The Thief

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

The other day, Good Friday,

I was listening to the radio,
and they were talking about Jesus on the cross

and the thief hanging next to him.
They noted the fact that Jesus,

despite all his own pain and suffering,
just as soon as the thief asked,

"remember me when you come into your kingdom,"
Jesus was right there with the assurance that, "today you will be with me in paradise."

How cool is that?

I mean, I am the thief,

robbing God of His due;
and yet, as soon as I turn to Him,

as soon an anyone turns to Him,

He is right there with mercy

and grace and love for us.

I thank God for the grace of God!

 

Some ancient writings indicate

that the Thief dwelt in the desert,

and robbed or murdered anyone

who was unlucky enough to cross his path.

 

The interesting thing about the Thief

is that he didn’t do anything

to work his way into heaven;

he couldn’t; he didn’t have time.

A couple of years ago,

I walked into a church on Easter,

and they were singing about the Thief.

 

I remember thinking,

“wow, what if besides telling him

 that he’d be in Paradise that very day,

 Jesus also told him,

 ‘Oh yeah, by the way,

  a couple thousand years from now,

  a thousand people will sing a song

  about you trusting me,

  and by means of things yet to be invented,

  people all over the world

  will be able to hear it at the same time.’”

 

 

I imagine at the time his brain wouldn’t

have been able to process the info.

 

Today, he likely finds it amusing. =)

I hope you had a blessed Easter;

and don’t forget that each day

is a new day, a new gift from God,

and full of the promise of better things.

 

Have a great week!  =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

 

 

new life

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

Daisy is a loving little spud,

a fluff ball of a cat that just

showed up on our front porch one day;

she’s quite tame,

obviously abandoned by someone.

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/03/daisy.html

 

Two other abandoned cats have nipped ears,

a sign that they’ve been neutered

and I thought this one was, too;

however, my wife was right and I was wrong;

yesterday, Daisy, had a bunch of little daisies!

 

The first day, we just peeked in at them;

but today, when Momma wanted some food,

she actually trusted me to watch over the babies.

She let me pet her while she nursed them,

and then allowed me to pet them while she ate.

 

 

There’s something just so cool about new life,

little critters that have just been born;

and it’s an amazing feeling to have

one of God’s creatures trust you with her babies.

 

Perhaps these pictures can convey

some sense of that:

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/03/kittens.html

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/03/kitten-close-up.html

 

http://theeverencouragingword.blogspot.com/2013/03/another-close-up.html

 

Have a great week!  =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

another close up

kitten close up

kittens

Daisy

Ken (or “The High Road”)

 

 

well my dear ones,

 

Not long ago, a friend stopped by

and made mention of another friend of ours,

Ken, who died a few years ago.

 

What he said was,

“Ken, he was such a great guy;

he never had a bad word to say about anybody.”

 

As soon as he said it,

it was like I was 9 years old again,

listening to a lecture from my Dad,

“If you can’t say anything nice about someone,

then don’t say anything at all!”

 

It was a lecture he was to repeat many times

over the course of a great number of years.

 

Sadly, when this guy spoke about Ken,

it made me think about how I had failed

to live up to what my Dad tried to teach.

 

Ken, on the other hand,

would have made my Dad proud;

he lived out my Dad’s little lecture;

he was a quiet humble Christian guy

who never had a bad word to say about anyone;

he walked the high road,

even when others around him didn’t.

 

As Ben Franklin said,

“Experience keeps a dear school,

but fools will learn in no other.”

 

That being the case,

(and if you would like your life

 to run more smoothly)

I would urge you not to be foolish like me,

but rather to live as my friend Ken did

(whilst I strive to make up for lost time

 by doing likewise).

 

Yet we should be patient with ourselves,

since, seeing as we are still here,

God’s not finished with us yet. =)

 

Have a great week.

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

non-verbal

 

well my dear ones,

 

As an engineer, I’m a fan of technology,

especially if it’s the kind that helps people.

 

This morning I was listening to a radio show

where they were talking about notebooks,

the electronic type,

the type that can hold hundreds of books,

and speaking about them as a possible

replacement for textbooks for school.

 

I recall my school days,

when I had to carry like 40 pounds of books;

hence, I support such advances.

 

While I was listening,

a guy called in who worked with

people who have special needs,

specifically, those who are non-verbal.

 

He said whenever he provided someone

who is non-verbal with a device that

allows them to communicate,

the first thing they say, in every case,

is, “I love you, Mom.”

 

The man elaborated that what he learned

from that is that every person

is here for a reason;

even those who are different from us,

and those with special needs,

all are a part of God’s plan.

 

The next time I get impatient with someone

I plan to try and bear that in mind.

 

Have a great week.

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave