It is my prayer that our Father who loves us, will provide you with rest and enlightenment as you face the new year.

Our past isn’t as important as our future, our failures don’t predict our future; what we’re not isn’t as important as who we are in Christ.

I am discovering that I may be invisible to many by I am ‘seen’ in Jesus; He knows and embraces me for who I am in Him.

I love you and ask you to remember me as I (we) go forward.

Love ya,

T

St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, Praise my soul the king of heaven

Blessed Christmas!

For far too many of us, the greeting, Merry Christmas, has almost lost its meaning. It falls from our lips with so little effort we forget the deapth of its real purpose. Our culture has become so secular words, phases, “God bless you,” etc., and just what we say. So I decided I’d change the greeting a little. Blessed Christmas! What’s the difference? Let’s see?

In our culture, let’s define the word: mer·ry: –adjective, mer·ri·er, mer·ri·est.

1.full of cheerfulness or gaiety; joyous in disposition or spirit: a merry little man.

2. laughingly happy; mirthful; festively joyous; hilarious: a merry time at the party.

3. Archaic . causing happiness; pleasant; delightful.

For the purpose of this message, let’s use the Archaic definition, Causing happiness; pleasant; delightful. Which has nothing to do with ‘shopping, gift-giving, (gift-getting), spending, etc.

I hope I haven’t ‘rained on your parade, but for those of us who know Jesus, may this be the merry time of the year. We can cause happiness by making ‘that’ phone call; sending ‘that’ card; dropping in on ‘that’ some-one who would never expect you. What no cookies? No, some of us don’t need another cookie(s), especially the butter kind, smile!

How about being pleasant and delightful, to those who don’t deserve it, oh my! No, not because they deserve it, but because that is what He gave me, Help me to return Your favor Jesus.

Please forgive the impersonal nature of this communication, I waited far too long to mail many of you a Christmas card, but I hope you know how much you mean to me. If you feel forgotten, please remember, you are not alone. Jesus felt the same way in the garden. Yet as he cried out to the Father, god sent angels to strengthen and comfort Him. You are not forgotten nor alone, Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us.”

God bless you. God loves you and so do I.

T.A.B.

When God Disrupts Your life

The Lord said to Satan, "Very well than everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger. Then Satan went out from the presence of of the Lord. Job 1:12

Everything is going well. You feel on top of the world, sailing leisurely along with the wind at your back, comfortable, secure, and happy. Then everything changes. All of a sudden without notice, something awful happened and nothing is ever the same again.

Why do catastophes like this happen? I would have to to say, because God allows them to happen.It may not seem right, it may not seem fair, but when something goes wrong, it reminds us that this life is not all there is.

I can't be sure of all the reasons God allows a great disruption to change everything. However, it's certainly means preparation for heaven above and preparation for usefulness here below. When you go through tribulation, it means that God is not finished with you yet. It could be that there is something wonderful around the corner.

God has a way of disrupting things our lives. It could be through conversion. It could be by calling us to give up, what we have. It could be through financial difficulties. It would be that someone very close to you will be ill and you will have to take care of that person, or somebody around you will have a nervous breakdown and you will be affected by it.

Can I ask you a question? What kind of faith would you have if a great disruption came and your life was never the same again? Would you panic? Would you say, "God, how could you let this happen to me?" Or is it possible that you would be like Job, who refused to question God or to charge Him with foolishness, saying "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Job 13:15?

Excerpted from When God shows Up - R. T. Kendall

The Bible As Autobiography

One reasson many people find Scripture to be so regenerative is that, fundamentally, it is a story - one told by many different voices. All of its author's were confronted by a Person. And in course of that encounter, whether it lasted a moment or over a lifetime, each storyteller was changed by that other Voice. He or she was transformed by a God who would not be limited by the left-brain, logical, linar theology; reconstructed by a God who in the beginning, got his hands dirty in the soil of creation. At length about them bloodied in the agony and the the of redemption.

God knows that unless I'll right brain is transformed and our neural networks are integrated from left to right and from Boston to talk, we will remain in the narrow, constricting, well with you and do grooves of the networks. We have formed the old our lifetimes, and that we so often help create in our children.

From Anatomy of the Soul by Curt Thompson M.D.

Making pancakes

The following was sent to me by my friend and brother Pastor Earl jackson, Jr., in St. Louis, MO.

Making Pancakes Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor. He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten. Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be  something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad. He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove and he didn't know how the stove worked! Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky. And just then he saw Dad standing at the door Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon 's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was something good, but he'd made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched him Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process! That's how God deals with us... We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend, or we can't stand our job, or our health goes sour. Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him. But just because we might mess up, we can't stop trying to 'make pancakes' for God or for others. Sooner or later we'll get it right, and then they'll be glad we tried..... I was thinking and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that need rekindling or three words needing to be said, sometimes , 'I love you' can heal & bless! Remind every one of your friends that you love them. Even if you think they don't love back, you would be amazed at what those three little words, a smile, and a reminder like this can do. Just in case I haven't told you lately... I LOVE YA!!! Suppose one morning you were called to God; do all your friends know you love them? Never stop 'making pancakes.

A Prayer on Monday

Father I thank you for the way in which you wired me. Only now do I begin to see that you were in charge of how I was wired. Some things you ‘hard wired, and others you allowed to developing with each new circumstance and event in my life. I thank you that there is no one else like me, I am not a copy. Help me as I learn to enjoy being me, your son and servant.

Understanding why you did this, hasn’t been easy. I live in a world where acceptance is at the heart of much of who we are and what I (we) do. I thank you that I have a long way yet to go, but you are here with me on this journey and I don’t have to face the unknown without you. No I don’t understand why you have led where you have and where you are directing now, but of this I am certain, where I’ve been and what’s been done hasn’t been wasted. You were in it every step of the way in “you’re all things plan.” Even now, I thank you for the challenge you set before me. You chose this direction, help me to enjoy the trip.

Grant these my brothers and sisters the assurance of not only your protection but your presence in the ‘lion’s den, the fiery furnace, the upper room and storm on the sea..None of these are places I want to be alone. So “now unto him who is able to keep you . . . “ the comfort of the Shepherds’ voice, your presence be your strength and song. This I pray in the STRONG Name of Jesus, AMEN.

Love ya,

T

Knowing God Isn’t Finished With You Yet - Philippians 1:6

Is it possible for you to discover that God hasn't it is with you? Perhaps you feel you have no real future. Perhaps you can look back on that time everybody said, “Oh, what a future!” But that's all over now; you feel there is nothing to live for, you’ve made real mistakes, and there is no way that God could use you at all now.

Jacob had come to the place where he anticipated nothing but sorrow. He is now an old man. He had made many mistakes, almost every mistake possible. He felt there was nothing to live for, and he anticipated the worst.. The irony was that Jacob's best days are yet to come, because he had not yet to do to what God raised him up to do:in a to give the patriarchal blessing to those twelve sons.

Are you like that? You feel you are finished. You know the greatest feeling in the world is to feel needed, to feel useful, and the greatest honor in the world is to be used by God. I can think of nothing more wonderful than knowing that God is using me. Perhaps you have known better days when God did use you in a particular situation, and you would give anything in the world just now that it could happen again.

I can promise you on the authoritative of God's Word that if you come to the cross and get right with God, you're happiest days, lie ahead. I guarantee it.

One has to be willing to live in grateful to have been from now on. If God is going to use you again, you have to make the break. You have no chance of going back. No way! You are going forward. Jacobs greatest day were now ahead. He had something to live for. God hadn’t finished with him, and he hasn't finished with you.

Excerpted from All’s well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005)

By R. T. Kendall

Quotes from Dr. Adrian Rogers

1. Just because it doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense.
2. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
3. If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
4. Sin is not just breaking God’s laws; it is breaking His heart.
5. We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon.
6. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing occurs to God?
7. It’s what you sow that multiplies, not what you keep in the barn.
8. If you have a Bible that’s falling apart, you’ll have a life that’s not.
9. I wouldn’t trust the best fifteen minutes I ever lived to get me into heaven.
10. God grades on the Cross not on the curve.

Hummm . . .

God Has a Time for Your Sucess

God had a message that He wanted to give to everybody just before the end, and he wanted to do it his way. So here was the handwriting on the wall.

What do the words mean? Everybody know what they meant. They knew the words were, "Meme, mene, tekel, upharsin." The word meme simply means numbered; it was in  Aramaic, and everybody knew the word. Tekel means weighed. Upharsin means shared. They knew what the words meant, and yet they didn't know, because Belshazzar knew in his heart of hearts there had to be a hidden meaning.

Daniel was needed again, and yet they didn't send for him at first. I suppose the last person Belshazzar wanted to send for was Daniel. He wanted to defy his father's God, the God of Israel.

It may be that you are waiting to be noticed and to be used, and they are sending for everybody else but you. Don't worry about those who are sent for first.

Daniel has been refined over the years; he had been put to one side, and he wondered, "Will God ever need me again?" Daniel was waiting for this moment, and through there is no doubt he had been refined by the Holy spirit as God chiseled away that which was unlike Jesus would be, Daniel was still in preparation.

You still need preparation. You never outgrow the need of preparation, but you may ask the question, "How will they know about me if I don't pull some strings?" Well, they came looking for Daniel, and they'll come looking for you. How will they know about you? It may be that the president will send for you, or an advisor to the president, but they will find you. God has a way of bringing right to the top those who are already for it. The worst thing that can happen to you is to succeed before you are ready, and only God knows when you are ready.

Excepted from The God of the Bible, by R. T. Kendall

Something I found that thought might bless you today. Love ya, T.A.B.

Just thinking

This is my first attempt at sharing on a much wider means. I ask that you check back from time to time to hear what's happening in my life and ministry. God bless you. T.A.B.