Christian Photographers Community

We're so sorry to read that Mieka has lost her brother.  Let's all pray for Mieka during these days.[/size]


Link of the day...[/font]

• Back to the Bible  Charles Hadden Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotionals.

• Creation Moment Listen to the Creation Moment every day for a new creation moment!  We can learn a lot from these!  Terrific if you are home schooling.

Verse for Today...[/font]

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: whichis Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."[/color]
~Colossians 1:27,28 NKJV~[/list]


Quote of the Day...[/font]

 "The pressures of life are the hands of the Potter. "
~Anonymous~[/list]


Some News We Should Know About...

• Bush: Some Evidence Suggests Saddam Dead
  WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said in a television interview Thursday that there is some evidence suggesting Saddam Hussein is either dead or "at the very minimum was severely wounded." Bush also said U.S. troops would remain in Iraq "as long as necessary."

• Photo Moment: Blackbird Sees Its Own Breath in Cold Weather [/b]  

From our forums...

• Christian Book Exchange Get books or donate them!  Wonderful!
  
  
• In The Kitchen We can never have too many recipes!  Post your favorites here!
  

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Morning Devotional...


But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. Luke 9:32


I often find myself reading Scripture and at the end of the chapter I can hardly remember what I have read.

My mind has wandered and I have failed to concentrate. One needs to be alert and attentive in the things of God.

I therefore have to start all over again, and with a bit more effort, begin to see the jewels shine, and the Saviour's beauties become obvious.

If truth does not sink in the first time, don't despair; wake up and try again.
                                                                                    --Brian Russell

And while I wait for all Thy joys
my yearning heart to fill,
Teach me to walk and work with Thee
and at Thy feet sit still.                                                                    
--A. L. Waring[/list]

Good evening/morning to all of you.  I, of course, can't seem to get here until it is the next day!!  Imagine that, I am ahead of myself.

Pat, I am glad to hear you had a good trip to Toronto, and your daughter's graduation event.  That must have been the highlight of your year!  So glad you returned home safe and sound too.  
Thank you for the devotional, it really hit home with me!  I have so much trouble concentrating - I really have to fight my mind wandering.  I find if I read my daily Bible readings aloud, I can do better.  First I begin with prayer for calming my thoughts.

Papa John, I'm sorry about your hurting back.  I have the same problem these days.  Pain and I are not good friends, sorry to say!  Thank you for your comments on my poem too.  

Marilyn, I have enjoyed seeing your clip-art and other things you have been using recently.  I wouldn't know how to use them, I barely know how to just send a regular post.  

Larry, thanks for the instructions for posting a photo, I had no idea how to do that.  I may try my luck soon.  

Praying for Zachary, and Mieko.  These are trying times for you and I pray God's best for all of you during the interim.

Etta Sue, how fortunate you are to live near your sister.  I have not seen my only sister in over a year and a half.  We are 600 miles apart.  She is not well and can't travel, and we don't travel much anymore.  Hubby is not able to handle the driving and it is too far for me to do all of it.  Going to Amarillo or Lubbock is about my limit.  

I hope all of you have a wonderful day today, and God's best blessings on you all.
Love in Jesus,
~Janice

Good morning everyone.  

Pat, thanks for posting the devotional and links up.  The photograph of the blackbird is awesome (as some would say ).

I don't know why I can't seem to listen to anything on this computer.  I have realplayer installed, but I still couldn't get today's creation moment.  I will have to look into that.

The devotional was good too.  It can take a while for us to fully grasp the meaning of the bible and it could be a trick of old nick to make us lose concentration.  I am thankful that God is merciful and helps us in all of these things.

I do pray that everyone will have a great day today.  See you all later.

Anthony.

I just wanted to try to reply to all of the  messages from last night.  Sorry if I miss anyone out.

Meika I was so sorry to  hear that Chris has died.  It is so good that you have such love for people, but it can be devastating to see them go.  It is at times  like this that we find God very real to us as He comforts us and I do pray that you will be comforted in your grief.  God bless Meika and all of the people  who are  missing Chris.

Sonja, I do pray that the doctors will sort Zachery out.  It sounds like a very painful ailment and your poor son must have been very unhappy, but now that the specialists have found out the problem I am sure that things will improve.

Mercychild, I am struggling with my schooling at the moment, but am still enjoying the learning process. The classes I am taking are ongoing and I can keep progressing for years if I want to.  BTW, I trust you had a good party for your friend.  Egypt seems a nice place to go to.

Paulette, thanks for your encouraging words.  This is an encouraging place as we all keep our thoughts on the goodness of God.  I am sure that everyone is helped by your posts too.

Larry, what an exhausting day you had today.  I am so glad that everything ended well and that no-one was hurt.  Cars are great, until they pack up on us .  I hope you had a good night's sleep.

Papa John, did you manage to get any sleep last night?  Sometimes prayer and a pain killer can help us in that department.  I trust that things will improve shortly.

Marilyn, thanks for your encouraging words to Meika.  You encourage all of us - the Lord bless you sister.

Etta Sue, it  must be great living so close to your family.  Is your sister a christian?  Perhaps we ought to begin to prayer for her if she does not yet know the Lord.

Pat  how did your day go?  I trust you are fully rested after the other night.

God bless all, and I am sorry if I have missed anyone out.

Anthony.

Meika:  My sympathy for the loss of your good friend and brother, Chris.  May he have peace and understanding with the Lord.

Pat:  How terrific for your daughter - Greek?  Wow - Greek must be the most difficult language.  Would she want to be a minister?  I didn't understand the post.  There is a wonderful school of ministry in Denver called Iliff and yes, both men and women attend.  

Etta Sue:  so PSP talented!

Papa John:  I hope that your back feels better this week.

Larry:  Sorry that you missed your nap; it sounds like you were needed though and that is most important.

Marilyn:  I did subscribe to the new site - and have saved a clip art and now how to get it here?  Carol

Pat, the devotional today is one that likely applies to each of us at some time.  I know I have to constantly jerk my mind back to what I am reading sometimes.  Like Janice, I find it helps a lot to read the Scriptures aloud, then it comes through our ear gate as well as our eye gate.

Mieka, I am praying that God is comforting you and your loved ones during this sad time of the loss of your dear one.  And it is good that you have all of us here as brothers and sisters, too, to comfort and love you.  I hope that the love and comfort of our heavenly Father is very real to you during these days.  God bless you, dear one.

Larry, I'm sorry you had such a trying day, but happy it all came out okay, and that  you made it safely home.  Take it easy today and rest up again!

Papa John, I hope your back is feeling much better by now. Any kind of pain gets to being very wearing in a hurry!

We are leaving here soon to go attend my high school alumni thing.  We are meeting my classmates at 2:00 to visit, then we can come on back home tonight after the banquet and program.  There won't be many from my class there, but it will be good to see a few of them again, anyway.

I want to go to the prayer thread and see what the news is of Sonja's little Zachery.  See you tomorrow!

Hi Janet!  We are online at the same time.  I never think to look at the green light.  Carol

Good Morning Everyone...

I had a nice evening last night!  Janice and Phil were on their way home and came for a BBQ and then left the two boys here as Ian (webhoster of this site) was coming down with the baby (David is now 9 months!!) and Colin who was visiting Dad for the weekend.  Well, that was so nice.

The boys are stirring so I better go and get them something to eat!

Thinking about you, Mieka.

Good morning.  Thanks for the good wishes about my back.  I did sleep better last night.  Hopefully it will get better soon and if not I'll have to check in with my doctor.

Pat, thanks for the devotional.  Sometimes it is not easy to stay focused and our mind drifts away and we need to wake up.

1 Cor 15:33-34  Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."
Awake to righteousness,[/b] and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.  (NKJ)

Well, we have a lot of company right now.  Our granddaughter, Ruth, came in last night and also another granddaughter and her husband, Martha Nell and Matt, came in.  Sometimes our house is called the Murphree Hotel.  

--- Papa John      

Hi everyone.  

Meika, so sorry to hear of your loss.  These are difficult times when we lose close friends or relatives.  

Janet, I think you must have graduated a year ahead of me as this will be my 44th high school reunion.  I was able to attend the 40th and saw about 3 of my former classmates.  Since my class was the last before the highschool was consolidated our reunion may not make it to our 50th.  As we have lived away have only attended a couple of them in these 44 years and won't be there this year.

I must say the devotional hits home with me as well.  I also find my mind wandering and I think that is why it helps me to hear the words spoken while I read along.  My Bible readings now are in II Chronicles and the building and reign of King Solomon has been the subject for the last couple of days.  The verses where my mind really wanders happens with all the names of the tribes and the generations.  

I hope none of you read my posting last night as a "poor me" type.  I was just wound up and sharing my day.  Hopefully the car will be fixed today.  Just another major expense.  Things could have been so much worse that I really didn't mean to complain.

Papa John, glad to hear you had a good nights sleep.  I slept well until about 3:30 am and then woke up and couldn't turn my mind off.  It was a good time for some praying.  

Today is our Annual Grayson Day, where they have a parade and a lot of vendors setup stands in the park.  Our Senior Center has a little tent and we are selling cookies.  I was the first one there and after finding the right place I had to get the water out of the tent roof from the hard rain we had last night.  I then set out the cookies we had.  Awhile later a couple of other people arrived so I went to get my car out of the Postoffice lot and came home.  Pat and I are going back up and eat a bar-b-que sandwhich after the parade.  Parking is a real problem in our little town but hopefully it will be better after the parade.

This is getting too long so will stop for now.

Larry

Good morning>
The devotion this morning was very meaningful to me also. I find that by reading out loud I can concentrate much better. I Have always read the Word out loud. A scripture that stuck with me is "Faith comes by hearing and ,hearing by the word of God. I just figured that was the best way to read Gods Word.

PapaJohn It is good that you slept better last night. I was a little restless as I was cold and too lazy to trun over and turn on the electric blanket, the dogs were not next to my legs and thats what was cold.

Sonja: I was very glad to read your post about the doctors finding out what is wrong with Zachery. Praise God for The wisdom he has given to the doctors. By His stripes Zachery IS healed. Keep the FAITH, and trust in God that yes indeed Zachery is healed, even tho' we sometimes do not see the healing as quickly as we want to, the healing is already there.

This is getting rather long so I will end it hereand come back in awhile.

Marilyn

Just popping in for a moment...

Larry, I'm sure no one thought of that post as a "poor me" post!  I found it so interesting.  I had been listening to the international weather and was seeing the storms you were having and then read it from you and it really helped me to know, "There's someone there that I have to pray for!"  It's a lovely day here in Guelph.  My crocus bulbs on my front lawn are all blooming nicely.

The daffodils are coming up but none in bloom yet.

I have Jonathan here so I must go and "entertain" him for awhile.

Sonja, I will be praying that the Lord's will will be done as far as Zachery's health is concerned.  We must remember that sometimes we get answers that we didn't expect.  I've had him on my list of special requests for awhile now and my prayer is that the Lord's will will be done.

Jack was never healed but he believed (as I did as well) that the Lord's hand was always holding him and that he had these illnesses for a special reason known only to our Lord and Saviour.  Jack was able to talk to people who were also suffering with similar illnesses and that was wonderful that he could comfort unlike those who didn't understand.

It may not be in the Lord's will to heal everyone from their illnesses and diseases.  I don't feel that if a person isn't healed that their faith was weak.  This is not so.  

I just heard my washer stop so I'll go down and get my sheets and hang them outside.  It's wonderful to see the laundry waving in the breeze.

I'll pop in a little later.

Hi Pat: I see you are busy with laundry and such today also, Me too. The wind here is really blowing today.

I just topped in for a few minutes to see the posts. I will be back in a little while. More work to do.

           

It's nice to see so much activity on the forum today.  I've had a quiet day on my own as my sister took my mother shopping.  It is good to be quiet from time to time.

Carol, it's good to see you today.  Thanks for your encouraging words.

Janet, I hope you have a great time at your school reunion.  It sounds like a terrific idea.  Try not to eat too much  

Pat, it sounds as if you have a good time with your family visiting.  I hope it doesn't get too hectic for you.

Papa John, I'm so glad that you had a better night's sleep.  It makes a  lot of difference I have found.   Have a good time with your family.

Larry, I agree with the others that your post did not sound like you were after sympathy.  It is good to be able to talk honestly about things that happen to us.  I am so glad everything ended up ok.  You sound like you have another full day on your hands and I trust that you have a good time (if you can manage to get the car out of that sandwich ).

Marilyn, I have never tried reading the bible out loud.  I used to have a great bible reading partner and I loved the times we spent together around the bible.  That was a great way of concentrating on the things we were studying.

I wonder how Sonja's family are doing.  Mike was ill too I think, last week and I know Sonja's mother is poorly.  What a lot to cope with.

Anyway, God bless everyone and I  hope to see you all later on.

Anthony.

Yes, let's make this a...


Anthony, it just seems as if Sonja has so much to cope with right now.

Hi Marilyn...

I never saw your post till now!  Yep, laundry today!  I also sprayed my apple trees with the dormant spray.  One tree, I bet I left too late but we'll see.

Pat You certainly will be joined by me. I will pray for them several times this day.

Pat, that's a good idea to pray for Sonja and Meika especially.  Let's see the Lord work on their behalf.

Anthony.

I too pray for Sonja and Meika.  I also agree entirely with Pat relative to our Lord's healing.  He answers every prayer, but, like the perfect Father He is, He answers in the ways that are best for His children - and His own glory.  

There have been wonderful saints who suffered all their lives - their testimonies produced eternal results.  Not only so, but they are now with their Lord, and there are no more pains, illnesses, etc for them.  

Nevertheless, we pray exactly in accord with our desires and in accord with the Lord's written will.  We may - we should - pray for the complete healing of some.  Our Lord will answer, and His answer will be exactly right.  Sometimes it will be to heal, sometimes it will be to supply courage and strength unknown before, and sometimes it will be a "no" or "not yet" answer, but it will always be the answer of the Perfect Father.  

I didn't always give my children exactly what they asked for, even though they begged.  But I always listened to their request, and I tried to do what was best for them, even when I had to say "no."  

I pray Zachery will grow very, very close to our Lord.  I pray he will become a tower of spiritual strenght to all who know him.  And I pray our Father will give Sonja great faith also.  Faith isn't believing we "have" something, but faith is believing our God is Who He is.

I pray specially for you, Meika, that our Father Himself will make His love to you extremely obvious just now.  I pray He will make you know that He is with you and feels your loss even more than you do, and that He has a perfect purpose even for losses.

Thank you Al and Pat for your thoughts on this particular subject.  It is a difficult one to grasp sometimes, particularly if we are witnessing suffering in the ones that we love dearly.  I see  nothing wrong with asking for total healing, but we must remember that our thoughts are not His thoughts and His will may not be the same as ours.

Thanks again for the encouragements.

Anthony.

p.s. I'm about ready for bed, so I will see you all tomorrow.  I wonder Janet is doing at her re-union?  I am sure she has had a wonderful time.

On a lighter note I thought y-all might enjoy this joke that came in my email awhile back I just found I had it on disk.



 A Baptist preacher and his wife decided they needed a dog. Ever mindful of  the congregation, they knew the dog must also be Baptist.
 They visited an expensive kennel and explained their needs to the manager, who assured them he had just the dog for them.
 The dog was produced and the manager said "Fetch the Bible."
 The dog bounded to the bookshelf, scrutinized the books, located the Bible, and brought it to the manager.  The manager then said "Find Psalms 23."  The dog, showing marvelous dexterity with his paws, leafed thru the Bible, found the correct passage, and pointed to it with his paw.
 Duly impressed, the couple purchased the dog.  That evening a group of parishioners came to visit.  The preacher and his wife began to show off the dog, having him locate several Bible verses.  The visitors were amazed.
 Finally, one man asked "Can he do normal dog tricks too?"
"Let's see",  said the preacher. Pointing his finger at the dog, he commanded "Heel!"
 The dog immediately jumped up on a chair, placed one paw on the preacher's forehead and began to howl.  
 The preacher turned to his wife and exclaimed, "Good grief, we've bought a Pentecostal dog!"

A very trying day, indeed.  I got up.  Made my coffee.  Read my Bible devotions and scriptures.  Got me a cup of coffee and came to the computer.  I was taking a sip of coffee and a orange and white thing decided that was the time she wanted to head-butt my arm.  Coffee on my keyboard.  So I got a towel and turned the keyboard over on it.  I blotted as much as I could.  I got me a knife and took off every key and cleaned them.  Whew!  Dirty, dirty!  Got the hair dryer and dried the keyboard.  Put it back together.  Got on CP.  Read NEM.  Click reply.  Started posting.  Uh oh!  It came out something like this....

Goodf mortnieng ....evertyoinre.  

Jerry came in.  He took it all apart.  We cleaned, dried, etc.  Put it back together...everything worked all right but I didn't have z,x, v, m, b etc.  Mostly on the lower bottom row.  Sooooo because I was drinking coffee at the pc and Ali wanted to be loving, I got a new keyboard.  Works pretty good now!!!  A little different....a multi-functional keyboard that I don't know all the bells and whistles yet.  

Janice ~ Yes, it is very nice to be close to family.  Years ago, I had a mobile home on the other side of this house.  I lived in the mobile home with husband and son, mom and dad lived here in the house where I am now.  Ivalou,  husband and family was next and then KDon, Barb and family was next to her.  All three of us kids lived here within a block if we were in the city.  Now I am back home...in my house that used to be Mom and Dad's.  50 steps to Ivalou's and probably 100 steps to KDon's front door.  I love it!

Anthony ~ I am very fortunate in all my immediate family except maybe a very few are Christians........a sister, a brother, a SIL, 5 nieces and hubbies, 2 nephews and wives, 19 nieces and nephews, a great-niece, 1 on the way, son, DIL and 3 step-grandchildren, a step-grandchild-in-law (is there such a thing?) and a step-great-grandson.  All of them attend church regularly except for a handful...that is 5.  More information than you wanted, hunh?

Carol ~ I wish I were PSP talented.  Only when the instructions are in front of me.  I am more talented in reading....

Janet ~ My high school has never been one to have Alumni banquets.  I only know of one and that was only a few years ago.  I think 75 years of Lapel being a high school.  I graduated in 1960 so it will be 43 years for me.

Pat ~ It seems impossible for David to be 9 months already.  Did you get pictures?

Papa John ~ Sure hope your back gets better and you don't have to visit the doctor.  Murphree Hotel??  Would you want it any other way?

Larry ~ Looks like you are having a more relaxing day today.  I like parades and festivals.  Pictures???

Marilyn ~ Did you get my email with Ali's picture in it?  I sent it to your hotmail addy.

Al ~ Thank you for your words of wisdom.  Even in emails.....

Jerry and I mowed today.  A little cool but good for mowing.  I am tired but mostly a mental tired!  New keyboard that I couldn't get on IE.  Then rebooted and all is fine....I think.

Pretty soon I will have an all new pc....one piece at a time!!!

?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`°º?ø,¸¸,ø?º°`°º?ø?º°`

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves the One who is leading."

I can't see any pictures - all I get are the red X's.  

Best Buy had a 3 CD-Rom set called "Treasures of the Bible" for only $1.99 and I have been trying it out - so much to learn that I can't tell you all about it yet.  What a bargain and it is packed with music and searches King James and International Version.  Lovely music.  I am having fun for learning this so wanted to let you know about the great bargain!  I also asked Best Buy to please turn the music down in the store  

Marilyn:  That was a great religious doggie joke!  

Etta Sue:  Our friend ruined his keyboard with only a drop of salad oil.  They are fragile.  

It is a lovely, sunny day today and I hope that Sonja is able to get a breath of fresh air.  We went to an antique appraisal at the Senior Center and an old lamp of my mother's (bought at a garage sale) - now get this - is worth $550  - so shocking.  Don can't stand the thing and I insisted on keeping it - that is the appraisal but wonder what anyone would really pay for it.  

I am going to keep trying to learn the new bible program and figure how to copy and paste in here if it is possible.

Peace,
Carol

Well this Saturday is about over.  It has been a nice day here.  We got out this afternoon and did a few errands.  It is still a little on the cool side.  It got up to 68 and tonight will get down to about 48.

Marilyn, it was a great religious dog story.  Ha ha ha ha ha!

Etta Sue, you have had a busy day.  Sorry about the keyboard.  I wonder if you would lend Jerry.  He seems to be handy fixing things, helping with the mowing, etc.

I'm sure that Mieka, and Sonja and Zachary, are in our prayers tonight.

--- Papa John      

Well, I didn't know that the last few posts were here!   I was beginning to wonder where everyone was!  For some reason, it wasn't showing as having new messages.  Maybe I clicked on NEM without realizing it cancelling out the little "New Messages" icon.

Thanks Al for your message about healing.  It's difficult, I know, to accept our illnesses as being from our Lord but Jack was able to help me through this so many times before his death.

HAHAHAHA!!!  Marilyn, that's a great joke!  I'm going to copy that and send it to some of my friends!  

How's your back, Papa John?  I certainly hope that it's a lot better.  

What photos, Carol, are red X's?  The ones beside people's name?  Do you see mine?  It must be something in your computer that is unticked or ticked and it shouldn't be.  "Treasures of the Bible" sure sounds like a nice CD!

Sorry about your keyboard, Etta Sue.  Been there done that!  It's not pleasant but hopefully, you got a nice keyboard.  Did you get a "natural" one.  I sure like mine.

On the first day of school, a first grader handed his teacher a note from his mother.  The note read, "The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parents."
[/list]

Being a Pentacostal I can poke fun at myself. I thought you all would like the dog story.

I realize that God does not always heal the way we expect him to. But then again when we pass from this life to the next we leave our sick body here and are healed in our glorified body. There is no sickness in Glory. I agree that if we are not healed it is for the glory of God not because he didn't want to heal us. In Exodus he did say "I am Jehovah Rapha the God that healeth thee". In 1 Peter 2:24 it says "by His stripes we WERE healed". So we are healed either way to my understanding either here or in Glory. In Psalm 103:3 it says "He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. IMO we should pray expecting Him to fulfill His word. He also said His word does not return to Him void, but does what he sends it out to do. He watches over his word to perform it.
So anyway that is why I pray the way I do. Thought ya might like to know that.  

Don't forget to check your Instant Messages on CP!

There might be one that you missed!

Here I am coming in late again.  But I am here!

I find my mind wandering whether I'm reading to myself or out loud (yes, I find myself just reading words and not hearing what I'm saying ), listening to tapes and even watching videos that we've taped.  But I can go back and read or listen or watch again.

Friday morning when I got up it was only 18 degrees!  Today was a little better - 34.  Only up to around 50 both days, and today it rained just about all day.  So now we have a swamp again in the back yard and a lake on the side of the house.  But at least we can hear the rain on the roof and know it's not snow!