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Just Breathe!

Get up, get ready, get in the car, drive like a maniac, run into work, grab a cup of coffee, get busy and now what’s next? Some times in the midst of my hurry, I catch myself going through the same “rush routine” day after day and at other times I go through it without even giving it a thought. It is possible to live our lives in a “rush routine” and the great tragedy is: This is not really living.

So, I want to encourage you to stop and take a moment, the next time you catch yourself caught up in the “rush routine”. Stop, take a moment and breathe! That’s right – breathe in, hold it and now breathe out. Now try it again and focus on getting it right – breathe in hold it, hold it, hold it and now breathe out. Now, try it one more time, just for good measure.

There is life in your breath, so if you don’t do anything else today, you need to make sure that you take time to breathe. When I actually slow down enough, to stop for a moment to take and recognize my breath, I realize that there is more to this life than the chase that I so often tend to find myself caught up in.

Crazy thing is: When I actually stop to breathe and realize my breath, I am very often, not even sure what I am chasing. I sometimes find that I am in a hurry just to be in a hurry, not because I necessarily have a dead line I’m trying to meet. These are the times, that I’m glad I listened to that little voice inside of me, reminding me to breathe.

On the grand scale of Eternity, this human experience is a very short thing and we need to make sure that we are not so busy and rushed that we miss what really matters. When I take the time to just breathe, then I realize how nice it is to sit and sip on my hot cup of mocha coffee. I appreciate grown up conversations with friends and begin to understand the role they play in helping me to become a better person and vice versa. I am grateful for this amazing, beautiful gift called life and feel priviledge to get to live and share it with so many amazing people.

So, slow down and take the time to breathe and recognize your breath, you will be glad you did…

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God Doesn’t Move!

Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

This morning before the sun decided to shine, while it was still dark, I ended my dream, opened my eyes, sat up on the edge of my bed and said: ”Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!” Then I reached for my phone, opened the Bible App and read the Scripture for today. It came from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, that 8th Century Prophet, who lived some seven hundred years before Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah 26:9 I read these words: ”With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

As soon as I read those words, my mind took a leap back to when I was a little boy singing one of the hymns during a Sunday morning worship service. The hymn was ”Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing” and the line I was singing was the last verse of that classic hymn:

”Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let that goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above”

”Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love…” If we are honest, then in our life time of living, we have to admit that our relationship with God is a back and forth, got and cold, near and far kinda thing. The beautiful thing is this: The God, Who created us, loves us with such an amazing love, that He allows us the freedom of choice, which allows us to wander and then when our soul finally comes to it’s senses, we find our loving Creator God waiting for us, right where we left Him.

Here’s the good news today: God doesn’t move! As you think about that magnificent, wonderful and beautiful thought, click this link and listen with your heart to the precious promises all throughout this wonderful song: https://youtu.be/NjfToqk5w5g

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The Great Debate!

Hurry Up And Wait!

When is it appropriate to decorate for Christmas? It seems that before we got all the candy wrappers cleaned up from Halloween, that the Christmas decorations started going out and up. And so begins one of the greatest debates of all time. For most folks, there used to be a tradition that only after a good Thanksgiving meal was enjoyed by family and friends that we would gather together at some point and ”deck the halls”.

Some make the argument that now a days, we just totally ignore Thanksgiving and that we should make sure we are taking time to enjoy this special holiday of thanks before we get into the hustle and bustle of the Chrsitmas season. I love the holidays and enjoy celebrating with my family and friends. Any excuse to get together, have fellowship and enjoy some delicious food always sounds good to me.

I personally want to get the most out of everyday I am blessed with another day to live this amazing life, so I’m going to do my best to enjoy it all. When I was a little boy, we would go to my Grandparents for Sunday lunch and one of my favorite things was getting the Sears and J.C. Penny catalogs, flipping to their back pages and looking at the toys, so I could start making my list.

The magic of Christmas for me has always been in the anticipation, the looking forward to, the ”I can’t wait, but I’m going to have too!”, so I’m going to enjoy Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving – a time to reflect on all I have to be grateful for, an opportunity to say thank you to my Creator and a moment to savor with family and friends as we enjoy a delicious meal together.

As Thanksgiving comes to an end, I will allow my anticipation to begin by allowing my senses to take in and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells that take me back as I continue to move forward to that most wonderful time of the year.

As for you? Do what you want to do. Do what makes you happy and what allows you to share happiness with others. As I see it, the holidays are not about rules, but about opportunities. And every opportunity I get to celebrate this amazing life and enjoy the fellowship of my sweet family and friends, I’m going to take and enjoy to it’s fullest, especially if something delicious is being served! 😉

Telling Stories, Sharing Grace And Loving Folks!