http://www.youtube.com/user/tenthavenuenorth#p/u/8/XNpw-kCUEtk

The video link is a journal done by one of the guys from Tenth Avenue North. I love their music and ministry.

Who are we to judge? Who are we to say that, that person isn't good enough just because of the color of their skin? Didn't God say to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, to treat your neighbor as yourself? Just bothers me that we look at someone and say that they aren't good enough, just because. Shouldn't the question be (as a Christian)- Do they love God, are they serving Him and a Christian? I don't care if you date a person of a another color... my first question will always be. Does he/she love the Lord. In any relationship, put God first, have Him direct you... the path He puts you on is always well light.


Color People ~ DC Talk

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir
I couldn't help but note your shade of melanin
I tip my hat to the colorful arrangement
Cause I see the beauty in the tones of our skin


We've gotta come together
And thank the Maker of us all

(chorus)
We're colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We're colored people, and they call us the human race
We've got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace


A piece of canvas is only the beginning for
It takes on character with every loving stroke
This thing of beauty is the passion of an Artist's heart
By God's design, we are a skin kaleidoscope

We've gotta come together,
Aren't we all human after all?

(repeat chorus)

Ignorance has wronged some races
And vengeance is the Lord's
If we aspire to share this space
Repentance is the cure


Well, just a day in the shoes of a color blind man
Should make it easy for you to see
That these diverse tones do more than cover our bones
As a part of our anatomy

Never 2nd guess yourself when you have the chance to share God's word.... You might not get another chance.

Today is going to be short and to the point...
Don't take the people in your life for granted.
You don't know how long they are going to be in your life.

Live ~ Laugh ~ Love

Live: Live every moment, do not take anything for granted.
Laugh: Laugh at the little things in life, the silly things that we usually would not see.
Love: Love the ones around you, love your spouse, family & friends.
Enjoy life, enjoy being around the people that you love.
Share God, spread His word by action, and by word. Seek Him in all you do.
Put Him above anything else in your life. Let Him be your guiding light.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Psalms 119:105

It has been a few days since I have written anything, this week has been busy and next week is going to be even busier. At Thursday night Bible study we talked about Abigail in I Samuel... I had forgotten about this and when we read it, I was reminded on how powerful God is. How He honors the righteous and punishes the wicked.

Abigail's Story: ^18-19 Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys. Then she said to her young servants, "Go ahead and pave the way for me. I'm right behind you." But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.
^20-22 As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending from the other end, so they met there on the road. David had just said, "That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the wild so that nothing he had was lost—and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face! May God do his worst to me if Nabal and every cur in his misbegotten brood aren't dead meat by morning!" ^23-25 As soon as Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on her knees at his feet, her face to the ground in homage, saying, "My master, let me take the blame! Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have to say. Don't dwell on what that brute Nabal did. He acts out the meaning of his name: Nabal, Fool. Foolishness oozes from him. ^25-27 "I wasn't there when the young men my master sent arrived. I didn't see them. And now, my master, as God lives and as you live, God has kept you from this avenging murder—and may your enemies, all who seek my master's harm, end up like Nabal! Now take this gift that I, your servant girl, have brought to my master, and give it to the young men who follow in the steps of my master. ^32-34 And David said, "Blessed be God, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me! And blessed be your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of looking out for me. A close call! As God lives, the God of Israel who kept me from hurting you, if you had not come as quickly as you did, stopping me in my tracks, by morning there would have been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat." ³⁵ Then David accepted the gift she brought him and said, "Return home in peace. I've heard what you've said and I'll do what you've asked."

This is the part that got my attention....

^36-38 When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits—and very, very drunk. So she didn't tell him anything of what she'd done until morning. But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma. About ten days later God finished him off and he died.

I Samuel 25:18-25, 32-38 (The Message)

He died... God saw his sin and killed him, but honored Abigail because of her humbleness. Her soft answer turned away the wrath of David. As we enjoy this weekend with friends and family, let us remember this story... and when a situation arises, let us answer in a soft tone with humbleness and meekness to the ones standing in front of us.

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday and to honor him we have *Read Across America. We all know Dr. Seuss, he is famous for books such as Green Eggs & Ham, Hop on Pop and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? So I have a question. As a teacher I understand the importance of a child's education, but how much greater should our knowledge of the the Lord be? If I was to name books of the Bible, would you or I be able to name the authors of Exodus, Numbers or Romans? We can sit for hours and read our books for book club or look at our magazines, but how long do we sit and read the Bible 10, 15 minutes? Maybe at that. It is so easy to pick up something that we enjoy reading, something we want to read.... shouldn't it be that way with the Bible? I am at fault for this too, I can sit for an hour and read a book, but it is hard for me to read more then 15mins. of the Bible. Is our reading time a reflection on how much we love our Lord?, Yes!
It's the same way in a marriage or any relationship, if you care about the person you want to read and listen to what they have to say. Can you imagine if your loved one went off to war or away for long time, and they wrote you everyday, but you never opened the letters to see what they wrote. You just looked at the envelope and placed it with the others. When they returned home, they ask if you received their letters, you smile with excitement and point to the letters on the side table covered with dust. How do you think that would make them feel- unloved and unappreciated. In the same way that is the way we treat Jesus when we just look over a verse or what not instead of picking up His love letters and reading them with excitement. So as we read to our children this week and the weeks to come, add a story from the Bible in that reading time. Encourage them to spent time with Jesus reading His love letters.



*NEA's Read Across America Day, NEA's national reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books, and you can too!

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1: 7 (NIV)

Most of the time when I read scripture I will just read it and get the surface meaning of the verse and go about my day hoping to achieve what I read if I can. As I read the verse today I sat for a moment and re-read it a few times.. Fear, what is fear?
When you fear something in some way you have *respect for it in a way that you step back and think about it, to consider the thing that you fear. In this case the Lord. So what this verse is saying to me is - the fear of the Lord, or the respect of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Once we sit back and start to understand the respect that He deserves we can start to sit at His feet with humbleness to learn what He is teaching us.
The 2nd part of the verse says "but fools despise wisdom and discipline." *Fool- the Hebrew meaning is someone who is morally deficient. If we take this meaning, we could say that a fool is one who is without judgment, so they wouldn't care what the Lord wanted to teach them, because they do not fear Him.
We all have our moments of wanting to learn on our own, to try it for ourselves, and I don't think that is wrong. What I believe is being said here is that we must first respect Him, so we will not be a fool and disregard His wisdom because we think we can do it all on our own.
So as today goes on, listen to what He has to say, respect Him so we won't be considered a fool in His eyes.


*Definition: Consideration; motive; interest.
*Definition: A person deficient in intellect; one who acts absurdly, or pursues a coursecontrary to the dictates of wisdom; one without judgment; a simpleton; a dolt.