Christian Photographers Community

Morning Devotional...





He hath made every thing beautiful in His time...no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.                    Eccl. 3:11


A set of dirt-coated, rickety oak chairs was about to be discarded when restoration came to mind.  In time they turned into beautiful antiques.

Sometimes the Lord has to do a restoration job on us.

He strips away pride through a humiliating experience, sands the rough edges by adversity, and polishes with continuing hardships.

This procedure causes groans of complaint but it is the prelude to God's all-wise plan for each of His children.

May we focus more on the finished product and be thankful that He sees us worthy material to be salvaged and fashioned into something beautiful.
                                                                      ~E. Dyck~


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Good night everyone!!

good morning anthony!

Good Night, Karma!

I was in bed and I forgot to say a couple of things so got up again!  

First of all, it sure was nice to see Joan posting.  Hope you come often, Joan.

And secondly, I was lying in bed thinking of you going to Wales, Anthony!  Is this the same place you went last year that you posted photos of?  Did you drive through Kington or Knighton?  How I wish I could come too.  

Now, I'm off to bed again!  

I like the Devotional very much today Ms Pat, it is somehow different than many of the other ones.  

Hello Mieka, It looks like it is just me and you tonight.  I am getting ready for bed and thought I would leave a few words in here before going to bed.  

Pat~this devotion reminds me of our house. We have so many antiques.

Today my husband and I were messing with this ooold record player.  The one where it has the speaker out the front and you have to crank it up to get it to play.  No wires at all.  It is about 4 foot tall. In very good condition.  I will have to get some pictures and show you all.

Good morning Anthony!  And of course all the rest of the CPers out there.  
Sonja

Good morning everyone.  The devotional reminds me of a chorus that we used to sing ages ago.


Great thought.

Pat, I am going passed Knighton today and it's a beautiful morning this morning and I am looking forward to it immensely.  

Just a note on the doctrines of grace and predestination, I have noticed that amongst the church of God throughout the ages there are great men of God who agree and disagree with these doctrines.  Calvin, for instance, was a wonderful brother.  the Wesleys, who wouldn't agree with everything that Calvin preached, were also wonderful brothers in the Lord and were used by the Almighty to bring revival everywhere they went.  

It always helps me to realise that people who differ over these issues are genuinely trying to keep faithful to the bible.  If people deny certain doctrines, it is difficult to believe that they are christians - some people believe that Christ was just an angel for instance.  But with these issues regarding predestination, it is heartening to think that we can listen to brothers and sisters with alternate views without falling out.  This is simply family having a discussion.

The main thing for me is that we all agree that we can spread this gospel to the whosoever, and it is very heartening that Pat is prepared to keep this place going so that we have an opportunity to spread the gospel to anyone who might come across the site.  I want to stick to lifting the Lord Jesus Christ up.  If He is lifted up He has promised to draw all men unto Himself (or, according to the politically correct version of the bible, He will draw all men and women to Himself )

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Anyway, I am off to get ready for my nice day out.

God bless.

Anthony.

Message for Janet

Five at once was the best news I had in ages

 Pat  I especially liked your devotional this AM because it reminds me that God is still at work on my life...even though I'm in the senior years.  I need sanding, refinishing and  put back together ready to do His bidding anywhere.  
Everyone have a good day. It looks like I've missed a lot of good conversation this past weekend.  

Well, I'm up and at 'em early!

I have to take Phil to work.  

Just a few words here...  Mieka, have a nice vacation with your family this week...

Anthony, hope you get lots of photos today and have great fellowship with your friends from your church and with the ones from the church where you are going.

I'm concerned about Janet, Papa John and Ruth Ann Bice.  Terrible tornados last night with so many killed.  Please check in to tell us you're ok.

Good morning.

We were so busy yesterday with many activities I wasn't able to get here at all.  We DID have terrible storms through here last night.  There was no damage in our neighborhood but eight people were killed down in Jackson, Tennessee.  

I really do not have time this morning to discuss the predestination question.  It is enough to say that I believe in our free will.  I  believe the sense in which there is predestination is that God decided that those who believe and obey the gospel would be saved.  I believe he gives us a choice.  Otherwise we would not be responsible.  I do not want to argue this and I hope this is not a test of fellowship in this forum.  If this is discussed here I feel like I have to present what I believe to be the truth.  The idea that God arbitrarily chose some to be saved and some to be lost is repugnant to me.

We had a great day yesterday.

--- Papa John      

I'm so glad that you are safe, Papa John.

I've heard that the storms are headed our way.  We've been told to "batten down the hatches"!  Hopefully, we won't get any tornados though...even though they are very common in this part of Ontario.

Oh, Good!  My fingers work!  I had a hard fall in a parking lot over the weekend and have been favoring my right hand - not daring to type.  All is well.  It is so nice to have an angel looking after me  

Terrible tornadoes - I pray for all the families.  We had a tornado hit our home when the children were quite young and it took an entire summer to get back to somewhat normal conditions.  These look devastating.

Have a blessed day.  Carol

KDIMLER!!
We visit every day.  We talk about our children, grandchildren, local politics, aches and pains, sorrows, triumphs.  We discuss the Sunday sermon, our reading of scripture, a new book that touched or troubled us.  We post photographs.  We sing.  We laugh a lot.  Sometimes we cry.  We make an effort to listen intently.

Our visits to CP is our holy time.  As we read each others posts and look at each others pictures, we posts our thoughts, hopes, and fears to each other and to God.  Our posts are a manifestation of Christ in the world.  Being part of the Body of Christ is not a private walk with Jesus; it is two or three people gathered together with Christ in their midst.  When we show compassion or 'listen' with love, we are expressing Christ.  We are being the church in the world.  Even though we aren't perfect and we don't have all the right answers, we experience Christs's presence in these times together.

Who needs someone to listen???!!!

Hi Carol and Etta Sue!
I'm glad to see you both checking in.  Etta Sue, are you anywhere near to these terrible storms?

Anthony - what you did is terrible!  I read the devotional, and it reminded me of "Something beautiful, something good," and I was going to post it.  Then, lo, what do I read next?  Anthony is already quoting it!  My second oldest son sang that song one time when we were ministering at a nursing care center, and it was a great blessing.  Whoever wrote that, it was obviously written from the heart.

Relative to the free-will/predestination question - it is a very, very old question, argued by many, many people over many, many centuries, and I do not begin to claim that I can solve it for everyone now.  I know I do love the hymn Pat quoted ("I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew . . .").  I also believe strongly that if our God had not arbitrarily chosen me before the foundation of the world, then I would never have come to Him.  I give Him ALL the credit, because I cannot take any myself.

By the way, for anyone who's interested, ALL the old Baptist confessions contain strong statements of God's absolute sovereignty in election and predestination.

Wow!  I had better turn on the TV and listen to the news and weather.  I know we had strong winds and rain last night but I slept right through it all.  Except when the phone rang right at 3:00AM and the party wouldn't say anything.    But upon looking outside, I know it was very windy.  I had swept the deck but it is full of whirly-gigs from the maple trees.  My drive is a mess.  I swept it with the lawn mower...nothing lazy about me!  But, thank God, I don't see any limbs down.  So it was a good rain for us.

About the discussion...I don't know the names or titles of things but all I know is that we were known before creation.  We are all God's children...so I believe he chose all of us to be his children.  But I also believe we have the choice to be in 'his family' or not.  I was already an antique when he planted the seed in me to be like a sponge and absorb all that I could so I would make the choice to accept his Son, Christ Jesus, as my Lord and Savior.  We don't have the right to live in Heaven for eternity by being a child of God but by faith that Christ Jesus is our Savior and His death on the cross redeemed us of our sins when we confess and repent.  Gosh, sometimes this seems so easy to have eternal life in heaven and sometimes it seems impossible.  I guess that is another choice....to make it easy or to make it very difficult.    Ya'll know my way and I am praying that it is the right way.  

Today will be spent in playing catch-up.  Catch up on the laundry and the house cleaning because of the next two days being spent with Ivalou and her cataract surgery.  Also she is my haircutter so I hope to get a haircut today while she can still see relatively well.  

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"A lot of kneeling keeps one in good standing."

Hi Al!  Great to see you and hopefully, you'll get that car fixed today!

Yes, Etta Sue, over 30 killed so far in the tornados.

I just heard that there were maybe 73 tornados overnight!  And in Pierce City, Missouri, it stayed on the ground swirling around for 30 minutes!!

Good Morning< I have the news on the TV and am seeing all the devastation done by the tornados.  I pray that all those people will find thier loved one.

Today I will be going to work an hour early and this week I start working 25 hours per week instead of 20.  I am going to read the other forums here and will return later.

Pat the devotional is again  very thought provoking. I will re-read it and  think about it before I say anything.

Marilyn

Have a good day at work, Marilyn!

I see right now the following online!

Pat Scott, Ruth Ann Bice, Sonifo, Marilyn, Etta Sue, Janet, Larry Hanna, Jerry L. Sowers, Al Moak
Good Morning to you all!

Twisters kill 28 in Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee


I've heard that the number is in the 30's now.

Happy Monday to all of you on CP.

Papa John and Anthony, thanks for your input into the Predestination/Whatever question.  I agree with you.  If God arbitrarily chose only certain people to draw to Himself, then He would be a respecter of persons, and we are clearly told that He is not.  I don't want to say anything more, because I think this subject is very divisive and it disturbs me so much.  So I feel we should not be talking about it in here.  It may be a real stumbling block to some.  BTW, I was brought up in the Baptist church, but never taught those things, and for that I am grateful.

I love all of you here, so don't think I'm upset with you!

I spent the night awake because of the storms. My three critters all jumped into bed with me. First 85-lbs of golden retriever, then the little kitty who always has been a scaredy-cat cried and cried, then with a yowl, he jumped into bed and curled up between the dog's legs for protection, and the other kitty (an old lady about 15 years old) crept into bed and hid her head in my armpit.

The dogpen is flattened, my next door neighbor's bridge (which was made with heavy metal beams set in concrete) washed away, and someone's gardening timbers floated into and settled across my driveway, so I had to pull them off the drive to be able to come to work.

Wonder when the electricity will be restored? My peanut butter sandwich by candlelight tasted pretty good, though.  

Thanks to God, we're safe, my two Nashville children made it through the night without damage to their homes, and so I have much to be grateful for today.

Ruth Ann

I'm glad you're safe, Ruth Ann!

Hi Everyone.  Joan it is good to see you joining with us here.  It is also great to welcome KDIMLER.

It looks like we are going to have storms in our area for the next several days.  My wife was talking with her sister in Missouri yesterday evening when they had the tornados in the area.  She had to get off the phone because they had heavy hail.  Fortunately there were no tornados in the area she lived.  The midwest is prone to tornados this time of the year.

I finished reading the first "Left Behind" book yesterday and am about 200 pages into the second of the series.  I am really enjoying them and Pat has started on the first one.  The end-times is not something I hear mentioned from the pulpit.

We have two new ladies here for the first time to
clean the house.  We are most hopeful that they will be very satisfactory and this can become a long-term arrangement.


Carol, glad to hear that your hand wasn't hurt too badly in your fall.  Falls can be so frightening.  My wife Aunt, who we stay with in Florida, is visiting her daughter in Delaware and fell and broke her leg right below her hip.  About 2 years ago while visiting in Delaware she fell on some steps and broke her hip, same leg.  She has come through the surgery well and is now starting rehab and then they will have to fly her back to St. Petersburg.  She is such a sweet lady, about 83 years old, but she is doing very well.

Have a lot I want to get done today so better move on for now.

I hope that my reply to the devotional today will not offend anyone.  I see myself so clearly here, and it is sometimes very head not to focus on the past when I see the people who were involved or when I had dreams in the night of the things that were so repulsive in my past. I hate those dreams, I always wake up and pray to God to take them away. My pastor once called me to the front of the church  not even knowing that I was having these nightmares, and He annointed me with oil and laid his hands on my head and began to pray. I am standing there with tears running down my face as he spoke the words that were in my heart regarding those dreams of my horrible past, the things that I had never talked to anyone about.
He rebuked Satan and pled the Blood of Jesus over my thoughts, mind and dreams. Telling me that God was going to remove them and that those memories would be no more. I have not had those dreams, however satan keeps trying to remind me of where I have been and what I have done. I took a lesson from my Pastor and now before I go to sleep at night I plead the Blood over my thoughts, mind and dreams.

God has cleaned me up and set me high upon a rock and shown me His salvation, I praise God every time I think of it for bringing me out of the pits of hell and for taking me THROUGH the dark valleys and leading me through the new life He has given me in Him. If it were not for God I would not be here today. Yes I had many trials and came close to losing my life at the hand of another, I have forgiven that person and he is the same person I went to church with last week Sunday. There were times when I thought there would be no end to the trouble  and not futre for me at all. I had even written instruction to my  son if anything should happen to me and told him what to do and what to tell the police should my life be ended. I lived in fear of my life for quite a few years. I never knew if my life would be taken from me by that man.
Well enough of this, I don't want to think about these things.

Marilyn

USA Today in its 3/10/03 edition had a large article on two
Cowboy Churches in Texas. They printed the
Cowboy's Ten Commandments posted on the wall at
Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, Texas. It was too good
not to pass along to you. Think if we all used these
instead of the one with all the "shalt nots" in it, we could
probably understand and live up to them a lot better!


(1) Just one God.
(2) Honor yer Ma &Pa.
(3) No telling tales or gossipin'.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Put nothin' before God.
(6) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal.
(7) No killin'.
( Watch yer mouth.
(9) Don't take what ain't yers.
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff.

Guess cowboys just kinda tell it like it is!!!!

Mr Moak:
Relative to the free-will/predestination question - it is a very, very old question, argued by many, many people over many, many centuries
Ms Janet:
I think this subject is very divisive and it disturbs me so much. So I feel we should not be talking about it in here.

Mr Moak, Mr Anthony, Ms Pat, Ms Janet and everyone. Please forgive me for talking of this question. I did not know it is a old question. For me it was a new one. I thought there are many events that are known by God to come to pass. (stones on my path), But it was my thought that they are the test to allow me to choose which way I will go to get to the other side of each of these stones. I did not know it was a problem question for many Christians. Please do not be mad at me, I will not talk of it again.

Ms Etta Sue: My drive is a mess. I swept it with the lawn mower...
It is a giggle for me every time I see you on a mower.

Ms Janet: It is a giggle for me when I see your tumbleweeds.

Ms Marilyn, Soz about the dreams, I get them too sometimes. I know they are bad to have.

And to everyone I hope you are all safe, I did not even know of the tornadoes until I came in here today. I am  away for a short trip with my family, I will be back again soon.

Well it is almost lunch time.  I have been working on a special project. I have written 28 letters today. We have 28 high school seniors at church who are graduating this year. Every year Cornelia and I  write letters to the seniors to encourage them as they go on to college. They were honored at church yesterday and each was given a very nice Bible. We had more than a thousand present counting a lot of children.

Mieka, I hope you have a nice trip.

---- Papa John

I suppose the doctrine of predestination could be devisive.  In the churches I've been in, they chose to argue over stuff like stained glass or clear windows.    I find this discussion interesting, simply because it is not something I have thought a lot about.  I think discussing it is okay, but don't think you have to change everyone's mind, and don't be offended if I don't believe like you do!    

Hate to hear about those tornadoes, glad everybody is okay so far!

Mieka, have a great time.  Take pictures!!!!!!!!

have a great day ya'll!!!!

Hi~ I've made it back to CP! I've been trying to catch up on all of the new post and photos.It's good that there has been so much sharing and fellowship.
I have to refrain from posting a reply to all of the great photos. I'm really trying to manage my time better.

I've enjoyed the devotion, and find that everyone is handling the topic very well. I'm not a great debater, nor do I desire to be. I know that God first Loved me and therefore I love Him. I know I was created by Him,(psalm 139). I know God gives us free will in Choosing to serve Him. I know my sins are forgiven.
I know I can trust and lean on the promises in God's Word.
I'm so grateful for the "heart" knowledge I have in Christ. It really is so beyond our comprehension what has been done for us to have eternal life.

" I'll never know how much it cost to see my sins upon the cross".
One line from a song we sing in our church.

I hope you all have a Good Day. For those in the Storm area I hope you stay safe and clean up is a minimun.

Denise