40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge: Day 5

Life is a Journey:  Day 5

Day 5:  10 July 2011
Scripture:  Leviticus 19:32 (NASB) 
"Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.  I am the Lord."

My daughter and I met Glen and his wife, Janice last week as he is the caretaker of an historical Ohio schoolhouse.  I asked to take his photo after admiring his suspenders that were stitched with assorted hand carpenter tools (I bet Larry King doesn't own a pair like this!)  Though now retired, Glen was an employee of the Hoover company in North Canton which closed its doors in 2007 to conduct business overseas leaving many locals unemployed.  

Yesterday, we returned to visit our "elders" and took them a hanging basket of pink begonias.  We sat on their front porch swing and talked late into the evening.  I had arrived there thinking about how I needed to get packed in preparation of returning to Dallas  the next morning but everyday stress was put to rest enjoying their company.  We chatted about local history, where we were raised, who we knew and and reflected on life in a time much less complicated.
Funny, but all the things I had to do were still there waiting after our night of citronella candles, lightening bugs and the surrounding beauty of plants and flowers.  

NOTE:  Take the time to take the time.  Life is a journey--not a destination.

Prayer:  Lord, let us not ask you to do what you have put us here to do.  Let us not expect "miracles"  when we are idol.  Amen

Night 5:  10 July 2011
Scripture:  Tanakh:  Kethuvim:  Psalms 107:01 - 107:08
"Praise the LORD, for He is good;
His steadfast love is eternal!"
Thus let the redeemed of the LORD say,
those He redeemed from adversity,
whom He gathered in from the lands,
from east and west,
from the north and from the sea.

Some lost their way in the wilderness,
in the wasteland;
they found no settled place.
Hungry and thirst,
their spirit failed.
In their adversity they cried to the Lord,
and He rescued them from their troubles.
He showed them a direct way
to reach a settled place.
Let them praise the LORD for His steadfast love,
His wondrous deeds for mankind;
for He has satisfied the thirsty,
filled the hungry with all good things."
Prayer

Have Patience With Everything Unresolved In Your Heart

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves...
Don't search for the answers,
which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer."

40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge: Day 4

Living in a Time of Prophets and Prophesy
Day 4:  9 July 2011

"My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.  When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness."

40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge: Day 3

New Baltimore, OH (Old Schoolhouse)

LIVING IN A TIME OF PROPHETS AND PROPHESY

Today is day 3 of the 40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge.

Day 3:  8 July 2011

Scripture:  Revelation 3:19 - 3:20

" Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest, and repent.  Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. "

(From:  The Holy Bible NIV)

I have always loved these words written in red as they represent Jesus speaking.

"I raise my hands, bow my head, finding more and more truth in the words written in red.  They tell me that there's more to live than to just what I can see..."  From: "Believe"  by Brooks and Dunn.

Prayer
...to see The Father, Son and Holy Spirit in ALL THINGS.  He is there if I open my eyes, ears and mind... Amen.

Night 3:  8 July 2011

Scripture:  Proverbs 1:01 - 1:07
" The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
For learning wisdom and discipline;
For understanding words of discernment;
For acquiring the discipline for success,
Righteousness, justice, and equity;
For endowing the simple with shrewdness,
The young with knowledge and foresight.
--The wise man, hearing them, will gain more wisdom;
The discerning man will learn to be adroit;
For understanding proverb and epigram,
The words of the wise and their riddles.


The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and discipline. "
(From The Tanakh:  The Holy Scriptures)



Prayer:  Oseh Shalom
"May the One who makes peace in the heavens make peace on each of us and upon all Israel.  Let us say:  Amen."

40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge: Day 2

Living in a Time of Prophets and Prophesy

Today is day 2 of the 40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge.

I began thinking about my next entry immediately after posting the first.  I read my bible before bed and woke up countless times with ideas running through my head.  Of course--as most mornings--I watched the news.  A dust storm had swept through Phoenix, Arizona.

"A vast dust storm, up to 50 miles wide and gusting as fast as 60mph, swept across the US city of Phoenix on Tuesday night, choking the streets, toppling trees and briefly closing the local airport. The storm began near Tucson, the local Arizona Republic newspaper reported, before rolling more than 100 miles north-west towards the state capital."

2011 thus far has been a year of natural disasters--not to mention those created by man.  Currently, America is facing an administrative  political agenda that is not aligning our Nation with Israel, our friend and ally. Obama wants Israel to return to its 1967 borders which would divide Jerusalem.

Day 2:  7 July 2011

Scripture:  Psalm 100:01 - 100:04

"Raise a shout for the Lord, all the earth;

worship the Lord in gladness:

come into His presence with shouts of joy.

Acknowledge that the Lord is God;

He made us and we are His 

His people, the flock He tends.

Enter His gates with praise,

His courts with acclamation.

Praise Him!

Bless His name!"

(from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)

When I read this psalm, I can not help but to think of the woman taking shelter with others in a cooler during the recent Joplin tornado.  She shouted, "JESUS, JESUS...Heavenly Father.."  As tragic as the moment was, she was praising the Lord.

 

Prayer

"Lord our God, our praises are nothing compared to Your holiness, yet You hear and even rejoice in our shouts of joy dedicated to you.  Help us to praise You even in times of great trials and to remain focused on what You did for us on the cross which brings ever lasting joy" Amen (contributed by my daughter, Jessica).

Night 2:  7 July 2011

Scripture:  Daniel 8:26

"The two-horned ram [signifies] the kings of Media and Persia; and the buck, the he-goat--the king of Greece; and the large horn on his forehead, that is the first king.  One was broken and four came in its stead--that means: four kingdoms will arise out of a nation, but without its power.  When their kingdoms are at an end, when the measure of transgression has been filled, then a king will arise, impudent and versed in intrigue.  He will have great strength, but not through his own strength.  He will be extraordinary destructive; he will prosper in what he does, and destroy the mighty and the people of holy ones.  By his cunning, he will use deceit successfully.  He will make great plans, will destroy many, taking them unawares, and will rise up against the chief of chiefs, but will be broken, not by [human] hands."

Prayer

God, help us to see clearly and protect us from the enemy.  We pray for Your protection.  Amen.

40 Days and 40 Nights Challenge: Make the Pledge

HEROES
I have been blessed with many heroes in my life--some whom I know or have known personally and those I do not know but feel connected to their spirit.  Glenn Beck is one of my most recent heroes.  In honor of his final show on Fox News about two weeks ago, I decided to take his Make the Pledge--40 Days and 40 Nights.  For those of you who are unfamiliar,  "For the next 40 days and 40 nights, I pledge…I COVENANT to practice faith, hope and charity by doing these things."
On The People's Country I will be sharing my personal challenge and hopefully encourage you to join me.   Every day and night there will be a quoted scripture--some of my choice and others blindly chosen. There will be posted prayers--some original and others not.  Note:  Beware of random acts of kindness.

Day 1:  Wednesday, 6 July 2011
I arrived in Ohio yesterday to visit my family.  I thought about "The Pledge" while on the plane from DFW.  During my layover in South Carolina, the Casey Anthony verdict came in live via television.  People gathered in around to hear the plea.  When it was "not guilty," most were angry and wanted "someone to pay."  I explained many times to strangers, friends and family that it was impossible for a juror to say "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that she (the mother) was guilty.  Jurors did as they were instructed to do and I felt for them--their pain, uncertainty and putting the law before their own opinions.  As much as I WANTED a conviction of SOMEONE, it was not just.  We can not bring back Caylee Anthony but we can pray for her AND her family.

Scripture:  Psalm 46:10
"Be Still and Know that I am God."
I chose this scripture as it is personal.  My mother said this to me as I was facing a complicated medical procedure several years back.  I think of it often--when the world makes no sense or seems too complicated.  These words sum it all up and give me peace.  I am reminded that I am here because of God's grace--to step back and breathe--to take in the world as it is with all its imperfection.
Prayer
May we all open our hearts, minds and spirits--our VERY BEING to KNOWING you LORD and HONORING your works and words.  May you always prevail in our struggles in putting good before evil.  Amen

Night 2:  Wednesday, 6 July 2011

While on the plane, I was reading "BONHOEFFER, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy."  It is and excellent and insightful book and a Beck favorite.  "As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside.  One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer..." (from the inside cover of "BONHOEFFER")  As Bonhoeffer contemplates the existence of the church, he states, references Isaiah 55:11 in summary:  "God's world will never be denied."
Scripture:  Isaiah 56:9 - 56:13
"But as the heavens are high above the earth, 
So are My ways high above your ways 
And My plans above your plans.  
For as the rain or snow drops from heaven 
And returns not there, 
but soaks the earth 
And makes it bring forth vegetation, 
Yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating, 
So is the word that issues from My mouth:  
It does not come back to Me unfulfilled, 
But performs what I purpose, 
Achieves what I sent it to do.  
Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure.  
Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud, 
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  
Instead of the brier, the cypress shall rise; 
Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.  
These shall stand as testimony to the LORD, As and everlasting sign that shall not perish"
(from the Tanakh:  The Holy Scriptures:  Nevi'im).
Prayer
I pray for those who seek vengeance instead of justice.  May they come to know you or know you again.  Amen