Shift: Self to Others

Paul's letter to the Phillipians, 2:19

• Moxie is completing whatever you started..

Paul, a strong spiritual mentor.

Paul's moxie to serve God:  Relentless

Paul's every action was motivated by his service to God.

• Three types of people

Goats.  Stinky, nasty, noisy, annoying; reluctant to make changes; sour, self-focussed.  They taint the air with their disgusting mean attitude.

Sheep.  Look a lot like goats.  Are struggling with their desires vs. what God wants them to be.  Need direction.

Shepherds.  Live among the sheep; lead, protect.  A shepherd smells like the sheep.

The shepherd is available; the shepherd is trustworthy.

The shepherd is a mentor; the shepherd has moxie, long-term commitment.

God is calling us to be shepherds, to care for others.

• Shift: From what you need to what others need.

A shepherd has a flock.  No sheep: no shepherd.

Who is your flock?

Pastor Joe Deckard

Sunday morning

Just Kidding

She:  Would you like a dish of these strawberries?

I:  I'll save mine for my nine o'clock ice cream.

She:  If I ate ice cream like you do, I'd weigh 500 pounds.

That evoked an image.  Oh, yeah/no.

Everyone is an Expert

So many things today rubbed against the grain.  Scarred the surface? No! Ate deep into my brain,  A rant?  You don’t want to read it  Certain sure that you don’t need it.  Upset with everything, this mental midget.  I’m sure you’d label me an idjit if I spouted off here.  But it would be sincere.

The pony in the pile: The laundry is folded, the bed is newly made, fresh linens, and I have only to wait for bedtime!

Mortality

I have a 6 x 9 spiral notebook with a rather attractive multicolored cover which I pressed into service as an address book many years ago.  Many, many years ago.  This is my personal address book featuring friends, family and acquaintances, all people whom I thought enough of to preserve their addresses for quick and easy access.  (Yes, it is more efficient than digital address books.  Not open to debate.)

As time passed, I found myself marking various names thusly: /DEC, sometimes followed by a date.  In this manner I have kept track of those close f, f, and a who have preceded me in death.  I was addressing an envelope a few days ago, and on a whim I thumbed through the pages and counted the /DEC notations.  41 names so marked.  41 people I cared enough about to enter in my collection of personal friends.

Mortality: It's for everyone!
.

He Chose You

Scripture: Philippians 3:4-16

You have one task:  Keep your eyes on Jesus.

We were in a place we've no business to be; He took hold of us.

He has called us Heavenward.  We are to live up to what we have already attained.

We no longer live as slaves to sin and death, but as joint-heirs with Jesus!

The Shift:  From slave to child.

He chose you; He is not stuck with you.
(nt: think adoptive parent choosing the child)

You can be redeemed!

A reminder of how special you are.

Now, don't gloat.

Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday morning

Work, Work, Work

Worked my way through school.
Worked my way through parenthood.
Working my way through senility.
I guess there shall always be work.

DIY: Or, What I Learned

and What the Next Generation Learned

1950s:  Never hire anything done that you can do for yourself.

2000s:  Never do anything yourself that you can hire someone to do.

Are You Listening?

"Everyone wants to be heard;
no one wants to listen.

"We want a God who answers prayer,
but Who requires very little of us.

"The more you fall in love with God
the more you will want to hear what He has to say.

"God is not Google.  You don't approach Him with questions, but if you will listen you will gain wisdom and discernment."

--Pastor Johnnie Blair

Sunday Morning 

"The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race." ~Gough Whitlam, writing in the London Daily Telegraph on October 19, 1989.

 Australia's 21st Prime Minister, Edward Gough Whitlam,

 11 July 1916 - 21 Oct 2014 RIP

From Leah's Golden Thoughts

Ring-ring

Dateline Indianapolis
News at Six

Reader:  The superintendent said the cellphone policy change was necessary because parents need to be able to contact their children.

Me:  Bull oney.  I taught school for thirty-one years, and so far as I know there was never a student who had a telephone with him.

I suppose that might have been Dick Tracy in the back row holding his wrist to his ear.  Doubt it.