DARE TO DREAM

   What do you want to accomplish in your lifetime?
   What is a goal you have in your mind that seems impossible to do?
   Do you want to write a book, or write a song?
   Do you want to be a chemical engineer, a school teacher, or a football coach?
   How long have you wanted to visit New York City for the first time?
   How long have you talked about going on a European vacation?
   Have you ever wanted to drive across the United States from sea to shining sea?
   What is a secret desire you have had locked away in your mind, for all of your life, that you have always wanted to do?
   How long have you been saying, "Playing piano looks like so much fun"?
   Have you ever said to someone, "Oh, I wish I could do that"?
   Have you ever thought about exercising your faith and taking that first step? 
   If you ever take the first step, the second step will be there.  You must try and you must make the effort to step forward; and when you step forward, you begin to put pieces in their places.  The pieces are there, but you will not see them until you take the first step. 
  Have you ever thought about asking God to help you to achieve an idea that you have had tucked away in your mind for years and perhaps for decades?  Perhaps it was God who placed that thought in your mind a long, long time ago.  And if God placed that idea in your mind, He will surely help you to bring it to pass, for this would be the will of God for you to accomplish in your lifetime. 
   So pick up a pen and begin to write the first words of a book, or the words of a song.  Begin to write your plans of how to become a chemical engineer, a school teacher, or a football coach.  Sketch some ideas of how to visit New York City, or places you want to see on a European vacation.
   No dream is too big or too far when your silent partner is God. 
  

A TRUE CONFESSION

   Just because I write a blog about God, about the Lord Jesus Christ, and about the Holy Bible, this does not mean that I live a perfect life, nor that I have overcome every obstacle there is to being human.  To say that I am would not be the truth.
   At best, I am human, just like every other person in the world, and I face many of the same issues of life that many people also face.
   I have happy days and I have days that are not happy.
   I have frustrations, dejections, rejections; times of total joy and times of sadness; times of laughter and times to weep.
   There are people I like and, in being honest, there are people I do not like.
   I enjoy the company of many people, and there are people I do not enjoy being with. 
   At times, too, I know there are people who do not like being with me. 
   I also deal with anger and disappointments. 
   Even though I try to get along with every person I meet, this does not mean that they want to get along with me; for I know there is something about me that is a magnet for others, but, there is also something about me that turns people toward another direction.  Is this situtation me, or is it them? 
   I also know that there are people who have never accepted me as I am.
   At best, I am human.  I am a work in progress and the work is not finished yet.
   You, also, are a work in progress and the work is not finished yet.
   So then, what will I become when the work in progress is finished?   I know not.  This is why I pray to God to help me in all of my life's situations and to understand more about the things that I do not understand; that the Lord will help me to be what He wants me to become, and that I will be able to see in others what the Lord sees in them.
   Yet, in all that I experience in my life, my faith in God does not change.  I rely on Him to help me in all that I do, in everything that I accomplish, as well as in all areas of my life that are in need of improvement:  that I will learn how to deal with all of my negative characteristics in order to be more like Him and less like me. 
   And this is my true confession for today.

ANOTHER PAR DAY

   This morning on the golf course, I was able to par the course for the second time within one month of my first par ever.
   What helped me to achieve this milestone was in making a 25-foot putt for the par of hole 8, a birdie on hole 9, but my shot of the day was when I capped an eagle on hole 2.
    I must tell you, however, that before I made the pitch for the eagle, I simply said, "Lord, help me to make this shot."  And the Lord helped me to do it.
   As I have been sharing with you, God wants to be part of our daily lives, in all that we do.  He wants to comfort us in our pain, but also to help us to have good success.
   God wants to be our partner, not an observer. 
   God is our friend, not an enemy.
   God is for us, not against us.
   Believe in God and your own world will change for the better.
   For me, another par day on the golf course would have never been possible had I not had my faith in God, beginning three years ago when I began playing golf at the age of 62.
   So to par a course at age 65 is not too shabby for an old man, is it?
   Please remember:  believe in God and keep believing in God and big things will happen in your life, and you will have an achievement in an arena that may come as a surprise to you, just as golf came as a surprise in my life.

LESSONS FROM GOD

   It is one thing to say that you believe in God, but how do you demonstrate your faith in God?
   It is one thing to study and learn the writings from the Holy Bible, but how do you demonstrate your biblical knowledge in your personal life as well as to help transmit this knowledge to others?
   Do others see God in you?
   Have you ever met a person that reminds you of Jesus? 
   Do others see enough of Jesus in you that would influence them to want to become a Christian?
   How do you treat others in your daily life---at home, at work, when you are on coffee break, or when you participate in sports?
   How do you treat your family members, or your children, or your parents? 
   What is your attitude about your brother-in-law or your mother's uncle?
   How do you repond to people when they are not nice to you?
   When you pray, what do you pray for?  And do you believe that God will answer your prayers?
   But what if God does not answer your prayers?  Or what if God does not answer your prayers with the answer that you anticipated?  Will you be angry with God for not answering your prayers the way you believe He should answer?
   What is God trying to teach you?  What is the lesson God is trying to get you to see and to understand? 
   Do you expect God to change the hearts and minds of others but not change you?
   Perhaps the prayers you pray for others are the prayers you need for yourself. 
   Perhaps as God is answering your prayers for others, He is also exercising a change in you.
   Are you prepared for a change within yourself?
   These questions I ask today are not only for you, but they are also for me. 
   If I am not willing to undergo a change from God, why should I expect God to help another person change?
   God gives us lessons every day.  How are we doing with our assignments?
  
  
  

STORYBOOKS

  Your life is a storybook and your life is your story.
   Not only is your storybook about you, it is also about others---people you meet in the story of your life.
   What do others see you doing in your storybook?  What do they hear you saying?  How do others see you acting and reacting to your situations?
   Some people have major roles in your storybook while others are minor players.  Some you love and embrace while others are kept at arm's length.  And there are some that you have erased.
   Your storybook is everything that you are, and every day that you live is another page in your life.
   As you live, you are writing your life's story.  Is every day another exciting entry about your life, or are you simply turning pages?
   Today, think about your storybook and what others are reading about you.  Are you sunshine on a cloudy day, or are you the thunder and lightning?  Do you bring joy, peace, and happiness to others, or do you bring contention, strife, and anger?  How do you treat others in your storybook?
   Beyond this, name the people who have had and have the most influence in your life?  Who are those who have inspired you to reach goals that you thought were unreachable?
   The Holy Bible is also a storybook.  It contains the story about God, but it also contains stories about people:  their agonies, but also their triumphs.  And the most important character in the Holy Bible is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
   In your own storybook, as you live each day, do you have chapters about Christ, or is He one of the people you have erased?
 

ALL IN A NAME

   In the history of the universe, no name is believed or not believed as much as the name of Jesus Christ. 
   Having said that, how many people in the world know your name?  And how many people will know your name in 2000 years?
   The teachings of Jesus have been received by people around the world, and the world has been a better place in which to live because of the people who have believed in Him.
   We know of Christ because of others---others who brought the message of Jesus to us, beginning in Jerusalem, and from there to the uttermost parts of the world, over the past 2012 years.  And the message of Jesus has never changed. 
   Jesus is the name you can trust.  The name you can believe.  The name that is holy.  The name that is above and beyond every name that has ever been spoken. 
  Trust in this name and some truly wonderful things will begin to happen in your life---both for today and for every day that you live, throughout your lifetime, and in the world that is yet to come.
   So.  Does who you know matter?
   Most definitely!
 

GOD KNOWS

     The Lord knows who you are, where you are, and everything about you.
     He knows your name, the number of hairs on your head, and the finger prints on your hands.
     Beyond this, God knows your DNA, your family tree, where your were born and when.
     He knows your pride, the last time you cried, and He knows the people that you know, too.
     For every thought you have had, for every word ever spoken, for every step ever taken, the Lord knows their numbers down to one.
     For all the things you have seen, He has seen them, too.
     He knows what you believe and stand for, and He knows what you do not believe and stand against.
     He knows your hurts, He knows your pains, and He knows the questions you are afraid to ask.
     For all that you know, He knows that, too. 
     He knows the books you read, the plans you have made, and the dreams you want to do.
     For all your disappointments, heartaches, and heartbreaks, He knows them better than you.
     He knows where you are wherever you are, and in the stillness of the hour, He is ever near.
     Among the billions of people on earth, you have His personal attention.
     Today is the first day of the rest of your life:  God knows your future.

O, HAPPY DAYS!

   These are the happiest days of my life!
   As I share this writing with you today, I want you to know that I am not bragging about anything; and neither am I taking credit for anything.
   Long before retiring three years ago, I did not know nor have a clue that my wife and I would own a home on a golf course.  Neither of us never discussed this matter, nor planned for this to happen; for we are not rich and neither are we living a life of expensive luxury.
   Years ago, too, I never thought about playing golf.  I watched golf matches on television and I always enjoyed and admired the way professional golfers played the game of golf.  But for me to play golf on a golf course?  That thought never entered my mind.
   In 2009, however, something happened.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, we were able to purchase a modest home on a nine-hole golf course in a small town. 
   In 2009, something else happened, suddenly and unexpectedly:  I played golf on a golf course for the first time in my life at the age of 62.  In so doing, I discovered a sport that I liked, that I enjoyed, and a sport that I believed I could play well if I was willing to learn how to play the game, along with work and practice. 
   Over the past three golf seasons, I have played approximately 36 holes of golf every day during the golf season.  I took lessons from a tremendous teacher of golf, I have have worked and practiced, and on May 24th of this year I was able to par the golf course for the first time. 
   For all that has happened in my life since I retired, I count it all a blessing from God. 
   What my wife and I believe is this:  the Lord had these blessings prepared for us a long, long time ago.  The Lord had these blessings hidden, as if they are presents for our latter years upon this earth.  We never did anything to deserve what we are receiving in these days and at this time.  This, we believe, is because of the grace of our Lord, out of His goodness and mercy.
   Whatever the Lord has for you at this time or for later, I do not know.  But whatever you are receiving now, or for whatever you will be receiving later, count it all joy.  And it counting it all for joy, remember to give thanks. 
   It is not what we do in life that matters most, but rather it is what God does for us that matters---far beyond what we think or assume.
   Have a great day!