"Where Have I Been?"

Well, well....the prodigal son has returned! Just had to go off and have an adventure, didn't you?
No, not really...It wasn't any of my doings to not post to this blog for a number of days.
It wasn't me taking time off to cool my jets, or refuel for the long haul.
It was a computer that was older than dirt, that refused a new bit of software.
Poor ol' thang, just couldn't hang with the new stuff.
It crashed.....(the computer)
It burned......(It crashed again)...
Several thousands of people were injured trying to save it...
But alas, time and Microsoft had moved on, leaving my computer standing in the shadows like some kind of jilted bride whose husband to be had run off with someone new.

In other words, I'd gotten just about as much mileage out of our old computer as I could. It just couldn't go on any more. So it gave a loud computer burp and then shut down. There in the silence, staring at a blank screen, I knew that I had just witnessed the death of a machine. Oh, well after a nano second of grief and remembrance.....it suddenly dawned on me..."We can get a new one!!!". Out with the old and in with the new. Such is the march of time and progress. 

Psalm 101:6
My eye shall be on the faithful of the land. That they may dwell with Me. He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve Me.

God's heart and focus is toward those who do more than show up to church on Sunday to warm a pew.. God's heart and focus is toward those who keep their minds and hearts always focused on Him. Those who, when hard times come, can truly say, "My God is good!". Not an easy task I might add, but one that keeps peace and Grace at the center of life. Such people are not swayed by the hard winds of life, that seem to come out of nowhere and bring destruction with them. I want to be like Job when the hard times come. To be able to be overcome with grief, but like Job, sit down in the dirt and worship the Lord. To be able to say, "God is good during the good times....and He is good during the dark, hard times."

Does God love everyone? Yes.
We have the "God so loved the world" verse to prove it....
But God's heart is that we all draw so close to Him, that you can't tell us apart. Salvation is the process by which we are Spiritually placed in Jesus, and He in us.  My goal is to disappear. Less of me, and more of Him. I really could care less if anyone remembers me after I've died. But I pray that they never forget my Jesus. That something I said during one of my times of teaching would plant a seed deep inside a heart, and that the seed would come forth at the proper time to produce the fruit of God's choosing.

John 15:5 - I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing.
Everything I need to survive the day is found in Jesus.
He is the source of all spiritual nourishment to me.
He is my "High Priest" who goes before the Father on my behalf, taking my prayers and petitions.
Where else would I go when life gets hard?
I know my own capabilities and how I only mess things up when I try to run my life.
I have seen the faithfulness of God all throughout my life. Why would I want to go anywhere else? Well, I don't. I will chase this Jesus in the good days....and I will lay hold of Him and walk through whatever darkness comes my way in the bad days.
I think maybe you can take that to the bank....God's faithfulness that is.

God on you...
mbb