Selah

Psalm 85

"You showed favor to Your land, O LORD;
You restored the fortunes of jacob.

You forgave the iniquity of Your people
& covered all their sins.
Selah

now, bring us back to loving You, O Lord
so that Your anger will never need rise against us again."

What Comes Around...

Hangs around.

i have the bug that is going around...not complaining (at least i'm trying not to complain, lol). this is just the reason i haven't posted much. well, that and annual meeting.

but, God has blessed abundantly...and will continue to bless abundantly.

help us, o Lord, to walk in your abundance and to share your abundance.

amen.

A Family First

Little Girl (Joe's classmate): "Mr. DeSena, is it ok if Joe calls me tonight? i wrote my phone # down.
Me: uhm.....(this cannot be happening already!)
Joe: "yeah dad, i want to talk to her."

later that night.

joe: dad, can i call __________ now?
me: uhm... (this cannot be happening already!)

later, after recovering.

joe: uhm...hello. this is joseph. may i speak to _________
dad: ok. hold on. (obviously, he has been thru this b4)
LG: hello
joe: hello.
lg: hello
joe: hello. oh...hi...it's joe.
lg: i know.
joe: how do you know?
lg: .......... (unitelligible)

very long pause.....................................
.................................................................
.................................................................

joe (whispering almost to himself): ohhh...think of something to say!
lg: what?
joe (recovering better than his dad would): oh...i was just saying i should think of something to say.

Float

i can hear you laughing, but i can see your pain
there need not be thunder for there to be rain
thunder is a signal & lightning is a sign
that life is never simple and love can be unkind

and in the midst of all life's storms there's an Ark to hide
and find shelter from the deluge
and float upon the tide

i see the mirror you hold up to your face
revealing all your failures your hurts and your disgrace
but a mirror's not for introspect and memory's unkind
it will always leave you hurting & steal your peace of mind

and in the midst...

i know what you are doing because i've done the same
i've worn my heart out on my sleeve and relished in the blame
but there is peace in Jesus & He's willing to impart
when your heart condemns you, He's greater than your heart

Books

we like to read. but reading comes hard.
it is easier to watch television.

reading takes effort.
reading takes time.

but there are benefits.

it excercises your brain .
it gives you the opportunity to imagine.
you get to choose what you read and
you don't get offended by commercials.

so, here are 5 books i (or my wife) have read recently (or are currently reading) which you might benefit from.

blue like jazz by don miller (his other books are good, too)

becoming a contagious christian by bill hybels

purpose driven life...forget the hype. it is a practical masterpiece.

hymns for the family of God...tozer said "what every man needs is a bible and a good hymnal"

through the bible in a year by _______ stringfellow... an excellent B.S. book

i must say, these are only recent readings (or re-readings)...not all of them would be amongst my all time favorites...some would, tho.

check them out some time.

From: A Call to Prayer

Lord our God,

Help us to give our minds to You in our worship,
So that we may listen to what You have to say to us
and know Your will
Help us to give our hearts to You in worship,
so that we may really want to do what You require from us
Help us to give our strength to You in our worship,
so that through us Your will may be done.
Amen.

One More Thing...

ok...2.

the proverb tells us "a person's gift opens doors for them"...

and (somewhere! i can't remember where!) in acts paul tells us that no matter where he finds himself he is going to be a blessing.

and i think when you determine you are going to be a blessing where ever you are, in what ever way you can...your gift becomes apparent...and then it opens up doors for you to serve.

The Book of Job

i once heard a preacher (who, prior to conversion had a severe drug & alcohol problem) say: "after i got saved i figured it was important for me to get a job...it's important to God...He named a book after it..."

so, how do you know your God given mission in life? it's both an easy question and a hard question to answer.

your first job is to love God and love people. that's a 24/7 job.

if you are a Christian.
if you are a follower of Christ.
if you are a disciple.
if doing what God wants you to do is important to you...

then loving God and loving people becomes a priority in your life. it becomes more important than anything else...you might say, we should be obsessed with it.

why do i love God?
how do i love God?
how do i show my love for God?
does the way i live my life show i love God?
are words enough?
are feelings enough?
is there something more?

well...

we love God bc He loved us first and better than we could ever love Him.
i should love God in a similar manner to how He loves me:

completely & sacrificially.

i show my love for God by loving what/who God loves.
He loves people.
words ARE NOT enough.
neither are feelings.
there is something more...

commitment.
faithfulness.
generousity.
graciousness.
willingness.


now, i do think that when we seriously live our lives this way...He has a way of opening doors for our job...our mission...our call. and when we are willing to do anything God asks of us (regardless of if it's high profile or not), He can often use us in greater ways.

but as we search out what God would have us do, we should ask ourselves some questions:

what do i love to do?
what am i good at doing?
what needs to be done?

you see, at last count, there were 10367 things that needed to be done at (our) church...and every church is the same...

here's a for instance:

let's say there is someone who is neat and tidy. they like to make things neat and tidy...they have the patience to pay attention to details and they are very good at these sorts of tasks.

well, we have about 600 wires that need to be wound up real small and tied up to make the front of the sanctuary look nicer.

another for instance:

let's say there is someone who is nice and friendly. they like to meet people and find it easy to talk about things with people they hardly know. they like to make people feel comfortable and at home. they are gracious and affable.

well, we always need ushers. we also need people who will both visit newcomers and invite people to their home for meals and/or bible studies.

how about this:

someone isretired and has some spare time on their hands they have a reliable car and a desire to be used by God.

well, there are plenty of people who need a ride to the doctor or to go shopping or whatever.

do you like to cook?
do you like to clean?
do you like to shovel?
do you like to help out?
do you like to do yard work?
are you handy with tools?
are you handy with words?
are you handy with money?
are you handy on a computer?
are you handy with a compliment?
are you handy with arts and crafts?
are you handy with biblical exposition?
are you handy with musical instruments?

God can and will use you for the things He has in mind for us to do. you may excell at some and barely pass muster on others...but, as you seek to be used by Him and have the attitude that you'll do what ever needs to be done and whatever you can do...

God will use you...

What is Your Job?

the job God intends for you to do?
the job He has prepared you for?
the job you would be blessed for doing?
the job He will raise some one else up to do if you don't?

Hadassah

Esther 4:14
"if you don't do the job you were meant to do, some one else will do it. but you will waste away. and who knows? you just may be in the position you are in by design"

that's my paraphrase...btw.

esther is an interesting book. it is a (true) story about a young, common (and jewish) lady who, thru the whim of the king, marries him and becomes queen.

meanwhile, a governmental authority named haman *hisssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss* plots against the jews...to comepletely destroy them.

it is in this context that hadassah's (esther's jewish name) uncle gives her this warning. you should read the rest of the story...it's quite good.

but in the meantime, please know that God (who knows all things) has a plan for your life...to do His work...it may not be as dramatic as esther's...but He still wants you to do it. He can (and will) raise up someone else...the hamans *hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss* of the world cannot win...but you will lose out.

and that would be a shame.

Here We Go Again

new year...

where does the time go?

the hardest thing about the new year (the same is true for Xmas) is writing about it w/o being cliche'd and boring.

i suppose it's true of all writing, but it is esp. true for the things which are written about most.

we did have a nice Xmas (btw...X is the greek letter CHI...which has stood for Christ for centuries)...the kids got to have the holiday with their grandma and then we drove to see abuela y abuelo. we enjoyed our trip to the land of plenty...but we are so very glad to be back home.

we went over to nyc for an evening and (truthfully we were "lost") as we wandered about looking for the tree, we happened upon a pizza place which had a bathroom...after a long train ride and walking 15 blocks with 3 little kids (who drank a bottle of soda)...we HAD to stop. as we walked in, this guy goes...

"hey...aren't you that guy from vermont?"

turns out he and his family come up every other summer or so and attend church with us when they do...

you know what they say...small world (see? there's another cliche!)...

i got a mandolin for Xmas and strummed it during our saturday night service. i learned my first real song on it last night ("Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"...a wonderful hymn) and will debut it at a nursing home in about an hour.

here are the words to the hymn:

www.cco.caltech.edu/~ccf/chords/chord58.shtml