Come and Worship!

Sunset at Gulf Shores, Alabama

Grateful

A birthday bouquet from a friend.

Each expression of love I received on my birthday made me feel extra happy. Phone calls. Text messages. Emails. Facebook messages. Cards. Gifts. Visits. Hugs. Kindnesses. 

Although I felt deeply grateful for each person who remembered me on my birthday, I felt even more grateful to God who has given me so many years of life--and precious family and friends with whom to share it. 

Those feelings prompted me to say "Yes!" when I read these words in a book* a friend sent me for my birthday: "Father...thank you for breath. May I use it only to praise you. Thank you for life. May I use it only to exalt you."  

*Julie Ackerman Link, 100 Prayers Inspired by the Psalms, p. 27

Like a Watered Garden

If you extend your soul to the hungry

And satisfy the afflicted soul,

Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, 

And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 

The LORD will guide you continually, 

And satisfy your soul in drought, 

And strengthen your bones; 

You shall be like a watered garden, 

And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:10-11, NKJV

A section of my neighbor's beautiful garden.
J. Gaskill Photography

Storms

Christ does not always immediately 

calm the storms, but He is always willing to calm His child on the basis of His presence. We'll probably never learn to enjoy our storms, but we can learn to enjoy God's presence in the storm!

~Beth Moore

See also Luke 8:22-25.

Freedom Is Available!

On a recent vacation, my husband and I stopped at the Maine State Prison Showroom, a store we’d visited on a previous trip to Thomaston, Maine. All the items (over 600 different kinds) in the store were crafted by inmates.

Although I would have loved to buy one of the handcrafted mahogany tables featuring intricate designs and polished to smooth perfection, I could only buy a few items that were small enough to fit into my suitcase: an ink pen with a smooth wooden barrel, a small pad of note paper that had a pen and ink drawing of a lighthouse on the left side of each page, etc.

After we'd left the store, I said, “It’s so sad that such talented people made bad choices that landed them in prison.” 

Indeed, even though some of the inmates were becoming increasingly skilled artisans, the men were still serving time in prison.

I thought of them a few days after we’d returned home when I heard an actor on a TV show say, “No matter how comfortable your prison is, it is still a prison.”

That is so true, isn't it?

We try to hide the prisons our sins put us in, don’t we? For example, if we are in bondage to gluttony, we may dress our bulging body in pretty clothes that hide our excess weight. If we are addicted to shopping, we accumulate clothes or jewelry or furnishing that make us the envy of our friends. But no matter how we camouflage our particular prison/cell/captivity, the truth remains: we are still in bondage to/held captive by a harmful (Dare I say sinful?) habit--with no release date in sight.

But there's good news! Albert E. Brumley (1905-1977) expressed it clearly in the song "He Set Me Free!" Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXi_1SD1UN and/or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajnincfXyZY

A Father's Joy

Change Your Default?

Although two of the emails I received on the same day came from different people (a photographer and a professional speaker), each contained the same basic advice.  Consider changing your default. 

Those four words lingered in my mind. I was very familiar with the term "default settings," of course, but I looked up the phrase and learned that a default is "a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user or programmer." 

I have a long list of "defaults," don't you? (Things or people that I automatically turn to in certain situations.) For example, I have a "go to" breakfast that I eat most mornings. Thankfully, it's a healthy choice.

But if my regular defaults are harmful to me (or to others) or if they keep me away from benefits provided by other choices, it's definitely time (past time!) to choose new defaults.

Dear Reader, there is one "default," a spiritual one that--once it's set on GOD--should never be changed. The Bible clearly says:

Therefore, He is the One to whom we should automatically turn to every time. If He isn't, then it's time to change that default.

Honor Them!

On the day before Memorial Day 2019, a deep sense of sadness and appreciation swept over me as I watched this video that was shown during the Sunday morning worship service at my church.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKMtoqe9dyA 

Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, GA.
(c) Johnnie Ann Gaskill, August 24, 2014. 

I felt similar emotions again that evening as I watched the 30th annual Memorial Day Concert on TV. I realized anew the enormity of the sacrifices made by all the brave men and women (and their families) who served in the military to protect the freedoms you and I cherish today. Many of them died while in active combat. All who died were more than just the names on the headstones standing row upon row in national cemeteries. Each was a real person: someone's child or sibling or parent. Hopefully, all were cherished and loved by family and friends during their brief stay on this earth.

May we honor their memory by being profoundly grateful for their lives and by cherishing the freedoms they died to protect. 

No Greater Joy

Both my daughters have careers that involve working with people all day long. Since they live and work in counties outside the one my husband and I live in, I rarely know any of the people in their workday world. Yet, I like hearing the gist of some of their experiences.

I’m always thankful to hear about situations that went well for my daughters. But even when they talk a bit about some of the difficult people they’ve had to deal with, I’m always thrilled to know about those times my daughters responded rightly (that is, in a Christ-like manner).

Upon hearing about such situations, I immediately think of what the Apostle John wrote in a letter to “the beloved Gaius.” 

After hearing that Gaius was “walking in the truth,” John said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4).

Yes!