May 24, Today’s thought – Through God’s Eyes

What the cats thought of the visitor

Good Morning

“And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” (Mark 8:25 NKJV)

OK, let’s pick back up on my episode at the intersection with the biker, banker, and bum.

Sitting there in my car waiting for the light to change, having just tagged three complete strangers with labels derived from my own prejudice, the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance the story I related to you yesterday from Mark’s gospel.
It was then I sensed the Lord speak to my heart something to this effect, “James, you have blurred vision; you need another touch from Me in order to see clearly, without any prejudice.” On that day at the intersection I learned a lesson I have never forgotten. I saw men as trees, walking.

I had been duly exposed to just enough Bible trivia to become a man with rapid-fire religious opinions; a Bible “answer man” with little regard to how my views or opinions demeaned, depreciated, or damaged others. I just knew my view of scripture was right, and anybody not seeing it my way had to be wrong.

You know….Biker. Banker. Bum.

I had become quite adept at affixing my labels upon the various people groups in my little world. I saw Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians; Lutherans, Pentecostals, and Fundamentalists. I saw Protestants and Catholics. And I saw heretics, pagans, perverts and queers. And if memory serves me here, cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow-legged ants were in there somewhere.

I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly. I saw bikers, bankers, and bums.

Indeed, I needed another touch from Jesus. I needed Him to stay with the healing process that His grace had already begun in my life, and bring me to a place where I could see things clearly; to see people through His eyes, and not my own.
The truth be known — that was not a Biker cranking his Harley to warp 3 alongside me at the light; no, he was a man whom God dearly loves — a man for whom Jesus died. And that was not a Banker triumphantly strolling out of First National to cruise off in his Caddy; no, he was a man whom God dearly loves — a man for whom Jesus died. And that was not a Bum stumbling into another day of hopeless begging; no, he was a man whom God dearly loves — a man for whom Jesus died.

And, thankfully, I was not a bigot; a self-righteous know-it-all preacher dispensing judgment near and far; No. I, too, was a man whom God dearly loves — a man for whom Jesus died.

That day I got some spit in my eye, you might say, and from that day forward began to see everyone clearly. And that has made all the difference.
Are you getting the point?
Has the light changed yet? ~~Rylie

Wiping my eyes . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 23, Today’s thought – Though God’s Eyes Part 2

A visitor at Cozy Acres

Good Morning

“And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” (Mark 8:25 NKJV)

One day as Jesus and His disciples approached the city of Bethsaida, a group of people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. The Bible says, “He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’ He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’ Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” (Mark 8:23—26, NIV)

This unusual story has always held a certain fascination for me. First, I am intrigued that Jesus took the man away from the emotionally charged atmosphere of the crowd who brought him to be healed. Jesus did the miracle away from the crowd. This is so unlike many of the faith healers in our day, who do so much for show….and money.

And, second, I am bemused by the oddity of Jesus spitting directly in the man’s eyes in order to heal him. I wonder why the Lord did that; and I wonder how the guy felt about that. On another occasion Jesus had spit on the ground and made a mudpack, which He then placed on a blind man’s eyes. Upon washing the mud away, the man could see. But here Jesus spits directly into the man’s eyes!

Could it be that Jesus, by not doing it the same way twice, is thereby showing us that God deals with each of us as unique individuals? There are no pat answers to life’s complex challenges; no cookie-cutter solutions to humanity’s diverse need for God’s saving grace and healing mercy. One gets a mudpack; another gets spit in the eye! Either way, the miracle comes, and God gets all the glory.

And then, finally, I’m stumped by the fact that the miracle didn’t take at first; I mean, it didn’t work. The man could indeed see, but his vision was as yet distorted. “I see men as trees, walking,” he said. Jesus had to touch him a second time in order for him to see everything clearly.

This is to me the most intriguing feature of this event. One would think that spit in the eye — especially if put there by the Son of God Himself — would certainly be potent enough to perform a miracle of healing. But the story tells us that while eyesight was restored, it was still somewhat foggy. The guy needed a second touch for the miracle to fully set in.

OK, so tomorrow I’ll pick back up at the intersection where I was waiting for the light to change, and wrap this episode all together.Rylie

May 22, Today’s thought – Through God’s Eyes, Part 1

Creamy yellow iris from Sister Peg

Good Morning

Biker, Banker, Bum (Part 1)

“And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” (Mark 8:25 NKJV)

A few years ago while sitting in my car waiting for the light to change on a midsummer’s morning in Boulder, Colorado, my attention was abruptly seized by the earth-shaking roar of an unmuffled Harley pulling alongside my car. I slowly turned to look at the rider hanging on his chopper like a baboon in a tree, and I easily sized him up in an instant.
Long blond greasy hair tied in a ponytail; sweaty, red bandana headband; Fu Manchu mustache; offensive tattoos etched on every square inch of his neck and arms; and an undeniable fury swirling about his head like wasps around an agitated nest. “Now there’s a biker,” I thought to myself. “Better give him a wide berth!”

Turning back to see if the light had changed I couldn’t help but notice a smartly dressed gentleman coming out of First National Bank, carrying an expensive leather attaché and walking briskly toward a brand new Cadillac. His was a bright look of capital conquest; king of all he surveyed. “Now there’s a banker,” I automatically concluded. “It sure would be nice to have a guy like that interested in my ministry.”

The light had not changed yet so I risked one more guarded glance toward the biker. In doing so my eyes caught sight of a ruffled old man staggering out of a thick hedge of shrubs bordering the city park. He had spent the night burrowed in the bushes, and I think the Harley woke him up.

He was days unshaven, weeks unshowered, and years unsure. Brushing the leaves out of his matted hair, and squinting so as to ease the flood of sunshine into his blood shot eyes — the homeless man stumbled into yet another meaningless day with patented indifference. “And there is a bum if ever I saw one,” I casually thought to myself. “What a waste.”
Then it hit me. Biker, banker, bum.

The unintended symmetry in my spur-of-the-moment opinions startled me. And as these words replayed in my mind, a quiet sense of conviction began to settle upon me. Somehow I could tell that the Lord was examining me in that moment, and that what had just happened was not exactly what I wanted Him to see. For right then — without any sense of forethought, discernment, or compassion — I had labeled three people I didn’t even know; and had done so with a cavalier sense of self-certainty: “Biker, Banker, Bum.”

I tell you what — let me step aside until tomorrow, and I’ll tell you of an event in the life of Jesus that relates to this awkward moment. We’ll come back to my experience at the intersection a little later. It’s a long light anyway; we have time….Rylie

Open my eyes . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

Sunday Bible Reading – Psalms 119:9-16

Peonies at Grandma Crain’s

Good Afternoon

Psalms 119

⁹ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

¹⁰ With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

¹¹ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

¹² Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy statutes.

¹³ With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

¹⁴ I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

¹⁵ I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

¹⁶ I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

Rejoice, Meditate, Delight in God’s Word . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 18, Today’s thought – The Little Things

Society Garlic at Grandma Crain’s

Good Morning

“Sometimes people have their hearts so set on doing some great thing that they miss the little things, the little opportunities that lie close to their hands. Life is made up of a round of little things. The great things only happen at rare intervals. But it is being faithful in the little things that makes us ready for our opportunities for the great things when they come. Christ said ‘He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.’ The little things are not spectacular, they do not attract much attention, but they are the things that make up life; and if we are true in these little things, God will trust us with some greater things by and by.” ~ taken from Heart Talks by C. W. Naylor

Attend to the little things . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 17, Today’s thought – Obedience

Tomatoes staked.

Good Morning

And Abraham took Ishmael his son, . . . in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. Genesis 17:23

Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is, delayed obedience is disobedience. Every time God calls us to any duty, He is offering to make a covenant with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing.

The only we can obey is to obey “in the self-same day” as Abraham did.To be sure, we often postpone a duty and then later on do it as fully as we can. It is better to do this than not to it at all. But it is then at the best, only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing; and a postponed duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment.

It is a pity to rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination. “In the self same day” is the Genesis way of saying, “Do it now.” ~~Messages for the Morning Watch

Accepting God’s correction. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 16, Today’s thought – A Favorite Hymn

Dutch Iris at Grandma Crain’s

Good Morning

Once again we come
It is number 9 in the Hymnal of the Church of God.

When I was a young girl,
my family attended the Church of God in Kerman, CA.
Brother C. Craig was the pastor.
One of the members, Brother Armbrewster
(forgive me if the spelling is wrong),
was a German who didn’t speak much English;
but he had a strong faith in God.
He must have been in his sixties.
Whenever the song leader asked
if anyone wanted to pick a song to sing;
Brother Armbrewster always picked #9.
I don’t know if he didn’t know the numbers to any other songs
or if this one was his favorite.
I always think of him when we sing #9 as a congregation.
It is one of my favorite hymns.
I remember that his daughter
was one of my Sunday School teachers;
and that in that little country church
was where the seeds of my faith in God were planted.

1 Once again we come to the house of God,
To unite in songs of praise;
To extol with joy our Redeemer’s name,
And to tell His wondrous ways.

Refrain:
To Thy house, O Lord, with rejoicing we come,
For we know that we are Thine;
We will worship Thee in the Bible way,
As the evening light doth shine.

2 In the days gone by, Thou hast been our stay,
Thou hast led us safely on
To the blessed light of the present day,
Where the darkness now is gone. [Refrain]

3 May our hearts, O Lord, e’er united be
In true fellowship and love;
May Thy will be done by us here on earth,
As by angel hosts above. [Refrain]

4 May our prayers ascend as an incense sweet,
And our praise accepted be,
As in gratitude all our hearts o’erflow
In a tribute unto Thee. [Refrain]
~~Charles W. Naylor

Letting my heart overflow with gratitude. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 15, Today’s thought – A Clear Vision

Brother Bob’s cats, Red and Mama.
Plastic is down to try to kill weeds

Good Morning

The apostle Paul dedicates a paragraph to listing troubles, problems, sufferings, hunger, danger—the very difficulties we hope to escape.  Paul, however, states their value in Romans 8:35-37.  “In all these things we have full victory through God.”

We’d prefer another preposition. We’d opt for “apart from all these things,” or “away from all these things,” or even “without all these things. But Paul says, “in” all these things.

The solution is not to avoid trouble but to change the way we see our troubles. God can correct your vision. He asks, “Who gives a person sight?” then answers, It is I, the Lord.” (Exodus 4:11)  More than one have made the request of the blind man, “Teacher I want to see.” (Mark 10:51)  And more than one have walked away with clear vision.

Who is to say God won’t do the same for you?

Max Lucado from Just Like Jesus

Open my eyes, Lord . . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 8, Today’s thought — The Way Back

Dutch Iris at Grandma Crain’s

Good Afternoon

Have faith in God. Mark 11:22

In the catacombs, we are told, explorers take a thread with them through all the dark passages and tortuous windings, and by this thread find their way back again to the light. There is such a thread running through all the dark corridors with we tread, and if we simply, practically trust in God we shall steer past every peril and land in the world of light. This is the counsel to remember in all the perplexities of our actual life.

There is an answer to every questioning “Why” It is this: Have Faith in God.

Have faith that He knows all, sympathizes with all, can rectify, what is amiss in all! Have faith in the outworking of His beneficent purpose: that the ruin will become a magnificent pile; the desert will blossom into a garden. Have faith in God. Keep close to Him–His side, His will–and He will teach us the true thing, the right way. Have faith that God knows and that we shall know by and by, why things are as they are.

Follow the thread of faith . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 7, Today’s thought – The Untrodden Way

Night sky at Cozy Acres

Good Afternoon

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13, KJV

What unseen difficulties line the long, dark mile of the untrodden way? And, oh, how our heart hesitates to venture on into the uncertainty of the unproven. The problem with pilgrims is that the tendency to settle increases with the need for some sense of security.

After a stout trek across a barren stretch we arrive at a place of repose along the way; a place replete with so much of heaven’s first fruits, that we feel perhaps we should make this spot our abiding place. But we seek a City, whose builder and maker is God, and this in not that City. We must press on.

“In short there’s simply not a more convenient spot for happy-ever-aftering than here, in dear Old Camelot.” So goes the musical, but that’s really all it is — a song in a play. And while it touches the sentimental chords of our earthbound frames, our spirits seek a higher heaven.

Our forefathers in the faith saw it from afar, and so pressed onward till the very day they died — not yet having possessed it. How then can we who follow in their train, now pitch our tent and take our ease? And what, if the Lord should tarry, would become of those who followed our loitering example?

Beloved, we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth.
Our home is yet somewhere else.~~~Rylie

Press On . . .Today
With my prayers, desisring yours, Leslie

May 6, Today’s thought – Face the Music

Good Morning

Many years ago a man conned his way into an orchestra although he could not play a note. He would hold his flute against his lips, pretend to play but not make a sound. Then one day the leader requested a solo from each musician. The man was panic stricken. On the day of his solo performance, he took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language: “He refused to face the music.”

Face the music! Some of us have buried a marriage, parts of a conscience, and even parts of our faith—all because we won’t face the music…we won’t tell the truth. Ask yourself, am I honest in my dealings? Am I a trustworthy student? An honest taxpayer? Do you tell the truth—always?

Proverbs says, “The Lord hates a lying tongue.” (12:19)

Just tell the truth.

Max Lucado from Just Like Jesus

Seek truth . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

P.S. I’ll be in Redding until Saturday, with only internet access at Starbucks/or____. Posts maybe less frequent.

Sunday Bible Reading – Deuteronomy 4:29-35

Nap time

Good Morning

But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God,
thou shalt find him,
if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

When thou art in tribulation,
and all these things are come upon thee,
even in the latter days,
if thou turn to the Lord thy God,
and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;)
he will not forsake thee,
neither destroy thee,
nor forget the covenant of thy fathers
which he sware unto them.

For ask now of the days that are past,
which were before thee,
since the day that God created man upon the earth,
and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other,
whether there hath been any such thing
as this great thing is,
or hath been heard like it?

Did ever people hear the voice of God
speaking out of the midst of the fire,
as thou hast heard, and live?

Or hath God assayed to go and take him
a nation from the midst of another nation,
by temptations,
by signs,
and by wonders,
and by war,
and by a mighty hand,
and by a stretched out arm,
and by great terrors,
according to all that
the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Unto thee it was shewed,
that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God;
there is none else beside him.
Deuteronomy 4:29-35

What A Mighty God We Serve. . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 4, Today’s thought – Walk and Talk with God

the Farmer is laying out his drip watering system today.

Good Morning

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. Psalm 34:1-5

How lovely are the faces of
The men who talk with God–
Lit with an inner sureness of
The path their feet have trod;
How gentle is the manner of
A man who walks with Him!
No strength can overcome him, and
No cloud his courage dim,
Keen are the hands and feet–ah yes–
Of those who wait His will,
And clear as crystal mirrors, are
The hearts His love can fill.

Some lives are drear from doubt and fear
While others merely plod;
But lovely faces mark the men
Who walk and talk with God
~~Pauline Prosser-Thompson

Let us walk and talk with God . . .Today
With my prayers,desiring yours, Leslie

May 3, Today’s thought – God Ruleth

Wind chimes

Good Morning

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Psalm 103:17-19

Some time since, in the early spring, I was going out at my door when round the corner came a blast of east wind–defiant and pitiless, fierce and withering–sending a cloud of dust before it.

I was just taking the latchkey from the door as I said, half impatiently, “I wish the wind would“–I was going to say change; but the word was checked and the sentence was never finished.

As I went on my way, the incident became a parable to me. There came an angel holding out a key; and he said:

“My Master send thee His love, and bids me give you this.”

“What is it?” I asked, wondering. “The keys of the winds,” said the angel, and disappeared.

Now, indeed should I be happy. I hurried away up into the heights whence the winds came, and stood amongst the caves. “I will have done with the east wind at any rate–and that shall plague us no more,” I cried; and calling in that friendless wind, I closed the door, and heard the echoes ringing in the hollow places. I turned the triumphantly. “There,” I said, “now we have done with that.”

“What shall I choose in its place?” I asked myself, looking about me. “The south wind is pleasant’: and I thought of the lambs and the young life on every hand, and the flowers that begun to deck the hedgerows. But as I set the key within the door, it began to burn in my hand.

“What am I doing?” I cried, “who knows what mischief I may bring about? How do I know what the fields want! Ten thousand things of ill may come of this foolish wish of mine.”

Bewildered and ashamed, I looked up and prayed that the Lord would send His angel yet again to take the key; and for my part I promised that I would never want to have it any more.

But lo, the Lord Himself stood by me. He reached His hand to take the key; and as I laid it down, I saw that it rested against the sacred wound-print.

It hurt me indeed that I could ever have murmured against anything wrought by Him who bare such sacred tokens of His love. Then He took the key and hung it on His girdle.

“Dost THOU keep the key of the winds?” I asked.

“I do, my child,” He answered graciously.

And lo, I looked again and there hung all the keys of all mu life. He saw my look of amazement and asked, “Didst thou not know , my child, that my kingdom ruleth over all?”

“Over all, my Lord!” I answered; “then it is not safe for me to murmur at anything?” Then did He lay His hand upon me tenderly. “My child,” He said, “thy only safety is, in everything, to love and trust and praise.” ~~~Mark Guy Pearse

Love, trust, praise. . . Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie

May 2, Today’s thought – Even to Delay

An early spring evening light

Good Afternoon

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. 1 Kings 18:42-44

Come up on top of Carmel.
and see that remarkable parable of Faith and Sight
It was not the descent of the fire that now was necessary,
but the descent of the flood;
and the man that can command the fire
can command the flood by the same means and methods.
We are told he bowed himself to the ground
with his face between his knees;
that is, shutting out all sights and sounds.
He was putting himself in a position where,
beneath his mantle,
he could neither see nor hear what was going forward.

He said to his servant,
“Go and take an observation.”
He went and came back,
and said–how sublimely brief!
one word–”Nothing.”

What do we do under such circumstances?

We say, “It is just as I expected!”
and we give up praying.
Did Elijah?
No, he said, “Go again.”
His servant again came back and said,
“Nothing!”
“Go again.”
‘Nothing!”

By and by he came back, and said,
“There is a little cloud like a man’s hand.”
A man’s hand had been raised in supplication,
and presently down came the rain;
and Ahab had not time to get back
to the gate of Samaria with all his fast steeds.
This is a parable of Faith and Sight–
faith shutting itself up with God;
sight taking observations
and seeing nothing;
faith going right on,
and “praying with prayer,”
with utterly hopeless reports from sight.

Do you know how to pray that way,
how to pray prevailingly?
Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may,
but pay no attention to thee.
The living God is still in the heavens
and even to delay is part of His goodness.
~~Arthur T. Pierson

Go right on with Faith . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie