Turn Your Eyes Away From Yourself

Turn your eyes away from yourself and begin to look at those who are hurting. They are all around you. If you have feelings of loneliness, yes; they are lonely too. If you have your down times, remember they become depressed too. Just as you have your aches and pains, they might find it hard to get out of bed some mornings too. If you haven’t slept all night long because of worries, just go to that neighbor who also has the darkest circles under their eyes and encourage them with a good word, before their day begins. What a lift we can bring to others, if we only get our eyes off of ourselves.

Are you paying too much for your medication? So do the majority you see walking in the mall. Are you worried about one of your children? Chances are, everyone has at least one child they pray for more than the others.

Does your heart break at times over the mistakes you have made in the past? When you get a little bit of age on you, many people regret the decisions they made in the wildness of their youth. They wonder what kind of marbles they had for brains, just like you. Do you get nostalgic at times? Some cannot look at pictures of their loved ones, without weeping for them. They not only miss them terribly, but they wish they had done more for them, before they passed away.

Are there haunting memories of secrets you harbor within your heart that no one knows about, except God? Join the club, most people have many such things; they have decided to take to the grave with them.

Are there times, when you do not know how to deal with the anger you feel about the injustice, cruelty and inhumane decisions in the world? We are living in an angry society. Look at the way most people drive today. Everyone is in a hurry to die, it is called road rage.

Were you raised without a father? So were over 50% of the people you see today. Were you abused? The statistics are even larger. Were you raped? So were approx. 3 out of ten women you see walking around today. Divorced? Most people you meet today have been divorced at least once and remarried.

Did you lose every materialistic item you had in that storm or flood? Think of Katrina, think of those who not only lost their homes, but their loved ones too.

When we think about it, when we get our eyes off of ourselves an on others, we are looking at other people who are struggling too in one way or another. Some of their struggles might be worst than ours, some not as bad, but they are all wrestling with something in their lives. When we reach out and help them in someway, are we not helping ourselves in the process? Is not our brother only a reflection of our own lives?

Jesus never said life would be fair. But he did promise to take us through it, and be with us during the whole journey.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Mt.28:19-20

RIZPAH

“Rizpah, Oh, Rizpah,” how can we know the depth of the love, you had in your heart? How we yearn and strive to have even a small facet of the faithfulness, you had in your soul. Let us have your courage and tenacity to bring God’s goodness to all that see.

Rizpah’s name means, “coal, hot stone.” She was the daughter of Aiah and one of King Saul’s concubines and she was the mother of two sons; Amoni and Mephibosheth.

There was a famine in the land for three years. By this time, David was king and asked the Lord what this was all about. The Lord told him it was the zealousness of Saul that killed the Gibeonites. David went to the Gibeonites who were alive and asked them what he could do to make some kind of amend for this action. They requested that seven of Saul’s male descendants be given to them to be killed and exposed. They wanted vengeance. David agreed and gave the two sons of Rizpah’s, “Amoni and Mephibosheth” along with five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab and promptly handed them over to the Gibeonites who killed them and exposed them on a hill, each hanging on their own individual post. The Bible further says, “all seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.” 2Sa.3:7 21:8, 10, 11.

A distraught and grievous Rizpah took a sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. Remember, this was harvest time and the rains were held up for the crops to be able to be gathered. She stayed on that rock to watch over the bodies that were hanging upon the posts. She guarded the bodies in the daytime against the birds and from the wild animals at night. Rizpah stayed for five months until King David was told what she was doing and then, the bodies were finally taken down and buried.

True love goes beyond the call of duty. It goes beyond the grave and is a complete sacrifice of self. Just like Jesus did for us. Rizpah looked up, and watched the birds circle in the sky, high above the bodies of those she loved. Did her neck begin to hurt from looking up so much? I picture how she would run out there with a small tree branch, shouting and swishing it in the air to make them leave, when they dared to land upon one of the children. She did this time and time again and I imagine she got pretty weak. Completely spent, she would look at her sons faces and weep. Her heart was completely broken, yet she stayed determined to continue to guard them. Her skin must have gotten burned from the sun day in and day out.

When you think of it, there may have been a relative or friend who brought her water and whatever food they could scrounge up, so she could continue to stay there. Did they try to talk her into coming back home? Did they stay there for awhile with her and keep her company? Did they hold her once in awhile? Did they both cry together, and did Merab, come to her whose five sons were slain along side of hers? I envision them embracing and crying together. After the tears, anger had to come with deep feelings of depression for both of them. Although, Rizpah didn’t have any control over losing her sons, she did what she could do, afterwards.


At night time she would take that same branch and scare away the jackals and other beasts. I imagine as sorrowful as she was, over time she had to fight sleep to stay awake. There were times when she would become drenched by the rain and shiver in the cool evenings. Such was a determined heart. Rizpah literally gave up her life to watch over those bodies. She could not fathom the thought of any of them being torn up by an animal. When David took the bodies, to be buried, they were bones. She had stayed out there and watched her sons decay to rotting flesh and fall to the ground; until there were only bones left on them. Only when they were taken down and buried did Rizpah leave.

We see hateful vengeance on one hand and consider all of the people whose lives were involved when the killings took place. On the other hand, we see the goodness of God in Rizpah. We see her great nurturing spirit of love, full of determination and tenacity to guard over what God had given to her. Her and Merab’s sons were ruefully stolen from them to be a sacrifice to bring a appeasement to the Gibeonites. Two wrongs never make a right. Where she found the strength to do what she did, can only be a supernatural one given by God. How did she manage to go on, when her beloveds were snatched away? She was in mourning, while protecting and guarding.

I admire Rizpah’s strength and determination to follow through with love’s sacrifice. Today we have that choice in our lives, not to the extreme that Rizpah went through, but in the daily decisions we make, we can go the extra mile and ask ourselves; if we are bringing God’s goodness to those we come in contact and are we making profound expressions of kindness towards those who need it the most? We can have the tenacity of Rizpah if we only believe that God is guiding our steps, just like He did hers.

I Still Believe in Miracles

On June 28th back in 2003 my world fell apart when the love of my life, took flight into the wild blue yonder. Plato was only a two year old Blue Fronted Amazon parrot. His personality brims over being full of himself, hilariously funny and with a heart too big to fit in his small body. Brilliant with a huge vocabulary, it was he, who flew down and landed upon my chest earlier that year, when I was so sick with pneumonia and asked me quite seriously “are you alright?” And it is he who sings “God is good” to the top of his lungs, in the shower with me, does the “high 4” (parrots only have 4 toes) and exercises as he says “stretch and bend.” He’s my green feathered buddy alright. Now he was gone.

Let me back up just a little bit and tell you how this happened. Plato had his wings clipped so I used to put him on my finger and we’d walk in the yard together. I’d point to all the different colored flowers and say “flower” and he’d say questioningly “flower?” We’d look at the butterflies together and watch the hummingbirds humming around. Because he was so young, everything was so new and beautiful to him. Then not too long after a trip to the vet and having his wings clipped, the vet told me he wouldn’t be able to fly, but glide to the floor. I soon discovered that he could still fly and fly he did throughout the whole house landing on my shoulder wherever I would go. After I got him home and we were walking in the yard. I always had one of my fingers over two of his toes, just in case he would get excited and fall. That day, he bit my finger for only a reason that a parrot knows and letting pressure up from his toes, I yelled out a big “ouch.” With that response, he took flight and landed upside down in a gangly tree around the other side of the house. I opened the house door and quickly told my husband that Plato had gotten away and raced around the other side to get him. I just wasn’t quick enough. He was pitifully hanging there looking at me, almost waiting for me to rescue him, but I couldn’t go fast enough to get the ladder and climb up to where he was. Then, in one quick swoop he flew high up into one of our pine trees. My heart sank. I started to try to woo him with his favorite foods and talk to him as softly as I could. It was all in vain. He had this new found freedom that he didn’t know what to do with. I knew one of the most important things to do when your bird gets away is to keep your eyes on him so you will know where he is. Makes sense, right? This doesn’t always work when they take to the sky though.

In the beginning, he stayed close to the woods that are near our home. He lived in tree tops and I would be able to talk to him everyday. Then, one day I climbed a 25ft ladder while he looked puzzled at me, enjoying his noon day shower from the torrent of rain high in that Magnolia tree. With soaked clothes I managed to climb to the top of the ladder, and found I only had about a yard to go, but fear and age just would not allow me to let go and climb up upon the tree branches. Perhaps if I were about 30 years younger I told myself, I would then, spring right up there. In the meantime, my husband rigged up a pvc pipe with a homemade perch on the end of it and handed it to me. Ingenious, I thought! I slowly moved the perch closer to where Plato was, when he cocked his head looking at this new and strange object. Fear won that test and away he flew onto another high place. Oh, the exasperation and frustration! I tried not to worry about him.

This was a serious thing for me. My bird was flying fearfully. He had this inbred instinct knowing he was a prey bird, so he never stayed long in any place. I roamed the neighborhood calling for him and talking to people I’d never met before. Next, I put flyer all over our neighborhood, on trees, on fences and on poles. There was even a spot on the local radio asking people to be on the look out for a Blue Fronted Amazon. Most importantly, I cried out to God with my wounded heart asking Him to please bring Plato back to us. I was greatly concerned about the eagles, hawks, owls and man. I say man, because I know there are those who would keep such a bird for themselves or cash him in.

Then, the rumors started, that he’d been captured. Then, another one about how a little boy found a dead parrot in the woods. Visions of what could have happened brought horrid imaginations to my praying, and crying sleepless nights.

When he was living in the woods, I was able to go down and call for him and he’d answer if he were around. He wanted to fly to me as I asked him to “flutter to Mommy” and he’d take off like 60 and then circled high above me saying “hold on!” He didn’t know how to swoop down so low. In the house, he had the ceiling as his boundaries. Now he was flying with the big boys and the sky was his limit.

Then, early in the morning on July 2nd I walked outside my home and called for Plato and he answered me. I was thrilled to think he had gotten enough nerve to leave the security of the glade and nestle across the street from our house. He’s getting hungry I thought to myself. I had his cage outside so when he was around he could see the food and water. I called for him and he flew over our home landing somewhere in the top of the trees about two streets away. That was the last I saw him or heard him until…

A gentleman vacationing here in Florida had seen one of my flyers called, and said my bird was in a Palm tree in his front yard. If I had my pajamas on I wouldn’t have risked the time to change my clothes. I was excited, and threw his night cage filled with fresh water and his favorite seeds into my small car. When I arrived, I didn’t see him at first. Then, my heart lifted as I saw his head bobbing. He wasn’t doing too well. People began coming out from their homes, as a crowd gathered. I once again climbed a ladder and rested his cage upon a SUV that was parked next to the Palm tree and called for him. At first his head kept nodding. Then, something clicked inside of him. He eyed his cage, the water and oh the glory of those seeds! And, flew to his cage, and went inside and had a feast. I closed the door and cried. Everyone applauded!

Plato was gone for 11 days. In those 11 days I met my whole neighborhood and many people who really cared. God not only heard my heart wrenching prayers, but all those who cared enough to pray for him. During those 11 days my hope was watered by those people who cared enough to give me encouraging words. Many kept declaring that Plato would be back. They kept saying that, “they just believed that I would have that bird back.”

God answers prayers, but He doesn’t want you to give up! Keep that hope alive inside of you and surround yourself with people who care and believe your answer is “on the way.”

God cares about us. He cares about our hearts and knows exactly what we are to learn when we go through a trial. I believe are trials come to conform us to the nature of His son. Plato was rescued only one day before hurricane Dennis hit our area. I want to shout to the world; “is there anything to big for God?”

Never give up! I still believe in miracles!

I Still Believe in Miracles

On June 28th back in 2003 my world fell apart when the love of my life, took flight into the wild blue yonder. Plato was only a two year old Blue Fronted Amazon parrot. His personality brims over being full of himself, hilariously funny and with a heart too big to fit in his small body. Brilliant with a huge vocabulary, it was he, who flew down and landed upon my chest earlier that year, when I was so sick with pneumonia and asked me quite seriously “are you alright?” And it is he who sings “God is good” to the top of his lungs, in the shower with me, does the “high 4” (parrots only have 4 toes) and exercises as he says “stretch and bend.” He’s my green feathered buddy alright. Now he was gone.

Let me back up just a little bit and tell you how this happened. Plato had his wings clipped so I used to put him on my finger and we’d walk in the yard together. I’d point to all the different colored flowers and say “flower” and he’d say questioningly “flower?” We’d look at the butterflies together and watch the hummingbirds humming around. Because he was so young, everything was so new and beautiful to him. Then not too long after a trip to the vet and having his wings clipped, the vet told me he wouldn’t be able to fly, but glide to the floor. I soon discovered that he could still fly and fly he did throughout the whole house landing on my shoulder wherever I would go. After I got him home and we were walking in the yard. I always had one of my fingers over two of his toes, just in case he would get excited and fall. That day, he bit my finger for only a reason that a parrot knows and letting pressure up from his toes, I yelled out a big “ouch.” With that response, he took flight and landed upside down in a gangly tree around the other side of the house. I opened the house door and quickly told my husband that Plato had gotten away and raced around the other side to get him. I just wasn’t quick enough. He was pitifully hanging there looking at me, almost waiting for me to rescue him, but I couldn’t go fast enough to get the ladder and climb up to where he was. Then, in one quick swoop he flew high up into one of our pine trees. My heart sank. I started to try to woo him with his favorite foods and talk to him as softly as I could. It was all in vain. He had this new found freedom that he didn’t know what to do with. I knew one of the most important things to do when your bird gets away is to keep your eyes on him so you will know where he is. Makes sense, right? This doesn’t always work when they take to the sky though.

In the beginning, he stayed close to the woods that are near our home. He lived in tree tops and I would be able to talk to him everyday. Then, one day I climbed a 25ft ladder while he looked puzzled at me, enjoying his noon day shower from the torrent of rain high in that Magnolia tree. With soaked clothes I managed to climb to the top of the ladder, and found I only had about a yard to go, but fear and age just would not allow me to let go and climb up upon the tree branches. Perhaps if I were about 30 years younger I told myself, I would then, spring right up there. In the meantime, my husband rigged up a pvc pipe with a homemade perch on the end of it and handed it to me. Ingenious, I thought! I slowly moved the perch closer to where Plato was, when he cocked his head looking at this new and strange object. Fear won that test and away he flew onto another high place. Oh, the exasperation and frustration! I tried not to worry about him.

This was a serious thing for me. My bird was flying fearfully. He had this inbred instinct knowing he was a prey bird, so he never stayed long in any place. I roamed the neighborhood calling for him and talking to people I’d never met before. Next, I put flyer all over our neighborhood, on trees, on fences and on poles. There was even a spot on the local radio asking people to be on the look out for a Blue Fronted Amazon. Most importantly, I cried out to God with my wounded heart asking Him to please bring Plato back to us. I was greatly concerned about the eagles, hawks, owls and man. I say man, because I know there are those who would keep such a bird for themselves or cash him in.

Then, the rumors started, that he’d been captured. Then, another one about how a little boy found a dead parrot in the woods. Visions of what could have happened brought horrid imaginations to my praying, and crying sleepless nights.

When he was living in the woods, I was able to go down and call for him and he’d answer if he were around. He wanted to fly to me as I asked him to “flutter to Mommy” and he’d take off like 60 and then circled high above me saying “hold on!” He didn’t know how to swoop down so low. In the house, he had the ceiling as his boundaries. Now he was flying with the big boys and the sky was his limit.

Then, early in the morning on July 2nd I walked outside my home and called for Plato and he answered me. I was thrilled to think he had gotten enough nerve to leave the security of the glade and nestle across the street from our house. He’s getting hungry I thought to myself. I had his cage outside so when he was around he could see the food and water. I called for him and he flew over our home landing somewhere in the top of the trees about two streets away. That was the last I saw him or heard him until…

A gentleman vacationing here in Florida had seen one of my flyers called, and said my bird was in a Palm tree in his front yard. If I had my pajamas on I wouldn’t have risked the time to change my clothes. I was excited, and threw his night cage filled with fresh water and his favorite seeds into my small car. When I arrived, I didn’t see him at first. Then, my heart lifted as I saw his head bobbing. He wasn’t doing too well. People began coming out from their homes, as a crowd gathered. I once again climbed a ladder and rested his cage upon a SUV that was parked next to the Palm tree and called for him. At first his head kept nodding. Then, something clicked inside of him. He eyed his cage, the water and oh the glory of those seeds! And, flew to his cage, and went inside and had a feast. I closed the door and cried. Everyone applauded!

Plato was gone for 11 days. In those 11 days I met my whole neighborhood and many people who really cared. God not only heard my heart wrenching prayers, but all those who cared enough to pray for him. During those 11 days my hope was watered by those people who cared enough to give me encouraging words. Many kept declaring that Plato would be back. They kept saying that, “they just believed that I would have that bird back.”

God answers prayers, but He doesn’t want you to give up! Keep that hope alive inside of you and surround yourself with people who care and believe your answer is “on the way.”

God cares about us. He cares about our hearts and knows exactly what we are to learn when we go through a trial. I believe are trials come to conform us to the nature of His son. Plato was rescued only one day before hurricane Dennis hit our area. I want to shout to the world; “is there anything to big for God?”

Never give up! I still believe in miracles!

Sometimes God says no

We sing songs of how God hears our prayers and always answer’s them. It can be hard to take when he says no. How does he say no? By not giving us what we deserve, by knowing what is better for us than we do. When you think about it, he saves us from a world of heartache, when the answer is no. We stand praying on scriptures and believing and knowing, our answer will soon be forth coming. But, sometimes it is a simple no. There are times, when the “no” brings no explanation along with it. We bring problems into the situation when we try to read more into the reason why we got the no in the first place. There will always be “Job‘s friends” who will tell you, “your faith wasn’t strong enough, or you just didn’t believe” and in some cases, we know this was true. Have you ever noticed how we categorize our beliefs? For example; we know it is easy to believe we will receive our pay after a full weeks work, because if all goes well, our paycheck will be waiting for us, just like clock work, like it has the whole time you have been employed there. but what about believing to spend some extra money, out of that very pay check to support an aids child overseas?
David’s faith was apparent in so many ways and one of those times was, when he went into fasting, praying and interceding for his sick baby, to be healed and not die. But, on the seventh day, the baby died. God said no. His faith was such, that he cleaned himself up, knowing there wasn’t anything else he could do and said “And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now, he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” 2Sa.16-23. Then, he got on with his life, in such a way that his servants were amazed, because of his acceptance of the word, “no.”
Truthfully, we do not always know why God says no to us. We examine our hearts and confess our sins and ask God to forgive us and the no word still comes along. We ask ourselves, why? How can this be, when we know what the Word says. “By his stripes we are healed.” Is. 53:5 Then, our loved one dies anyway. And, “these signs shall follow them, who believe, they shall lay hands on the sick and shall be healed.” Mk. 16:18
Faithful Christians have been perplexed a time or two when seemingly our prayers haven’t been answered. The fact is; God really does say no. It doesn’t have anything to do with your faith or faithfulness, or the way you have put your faith in him. He sees it all. The Bible says , we have not, because we ask not. It also says we “ask amiss,” many times. Search your heart and ask yourself what you’ve been praying for, and would it really bring glory to God if you had it? I ask you, does a brand new BMW bring glory to God? Does God need that to look good? Do you? I don’t think so. The western church hasn’t gone through any tribulation and many have become materially minded instead of love minded. We’ve managed to make rock solid cases to justify how important things are in our lives. Instead of counting our blessings for what God has given to us, we are always striving for more. More notoriety, power, more money, more jobs, bigger house with larger closets, a bigger car with a larger garage. Yet, the Bible tells us to be content with what we have. Naturally, as your family increases; there are times, when you outgrow your home and need a larger one.
Cannot our earthly father be compared to our heavenly father a little bit? What kind of father would we have if he gave us every single thing we would want? We would be as spoiled children always expecting more. If this would stop suddenly, we would throw a temper tantrum and demand our own way, because we have been literally trained that we can have our own way. As the children grow, they would continue to expect their father to give them everything all of the time, so why become independent and work? If by chance some do make their way into the work force, after college, many have problems with authority because, they quickly discover, in the work place, they will not be able to have their own way. This can be a difficult adjustment to spoiled adults and in order for them to adapt, they will have to come to the realization, that they will have to do things their employer‘s way and not theirs.
Sometimes, a “no” comes along because we haven’t listened to God. We do not hear what he is saying or we do not want to hear. We sometimes choose not to hear that small whisper in our ears that says “do you really need that, or should you be spending that amount of money at this time?” God is always talking to us, we just choose not to hear Him. We’d rather go along having things our way. It is only when we discover that when we do this, we mess up our lives so easily without following His guidance. At this time we find out how good the word “no” can really be for us.
Our eyes are opened and we begin to follow through on the no’s and our life finally gets on the upswing; because we chose to listen and obey. We finally discovered that it is ok for God to say no. It just isn’t good for us to say it to Him.

Fields of Gold

Slowly close your eyes and envision an incredible field of golden wheat. We picture this radiant blanket, sparkling in the sun like warm diamonds, as far as we can see. The wheat moves gracefully together when the rhythm of the wind begins to blow. The tares that grow next to the wheat look very similar and swing together with the wheat, in this graceful dance of the wind. Though the storms may come, you will see both the wheat and the tares held together by the grace and power of God’s love.

Once I was a lonely tare, who lived along side the golden beauty of the wheat. I watched in awe, in their humble delight when the breeze would come. They swayed in the Spirit of the Wind in complete unity. I didn’t understand their easy laughter or their deep faith and love in a man they called Lord, from Galilee. I noticed how gentle they were when they spoke to me and marveled by the kindness they had for one another. Above all, I experienced their love. Then, one day, it happened. As we were all enjoying the warmth under the sun, I became aware of some of their seeds dropping, but they didn’t fall onto the earth. I didn’t realize it at the time, but their seeds were miraculously planted in the soil of my heart. I learned later on, that it was through the Holy Spirit! Those seeds secured a deep strong root inside of me and I became transformed into the likeness of the Son. Soon, when a breeze came, I began swaying in the field, and was bedecked in a robe of refined gold; just like my other friends. They called us, “The Bride.”

God said in Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

My seeds started to grow and I developed a thankful heart. Like a magnet, I was literally drawn to God’s truth. My eyes became clear. I will give God all glory for the rest of my life. I look up, like the wheat towards the sun and bow in reverence and deep love, for I am reminded how I was rescued, from the very depths of despair and planted high upon a rock. The wheat can sing, “Once I was blind, but now I can see! Once I couldn’t understand, but now I know!” We sing the song rejoicing. Our hearts become one and we are linked, with the very holy breath of God. Once I was unable to forgive, but now I no longer stay angry or depressed and I am gifted to love those who come into my life, for the kingdom of God lives within me.

The wheat receives rain and fertilizer and grows under the sun. There comes a harvest time when the wheat is gathered up to be ground into a find powder and then used to make dough. First they separate the wheat from the chaff; this is called winnowing; for only wheat is permitted to go through the grinding process. The farmer then takes the wheat to the mill to be stone ground. To make acceptable dough, it must be rolled, kneaded, punched and poked. This whole strenuous process is time consuming and can be quite overwhelming. The dough is then, allowed to rise while being left by itself for a few hours. After the dough has faithfully risen, it is once again kneaded and punched to remove all of the unwanted air and set off by itself to rise again. When the dough has risen once again, it is finally placed into a hot oven to bake for an hour. While this happens a “death by heat” takes place as any unwanted germs or bacteria that may have been in the dough is killed. While under the pressure and intensity of this heat, the dough ascends one more time and transforms into a pure solid loaf of bread that not only looks and smells good, but is nutritious for all those who eat of this food, and to think; it all began with one small seed.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Jn. 6:35



We all began with the small beginning of a seed. Our seeds were watered and our eyes were opened to the truth. We responded in joy and we became transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ all because of God’s great love, mercy and grace.