What's your favorite old hymn? Country songs and altar calls included. Must be public domain. #maddog
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
We are children of an Infinite God. We, of course, don't have infinite knowledge, but we have the next best thing... infinite curiosity. Dangerous, of course, but far less dangerous than deliberate ignorance. #maddog
Since we are exploring the Creator's beautiful but also dangerous universe, it would be entirely appropriate to thank Him quietly for His creation, and ask Him for His guidance.
To humbly admit we need His help opens us up to grace, for God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud.
Even with His nudging guidance, we will still make mistakes. I once asked God for sufficient foresight to avoid humiliating mistakes. I honestly thought I heard a heavenly chuckle. It seems like that's not part of His program.
I've recorded this also on YouTube, then posted this on my blog, which has an international reach, including Russia. Sowing seed. I'd love to be able to send these videos to China. Maybe the Lord will open a door for me.
In the last days perilous times will come.
Men shall be lovers of their own selves, blasphemers, unthankful, unholy, false accusers, despisers of those that are good, traitors, elitists, highly educated but lacking common sense.
Evil men and seducers shall get more and more evil, deceiving and being deceived.
All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock! If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him, and he with me.
In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I, Jesus, have overcome the world.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
It's 9:45 am. I've changed the bedding, put on 2 new super chucks, and helped Mary put on dry PJ bottoms. Chucks are disposable absorbent pads. When I'm done with them, I just "chuck" em.
I have a 10:30 am delivery from the meals on wheels delivery guy. Marshall County has excellent Senior Citizen services.
Last night I had a delivery from EZRun on a Walmart curbside pickup of groceries I ordered online. Because of that and meals on wheels I am able to avoid having a vehicle, which saves us several hundred dollars a month.
Had a delightful visit with my brother and pastor yesterday, along with his wife Julia. We shared coffee and news, and talked about end times. We all believe we're close to big changes coming soon.
Patience, the painful teacher, has permission to chisel on my heart to turn it into the image of Christ. #wisdompoet #maddog #Alzheimers
This post will take some time to complete, so check back.
Persistence is a life long lesson for me. I am convinced, although I won't know for sure till I get to Heaven, that the Holy Spirit has been my coach in this, gently whispering and nudging me along to be more persistent or patient.
There are plenty of examples in the Bible.
A king was approached by a prophet and told to shoot arrows into the air. The king complied and shot three arrows into the air. The prophet expressed dismay. "If only you would have shot 6 arrows instead of three, your kingdom would have succeeded". The king failed to take this lesson to heart and the kingdom later fell to the enemy. Google it.
Abram, later called Abraham, was praying that God would spare his nephew Lot when he found out that God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived. "Would you spare the city if there were 50 righteous people found in it?" God said He would. Abraham persisted and negotiated God down to 5 instead of 50. There were not 5, but God still separated righteous Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, dragging them out of the city.
There is also the story, told by Jesus, of the widow who lost her home, and went to appeal to an unjust judge. Her persistence led the crooked judge to rule in her favor, because he knew she would just keep coming back.
There are multiple examples in the Bible. Now I will tell you a few of my own.
When trying to get back on our feet, I spent a week in Colorado Springs looking for a job. My last effort was Hewlett Packard. It was Friday afternoon. I was hot, tired, and hungry. I went up to the glass door, but wearily turned around and drove home. We moved to California a little later.
Some time later I came back to Colorado Springs for my Dad's graduation from Bible College. I decided to look up my friend Harvey Kroll, who had been the personnel manager at Western Forge. He had hired me after interviewing me for 3 hours where we did nothing but shoot the breeze about music, because Harvey was a fervent music lover. I found out Harvey no longer worked at Western Forge, but was now the personnel manager for... Hewlett Packard. Harvey's office was just around the corner of that glass door that I never knocked on. Since I had taken management training classes, Harvey said he could have gotten me a management position. Lesson learned.
On the positive side, I once called on a family 26 times, not every day, but once a week. I would inquire into their welfare, make my visits brief, and do my best to not wear out my welcome. After 26 calls, they started attending church.
Jesus said for us to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that "my house may be full."
I've had a couple of comments about my character that have both honored me and humbled me. One high ranking supervisor worried that I would be overwhelmed at some of the problems I was facing at work. My friend spoke up for me. He said I would never give up.
When Mary's illness with Alzheimer's began to deepen, her son worried that I would divorce Mary. My daughter honored me with her comment. "My dad would never divorce and abandon her." I hope to earn that kind of respect from my children
Why Good People Go to Hell
My purpose in writing this book is NOT to condemn good people, nor does God now condemn anyone. My purpose is to warn good people: Don't rely on your goodness to get you to heaven, for our goodness is not dependable.
Rely on God. HE IS DEPENDABLE!
There is a destructive dangerous myth. If you believe this myth, your destination is Hell.
The myth is: A good God will not send good people to Hell.
(The problem is not in doing good. We need more people doing good. We have too many people doing bad, causing great destruction on innocent lives.
The problem comes not in doing good, but in relying on that goodness to get into heaven.)
Because many people believe this myth, A good God will not send good people to Hell, because they are destined to spend Eternity separated from God, beauty, rest, friends and in Infinite pain and regret, God did an INTERVENTION!!
The INTERVENTION was God sending His only begotten Son to be born of a virgin, do the Will of His Father by teaching, miracles, and healings, and to allow Himself to be falsely accused, tried, tortured, crucified, and buried.
The heavenly Father completed the intervention when He Resurrected His dead Son, revealed to Him to hundreds of witnesses, thirteen of whom wrote books about it, and took His resurrected Son Jesus back to heaven, again, in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses.
The story of the INTERVENTION destroys the myth A good God will not send good people to Hell.
The story of the INTERVENTION tells us... it was good people who brought about the Crucifixion.
It was His good friends that abandoned Him to His enemies.
It was good religious people that falsely tried Jesus.
It was good heroic people that Crucified Jesus.
Are you a good person? Are you a friend of Jesus? Are you religious? Have you ever done or would like to do a heroic deed?
None of this will guarantee you a place in Heaven.
If you believe the myth that A good God will not send good people to Hell, Hell is your destiny.
You have defined yourself as a good person.
God does not define anyone as a good person. We have not listened to His Words. Not listening to His Words is why good people are headed to Hell.
Listen to God's Words. "There is none righteous, no, not one!"
"All we like sheep have gone astray!"
"Our righteousness is as filthy rags!"
"Why call me good? There is only one good, and that is God!"
Not listening to God's Words is why we die, and are headed for Eternal death. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's simple command, and chose knowledge rather an intimate friendship with God. For that, they brought death on all of mankind.
Listen to God's Word. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have abundant life."
Defining ourselves as good is not listening to God. Listen to Jesus as He says: "Two men prayed to God. One was openly religious, thankful, a giver, not an extortioner, or an adulterer. The other WAS an extortioner, who bowed his head humbly and privately and said God be merciful to me A SINNER! God heard his prayer!"
It is always appropriate to pray the prayer of the extortioner (tax collector or publican). Let's pray this together!! Lord be merciful to me- a sinner!
When you agree with God that you are a sinner, you are listening to God, you don't believe the myth A good God will not send good people to Hell! and you have allowed God to INTERVENE or to SAVE you from a destiny of Hell, and put you on a path to Eternal life.
By agreeing with God that you're a sinner, you have turned or repented from your sinful, errant, destructive direction, and turned towards God, wanting to hear, to understand, to obey, TO LISTEN to God's Words, to seek Life, Eternal Life, from the source of All Life.
Call upon the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus to save you, and He will keep His Word, His Promise to save you, to give you Eternal Life, and you will become born again.
Keep listening to God's Word, my newborn brother or sister in Christ. Stay on the path by listening to His Words and I will meet you in Heaven.
First a word from our sponsor, The Living and Written Word: NOW is the day of our Salvation! Call upon Jesus while He may be found! Draw nearer to God and He will draw nearer to you.
Note: all my posts may be continuosly edited.
I was up at 5:45, asleep last night at 1am. Our night owl circadian rhythm is moving forward, probably because of the long summer days.
Later today I will help my beautiful wife Mary, who has advanced Alzheimer's, change her wet pajamas and adult diaper, then I will change the wet bedding. Humorously I will say, caveman style SHOW OFF IN FRONT OF PRETTY WOMAN. ME STRONG LIKE BULL as I lift the heavy mattress to change the top sheet. She smiles and I continue, in the voice of Larry the cable guy I GOT 'ER DUN!!
I've been using what I call the Good Samaritan protocols. You know the story. A man was robbed, and beaten badly, left to die beside the road. The religious man passed him by, and the educated man passed him by, too busy with their own lives to stop and helpd a dying man.
The Samaritans were despised by the Jews and were not supported by the Jewish institutions. Hence, to make an honest living, they had had to hustle. Hard work, paying your dues, long hours, going beyond what others expect, were common place. Because of that, this Samaritan prospered.
Continuous was their slogan. Continuously improve, continuously organize and clean, continuously build momentum (that's where the money is made!) continuously communicate is how you, to quote Larry the cable guy, Get 'er done! Are you taking notes, boys and girls!?
Today I woke up at 5:45 am. Since I am a lifelong night owl, my first sleep is 3 to 4 hours, followed by either a second sleep and/or power naps of an hour or more. The early summer time dawn hours wake both Mary and I up. This is a good time to change Mary's wet clothes and bedding.
I organized everything necessary for the change. I covered the bedroom chair with a puppy pad, and laid out fresh adult diapers. I turned the heat on because the wet clothes taken off cause Mary to be chilled. I have started putting her fresh PJs or bedclothes in the dryer to warm up. I turn the light on in the bathroom. I line up her drink of lemon lime pop along with a dash of lemon and cranberry juice and a 1/2 ounce of spiced liquor, with cloves, fever tree, and other helpful spices.
I escort Mary into the bathroom where she takes off her wet clothes and I put the warm pajama top on her right away. She comes back to the queen's chair and I help her get into underwear (diaper), pajama bottoms and slippers. I put the wet clothes in the washer filled with warm water, Lysol, detergent, and Oxyclean. I give her a dose of Pepto Bismol and a lorazapam to calm her tummy.
I keep up with the busy schedule of caring for Mary by using the example of the good samaritan. He ministered to the wounded man on the way of doing his business. He wasn't afraid of enlisting help from his innkeeper. I used the Good Samaritan Protocols. I organize, get momentum going, and communicate constantly. I break all my choirs and tasks into small parts and work continuosly on them every waking hour. i pray constantly asking God for wisdom moment by moment. I've always been very busy, pastoring, working jobs, working on the house, raising my family. God gave me a wonderful helper in my late wife Lynne. I like being busy. It keeps my restless mind engaged.
I will write more about Good Samaritan Protocols in a future post.
Happy Fourth of July and God bless America!! May the #4th be with you. #Yoda #maddog #alzheimers #amazinggrace
Mary's PJs and bedding has been changed and she's back to snoozing!
