Be Strong In God!

I don't know much about this house but that it is over 100 years old.  My family toured it while they were in South Carolina. It's an old plantation house that has a lot of history and probably a few ghosts lingering in it.  The picture really amazes me though, it still stands after a couple of hurricanes and tropical storms.  Amazing that something so old still is erect after all these years.

I put this picture up because it goes along with my thinking tonight.  We have just come back from a trip back home from West Virginia.  Every time I go there  I look at things in a strange way, I look at them thinking about how things have aged or look older.   Buildings look smaller to me now than they did then.  I don't know why they look smaller but they do.  I looked at every family member and friends and noticed how they have changed over the years and how they all have influenced my life in a positive way.  I often try to talk to and see everyone I can because who knows it might be the last time I see them.
You never know what life is going to bring you day after day.  Life can throw so many things at you all the time, and we want to be sure were ready when it comes.  I believe the building in the picture didn't know it was going to be hit by so much bad weather but it still remained strong through it all. Same with us we need to be prepared when life's storms hit us, we don't know what the situation will be, but being strong and faithful in Christ can make a difference.  Christ said we would face hardships every day because of His name.  That we were considered sheep to be slaughtered. Being a Christian is not what the world wants us to be, it wants us to follow it's pattern in life and that makes us weak.  Then when the storms of life come at us we falter and lose our ground.
Stand tall every day make yourself one with Christ.  Talk to him regularly and make life easier by being prepared to weather the storm.  Build your house on a solid foundation where storms can not break down your foundation.
Most people I know have been through a lot in life some more than others.  Yet, they continue to stand up when they are knocked down.  As we age in life we start to see things differently than we did in our youth.  We become more fragile physically as we age, yet we must keep our minds focused and strong in Christ.  Be strong through life and don't let Satan get to you, make your relationship in God be stronger every day you live.  Make it a priority to be in Him always so one day we may enter his house, a house not made by humans hands but eternal ones. God Bless!

God's Kingdom is Like these Little One's!

There is something about this little girl, she has no fear.  I have always seen this in  her, but the other day I took this picture of her as she approached the diving board for the first time during swimming lessons.  I knew she could do it, because I believe she did it last year. So it wasn't completely new to her. So we encouraged her to do it, and then finally she wandered over to it.  She climbed up the ladder and got on the back of the board and stood there and I could tell she was really pondering her decision.   So she stood there for a few seconds and moved a little more toward the end.

As she approached the very end of the board she stood there and looked down weighing out the situation. Finally she stooped a little and and lunged forward a couple of times and then finally her fear  left and she went in and swam almost by herself to the wall.  I was proud because when I was her age I would not have done such a thing.

As I read the Bible on my Iphone the other night I came to the scripture in Mark 10:14-15 "Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." - "I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."  I've been trying to understand  for years what these verses meant. How is the Kingdom of God like little children? Then after looking at this picture I finally understood it.  Our children are dependent on us for everything in life.  We nurture them completely, they depend upon us to be there for them to help them make the right decisions and give them the confidence to face life's pains.  I believe Macy would not have gone off that diving board had I not been right behind her telling her it would be alright that the swimming teacher would be there to catch her.  It was enough to get her over her fear and she did it.

God is our father he is there to give us that love to tell us it is alright to make a certain decision and do it without fear.  He wants us to be like little children and be dependent on him.  We as people need to become better every day to make our faith in him stronger and bigger.  That's who he wants in his kingdom at the end of time, people who were dependent on him like little children.  Wow that is amazing!

Christianity is hard because we make it hard, we depend on ourselves to much to live life when God will help us live it. Our God is a relational God or father.  Accept Him as a little child does us, as parents.  They accept us as a parent because that is all they know. Shouldn't we do the same with our heavenly Father, accept him because he is all we should know. It's hard being human. With God in our lives it can be a lot easier.