Did you ever wonder where a file or a photo goes when you hit delete?

It says it is in the recycle basket.  

That is still in your computer!

How do you know when you empty recycle bin that doesn’t upload  to some giant server that stores all those things you do not want anyone to ever see!

Don’t even start to think about what you post and then delete on social media…. I promise you they store it forever. 

You don’t know.

But sometimes our life’s are just the same.  

We try to hind all failures, regrets, and wrongs we done buried away in some dark hidden part of our life, where no one will ever see them. 

But face them we certainly will, for the enemy, the accuser of all mankind, the father of all lies… satan will expose each and every one of them.

And he will  bring them out into the light, and we will not be able to deny them… for they will be true.  

There are some flaws in his case againt us with carries with it a sentencing of… death 

God already knows everything we will say or have already done, for He knows our very thoughts before we even think them. So He already has all the evidence that satan thought he would use against us. 

So God the Father  prepared in advance our Advocate, Jesus Christ His only Son, to  aquit us of our sins and wrongs before the trial even started when we placed our trust in the work Jesus did on the cross for all… the gives life. 

Jesus Christ is the only delete button that truly works!

It’s a promise because God tells us in his word and our sins have been cast as far as east is from the west an into the depths of the greatest ocean never to be remembered again. 

So think twice before you type or take that picture next time, or how to live your life so you will never have to use the delete key again.  

the beauty is in the details…

I do my own painting around the house.  

In the course of my home ownership I have painted all three of my homes, this one is now for second time. 

I think that La Casita del Dios, my current homes name,is due as she’s been 12 years, five hurricanes and two tornadoes on the same paint job!

And yes, I name my homes! You don’t ?

When I paint a home I take my time,  usually I’ll roll the body paint the main color of the house first and go back and do the detail and the trim likewise.  

I am very fastidious when it comes to the trim as the photo above portrays. The one thing about this detail… is no one will ever see that the detail is there except me. 

You might say,” it is only 1/16” wide and you can’t see it!?!?!”

But you see I know it’s there and that’s what matters.

The only time you’ll ever see it is when I take the window screens off to put the hurricane panels on.  

And I know that sometimes, many times in  my life and our lives are just the same as that little detail; their are parts of our life’s that nobody sees, that we do not want anybody to see.

Except that the Lord of all heaven and earth knows every little detail of our life’s, including those unseen. 

O’ Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.( psalm 139:1)

The beauty of it is in these hidden places where we don’t want the world to see as where God wants to work on us the most.  

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ( Psalm 139:23-24)

So just like me painting the body color first; salvation is the first step when God makes us justified with him that the one righteous act of Christ on the cross, his death and resurrection where He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven above.   

Then comes, sanctification or purification of the those portions of our life that we hide from those around us… that God sees instantly; for God the beauty is in the details.  

“ Lord help me to always be open to Your searching of my heart to find those bits and pieces of me that need to be refined to become more of the image of your son. I thank You for the work of Your hands upon my life for You are finishing Your masterpiece.” Amen 

Who I am…

I think I’ve come to the conclusion of too many times in life, we ask the question to ourselves,” who am I?”

For all the things I’ve been through, both good and bad have shaped who I was at the beginning of our life’s, to the point where I don’t no longer know… who we are.  

We think that all we’ve been through just like the collection of memorabilia behind on the bulletin board me has caused me to lose sight, blurred my eyes to who I was created to be. 

And the world will reinforce that saying,” that all that you’ve been through has broken you, changed you, molded you to the point where you no longer know who you are!”

And they will continue to tell you,” as I see it you’ve become this or you’ve become this or that.”

While it is true that the choices we make in life have consequences. Also, it is true that the choices others make in our lives have consequences as well that may affect us

But that is so far from the truth for it is alone is God who defines who we are, who tells us who we are and who He created us to be!

For we know,

“For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts God!! How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand, when I awake, I am still with you.” (Psalm 139: 13-18.)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

So we know from our beginning that God created us thinks about us constantly and had a future in mind a good future for all of us.   

What about my past and it’s effects it  has on me, coming back to that statement,  I don’t know who am I…  anymore”

In answer to that question,

“Therefore if anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”  

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

When we come to accept Jesus Christ as Savior we become a new creation;  the old is gone, the past it is remembered but is no longer taking hold of us, for God refining us into His original image for us. 

For we know,

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.( Ephesians 2:10)

So to restate opening paragraph better “ it better that I know;  Who I am…then to question of myself, “who am I.”

Lord help to remember that each day I’m your workmanship, your perfect masterpiece  created in Christ to do good things. 

And that I’m not who am I? Remind me with who You say I am for you are the great I am!

To You alone be all glory power and majesty in precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Amen. 

I don’t know about you, but I always look for specials, especially the things I like.  

One of my favorites is buy one get one free, especially when it comes to ice cream!

I often stop and wonder at the buy one get one free or Bogo principal; are you really getting it for free?

Or did the store actually overstocked and now they are selling it at close to what they paid for it? Or,  have you been paying so much in advance they can actually afford to sell it to you for “1/2 price”

Because you know they’re not gonna lose money on a product and  they’re still making a profit even if they’re giving you one for free!

Same goes with frequent flyer miles.  How can you pay $532 for a trip and then turn around and use miles that you’ve already paid for and get the same trip for $13?!? 

The math just doesn’t add up, in either case if buy one get one free or getting something you’ve already paid for less.  

Then my heart stops and just as God always does and He reminds me that the most priceless thing comes for free… my salvation and through Christ Jesus a restored relationship with God the Father. 

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.(Eph 2: 8-9 NIV)

And in the spoken words of the Author and perfector  of our faith Jesus,

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16 NIV).  

But there was a price paid, that makes it a free gift to us…. by God in heaven above through the Cross of Jesus Christ.  

“Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”( 1 John 2:2 NIV)

My redemption from all my sin, paid for out a price by God in heaven above, through the gift of His one and only Son…better than any bogo ever known!

Lord help me to remember today the price paid on the cross for me for all who by faith believe in your Son as Lord and Savior. Father help me to be a light into the world, all for Your glory!

Amen. 

I recently visited an antique car display at a local park here in my hometown, there were a lot of cars that were being restored.

First the owners had to reconcile themselves that they wanted to go on with the process of getting on with the restoration of the vehicle. 

Why I say restoration  is because I don’t think these guys and gals ever stop working on their cars trying to find that last little piece to bring it back to original condition. 

That leaves a question,” is the car ever really restored to original condition?”

Clearly the answer is no.

For there are parts that just can’t be restored, even if they do a down to the frame process…  it still not original. 

As the old thing saying goes,”the minute you drive it off the showroom floor is used!”

Such was my life before coming to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and so it continues as I walk through life with Him.

Before coming to know Christ as my savior I was that old car left abandoned and destined to die on the roadside.  

When I came to saving knowledge of Christ I was reconciled unto to God the Father by faith, and not by my own works. In another word… I was justified; “just as if I had never sinned”

And like the car, the Lord than began the process of my restoration… in another word saintification.

Just as the Apostle Paul reminds us;

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17 niv)

But it’s not an instant process like the car is the step-by-step removal of the old and installation of the new.

The Apostle Paulcontinues in the book of Philippians as he reminds us that we have to do our part.  

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12 kjv)

I know my heart the Lord is  steadfastly at work restoring me to his original design in a perfect relationship so that the two shall be as one. 

I await the day that I stand before His throne, and He sees not me, but the His own reflection in me… then unlike the old care I will be brand new in His sight. 

Father I pray that I am ever attentive to your hand upon my life as do your good work in my, that I would be your trusted ambassador until the lost, broken and hurting and that Your word of truth be all I am. 

Ear buds have become common place in today’s culture and society. 

There are those that wear two and I would suppose they are tuning into music and tuning out the world. 

And there are those who were just one and most of the time they’re  talking on the telephone and it appears they’re talking to themselves.  So you never know when to ask a question in fear of interrupting either of the two.  

I’ve seen those who share them so they can listen to the same music at one time. Ten times out of ten they are teenage girls.  

And yes… even I wear them.  But only when I’m on the plane as noise canceling, or if I want to watch a movie on my phone or listen to a little music and while I am walking through the airport.  I wear two on the plane and one in the airport. 

But the real question comes… am I just listening to what is around me or do I add to the act of listening hearing to the act of hearing… doing?

More important am I listening to what the Lord of all heaven and earth is calling me to?

To hear first I must listen for I cannot hear…unless I am listening. 

The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10 niv)

Then is the responsibility when I do hear from the Lord… to follow Him

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ( John 10:27 KJV)

Finally, hearing becomes… doing. 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. ( James 1 :22-25 NKJV)

So every day, each minute and every hour I pray that I am listening for Your still quiet voice O’ Lord and in all the clatter and the noise that the world has in front of me, that I would hear Your words of wisdom, encouragement and love and then act on what You have called me to do.

In today’s world friend can have many meanings from one truly is a friend… to just a social media friend as an example,” he has over 1000 friends but only  5 that he’s actually knows  face-to-face”

Now that we set aside that obviously not correct definition, aside let’s look at some definitions and uses. 

Friend (noun)

/frend/

1.a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations: 

“she’s a friend of mine”

2.a person who places the other person first in all things. 

“ she stoped what she was doing to help as she her friend.  

3.one who will speak the truth in love when the other is engaging in activities that could be harmful. 

“ because she was her friend, she encouraged to make wise choices about the path her life was taking knowing the choices she was making were bad for her”

4.someone who always has your best interest at heart. 

“ she spoke kindly as her friend to her with words of wisdom”

5.a person who does not judge you. 

“She did not tell her that what she wrong, instead she listened as her friend”

6.a person who words and actions match and are sincere.  

“Because she was her friend she always was true to her words”

7.one whom accepts you just the way you are.

“ regardless of his flaws, she cared about him as his friend “

8.some who loves without condition.

“ she knew that he gave his love as her friend as free gift one  that she could never payback”

9.someone who provides emotional support. 

“ he knew he could always turn to him in the midst of hardship because he was his friend.  

10.a person who lets you make your own choice based on their observations. 

“ because she was her friend she respected her decision, and did not force her own opinion”

11.one who lets you  know that you have meaning and value. 

“ she knew that she was her friend because what was happen to her mattered to her.“

But, right there my human conception of what defines a friends… and the Lord of all heaven and earth speaks His truth softly and quietly to my heart of His definition of friend.

Greater  love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.(John 15: 13-15)

And that’s exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross… He laid down His life so that we can be forgiven through His finishing work of paying price for all our sins, that by faith we can be one with Him and  with our Heavenly Father.  

So you might ask, “how does that apply to my life am I supposed to die for my friends?”

How my heart understands it is that I need to die to my ownself  interests and look at the friends around me and give unconditionally my love and support to them, just as God gives us His love unconditionally and calls us… friend.

 

There are those days when the world doesn’t press in, the phone didn’t ring and emails are few and far between. 

Those were days we hoped for when we worked and chased our careers, and I know the all too well… for I perused the same line of work for 48 years. 

But it is quite the adjustment to go from full throttle to idle.  

What we thought retirement would be… it is not.  There are days I wish the phone would ring with a new project.  

But then I stop in the silence of the day and my heart whisper in it’s still quiet voice,” this is what retirement is… learning to enter into my rest.”

And God, by His spirit spells it out so clear, that this time of my life is not about the world reaching out to me, but Jesus reaching out to the world through me; through all know Him as Lord and Savior.

He doesn’t need a phone, a text or email… He simply needs those who are called by His name to simply let His spirit be our guide. 

For the Lord of all heaven and earth, He who created all things… created me, created you for just this purpose, to be His witness to His goodness, endless love, grace and mercy. 

So many times in life we set our focus on something that we think is the end, just to find out it is just… the beginning.

Think of the runner who trains for a marathon.

For months they constantly increase their stamina by running a little bit further and further in hopes completing in what lies ahead.  

Then the day comes, they have done all they were able to do in their own strength to be ready.  

The starters gun fires and they are off. 

As the runner passes the 15 mile mark, they feel fine, confident that what they have done on their own strength would see them to the finish line. At 23 mile mark with 1.6 miles to go the they see that the last leg of the race is all up hill. 

They faint at the sight… for they sought to finish the race on their own merit; and our own merit is never good enough.  

Such is the hope of heaven, our own merit is never good enough. 

God for-knew this when He laid out the foundations of the Earth, when He told the seas where to stop and when He created us in His own image. He knew Adam and Eve would eat of the tree of knowledge and knew though that one act, that all who followed would be born into sin. 

For sin is anything that separates us God. 

The apostle Paul reminds us of this in the book of Romans were He is inspired by God to write,” all have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory (Romans 3:23). 

James writes as well,” For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). And Paul reminds us in 

Ephesians that is from Psalm 14:3, taken from the Old Testiment. 

Paul continues,” But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

As Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus,” But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus(Ephesians 2:4-7)

He paid the debt for all our sin on the cross at Calvary. A debt no one could ever cover.  

The free gift of the forgiveness of sin, bought by the sinless life of God’s Son Jesus Christ… the Lamb of God. 

As Jesus so clearly puts it,” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

You can live with God in heaven forever!

But how you ask?

Paul tells us straight out,”because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9)

A simple prayer said in faith seals heaven and eternity for you,” father I know that I am a sinner and I have fallen of Your glory.  I know that your Son purchased me on the Cross and defeated death when he rose from the grave.  I accept Jesus as my savior.”

Heaven rejoices when that prayer was said. 

I leave you with this from the Apostle Paul,” I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness,which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2Timothy 4:7-8)

To God be Glory forever and ever. Amen

I spent my career and still to this day design landscape and it and that includes hardscape. Hardscape would be defined as anything that’s not green and growing such as driveways walkways patios and the like.

These is a slight difference in Hardscape from Landscape in the fact that it’s very exact to the quarter of an inch or less in both radius dimension and all the different angles are associated with building it.

The biggest unknown are the points of the radius which are abstract points in the middle of nowhere against an unknown field and only determined by drawing visible points off of known objects property or house corners.

If look into the photo you’ll see on the left a finish plan that shows all the radius points I’m not evidently clear you can see all the lines crossing intersecting that’s what the plan looks like; very precise.

On the right a blank sheet of paper.

Many times my life is like the sheet of paper on the left where I think I’ve planned out where I’m going or what I’m doing.

In reality it’s more like the blank sheet of paper on the right side: I need live my life by faith and what God has planned for me but I cannot see.

The key is understanding God has written every day of my life and his book of life before everyone began;

  “ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:15-16)

So there I stop in wonder that He knew every step I would take every radius turn every angle forward would take one, yet God gives me free will choose which road to take, and by faith I listen closely for still His quiet voice to know which way to turn.

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings”.( psalm 40:2)

By faith I try my best to walk to where He has laid out the path before me… I have to remember where He set my path to be headed towards for all His plans for me are good;

“ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. “( Jeremiah 29:11)

So by faith, and we know that faith is believing in that what you cannot see, I chart the course of my life by that blank sheet of paper knowing that God knew before it all began, that He knew me personally, knew each one of us as the individual masterpieces that He created us to be.

Lord, help me to always remember that my way is not your way that your ways are better than mine that your thoughts are greater than mine, help me to forget my radius points and angles and curves and to listen to you’re still quiet voice to guide me as I walk through life. Amen