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Morning Devotional...





The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, / turning a man from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27


These experiences show that a vision of the divine transcendence soon ends all controversy between the man and his God. The fight goes out of the man and he is ready with the conquered Saul to ask meekly, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Conversely, the self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of deep blindness of heart. Many call themselves by the name of Christ, talk much about God, and pray to Him sometimes, but evidently do not know who He is. "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life," but this healing fear is today hardly found among Christian men.

Once in conversation with his friend Eckermann, the poet Goethe turned to thoughts of religion and spoke of the abuse of the divine name. "People treat it," he said, "as if that incomprehensible and most high Being, who is even beyond the reach of thought, were only their equal. Otherwise they would not say 'the Lord God, the dear God, the good God.' This expression becomes to them, especially to the clergy, who have it daily in their mouths, a mere phrase, a barren name, to which no thought whatever is attached. If they were impressed by His greatness they would be dumb, and through veneration unwilling to name Him.


Lord of all being, throned afar,

Thy glory flames from sun and star;

Center and soul of every sphere,

Yet to each loving heart how near!


Lord of all life, below, above,

Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,

Before Thy ever-blazing throne

We ask no luster of our own.

          Oliver Wendell Holmes


The self-assurance of modern Christians, the basic levity present in so many of our religious gatherings, the shocking disrespect shown for the Person of God, are evidence enough of deep blindness of the heart of men.



Hallowed be Your name, Holy Father. We bow before Your holiness, Your greatness!

From Devotions By Dr. Tozer

Excellent thought Don!  Thank you. We need to be so careful how we refer to "G-d"

Great devotional, Don!

It looks like I have been missing for at least a week.

Buddy my family is from Spickard, Missouri, in fact that was my great grandmother's name. Mostly they are all from someplace in Mercer county, My grandfathers side is from Kentucky. Any way I am realated to the the Yates, Spickards, Wilburns, and Applegates. My Mother was a Wilburn. Oh by the way a very interesting devotional today, Thank you.

I am off work tomorrow, we are working Tuesday thru Thursday this week. I won't be there on Thursday  as I have Bible Study at 9 and Keith will be having a Cutaneous horn removed from the lower lid of his left eye sometime that day after the Dr. is finished at the hospital. At that time we will set the date for his cataract removal surgery,.

Marilyn: I did the devotional last week but Don did it today.

I live in St. Charles next to St. Louis, MO.  I looked up Spickard, Missouri and it is in northern MO.  I don't know much about the northern part of MO.

It's very hot again today.  It's 93 and feels like 107.  We went to church this morning and my wife and I are are trying to figure out where we are going on our trip to the Grand Canyon next month.

Thanks for the devotional, Don.  Dr. Tozer always makes on think!

I had a stomach upset hours last night and even into mid-afternoon.  All is well but I did miss church.  Right after Labor Day, the women' bible study begins and they have some information online so if we are away, I should be able to find the subject but will miss pastor Ramona's talk. 

This "down time" has given me space to work on the computer and it was nice to send some notes to friends in Utah and Oregon.

Buddy:  We are having cooler weather and the storm clouds dump rain then pass on over to Kansas.  Wish the clouds would come and cool your spot.  In the mountains, they have had freezing nights. 

Tomorrow, we will meet half way to one grands house and treat him to lunch.  He leaves next week for Maine.  His roommate is from Sweden so we will find out if that boy knows where our relatives live. 

Thank you for devotions.  Most appreciated.   

   God evening to all at C. P.      Well we had a wonderful day today in the Lord's house as we had the induction of our new Pastor and his family he is a much younger man that our previous pastor but it was very sad to see our pastor retire as he has been there 22 years and he will be ,missed very much.  We had a good service and all the seat's were filled and that was great for his first service.

At around dinner time we went to an other church which holds all summer long Gospel concert's and tonight they had a corn roast done with a old tractor build in 19-17 and it is still looks like new and works the same way and the corn was so good. and the weather was good as well.

Well we hope that you all have a wonderful week and that the Lord giver's you many opportunities to witness for him.  May the Lord richly bless you all . 

Don Thanks for devotional.  Love in Christ.   Gordon and Noreen.

Buddy I did get the devotional confuseed, that's what I get for reading all of last week then posting in this week. LOL And Yes the family was from Northern Mo.

Good evening everyone, and I hope the new week brings His blessings to each of you!  I am still digesting Tozer's words...understanding that we need to treat and address God as the omnipotent deity that He is, but not sure that the words used really need to be that creative and mysterious.  Indeed, the Lord's Prayer would suggest that "Our Father" is an adequate, and even recommended title by which He should be addressed.  Perhaps I am missing the point, but will come back to this after I've caught up on some rest.

We had five relatives from MO visiting this weekend, arriving late (11 pm) Friday night and leaving mid-morning today.  I had agreed to fill the pulpit at church today for our pastor, while he was ministering to families at a camping mission we help sponsor.  I figured I could do my sermon prep in the evenings, after everyone went to bed, but that didn't work out.  Between the visiting family and their schedule, and a weather system that brought us over 6 inches of moisture in three days, time became very, very short.  Last evening, when I planned to really get my act together on my message, a neighbor's house became flooded from all the rain, so we spent the evening helping to prevent further damage and dry things out.  Afterwards, we didn't get dinner on the table until 9:30 pm, so after being as social as I could muster, I bid everyone goodnight at 11:00pm and locked myself in my home office, but was too tired to get my thoughts together and quit at midnight.  Got up at 6 am, struggled some more, and at 7:30 I decided my message on Joy was too complex for me to handle today, so I changed to a short message about some character traits of the apostle Paul and talked about he modeled Trust of God, Love and Humility, all things that I need to do better in my own life, so could speak to these without a lot of prep work.  The message seemed to be received well, but I was exhausted.  I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but I took three, one-hour naps throughout the afternoon!!!

Our rain is finally tapering off, and we should be back to somewhat normal weather by mid-week.  But our severe wildfire danger has been drastically reduced, at least for a little while

Hi everyone.  Our weather has taken a turn back to a very pleasant temperature and much lower humidity.  Pat and I plan on going out to lunch today while it is so nice.  We stayed in where it is cool all weekend.  It was the first time I missed church in months but didn't feel up to going and it was very hot outside yesterday.  I will attend a meeting this evening and that will be it for today.  Pat just left to go to the new Sprouts market. 

Marilyn, I don't think I knew you had Missouri connections just as I do.  However, I grew up in NW Missouri and several years after I was married and working I had a nine year stint in Kansas City. 

Carol, I saw where they expected snow in a couple of the states north of you.  Glad you are feeling better.

Gord, do you sing in the Gospel concert's you referred to?

Ken, it sounds like you had your hands full the last few days.  I bet your sermon was fine. 

Ken:  Some of the best sermons are spontaneous and from the heart. They make us feel like we are in a living room listening to a friend.  Sorry for all the hard work for your neighbor and all in the path of these dreadful storms. 

Don is off for his early walk and I did the treadmill and stationary bike in the basement while listening to the radio.  He made scrambled eggs for breakfast and later we will meet daughter (who took the day off) and grandson for lunch. 

Larry:  Nice for you to have a cooler temp now.  Sprouts has two stores in different directions near us - the produce is very good and the bins are great for granola and all sorts of dried stuff.  We have had snow here even in July at the top of the hills.  Now the prediction by the Farmer's Almanac is for a rough winter for everyone.     

I thoroughly enjoyed the devotional when I returned to CP this afternoon. I did an intervention with some grandchildren who had really become lax and frequently called  the Lord's name as an expression of dismay. When we read the ten commandments, they ceased their callous practice.

And, the last time I saw them, the 10 year old asked me if there was a way that people in hell could be sorry and ask the Lord's forgiveness and get out of hell.  I turned to Matthew and read them the story Christ gave us of Lazarus and the rich man. Spontaneously, both of them affirmed their relationship with Jesus and its importance in their lives.

It's really an honor that they can come honestly, seeking guidance about their relationship with the Lord.

I'm not feeling very well the last few days. First, it's been busy moving my SIL in to the apartment without her, but also I've simply felt bad. Called the doctor's office, and my blood count is low, so it's time to get back on the iron again. I think I'll go eat liver tomorrow.

Well, must go. There are many things to be done today.

Love to all,
Ruth Ann

Larry my grandparents brought the family west to California in 1928 and settled in Lodi. I still speak with some of the Missouri  terminology that I picked up from my grandparent and mother. I've been told that I have a slight accent as well, The terminology seems to have  come out more frequently since I have  become older. Keith is frequently correcting my English, and I do know better so i just tell him yeah well I went to college too and laugh it off.

Keith and I just got back from a 40 minute walk up and down the hills around here. One of those hills was quite hard to walk up but we made it.

   Hi Larry.  I do not sing with any of the groups  but I wish many years ago that I could have as I just love Southern Gospel Music. and there are still many many good groups .  the group that we had last night was called Crossover and it was a Family and they were fantastic and the parent's had a wonderful story to tell how they got saved..   You could go to  Google and look them up there are on there.

As I think I said it was a marvelous Concert.

Ruth Anne Bice  I do hope that you will feel better and get some renewed strength in your body may the Lord richly bless you.

To all others have a great week.  Love in Christ.  Gordon and Noreen.

Hi everyone.  If I thought yesterday was a beautiful day this one has it topped.  I was just outside and there is even a hint of coolness (fall) in the air.  It is really nice.  Pat and I did go to one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants for lunch yesterday.  Today after my Tuesday morning meeting I am going out to lunch with a friend, who will be at the meeting.  Pat has her massage this morning and I think that will be it for today.  After about three months of correct billing from Comcast I get the bill yesterday and they have added on $35 worth of new charges for things I didn't authorize or know nothing about.  No wonder I shudder when I open the bill as the last time they messed up my bill it took seven months to finally get it corrected.  So suppose I will get back into the same cycle again.  I use the online chat and then can print out the chat conversation for a record. 

Carol, Pat bought quite a bit of meat at Sprouts yesterday along with a lot of fruit and vegetables.  She also bought me a loaf of their delicious French bread--yummy.  She got some peanuts from one of the bins. 

Ruth Ann, interesting comments and glad your efforts with your grandchildren paid dividends.  Sorry that you are not feeling well and bet you have pushed yourself beyond your reasonable limits. 

Marilyn, I don't think anyone every told me I have an accent.  I often hear TV personalities use improper grammar and it makes me cringe as their profession is talking.

Gord, good old Southern style Gospel music is wonderful as it has spirit and life to it when it really gets going. I have a lot of the Gaither's music and listen to it often.  They have been to our county numerous times but their programs are just too long and so will stick with the recordings.     

   Thanks Larry.  We are having fantastic warm weather here also and it is so nice to be able to go to my son's to use his inground pool.   We are so grateful for such a great and safe country to live in.  We are so blessed that the Lord has blessed Canada with many great thing's.

Come back later as we have three of our four grandkids' here.  Bye for now.   Love in Christ.   Gordon and Noreen.

Hi, friends,

It's good to come and be refreshed with the conversation here.

My sister in law is being moved to a rehab center one block away from my apartment building. That will make the trek seem so short to go see her.

I gathered some more things for her from the house she's moving from and will take them to the apartment tomorrow.

May the Lord richly bless y'all.

Ruth Ann

Ruth Ann make sure you get your rest!

I think the system lost me again, but I found my way back anyway!

I had such a wonderful day yesterday.  I drove to Lakin to a painting friend's house, and she another friend and I spent the whole day finishing up some of our projects and catching up on visiting.  We see each other too seldom.  I really needed the break!

I must make final plans and preparations today for Beth's birthday tomorrow.  I think I have it in hand, but want to be sure!

I did tell you my children's book is out now, didn't I?  I have four book signings lined up, and pray they will be successful.

Hi everyone.  We are enjoying another day of beautiful weather with low humidity and moderate temps.  We went to Bible study this morning and then to Dunkin' Donuts as we usually do.  We will be in for the rest of the day. 

Ruth Ann, glad your SIL has advanced to the point of rehab and so nice and close to you.

Janet, glad you were able to enjoy a day of painting with your friends.  Who old will Beth be on her birthday.  I know she was close to Stacey's age.  Hope your book signing goes well.

Hi, friends,

I will be going out before long, but took this day to rest.

Y'all have a good day.

Ruth Ann

Larry, Beth is turning 52.  After coming so close to losing her several times, we celebrate each birthday with thanksgiving.  Yes, I know your precious Stacey was near the same age as Beth.

We had a little shower as I was driving home, about one-tenth of an inch.  We appreciate every drop!

Hi everyone.  Our 80+ degree days are have ended for awhile and we will be in the low 90's today with no chance of rain.  I got up early this morning as woke up feeling rested and ready to get busy.  I have several things I want to accomplish today here at home and then have my Thursday Men's Luncheon at an Asian Buffet at 11:30 this morning.  A friend is coming over later this afternoon for a little while.  That will be plenty for today. Pat is meeting a friend for lunch today.

Janet, thanks for the info on Beth turning 52.  She is about 2 1/2 years older than Stacey was.  I fully understand why you celebrate each birthday and that is my own feeling about my birthday.  I am happy to advance each year.  Glad you got a little rain.

I do hope this is a nice day for everyone. 

We have sunny skies again today, yesterday we started off sunny and by this time the skies had clouded over.  The weather man is calling for rain today and we still have wood to split and get into the basement.  So we will be at that shortly.  Working alone we can go at our own pace!

I was out with Melaura yesterday as she tried on wedding dresses.  What an emotional time for me!  This little girl who walked down the road with me talking about flowers at 2 and a half, is getting married.  She is beautiful, inside and out.

This is a quote from Chris Saunders

QuoteI will say this is the day that the lord has made, I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

So fascinating,the nations coming against God's Chosen, God says" I WILL GATHER " all nations against Israel.....Zechariah 14-2 He ,the Lord is the One Who gathers the nations and they have no idea for they don't know the scriptures nor believe them if they know them! And so they gather against Israel not realizing that they are led by the God of Israel.. He uses their hatred for His purposes.

I wonder how many realize that this war in the middle east is orchestrated by God?

We are over 3 inches extra rainfall this year.  Dessert tonight was a fresh Colorado peach.  Yum 

A neighbor helped us make an acrylic insert piece for the sewing machine desk - so the machine fits snug and there is no open space for fabric to fall through.   Hard to describe.  What a nice and friendly neighbor.  He wanted some wood finishing tips from Don. 

Wedding dresses - how wonderful to be planning a wedding.  My roommate made my dress from two patterns I put together.  It is a remembering time, isn't it?

Hello Everyone...

I've been AWOL for awhile.  Last week, I had planned on attending every meeting at the Guelph Bible Conference Ground as a dear friend of mine was speaking.  The messages were wonderful.  Then in between the meetings, I had doctors' appointments, shopping, laundry, meal preparation, working in the garden, etc. so not much time for the internet. 

It's great to read all of your messages.

I'm so looking forward to our time together in Niagara Falls, Janet.  It's been ten years (?) I think since we were together so this is certainly going to be a wonderful treat.

Hi everyone.  It will be another very hot day here in Georgia as we head into the holiday weekend.  Other than coffee at the Senior Center my calendar is clear for today and I plan on just staying out of the heat. 

Judy, I think Chris Sanders is right on target as things do seem to be forming that meet the conditions stated in the Bible.  I also remember Melaura as a child.  The years pass so quickly. 

Carol, I think I know what your acrylic insert looks like as a friend made one for Pat when she got her new sewing table several years ago.  Pat's wedding dress was commercially made but our former neighbor made the wedding dress for Stacey.   

Larry when the time comes I will post pictured of her here on CP.  Along with a picture of her as a child!

Things are looking like an early fall here in the northern Rockies!  The cottonwood trees are starting to show a little color change in small patches, daytime temperatures are moderating a bit and the morning dew from cool nights is making a return.  I just hope it is a long fall, and not necessarily an early winter

It has been a busy week.  I spent a couple days training a young fellow from WV on the use of a computer program, and the rest of the time just flew by.  Will be knocking off work early today so my wife, Alesia, and I can head south to see our daughter at college in Casper, WY.  It is five and a half hour drive, so we'll stay the night and return tomorrow evening.  A representative of the Gideon's International will be sharing at church on Sunday, and with our pastor traveling, I will be conducting the service...but the duty will be a tad less stressful this time, as I don't have to craft the message!

Larry, I sure hope your weather moderates soon.  That heat and humidity can sure tax the body, and seem to make any outdoor chore ominous!

Janet, somewhere along the line I missed that you had authored a children's book.  Can you share the title so I can look it up?  And congrats on another published work!!!!

From the sounds of weather reports from Carol and Judy, maybe we aren't the only ones seeing Autumn weather arrive.

Pat, it sounds like you had a very busy week with the Bible Conference and everything else.  Glad you were able to attend and that you found it worthwhile.

I hope everyone has a good weekend ahead!