Count It All Joy... James1:2

 I love honey! In my tea, in my coffee, on toast, on peanut butter, on a spoon. I currently have about 10 different kinds of honey! 😁  So I guess you would say that honey is the bee’s knees to me!  Did you know that honey is a wonderful example of God's care for us? Psalm 104:24 “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions.”  Here are some of the things God built into honey.  First it is a wonderful sweetener! It is 25% sweeter than sugar. It comes in different flavors and colors depending on the flowers the bees collect nectar from. Honey can also be infused with other flavors. These are facts that most people know. God’s word is even sweeter than honey. Psalm 119:103 states “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Honey has healing properties. It was used for wounds as far back as ancient Egypt.  It has antibacterial, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory prope...

 Have you ever heard the saying, “I’m never down. I’m either up or getting up.”? The premise is really good, nice, warm and fuzzy even, but totally BOGUS! There are times you truly are down! I have had times in my life when I was down. Really down! When the doctor told me I had cancer, my world plummeted. I thought how could I have gotten cancer! I never smoked, I never had sex, I never took drugs, I never did anything to cause cancer! Why me?!  My world crashed when my dad, developed dementia and died from related complications.  Then two years later my mom died from Covid. And my world crashed again. There were 2 parent sized holes left in my heart.  You say, man you have had a rough time! I’m not telling you this for sympathy. My point is these and other situations will cause times when you are down. Truly down! It is a part of the human existence.  It is called life. However you cannot spend your life down wallowing in despair, pain, and yes, at times, pity....

 Back in the eighties there was a commercial “Time to make the donuts.” The donut maker would go to make the donuts then come back home saying I made the donuts . He did this so much that eventually he met himself coming back from making donuts as he was leaving to make the donuts. He started out all spry and upright. He ended up all worn out and dragging. We never see if he got to enjoy a donut or anything else. This became his whole life.  In our daily struggle, getting up, going to work, doing chores, taking care of family, the list goes on and on. We make that list. Check off the things we get done. Write a new list for tomorrow of the leftovers and new chores for that day. I even add things to my list that I completed just so I can check it off! We know we need to spend time with God but it becomes a part of our to do list. A “have to” instead of a “get to”. It becomes a drudgery that we squeeze into our lives. Something to check off our list of done things. We breathe a ...

 I am reading a book, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them” by John Ortberg.  Yeah.  Cool title!  He starts out with everybody’s weird.  Well news flash! I always knew that.  I call my weird being “unique”. 🤣 I digress… Chapter 5 is based on the woman caught in the act of adultery in John 8:3-7. But the sentence that pricked my heart was on page 95. “Why do churches produce so many stone throwers?” Back in the Old Testament, the law (in Leviticus and Deuteronomy), the punishment for sins was to throw stones at the sinner until they were dead. Commit adultery - stone them. Worship another god - stone them. Rebellious child - stone them. Will not heed the priest, has cursed God, or built idols - dead, dead, and, you guessed it D E A D.  I’m sure if we were still under the law a few of us would not have made it this far.  So why am I bringing this up now? Weeeellllllll. Here’s the thing. We’re still throwing stones. At the very least we’ve ...

 I have dodged many moths when coming in from outside at night. They gather and flit around the yard light and the porch light. So I did a little research on nocturnal (night time) moths.  Here is what I found.  Most nocturnally active moths are attracted to light sources.  This phenomenon is known as positive phototaxis. Or the bodily movement toward the source of light. John 1:4 states “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Verse 9 states “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” So this makes Jesus the light and man is the moth. This is the way it was planned from the beginning of time. Man was created to be drawn to God, the source of all light.  Moths used the moon and stars to orientate themselves. And it would find its way by adjusting its flight path to keep the light source at a constant angle to its eye. They have a natural instinct to be drawn to light.   In John 8:12 Jesus states “I am the lig...

 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3  Growing up in a family of preachers and teachers, I heard a lot of God gave me, God laid it on my heart, and God spoke to me… So I would listen real hard at prayer time, but I never heard anything. I figured maybe I was too young or too short for God to talk to! It’s hard to explain or understand the concept of God talking to you as a child.  I can tell you without a doubt that God does speak to us. We have to listen for His voice. Does He speak audibly? Yes. Has He spoken to me audibly? Yes, I have heard my name called by Him in the night. You may say “you were just hearing things.” And you are right. I was hearing the voice of my Heavenly Father. You may feel you’re not ready for that kind of face to face with God.  There are other ways to hear His voice. Through the scripture (read 2 Timothy 3:16-17) We have lots of questions about things.  Are ...