GREENE STREET LETTERS: Heartbeats

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Heartbeats

Ecclesiastes 3:2
A time to be born and a time to die.....a time to plant and a time to harvest.

Heartbeats......
We take them for granted, don't we.
We assume that there will be another, followed by another....
But if you stop and think about your heartbeat, you'll come to the same conclusion that I have.
We have two things going on at the same time with each beat of our heart.
The number of beats that have taken place since our birth is increasing. We're counting up with each beat.
But at the same time, the number of beats we have left is decreasing as we near the end of our life.
So to me, each heartbeat is like a little gift from God.
I get to live for another beat....
I get to draw breath here on planet earth for one more beat.

So if these "beats" are a gift....
Am I using the benefit of life in the right way?
Or am I simply coasting through my number of beats doing what I want to, saying what I want to, and believing what I want to, with no regard to anyone else. In other words, am I spending all my "beats" by being selfish? Self centered? Without any thought of the One who has given me life?

Do I let my circumstances and situations I face dictate my gratitude, or lack of it.
Am I a bitter person because life didn't turn out like I thought it should?
Or do I accept my blame for the bad decisions I made, and turn my face to God to make the best of what life I have left...

Do I waste my heart beats so I can hurt others?
Do I live my life blaming everyone and everything for my mistakes. Do I take it out on the very ones who love me? Using words and emotions to wound and hurt the ones who either have tried, or are trying to help me so I can feel better about my life. Making others miserable because I am miserable.
That is not life...
That is not what heartbeats are given for.

I love the words of Ephesians 4:1 - Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will give grace (or encouragement) to those who hear them
I want everyone around me to know that I love them.
I want everyone around me to know that God loves them.
I want to be the man God created me to be....
A man who is about his Father's business....
A man who does not waste the heartbeats he is given.

God on you.....
mbb

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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.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Heartbeats

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD