1-26-16 Because

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?

Ruth 2:10 KJV

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Who am I, Lord, that You bestow such grace?

I’m just a lowly sinner bound for hell.

There’s no redeeming value, not a trace.

I’m here within the dust where Adam fell.

How can You love me, God, in all my shame?

I am not worthy of Your love at all.

You gave Your only Son, who then became

The ransom for my sins both great and small.

Your Holy Word tells me You love me so;

You showed Your love for me on Calvary.

You made me for a reason, this I know,

To be Your child to love as You love me.

O Abba! You are all I ever need,

And by Your grace, O Father, I’ve been freed!

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Remember: God IS love.

10-12-15 Follow Me

And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

Matthew 9:9 KJV

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If you were at your your job and hard at work,

And suddenly a stranger came to you,

And said ‘Come follow me,’ would you then shirk

The things that someone’s paying you to do?

Would you demand an explanation now,

For no one really does this kind of thing?

If you knew it was Jesus you’d know how

To quit your job and follow Christ the King.

But Matthew did not have that knowledge yet.

He did just what the Master told him to.

Don’t be so dead you take it as a threat.

Let Spirit guide your heart; He’s always true.

Be ever watchful; you’ll see Christ today.

Where there is love, He’s never far away.

8-28-15 Family Ties

³² And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

³³ And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

³⁴ And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

³⁵ For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Mark 3:32-35 KJV

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No matter where you go you’re not alone:

The greatest network in the world exists,

The best connections that the world has known;

The family of Christ are in your midst.

O what a joy to meet a stranger here

Then find out she’s your sister in the Lord!

The loving Spirit linking us so dear

Is much too strong to ever be ignored.

This family of God transcending flesh

All find a common kinship to the cross.

The instant you submit to Christ you mesh,

One body in His Spirit knits across.

My brothers and my sisters, you are loved

More dearly than myself as my beloved.

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sonnet #450

Life Eternal (for a friend)

I walk up to the casket of a friend

Whose life and loves I barely even knew

And as I view his body at its end

I wonder if he knew the Savior, too.

A stranger comes and stands beside me there;

His smile is warm, his eyes are full of light.

He says “Here lies a man that really cared,

Who always strove to treat his neighbor right.

He came across as strict but ever fair.

No, as a man he was not sinless pure,

But he was intimate with God in prayer;

He loved the Savior deeply to be sure.

He has a life eternal with the Lord:

His faith in Christ was where his wealth was stored.”

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And this is life eternal,

that they might know Thee the only true God,

and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

John 17:3 KJV

1-29-15 Owe Love

If you must be in debt repay it fast,

For who would want to be beneath a thumb?

You also want to make good credit last,

So if you borrow take a lesser sum.

There is one thing that you should always owe:

The love for one another all the time.

You owe your brother love, and make it show;

Without God’s grace your life’s not worth a dime.

God gave you all you need to love your friend,

And all the love you need to love a foe,

And love the stranger, too, without amend,

For God has thus commanded that you owe.

You never can repay God’s gift to you,

But loving one another’s how you do.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:

for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law

Romans 13:8 KJV

1-11-15 Be Kind

Treat all you come across as if your kin

No matter what their attitude to you;

Affection’s manufactured with a grin,

And kindness feeds the heart with love anew.

If you would soon forgive your child’s mistake,

Then do the same for everyone you meet,

For God will soon forgive you for Christ’s sake,

Yet if you pick and choose you’re incomplete.

A man who’s cordial only to his friends

Will miss the need for Christ in stranger’s eyes.

Should we not share the love til journey ends,

And are we not all friends in some disguise?

Be kind to all you meet just as your guest,

It might be you who’s needing to be blessed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

And be ye kind one to another,

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another,

even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32 KJV

7-26-14 Let Us Show Gratitude

If we are cleansed due to the blood of Christ,

And have the Holy Spirit in our veins,

A kingdom made from God’s good grace unpriced

Is waiting for us now in His domain.

With gratitude held fast eternally

Our daily life should so reflect His love

That when a stranger meets us he will see

The light of Jesus Christ as known above.

In reverence and awe our hearts stay full,

So we must give as He has given us;

As we pour out our love we feel the pull

Of Spirit flowing to the world as thus.

The gifts awaiting there on golden shore

Reflect the gifts we give and so much more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken,

let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God

an acceptable service with reverence and awe…

Hebrews 12:28

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7-22-14 Epic Fail

Today you walked toward me on the street,

Unshaven without shoes, some homeless guy.

We were so close we could not help but meet,

But I turned down my eyes and passed you by.

I went inside a restaurant for lunch

And there you were, a woman with her kids.

You shared a piece of toast and one fruit punch,

But I ignored you all with squinted lids.

You were a man I worked with ev’ry day,

Someone I barely noticed but to yak.

You went to prison wrongly, so they say,

And asked for help but I did not call back.

A thousand times we met upon life’s breeze,

But I refused to help the least of these.

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42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat:

I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in:

naked, and ye clothed me not:

sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying,

“Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger,

or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?”

45 Then shall he answer them, saying,

“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these,

ye did it not to me.”

Matthew 25:42-45 KJV

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