I do not believe that God has given up on our country. He did not give up on Ninevah (Jonah 3). He was willing to save Sodom if there were even ten righteous men there (Genesis 18:32).

There are two things that I am going to begin praying for daily and I invite you to join me. If Jesus is Lord of your life, I invite you to share these prayer requests with your friends and family.

1. I pray that Jesus will make it obvious to all who are the sheep and who are the goats in Congress (Matthew 25:31-46). There are too many wearing sheepskins to cover their goathides. I also pray that he will raise up sheep to take the place of the goats in governing this country.
2. Isaiah 6:1-4 I pray that God’s glory will fill our country and be revealed to the world. I pray that his glory will shake the doorposts and thresholds of the Capitol Building.

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a “minor” automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son.. She grieved over their loss.

Troubles had multiplied.

Her husband’s company “threatened” to transfer his job to a new location. Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What’s worse, Sandra’s friend suggested that Sandra’s grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer.

“She has no idea what I’m feeling,” thought Sandra with a shudder “Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?” she wondered.. “For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended me? For an airbag that saved my life, but took my child’s?”

“Good afternoon, can I help you?”

Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk. “I . . . I need an arrangement,” stammered Sandra.

“For Thanksgiving? I’m convinced that flowers tell stories, ”

she continued.. “Are you looking for something that conveys ‘gratitude’ this Thanksgiving?”

“Not exactly!” Sandra blurted out. “In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”

Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, “I have the perfect arrangement for you..”

Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer….

“Hi, Barbara, let me get your order.” She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped; there were no flowers.

“Do you want these in a box?” asked the clerk. Sandra watched was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.

“Yes, please,” Barbara replied with an appreciative smile.

“You’d think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn’t be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again,” she said, as she gently tapped her chest.

Sandra stammered, “Ah, that lady just left with . . . uh . . ..

she left with no flowers!”

“That’s right,” said the clerk. “I cut off the flowers. That’s the ‘Special’. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet. Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do today,” explained the clerk.. ” She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery. That same year I had lost my husband,” continued the clerk. “For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel..”

“So what did you do?” asked Sandra.

“I learned to be thankful for thorns,” answered the clerk quietly.

“I’ve always thanked God for the good things in my life and I never questioned Him why those good things happened to me, but when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, ‘Why? Why me?!’

It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the ‘flowers’ of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God’s comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we’re afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others.”

Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about what her friend had tried to tell her. “I guess the truth is I don’t want comfort. I’ve lost a baby and I’m angry with God.”

Just then someone else walked in the shop.

“Hey, Phil!” the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man.

“My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement, twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!” laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator..

“Those are for your wife?” asked Sandra incredulously.

“Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?”

“Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced,” Phil replied. “After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord’s grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem, the Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from “thorny” times. That was good enough for me.

I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific “problem” and give thanks for what that problem taught us.”

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, “I highly recommend the Special!”

“I don’t know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life” Sandra said to the clerk. “It’s all too . . fresh.”

“Well,” the clerk replied carefully, “my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God’s providential care more during trouble than at any other time.. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love…. Don’t resent the thorns.”

Tears rolled down Sandra’s cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. “I’ll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please,” she managed to choke out.

“I hoped you would,” said the clerk gently. “I’ll have them ready in a minute.”

“Thank you. What do I owe you?”

“Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart… The first year’s arrangement is always on me.”

The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. “I’ll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first.”

It read:
“My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant.”

Praise Him for the roses;

thank Him for the thorns.

God Bless all of you.

Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you.
“Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly,
and leave the rest to God..”

New  Pledge of Allegiance

Now  I sit me down in school
Where praying is against  the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If  Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our  hair can be purple, orange or green,
That’s no offense; it’s a freedom thing..
The law is specific, the law is precise..
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God’s name is prohibited by the state.

We’re allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks..
We can carry smut, but not the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me  liable.

We  can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the ‘unwed  daddy,’ our Senior King.
It’s ‘inappropriate’ to teach right from wrong,
We’re taught that such ‘judgments’ do not belong..

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It’s scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school’s a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
“He will defy the Most High God, and try to change all laws, morals, and customs. God’s people will be helpless in his hands for three and a half years.” (Daniel 7:25, TLB)

For several weeks, months actually, we have been studying the Book of Daniel in Sunday School. I have to admit that prophesy has never held a really strong interest to me. My mind is far more mechanical than philosophical, given to math and engineering more than philosophy or dreaming.. But this verse literally jumped out at both Gail (my wife) and me. Immediately we both saw this as VERY current. It is now July, 2009… the current presidential term and some senate terms, and all house terms will end in 3 1/2 years!

Virtually all Bible experts date this as having been written around 535 B.C. The experts also say this was a prophesy of the Roman Empire to come about 400 years in the future of this prophesy (around 146 B.C). Why then, does this seem so current and real for today? Perhaps the Bible explains it best in its own words. Hebrews 4:12 states that the Word of God is “quick and powerful” meaning alive and active. Jesus Himself told Satan that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that “proceedeth” (meaning currently being spoken) out of the mouth of God. Now we believe that the Bible is complete and is not subject to new words being added. However, it is alive and active. Therefore, I believe strongly that the precepts and principles written for specific times and events are applicable to ALL times and events.

From those who don’t believe in the infallibility of the Bible, the argument comes that cultures, times, morals, etc. were different then and that today’s truths are different. I do not agree. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:8-11 (TLB) that ” …History merely repeats itself. Nothing is truly new; it has all been done or said before”… “How do you know it didn’t exist long ages ago? We don’t remember what happened in those former times, and in the future generations no one will remember what we have done back here.” Thank God, we have God’s Word, the Bible, where these things have been written down so we do know what was said and done back there.

Right is right and wrong is wrong. God is good and sin is evil. These absolutes are not relevant to time and circumstance. Do God’s people always do right and not sin? Unfortunately, no they don’t. We try, but we are sinners by nature and often do not succeed. Thank God who sent Jesus, who, through the shedding of his own blood, we who accept it are redeemed from sin. That forgiveness is once and for all, but is also renewable every day, every minute until that day when we are with Him and no longer have the influence of sin on us.

So then, is Daniel 7:25 a prophesy relating to today’s American political administration? I don’t know. I do know that Acts 17:24-28 the apostle Paul stated that God is not subject to man’s changes and that God Himself set the exact time and place for nations and each individual to be. I have no problem believing that God spoke from His “living and active” word to Gail and me at the exact same time in that exact place. What if nothing new comes from this prophesy in 3 ½ years? Still no problem, and that makes it no less real for us. After all, as Solomon said, “Nothing is truly new, it has all been done or said before”
As Steve Brown,  a mentor of mine, would say “Now you think about that”!

Christians , What a Weird Bunch

A. W. Towzer, (A favorite teacher of mine) wrote… “A Real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows t hat which passeth knowledge.”

Now THAT sounds pretty weird, foolish even…

However, Paul the apostle (another favorite teacher) wrote in 1 Corinthians 1…. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,…” (v25) and “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise…” (v27) And in chapter 2… “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him….” (v14)

Yeah, in the minds of non-Christians, I guess we seem pretty foolish and weird. But Jim Elliot, the Christian martyr, summed it up best for me when he said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The truly amazing thing is that immediately upon receiving Christ as savior and truly believing in God, the Christian begins his journey to understand and gain “God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory…” (1 Cor. 2:7)

So, don’t fret if the world of unbelievers think you to be wierd or foolish… It has always been so and is not likely to change before His returning. Take comfort in your “wierdness”. Celebrate it!!!

Why? Because, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Dave H

Dick Armey (house majority leader from 1995-2003) offers his perspective on Barack Obama.

Credit: OneNewsNow.com

Simple words, in which we exchange back and forth throughout our daily lives. Do we know what it means? We print it on our money, most of us stand behind and up for it. Really, though, how many of us truly trust in God as it says we do on our money. This is big! Our nation, founded on godly principles and men of godly character, understood it when it became part of our national motto, but it seems has completely lost sight of it. Now we say American Pride.. etc, etc.. The thing is, you can be proud, but when pride pushes aside trust in God.. well we’ve seen many many great nations, full of pride, crumble to nothing, swiftly.. at the loss of trust in God. Ask God to reveal the message in Romans 1:21-32 and then read it. Idolatry doesn’t mean that we build a statue and kneel down before it, it is simply putting something other than God first.. The very money we print this motto on has become an idol in America.. The American Dream.. Do you have a dream that you would sacrifice everything to realize? Think about it..

update:  The mere consideration of the following means we’ve gone to far:

3 Things to Ponder

1. Cows
2. The Constitution
3. The Ten Commandments

Cows
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept in the state of Washington? And, they tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give each of them a cow.

The Constitution
They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it has worked for over 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore.

The 10 Commandments
The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this: You cannot post “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery,” and “Thou Shall Not Lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians…It creates a hostile work environment.

This is the time of year that all Christians should be celebrating and sharing more for the reason for the season. We should be singing of the rooftops about our Saviour.
Matthew 1:18-25

Each year when reading the story of Jesus Birth, it amazes me how God’s plan work, and how he uses everyday people like you and me to make he plan come to light.
Luke 2:1-20

How wonderful it would be to of been Mary and to hear the name Jesus for the 1st time when an angel told her to name her child this.

And how wonderful to be chosen to be the mother and father of our most precious Saviour, who would one day make the sacrifice and die for our sins.

How many of us today would realise what part we might play in a plan of God’s choice.  Would we recognise the plan, and if an Angel appeared before us, how many of us would do as asked willingly without question no matter what the cost?

Why Did I Do That????

I don’t know about you, but after many years of belonging to Christ, I still do things I know to be sin. I don’t want to…. I don’t plan to…. I hate the fact that I do these sinful things, but somehow they still occur. Am I really saved?  Can God love me?  We know that He hates sin, so how can he love me, an obvious sinner? I wish I could write or even know the clear answer to this question. I can’t, I don’t. I only know that which I have read in God’s Word, the Bible, and what His spirit speaks to me as His child.

I do know that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I am confident in His word that I have not turned my back on Him, and neither has He cast me out. So, yes, I really am saved. And yes, although he hates the sins I still do from time to time, He loves me…. I don’t understand it, but I know it to be true.

Anger… quick temper… words spoken in anger….. God, I hate those sins which still come from me. Every time I do this, I despise myself immediately. I have asked forgiveness and You have immediately given it every time. For this I am eternally thankful. But although You can forget these sins, those to whom I have lashed out and spoken words or actions of anger sometimes can not. I am deserving of the consequences of my anger and sin, but those I love and have verbally abused are not. God I pray for peace for them…. Relief from my anger and harsh words.

"…I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."(a).  The apostle Paul, the most prolific scripture writer, said that almost 2000 years ago, so I guess I’m not unique. But I take little comfort in that, for my heart, my spirit tells me clearly this is not what Jesus wants for me. What then? Do I just go on doing these things in comfort with impunity? No! Not at all. The apostle Peter, one of Jesus’ inner circle, said " Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing…..seek peace and pursue it…"(b). And "Therefore be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray."(c). Paul also said "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, mind your own business…"(d).  And then there are Jesus’ own words "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God"(e)

Yes, God is God and I am not. Yes, He is perfect and I am not. Yes, Jesus’ blood has done its work in me, but I still sin…. often against my own will. Still, there is little comfort in all that after I have spoken harshly without regard to God’s love and purpose for me and the one to whom I have been harsh.

What to do, then? First, I know that God expects me to humble myself and apologize to the person I have offended. Whether my statement was right or wrong, my attitude and delivery were not. It is up to that person to forgive or not…. I cannot require forgiveness from them as a response to my apology. God will forgive every time, if the repentance is sincere and humble.  Second, I can only take comfort in Paul’s words: "Not that I have already obtained all this (righteousness), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me…… one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."(f).

Since Your word is clear that you ordained and wrote down all my days before I was born (g), I guess I just keep on keeping on.

DaveH

(a) Romans 7:14; (b)1 Peter 3:9; (c) 1 Peter 3:11; (d) 1 Thessalonians 4:11; (e) Matthew 5:9;
(f) Philippians 3:12-14; (g) Psalm 139:13-16