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Category: Devotional

Two Wolves – One Choice

There is an old Cherokee story that has floated around the e-mail world for a few years and I got it again this week from a relative who has been forwarding me e-mail since 1992. (thanks!) I thought I’d post it here to save it as it is always a good reminder to think about.  TWO WOLVES A Grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.” “One wolf is evil and ugly: He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance.” “The other wolf is beautiful and good: He is friendly, joyful, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, true, compassion, gratitude, and deep vision.” “This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other human as well.” The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said. Then he finally cried out; “Oyee! Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder Cherokee replied, “The wolf that you feed.” Every  day we face new problems or…

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A Little Peace and Quiet

Silent Night… Holy Night… All is calm… Draw near to gaze… Come and Worship… Saints before the alter bending… Rejoice, with heart and soul and voice… O tidings of comfort and joy… this Holy tide of Christmas doth bring redeeming grace… the world in solemn stillness lay… O hush the noise, ye men of strife… O rest beside the weary road… How still we see thee lie… deep and dreamless sleep… Fall on your knees… the Spirit felt its worth… one seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere filling the air… (all these words are from Christmas Carols) DO THESE PHRASES DESCRIBE YOUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION? December used to be the busiest month of the year for me. From church events to personal parties and performing at other people’s events to… I don’t know what all. But by News Years Day I was so exhausted “Peace on Earth” seemed a distant memory. This year I am slowing December down. My calendar is mostly empty and I will be keeping close to home and just relaxing and taking it much slower. We are planning to have a Christmas Hour every day where we do just a little something as a…

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Reach for the Water

Sometimes a pictures says it best… Just wanted to share my current wallpaper which captures my son’s love for water. (click image for full size 876 kb) If I was ever stranded in the desert with no water, but had Luke with me, I’d be O.K. I’d just follow him! If there is any source of water… he can find it! He is drawn to water like a deer… wait, isn’t there a Bible verse about longing for water?  As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42:1-2 I pray that I would be as drawn to the Lord as my son is to water. After all, Jesus is better than water,  He is the Living Water!  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:37-39  Jesus is the Living Water who walked among us. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him…

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We Found Heaven! In Mundelein!

NOTE: Click on any image to view full screen! As I have posted before, LUKE LOVES WATER! So we were delighted to just learn of a “Spray Park” only a few miles away this week! When we looked at it online, we knew Luke would be absolutely beside himself with delight when we got there! So when I woke Luke up in the morning and we did our usual talk about the plans of the day, I told him we discovered heaven, and it’s in Mundelein, and it only costs $2 to get in! It became our joke of the day that I repeated over and over and over, “we found heaven! and it’s in Mundelein! and it only costs $2 to get in!” And we were right! HE LOVED IT! (Dad loved it too) Since we don’t live in Mundelein, we pay double… but no complaints here! But we are a little envious of Mundeleinians who only have to pay $1 to get into heaven! We may just have to sell the house and move to save $1 every time we go here! We’ve already been there twice, and that’s $6 we could have saved if we sold our…

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Please Forgive Me (free song)

Today I want to post a FREE SONG from my church’s worship pastor, as well as part of an e-mail he sent out to introduce it. Worship, Prayer and Healing by Mark Chaffee Worship is who we are. Worship is what we do. We were MADE to worship. It is not something we can turn on and off like a water faucet, rather it flows from us like an untamable river. The only control we posses is in who or what we choose to worship at any particular time. Scripture abounds with encouragement of only worshipping the one true living God. Romans 1 talks of how people have “…exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.” (v. 25) The same is true of us today. At any given moment we could be worshipping ourselves, our possessions, time, job, money, family, friends, or any other “created” thing. If our focus is not on God, but something else, then in that moment we are placing the created above the creator. Wow, that is tough, isn’t it? In fact, I know of only one person who has ever been able to keep God…

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