"People Who Belong to God"

1 Peter 2:9 really ministers deeply to me. Because we are "people who belong to God," we are a people peculiar, a people purchased, and a people possessed (owned by God.)

(Click below on text for full-view.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Night Ushers in the Morning

"Weeping may last for the night, but there is a song of joy in the morning." 

Psalm 30:5b (GWT)

Night ushers in the morning. 

"Everything's gonna be all right!" 

-- Cap'n Billy Willis' deathbed chant

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"O Happy Birthday" to Lady Melba

Today is my Mom's, yes Lady Melba's, 74th birthday. I called her on the phone and sang the old "O Happy Birthday" song to her that Mrs. Reva Pearl Nelson taught us at my childhood church -- yes, The Old Free Grace Wesleyan Church on the Old Ferry Dock Road. 

Here are the words:

O Happy Birthday to you;

O Happy Birthday to you;

May the God Whom you Love

Send you peace from above.

O Happy Birthday to you;

O Happy Birthday to you;

God bless you

Your whole life through. 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 ( GWT)

Grateful 

"Trapped in a Dead-End Life?"

"Jesus said, 'I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. The Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.'"

-- From John 8, The Message 

"... and i wait." John 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"Become Children of God" / John Wesley

"Lord Jesus! May everyone who prepares his or her heart to seek Your face receive that Spirit of adoption and be enabled to cry out, 'Abba, Father.' Let them now have power so to believe in Your name as to become children of God and know and sense redemption through Your blood and the forgiveness of sins. Amen."

-- Prayer of John Wesley 

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith." 2 Corinthians 13:5 NIV

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"All Heaven Listens..."

"All Heaven listens when we send up a heartfelt prayer for an enemy's good."

-- Cowman 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"Very Funny" / Snow Sunday

Well, I don't remember the last Sunday our local church cancelled services for snow, but today we did. Only because it looked kind of like this outside our windows with 2 feet or more of snowfall here in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. 

(Click image below for full-frame view.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"People Who Belong to God"

A song and a verse are warming my heart and mind today -- a cold, snowy day in Virginia. 

The verse is 1 Peter 2:9 and the song is "I Belong" by Kathryn Scott.

Here's the song:

http://youtu.be/fU0pK85Xp9g

Here's the verse. Click text for full-view.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Temptation?

Some people aren't sure they always believe this verse below. Do we? 

(Click text below for full-frame view.) 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 GWT

Grateful

"Keep Me From Sinning."

"Who can notice every mistake?

Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep me from sinning.

Do not let anyone gain control over me."

-- Words of David, Psalm 19:13a GWT

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 GWT

Grateful 

Tomorrow... Today.

"Let us turn our fears into faith, and quit worrying over the thing that has not and never will happen. Don't let tomorrow use too much of today." 

-- John Bunyan Smith

(Click on text below for full-frame.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"He" (Jesus)

While reading reflectively through Isaiah 53, the final verse especially grabbed my being. It is a prophecy of Jesus. In Isaiah 53:12, the repetition of the word "He" (referring to Jesus) touches me deeply: 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3

Grateful 

"How Can It Be?"

It's a simple but sacred song of praise and worship to the One Who is the Author of Amazing Mercy and Alarming Love:

Click here: How Can It Be - Lauren Daigle - YouTube

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful

"If I Become The Will of God..."

For me, at this stage in my spiritual journey, surely to breathe is to pray. I find all my thoughts to be more than simply thoughts, they are all sacred prayers. 

I believe to be true, the words of Oswald Chambers, who said something akin to this: 

"If I become the will of God, I don't have to continuously look for the will of God."

Jesus, in John 17, Your prayer was that we might become one. I believe Your prayer is being answered even now in my life. May it be and continue to be so. 

In Your Holy Name, I ask these things. 

Amen.

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"If You Knew the Generosity of God..."

"If you knew the generosity of God and Who I Am, you would be asking Me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water." (John 4, The Message)

-- Jesus 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful

Still, Small Voice

Click on type below. Enough said:

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

The Secret of Gideon's Success (and Ours).

In Judges 6, it's easy to miss the secret of Gideon's success (and ours). It's clearly stated in the first ten words of Judges 6:34 below:

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

John 5:19

The Gospel of John has been speaking to me this week. Also, a Jesus-friend sent this verse to me today. It's deep:

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT) 

Grateful 

Breathe Hope

May you breathe this day delightful hope.

 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Eternal 'Tis

Jesus leads us on this journey,

What a faithful Guide He is.

Through storm and o'er wave we travel

Time with Him, eternal 'tis.

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"Good, Good Father"

Some people wrongly believe that Father God loves them only because He has to, but that He doesn't really like them very much. The lyrics of this song we sung in worship -- as pastors and spouses of Nazarene churches from across the USA -- spells out the beautiful truth about our Loving Father God:

(Click image to view full-frame of the actual song sheet I held as we sung to our Loving Father God.)

And there's a third verse: 

".., and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Overwhelmed?

How can you be overwhelmed when I am with you? -- Jesus 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Christmas Afterglow Song

A few days after Christmas 2015, I spent a couple days with my Mom, Lady Melba, in my childhood homeplace. While there, Mom and I, as usual spent quality time talking about tender subjects at the family table. We got on the topic of favorite Christmas songs. This is a song Mom like that I hadn't heard. So enjoy this little Christmas afterglow song and be blessed: 

http://youtu.be/xx4LKWBRmSk

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"Our Shortsightedness..."

"The Lord's answers to prayer are infinitely perfect, and they will show that often when we were asking for a stone that looked like bread, He was giving us bread that to our shortsightedness looked like stone." 

-- J. Southly 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

Epiphany -- Billy C. Willis January 6, 1969 -- A Spiritual Birthday

I sent this message to my two younger brothers today:

"It was today, January 6, yes Epiphany, 1969, that our Dad bowed on the floor of the shrimp trawler, Miss Vickie, as the 4th watch of the night was about to begin, and became a wise man as he worshipped by presenting the gift of his life to King Jesus. I realized today that Dad was born again and went to be with Jesus during the same hour of the night. An Epiphany indeed. Love ya bubs."

A few hours after I sent the message to my brothers, a seafood dealer, Ted, from coastal North Carolina, who was friends with my Dad and helped Dad to sell his shrimp trawler, Lady Melba, two weeks before Dad's passing, sent me this picture below of the bonanza-sized catch of shrimp by the new crew on Dad's old boat. Amazing to my heart, mind, soul and strength. And the captain sent these breath-taking words as well: "I know Captain Billy was smiling down on us from Heaven this week." 

(Click below to view full-frame view of bonanza-sized shrimp harvest on Dad's trawler on the Day of Epiphany and Dad's spiritual birthday.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

P.S. Also, today, I put together a wall-hanging shadow box of my Dad's life to display in my home office. A tender and humble day of holy gratitude in my life. 

"Between the Years" -- "Bury Every Kind of Fear of The Future"

As last year fades from view and this year rises before us, these words serve to encourage those of us who desire to hear God calling us onward:

(Click on copy of old book page below for full-frame reading.)

Author Unknown.

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"... Of Slowing Down..."

"Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind. 

Help me to know

The restoring power of sleep. 

Teach me the art

Of taking minute vacations;

Of slowing down

To look at a flower,

To chat with a friend,

To pat a dog,

To read just a few lines 

From a good book. 

There is more to life

Than increasing its speed."

-- Author Unknown 

(Click image below for full-frame view of my favorite sign posted at the entrance of Howard Street, Ocracoke Island, N.C.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful

How to Hang Our Heads

If it seems discouragement is holding us hostage and we're gonna hang our heads, let's hang our heads upward so we can seek the face of Holy God who knows, cares, loves, and frees us with His Help. 

-- Cap'n Billy Willis remix 

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful 

"... and i wait." + An Image That Inspires

Those of you who know me best know that I once made a living as a photographer. It seems like a lifetime ago, but photography was good to me and I try to honor my former profession from time-to-time by still capturing digital photo images that inspire me and others.

One photo that I took a few years ago at Jerusalem's Western Wall is one of my most recent favorites. So much so, that I have tagged the image in my email signature for all my 2016 electronic correspondences.

Here below is a look at the inspiring image that I have titled from Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." In my email signature I have also associated this image with three words from Psalm 5:3 that will help guide me and hopefully define me in the future -- "... and i wait." (Psalm 5:3 GWT)

(Click on image for full-frame view.)

Yes...

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful

  

Standing on the Precipice of the Unknown -- Holy New Year

HOLY NEW YEAR! Let's allow the past to rest in the care of Almighty God and let's rejoice in this new day, new year, yes in this new volume God is writing for our lives. 

Psalm 9:10 (GWT) steadies my heart as I stand on the precipice of the unknown:

"Those who know Your name trust You, O Lord, because YOU HAVE NEVER DESERTED THOSE WHO SEEK YOUR HELP!"

(Click on image for full-frame sunrise over Core Banks, N.C. just east of Harkers island, my native home.)

"... and i wait." Psalm 5:3 (GWT)

Grateful