. We are merely strangers in a strange land on this earth. Our true home is in Heaven. However, sanctifying is a process that we must travail. God sanctifies us through mental and physical works that He prepared for us to do which entails a lot of trails and troubles. How we suffer through this sanctification process is by leaning on the everlasting arms. We cannot withstand the wiles of the devil except through the power of Christ. We cannot stand by ourselves. This, then, is the most powerful lesson any Christian can learn. By leaning, we conquer. By leaning and in our weakness is His mighty strength. Life is much more livable when we allow Jesus to take our burdens and lift our loads.

Weary and heavy laden, come to Him. He will straighten the backs of those bent beneath their loads. Matthew 11:28 and Psalm 146:8.

30 THINGS I LEARNED LIVIN IN Louisiana

DISCLAIMER: This is a reprint! It just seemed like the day for remembering my days in Louisiana… But, then all this holds true for Mississippi, too. We  Southerners are just plain folk who like a good time and a little tea with our sugar :D

1) A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.

2) There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in Louisiana . 

3) There are 10,000 types of spiders, and all 10,000 of them live in Louisiana .

4) If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.

5)  Onced" and "Twiced" are words.

6) It is not a shopping cart, it's a buggy.

7) "Jawl-P?" means, "Did y'all go to the bathroom?"

8)  People actually grow okra and eat it . 

9) "Fixinto" is one word. 

10) There is no such thing as lunch. There is only dinner and then there is supper... 

11) Iced tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar. 

12) Backwards and forwards means, "I know everythin' 'bout you.
 
13) The word "jeet" is actually a phrase meaning, "Did you eat?" 

14) You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see... 

15) You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH 'em.  

16)  You measure distance in minutes.

17) You switch from heat to A/C in the same day. 


18) All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect, or animal.

19) You know what a "Dawg" is.

20) You carry jumper cables in your car - for your own car. 

21) You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's, Tabasco , and ketchup

22) The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and LSU football....

23) You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

24) You find 100 degrees "a bit warm."

25) You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas. 

26) Going to Walmart is a favorite past time known as "Goin' Walmartin" or "off to Wally World." 

27) You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good gumbo weather.

28) Fried catfish is the other white meat. 

29) We don't need no dang Driver's Ed . . . . If our mama says we can drive, we can drive.

30)  You understand these jokes and forward them to your Louisiana friends and those who just wish they were from Louisiana!!!!!

Satan's Lie Number One...

Satan’s Lie Number One…

· There is only one true love for a person.

Love is a choice. A couple must literally work at the relationship in order for it to remain healthy.

Another Lie is, when a person finds “true love”, then it’s smooth sailing after that: No work, no problems, no conflicts. Prince Charming and Snow White kiss, fade out to the sunset and no more conflict, no more problems. If you have lived past your second decade you know this is False. One only has to glance at all the Christian books about Love such as Gary Chapman’s book, Five Love Languages, to know that Love is Work.

I didn’t date much in high school. I was only thirteen years old when I started high school so I had to wait two years before my folks would let me go out with a boy. I had a date to the Sweetheart Banquet at our church the year I was fourteen, but there were three other couples in my friend’s huge 1950’s car. That was a group date and we were packed in like sardines, but it was so much fun.

I started dating when I got to college. That was great fun, too. I was going out with four different guys at that same time. I’d forget what I’d told who about what so I often repeated myself. There was one that was truly sweet. He was tall and a bit skinny. I’ve totally lost touch with him so I dare not use his real name, so I’ll call him Ken. This guy was going to be an engineer. He was steady and he was unflappable. I told all the others, “Ta ta, bubye,” and continued dating Ken for awhile. He was from a near by town and went to church there which is why we never went out on Saturday, only Friday. After about three months, he started to seem boring to me. I wanted dash! Excitement! Verve! To live on the Edge! Ken wasn’t any of that. He was very good looking. He was staid. He was predictable, even though he did make me laugh quite often. I let him go, too. Told him I wasn’t ready for anything serious and if that was what he was after, then he’d better find someone else. He never called me again.

There was a series of guys that I had one or two dates with; even did the computer compatibility dating thing. (I found out when I went back to college in the Fall of 2004, that those computerized dating gigs were purely for research and not for hooking up guys and gals… is that a hoot, or what?) I never found THE Guy: The one and only guy that had been specifically created to make me happy. There was always something wrong with them: hair too long, hair too choppy, bad breath, not tall enough, sloppy kisser, not enough excitement, not enough “bad boy”, kissed great but no job, didn’t need me.

That was the real reason, I think. I was looking for someone who needed me. If someone needed me, then, he would never let me go so our relationship would be solid. That’s what it was all about, right? Wrong. I was too immature to know any better.

Then after tennis one day, I met The Guy. I had actually dated his friend, fours years earlier, who fell down drunk at a Frat party. The Guy (only he wasn’t The Guy then; he was just a guy) had soothed my ruffled feathers and took me home. Four years later, I met him again. During those four years, he had gotten a girl pregnant, married her and then she ran off with his friend, so now he was in the process of getting a divorce. If I’d been more mature in the Lord, I’d have run the other way. Or if I’d understood my motivating Spiritual Gifts of Exhortation and Mercy, I’d have understood why I was drawn to this poor soul. He needed me. He had a great job. He asked me out. He had some “bad boy” in him. He was gorgeous, tall, good hair and breath and he had a car so I wasn’t the driver all the time. We started dating. He told me the reason I wanted to be around him all the time was because I was in love with him. I believed him. We got married. I got pregnant.

There wasn’t one thing about The Guy that was better than any other fellows I dated. Not one. In fact, there was a lot about The Guy that was far below the other fellows I had dated. But how can a nineteen year old discern differences, discern dangers? Perception is reality to so many, when that is not true at all.

I did not know at that time that love is a choice. We choose whom we love. Yes, chemistry has something to do with it. Some men just feel like brothers and friends while other men make you feel like you’ll explode into flames at their slightest touch. Yes, that is correct, I said men… plural.

Women are wired a bit differently than men are. We are more secure oriented than men, so we normally don't fall head over heels for someone who is a vagabond or a vagarant when we are older and have a healthy fear of insecurity. But, younger women who are safe under daddy's roof are not so discerning in character.

I was no exception.

About to lose my lady-like demeanor

I was driving back to work after lunch the other day and just as I got to my turn off something came flying at me from the truck in front of me. This white thing tumbled onto the highway spewing ice and straw and whatever liquid was at the bottom of the cup. It was a government truck, too. You'd think...

It got me to thinking about character and how our actions expose our character when we least expect it.

In first grade, I learned that a tattle-tale has no sense of honor, and just wants to get as many people in trouble as possible. (She'll grow up to steal your boyfriend if given half a chance, mark my words!) I learned that red check marks on your report card aren't a good thing, but generally mean that "You talk too much"... Moi?

Later, I learned that many people will say one thing but when your back is turned will do/say something entirely different. Those people could not be trusted. I learned that the people who followed through with what they promised could be trusted in the big things as well as the little things.

Even later, I learned that entrusting money to a spendthrift only made that person's bad money management even worse. I also learned that when someone kept your secret, they could be trusted in a personal crises as well.

People that throw things out the window are the kind of humans that expect others to fix their messes; who will spew their emotional trash around for everybody to hear, never caring about other's feelings. Those people will carry around anger and bitterness and like an avalanche drop it all over some unsuspecting victim, with never a thought about it... leaving the mess in their wake, never looking back.

Beware of people who throw trash out their windows. They will never pick up after themselves.