Musings and Nuggets

Hummingbirds are mesmerizing and entertaining to me.  One of the many amazing things about them is their memory.  They migrate south for the winter, so as I am seeing signs of some leaves beginning to ever so slightly display their Fall colors, it reminds me that they will soon be heading South for the winter. However, because of their amazing memories, they are able to return remembering the exact locations of the feeders that people like me put out for them to provide much needed *sustenance for their bodies.  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.  Psalm 103:2 (NLT) 2  When we feel "peppered" with various tests/challenges in our lives, we sometimes tend to loose sight of all of the previous times when God has been faithful. We begin to focus on the size of the challenge we are facing instead of the "bigness" and faithfulness of our God!  We must feed our faith with prayer and scripture, while never losing sight of

Jesus asked, "Didn't I heal ten men?  Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?                                              Luke: 17:17-18, NLT THE BACK STORY:   Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews.  They saw them as being what some would call "half breeds" because of intermarriages (between ethnic/racial backgrounds).  One of them was a Samaritan and the other 9 were Jews (God's chosen people), yet leprosy in this case seemed to be an equalizer.   Lepers had to keep distance between themselves and others while yelling "UNCLEAN!". ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  In Luke 17:11-18 , Jesus was traveling from Gallilee to Samaria when 10 men called out begging Him to heal them.   He told them to go show themselves to the priest who was the only one who could declare them cleansed or healed. They were healed as they went.  Imagine the joy and relief of being

  * No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead , I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling.   Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)      Photo by Zhengtao Tang  On Unsplash                                                                       If you are one of the people who did not watch the Ted Lasso series while it aired on Apple +, I will give you context for the title of this blog installment. https://youtu.be/_KXqWCLHgHg?si=x4dwWEtInQSTHzRA When we have been hurt or disappointed, it isn't easy to just decide to forget it and/or "let it go" like goldfish.  Sometimes these type of events demoralize or crush a person's self-esteem to the degree that not only do they lose confidence in themselves, they also lose hope for their future.  There are adults who have unfortunately carried that deep childh

If you have read some of my previous posts, you may have noticed that I have a "thing" for acronyms.  A few of them include F.A.I.T.H., C.O.F.F.E.E. , and H.O.P.E. , and this week's acronym P . U . S . H .                          P - Pray                                      U - Until                                                   S - Something                                                                                                        H - Happens For a woman in labor "PUSH! is a command or instruction to bear down in order to help a baby exit the womb  to enter the world to take in its first independent breath of air.  Many women would recall that as a painful, unpleasant experience.  Yet, once that newborn is in their arms, most will say that it was totally worth the pain in order to bring this little precious miniature "human" into the world.  The memory of the pain begins to fade in comparison to the joy of this new life.  Photo by In

  *Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."   Matthew 4:19. (NKJV) My father was a hard working man who loved his work and was not interested in going on vacations (which he saw as a waste of time).                                                                              Photo by Victor on Unsplash He loved eating fish, and on rare occasions, he would actually go fishing himself. Whether he caught them or bought them, the (disgusting) job of cleaning and cooking them fell in my lap. 😏 I would have loved for the fish to have been all cleaned up before my Dad caught them and brought to me, but that is not the way it works naturally nor spiritually.  Yet from the spiritual aspect of being "fishers of men", we (church folk) sometimes act like we expect the  "men/fish" to come to Christ/church already cleaned up, looking like  we think they should look, act or smell.  However the "clean up" is an inside job that o

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.  Mark 10:45, ( NKJV) Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash To Serve, Not To Be Served is the motto created by Ethel Percy Andrews. In 1958 at the age of 73, she founded the organization, AARP, to serve Americans 55 years of age and older.  Jesus modeled servanthood many times throughout His earthly ministry.  Here is one of many examples.  Although He was the son of God, He served the disciples by washing their feet. Why is that significant?  I'm glad that you asked. In Jesus' day, the custom of removing visitors' sandals and having their feet washed were expected because the roads they traveled were dusty.   This job was done by the lowliest servant in the home, yet Jesus did it for the disciples.  This act was a lesson in servanthood/humility for the disciples (and us), as well as, an expression of the Lord's love for them.  Unfortunately, in our day and time it