Is you heart Soft or Hard?

 

September 8

 

The preacher came down the aisle holding two cans of putty, one contained putty which, had hardened after exposure to the air and the other was a new can that contained soft pliable putty. "When our hearts are open we are pliable and God can mold us like clay but when our hearts are neglected they become hard.”

I need to give up what I think I am and let God mold me into what He intends me to be.

 

Jeremiah said only with God's help can we be softened.  Jeremiah said God told him, “When you search for Me you will find Me; if you seek Me with all your heart!” (Jeremiah 29:13)

The only Birthday that counts

September 7

 

This is a very special day for Joy and me.  Pastor Pat baptizes us in our lake. We both emerge from the water shivering but it is not from the coolness of the water. We praise the Lord while we huddle together at the water’s edge draped in towels. We are all trembling with excitement and for good reason. This our Spiritual Birthday.

 

"He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:16)

"Indeed I baptize you with water unto repentance but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 3:11)

How do you explain this?

September 6

 

He had come to Providence to help my dad repair the front porch but after a day Papa felt he had to go home.He didn't know why he just knew he had to leave. Dad drove ‘Papa’ to the bus station.

The next day the deadly hurricane of 1938 hit the R.I. coast. All the phone lines were down so dad drove to Tiverton to find the bridge to Portsmouth gone. He rented a boat. On Papa’s road all the houses were crushed or gone, except one. Papa had boarded up the windows and he, his blind wife and daughter rode out the vicious storm safely.

What had urged for my grandfather to return home? He didn’t ever try to explain it.

 

“Whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil.”(Proverbs 1:33)
 

The Power of Prayer

 

September 5

 

Never underestimate the power of prayer.

A granddaughter in Connecticut, who has had diabetes since she was two, is rushed to the hospital. She doesn’t respond to treatment and is listed as critical.

I call a niece in Spokane for prayer. I pray and prepare to fly from Florida. The next day my son reports Jessica is doing so well the doctors are talking about letting her go home. My niece calls and before I can tell her the good news she says, “I have been praying most of the night for Jessica to be healed and back home by the weekend.”

 

‘If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14)

Enter the Kingdom

 

September 3

 

It’s time to leave the church fair. My three-year-old grandson wants to sit in the driver's seat of the fire truck-again.I carry him screaming and kicking to his stroller.

Joy leans over him and says, "Tommy calm down.” He stiffens and shudders a couple of times, wiped the tears from his eyes and softly repeats, "Tommy calm down." He takes Joy's hand and they walk  to our van. Later Joy says "I have never seen a child get in touch with himself like that, the Spirit was with him

“ I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." (Luke 18:17)

Wait on the Lord

 

September 2

 

Joy and I met and later were married in the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, Ct.. Since then many of life’s happiest and saddest moments have been connected with this 380-year old church,

 For many years every Sunday service began with the minister quoting Isaiah.

 

“Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.”

(Isaiah 40:31)

When your world stops

September 1

 It has been26 years today but in some ways it seems like yesterday.This is the day I receive the call every parent fears.  It is my former wife and she is hysterical.  Our youngest child, Steven, has died in a house fire. He was 18. The world stops. I’m numb. Tears flow freely.

 For many nights after the funeral, I tried to respond to the cards and notes. One night I threw down my pen dropped to my knees and cried out to God. That was the night my Shepherd took this broken lamb in His arms, coddled me and whispered in my ear, “Here I am.”

 

"You shall call and the Lord will answer; You shall cry and He will say Here I am."  (Isaiah 58:9)