GREENE STREET LETTERS: 59.....whoa!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

59.....whoa!

Yep! That's me. Yep! I'm posing. This was taken at a get-together at Tom and Charlotte Beaubes one Sunday afternoon. I don't remember who took the picture, but I do remember them saying, "Look smart."
I guess this is as close to "smartness" as I can come.
Find myself turning 59 today.
Strange and yet kind of want to celebrate that I have made it this long (all the while truly in touch with the simple fact God has given me 59 years.) How many more do I get? I don't know.

I kind of like the verse that closes out the book of Job. Chapter 42/ verse 17 - Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, good life. King James version reads "Job died an old man full of years." I like that phrase "Full of years." Gracious knows Job had his share of trouble and grief and sorrow, yet here in end he was full of years. In others words, through the grace of God, Job overcame and endured till his time was up. What more could a body ask for? To lay hold of God's grace and let it take you all the way.

The one thing that has become really clear to me as the years have piled up is that "stuff" doesn't mean as much to me any more. I still like having things, but I don't focus on what I don't have or can't get. I seem to be more content and enjoy family more than ever. Vicki and I went out to supper with my brother and his wife Friday night and it was just a great time to be together. To share some updates about what is going on in our respective lives, laugh a little and enjoy a good meal. That seems to be more of my heart these days. Just being around the folks I love.

What more could you ask for.
I think I'll go have me some birthday Banana Pudding!

God on you...
mb

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Happy birthday, Michael! You have been a blessing to so many lives you have touched through Rapha and the Vineyard and House of Blues. Just feel the love today on your special day! God's Peace and wisdom to you and your family as you fulfill your full years!; October 26, 2010 at 4:33 PM
Greene Street Letters said...: I Have been undone by the number of people who have wished me a happy birthday. I truly am blessed beyond measure to have friends and family as I do.I pray that I can be the friend, the husband, the father, the brother, the grandfather that God wants me to be.
mb; October 26, 2010 at 8:22 PM

Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

59.....whoa!

2 comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD