Genesis 28:15 

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

God didn’t have much to work with in Jacob. He would be one a teacher would not want in her classroom. You wouldn’t want him for a neighbor. An employer would refuse his application for employment. However, God was willing to take him on. The Lord made promises to this boy and through him created a nation still in existence today.

If God could do that with old Jacob, He can still do that today with you and me. His promises are as valid today as they were then.

2 Corinthians 7:1 

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Hebrews 10:23 

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” is a song written and recorded by American singer Johnny Cash. It was released in December 1958. It was the story of young Billy who put his guns on and went to town. He thought he looked the part of a gun slinger. He tasted liquor for the first time. The only thing the guns hanging at his side and booze in his stomach did was get him killed.

There are a lot of individuals going through life believing they are looking good but refusing to believe that one day they will be up against God. The Lord had something to say about such a fool.

Luke 12:20

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

Think you can take God on? You’ll be the loser.

Give it some thought.

Gary

A few days before his death, Dr. F.B. Meyer wrote a very dear friend these words: “I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live.  It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace.  Don’t trouble to write.  We shall meet in the morning.”

– F.B. Meyer

We make a number of moves in a lifetime. However, there is one move where we don’t have to bother transferring our stuff. We can just leave here and appear there without getting dressed up.

2 Corinthians 5:2

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

The older I get, the more I groan. I’m ready, anytime.

Give it some thought and I hope to meet you there.

Gary

He never slapped anyone but me. He was my high school coach, and I reckon he’d just about had enough of my antics. Looking back, I’m sorry I didn’t get to thank him. There was something about boundaries I just didn’t understand. Because of some lessons I didn’t learn at home, people like him took it upon themselves to punish me for my offenses.

Scripturally, God would raise up enemies to punish Israel. Also, God uses situations to punish believers. Not a bad thing and we should be thankful for it. There are two ways to learn, the easy way and the hard way.

Proverbs 12:1 

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Hebrews 12:11 

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

This is not for those who never do wrong, but for folks like this writer. The slap didn’t hurt; it was the echo that bounced off my soul that left a sore.

Give it some thought.

Gary

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is “God is crying.”
And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is “Probably because of something you did.”
~ Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

I don’t suggest doing that because it contains a lie. However, we all know from experience that God is hurt by our actions way too many times. Considering He went to the cross on our behalf, how should we act?

Romans 5:10

 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

1 John 3:18

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Don’t hurt the One who loves you more than anyone on the planet.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Who can get us through this maze called life? Considering the best scenario is to die in your sleep, what can make sense of it all?  Can life and assured hope go hand in hand? Glad you asked because this is what the hymn writer and the Word of God has to say.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior, am happy and blessed
Watching and waiting, looking above
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love,

This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long,

2 Timothy 1:12 

Which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

1 John 5:13 

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Life can be tough sledding, but keep in mind what the end of the run brings.

Give it some thought.

Gary

… Born in the heat of the desert
My mother died giving me life
Deprived of the love of a father
Blamed for the loss of his wife
You know, Lord, I’ve been in a prison
For something that I never done
It’s been one hill after another
I’ve climbed them all, one by one

… But this time, Lord, you gave me a mountain

Marty Robbins and Elvis both made a killing off this tearjerker. However, the song doesn’t stand the test of biblical interpretation of what comes from God in relation to human experience.

Take Caleb for example. He desired a mountain and at 80 took the mountain God gave him.

Joshua 14:11-12  

As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. ¹² Now therefore, give me this mountain …,

If God gives you a mountain, then take it.

Give it some thought.

Gary