God’s Chisel
This is one of the best, insightful videos I have seen in quite a while. Enjoy, and pass it on if you have a mind to.
George
Archive for August, 2009
Find Your Way Back to Jesus
"My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place." Jeremiah 50:6 (NIV)
I don’t know about you, but to me, this sounds like what’s happening in our country. Our shepherds are leading us astray. We are told to believe this or that and hardly any of the rhetoric sounds like what our Father teaches us. When will we find our way back? When we start living like the good people Jesus knows us to be. We know the way – we just have to stop following the trails to Hell and start looking for it again. Help someone else who might not know the way.
George
Who Loves Us, Each and Every One of Us?
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7
New International Version
We don’t have to be afraid; God knows each one of us personally. We are known and loved by the One who is and was and is to come!
George
Learning to Give
Encouragement for Today
Welcome to Encouragement for Today, a free devotional from Crosswalk
"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV)
Learning to Give
Curt and Marybeth Whalen (a shortened version)
Giving God our tithe is an expression of love. We give God the first of what shows up in our checking account to acknowledge that He loved us first. We worship Him with our gift because God gave us the ultimate gift: His life, dying a brutal death on a cross to save us from the horrors and consequences of sin. We, like God who sacrificed His Son, give to demonstrate love.
When we began consistently giving it was hard, painful, and even scary to develop the habit. But year after year, month after month, we stayed committed. And now, I can tell you that nothing is more meaningful to us than to write God that tithe check.
My encouragement to you if you don’t currently give is to simply begin. Don’t be overwhelmed with what you don’t do, should do, or have to do. Just start small. Take something to church this Sunday and experience the joy of worshiping God with your money. Challenge yourself to be consistent and to increase what you give. Ask God for help and share the joy of giving with your children. Pray over your gift before you leave for church, sharing with your kids your "thanks" for the many blessings that God has filled your life with — the roof over your head, the clothes on your back, the food on your table, and His love in your hearts.
Why I Decided to Enter a Diabetes Study
When I first learned of “my” diabetes, I really didn’t know what to think. like most people, I was very confused and had quit a bit of fear. The only thing I know about diabetes was what I heard when I was young; people were losing multiple limbs to the condition.
But at the first class given by the clinic I was in at the time, I learned you weren’t necessarily doomed to losing limbs. Taking care of yourself, watching your diet, testing often and you could lead to living a relatively normal life.
But I couldn’t lose weight. Forget about keeping it off! If you couldn’t get it off, there’s nothing to keep off! When the opportunity to be a part of the Look Ahead came up, I applied and luckily was accepted.
I’ll go through what we were “expected”, not required to do. I say expected because there was never any pressure to follow the program. Other than peer pressure that is.
But its turning out well. I’ll keep you posted.
George
Our Choices
Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts… and be thankful.”
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of God dwell in us richly…”
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”
What choices do we make during the day?
Do we let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts? Do we let the Word of God dwell in us richly? That doesn’t just happen naturally. We have to intentionally make those choices. We have to challenge ourselves to deal with the bad while focusing on all the good that is there as well.
So, what aggravation or disappointment are you facing today? If that’s the worst thing that happens – I bet you could say it’s still a pretty good day too.
Adapted from: Lysa TerKeurst
Encouragement for Today a free devotional from Crosswalk,
My Diabetes Statistics
I first discovered I had Type 2 diabetes in1990. Like most people it was first discovered by accident. I was volunteering for a medical study and was told I couldn’t be a part of the study because of “my diabetes”.
What a rude awakening that was! My immediate thought was about my Sister-in-Law and the many times she was in the hospital for “her diabetes”. I knew she took needles, but that’s about the extent of it.
After I started seeing the doctor, which I did right away, they set me straight on the cause, effect and treatment of diabetes. They sent me to a class, which my insurance company paid for, to learn about diabetes. We learned about, among other things, fast food and diabetes, soft drinks and diabetes, which were at that time things which were dear to my heart.
I kept seeing the doctors and following their suggestions. The one thing I really didn’t take their advice on was my weight. I was really a porker then and stayed that way.
About 2002 I received a letter from the University of Minnesota about a study they were doing. It had to do with older, overweight people with diabetes. They were offering free help and a little stipend each year if I participated in their study and they were allowed to use the results to show the effects of losing weight for diabetics. its a little more involved than that, but that’s the gist of it.
I’ll explain a little bit more in a further post.
I volunteered and if you’ll look at the chart below, you’ll see some of the results for me personally:
| Date | BP | Weight | BMI | Right ABI | Left ABI | |
| BASELINE | 08/13/2002 | 036/70 | 254 | 40.5 | 1.01 | 1.27 |
| Year 1 | 07/15/2003 | 122/72 | 240 | 38.3 | 1.24 | 1.39 |
| Year 2 | 07/27/2004 | 138/62 | 233 | 37.2 | 1.31 | 1.17 |
| Year 3 | 07/21/2005 | 133/66 | 230 | 36.7 | 1.20 | 1.58 |
| Year 4 | 07/25/2006 | 136/67 | 230 | 36.9 | 1.27 | 1.16 |
| Year 5 | 07/17/2007 | 120/67 | 225 | 36.1 | (*) | (*) |
| Year 6 | 07/17/2008 | 137/66 | 216 | 31.5 | (*) | (*) |
| Year 7 | 07/14/2009 | 124/63 | 218 | 34.9 | (*) | (*) |
BP = Blood Pressure; BMI = Body Mass Index; ABI has to do with circulation and anything below .4 indicates a possible circulation problem in that leg.
Now what does all that mean to you? It means I lost, slowly but surely, 36 pounds. It also means they’re doing their job by not only helping me to keep the weight off, but to keep losing it a little at a time.
And also that I’ve “been there done that”. Anything I post is from personal experience and not “some guy telling you stuff” that doesn’t know what he’s talking about. See you soon.
