One Thousand Mornings

It was a drizzly morning today here in Alpine where Google Earth tells me our home is at exactly 1899 feet elevation. As I stood looking out at the leaves lying on the bank behind the pool ( wondering who would rake them and if they would blow away on their own) I thought of how many thousands of mornings I have been alive. It is a big number. And then I started to think about how many thousands of mornings I will remain alive. Of course I don't know that figure but I am certain it will be a lesser number than the other one.
Too much to get my head around. But a thousand mornings is not. I can grasp that number. It equates to a bit less than three years. Three years. A thousand mornings.
What can be lived in those thousand mornings? What can be seen that I have never really ever seen before? What caring and love can I show to those whom I do so love that I have not been showing? What can I hear from the God of the universe that I have never heard before? (I wonder if I can actually exercise 80% of the next thousand mornings?!)
Tomorrow in this life is promised to no man. Yet that very statement puts me on notice to be present to each of the thousand mornings in front of me.
How will you spend your next one thousand mornings?

Christ Bell

I received this over the holidays and found it to be such a reminder of who I am in Christ. I hope it reminds you or interests you as well, since who I am in Him is available to any one who chooses Him!

Christ Bell

THE BELL
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be sepa rated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are!?



'The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you;
The LORD turn His face toward you
And give you peace..'
Numbers 6:24-26

New Year New Prayer

I have always struggled with New Year’s. A holiday that others welcome with sighs of release from the past year and with hopes held high for the new is a day from which my knee jerk is to pull back. Soundly pull back. Pull back as in OMGosh….what now?....pull back.

I know my reaction’s source. When I was running real estate offices, the New Year signaled that now we had to do it all over again: beat last year’s figures for sales, listings, and recruits and perform anew, clueless about what the economy would bring. I was much happier staying in the past year where we had proven ourselves and where we had laurels upon which to perch. The familiar knot in my stomach would ultimately motivate me to strive but initially all it did was hurt and I did not like it.

Now I pastor a church and I do not have the business concerns I had as a broker. Still there is the thought of new challenges. In 2009, how does the Lord desire to work through me to grow His kingdom, to reach those who either do not know Him or who do not attend church? What will the Lord have us do as we seek to disciple those who call East Valley their church home?

My approach is a lot different in ministry than it was in business. I would bring the concerns I had to the Lord in prayer then but it was pretty much a solo event. Large business settings are not usually supportive of group prayer. Now at the church the first week of the year is dedicated to the Lord, and as a body we bring all the concerns and thoughts in seven evenings crying out to Him. Quite a difference

I still pull back on New Year’s. But only to press forward into the Lord. It is a blessing to no longer have the knot in my stomach.

Phil 4:13

Christmas rush

I love my son-in-law Jeff.  We were grafted into each other's life a lot of years ago.  Last night his father died.  Just sitting and having a bowl of soup, Tom was.  And in the twinkle of an eye he was absent from this life and present with His Lord.  One would think that grief and loss would now color Christmas this year.  

But the next phone call announced that niece Stephanie is in labor with her first baby!  So now Christmas will be a mixture....of death and birth, of eternal life and life here, and a special amazement at God and his perfect timing in all things.

My wife is going to help Steph with the baby.  As we rush to get Bonnie to a plane to Phoenix we are also hurriedly assembling plates of cookies and breads for me to take to Jeff and his family this evening.  Rushing to receive....rushing to grieve....and in the midst remembering the birth of the Baby in Whom it all hangs together.  What a rush.

PS: Diana Marilyn arrived in the late evening of 12/22/08 at 7 lbs, 2 oz, 20" long.  Thank you Lord!

No Water No Where

Water.  When you live in southern California, water is a big subject.  There is too little, as in no rain.  There is too much, as in our recent deluge.  The cost of water continues to climb with ever increasing threats of penalties, fines, restrictions, and on and on and on.  That cost conversation is becoming a prime topic in many circles.

What is rarely heard is any conversation about water capture or whatever we would call the saving of all the run-off water we lose in a storm of any strength.  As a resident of the region for nearly 40 years it is amazing to me that nothing has changed in those 40 years.  Lots of run-off.  No capture. Still.

I don't know what it would take.  There must be many who are far smarter than I who do.  We put a man on the moon.  We can't effectively save and use run-off water?