Christian Photographers Community

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Morning Devotional...


[td]WALKING IN THE OLD PATHS
Jeremiah 6:16
By the late Jack Scott



4.  The Old Guide Book [/td]
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In the years of long ago when I was a child, I often heard my mother sing a hymn that somehow I understood was very dear to her. Sometimes I would find her sitting alone singing it with tears on her cheeks. As the years rolled by its importance to her seemed to increase.

Some would have thought it a very strange choice had they heard her quietly sing it. Most people who knew her would have been surprised to hear her sing at all, for she never sang in public. Not even with the congregation. While others sang, she would follow in her hymn book intently with her eyes and I suspect with her heart. Her lips would not move, nor her tongue utter a single syllable. Those who knew our circumstances (although they were probably few in number) would have been astonished at the words:


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Over the years we had accumulated few of this world's goods and it was a constant struggle for her to feed and clothe the family.

What then were the blessings that a very poor Irish woman could sing about? They certainly had no value on the stock market and could not be accumulated in the local branch of the Belfast Savings Bank.  The "passbook" in which the blessings she sang about were listed was an old black leather covered Guide Book.  On the spine in faded gold letters were two words which made up the title, "Holy Bible". The pages were more worn than the cover. Once white, they had long since yellowed with wear and age and tear drops.

My mother probably never heard of John Locke, philosopher and writer, but she would have agreed with the truth of his statement when he said, "It has God for its Author, salvation for its end, without any mixture of error, for its matter: it is all pure, sincere, nothing too much and nothing wanting."

Theologians refer to the Bible as God's Special Revelation to Man. The wonders of creation testify to us of God's unsurpassed wisdom and power, but the Holy Scriptures tell us so much more about God, and it helps us to understand ourselves if only we are willing to accept its teachings. In it we see that God is holy, just and righteous and at the same time, gracious, loving and merciful.

Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the United States, spoke truly when he said, "The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life."

Paul, the apostle, reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 that: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

It is true that ungodly men have attacked the word of God and tried to destroy it down through the ages.  Many have used or attempted to use "facts" of science to disprove its truth. In 1861 the French Academy of Science published a booklet listing over fifty supposed "facts" to contradict the Bible. Atheists of the day rubbed their hands in glee as they ridiculed the Christian faith. Today all of the claimed "facts" are rejected by men of science.

In the early and mid-nineteenth century, archeologists said that they were confident that their findings would discredit the accuracy of the Bible. A few years ago, I heard a lecture by a professor of the Department of Archeology at the University of Toronto in which he said that the Bible is now considered by many archeologists to be the most reliable guidebook to finding remains of old cities etc. in the middle-east.

Yes, the Bible is an old guide book. In fact it is the only truly reliable guide book on the path of life.

An ancient writer said: "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path." (Psalm 119:105 NKJV)

Despite the attacks of Satan and puny men, "We rest upon the impregnable rock of Scripture". (Winston Churchill)


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There are many "great and exceeding precious  promises" (2 Peter 1:4) found in the Old Guide Book we call the Bible. There are countless multitudes of blessings in this grand old book. One outshines all the others and accepting it is the condition for receiving and enjoying all the other blessings. It is described many times over. We shall look at only a few instances where it is mentioned.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:16, 37)

What love God expressed to us in the coming of His Eternal Son in the body of human flesh! True God and true Man to suffer the penalty of sin upon the cross. What a blessing to know that those who repent of their rebellion and sin and trust Him as Lord and Saviour possess eternal life.

Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians 2:4-10 gives us a great summary of this wonderful blessing. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

You can enter into this the greatest blessing that can ever be known to mankind. Why not do so now by faith in Jesus Christ?

"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of Salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2b).

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Jack Scott loved his Lord! He passed away on January 10, 2001 after a lengthy illness.
He is missed greatly by his family.

Good evening/morning, folks!

Pat, I read half of Jack's devotion.  Very interesting!  I will be back tomorrow to read the rest.

I got everything on my list done.  Wooohooo...Party time.  

Actually, I am headed to bed.  Night all!

Love
Soni

Pat, how nice to hear that a good friend won such a great trip.  I hope that she enjoys it.

Great devotional also.  I have printed it to take with me tomorrow to read while at work.

Mullet that cake of yours sounded good.  I hope that you had a happy birthday.

Here is something I received in my email tonight.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.

And now, time for me to head off to bed also.

Goodnite everyone

Thank you Sue  

GOOD MORNING ALL 10.30AM

PAT thank you for the devotional from your dear husband Jack .

I have an infection on my eyes , me eyes are red and painly when it is over i must go to an eye specialist. I have now on  sunglasses the light from the computer is painly on my eyes i may also not work to long on the computer. It is painly on my eyes.
LARRY thank you for your e-mail. Yesterday in the evening has someone download FTP and he is busy with an own website for me. But now i must learn to work with FTP and
a website. Yesterday is was 12.00Pm i have try to put a picture but is was not going good but i say stop i want go to bed. But in the coming days i take rest for
my eyes.

Yesterday there have been 3 lady's from the church one is a friend from me. With here i am going sometimes to the Baptist. We booth are married with a man who are not going  to a church. But once in the two weeks is there an evening there may come everyown. Then there is musik and we are singing a lot. Not only the psalms also other there we are also singing Stand up Stand up for Jesus Pat have you not this week that put on NEM i love that song. But we also have talk a longtime and we say now we stay in our own church. There are people gone.
But in the first coming years everyown can go to his own church there will only be sometimes a pastor from the other church. But the General Synods from the 3 churches they are on april 1  also 1 General Synod. They and the government will not have that there are staying churches empty because the Islamic people there are a lot in Holland and they are growing they will have new mosques. But that may not from the government. And that is also the reason that we are going together. Then we are 2 1/2 million christians. The Islamic may not get the dominance.
The Baptist church in my place is also changing in Free Baptist no own will more be baptist then it is a open church everyown is welcome.
But i have peace with my decicion.
I will live in PEACE and i think you all

Maybe i take sometimes a look on CP but i think not that i write this day more.
I hope you understand what i have writen and the reason that i will be the rest of the day a short time on CP
i also love your words.

I wish you all a BLESSED DAY
Bye Love  RIA

Ria, eye pain is most difficult to live with! We will pray for your quick recovery. Thanks for the good explanation about your decision on churches. Take care - we love you.

Ruth Ann

Hi all

finally back on line again, am i having trouble with this comp or what, broadband has been down since i posted the last message, something about ice affecting the line grr

stayed at my girlfriends last night, the bomb squad appeared and evacuated the next street aparrently one of the houses is rented buy an irish republican and someone tried to put a car bomb on his car and it fell off lucky for him

For Ria...

Pat The devotion a verry nice post you  posted it is hard to believe that somepeople actually tryd to destroy the bible.

Ria I will be praying for your eyes to feel better

Tragicharpy that would be scarey.
Do you know If they have figured out who has placed it there? Just be glad god was watching over you.

I just hit My 13th post can we have a party!!!

Good Morning Everyone!

What are your plans for today?  Are you busy, busy, busy?  

I have to go to the bank to put my deposit in for my Avon order and then tidy up thre house.


Sonja, hope you enjoyed the whole of Jack's "Walking in the Old Paths".  I must say that each time I put them in, I do get a blessing from them.  I'm happy that the Lord is still using them this way.


Thanks, Sue, for your comments late last night.  Yes, I'm so happy that Gail won this trip.  I'm trying to get her involved in the computer so that she can come in here and fellowship with us all.  She's a believer but she doesn't attend any church and I'm sad about this.

Thanks, Sue, for the following...  so true!

Quote

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.

Good Morning, Mullet!


Ria, I do pray that your eyes will be better soon.  I'm glad too that you have FTP installed now on your computer.  Hopefully, you'll feel sufficiently capable to build your own web page by yourself.  That's what Sonja and Jeanne are going to help people with. . . not get someone else to do it for you!  


Good Morning Ruth Ann.    I think of you daily and then pray for you.  I sure hope that you'll have a faster line someday soon so that you can enjoy all of the CP website.


Tragicharpy, I'm so sorry that you have been bothered by the IRA in your area.  What area are you in?  My husband was a policeman in Northern Ireland during some of the bad troubles with them.  


Let's remember especially, Al Moak, as he and Marbeth move today.  Let's all pray that this move will go well for them both and that he won't be offline too long and away from us.



Well, I'm off to the bank!  I'll check in later to chat with you all.

Have a wonderful day.

Let's pray especially for our members who haven't posted in a long time and if you have their email addresses, how about dropping them a little note?  I'm thinking of Janice especially right now and Diana, and many, many others.  Click on the list of Members at the bottom of the main "My Community" page and have a look.  Let's contact all of our members before 2004.

Hi everyone.  Pat, each time I read one of Jack's writings it just becomes more meaningful to me.  As I read the one today the thought occurred to me that his mother must have had a tremendous influence on his life and the path that he walked.  I was not familiar with that hymn "The Bible Stands" but sang through it with the very nice midi music.

Ria, once the FTP program is set up with the settings for your Internet Service Provider (ISP) you will find it very easy to use.  You have one panel that shows the files on your computer and the other panel shows the files you have on the ISP server.  It works just like using your Windows Explorer.  Ria, I sure hope your eyes get well quickly.  I have only had eye problems one time in my life and it wasn't pleasant.

Tragicharpy, glad you are able to get back online and post here.  That was certainly a frightening incident that could have been terrible.

We have the joy today of having our former neighbors over and we are going out to lunch and then will play bridge this afternoon.  They have been our good friends for almost 25 years and are now in their early 80s but so young at heart.  Unfortunately in the last couple of years they are having quite a few health problems but manage to keep going.  

Good morning!

I have choir practice at 9:30 am.    I thought I would post before I got ready to go.

Pat, that was a wonderful study.  Very informative.   I will keep Eph. 2:4-10 in my thoughts today and study it till I get understand it better.
Thanks! (((HUG)))

I better get going.  Have a great day folks!


Soni

HOORAY for MULLET!!  13 posts by our 13 year old!  And I hope you will make it to 1300 before too long.  It is so refreshing to hear a young voice or more in here!  (Of course, we are ALL young-at-heart!)

Pat, that is one of my favorites of Jack's writings I have read.  Thanks again.

Ria, so sorry about your eye problem, and hope it clears up soon.  I am glad you have made a decision about your church.  Those decisions are so difficult.

Hi, Sonya!  Sing pretty!  

Pat, was it a trip for TWO?  And is she taking YOU along??  (I hope so!)

I must get around, I'm having a luncheon for my painting students today and have things to do for that.  Then we will paint in the afternoon, too.

Talk to you later!

Janet, she's taking her husband!  

Hi everyone!!!  Good to see Zachary getting in here and getting his feet wet!  He is a great little guy!  You can tell he loves people!!!!  Sonja, you and Mike are great parents!!!!

Just got a phone call from Jerry Lee, Jerry's son.  They are in Ohio at Jerry Lee's sister's home.  They are coming here tomorrow.  Whoooo-eee!!!

Saturday evening we are to go out to eat with Tony and Charlene and exchange our gifts for each other.  Seems the rest of the season will be busy for Jerry and I.....which I love.

Kevin, Charlene's son, is coming tomorrow evening to check out my computer to see what I have and what I want.  I got so upset with trying to save on CD yesterday that my arm is hurting just like it was a few weeks ago.  My diagnosis is stress!!!!  I was doing PSP lessons when it happened before.

<)))><<~~<)))><<~~<)))><<~~<)))><<~~<)))
"Faith is seeing light with your heart, when all your eyes see is the darkness ahead."

hey ya'll,
I'm in here posting before i leave for my test   don't know how i'll do hopefully well. my avg can't handle anything bad! ttyl
Sarah

Janet It wont be to long now.
Then 13,000. lol.

good day

good luck, sarah

thanks mullet

Good Morning, etta sue.
How are you doing today I like your christmas sign.

Good Morning, I have downloaded PSP8 from the Jasc and it took practically all night and now it is installed. I didn't stay up to  wait for it to download. I have had several emai8ls back and forth with Dell giving them information about my computer and the problem and I am trying to  get PSP8 replaced. They don't usually give replacements or refunds on software. In this case I told them I want them to test the replacement before they ship it to me. I am so frustrated wiuth this problem.

I am going to bea's house today, I think we are going shopping for her son's Christmas present and out to lunch.

TTYL

P>S. I have more photos to post later today after I compress some and take some others off the camera. I too photos at Savannah's school Christmas program yesterday.

Sarah   you'll get an
                        A
etta sue It is nice be here and talking with others so far away than the people I know here.


Love you all

Etta Sue, sounds like you have a busy Christmas season with friends and family.  That is wonderful!

Thank you for the compliment!  

Mullet~Was 13 post, now 16!    You go, son!



Sarah~Good luck!

HI Janet! (((hug)))  

Pat~That is to bad.  Maybe someday you and I can go to Hawaii.    Even if it will be just in our dreams.    We could even take Janet and however else wants to come.

Hi Larry!

Marilyn~Glad you got your psp downloaded.  

Etta Sue~Another awesome graphic!

Janet~have fun at your lunchen.  

I'm going to be gon of the site for probebly 45 minutes.

It is great to be on this site.

PAT thank you very much for Stand up stand up for Jezus nowthe song is in my heart.
When my eyes are a little bit better i will start with FTP
but now on this moment my eyes they are trouble from the salve.

Dear RUTH ANN thank for your lovely words  about my decision of my church.

Also thank you dear Janet for your words

But now i must first stop

Love Ria

Hello everyone!!  Squeezing a few words in while TAS is distracted!  He's talking about pancakes and cheerios right now.  

I've enjoyed reading today, and I hope everyone continues to have a good day.  It is almost CHRISTmas, and I hope that everyone has a relaxed, enjoyable week this week leading up to it.  

I wonder what was going through Mary and Joseph's mind at this time before the "first" Christmas?  I remember when I was carrying Travis, and felt 89 months pregnant this time of year two years ago. I can't imagine being on a donkey and riding for days, only to be told there was no room for me.  Then, to settle down in basically a barn.  Wow!!  I think it shows, once again, how God can use ordinary "things" for extraordinary events, and how He always does things beyond our imagination.  How cool is that!




PS -- Ria, the modification on your post above was just to add a bracket so your words were in bold.

I just posted two photos in the monthly challenge and not I am off to work, sooooo I will be back later today.

Y-all have a great day.

I PASSED 92%!!!!!