All I can do is place my trust in Him. I understand that life doesn’t always unfold as we expect, and there are moments when I create chaos for myself. I make mistakes, say the wrong things, or, out of impatience, try to control or manipulate situations. Yet, I find myself longing for things to change or for progress to happen more quickly. I envy what others have and continually pray for God to lead me to a different place or circumstance. It’s easy to believe that the grass is greener on the other side—at least it is for me.
As a child, I often dreamed of being rich. Growing up in a family that didn’t have much, we were still filled with love and happiness. Yet, I held onto the hope that I would somehow achieve great wealth. Now, reflecting on my life, I realize how rich I truly am and how much God has blessed me. Throughout my life’s journey, He has been providing for and caring for me. I was so focused on what lay beyond the fence that I overlooked the blessings, the people, and even the struggles that have shaped my path to that comfortable green spot.
God is in control! I haven’t missed anything. I am rich, and I am blessed by God. I am precisely where He wants me to be, and I always have been. Sometimes, we become so fixated on our desired destination that we neglect to appreciate the experiences and lessons along the journey. I see it clearly now—I am “the richest man in town.”
Thank you, Lord, it is a wonderful life.
We should give thanks daily, not just at Thanksgiving. We are reminded this time of the year to be thankful, and that is good, but all through our lives we must stop and thank God for his love and mercy, and his unlimited grace. Unlike us we have limits, our love is conditional, there are boundaries. We only get a taste or glimpse of God’s unconditional love by our love for our children. We love them no matter what, even through their brokenness, and that is image God’s grace.
I usually write or speak about my daughters. I have also included them in many of my sermon illustrations, they are a gift and I am thankful. But this Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for the men that God has sent to my daughters, my son-in-laws. They are truly a gift to my daughters and our family. They are answers to our prayers. Sabrina and I started praying when our daughters were little girls, praying for their understanding of God, their life, their struggles, and their spouses. We had ideas of what we wanted for each of them, and most importantly, a man who loved God first, before them. Then we prayed for their character and personalities, asking God to bless them with the right guy. And as always, God is faithful, He answer’s prayers in his way and in his time, and bringing to mind that our ways are not his ways. We thank God for that…he answered in his time, and he answered perfectly. Far beyond what we prayed for they are both perfect for our daughters, (not perfect…God is still working on them), but he blessed them with the right husbands, and us with the right son-in-laws.
We love them, and we thank God for them, they are a blessing, and we give thanks to God the Father, who sent his son, Jesus Christ, so that we would be made right with God. His way is perfect… we should give thanks.
During this holiday season, I find myself missing my mom and dad, as well as my beloved golden doodle, Latte, who passed away just a couple of months ago. It is truly a heartfelt sense of loss and sorrow, but more than that, it’s an overwhelming longing—a deep yearning to see them again. While there’s an emptiness in my heart, I also sense that what I truly miss goes beyond them. They were dearly loved figures in my life, yet there’s a deeper desire that stirs within my soul.
Perhaps this longing is a glimpse of eternity. Maybe God uses our feelings of missing loved ones and pets to guide us toward understanding our innate desire to be with our Creator. We yearn for wholeness and completeness in His presence. The absence of God’s fullness in our lives leaves us feeling incomplete, and we long for that connection.
Though there are people and pets I miss, this yearning is a divine reminder. It reveals the desire in my heart to draw closer to Him. This longing is a Kingdom passion, preparing me for what is to come. As Mary proclaimed, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” In these words, I find strength and hope amidst my longing.
It’s a season of giving gifts! I was reminded of one of the all-time favorite gifts I received as a child the other day. I must have been 5 or 6 years old, and that Christmas my parents got me an army man set, a helmet, a gun with a bayonet, a canteen, a utility belt with grenades and a compass, and maybe a few more things an army man might need to carry. It was the best gift and I was so excited to have it. I was determined to take it with me to my grandparents house in Waco. So we loaded up in our red station wagon and headed down the road from Tucumcari, NM. Early in the trip I am suited up, equipped and ready just in case we run into any battles or trouble. I roll down my window, (we use to do that), and stick my head out, (we didn’t wear seat belts in the 60’s), yelling CHARGE, and my helmet flew off my head. All of the sudden I was in retreat, crying and screaming to my parents that my helmet blew off. My siblings were laughing, my dad was mad, and mom showed compassion to ask my dad to turn around and go back and get it. The rest of story…we found it, my dad was still mad, my big brother called me a dummy, and all my battles were inside the station wagon the rest of the trip.
I have received a lot of gifts over the years, fun, exciting, wonderful gifts. I don’t remember any of them, but at the time I’m sure they were great. But gifts are not always a present, or a pair of socks. I have so many friends, and the people that I work with that are precious gifts, treasures, a blessing in my life. I have the gift of a beautiful family, a home, a job, and my health. These are all gifts, and I am so thankful.
Many times in our life we don’t stop to reflect and think about the many gifts we have received, they are just taken for granted. Even the giftedness that we all have, talents, abilities, and personalities that bless people around you. They are gifts, and so valuable to you and to others. They have been given to us. So there must be a giver—who gave us these things? Family, friends, a neighbor, a stranger…God? ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
In all of creation, and all of our life’s, we will not receive a greater gift. God sent his Son down to earth as a child so that we could have a relationship with him. Sin has separated us from God, but a Savior has been born to make us right with God. We have been rescued, we have received a gift. The gift of salvation, of eternal life with God.
My prayer for many of my friends and neighbors, and people that I meet daily, is that they will receive the gift, Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all. “For God so loved the world that he gave.”
I love gifts, God gave me the gift, and it is the most wonderful, life changing gift I will ever receive and never forget.
Thank you Lord…what a gift!
My little grandson was going to a new school this week and he was so excited! I guess if he could really share his thoughts he would say, “things were looking up.” He was hoping on a fun day and a fun place. Then it happened…as he was walking into the building he fell and hit his head on the curb. Wow, what a start—an “owie”, tears, and a bump on the head. Not the way he had planned on starting out at his new school. Life doesn’t always go as we had hoped. And when it doesn’t we all react differently, and that is based on what we have placed our hope in.
Many people lose hope! Nearly 50,000 Americans committed suicide in 2022, the “highest number ever recorded in the United States,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which shows that the majority of suicides were men. Men who had lost hope in life and the things they had hoped in. Men who had placed their hope in something or someone and that something failed them, or deceived them, or walked out on them. In this life, we will fall and fail, we will be deceived by the promises and powers of this world, and there are times when people walk out of our life’s or just pass on. And all along we have held on to those things and people as the source of our happiness and the source of hope for our lives. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon was saying, “There is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely: no thing, no pleasure, or no relationship.” True hope, real hope only comes through a personal relationship with Christ.
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, we celebrated at my church by lighting a candle of hope. My prayer for my grandson is that he will someday put his trust and hope in Christ, (not this world), and that Christ would light that “candle” in his heart and that he would give him an understanding of the truth that “Christ in you” is our “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
By the way, because he was so excited about his new school he recovered quickly, and as he walked down the hall with his mom, this little 2 year old boy said, “I’m ok mom…”. And you and I will be ok as we begin to understand and experience the risen Lord Jesus and his transforming hope.
Don’t lose hope…hope in God.
The 2023 holiday season is here and moving fast. I love this time of the year, I have so many wonderful memories as a child and as an adult. The best one is always about my dad stopping us and asking us as a family, “what is God doing in your life?” His words and his life always revolves around hope in God, and how God would always care for us. His words, always moved me to hope.
A lot of people are gathering with friends and family, they are shopping for Christmas, planning parties, and happy to have a little break time from work. Then there are others, they are away from their family, or even estranged from them, lonely, struggling with addictions and life, broken and feeling hopeless. These are not people you don’t know, these are friends, neighbors, a co-worker, or maybe even a family member.
Where will they find hope? Where will they find true peace? They will search, you and I have searched and our searching has always come up empty. We think that this life and the things around us will bring joy and fulfillment, and they never have, only a temporary pause. The gifts we receive at Christmas are fun and exciting for a moment but they never last.
The only lasting joy and true happiness come in Christ, the Son of God who gave his life on the cross to free us from this life of emptiness and brokenness. Our hope comes in Christ who was resurrected, who came out of the grave, who defeated death that we might have life, not temporary but eternal, life-everlasting. This is hope, he is our hope, he is the hope we all need. He is the hope my dad wanted for us.
The holiday season is here, and I am thankful for my hope, but I can’t just hold on to my hope, I have to give it away, show it, live it, tell others about it. If you have Christ, you have what others need in this season and in their life…hope in God.
Let me ask you a question…what is God doing in your life? He bring hope to us.
Hope in God…
It just does! One moment you are celebrating a new marriage with joy and happiness, the next, you are having a funeral, and in sadness and loss, you are remembering a life well lived. There are times when life is just smoothly moving along, and then there are times, we feel every ache and pain and sickness that comes our way. Life just changes, and even though we may get better at coping with those changes, changes come and life gets complicated and brings on emotional heaviness. The result may be loss of sleep and rest, and you begin to reflect on your humanness. Even in happiness and joy, when a baby arrives, or you have a new job, or starting something new in your life, these changes still weigh on us, we feel them and live them out.
With those changes comes growth, challenge, and struggle. It’s like a butterfly coming out of the cocoon, a metamorphosis of hope. Thinking and believing that in that process, change will bring good to us, and a new life. I believe that God uses all of it. Sometimes it is not what I want, but life changes, it just comes, and all of sudden we are in it. And I mean we are in it!
I have never been afraid of change. In fact I have embraced it at times and looked forward to it. I have learned, endured, and struggled through those changes, and yet survived and moved on. Scripture says, “all thing work together for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Why would God use change in our lives? Could those changes be for a purpose, and could he not use the sadness as well as the joy to bring change in my life? Could he not use the times of being in the dumps and loss to call to me, to redirect my steps, my thoughts, my heart?
Sometimes change is hard, but if the Lord can use it to bring me to him, Lord, I want it. Lord, I need it. No matter what, life changes. I just celebrated my grandson’s two-year old birthday, the same weekend of Mother’s Day, the first one without my mom being here. It was a lot of internal emotion going on, but I trust in God, he is my lead and my direction when life changes. I do know there are good and healthy ways to help you get through change, but God must be our first step in dealing with change.
I just have to keep on trusting him…life changes, but I know he is in it, I know he can use it, and I know he will be glorified through it.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on you down understanding; in all you ways, (all your changes) submit to him, and he will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Come and see! My daughter and son-in-law told us to come and see him. Pa rum pum pum pum…
Joy, excitement, determined, my grandson, Micah, was so happy to be there. This was his first time to perform…it was a simple act. And we were there to see it all. He had come to give it his all and to be a part of something he had never done or seen before. Micah was turning 4 years-old and ready to celebrate the season, and his birth. He didn’t really understand it all but he came to sing and do his best.
Sometimes in our adult living we forget to bring our best or decide not to bring our finest gifts. I was taught to do my best to honor to my parents and most importantly to please God. In everything I do I should be lifting up God in my efforts, just like this little boy did. It wasn’t much, it was just his simple and obedient desire to please his parents and family. He simply gave out of what he had to offer. Pa rum pum pum pum…
So, as his family watched (and unashamedly waved and smiled at him), he sang, and he performed, and he gave himself to the moment. He sang his best, and it was good, and it brought smiles and joy to his family. Then I realized this was not for us this was a moment he was performing for Jesus, he was singing his best for Him. He was created to bring praise to God and he did, to the King of Kings, the one who was born for us. We should sing, and act, and live our best for him. Pa rum pum, pum, pum.
It was a simple act…just his voice and his smile.
Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum. A new born king to see, pa rum pum, pum, pum. I played my best for him…
A heroine is a woman who is admired for great strength, courage, achievements, and noble qualities.
How did she do it? It was a great effort and struggle, very demanding at times, frustrating, and sometimes very difficult. Yet, it was her love and devotion that she had learned in her family that carried her through all the years of caring for our mother. Annette is the heroine of our family!
Mom lived a long time, 98 years, and my sister, Annette, lived with her for many years. To add to it, mom lost her hearing many years before she passed away. Annette would do a lot of yelling and then do it again, and then maybe again. Mom not only lived a long time, but she was relatively healthy and on the go. This meant that Annette was also required to be on the go. She accompanied her to the store, to doctors’ appointments, to church, and maybe some occasional shopping. Mom was an incredible cook, so Annette also has become an amazing cook. Mom loved plants and gardening and would work in her gardens, so Annette also fell in love with plants and gardening. All along the way, my sister was caring for mom, mom was caring for Annette and instilling in her these noble and wonderful qualities of being a devoted and loving daughter and caretaker.
I know Annette would tell you that there were some difficult and stressful times. She may even admit there were a few days they both wished they were somewhere else. But, I also know Annette loved her dearly and cherished every moment God gave her with mom. She learned so much and has become like mom in so many ways. She is a heroine, and our family is so indebted to her for all the minutes, hours, days, months, and years that she cared for mom.
She was amazing…she is amazing. We will miss mom’s strength and will to live, but we still see it. She is with us, and she is my sister, a rock…the heroine of our family.
It just wasn’t the same, it didn’t feel right. The first night I slept in my moms house after she passed away was such a feeling of being lost, alone, without. My siblings and I had become ophans. It wasn’t like we knew the day would never come, her life was failing and ebbing out of her, yet we held on. She was our mom and our family and our home. She was a feeling of comfort and belonging that God had given us.
I know everyone goes through these times, some earlier than others, in fact, God blessed us with mom for 98 years. How could we not be thankful for all of those years and memories of having mom. Yet, now we have lost her, and things will be different. We will feel her absence each time the family comes together. The kitchen where she cooked, the table where we sat and ate with her, the living room where we gathered as family to talk and laugh and watch her beloved Rangers baseball team, it will all be different without her.
But, she left something with us…alone but not without. We may be orphaned but her spirit, and her smile, and her wittiness, wisdom, love, and let’s not forget her cooking are still with us. These are all gifts of the legacy she lived in front of us. The greatest gift she left us was her love for God, her faithfulness even through her suffering is important for us to hold on to the rest of our lives. She has fought the good fight, (and it was a fight in those last days), she finished the race, the race and life that God had set out before her, she kept the faith.
She will be missed, she is already missed, but she left us so much. And God used all of her days to show us his great love and grace for us. We are orphaned, she is gone from this earth and we are alone… but not without.
I held her hand, brushed her face, kissed her cheek and told her I would see her again soon. Thank You Lord, for giving me such a beautiful mom as a gift to me and our family, just like you gave your Son…to show us your love.
God is our help 