In the devotional today, there was a great statement.
“Ironically, with physical wounds we seek help immediately, but with emotional ones we are inclined to focus on the problem…the hurt….Instead of the solution”.

Many people go to an emergency room or to a Doctor of some type for stitches, x-rays and bandages….with an outward wound or injury.

Why do people not seek the same urgent care with an emotional injury?

There is something that tells us inside…. “It’s not as big a deal.”
Maybe that’s our conscience saying to us “Let it go.”

Where do you go for that help?

You should have some “cornermen” to be your emergency room physician at those moments.

Who are yours?

Terry
February 15, 2015

Last night many attended the Fight Club Valentines Dinner and Dance.

The attendees ate, laughed a lot, tried to sing, some danced, rehearsed old stories and remembered their courtship.

And this was at a Church Dinner.

Paul said it “All things are available to me”.

We can do and engage and have fun….while still remembering who and what binds us together.
We can hear the sermon that said our past does not define us…..but remember and rehearse moments from our past which gave meaning and color to our lives and is worth recalling.

Paul also wrote “Not all things are prudent”

There were things not done nor said at the event last night….because The Word abounds in our hearts and minds.

In the balance, there was fun, there were uplifted hearts, there was dancing…..there was freedom.

JESUS walked in Freedom. He came to deliver us from evil….but His initial miracle was to create wine at a party. He allowed for the party to continue. Not a Roman orgy…. but the celebration of the Union of two people.

In His Life He exampled freedom as he laughed, ate, went to parties.
In His Death and Rising from It….He gave us another level of Freedom, eternal Freedom.

Last night was a celebration of the Union of about forty couples.
It was the celebration also of the unity we know and experience in the group we are involved in at
Metro.

May we remember that unity as we go out today.
Share it, spread it….
Show it.

Show and share the horizontal love we feel and have for each other….then reveal and reflect the vertical Love we receive and possess for our God…the grantor of our Freedom.

Terry
February 9, 2015

You have to play the whole game.

When it looks as if it’s over, and even when it might not make sense, play the whole game.

Did you not think with the ball on the one, in this years Super Bowl, that Seattle was going to score and win?
Being on the one though does not equal 6 points. Seattle had to score.

The defensive back could have simply tried to tackle the intended receiver. Momentum, though would have carried them both into the end zone.

You have to play the whole game.

A friend of mine prayed for her husband 30 years. After 30 years, he came to know Christ.

Effort sustained can become victory realized.

In the Super Bowl the winners kept playing. Down 10 in the fourth quarter against the best defense in the league. They overcame that.

And, they did not allow emotion to thwart them either.

To get Seattle in the position to win, another circus catch was made.
It was the third circus catch made by an opposing receiver late in a Super Bowl against the Patriots.
They could have resigned to the fatalism you could see on Brady’s face upon seeing that catch made.

One other thing….that circus catch was made after the ball was tipped by the same defender who made the interception at the goal line, to secure victory for The Patriots.  He could have felt drained and defeated after tipping the ball and seeing the Seahawks receiver make the  miraculous catch, which seemed to doom New England.

The defender overcame that temporary misfortune and then made the play to seal the Patriots victory..

Never think you cannot overcome some earlier mistake.

Overcome whatever is in your way.

Play the whole Game.

Balls get tipped….
Things look bleak…then you get opportunity.

If you are aware and awake ….and playing the WHOLE game….on the grass and in life.

Terry
July  2015

Yesterday our Pastor spoke of Hope. Hope is in our lives everyday.

Yesterdays hope can be today’s reality. Gods Word says “hope deferred maketh the heart sick”.

Hope based in some semblance of reality… can be realized and fulfilled by our effort and persistence.

We should all hope for better and good things.
Hope brings us up in the morning to see it fulfilled in the day.
Hope drove us to today from days past.
Hope gives us light when we are in the dark.

In our own strength, Hope can fulfilled by using our gifts and abilities.
But where do they come from? We are gifted by God with our ability and talent. In us, God places hope and His Light which propel us forward.

Gods Intention in us…is the Hope we feel.

Our Hope is His Light shed into our hearts and lives.

To fully realize Gods Intention in us…the Hope we feel…we cannot misplace it. We cannot
aim it incorrectly. We cannot misdirect our effort to realize It. To refocus It ….away from God and His Desire for you probably leads to frustration.

It comes from above.

At Its foundation, the Hope in us is from Him….for Him.

Allow that Hope to open your heart to receive the Fullness of God…intended for you today.

Saw this phrase in an email today. Thought it held a lot of meaning.

When things are new…relationships, jobs, cars, etc. we are quick and intentional to pay attention, to cater, to care for and to protect.

When the first scratch on the new car, we are irritated but it’s there.
The third or fourth ding does not bother us as much.

The first argument a couple engages in is usually followed by immediate heartfelt apologies and regret and affirmations of love.

Time and repetition dulls us to those initial feelings. It diminishes our intent to hold close and protect those relationships and possessions.

Does the repetition of our sin cause any diminished intent on behalf of our Savior?

Don’t let life diminish your intentions

What do you talk about as you eat dinner with your family.
Hopefully, you do eat dinner with your family.

Do you ask questions of your children? Do you discuss your day? Their day?

Do you allow them to hear you vent? Is your venting destructive about someone else?

Dinner time conversation is great for young people. They do not act like it…but it’s where they are on equal footing conversationally.
You can reveal your character to them…and they to you.

Be careful that you do not spew on them any anger or frustration too often. They may feel that spewing is what adults do about other adults.

Be yourself… But operate around your dinner table as if Christ were at one of the settings.

Encourage the conversation.

But, be aware and beware the other occupants at your table hear your words and your inflections….
and your expressions.
They are learning who you are and what you think….in private, relaxed moments.

You are always teaching whether you know it or not.

How will you walk today?

Will you walk toward your goals?
Will you walk in your strengths?
Will you walk away from God toward another god?

Be encouraged to walk in the gifting and strength given you by God. It’s where you were created to walk. Walking away from or out of that takes you toward selfishness and ultimately toward failure.

God is walking with you today. That’s the promise to His People…
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
He is with you.

Do not ask Him to step aside, take a seat, and wait outside while you
go off on your own toward something.

He is BOUND by HIS WORD.

He cannot leave you.

Walk in, with and toward Him always and everyday.

How comfortable are you? Has your life reached the level of comfort to where you do not worry about basic necessities. If you live in the America, that’s predominantly the case.

Most likely, you will eat three times today. You will sleep tonight without threat of cold, hunger or
harm.

Any desperation in your life?

I have said this several times and believe it fully…
As followers of Christ, we must have desperate hearts in the midst of the comfort we live in.

Desperate hearts pursue God daily with urgency.

A desperate heart knows it cannot exist without the Mercy and Grace which is given to us by The Father.

A desperate heart searches The Word
constantly to inquire of God, to discover all of what is there.

Comfort cushions us against the hardness and harshness of life.

Comfort can create softness and distance from need.

Desperate hearts see miracles.
Desperate hearts spend time on their knees and cry out to God.
Desperate hearts care about people who do not know Christ….and go after them.

Desperate hearts see desperation in others, not being blinded by the comfort of an achieved life, they know it when they see it…and reach out to lend help.

You have been desperate before.

Seek God as you did the solution to the desperation you felt.

Desperate hearts see miracles.

As I was growing up, I heard one song so many times that the words are in my mind forever. The song was sung at the the most important times of the get together. The song made people act and move. It might not have been the song in and of itself, but the song served as a catalyst to the movement of feet and minds.

Even now the words give rise to provocation and solemnity.

“Just as I am without one plea.
But that Thy Blood was shed for me.
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come.”

These words draw us to The Savior, to Our God.

Our God continually bids us to come to Him…
for salvation, for renewal, for strength, for the needs of the day.

Answer the bidding.
It’s there daily.

How are you treating the people who bring you food in restaurants?
How do you treat the custodian in your building?

I heard once that the quality of a person could be seen in how they treat those who could do them no good.

Do you tip properly?

When have you paid for a meal for someone you see that is in a bad way?

JESUS told the parable of The Good Samaritan.
The wounded and hurt man would do the Samaritan no good.
In fact, the Samaritan knew it would cost him money, time and possibly future involvement to help this injured man.

But he did.

JESUS did.

And it was you He did it for.

Do the same for some who can do you no good….other than allowing you the blessing of service.