A clean slate

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty and Marvelous is our God, Monday!!!  Each Sunday during Lent in Sunday school, we all (kids and teachers) took a big nail, held it in our hands and in silence thought about our sins, maybe a particular sin that needed forgiving, asked for forgiveness and then we each, still in silence stuck our nails into a brown Styrofoam cross.  We then prayed together for God to help us do the best we can and thanked Him for sending His Son to die for us, forgiving our sins.  Like I said we did this each week so the cross was quite full of nails.  After church on Good Friday, I took all the nails out of the cross, took it home and painted the other side white; my plan was to have a lesson based on because of Easter, our sins are forgiven and we are washed clean…white.   Easter Sunday was very busy at Sunday school, so we didn’t have a chance to talk about the changes in our cross, but yesterday I was excited for the kids to see the white, nail-less cross.  I gathered them all around our table and before I could even get started one young boy, 11, said, “ hey the nails are all gone and our cross is white.”  Ah, I thought, this is going to be great, but then he went on to say, “hey the other side is still brown.”  I tried to skip over that fact and get on with the Easter message with the white side of our cross, but he would have no part of it.  He was determined to keep on about the brown side of the cross and get to the bottom of the whole deal!  Well, I was actually getting a little perturbed at him (oh yes it’s true, I had to ask for forgiveness) as he had really taken the wind out of what I thought was a great lesson.  Well, I finally got him to give it up and went on with class, but I just couldn’t get it off my mind……kids!  As I was sitting in church listening to Pastor….I finally got it……with the help of this young man, I figured it out…..Jesus didn’t die for just some of our sins, HE didn’t wash just half of them away…..HIS death and resurrection gives us a clean slate, wipes all our sins away….front and back…..inside and out….HIS blood makes us clean….Father, bring us to You in true repentance to confess and seek Your forgiveness.  Give us hearts that forgive others as You forgive us.  And Father thank  you for the pure wisdom of children and the lessons we can learn from them. 

“Come now, let us reason together,”  say the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”  Isaiah 1:18.  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgression from us.  Psalm 103:12.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  Ephesians 1:7-8.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32.

Love you all!

Lost and found

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully His, forgiven and loved, Thursday!  This is such a special week as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior on Sunday….Holy Week….I have been wearing a cross each day this week, just to remind myself of the sacrifice that was made for me….for you….so long ago when our Heavenly Father gave His only Son to die on a cross….for me….for you…..today my cross is on a long chain and is made of tiny, little, shiny gems, so pretty.  It was unclaimed in the lost and found and given to me…..lost and found…..As I look down and see the solid, shiny cross sparkling from the sun’s reflection….I sigh deeply contemplating the sacrifice made for me….I was lost, but now I am found….found by our Heavenly Father through the death of HIS Son…But the cross sparkles, it is empty…..JESUS LIVES!  HE made the ultimate sacrifice, HIS blood was shed, on the cross…..for me….for you.  But the three days later HE shined as HE left the tomb, alive….Because HE LIVES we too will LIVE, eternally with HIM in heaven.  Father, thank you for YOUR grace and tender mercies for us….we are undeserving, but humbled.  All Glory and Praise to YOU!

 

Jesus said, “For the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Luke 19:10.  “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16.

Praying your Easter over flows with the blessings of HIS resurrection.  Love you all!

The old rugged cross! Jesus died on it, for us!

Good Morning Friends!  Thankfully His, Thursday!  Last week one day Papa and I picked up Cooper and Katy from school because Mommy and Daddy had to work late.  We got home and got a snack, preparing to get to homework.  Earlier in the day, close to where Katy sits, I had laid a cool, rustic cross given to me by a friend for Christmas.  I have been looking for the perfect place to hang it, somewhere I would see it often….in the meantime I laid it on the table near where Katy sits.  As Katy sat down she immediately saw the cross.  In an excitement that she could not contain, she shouted, “Nana, it’s the old rugged cross….!”  Smiling and pleased at her response to the cross I said, “Yes, it sure is, you are right!”  Without hesitation she said, loud and clear, “Jesus died on it….for us!”  This time I was the one that could not contain my excitement, to hear that precious 4 year old, confessing her faith…..loud and clear…..no hesitation!  My heart was over flowing with joy and gratitude.  I just had to give her a big hug….As I was holding her close, almost in tears, I felt our FATHER very close to us…..”Kathie, My child, I understand your joy in knowing that Katy knows that Jesus died for her…but My joy is compounded by the fact that she had no hesitation to profess her faith…..Oh, just think how wonderful it would be if all you adults….My big precious kids, would tell about Jesus dying on the old rugged cross like Katy did!”  Father forgive our hesitation in confessing You!  Increase our faith and bless us with brave, witnessing hearts so that we with Katy say loud and clear….”It’s the old rugged cross, Jesus died on it for us!”

 

Then Jesus came to them and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20.  I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that He considered me faithful, appointing me to His service.  1 Timothy 1:12.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bow.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16.

Love you all!

 

Behold the Lamb of God

Good Morning Friends!  Thankful to be HIS, Tuesday!  One of my job duties is to go through the Ada and OKC papers and cut out all articles dealing with Native Americans.  What a privilege, right?  Reading the newspaper on the time clock?  Well, yesterday I had all the papers since last Wednesday to go through, quite a stack!  Lots of sad news as well as good news, but one page, full page in the Christmas day paper took my breath away.  Very simple, but detailed, muted colors, but a glow framing the young child on the floor.  The child, Jesus in his dad’s work shop, playing on the floor while Joseph worked at his carpenter’s bench.  Jesus, the child, had found some nails and was pretending to work like his dad….the glow on HIS head cast the shadow of cross on the floor behind HIM.  Jesus playing…..in HIS dad’s shop…took my breath away.  I had never thought of Jesus, our Savior, as a young boy playing on the shop floor….just like Shawn and Ira.  Oh how those boys loved to play in their dads’ shops….Just like Jesus…Our SAVIOR….We are used to seeing Jesus in the manager, healing the sick, and hanging on the cross, God’s word tells us that Jesus was true man as well as true God….the picture showed me, reminded me that the true man was also true boy….born of a virgin…true God….the cross shining on the floor….that boy became our Savior…..HIS death and suffering….true man….HIS glorious resurrection…TRUE GOD…..All for us….JESUS the REASON for the SEASON….JESUS….the REASON….our SAVIOR…our BEST FRIEND!   Father thank you  for the gift of YOUR SON, TRUE GOD…true man…our SAVIOR, thank you for loving us and forgiving us, Father we sure don’t deserve Your grace and mercy.  Keep us mindful so that we forgive others…..

 

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  John 1:29.

Love you all!

February 5, 2013

Good Morning Friends!  Mighty and awesome is our God, Monday!  Well, Kim’s trip to Kansas last week was productive….he got his cows….3 year old, black angus and all pregnant.  He was quite excited Friday evening waiting for them to be delivered.  The trucker called about 7 and said he should be there about 9.  Sure enough he called right about 9, so Kim and a neighbor meet him at the fire department so he wouldn’t get lost.  Kim came in about 10 all excited.  “We are going to brand them tomorrow!”  Just last week he got an electric brand he had ordered…he was quite proud of our lazy K-hanging J brand.  A good brand is really important for cattle owner’s protection.  We got up early, Saturday and got to work on our regular chores, so he could work the cattle in the afternoon.  About 1:30 I sent him off with a PB&J sandwich and some tea…..he was so excited-2 neighbors were going to help him, so I could stay home and get my work done.  He hadn’t been gone long when he called and needed me to bring some wormer.  As I walked up to the chute I could see Kim holding the hot brand on a cow.  One guy was helping to hold her while Kim held the brand….she did not like it…..you could tell it hurt her.  I knew it was important, but I hated to see her in pain.  I left the wormer and headed home, but my thoughts stayed on the cows being branded so they could be identified as ours.  Wow, we too are branded….branded with the cross that Jesus hung and died on for us……but our branding hurt HIM, not us….Jesus took all the pain of our sins and in turn branded us with HIS love…..We don’t walk around with a lazy K-hanging J for everyone to see….to identify us as HIS, but others will see that we are HIS by our actions, by our love….like the song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”  Father, thank you for the gift of Your Son….the brand of Your love on us…..Your mercy, grace, forgiveness.  Help us to show others….and bring glory to You.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage our hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.  2 Thessalonians 2:16-17.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  Romans 12:10.  Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  Ephesians 5:2.  Keep on loving each other.  Hebrews 13:1.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.  1 John 4:12.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  Galatians 5:6. 

Love you all!