Veteran's Day

It is quite appropriate that Veteran’s Day falls so close to Thanksgiving. The wars (and conflicts) they have fought to defend, not only our country, but also other countries as well have brought us to where we are today and we should be extremely grateful for the sacrifices they have made to serve and defend freedom and democracy around the world.  

On my last day at Fred Meyer, I had the gift of helping a World War II veteran at the deli. As I handed him his food across the counter, I realized that I may not get many chances to speak with someone who fought in that awful war, so not knowing what quite what to say, I blurted out,

           “Thank you very much, sir, for your service. I'm really grateful.”

           He smiled and replied, “Thank you for your service, you're good at what you do. Would you be able to ring me up?”

            To which I answered, “Unfortunately not. They haven't trained me on the register yet.”

             “Well they better get on that soon, they're wasting good talent.”

              “Well, sir, they've run out of time. Today's my last day.”

             "And why would you quit? You're fantastic at this!" He winked, “Are you moving on to brighter opportunities?”

              “The Navy called and I answered.”

              “Navy? Why Navy? You know you wanted the Army,” he grinned, “They need boys like you.”

              “Thank you, sir,” I laughed.

              “Can I shake your hand son?”

             I got a massive lump in my throat. What do I have to give that would cause someone like this to ask that? I got kind of emotional as I replied, “Sir, I would be honored to shake yours.”

            With a smile and wink he said, “It's been a pleasure, son. You be good now.” And then he was gone.

What I wouldn't give to be able to sit down with men like that and hear the wealth of stories that they have to tell. 

Please be sure to thank a veteran today. You are free because of them... because freedom isn’t free and they had to pay the price. 

Simeon

FIGHT!!!!

We have an enemy that is out to destroy us. We can not give this enemy a foothold in scaling the walls that defend our hearts. This fight is something that we have can have no rest in. There can be no “I’ve done well recently so I can give in now.” No!!! Fight! Fight! FIGHT!!!!!

“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage rage against the dying of the light.” 

We must constantly be maturing and growing in our faith in Christ and wine walk with Him. RAGE!!!! 

“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard from hell” [C.T. Studd]


"We Christians are debtors to all men at all times in all places, but we are so smug to the lostness of men. We’ve been “living in Laodicea ”, lax, loose, lustful, and lazy. Why is there this criminal indifference to the lostness of men? Our condemnation is that we know how to live better than we are living." LIVE BETTER!
--Leonard Ravenhill

Mistakes

There's been a lot on my mind recently. I won't go into detail. I've just made some stupid decisions and am having to pay the consequences. Jesus is good and in His grace, I may have a chance to repair some of the damage I have done, but I'm not getting my hopes up. He is my everything and, although I do wish that I could redo what I have done, I am thankful for Him allowing me to screw up so awfully because it drove me to repentance in regards to some habitual sin that I had kept hidden in my life. It's caused me to come clean and be honest with my family. Don't think for one second that your sin only affects you. It doesn't. Repent. Change. Pray fervently that He will change your heart to be more like His. The road to recovery after being honest and open and real about sin won't be easy. Trust me. I know. I'm still on that hard and devastating trail. But He is faithful. Ever faithful. The hardest part is trusting in His promise to bring about good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. It is the throwing all control for what happens next at His feet that is most difficult, but in the end, it will be worth it. After all, He is in control; we are just foolish enough to think that we have a say. Please pray for me. I will also pray for you. We're all in this together. We are one body, the Church. He is faithful. We are faithless. With His help and by the grace of God, we can become faithful.

Simeon