Wolves can dress up like sheep, act like sheep and try to sound like sheep. They might fool folks who don’t know much about sheep…

But in the end, the Shepherd knows what His sheep sound like. And real sheep can also recognize another real sheep’s voice.

Psalm 23 (one of my favorites)
1 A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
I’ve read this psalm and read about it several times: I’d never thought a lot about the ‘still’ waters; I know that sheep don’t like to drink from fast-running waters, because of the danger. The shepherd wouldn’t want them drinking from stagnant water, though- not healthy for them. So ‘still’… according to Strong’s that word translates as ‘resting place, rest, quietness’. it’s a feminine noun which can also mean ‘repose’ or ‘peacefully’; also ‘consolation’.
so when Jesus leads us beside still waters, He’s looking out for our safety and health as we drink, but He’s also looking out for our comfort and consolation; this week has started out with more ‘excitement’ than I care for, so I’m glad to be able to rest beside His still waters, to catch my breath and get my strength back.

A pastor was confronted by a person who was talking with all kinds of vulgarity, including taking God’s name in vain.

He looked at the pastor and recognized that he was a man of God. The man then said that he had been looking for God for a while; even to the point of doubting His existence.

The pastor then said, “Well, you’re certainly not going to find Him as long as you keep damning Him.”

Randy and I really enjoyed God Speed Ministries church this morning. Bro. Mark always has a good word from God and this morning was no different.
Part of what he talked about was forgiving others. He told a story about a young man who went to his master and said he needed help because so many people had hurt his feelings, or were working against him. He asked the master what to do.
The master told him to take some potatoes; on each potato, carve the name of one of the people who had hurt his feelings; put them all in a sack and carry the sack everywhere he went for 30 days. From the time he got up, until he went to bed at night, he was to tote the bag of potatoes.
In his mind he thought, “Fifteen pounds of potatoes isn’t going to be too bad. I can do this.” So he did what the master told him to do.
At the end of the 30 days, he came back to the master and told him he was tired of carrying the sack of potatoes. The master asked him had he learned anything. The young man said, “Yes, I’ve learned I need to get rid of all this hate and unforgiveness I have towards people in my life!”
I told Randy, not only were those potatoes heavy, but you know they had started to stink- they were rotting; probably ‘gooey’ in some spots from rolling around against one another in that sack; bumping against the young man’s back or legs.
Randy and I have decided it’s time for us to put that stinkin’ bag of potatoes down.

Each item in the ark was there for a reason:

• Manna was the heavenly food that God provided the Israelites while they traveled through the wilderness.  It was the perfect food; and there was always enough- the people were told to gather only what they could use in a day- anything more would be full of worms if they kept it overnight. On the day before the Sabbath, they were told to gather two days’ worth of manna- and what was kept for the Sabbath did NOT ruin. God made sure they didn’t have to work for their food on the Sabbath.  Manna represents God’s provision for us.
• Aaron’s rod was also in the ark- this is the rod that flowered in the presence of the Pharaoh’s magicians; it also turned into a snake and ate the magicians’ rods when they too turned into snakes. The rod represents God’s leadership for us.
• The tablets that the ten commandments were written on were also put in the ark- these are the laws that God gave to Moses for the Israelites to follow. These laws are how perfect people would behave in a perfect world – anyone who could always follow those rules and never mess up were worthy to enter Heaven. Of course we know that there is no one worthy to enter Heaven on their own goodness, other than Jesus – and that’s why the ten commandments are so important – to show us that we can’t do it on our own. We all have to have a savior who is worthy.  The tablets represent God’s law and how it convicts us and points us to Jesus and the salvation He offers.

Please –  consider the sacrifice that Jesus has made for you; if you were the only person who needed salvation, He would still have died – just for you. Know that Jesus loves you as you are; but He doesn’t want to leave you that way. He loves you enough to want to help you be the person you can be- the person He’s designed you to be.

We had a guest preacher in church this morning. Bro. Terry Hester talked to us about what men should do; they need to quit acting like women, they need to quit acting like monsters and they need to quit acting like children – they need to act like MEN.

That got me to thinking about what a good man really is; what a good husband really is. The Bible shows us exactly what standards we should expect of our menfolk.

• Jesus was willing to die for the ones He loved – men should be ready to protect their families and exchange their lives for the ones they love.
• Jesus was a good leader- He didn’t ask any of His followers to do anything He wasn’t willing to do Himself – He didn’t force anyone to follow Him, He just loved folks and showed them the right way; they chose to follow Him because they knew they could trust Him no matter what; good men are good leaders to their families, their co-workers and their communities (I’m not saying women can’t be good leaders too; this is simply about good men do and how they act).
• Jesus always forgave those around Him- He never threw someone’s past in their face to remind them how bad they had been; He looked at today and beyond. Good men will also move past the past and look forward to encourage the ones following them to be better tomorrow than they were yesterday.
• Jesus loved His family (all of us) unconditionally- good men will also love their wives, children and other family members, regardless of how they act, how they dress, how they speak, how they look or any other choice they make.

Ephesians 6:10-17 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your waist girded with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The last time we went to “bike church” at God Speed Biker Ministries (they’re on Facebook) Bro Mark talked to us about the full armor of God. While he was reading the scriptures above, I kept thinking about all the parts of the whole armor…. and it reminded me of how much it’s like  the gear we bikers wear (or least, some of us wear!).

Bikers wear a helmet to protect our heads – I had someone ask me once how much my head was worth, and to expect to pay accordingly for a helmet. Got a $5 head? get a $5 helmet. We also have leather or heavy denim chaps to protect our legs; boots keep our ankles and feet safe; and a leather or heavy denim jacket can protect our chest and arms.  Leather gloves keep our hands from getting wet, wind-chapped and sometimes even safe from bugs and rocks.

This may sound like overkill – all this leather, the heavy, hot helmet, those stiff boots – I mean, is it all really necessary? No, not while you’re riding down the road.

But if you ever go down, you’ll appreciate every centimeter that’s between you and the pavement that’s rushing under you at 60 MPH.

So the expression ATTGAT means a lot when you’re sliding down the highway, with your bike right behind you. ATTGAT – all the gear, all the time.

And doesn’t it make sense that our Creator would also know that we need to have all our gear on all the time? ATTGAT, guys….. ATTGAT.

The government has keep us pretty well occupied over the last few days, like a parent dangling a set of keys in front of a baby’s eyes – ooh, look at the shiny… meanwhile what are they up to?
I have a news flash for you – the government isn’t in the business of keeping us from being offended – they may want us to think that, but they’re not.
Nowhere in the constitution does it say we’re guaranteed freedom from offense. and I guess it’s a pretty good thing, too. I don’t know about you, but if I tried to be avoid being offended, I’d have to stay in my house most of the time. Walk into a store and see grown-up folks wearing shirts with filthy words or nudity on them (sometimes with little kids with them- yeah, that’s a sign of great parenting right there); or hear people using filthy language in public- I don’t like hearing it, but I don’t walk up and say ‘you’re offending me’ – I do my best to ignore it and walk on – (sometimes speaking would mean taking my life into my hands). I can just Clorox my ears out when I get home. If I happen to have young children with me when it happens, I use that as a teaching tool: those people weren’t raised to know any better than to use ugly language.
I see a lot of offensive stuff here on Facebook too- I guess I could delete everybody who’s said or shared something that I disagree with- but that would leave me with a pretty short list of folks- and lots of them are people I love a lot – so I look over those things, or we discuss them – sometimes it makes me so angry that I *can’t* discuss it so I just have to put it on a shelf for a later day. Sometimes it’s young kids who are jumping on the latest bandwagon of whatever is considered cool today; sometimes it’s politics or religion (or the lack thereof).
I’ve even had supposedly tolerant people make the statement ‘if you don’t agree with me, go ahead and delete me now so I won’t have to delete you and your filth’ (paraphrasing). Again, I care about those folks too much to take them at their word – if they delete me, fine, but I’m not deleting them. It’s their choice.
Now here’s a shocker – I am a Christian and I believe in the Biblical view of things. If the Bible calls it sin, then it’s sin. That’s not up for debate. Drunkenness, divorce, abortion,stealing, murder, dishonoring your parents, homosexuality, lying, hate, laziness, adultery, fornication, being spiteful, unforgiveness – all those things and more are sin according to the Bible.
If you’re not a Christian, that’s your choice. I’m not going to hammer you for your choice, so don’t hammer me for mine. Don’t comment on this post about all the “crazy” things the Bible says – it’s not up for debate.
There are things in the Bible that I don’t understand the reasoning behind- other things I’ve had the opportunity to study and I *do* understand, at least partly. if you just want to randomly quote scripture at me so you can show how smart you are, or how ridiculous the Bible is, don’t bother. if you want to discuss it, that’s fine. I’ll be glad to either tell you what I know about what it says, or I can research and talk to folks who are more knowledgeable than me, and we can discuss it. Not so I can show you how smart I am, but to show you that things are in there for a reason, if we’ll just look for it and be willing to study it.
I’m a Christian because I know I can’t get through this life on my own. I know I’ve messed up way more than anybody but me realizes. I’ve done things in my life I”m ashamed of and wish I could go back and change.
even the folks who know me very well, don’t know all the things I’ve thought and done – but I know that Jesus has forgiven me, not because I deserve it, but because He loved me enough. I’ve tried to make things right with the people I’ve hurt – sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it hasn’t – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up.
so…. if you’re on my list, it means I care about you- care enough to agree to disagree with you- hopefully at some point we can come to an agreement, but either way I care about you.