DOG DIARY
8:00 AM - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 AM - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 AM - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 AM - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY
Day 983 of my captivity!
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.
I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He obviously has issues.

Have you ever found a Christian group that doesn’t have any problems? If so, don’t join it—you’ll ruin everything!

Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

Before discussing the problems in Corinth, Paul affirms his readers. Why is he thankful for them?  Why are you thankful for your church?

Lift me up, by your strong arm, O Lord, above the mists and darkness of the valley, to stand and walk with you on the high level of your presence and glory.

O King of glory and Lord of valor, our warrior and our peace, may you win victories in the world through us your servants for without you we can do nothing.  May your compassion go before us and come behind us; be with us at our beginnings and at our endings.  May your will be done in everything we do for you are our salvation, our glory and our joy.      Alcuin of York

THE WORD “peculiar” is found in Titus 2:14. Christians are the peculiar people of God. We use the word sometimes when we speak of something odd or strange. But that is not its use here.

The word is translated from a Greek word which is made up of two words, one which means “around, “ as a circle, and the other which means “to be. “ It can be charted by a dot within a circle. This will help us to understand the meaning of the combined word. As the circle is around the dot, so God is around each one of His saints. The circle monopolizes the dot, has the dot all to itself. So God has His own all to Himself. They are His own private unique possession. He has reserved them for Himself.

The expression in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, “The church of the Thessalonians in God, “ has in it the same idea, for the Greek case is locative of sphere. That is, it is in the sphere of God, circumscribed by God, surrounded by Him.

What does honesty in a relationship mean to you?

James 5:16 (NIV)
¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Hope has nothing to do with optimism.  Its opposite is not pessimism but despair.  And if Jesus never allowed his soul to be cornered into despair, clearly we Christians shouldn’t either.

Good Jesus, the water of your teaching flows in silence.  Your gospel is not poured into our ears by an eloquent tongue but is breathed into our hearts by your sweet Spirit.  Your voice never strains nor shouts.  You do not force us to hear you.  You ask only that we open our hearts to you and in tranquility your love enters our souls.

It is amazing that a poor human creature is able to speak with God in heaven and not be afraid.  When we pray, the heart and the conscience must not pull away from God or stand in fear.  We must hold fast and believe that God Himself has heard our prayer.  It was for this reason that the ancients defined prayer as an ‘ascenus mentis ad Deum’: “a climbing up of the heart unto God”. 

O Lord Jesus, I will embrace you who became a little child for me.  In my weakness, I clasp you who became weak for me.  As a mere man, I embrace you who is God made man.  You came a man as poor as I am and you rode into Jerusalem seated on a borrowed donkey.  I embrace you, O Lord, because your lowliness is my greatness, your weakness is my strength and your foolishness is my wisdom.

Aelread of Rievalux

When we pray we should keep in mind all of the shortcomings and excesses we feel and pour them out freely to God, our faithful Father, who is ready to help.  If you do not know or recognize your needs or think you have none, then you are in the worst possible place.  The greatest trouble we can ever know is thinking that we have no trouble for we have become hard-hearted and insensible to what is inside of us.   Martin Luther

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.”   Margaret Mead

THE ASCENDING OF JESUS

ACTS 1 : 1 - 11

Every person has secrets and there is a reason we hide them.  And no one knows more of our secrets than our spouse.  Now answer the question: Do they feel safer or scared that you know so many of their secrets?  Shame is a terrible master and our task as a spouse is to help our partner deal with those shames.  We don't overlook them but neither do we condemn them.  We love them and offer whatever help is needed.  We fight for their purity and their spiritual health by seeing to ours and supporting them in theirs. 

Guard your mate's secrets but do not let them come to harm.  Recognize their struggle and let them know they are safe with you.  Then come along side and join them in putting those secrets to rest.  Today, pray for one of those secrets you know about your spouse.

Proverbs 17:9 (NLT)
⁹ Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.

Genesis 2:25 (NIV)
²⁵ The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Psalm 139:2-4 (NIV)
² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

You cannot change your spouse.  If you haven't learned that by now, you haven't been listening.  You would do better to imagine yourself as a farmer planting seeds.  You can water, cultivate and weed but growth depends on factors like rain and the seed itself.

Practice good farming in your marriage.  Pray for your spouse.  Do the things discussed so far to tend to your spouse but above all pray for them.  Pray for their relationship with God and their spiritual growth.  Pray for their heart and their joy.  Then depend upon God to give the results.  You will not grow your relationship without Him and He will not grow you until you submit.

Finally, pray faithfully.  Remember:

Matthew 7:7 (NLT)
⁷ “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

3 John 1:2 (NJB)
² My dear friend, I hope everything is going happily with you and that you are as well physically as you are spiritually.

Luke 18:1 (NLT)
¹ One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Despite the bleakness of Bertrand Russell’s melancholy lament, the words he penned in his “Philosophical Essays” are at least honest and intellectually consistent with his atheism:

Brief and powerless is man’s life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark.

A meaningless end to a meaningless existence.  A brief, powerless life followed by a slow, sure, pitiless, dark death.  Unmitigated despair.  That’s all that Bertrand Russell could find in life and in death.

He expressed a similar sentiment in his autobiography:

There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.  Why live in such a world?  Why even die?

Indeed.  For Russell, thoughts like these were not the product of morbid bouts of depression; they were the logical result of his carefully considered atheism.

Given the opportunity, how would you have responded to Russell’s agonizing hopelessness?

Honor is a lost word in much of our society.  People work for a paycheck and not a purpose.  They put in the least they have to do to collect their check.  We have all seen the difference in the worker and their work when they do it as for the Lord.

Sometimes we treat our spouse with the same lack of honor.  We deal with them just enough to get things done or get our way.  What would it do if we were treat them as a queen or king?  What if we went the second mile just because we felt they were do the honor.

Begin with you conversation over the next 24 hours.  Make sure your speech is polite and what you say honors them.  Even if they are not there, speak well of them to another person.  Renew the habit of speaking about them more often and speaking well of them.

Then do the little things like opening doors and smiling at them.  Build up your sense of appreciation and honor for them.  You will like it as well.