randy777

Looking for inspiration for this answer and for my day. C U L8R O. K. I am back I went to a site that I go through to pull up an Oswald Chambers daily devotional and all of the page was there except for today's devotional. In it's place it said "error ()." So I clicked on a link that was to get to devotionals not ordered by date then maybe another link and then a link that said success which brought up a varity of devotionals on success and I clicked on one. I read it and extremely enjoyed it. I wish I had been there to see Peter walking on the water or that it was even as real to me as the idea of Harry Potter catching a train by running into a wall at platform eight and a half. When we fail to minister God uses rocks. So any way I finished reading it and thought how much more approprite the scene of Peter walking on the water was to my daily life in opposition to drawing strength from a movie of unknown origin and over on the left was a link to go to todays devotional and I thought I would read it too so I clicked on it and up popped the devotional I had just read. God is so good to give us what we need and to create ministers in so many places who breath in and breath out. Randy

Here on the Texas coast we occasionally get some winds that will move a person to and fro or anything else that might be in it's path. I have experianced a bit of that and have been in a bobtail going around a curve when a wind suddenly moved me one lane over. Praise God no one else was next to me. Another time I was coming over the causeway and watched a large Cadillac go up in the air, turn upside down and come down on it's top. Police and emergency crews were following it. Both of these were not even in storm conditions. We do have those storms too and you have all seen the news folks out standing in the wind. One of those came through and I watched a giant oak rise roots and all above the level of our house and turn to fall in the yard. I say all of this only to give a touch of a feeling as God has promised us to supply us with the words to say when we need them but also has told us to study while urging us not to worry. That feeling of having the answer and yet knowing that my studying did not prepare me for it because my mind is one that does not often have things in so neat a structure has though on occasion lifted me roots and all to give the word God has to pass through me and left me feeling like those three large things blown by the wind but without any ill effects except to say thank you and to study harder as even though God has given me the words I always am reminded by the experiance that I have not studied as I should.

What Biblical assurance of salvation can you offer the fruitless, barren "believer"? There is a passage that reads that some weed, others water, while others pick the fruit. If God has given you nothing to do but be grateful to him for your salvation then you may by having even attempted to change your life done a chore in the production that brings about the harvest. In general though I think we want to do more and I am guilty of that to the point that I covet a smile from the Father and have to watch my integrity as I seek it. I think it is important that we find our best plac of effort in the production but if we are capable of heart surgery but clening bathrooms is what is needed then we need to do a heart surgeons best on the bathroon cleaning. Randy

It is not hard for me to love others and I am thrilled when I see a member of the congregation I belong to but occasionally there are those with whom I miss a connection even though I believe them to be solid parts of the body I just find it difficult to fellowship with them. I think this is a type of elitism on my part in that for the most part I want them to think more highly of me but they are doing and thinking other things so when I having spent a lot of time talking to others or studying and talking to God on a particular matter voice some things they are not understanding me because that is not what they are about. To make this clearer let me say that I am not involved with any ministry on a regular basis at my church except for Sunday School and Church attendance and fellowships and Wednesday night but family work schedules have made that difficult lately. I volonteer in a support role for a career decisions workshop that meets at another local church and my career is based on the ministry of bringing growth through stability to the individuals, families, neighborhoods, and churches in the area. I have a lighthouse ministry of prayer which is not very active right now because it is so hot outside. There is a third ministry I believe needs to begin and I see some small growth as I continue to pray and mention it to others. Our church is growing and I and my family have been blessed to be a part of that on an ongoing and regular basis just not in one ministry over a long period of time. I am very uncomfortable in my church though mainly because I am not socially or economically like many of the members. Most folks such as myself do end up leaving the church with complaints that I could share as valid complaints but cannot share as reasons for leaving. There is a verse about not being offended when others do us wrong and for the most part those who do offend me do not mean to or even understand me enough to know if they have offended me but basically I just have to turn and not even look as far as the cross but just look at Christ and the disciples or Paul to see that they had similar difficulties in what they ate, wore, how they partied or worshipped so we just need to find ways to love each other better and know each other better. My first study with Pastor Ralph I was close to homebound and became even more homebound later but now I can get out and about pretty good but my health is not pefect so this contributes a lot to my not finding a regular ministry at my church but perhaps God has something else in mind.

For a person who played high school, college, and semi-pro football I have very little discipline when It comes to anything anymore. I have been working on getting back into a professional career I left over ten years ago and found working through the book on a purpose driven life and reading a Proverb for the day of the month were esential elements both in deciding to do that along with two ministry commitments as well. As I have begun to work at the career though I have found the discipline of a daily study has lagged as I have begun to meet other peoples time tables so I am strongly considering dropping back from those commitments unless I can find a way to meet my family commitments and my ministry commitments first. Most of these commitments are very unstructured and normally that is a good thing for me but I think I likely have too much time when I get distracted or for that matter I just get bored and tired so I go to sleep. Perhaps a return to the PDL or something similiar would be a good thing but more likely I just need to have a short MGFHH type devotional daily and a bit of quiet time and then get these puposes I have purposed to more organized as far as my own efforts and scheduling go. Randy

I perserver but since all of the other supports I continue to fall down in I persevere in a life that needs a lot of work. A lot of work has been done and at one time I thought I had it close to under control so from then on of course I have learned better. If I wake in the morning what should I do but persever so maybe more of the other stuff is there than I count because God reminds me he is there so that I will remember how much he has loved me and what I would be if he did not. I love people but most of the folks I know have a lot but they are in misery much worse than me because they do not have hope given by promises such as these or at least they are not put in a position such as myself where what else can I do but claim these promises and so if I do not wake up then that as Paul said is gain too and yet to live well that is not me but Christ.

Not to be selfish but I will talk about me first in that this morning I went out to complete a few task and my mind was on enjoying the beauty around me and it was odd that in fact God brought to me my true desire to enjoy what God has given me. Knowing what God has given me and not just being out to take what I want though are in conflict if I have not first moved to the place where what I want is what God wants for me. I could want to be a pastor or an elder or a deacon and occasionally I do covet those positions or at least what I perceive those positions to be but I am not blessed with those talents. I am blessed with encouragement, teaching, and preaching as well as many talents that I need to work on and that I need to be doing now so this is hopefully a piece of what God has this morning and if he has more later... fantastic. Randy

I am overwhelmed by the complexity of simple day to day life and yet have been blessed with a mind that can solve very complex problems. I wish I could just grin and relax and lay back floating in some pool of having been called but I fear that my particular calling has found a way to present complication because I thrive on the frustrations and the solutions provided both bu God's having given me my own set of solution finding equipment and those solutions that he presents before me as an Angel ready to kill me and a DONKEY brighter than I in those particular instances. He has called me for his purpose and he uses me to serve many purposes and if I will seek his ways then there is glory in the solutions and glory in the problems. Randy

He does provide us with what we need but I am so weak and messed up and listening selectively that I am like Elijah but at least ten to twelve times a day seeking the next step and finding God has already provided the answer but then seeing the prophets of Baal and the soldiers and might of the other side and looking for the desert to run in. My own daughter had a small heart operation last year and we were blessed with what God and modern medicine do together. I will add that family to my prayers. I preach often to individuals of faith like Daniel's not to seek a furnace but just to know and be able to rest in the fact that my God can preseve me and if he choses not to he is still God. Randy (P. S. - I f he does not preserve me here on this side of the Jordan he has not lost )

The comments made here have been very good and I only add mine as an exercise which in itself answers the question in a small manner. Two verses come to mind and please forgive me for the very rough memory. One is the question of who will love more which was answered the one who is forgiven more and the other is of faith being the hope of things not yet seen. My sins no matter how small I might like to view them were taken on by Christ and he would have died for them if they were the only sins. My gain is the same gain if I come to the field early or late and my damnation would be no smaller had I not come to the field or if I had come with less of a burden to be removed. As I face each day Satan choses to attack me because I am loved by God and forgiven by God and each day I seek new forgiveness as I forget how much I am loved and as I chose through my own lack of grabbing hold of that preciousness in the chain of events that are layed before me. Randy

My name is Randy and I live in Texas. I have been a part of a few other studies with Pastor Ralph and am looking forward to this one.