The Prayer of Nehemiah

When Nehemiah heard the condition of God's city and people that were back in Jerusalem it broke his heart.  He was in captivity under the Persians. He was the cupbearer for the King.

"I sat and wept and mourned ,praying and fasted for many days." He wrote a journal or a blog and now we read it and observe God involved in the lives of people.

You can click on many audio Bible sites and read and hear the Prayer in Nehemiah chapter one.

His praying consisted of :
1.Praise
2. Reviewing God's Word
3. Confession
4. interceding for others
5. Asking

This prayer was the trampoline that moved him to action.  Nehemiah prayed for a miracle for his people that had returned to Jerusalem. He was to be the miracle and the answer to his and the prayers of many.

Pray, watching and believing. See God do extraordinary things, using ordinary people. We can converse with God not out of obligation but in a loving, powerful relationship.

"Call to me, and I will show you great and mighty things you know not of." Jeremiah 33:3.

When I Was a Kid...

You have heard about the good old days.  That's the time of life that things were good, tougher and  work ethic was the rule of the day.  "We didn't have video games when I was a kid." It's true we were outside playing all the known sports of the world.  Back in our day we also played Army, ("Combat" was on T.V. then). We also put many miles on our bicycles. Mom would have been very upset, if she knew how far off we had gone. Back then was the best of times!  Or was it?

When I was a kid..we had bullies. True they didn't shoot you in a drive by, nor did we have computers where they could use face book saying, someone was weird (Thank goodness), they just beat people up face to face.

There was that Asian war. It was not only fought before our eyes on television and  soldiers crying for help with an IV bottle in there arm, You might have had a brother or cousin fighting in the jungle not knowing who the enemy was for sure.

When I was a kid Kennedy was assassinated.  When I was kid Martin Luther King was assassinated. When I was a kid Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

Detroit was on fire with riots and nearby Chicago and Gary were smoking hot with violence. The revolution was televised and rated V for violence!

When I was a kid..we had Students for a Democratic Society holding sit ins and maybe throwing a few bombs at the University.  Hippies, Draft Dodgers, Black Panthers, KKK, LSD, and Woodstock ("Don't take the brown acid"). The Chicago Democratic Convention and the National Guard shooting four dead at Ohio University.

When I was a kid we heard about War Hawks, Love ins and Napalm.  It was confusing.  And yet "The Beat Goes On." Beatles new record's a gas!  Somewhere in all this we had "The Summer of love."

When I was a kid we had Blues Mcgoos, The Association, Boxtops, Hendricks, The Doors, Yardbirds, The Byrds, Cream, Joplin, Shadows of night, The Animals, Dylan,
Aretha, Creedence Cleerwater, Temptations, the seeds, Cocker, Steppenwolf, James Brown, The Who,The Stones, The zombies, Ten years after, Jefferson Airplane, The Gaithers? (maybe they were later), and of course;  John Paul George and Ringo.

When I was a kid things were good. We still had "revivals".... "Well anyway, we didn't have cable and video games." (or seatbelts, and more died on the roads than in the Viet Nam War).  It's true we were outside playing all the known sports of the world. Back in our day we played Army. We put many miles on our bicycles, my mom would have been very upset, if she knew how far we had gone. Back then was the best of times!  Wasn't it?  We wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Life Without Me.

What if you could be invisible and could watch life happen without you?  I'm sure everyone could manage without me.  I wonder though would it be a better place. Would life be chaotic for not having me in it?

I've relived the movie: "It's a Wonderful life" a few times.  One minute I would think I'm worth more passed on than alive. Then here comes a miracle of someone else or I'm their shining knight. I then realize;  "I'm the richest man in town."

One moral of the story is to be patient.  Life is full of ups and downs.. It's a journey.  Someone said the journey is the destination.

Trust in God and do good!  The main need is to place our faith in Christ. Trusting in His work dieing on the cross. Live life saying; "The Lord is my shepherd."  Good times and and those..not so wonderful.

I love You

                   

Being in a community of people, whether they be friends, associates, and of course family is an important part of life.  To know and be known is completing and adds value to who you are.

Yet you can be lonely in a crowd.  Being viewed in public space is not necessarily building relationships.  The closer one gets into a private space is where we realize the best communion.  It is there we can have conversation and share ideas and news, when we might not in a public space from across the mall.

We can announce to the world, we love; our life's work, family, nation, Church and God!  At a party or family reunion , we enjoy working the room connecting and reconnecting with others of similar interests.

The best way to start any day is in relationship with God, speaking to Him in prayer and listening to Him from His Word.  We have a "letter" that let's us know; God so loved the world.  What better way to spend a day worshiping and letting Him know that you are thankful and love Him and the circle of life that you have been placed in.  We have that opportunity when the believers join together and worship.

In the yard you can see the birds male and female  creating a family.  It is amazing how they often feed each other and one builds a nest for the other. They  sit on a branch together for hours, without the need of a flock around them. 

Don't miss the opportunity to share time with another friend or spouse. Be intentional, tell someone, whether it is in prayer, across the room or softly whispered in the ear; "I love You."

My Home.

We live in a little house that was new when we purchased it.  We call it more than a house, it is our home.  They say a carpenter builds a house, but love builds a home.

We have made a choice to love and cherish each other, 'til death do us part.  Love for a home and each other went into every flower planted and even the place for each ornament that is in our yard.  Like most people, efforts big and small, are made to make your place unique to who you are. 

Our home is a place where the children can play and act silly (and their kids can to).  We also love merely  to sit inside and read or watch some television.  Mornings are spent at the table looking out at the little island of flowers or twelve inches of snow depending on what season it is.

We have had our occasional sharp words, birth, sickness and death.  Storms will come to beat against your house, as well as your home.

That's why it's a good idea early on; as a young adult or a remarrying senior adult , to develop good ethics and values, deciding long before a spouse is met, that God will be honored in your home.

"Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young-
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You." -Psalm 83:3,4.

The Growing Community.

In the past, travel and information took; hours ,days, weeks longer, than it does today.  Christopher Columbus would have gladly taken the umpteen hour flight by plane (we complain about), over the big pond,  to discover the new world!

Improvements and innovation from telegraph, radio, newspaper, Television to now the internet, news can appear from Africa to my house in the click of a "like" button or the entrance of a password. 


This speed and closeness brings an awareness of the good as well as the dreadful plight of our global neighbors that we would otherwise be oblivious to.  The tornado disasters of nearby states in the U.S.  to the unthinkable terrors of  Sudan.  Areas our Christlike hearts, should love, pray for, even weep over. When was the last time I did?  According to my blog statistics;  people from all around the world will read this writing today.

This awareness of many communities within your own borders would hopefully bring a concern and a heart for the multiple affinity groups that need prayer and ministry as well. Policemen, fire dept. bicycle riders, motorcyclists, book scrapping groups, cowboys, teachers, business leaders, unwed moms, senior citizens. The soldier, etc. etc.

The local and global communities are growing larger and closer.  The excuse "I didn't know,"  has been deleted.  Spiritual souls are dieing without the good news of Christ.  I need to be aware of everything from; Kings to third world hunger.  All need to hear about, see and experience, The love of God.

Let you and I take every opportunity, seizing this day, of reaching out to an expanding, as well as close, local and global neighborhood.

"And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching, Jesus as the Christ." - Acts 5:42.