PENNY ANTE THOUGHTS
(For what its worth)
Today I read Ray Steadmans "Who is in Charge"
I couldn't help but think of boats. What makes a boat float? What makes you boat float? Is it Praise? Is is Worship? Is it having an IPOD play for you the music so you can sing along? Or is the Radio Program that gives you "just what you want to hear, wehn you want to hear it, how you want to hear it."
What Makes your Boat Float?
Some people are on a Pleasure Cruise. They figuered out eternal security, prosperity, tithing and promises, so now they bask on deck of the Good Ship Lollipop basking in the Sun and Fun and making sure to not get toom tanned. Waited on hand and foot, it's a first class cruise to the promised land and away we go...., We made our reservations, we planned our vacation, now we are on crise control.
Are you on the Cruise Line?
It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of every man;
the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke
than to listen to the song of fools.
Todays Devotions seemed to me to be just that: Devotion not E-motion.
Sometimes I think this E-Generation of IPODS, IMACS AND I< I< I< is just that: an "I" generation/
It's got God that same way it's got Milk.
By advertising and buying into the gimmick.
What about from Rays Devotion:
We are not in charge of life. The great satanic lie that subtly comes at us a thousand times a day is that we are gods, we are in charge, we can plan, we can direct, we can control. Because within the freedom of will that God has granted us there appears some truth to that, we easily believe the rest--that we are in ultimate control of everything. But the lesson of the Scripture, driven home again and again, is that that is not true. God is in charge. What He sends us is always designed to benefit. This is the clear teaching of the Scripture, both in the Old and the New Testament alike. Even though adversity may have painful aspects, we are to understand that it comes from a loving God and be grateful for it.
For What its Worth:
WHO IS RUNNING THIS SHIP?
If you are, your in the wrong position.
If your life is all goodness and light, you're on thre wrong boat. Somewhere at some point in time you have to get off the Cruise ship and discover that god just might be in a dingy wiht a fish net wanting you to come join him.
Today it may be you get out of the boat and start walking on water.
Now there's a novel idea.
And thrill a man,
And skill a man;
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part,
Then he yearns with all his heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch his methods, watch his ways—
How he ruthlessly perfects
Whom he royally elects.
How he hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows, converts him
Into trial shapes of clay
Which only God understands.
While his tortured heart is crying,
And he lifts beseeching hands.
How he bends but never breaks
When his good he undertakes.
How he uses Whom he chooses,
And with every purpose, fuses him,
By every act, induces him
To try his splendor out.
God knows what he's about.
Posted via email from ..................The Last Call Digest
