DL MOODY QUOTE

“Faith takes God without any ‘ifs’.” – D.L. Moody

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

          Well, it would appear that I will be working extended hours for perhaps as long as another month.  1 pm to midnight, 6 days a week.  There's a saying in the world that goes like this:  "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  A second saying is:  "You can rest when you're dead."  The first one may be true although my body begs to differ.  The second appears to be the mantra of those who drink Red Bulls continuously to maintain a certain high speed energy level.  There is another saying that I first saw in a TIME magazine cover story in the '80's:  "Life's a b*tch and then you die!"  Yikes!!  How depressing.  Here's a saying for you:  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.It is the Lord Christ you are serving." ... " Colossians 3:23-24.  This saying gives you something the worldly sayings do not ... hope. rlkeller

THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE GOD

          It never ceases to amaze me how God meets our needs.  Some refer to it as a coincidence.  I do not.  I don't believe in coincidences or luck or any such thing.  I believe in the One True God, maker of heaven and earth and man's first breath.  

          People believe in Karma.  Rubbish!  The results of a poor decision or something said or done against another is nothing more than the consequences of that decision, not some nebulous happening as a means of punishing the offender.  People don't even understand what karma is by the very way they use the word.  It's from the Hindu and/or Buddhist belief system and refers to the future life's existence of the offender, not a response in this life to an evil deed done. 

          It is equally astounding to me how people will believe in just about anything or anyone yet balk at the notion of a personal God who cares and loves them.  Without understanding God's economy, they point fingers at negative events from the past and present to justify their unwillingness to believe in any such loving God.  It's sad really.  The Lord was right to depict mortal man as sheep in scripture, for they will follow just about anyone if they think they can gain from the association. rlkeller

THE PLANTED SEED

          Lyndale sat upright, rigid with pain.  He had permanently injured his lower back in a car accident back in '98.  That day he had done something to cause it to spasm, shooting pains up from his lower to his middle back.  He was having a hard time getting comfortable.  

          A man noticed his obvious discomfort and went up to him.  "Are you alright?", the man asked.  Lyndale told him his situation.  The man offered to get him a drink of water.  Lyndale declined, saying he had been drinking water and was fine.  The man then offered something peculiar; he offered to pray for him.  Lyndale's face lit up with recognition.  "My grandmother was very religious. She said she prayed for me all the time."  He agreed to be prayed for.  The man placed his hand gently on Lyndale's shoulder and prayed softly for God's healing touch to come upon him.  

          Lyndale told the man that it was something how none of his friends came to see how he was, yet a total stranger came up and asked him if he could do anything for him.  Lyndale said thank you.  The man told him God loved him very much.  A seed had been planted.

_________________

          This vignette*is an example of how a believer can touch the life of a total stranger by listening to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  It takes a certain level of courage and boldness, both of which the Lord will provide if we allow Him to.  rlkeller

* Short episode or descriptive account.

ALEX FROM KENYA

          I've met a wonderful brother in Christ at work who comes from Kenya.  He is a very special individual.  He and I were speaking for a moment and a young hispanic woman overheard us.  She asked what we were talking about.  Alex, the Kenyan, said "we are speaking of God".  She had a quizzical look on her face.  Alex proceeded to say "Do you know Jesus?"  She didn't react, frozen in misunderstanding.  "How is it possible that you do not know my Jesus?"  She turned away and went back to work.  Alex smiled at me and said, "You are blessed my friend. God loves you very much."  The thing I marveled at is that he couldn't understand why everyone didn't know his Jesus.  He has been a wonderful blessing.  I look forward to working with him very much.  

          Alex willingness to speak of Jesus freely makes me wonder what is the matter with me that I am not. I am not embarrassed of Christ, not in the least.  My personality is one of speaking in the form of challenges.  Or am I just creating for myself an excuse.  I'll have to think and pray about this.   rlkeller

ON THE RECORD RE: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

          I would like to go on record as saying that the beating of woman and children is a selfish and cowardly act.  No matter what she may do or say, a husband or boyfriend must NEVER, EVER strike her, especially in anger.  Women should be loved, cherished, protected and respected.  Girls/women, if you are in an abusive relationship, GET OUT!  I knew a woman once who stayed with a husband who beat her constantly.  She never spoke up and ended up having a heart attack from all the stress of their relationship (if you could call it that) and died.  Children can't leave, but the non-abusive parent can and must stand up for the child by reporting the incident to the authorities.  For a boy/man to say that is how they were raised and it's all they know is nothing more than an excuse.  There are ways out of that cycle.  One way is to submit your will over to God and allow the Holy Spirit to alter the trajectory of your life.  Abusive men or women have no place in society.  Disrespecting another life is unacceptable.  There is help available, but there has to be a 'want to'.  If you are a beater, seek help.  If you are being beaten, tell someone and seek help.  God loves you and wishes to break the cycle of violence in your life.  rlkeller

GOD'S UNDESERVED FAVOR

      I'm not sure I understand this fascination with cussing.  Now if I said that I never cussed in anger I'd be lying and frankly, it's not alright.  But I noticed at work yesterday that in some cases young women cuss worse than men.  When I worked at Target there was an older Italian woman who cussed like a longshoreman*.  It's like "that's who I am, take it or leave it".  What's happening to our society as a whole?  It's as if we've become incapable of speaking to one another without a string of profanity attached.  Unregenerate souls will not clean up their act seeing no need to.  The root cause is sin.  Purge the sin, remove the undesirable character flaws.  Sometimes it takes years, as evidenced by my idiotic propensity to drop an F-bomb quietly when I am frustrated.  May God have mercy on me as I strive to become more like Christ.  May God have mercy on us all.  God loves us all so very much.  May His patience with us never wear thin.  I am trusting that it never will.  Thank You Lord for your incredible mercy and grace, which is wholly undeserved.  rlkeller

* A dock worker who loads and unloads ships.

THE WEEKEND

          New week.  Long 12 hour days over the weekend at work.  Startups are rough, but I lived through it.  We got to leave after 8 hrs yesterday and revert to 10 hr shifts starting today, which is also only temporary.  Once we get into our groove we'll be doing our 8 hr 2 pm to 10:30 pm gig.  I can deal with that.  The long hours kept me from doing my devotional Saturday morning.  I don't miss doing them very often, but Saturday was one of those mornings.  

          Bad sports weekend for me.  :  (   ... Giants lost again, Yankees dropped 3 of 4 to the division leading Orioles, Army got shut out 35-0 to Stanford (but seriously, what did you expect), Rutgers played tough but lost to Penn State 13-10 and Texas Tech, who can't seem to stop anyone from scoring, got clubbed by Arkansas 49-28 (Ugh!).  NONE of my teams won this weekend.  Good thing sports are just a diversion and not my life or I might actually be depressed.  It is what it is and there's always next week.  

          In the wake of such athletic disappointment, God is still on His throne and prayer still changes things.  Now if He could just inject some life in that Giant offense (lol).  rlkeller

DRIVE TO SUCCEED IN REVERSE

          It's interesting to me that some folks have no real intention of working at their job.  They look for the easiest jobs, standing around a lot and do their best to ingratiate themselves to their bosses as if they were too stupid to see right thru their actions.  They have no drive to succeed.  They volunteer for nothing and are as a result counted on for nothing.  Not seeing the big picture, some folks just milk the job for all it's worth with the sole purpose of collecting a paycheck at the end of two weeks.  This sort of person will have difficulty staying employed.  Their life becomes meaningless, driven by the desire for whatever little bit of money they can get.  They don't rise through the ranks and better themselves, for that requires drive and initiative, two qualities they seem to be lacking in no small measure.  Expecting to be paid for little or no work is wrong thinking and will get you nowhere but the unemployment line in the end.  rlkeller

WE MUST NEVER FORGET

13 years later.  I still remember where I was.  Do you? I was at work in Fayetteville, NC.  We all saw the images on a TV in the conference room.  There was much static due to the fact that we didn't have a cable hookup.  We couldn't believe our eyes.  It was an incredibly sad day in American history.  May God bless all those family members who remain and may the bravery displayed that day never be forgotten.  rlkeller

WORKING & WRITING

          Today is the first day that I start  at 2 pm.  My regular 2nd shift hours will be 2 - 10:30.  Since this is a start up with a new customer, our shift has been pushed to 12:30 am temporarily and we'll be working for 10 days straight minimum.  Then things will relax a bit and we will have our weekends off again.  Glad to be working.  

          My writing has continued through my daily devotional blog [www.minidevos.blogspot.com ... Mon - Sat].  I have jotted some thoughts and ideas for my book on divorce from time to time.  Now I will have the mornings to get back into my writing.  Whenever I complete this current manuscript (I have no time table for its' completion), I am planning to change publishers.  I am seriously considering looking at Redemption Press, which was born out of the collapse of Winepress Publishers.  We'll have to see what happens with all that.  It's in God's hands. He always knows what He's doing.  I await His leading.  In the meantime I am working, ministering when the opening provides itself and still seeking to make a difference one person at a time.  rlkeller

FOCUS

       Living for Christ in a cruel, sin sick world is a challenge.  God already has the victory so that makes Satan a dangerous obstacle to our faith.  God may just allow him to throw diversions at us to see how we react.  Since God is over all there is never anything to fear.  The devil is a toothless lion, a defeated foe.  So why do we find ourselves succumbing to his weak minded temptations so often?  If you don't eat food you will weaken.  If you don't eat spiritual food, your spirit man will be weak as well.  It's the same principle.  The consequences we suffer are due to the poor decisions we make.  That's not God's fault.  Focus on the Lord and not on life's diversions.  rlkeller

INCORPORATE GOD IN YOUR FUN

           It's the weekend.  College football, baseball is winding down to the playoffs, pro football is ramping up. Much fun with friends and family.  It's easy for God to get lost in the shuffle.  Enjoy those things that you do.  You can incorporate God by simply asking Him at the start of each day "Lord, let me be a blessing to those around me this day."  Then go about your busy knowing that God will honor that prayer.  By the end of the day, as you reflect on what has gone down over the last 12 or so hours, you just might realize that God answered your request in some very interesting and satisfying ways.  Be Christ, don't just talk about Him.  Live your faith each day and see what happens.  rlkeller

GOD HAS BLESSED US

          This is the day that the Lord has made for us to flourish in Him and be a light in this world of darkness.  I have a something I say to people when they ask we how I am: "I'm above ground and breathing, so it's a good day!"  God has blessed my life.  How about you?  Take the time today to think about all the ways God has blessed you.  He loves us and only wishes good things for us.  rlkeller

THE WORKPLACE

          It was oppressively hot and humid in the warehouse yesterday, but in spite of that blessings were had.  Another brother and I stumbled across a professed atheist.  Not exactly a "foaming at the mouth" unbeliever, as he put it.  Probably just another person who doesn't really know what he believes.  We've encountered a number of people who say they believe in God but don't have any idea what they believe.  It's like they have placed their faith in a concept or idea without really knowing anything about it.  They seem content to live their lives without any Godly influence.  They seek to make money and go home, period.  We are starting to pray for our co-workers.  They need to embrace their faith and allow it to bless their lives.  We're going to pray hard for the atheist that he becomes inquisitive and truly listens to what we may have to say.  For now we are living out our faith for all to see.   rlkeller

GROWTH THROUGH SUFFERING

       People suffer various types of ailments and mental distress throughout their lives.  Having an intimate, personal relationship with God doesn't keep us from suffering.  What it does is give us a focal point.  If we keep our eyes on Christ and all He represents, our suffering can be somehow lessened.  God gives us the grace to deal with that which comes against us.  It has never been said that Christians will live a life free from hardship and pain.  If you thought that was the case you are mistaken.  Our trials do not come from a lack of faith.  Hardship comes our way to hone (1) us and take us deeper into the things of God.  Trials and suffering serve a specific purpose in the life of a Christian.  Without being tested we can never grow.  It is in the difficulties of life that we see some of God's greatest promises realized.  rlkeller

(1) To perfect or make more effective.

LABOR DAY - ENJOYING THE TIME OFF

          It's Labor Day.  No work.  A lazy day.  Overcast.  Intermittent showers.  Need a haircut badly.  Having a one egg omelet made for me at this time.  Rear brakes replaced last Thursday evening.  Thunderhorse (my 2009 Mustang) has a little over 118,000 miles on it.  Still running great!  Should be a good day.  Relaxing.  Will be back at the grind that is work tomorrow at 8 A.M. sharp.  More training.  Going live on the 15th of September.  And all is as it should be thanx be to Almighty God.  Thanks to Him I am at peace with my life.  All praise to His name.  rlkeller