Daily Devotional; formerly Chaplains Corner

[cutter]

Amen!! And thank you for getting the word out!! I read your message first thing in the morning!

[Woodnut]

Amen!!
Thanks Terry.

[lonewolf204]

Amen!

Thanks
Terry

[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys!

The thought for today -

There are two ways to ride a super-heavyweight motorcycle at low speeds. One is brute force; when it starts to lean to the right, you jam your right foot into the ground and kick the bike back up to vertical. The other way is finesse and balance. You keep the bike vertical by very subtle steering corrections which keep it from leaning too far and causing the problem in the first place. And then there are times that neither work, and I have the broken ankle to prove it!

If your wall clock is a bit off time, how do you set it? Do you turn the little wheel that is connected to the inner mechanism, or do you grab hold of the hands and move them to where they belong?

If the power window on your car is open and you want it shut, do you operate the little button on the door, or do you grab the glass and pull up on it?

Leo Tolstoy wrote an essay called 'Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves?' in which he described man as both a spiritual and an animal being. He said that a man could be moved by influencing his animal being or by influencing his spiritual essence. This can be likened to the above; moving the hands of a clock by pushing them into place, or raising a window by gripping the glass, is similar to motivating a person by influencing his animal being. Although it is POSSIBLE to move a person this way, it is far better to move someone, whether yourself or another, by appealing to their spiritual side.
Just like a heavy motorcycle, a person can be influenced by brute force – but finesse and balance, appeal to reason, is far superior.
The Word of God tells us:

Job 32:8 (KJV);
"But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."

Psalms 51:10 (KJV);
"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (KJV);
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

I have been guilty at times of failing this test in dealing with people.
Finesse is far superior, even though brute force can be more personally satisfying - -

May God bless and direct each one of us - -

[Woodnut]

AMEN!
Thanks Terry.

[lonewolf204]

Amen! Thanks, Terry

[ampaterry]

Today is Native American Day, American Indian Day Or Indigenous Peoples Day. Starting in 1916, there have been several state and national efforts to designate one day to recognize the contributions made by the first inhabitants of North America. At this point in history, Tennessee has designated the the fourth Friday in September as American Indian Day. California has this day as Native American Day, and finally in 2007 the Fed. Named this day as Native American Day as well.

Some state and local areas celebrate this day on Columbus Day, as a sort of protest against recognizing Columbus while ignoring the people that were here before he arrived. Actually, this makes sense to me. I was 19 years old when I first sampled Pizza. I was in Florida during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962, and a small Navy club there served it. Would it be right for me to declare that date to be “Pizza discovery day?” That was MY first, but Pizza existed long before that! But we now have a national Native American Day separate from Columbus day, so I guess you could say that both sides won.

We need to recognize that by the time we Europeans arrived here this continent had been completely settled from Atlantic to Pacific, from the Gulf of Mexico to the northern arctic regions, and the people who had settled it had a quite advanced civilization in place which our ancestors, for the most part, destroyed. They gave us help in many areas which made it possible for us to settle here, and we repaid them by hundreds of years of disease mistreatment, degradation, extermination, and genocide. We took their land, their heritage and their lives.

And when did we, as a nation, set aside a national day to recognize these people?
In 2007.

Lord, forgive us for our treatment of these people.
Bless them, father, and strengthen them as they work to regain and preserve the rich cultural heritage which we took from them.
And help us, Lord, to continue to work together toward this end, which will be of great benefit to all of us living here.

Amen -

May God bless each one of you, guys -

[jack404]

Amen

[Woodnut]

AMEN!

[ampaterry]

My wifes great grandmother was Cherokee.

According to a Cherokee chief/ambassador to Germany friend of ours, Cherokee is First Nation, and ANY Cherokee blood makes the person Cherokee - not PART Cherokee, but CHEROKEE.

So when she gets up this morning, I will stand, raise my right hand in greeting, and say "HOW YOU BE, SQUAW?"
She will smack me in the head with a tomahawk that looks a lot like an iron skillet, and our observation of Native American Day will be complete.

[Woodnut]

Good one Terry.
My ancestors are of the North Carolina band of Cherokee's. My Great Grandmother was full blood Cherokee, Grand Dad 1/2 and so on, which makes me Cherokee according to your analogy.
Lucky for me my wife is not Cherokee or I would be dodging the Tomahawk. LOL.

[ampaterry]

This guy was quite serious. Judy had just said she was PART Cherokee, and he really go upset at that - there is no such thing, according to him - and he sure does seem to be an expert on his people.

Some years ago, Judy asked me if her Indian ancestry was noticeable.

I said "We have four horses in the pasture and five dogs on the porch. What do you think?"

[ampaterry]

Years ago, there was a master violinist in Europe. He would play in concerts, and he had a magnificent Stradivarius violin, extremely expensive. He would play the Stradivarius violin in concert and everyone would whisper in the crowd, "Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius." He would play in churches, and people would say, "Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius." He even played before kings and queens, and they, too, would turn to one another and say, "Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius." All the glory went to the instrument.
Then one day this master violinist was walking by a pawn shop. He noticed an old, beat-up, worn-out violin. He walked into the pawn shop and asked how much it would cost. The owner of the pawn shop told him the American equivalent of five dollars. He bought the violin, and he took it home. He polished it, and he refined it, and he tuned it, and he retuned it, and he built some character into that violin. Then, when he was to play the greatest performance of his life in a concert hall, he took out the little, five-dollar, worn-out, beat- up violin that he had polished and refined. He put it up to his chin, and he began to play, and everybody in the concert hall whispered, "Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius."

This story reminds me of God and sinners. People remark about this person being so wonderful, or that one being so virtuous – when in reality, all are sinners that have been cleaned and tuned by the hand of God.

Romans 5:1-8 (KJV);
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

May God richly bless each one of you, guys. May complete strangers listen to your life and say "listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius!"

[lonewolf204]

Amen, Thanks Terry

[Maximilian II]

Awesome!

[jack404]

Amen to that, its through knowing we are all weak corrupt critters , but through God's love , we are all made good if we accept His teachings as best we can

[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys, for the support here - it is appreciated!

Today is another special recognition day. A congressional resolution which was approved June 23, 1936, designated the last Sunday of September - today - as Gold Star Mothers Day. A Gold Star Mother is any woman who has lost a son or daughter in service to the United States.
The history of this day began during WW I when families hung a “service flag” in their windows. On this banner, they had a blue star for each family member that was in the military. If a family member had been killed in the war, they put a gold star on this banner for them. Shortly after this war, the Gold Star Mothers Club was formed in the United States to provide support for mothers who had lost a son or daughter in the service.
In 2009, the Marine Parents group began an initiative to encourage Americans to light a “luminary” on this day. The luminary is made by taking a paper sack, opening it, and folding the top down to hold the top open. Then a five point star 2” across is cut in one side of the bag, and a cup of sand is poured into the bottom. These are set outdoors in safe places, and a tea candle is pressed into the sand at the center bottom of the bag The candles are then lit at Sundown today.

There was a fire crew that was going through a burnt-out section of forest and found an eagle, petrified in baked ash, still upright at the base of a tree. They nudged her to verify that she was indeed dead, and her lifeless body fell over, revealing several very alive eaglets which she had sacrificed her own life to protect when the fire burned over them. She could have flown to safety, but instead she gave her life to protect her children.
Most parents feel that way; it is ingrained into us to protect our children at all costs. For this reason, it is especially horrible for a parent to loose a child who is, in effect, protecting them instead.
The word of God tells us Children are a blessing from God:
Psalm 127:3-4 (KJV); Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
May God grant a measure of peace today on all those who have lost a loved one in the service, and a special blessings on all mothers who have lost a child in the defense of their country.

God bless each of you, guys -

[lonewolf204]

Amen! Thanks Terry for your time and knowledge.

[Juker]

Amen, amen.

[ampaterry]

An interesting thing happened to me a couple years ago. I was walking into the Dollar General store in Clarksville, TN, when I noticed a young man coming toward the door from the inside in some obvious physical difficulty. Under his shirt, I could see some angular lines that indicated to me that he was wearing some kind of brace, and it was making movement difficult for him. I stepped back outside the door and held it wide for him to pass through. As he shuffled through the door, a boxed set of sheets fell out from under his shirt. He bent and scooped them up, then continued to try to run while holding other items under his shirt. He ran to a car that was driven by a woman who was waiting with the motor running. As I stood there in shock, a clerk started yelling “Shoplifter!” and running toward the door. To be completely fair, I held the door open for them, too, but the young man had jumped into the car, and it was already speeding away.

Now let us consider another scenario. What if I had realized what this man was doing, and held the door open for him intending to help him get away. Then, what if that door slipped from my hand and hit him, knocking him down so that the clerk caught him before he escaped.

In the true story, I helped a man commit a crime while trying to do right.

In the “what if” account, I wanted to help a man commit a crime, and instead had helped to stop him.

In which account did I sin?

Only in the second one. God does not look at results, God looks into our hearts and judges us on our intentions, not on the actual outcome. Thankfully, because so often we TRY to do right, and muck it up. And we never get “credit” for a good outcome of any actions we take in an effort to do wrong.

Proverbs 17:3 (KJV);
“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.”

And there you have it. God does not judge you by your brain; your intellect is of little interest to Him. He does not judge you by your muscular development; your physical strength is nothing to Him. He judges your heart; what you intend to do, what you try to do, what you desire to do. Anything else means little.

Helping a shoplifter escape is not the worst thing I have ever done, but it is the worst I am likely to use in a sermon illustration.

God bless you, guys!

[lonewolf204]

Amen, Thanks Terry!

[ampaterry]

Yesterday, I spoke of the fact that your INTENT is what you are judged on, and not the RESULT of your actions. Some folks may think that others can use this as an excuse to do wrong, by just claiming they did not MEAN to do what they did.

Robert Farrar Capon addressed this in Between Noon and Three:
Folks are worried about permissiveness--about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness. ...
While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn't. He wasn't afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He's angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue--that music, dancing, and a fattened calf are, in effect, just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: "Cut that out! We're not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he's alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping."

I encourage you to read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15;11-31. For additional thoughts about this, the word of God also tells us that Grace is bestowed to ALL people of faith:
Romans 4:16 (KJV);
"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all"

And the Word of God tells us that our salvation is NOT a result of our good works:
Titus 3:5 (KJV);
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"

May God bless each and every one of you -

[Woodnut]

AMEN!!
Thanks Terry.

[lonewolf204]

Amen! Thanks Terry

[ampaterry]

After church one Sunday, a lady's young son asked, "Mom, what's a virgin?"

Oh, no, she thought. The time has come. So with great care, she sat down with her son and calmly explained the facts of life in great detail, as she had already prepared herself to do in the exactly proper manner.

When she finished, he exclaimed, "No, Mom, not that kind of virgin. I was talking about the King James Virgin."

There are many today that do not know what the King James Version is, and they do not care enough to find out. There are many that ACT as though they do not know what a Virgin is either, although they know full what it means. In the past, this was a VERY important matter, and accusation of NOT being a Virgin were taken very seriously indeed:

Deuteronomy 22:13-19 (King James Virgin);
"If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days."

We need to return to some core values in this country, and in the world. The ‘if it feels good, do it!’ philosophy has done a LOT of damage to our basic moral fiber, and this trend MUST be reversed for the sake of the upcoming generations!

The Ten Commandments is a fine place to start.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

May God bless you, guys -