Mary Crisp Jameson - copyright material







Friday, July 27, 2012

Who Has Your Back?

"You spend years wishing your parents would get off your back, only to realize they're the only ones who ever really had your back." What an amazing quote and how true! All those years of obeying my parents’ rules is what established my standard of conduct. They steered my course and even disciplined along the way. They laid the direction for my life. No one, here on earth, had my back better than my parents.

Yet, from the beginning of time God, also, has “had my back.” Before I was even born, He planned my life; He formed me into who I am. Every hair, He has counted. Most, of all, He has promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

When parents are gone, when friends have moved on, when there is no one around to share my sorrows and burdens, there is always God. When I stray, He pulls me back. He gives me direction. He may even apply some discipline to turn me onto the right path. He is always available. God truly “has my back.” Who has yours?

Thursday, July 19, 2012

What Defines You?


What Defines You?

“I simply do not see how you have gotten over him so soon,” was the response from a friend who has just lost her husband.  There was no ill-intent meant by that statement; however, there was a pre-conceived perception.   Actually, it was a compliment to the other person who, also, had lost her own husband within the past year. 

What was the difference?  The difference was what defined her!  It was how she coped;  it was a positive attitude; it was her strength and courage.   Actually, her heart may have been broken, and she may have wanted to scream at the world inwardly, but on the outside there was a smile; there was a responsible, independent soul moving on with life in the best way possible.   

How does a person overcome their pity party and sense of loss in times of disaster and stand strong to face the world through the trial?  The answer comes from within.  It comes from a knowledge, a total faith, and a deep conviction that there is a God who has promised to walk with you through the bad times as well as the good.   The answer is written in the Word of Life.  There are many, many verses in the Bible assuring us that God is with us at all times. 

What defines you?

 “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”  John 14:17

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  John 14:27


Sunday, July 8, 2012

Through life's journey, there are many times that life is not fair.  However, we grow strong through our trials and, through it all, God may just be preparing us for where He wants us to be. 

Life Isn’t Fair

“It’s not right,
I shout with all my might,
“Life simply is not fair!”
Then I hear it in the air.
“You are not alone.
I’ll never leave you on your own.” 

“Don’t you see what is happening now?”
I say with wrinkled brow.
“The injustice done to me!
Make it right," is my urgent plea.
“Life isn’t fair.
It’s more than I should bear”

A quite voice soon calms my fear,
And I know my Lord is near. 
I hear Him quietly say,
“You’ll overcome. Do not dismay.
When life isn’t fair,
Bring it to me in prayer.
You are never alone.
I’ll never leave you on your own.”
Give me all your sorrows,
And I’ll get you through all tomorrows.”   

So, when life isn’t fair,
Do not despair.
There can be right in the wrongs,
If you let God live where he belongs.
                               Mary Crisp Jameson





Sunday, July 1, 2012

Fireworks Display

     Fireworks have been used down through the ages to celebrate festivals and special events.  Their bursts of explosions are anticipated wonders during the  Fourth of July holidays as they make their announcements, whether with a loud sonic boom, a shrill whistling noise, or a just a small sizzling sound.  After that, comes a spectacular display of lights in various shapes, rotating circles, or a blast of stars in all colors illuminating across the sky turning the darkness into a brief blast of light.
     They say the first fireworks started in the 10th century in China, but I am not so sure about that.  You see when God decided to divide the day from the night, He said, “Let there be lights in the firmaments of the heaven.”  I was not there that day, but I can just imagine the loud explosion of activity as the stars and the moon were set into place.  The sky must have lit up with a blast of sunbeams and a glow of stars that did not just immediately fill up the sky and then fall away and disappear like the fireworks we think of today.  The stars, the moon, and the sun are there, in place, for us to celebrate and enjoy every night and day throughout the year.
     There are all kinds of fireworks God has provided that radiates across the sky and the treetops.  He set the rainbow in the sky.  As the last raindrops cease and the sky turns to blue there silently appears an array of colors just as beautiful as any fireworks display we host today.  I do not believe anyone ever ignores the rainbow when they see it span across the sky.  We always shout and point, "Look, there, over there.  It's a rainbow!"   And it is placed there to celebrate a promise God gave us many, many generations ago.  
     Then there was a special pillar of cloud that God formed, just for the Israelites, to lead them by day, and a pillar of fire, he formed, to lead them by night.  Can you imagine the expectation of seeing that fluffy, pillory white cloud and then to have it change into a fiery furnace of color as darkness dropped across the land?   
     Yet another wonder happened when the heavens opened and the Spirit of the Lord descended like a dove.  That could not have been a silent moment when Jesus was baptized.  The heavens opened and there was a voice booming out.  The sound must have been louder than the announcements of a bottle rocket in a fireworks celebration.  I can hear it now, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
     Louder still and much more impressive was the day there was darkness over all the land.  It was the ninth hour when Jesus, himself, cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  This was when Jesus was taking all of our sins upon Himself and God saw, heard, and felt the despair.  The answer came with a loud sound.  It had to have been much louder than a fireworks show.  “The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,”  
     This Fourth of July let us not forget the celebration of lights that God has given us throughout the ages.  There will be yet another much more beautiful celebration to come.  It will come with a loud explosion, as well.  It will come in the twinkling of an eye.  “For the Lord, himself, shall descend from the heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:”
     I can only imagine what a fireworks display this will be as those who have rejected God watch as God’s children blast into the air to join Him in the sky!  It will be a time of despair for some but a celebration, indeed, for the believer.