Pocket Contents

What does a lady, a mom, a gramma have in her pocket the day of her daughters wedding?

My beautiful fifth born daughter, Julia, was married last Friday and I just now emptied out the pocket of the clothes I wore over to the chapel. The pocket contained:

One used Kleenex & one unused Kleenex

A Dora Band aid fresh off a little finger

Three Dum Dums -intended to keep little ones quiet during wedding (didn't use them!)

Used gum wrapper -- no gum inside (must have swallowed it)

Village Inn receipt (family tradition to go for breakfast on wedding morning)

Stegosaurus (plastic) to keep little ones occupied

Crest White Strip package (unused) intended to use this on the way to the chapel

One dollar bill

Sugar Free Caramel Coffee Nips wrapper - definitely not enough caffeine for the day for me!

So there you have it! Of all the things going thru my mind the week after my daughters wedding I blog about "pocket contents". Hopefully more will follow.

What to do....What to do

Getting stuck far away from home can be a cause of boredom. But there are things that you can be entertained by....things that don't cost much ! !

• shop the malls.....all the malls
• try on prom dresses (over your clothes!)
• pick out new bottles of nail polish but wait to get home to buy them
• eat at the malls....
• try on 'movie star sunglasses"
• try on all the Easter hats at the mall

• watch the Hallmark channel till 3 am
• then sleep in till 10 am
• do a load of laundry for $3
• all you can eat Bread sticks/Soup/Salad at Olive Garden till its time for supper
• use the new 'head massager' to try and get rid of headaches
• Bungy Jump (hey Jeshanah you will never forget it)
• try out the 'massage chairs' at the mall ($1.00)

• eat lots of bags of popcorn.....while watching the Hallmark channel (free at Drury Inns)
• Get to Drury Inn by 5 pm to get free supper
• unpack....pack....unpack....pack suitcases....
• collect ALL the little bottles of shampoo/conditioner from hotels
• ride in the cab of a semi tow truck and dodge the weigh station (not our idea)
• know ALL the "Room Saver" special coupons....
• argue with the GPS system about how to get to the mall
• collect coupons from everywhere that has them
• try to keep "coffee creamer" cold w/o a fridge
• recharge cell phone
• take a nap
• sit in hot tub till its not hot anymore
• get all ready for the day and have nothing to do
• ask for 'pop' and then have to tell the clerk what it is.....(they say soda down here)

• eat cup cakes from Chattanooga Cupcakes
• hang with the dinosaurs at the Creation Museum
• 

Bond Servant = Doulos

In most of Paul's Epistles he describes himself as an apostle of the LORD Jesus Christ. In Philippians he calls himself and Timothy "bond servants of Christ Jesus".

Bond Servant is "doulos" in the Greek. Defined as one who gives himself up to another's will; one devoted to another to the disregard of his own interests. A bond servant is not a "hired" servant or one who serves because that is his job. It is one who serves out of choice.

Other words associated with bond servant are: ownership, possession, allegiance, subjection, dependence

Exodus 21:5 - "I love my master, my wife, my children, I will not go out as a free man."

The Old Testament tells us that a person would only HAVE to be a slave, one that was purchased, for 6 years. At the end of 6 years he had to be set free. BUT the slave could CHOOSE to stay. Why would anyone do that? Maybe the slave had come to love his master and his master's family .... so he would choose to stay. God's Law did not permit a slave to be mistreated in any way....so for some....maybe the life of a slave was a better life than he could make for himself so he would choose to stay. If the slave chose to stay, the master would take an awl and bore a hole through the slave's ear to the masters door post. A constant reminder to him and everyone that this slave was going no where. It was a permanent decision. That slave could NEVER go free, on his own, again, nor could he ever be sold. He now became more than just a slave....he became a servant who was permanently attached -- bonded -- to his master. A "bond servant". These bond servants were usually trusted with more than just the ordinary slave would be trusted with. They often, though still servants, became like part of the family.

I recently noticed the words "Bond Servant" tatotted on a young man's arm. I wondered, "does he know what those words mean"? I wonder....do I know what those words mean? Bond Servant...one who chooses to serve with reckless abandon. One who gives herself up to another's will...the will on the Father. For me that speaks of becoming holy as HE is holy. Oh how I want to be a Bond Servant of the LORD Jesus Christ...to serve Him, to become like His Son. To "choose" His way instead of my own. To choose "will" instead of my own. Paul lived his life as a Bond Servant of his LORD. A goal worthy of my desire.

John Darby, in 1872, wrote these words...

And is it so! I shall be like Thy Son?

Is this the grace which He for me has won?

Father of glory—thought beyond all thought!

In glory, to His own blest likeness brought!

Oh, Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?

Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see

Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,

Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul.

Yet it must be: Thy love had not its rest

Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest;

That love that gives not as the world, but shares

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.

Nor I alone; Thy loved ones, all complete

In glory, round Thee there with joy shall meet

All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord,

Object supreme of all, by all adored.

A Little Philippi History from Acts 16

In order to help understand the book of Philippians we need to know well Acts chapter 16. It tells us much about the people and the place of Philippi.

• Luke joined Paul, Silas & Timothy (from "they & them" to "we & us")
• There was apparently no synagogue in Philippi as Paul went to the riverside where he supposed there would be a 'place of prayer'
• Lydia seems to be the first one in this part of Europe to receive the Gospel
• She then was baptized
• Her transformation was immediately shown by her inviting Paul and group to her home
• Paul was 'greatly annoyed' by a slave girl who had an evil spirit. He commanded the evil spirit to leave her, which it did, this gained Paul & Silas a beating and jail.
• About midnight while Paul & Silas were praying and singing hymns there was an earthquake. Prison doors were opened, chains were broken. This was a MAJOR crisis for the jailer who drew his sword and was going to kill himself. He was stopped by Paul and asked "What must I do to be saved?"
• The jailer became a believer in the LORD Jesus Christ
• He was baptized
• His transformation was immediately shown by his loving care in washing the wounds and caring for Paul & Silas

Helpful things to remember about Philippi.

• It was a Roman colony situated about 10 miles in from where Paul & Silas landed
• It was on the main highway between Asia and Europe
• Philippian citizens were very proud of being Romans and despised the Jews
• Paul was a Pharisee, the strictest sect of the Jews
• Philippians was written about 30 years after the the LORD's death on the cross
• Paul seems to have a deeper love for the Philippian believers than we detect in his other Epistles

People from Philippi

• Lydia - likely one of the first European converts
• Philippian jailor - tried to kill himself while Paul & Silas were under his care, convert to Christianity
• Slave girl with an evil spirit whom Paul set free
• Epaphroditus - Fellow worker of Paul, messenger sent from Philippi to Paul, risked his life for Paul
• Eudian & Syntache - Women who co-labored with Paul, needed some help resolving problems between them
• Clement - fellow worker of Paul likely helped establish church at Philippi

A TRUST Lesson from "Movers"

We are giving our chapel building to some "movers". Movers who move houses and buildings and who will take our no longer needed building away...saving us the work and cost of disposing of it ourselves. These movers are an answer to prayer. These movers are a father and his two sons. On Saturday they were at the chapel. They measured, they looked under ceiling tile, they inquired where the bearing walls were, they asked what the baptismal tank was (!), and they planned together....the father and his two sons. (If you would like to see the progress on our new building you can see it here.)

Myron was talking with them about the building and the move. They talked about the very high rate of insurance for their moving company. They said there was only 1 company in the United States that insured movers. Their job is a dangerous job, indeed. I listened to one of the sons as he spoke, "its very hard for us to hire anybody outside the family. We can't really TRUST anyone else but our dad and our brothers. Our lives are in each other's hands and our lives depend on each other doing exactly the right thing. If a house falls on you - you die!"

These words, "We can't really TRUST anyone else .....", have been going through my mind. How helpless and lost I would feel without the LORD Jesus to trust. I am SO thankful that I can TRUST Him with the biggest and the smallest details of my life. Not the least of which is my ETERNAL destiny...i.e. where I will spend the ETERNITY, all the rest of the days of my life forever, and ever and ever! But I want to TRUST Him more and more and more....... TRUST comes from adversity, TRUST comes from not knowing what the future holds, and TRUSTING anyway, TRUST comes from knowing and believing with all my heart that He is the Sovereign One and there is nothing that happens....NOTHING that He is not totally in control of. And yes, TRUST comes from TRUSTING. The more I TRUST the more I want to TRUST!

Are you trusting Him today? Do you long for your trust to be more and more? I do.

"TRUST in the LORD forever,

for the LORD God is an everlasting rock."

Isaiah 26:4

Reminds me of the song Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.

~~Louisa Stead

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His word,

Just to rest upon His promise;

Just to know, Thus saith the Lord.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

How I love to trust in Jesus,

Just to trust His cleansing blood.

Just in simple faith to plunge me

'Neath the healing cleansing flood!

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Yes, I've learned to trust in Jesus,

And from sin and self to cease,

Now from Jesus simply taking

Life and rest and joy and peace.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him,

Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend,

And I know that He is with me,

He'll be with me to the end...

Sobering Numbers

• Population of Haiti: 10,000,000
• Hurricane Katrina death toll: 1836
• 9/11 death toll: 2974
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki death toll: 200,000
• Military death toll of U. S. Civil War: 620,000
• Military death toll of World War II: 25,000,000
• U.S. abortion death toll since Roe v. Wade was passed on this day in 1973: 52,000,000

Shocking. Evil.

I recently read a most insightful book called "Won by Love". The author of the book is Norma McCorvey, who is actually the "Roe" in the famous court case that legalized abortion, Roe v Wade. She was a pawn in the hands of powerful and evil lawyers. To my surprise, she never had an abortion, never even wanted an abortion! You can read about the book here. It is a shocking, powerful and encouraging story. I very often think of the fact that Norma's eventual salvation came, in part, from the friendship and love of a little girl. A little girls whose mother worked at Operation Rescue, which moved in next door to the abortion facility Norma was working at. This mother's trust in her God to protect her child was as encouraging to me as was the salvation of Norma, the poster child for abortion. Read it for yourself and see and pass it on for others to be encouraged! PS. I saw some copies of the book for only $ .99 on Amazon.