A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds. Her husband trusts her without reserve, and never has reason to regret it. When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say, and she always says it kindly. Her children respect and bless her; her husband joins in with words of praise: "Many women have done wonderful things, but you've outclassed them all!" Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades. The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God. Give her everything she deserves! Festoon her life with praises! (Proverbs 31:10, 11, 26, 28-31 MSG)

God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. How exquisite your love, O God! How eager we are to run under your wings, To eat our fill at the banquet you spread as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water. You're a fountain of cascading light, and you open our eyes to light. Keep on loving your friends; do your work in welcoming hearts. (Psalm 36:5-10 MSG)

Justice makes no sense to the evilminded; those who seek God know it inside and out. It's better to be poor and direct than rich and crooked. Practice God's law-get a reputation for wisdom; hang out with a loose crowd-embarrass your family. God has no use for the prayers of the people who won't listen to him. Lead good people down a wrong path and you'll come to a bad end; do good and you'll be rewarded for it. You can't whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them. A tenderhearted person lives a blessed life; a hardhearted person lives a hard life. Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds, but for one who hates corruption, the future is bright. Walk straight-live well and be saved; a devious life is a doomed life. Doing Great Harm in Seemingly Harmless Ways In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated far more than bootlicking flattery. A grasping person stirs up trouble, but trust in God brings a sense of well-being. If you think you know it all, you're a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others. When corruption takes over, good people go underground, but when the crooks are thrown out, it's safe to come out. (Proverbs 28:5-7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 23, 25, 26, 28 MSG)

God met me more than halfway, he freed me from my anxious fears. Look at him; give him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from him. When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot. God's angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray. Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see-how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him. Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness. God keeps an eye on his friends, his ears pick up every moan and groan. Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you. If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there; if you're kicked in the gut, he'll help you catch your breath. Disciples so often get into trouble; still, God is there every time. He's your bodyguard, shielding every bone; not even a finger gets broken. God pays for each slave's freedom; no one who runs to him loses out. (Psalm 34:4-9, 15, 17-20, 22 MSG)

Poem from movie "Act of Valor"

Go see this movie Act of Valor to get the the real life tale this poem inspired.
"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." -
-- Tecumseh

Thrive for depending on God

Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! For God's Word is solid to the core; everything he makes is sound inside and out. Earth-creatures, bow before God; world-dwellers-down on your knees! God takes the wind out of Babel pretense, he shoots down the world's power-schemes. God's plan for the world stands up, all his designs are made to last. Blessed is the country with God for God; blessed are the people he's put in his will. Horsepower is not the answer; no one gets by on muscle alone. Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He's ready to come to their rescue in bad times; in lean times he keeps body and soul together. We're depending on God; he's everything we need. Love us, God, with all you've got-that's what we're depending on. (Psalm 33:1, 2, 4, 8, 10-12, 17-20, 22 MSG)

Words to the wise

You grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel that's none of your business. When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down. A quarrelsome person in a dispute is like kerosene thrown on a fire. Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you want junk like that in your belly? Smooth talk from an evil heart is like glaze on cracked pottery. Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend, all the while conniving against you. When he speaks warmly to you, don't believe him for a minute; he's just waiting for the chance to rip you off. No matter how cunningly he conceals his malice, eventually his evil will be exposed in public. Malice backfires; spite boomerangs. (Proverbs 26:17, 20-27 MSG)

Safe in His arms

Get down on my level and listen, and please-no procrastination! Your granite cave a hiding place, your high cliff aerie a place of safety. You're my cave to hide in, my cliff to climb. Be my safe leader, be my true mountain guide. Free me from hidden traps; I want to hide in you. I've put my life in your hands. You won't drop me, you'll never let me down. Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God! Warm me, your servant, with a smile; save me because you love me. What a stack of blessing you have piled up for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. Blessed God! His love is the wonder of the world. I panicked. "Out of sight, out of mind," I said. But you heard me say it, you heard and listened. Love God, all you saints; God takes care of all who stay close to him, But he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon. (Psalm 31:2-5, 14, 16, 19, 21-24 MSG)

What a God!

God, you pulled me out of the grave, gave me another chance at life when I was down-and-out. All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter. You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can't thank you enough. (Psalm 30:3-5, 11, 12 MSG)

Thoughts from Whitney Houston's funeral

I'm streaming tears after hearing R. Kelly's rendition of Whitney Houston's last publicly available recorded song, "I Look to You." Whitney's life is a portrait of love and struggle. Her much publicized struggles easily blind us to the contrast of virtue and vice which we each are. Hers-ours- is a story of struggle yet grace. As we remember Whit's life, we need a revelation. We, the people we touch and relate with are people of struggle-people, not defined by their individual struggles but by our place as created beings-born to fill God's purpose and destiny. An honest appraisal of Whitney's life leads us to look inward and freshly reconsider where, who we are publicly and who we are in private do not synch. Whitney's addictions were well known, but ours are less known, whether they be the praise of others, personal ease, or other things; we each are addicts in some measure. Truth be told, we need to be honest with ourselves regarding where we are and where we're headed. Are our lives truly straight lines? Are we emptying our lives of what drains them? Duty, Christ's giving life, a heart for being our best requires we look to Christ to change us from the inside out. It was comforting to hear of Whitney's progress toward the end of her life-swimming, vocal exercises, kicking even cigarettes-preparing herself for a new break come August; at her life's sunset she was moving in the right direction. Ours is a simple responsibility. The onus on us is to continue becoming all we can be. Part of this is addressing the unseemly parts of us we know of and those blind spots others reveal to us. Listening to the song "Tomorrow" by the Winans reminds me of the first duty of every living human-to make sure of their standing with God. Heaven is available to all, who begin a personal relationship with Christ; but this is merely the beginning. To begin a walk with God is to begin a process of God-induced change, which the holy Spirit is powerful to help us make good on. Allow Christ to help you follow through on the personal development He is pouring into you. We are gifts to the world. Blessed bountifully, we need to ensure we are gifts that keep on giving by becoming the persons God destined us to be. His heart is that deep within we know that we're truly becoming all we ought be. Other will have their personal impressions of us, but are we growing, becoming, conquering as we should? Tomorrow may be too late. The time is today to tap Christ's power and morph into the mirror images of Christ we were created to be. What a special day to see Christ's Gospel preached freely on national television. His words-His life-is transforming. Let's start a revolution a- a revolution of honest, changed living-today.

Life in the Psalms-life close to God

Light, space, zest-that's God! So, with him on my side I'm fearless, afraid of no one and nothing. When besieged, I'm calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I'm collected and cool. I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet. That's the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. God holds me head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down. I'm headed for his place to offer anthems that will raise the roof! Already I'm singing God-songs; I'm making music to God. Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs: "Be good to me! Answer me!" When my heart whispered, "Seek God," my whole being replied, "I'm seeking him!" Don't hide from me now! You've always been right there for me; don't turn your back on me now. Don't throw me out, don't abandon me; you've always kept the door open. Point me down your highway, God; direct me along a well-lighted street; show my enemies whose side you're on. Stay with God! Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again: Stay with God. (Psalm 27:1, 3-9, 11, 14 MSG)

Timeless wisdom

A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank. The payoff for meekness and Fear-of-God is plenty and honor and a satisfying life. Point your kids in the right direction-when they're old they won't be lost. Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor. God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship. God guards knowledge with a passion, but he'll have nothing to do with deception. The mouth of a whore is a bottomless pit; you'll fall in that pit if you're on the outs with God. Exploit the poor or glad-hand the rich-whichever, you'll end up the poorer for it. The Thirty Precepts of the Sages Don't Move Back the Boundary Lines Don't gamble on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hocking your house against a lucky chance. Observe people who are good at their work-skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don't take a back seat to anyone. (Proverbs 22:1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 26, 29 MSG)

Instant inspiration

Clear my name, God; I've kept an honest shop. I've thrown in my lot with you, God, and I'm not budging. Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I'm fit inside and out So I never lose sight of your love, But keep in step with you, never missing a beat. You know I've been aboveboard with you; now be aboveboard with me. I'm on the level with you, God; I bless you every chance I get. (Psalm 26:1-3, 11, 12 MSG)

Such great wisdom from Proverbs 21

Good leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; he directs it to whatever ends he chooses. We justify our actions by appearances; God examines our motives. Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors mean far more to God than religious performance. Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind. Make it to the top by lying and cheating; get paid with smoke and a promotion-to death! Mixed motives twist life into tangles; pure motives take you straight down the road. Do Your Best, Prepare for the Worst Wicked souls love to make trouble; they feel nothing for friends and neighbors. Simpletons only learn the hard way, but the wise learn by listening. A God-loyal person will see right through the wicked and undo the evil they've planned. If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered. A quietly given gift soothes an irritable person; a heartfelt present cools a hot temper. Whoever wanders off the straight and narrow ends up in a congregation of ghosts. You're addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied. What a bad person plots against the good, boomerangs; the plotter gets it in the end. Whoever goes hunting for what is right and kind finds life itself-glorious life! One sage entered a whole city of armed soldiers-their trusted defenses fell to pieces! Watch your words and hold your tongue; you'll save yourself a lot of grief. You know their names-Brash, Impudent, Blasphemer-intemperate hotheads, every one. Sinners are always wanting what they don't have; the God-loyal are always giving what they do have. Religious performance by the wicked stinks; it's even worse when they use it to get ahead. Unscrupulous people fake it a lot; honest people are sure of their steps. Nothing clever, nothing conceived, nothing contrived, can get the better of God. Do your best, prepare for the worst-then trust God to bring victory. (Proverbs 21:1-3, 5, 6, 8, 10-14, 16-18, 21-24, 26, 27, 29-31 MSG)

Let us grow in love

If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (1 Corinthians 13:2, 5, 13 MSG)

There is no remedy for love but to love more. Henry David Thoreau

Life Lessons I've Learned to Live by

1. People do care about what you do for them but are more touched by how you make them feel.
2. Life is more than our personal accomplishments; it's more about the people we touch.
3. God is more concerned with your seeking Him and relating to Him through every day; to settle for anything less is to be defined by what you do, not a living, vibrant walk with Him.
4. Your spouse and kids needs to see and feel how important they are to you; see and feel their needs before they do and meet those needs; this is the best way to show love.
5. You always can care more for others; when in doubt care more.
6. If your spouse isn't happy, you'll never truly be; the best way to be real and transparent is to live selflessly committed to your spouse's happiness.
7. Life without Christ at the center feels like an intimate dance with someone, who's not your spouse; it's stimulating but a guilt trip-not a vacation.
8. Take pains to show those who take a close interest in you how much you care, trust me you have God; but they're the ones who will be Him to you when times get tough.
9. Live near to God as you walk and talk-this is the only way you can be consistently gracious with others.
10. Forget think outside the box, find your own box; God uniquely forged into you a special element with which you can revolutionize your world; life is about finding your special dimension and building others.
11. Live to touch others; it's the only sure way to soar high with happiness.

How We See Others Matters Mark 6:1-6

“Close your eyes and see”
Mark 6:1-6

The Bible teaches us that what we perceive others to be goes a long way to either helping or hurting the way we relate to them.

Scripture is replete with stirring pictures, pointing us to our need to guard how we perceive others; for our judgments of them are often flawed.

How we see others matters.

Mark provides us a real time movie reel of Jesus on the move. We see Christ, the anointed One of God speaking life and healing into those, who gave him listening attention. He bubbled with passion for the good of His countrymen-healing even those with little or no belief in His power to save and heal them.

In our passage, Christ moves from a region in Galilee, where He was hailed a rock-star to his humble hometown of Nazareth, accompanied by his disciples, v.1

1.    They listened in on His teaching with astonishment  v.1

They couldn’t fathom the way He moved; they were stunned at the power with which He performed miracles, the authority by which He spoke. His very neighbors were impressed but somewhat taken back by His weighty words and superhuman ways; they couldn’t get past the pic in their minds of the kid they grew up with.

2.    They focused in on His roots with suspicion v.2,3

They went from acclaiming Him to cutting Him down; in their minds, He was a “tekon” or carpenter-a worker in wood, metal, and stone; good at making beams, window lattices, and bolts, not teaching the law, that was high society stuff for them.
He was brother and friend, “Mary’s son,” the simple kid they knew for years; their familiarity with Him turned quickly turned to contempt as they were now suspicious of Him, refusing to see Him as anything but a grown kid with good hands.
Christ’s neighbors didn’t expect him to flourish in high society, He spoke like One, who knew the law better than a Pharisee; He performed miracles as if he were God, in their minds.

Why wouldn’t Christ’s countrymen see beyond the dirt on his sandals to His true being-God in the flesh?

They needed to close their eyes and see.

We tend to see others through bloodshot eyes as well.
I dare say each of us has a sin-stained set of criteria we use to size others up as well, whether it‘s (their demeanor, dress, race, friends)

Jewish ways are different from our western ways. We regard highly; in fact, we expect our heroes to have blue collar beginnings. Our blue collar bias leads us to expect the stories of our successful industrialists, politicians, and celebrities to begin in the most humble of settings. We reserve special praise for those who pull themselves up by the bootstraps, climbing the ladder to success. Jesus’ world was different. In Greco-Roman culture, labor like Jesus’ -carpentry that is-was seen as demeaning, lower caste; He was perceived as low on the totem pole of society, One who couldn’t subsist in high society. Take for instance, Secundus, an Athenian orator of a slightly later time, who being son of a carpenter was labeled a “wooden nail’ because of his roots. Celsus (who’d come in the late second century) would clown Jesus’ life as a carpenter, linking his hard-working life as a carpenter to his ultimate death on a wooden cross.

Christ’s neighbors were impressed by His weighty words and miraculous ways; but knowing his Nazarene roots, they soon looked on him with suspicion and ultimately outrage, v.3, their stubbornness led them to stumble in unbelief.
As far as they were concerned, “they knew who he was” 

2.    They focused in on His roots with suspicion v.3

1:27 What is this? (synagogue)
2:6,7;4:41 Who is this? (teachers of the law/disciples)

As we read v.2, what question are they asking now?

From whence is this?

You‘ve probably heard the saying, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
Their queries now focused on the source, the origin of Christ’s wisdom and power, read v. 3

I’m sure he was quirky as a boy and man; yet He was still sinless.
Scripture seems to indicate that Christ’s fellowmen were simply enraged by any conclusion that His words and work somehow revealed Him to be God in the flesh.
They refused to believe in Him.
What’s he running on was their question; whatever happened to Him?
They didn’t think a man of his stirring words and miraculous ways could come from Nazareth (Jn. 1:45,46)

3.    Christ weighed in on their judgment with wonder   
    Vv.4-6

Truth often defies reason and requires we accept it by faith.
Jesus believed deeply that His words and work proved Him to be more than just a carpenter; He had shown Himself to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Knowing that of a truth, He fully expected even his neighbors to allow the truth of what they’d seen in Him to move them beyond their small, stubbornly held perceptions of who He seemed to who He is.
We must never lose sight of what we have in Christ and its power to transform those, who come into close contact with it.
His expression of surprise at their stubbornness to me was a cry for them to believe beyond their hometown perception of Him to Whom He really was the Anointed One of God.
He wanted them to trust that He was the Savior of the world, in spite of what they knew of Him.

How we view others matters?

Christ’s family and friends missed out on the many miracles because of their unbelief, He did few miracles there then moved on to other villages.
Their failure to look past Jesus’ trade clothes to who He was- God in the flesh-was a grave fail on their part-a lesson in mis-perception.
When we judge the book by the cover, we miss opportunities with others as well.

Maybe your story is one of belittling someone else because of their crass way, mistaking your teenager’s angry outbursts at you as hate rather than a call for attention, maybe you’ve thought with suspicion on your spouses desire to spend extra time with members of his or her sex, viewing it as a rejection of you.

How we perceive others matters

We’ll not always be accepted, particularly by those who know us best. Knowing someone well has its tradeoffs. We tend to size them up by what we know of them and not give thought to what they are or may become.
Our very neighbors have the potential to be and do what we could never imagine.
We need be careful not to confine the potential impact anyone can have.

As they owned by God take ownership of their relationship with Him, the sky is the limit for them.

Our perception of others can do harm or good to those around us.

We need alter the way we look at people, seeing them for what may lie beneath- appearances are deceiving; only God knows the great people they are or may become.

Tom Brady was perceived to be an average quarterback but may go down as one of the greatest in history; God help us close our eyes and truly see what others may be or become.

Great quote

“What I like to tell people is that the things that you get fired for when you’re young—the things that run against the grain, that are not common or logical, that don’t fit into the standard approach—are the exact same things that you win lifetime achievement awards for when you’re old . . . the things that get you into trouble are the things that are often remembered as being exceptional.”

Francis Ford Coppola