I Lay Down My Life. No One Takes It.

(11) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. (12) The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. (13) The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. (14) “I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know me— (15) just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father —and I lay down My life for the sheep. (16) I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. (17) The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down my life —only to take it up again. (18) No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
-- Words of Jesus as recorded in John 10:11-18 (NIV 1984 Edition)

Thanks You Jesus for laying down you life for me.
i am Grateful... kerry i am

At The End of the Road

When John Todd, a nineteenth-century clergyman, was six years old, both his parents died. A kind-hearted aunt raised him until he left home to study for the ministry. Later, this aunt became seriously ill, and in distress she wrote Todd a letter. Would death mean the end of everything, or could she hope for something beyond?

Here, condensed from The Autobiography of John Todd, is the letter he sent in reply:

"It is now thirty-five years since I, as a boy of six, was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me. I have never forgotten the day I made the long journey to your house. I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me. "I remember my tears and anxiety as, perched high on your horse and clinging tight to Caesar, I rode off to my new home.

Night fell before we finished the journey, and I became lonely and afraid. 'Do you think she'll go to bed before we get there?' I asked Caesar. 'Oh no!' he said reassuringly, 'She'll stay up for you. When we get out o' these here woods, you'll see her candle shinin' in the window.' "

Presently we did ride out into the clearing, and there, sure enough, was your candle. I remember you were waiting at the door, that you put your arms close about me-- a tired and bewildered little boy. You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove. After supper you took me to my new room, heard me say my prayers, and then sat beside me till I fell asleep.

"Some day soon God will send for you, to take you to a new home. Don't fear the summons, the strange journey, or the messenger of death. God can be trusted to do as much for you as you were kind enough to do for me so many years ago. At the end of the road you will find love and a welcome awaiting, and you will be safe in God's care."
-- Vernon Grounds

A few days before his death, Dr. F. B. Meyer wrote a very dear friend these words: "I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace. Don't trouble to write. We shall meet in the morning."
-- Mrs. Charles Cowman, "Consolation,"

At the end of the road we will find love, welcome, and God's care.
Grateful

Help Me To Love And Trust You, Lord!

The Country & Western singer, Hank Williams, Jr., has this line in one of his songs: Why must you live out the songs that you've wrote. (Or something like that, anyway.)

My pastoral mentor, James Spruill, has tried to tell me: The Lord makes preachers live what they preach. In other words, if you preach "Do not be discouraged" get ready to battle discouragement. If you preach on "Christian marriage" get ready for a challenge in your own Christian marriage. And on and on it goes. Or so it often seems that way.

Well, yesterday, I wrote on my blog that God's perfect love presently makes all of our tormenting fears history. I know it's true. However, late last night... You guessed it. Tormenting fears came knocking at my heart's door.

Here's what happened: For about an hour I tried to get one of my family members on the phone. It was getting quite late and still no answer after many calls to their cell phone and home phone. It seemed no one I talked with knew where my loved one was. To say I was frightened and upset would be an understatement. The later it got, the more my fear-filled imagination went wild.

It's already a new day. Yep, it's after midnight now. I just asked God to forgive me and to help me personally more than ever to live out the messages I preach in the pulpit weekly and the subjects I post on my blog daily.Why? Because, I openly confess: Last evening, I imagined all kinds of bad things that might be happening to my family member, because of no answer from their end. It went on for about an hour and I was only about 3 minutes from dialing "911" when suddenly... a friend located my loved one. All was well. Wonderfully well.

I know it might seem I am being a little hard on myself, because after all, I do love my loved ones, however, last night, I did not draw fully from the perfect love of my awesome and available God. Let's just say, I allowed fears of torment to lick on the window panes of my soul.

To top it all off, yesterday, I was being still and knowing that God was God. During my stillness, I even repeated one song on my MP3 player over and over again. The title? I am sure you probably know the song well. It's an old hymn of the Church:

"Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word.
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, 'Thus saith the Lord'"

Lord, help me to LOVE YOU perfectly and to TRUST YOU totally!
Teach me that tormenting fears have no claim on me!
I'm Yours! You LOVE me!
Grateful

P.S. I'd like to repeat the song just once more, please:
Click here: TIS SO SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS - YouTube

Love Present! Tormenting Fears? History!

Need Good News for today and all of your tomorrows? Here it is:
Because of God's perfect Love at work in us presently,
all of our tormenting fears are history.

Don't believe me? Take God's Word for it:

(17) God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like Him with regard to love. (18) No fear exists where His love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love.
-- 1 John 4:17-18 (GWT)

Do we believe that God's Love is strong enough to truly cancel out all of our tormenting fears?

Let's Love God? And Fear Not!
Grateful

A Leader's Legacy... I Must Decrease.

A legacy of a leader, according to John Maxwell, is “created only when a person puts his or her organization into the position to do great things without him or her.”

He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance.
--Words of John the Baptist in John 3:30 (GWT)

Grateful

Causing God Grief

(40) How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness!
How often they caused Him grief in the desert!
(41) Again and again they tested God,
and they pushed the Holy One of Israel to the limit.
-- Psalm 78:40-41 (GWT)

Lord, I do not want to live a life that causes You grief.
Lord forgive. Lord forbid.
Grateful

"I Am With Thee!"-- Jesus

Be not discouraged today, my friends.

My dear mom, Melba, told me that all during her recent months of physical trials, that began with a fall down the steps of my home at Christmas 2011 -- resulting in a hip fracture, and a painful surgery -- only to be followed in a matter of months by a complete hip replacement, she has heard the Lord whispering to her all along the way and and still today: "I Am With Thee... I Will Never Leave Thee..."

Be comforted today by His never-ending presence.
Grateful