My Island Roots

One of my very own favorite sayings is:

If you forget where you came from, 
you won't know where you are going 
and you won't know who you are when you get there.

Recently, I learned something about myself as I was studying my island roots. The epiphany of sorts came as I was reading an article about the people of Harkers Island, North Carolina. As I casually read, I suddenly understood why I feel like I feel sometimes -- like an introvert who inwardly likes to be left alone, but one has been called out to be a friend of Jesus to everyone I encounter.

Here's the quote I read and the reference:

Harkers Island, North Carolina, sits in the water all by itself, a simple land where people have worked the sounds for a century, a place where they battle two natural instincts -- wanting to be friendly and wanting to be left alone. The State Magazine, May 2013

I'm a natural born island boy, but supernaturally born again to glorify my Lord. Which reminds me of another of my own favorite sayings:

I'm glad to be the son of a fisherman and a fisherman (and a shepherd) for the Son.

Enough said.

Grateful

Obvious Masks that Scared People Wear

A while back, my wife and I visited New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, for the very first time. One of the shops we browsed in near the riverfront had walls and walls covered with masks for the annual Mardi Gras "celebrations". It got me thinking about the many masks we are tempted to put on in our everyday lives.

Perhaps there are no more obvious masks that scared people wear, yes, no more positive proofs of full-bloom fear than when we are found in these two destructive disguises:
#1: arrogance and #2: isolation.

I am so blessed to be an island boy by birth, but I have no desire to live now and/or die later as an island. No, I am not independent! I pray that I will never again be found posing in arrogance and/or lost in isolation.

We really do need each other.
-- Rueben Welch

Grateful... indeed!

Raise Praise

In the coastlands of the sea, praise the name of the LORD...
-- Isaiah 24:15 (NLT)

Lord, as a native island boy, I raise Your praise in holy harmony with those who dwell in the coastlands of the sea! Let everyone that has breath Raise Praise in the name of Jesus. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful