I wish you a good day today, and that it will add up to a good year, and so on, to a good life.

 It is not so much a New Year that matters as it is a new day has dawned, and how I use the precious time entrusted to me. Make it a point to live a good day today, tomorrow is in this day’s keeping.

“Wealth gathered little by little makes it grow.” Prov.13.11 Conversations Within ts 12/27/2022

“Never quit!” Meme

Ever had a day when you just blew it? It happens, and I would venture to say it happens to everybody. Don’t let wounded pride take your focus away from what needs doing. Get over yourself, and pursue love. 

“Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up…” Prov.24.16 Conversations Within ts 12/27/2022

“Struggle is our friend for it takes us to the edge of all we can control and exposes our need for God. What safer place is there to be?” Lynda Barron

The struggle is real for us all. So too, is the opportunity to deepen our faith in the midst of it.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1 Conversations Within ts 12/6/2022

The quality of my interactions on the journey is why I hope for greater goodness in my final destination.

I sojourn as a lifestyle. Even so, I ultimately sojourn in order to settle down in green pastures. Life is a journey, but it is also the destination. It is good to refocus, and renew our hearts to desires worthy of life. Call it a New Year’s resolution, call it what you will. Just call it, and keep the vision at the top of your priorities.

“Without a vision the people perish.” Prov.29 Conversations Within ts 12/26/2022

Define your life’s center; remind yourself every day what it is; and measure every activity by asking, is what I am doing right now to express it?

String all the moments of this day together into a good life. Start with this moment. Be sure that you know what is good.

“The Lord is good.” Ps.100 Conversations Within ts 12/26/2022

“Filter your pain through the brevity of this life and the unending beauty of the next.” Max Lucado

 Without apology, Jesus encourages us to center our hope and dreams on everything eternal, over, even against everything temporal. This doesn't mean He isn’t concerned about our life in the here and now. It simply means everything that truly matters now can follow us. If it can’t, it won’t matter.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:1 Conversations Within ts 12/5/2022

”That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Linus

 If there is any one message God wants us to take away from Christmas, it is not that we just love one another, although that is a close second, and the natural evolution of the first. The message of Christmas is how much God loves us, and that because of the crib and the cross, He is able to be just and loving at the same time.

“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them.” 2Cor.5.19 Conversations Within ts 12/25/2022

“Peace on earth? I would settle for peace in my home.”

If we are not mindful, the joy of Christmas can be lost in the rush of trying to celebrate it. Trying to get everything just right, decorations, meals, and presents can turn an intended celebration into chaos. Remember Martha trying to feed Jesus and the disciples getting all out of sorts because her sister Mary wasn’t living up to her expectations. Keep your celebrations simple and all your preparations a wonderful part of them.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. Only one thing is important.” Jesus Conversations Within ts 12/23/2022

“Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened… C. S. Lewis

 Christians are asked to believe some amazing things in the Bible, no less in the story of Christmas. The virgin birth of Christ is one of many miracles cherished by Christians. This miracle, and others are not fabricated amendments to the stories about the life of Jesus. The miracles surrounding Christ are the story. God coming to dwell with us is nothing less than miraculous.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.” Matt.1 Conversations Within ts 12/14/2022

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein

I have no trouble with the miracles recorded in the Bible simply because most of what I see everyday is no less a miracle. It is like God says, “Merry Christmas” to us every day in all the wonders of life. How much more when He decides to become a baby and enter the world as one of us? Miracle of miracles!

“So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.” Conversations Within ts 12/14/2022

“I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I'm quite a baby.” Ebeneezer Scrooge

 Love everyone. Don’t just love the deserving. Love the unlovely. Love your enemy. Love haters. They need to be loved the most. Who knows, our love may transform a Scrooge into a friend. Celebrate your faith with loving kindness toward all.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1Jo.4 Conversations Within ts 12/18/2022

Tis the season. Tis always the season.

Leave people, animals and places better than you find them. Give someone an encouraging word, help a turtle cross the road, pick up trash left by others. Carry extra food in the car to give to the homeless. Adopt a pet. Plant a tree. Pursue a lifestyle of showing kindness. 

“Be kind. (The Good Book) Conversations Within ts 12/14/2022

When you see someone in need, you don’t ask how they got there, you help them out.

I recently saw a moving video that shows a turtle on its back in water struggling to upright himself. Fellow turtles swam toward him and working together they helped turn him over. What impressed me is that not a single turtle stayed on the side lines asking how that turtle got himself in that fix. They all just stopped what they were doing, and saved him.

“If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?  1Jo.17 Conversations Within ts 12/14/2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDrZmbtwWsY

“The optimist says, "My cup runneth over, what a blessing." The pessimist says, "My cup runneth over, what a mess.” Meme

I have grown dissatisfied with the fruit of negativity. There is no joy in it. You would think that this alone would be enough for us to purge it from our lives. Embrace gratitude and experience the positive vibe of joy. 

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” Ps.23 Conversations Within ts 12/4/2022

Fortune doesn’t smile on people, God does.

To have God’s favor is everything. As I understand it, His favor is mainly conditioned upon His own goodness, not our own. This does not mean that we cannot move Him to show us favor by adopting attitudes and actions that please Him. He does, after all, give grace to the humble.

“Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.” Gen.23.1 Conversations Within ts 12/3/2022

The one sacrifice that we can all give to the Lord is the one thing He has first given to us, and that is our life.

 Sacrifice is sometimes necessary when we love. But whatever is sacrificed, God has already made provision for it. Every breath we use to praise God is first borrowed from HIm. Every sacrifice we make on His behalf is first provided by His gracious hand.

“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” (Abraham to Issac on the mountain where it was provided) Gen.22 Conversations Within ts 11/30/2022

“It was his time.” Kingdom of Heaven (the movie)

I am going to die. This is a fact of life. It is what it is, I can do nothing to alter the appointment. Oh, there are a few things that I can do about it. I can fret or worry about it, or I can make my peace with it. In either case, I will most certainly cross the river. Unless of course, and this is a big “unless,” unless Jesus decides to return before I do. That would be more than fine with me. “Come Lord Jesus!”

“all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Ps.139 Conversations Within ts 11/30/2022

"It is solved by walking." St. Augustine.

Walk everyday for physical health. Keep in step with the Spirit for spiritual health. Walk in love for healthy relationships. Walk wholeheartedly for contentment. Everything we do promotes health or not. Why do anything that's unhealthy? Why not do everything that is?

“May you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” 3Jo. Conversations Within ts 11/29/2022

Wake to the moment, then stay there!.

I reflect a great deal on being in the present moment, probably because I struggle to do so. I am always headed off somewhere, even though I can only be one place at a time, and can only live one moment at a time. Bring it down to now. Rein in every wandering thought that has nothing to do with now. Just be.

“I am” God (telling His name to Moses) Conversations Within ts 11/28/2022

“If God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, [modern man] is ready to listen… The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.” C. S. Lewis

Dare I judge God? Forgive me Lord, but You know I have. Then I realize that any justice or goodness I use to pass judgment on You, is You. All I know of goodness is from You.

“Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham Conversations Within ts 11/26/2022

Because I said so

Children often ask parents “Why.” Parents will often answer, “Because I said so.” Our Father in Heaven seems comfortable saying the same thing to us. I may not understand, in fact He doesn't require my understanding, He requires my trust and my obedience. It boils down to this, “Father knows best.”

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” 1Pet.1.14 Conversations Within ts 11/25/2022

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” Helen Keller

It is often said that some people get all the breaks; while others clearly do not. How are we to make sense of God’s love in light of those blessed with something as simple as sight and those born blind. Well, it is often the blind who help us see so very much.

“Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” Ex.4.11 Conversations Within ts 11/24/2022 

                                                Bettman Archive

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Trust is fundamental to any relationship, especially with Someone who asks us to take Him at His word for so many things. It has always come down to faith, where God is concerned. Truly, many died without seeing what God promised would come to pass. But who can deny that He kept His promise to Abraham. 

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Gen.12 Conversations Within ts 11/23/2022

“Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. ”John Lennon

“How can God tell us not to be afraid, when He let Jesus suffer so horribly at the cross? How does He expect us to believe that everything will be alright, in light of all the suffering He allows in the world? Well, He did tell us that in the world we will have tribulation, and then followed it by saying, “I have overcome the world.” Every encouragement to not be afraid is followed by the encouragement to trust that He has written the final chapter. Conversations Within ts 11/22/2022

“Do not be afraid.” God

One encouragement, often repeated by God in the Bible, is the comforting words. “Do not be afraid.” It means a great deal to me to know that God wants us to feel safe. Is there any greater feeling than knowing that “Every little thing's gonna be alright.” Believe it!

"Do not be afraid any longer, only believe." Jesus Conversations Within ts 11/22/2022

“Not all who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien

My wife and I are sojourners. We camp as a lifestyle, and know the wonder of wandering. We also know the value of living with purpose, not drifting aimlessly without ties to family, friends and community. It is one thing to wander with purpose and another to waste time wandering without one.

“You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (The LORD to Cain after he killed his brother Able) Conversations Within ts 11/11/2022

“It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” Mark Twain

 There are some things in the creation narrative over my head. I do not need to understand why God forbid certain things. It should be enough for me to take note that God takes disobedience seriously and so should we. Therein lies the moral of the story.

“‘Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’” Gen.3 Conversations Within ts 11/10/2022