Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

 7.18- My chameleon friend tries to make himself look good. He is a nice green but then he wants to impress me and flexes his jaws. They blow up red. The best friends I have are not into doing impressions of workers. They are workers. They want to get the job done and they don't care who gets the credit. 2 Thessalonians 3. 6  Now we command you, brothers  and sisters , in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you  [ d ] keep away from every brother  or sister  who  [ e ] leads a  [ f ] disorderly life and not  one  in accordance with the tradition which  [ g ] you received from us.   7  For you yourselves know how you ought to  [ h ] follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined way among you,   8  nor did we eat  [ i ] anyone’s bread  [ j ] without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we  kept  working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;   9  not because we do not have the right  to this , but in order to offer ourselves as a role

7.17.67 plus 53 years. 7.17.21 I felt I had little to offer God except my fear of death which seemed to be overwhelming me as I approached a major change in my life. I was about to get married. Tossed about with many problems in the world. The Viet Nam war was raging and I didn't want to go to that war or any war. I had one more year of college in order to finish and move to a teaching and coaching job hopefully. Fighting within my own heart was a feeling of belief in God as the creator of the universe, but on the other hand I didn't want to turn my life over to Him for fear He would ruin every joyous activity with it being out of bounds for me as a serious follower of Jesus. I didn't have any money and wanted to get a job that could make good money, yet I wanted a job that was fulfilling. Barriers were up between me and people that were different from me. City people were not like farm people. Big town people didn't relate well to small town people. I had not tr

 7.16- The love of parents for children and children for parents is a beautiful thing. This develops an atmosphere of security for children to step out and not be afraid to try new things. They know they are resilient and failure is not fatal or final. Ephesians 5. 22  Wives,  subject yourselves  to your own husbands, as to the Lord.   23  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself  being  the Savior of the body.   24  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives  ought to be  to their husbands in everything. 25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,   26  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,   27  that He might present to Himself the church  [ q ] in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.   28  So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own

 7.16- I thought I was dropping my wife off at an entrance to the Lowe’s store that was nearby the carts. It was odd because instead of being wide open and welcoming as the door normally was, it was full of merchandise and a path only two feet wide instead of twenty feet wide. I thought, “Wow, this must be a big sale or an abundance of wooden picnic tables they want to sell. I have never seen such over aggressive merchandising." We had agreed that I would wait to hear from her on my phone if and when she had found an electric cart with battery power. As I was looking and waiting on this call I saw her walking away from the entrance down toward the garden shop. She went in there and never called me. I wandered what had happened so I called her. She answered with the information that that was not even an entrance where I had dropped her off. I moved my car to go get some other things at another store and came back and waited for her near her the exit point. When I came bac

 7.15- He warned his players that there was a danger to being arrogant and overconfident, but still they were challenged by trap games. Some of his players became even more alert when they were playing games with teams who had been defeated over and over. He had one key player on his team who was totally broken by a defeat in a game and from then on he spoke to his teammates with more gentleness and respect when they missed a key free throw. He developed a coaching group who worked with him who were known for their deeper knowledge and understanding of the game. That really they were teachers about life more than just coaches training for one win. When his coaches were approaching any game they had a humble attitude about the challenge ahead, but confident that with their proper preparation things would go well. They were known as a coaching group that were in it for the long haul of setting an example of patience and perseverance in life and in their work. Training for high quali

 7.14- Money has a statement. "In God we trust." We pay our taxes to the government. We also honor our authorities appointed by God. We pray for peace and orderly lives to give our taxes to the government, but our heart and soul to God. We pray for those who have lost loved ones in Surfside, Florida. We hope and pray there was not a failure in our government inspection or some landlord payoff of inspectors. An orderly nation requires morals good ethics and being a nation of good laws and not of dependance on the moral purity of fallen humanity. God bless our country with a turn back to You and Your ways. Lord help each of us to encourage and uplift each person in our path today. 1 Timothy 6.   6  But godliness  actually  is a means of great gain  when  accompanied by contentment.   7  For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either.   8  If we have food and  [ g ] covering, with these we shall be content.   9  But those who want

 7.13- If you feel useless then one answer is to think who needs some help that you can give and give it as if you were doing it for Jesus Himself. John 11 11  Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.   2  And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with  [ a ] ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.   3  So the sisters sent  word  to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”   4  But when Jesus heard  this , He said,  “This sickness is not  [ b ] meant for death, but  is  for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”   5  (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.)   6  So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days  longer  in the place where He was.   7  Then after this He *said to the disciples,  “Let’s go to Judea again.”   8  The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and  yet  You are going there agai

 7.12- To fill up our lives with stuff is a burden. To travel light is freedom. Luke 12. 13  Now someone  [ j ] in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the  family  inheritance with me.”   14  But He said to him,  “ [ k ] You there—who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over  the two of  you?”   15  But He said to them,  “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not  even  when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.”   16  And He told them a parable, saying,  “The land of a rich man was very productive.   17  And he began thinking to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’   18  And he said, ‘This  is what  I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and I will store all my grain and my goods there.   19  And I will say to  [ l ] myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years  to come ; relax, eat, drink,  and  enjoy yourself!”’   20  But God said to him, ‘You fool!