Funny Friday
faith
Merry Christmas to You
Merry Christmas to you!
We hope this concludes a beautiful year, too!
Enjoy your family, your friends, and your loved ones with cheer.
And even if you might find yourself today overflowing with tears,
Look back to see all the blessings, joy and some very good things
And look ahead to what our blessed hope now still brings
For the One who created you sent His very own Son
To show you His love and opened His arms into which you can run
He is here for you, and He will never leave
He is patiently awaiting you, To Him you can now cleave
So, in this day that is meant to be merry
Rejoice we have a Savior, and all our burdens He promises to carry.
And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Matthew 1:21-23
Merry Christmas Eve
No matter where this finds you today.
No matter if you are feeling loved or just neatly put away.
No matter if you’re surrounded with cheer or with broken tears.
Remember, you are truly loved by the One who brought His Son to redeem all of your years.
Just believe.
Merry Christmas Eve
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Silly Saturday
Little Did I Know You
Little did I know you all of my life
The stories I was told don’t measure up
The man I once knew and who you were before
Full of life and love and joy and friendly fans
Full of anger and sorrow and shame and brokenness
The man I once knew and who you had become
The stories I was told are so much more
Little did I know you all of my life
War and betrayal can change a soul in ways that can’t be undone.
Yet, I am thankful to have seen a glimpse of what once was and one day, what will be forever more.
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the richesof his glorious inheritance in his holy people
Ephesians 1:16-18
Take a Moment to Remember…
I haven’t posted yet about all of the events this week because it’s hard to find words. When evil is blatantly obvious, and so many can’t see it, it causes my heart to shift in an unusual way. A life is a life, and when this fact is nonchalantly cast aside, it not only leaves shock, confusion, and anger, but it also leaves a deep seated disgust that takes an extra minute to process through the pain and indignation.
So, I leave my thoughts here tonight not for debate but for reflection. If you disagree, you have the freedom to do so, and so do I with you. That is the beauty of living in the land of the free and the brave, and too many forget that this freedom is as much theirs as it is their neighbor’s…
24 years ago on this day, September 12,
I clearly remember a nation that was broken but united. A nation that was grieving but resilient. A nation that did not agree on politics but agreed on the right to freedom for our country. We agreed that liberty was valued and tyranny was condemned.
What has happened to us over the past 24 years?
Today, our nation is deeply divided, but not in ways it should be. Yes, we have disagreements, but disagreements can cause your beliefs to be proven stronger. Disagreements can challenge your standards to deepend or to be reevaluated for change. Disagreements, when discussed, debated, and deliberated upon, can define right from wrong and clearly refine convictions and values for life.
Yet, when we get to the place that disagreements must be silenced, there is a problem at the core of who we are. When debate is no longer simply words on a platform between two opposing teams, but rather it is replaced with bullets and blood, something is broken at the base of who we are. When a murder is justified or even given moral equivalency to another, our perspectives are somehow skewed. When a death is celebrated because the disagreement felt uncomfortable, convicting, or even appalling, the foundation upon which you stand is fatally flawed.
This is when evil begins to be called good and good called evil. And this is when a nation will be most vulnerable. Not because of her enemy abroad but rather because of her enemy within. This is when a nation is threatening to implode. We are at a dangerous place, on the edge of a knife. And we can do better. We must.
As Christians, which is what I am, we must awaken from our slumber and realize we can remain silent no longer. The days are long but the years are too short. The end draws near, and we will be held accountable. What we do in this hour must not be wasted or neglected. We must stand for what is right. We must speak out for what is Truth. And we must fight for what is good. It is time for us to be the Church He called us to be, to love God, to love our neighbor, and to reach the lost at any cost. And we cannot do that in silence, in fear, or even in intimidation. We must rise up and be the Body of Christ He has called us to be.
Love them enough to disagree with sin. Love them enough to fight against evil. Love them enough to speak out and take action against the rising tide of hatred and lawlessness. If it takes it, love them enough to die with Christ on the cross of His Truth.
Let’s pick up the baton that has been passed to us and finish this race. And let’s not finish alone. May we bring an entourage of new teammates with us! ❤️
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
May we never forget…
It’s Not Me. It’s You.
Oh, if we could grasp this reality, what strength we could gather.
When someone wounds you, it’s not because you have done something wrong. It is because they have something wrong inside.
This is not to say that you could have possibly prevented it. Maybe. sometimes, we don’t notice warning signs until it is too late. Sometimes, we turn a blind eye because of our own hangups and intimidations.
But when someone wrongs you, particularly when it is repetitive, we have to accept it for what it is: their fatal flaw.
We don’t always need to defend ourselves.
And we don’t really need to retaliate.
But we do always need to walk away.
Step back from their negative blows.
Move out of the course of their mayhem.
Set boundaries and close the doors to their reckless endangerment.
Realize it is not your responsibility nor your burden to bear.
Sometimes, broken people try to break others.
Sometimes, wounded people live to wound others.
Sometimes, twisted people endeavor to twist the lives of others.
But this never means you have to surrender to it.
Remove your heart from their hammer and reclaim your peace.
It’s worth the effort.
You are worth the time.
Do not enter the path of the wicked,
And do not walk in the way of evil.
Avoid it, do not travel on it;
Turn away from it and pass on.
For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
Proverbs 4:14-19
Keep Writing. Keep Reading.
This statement rings true in so many relationships.
So many are only surface deep.
Never enduring the hard days to witness the true character.
Never persevering the rain to find the rainbow.
How you approach a friendship tells a lot about your character.
How you delicately cherish or nonchalantly cast aside the relationship says more about you than about them.
Some people are only meant to be with you for a moment.
But those who stick around for the duration, they are worthy of the depths of your soul.
Where will your depth take you?
Your affliction is incurable,
Your wound is severe.
There is no one to plead your cause,
That you may be bound up;
You have no healing medicines.
All your lovers have forgotten you;
They do not seek you;
For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased.
Why do you cry about your affliction?
Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased,
I have done these things to you. ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured;
And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
Those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey.
For I will restore health to you
And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying:
“This is Zion; No one seeks her.” ’“Thus says the Lord:
‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; the city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its own plan.
Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.Jeremiah 30:12-19
How Peaceful Are You?
Men may cry, “Peace, Peace!” But the war is already on the battlefield.
What you choose to do in times of war will often expose the depth of your character.
Some claim they are strong and powerful me; yet, they turn a blind eye and lower their hands to defeat the enemy.
Some declare peace and love can never be shown through force, and the innocent are left to die in the streets at the hands of wicked men.
But the meek, the humble, and the mighty all join as one to rescue the child, to defend the broken, to defeat the evil when it is in their power to do so.
The strongest and most fierce shelter the fragile and shield the blameless and call out the immoral.
It is never the muscles and brawn that make someone you stalwart and indomitable.
Rather, it is the passionate heart who stands for Truth at all cost.
It is the relentless pursuit for justice the raises up an army for victory.
It is the raging embrace of liberty that fortifies the battlefront.
These are the standards by which the war is won.
If you faint in the day of adversity,
Your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He notknow it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?Proverbs 24:10-12
Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.
Exodus 23:7
The Lion’s Silence
In the brush, you can’t see her silhouette as she glides along.
Below the grass, she hovers and waits.
The stalks swaying in the breeze as she pauses to take in the horizon.
Her eyes never leaving her prey as she haunts him with her shadows.
Believing it is only a myth, he grows complacent in the quiet.
Letting down his guard, his head lowers for a rest, never realizing his mistake.
Suddenly, she pounces from the mist and charges his serenity.
He attempts an escape, but the moment has passed.
She has him in her paws, and the pride closes in to bring her added strength.
Fight though he may, the battle is over before it even began.
All because he grew comfortable in the midst of her silence.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
1 Peter 5:8
the grizzle grist mill 