Forgiveness

I have been pondering forgiveness today.
Here are some of my thoughts:

• We are to forgive as God has forgiven us
• When God forgives us he casts our sins into the sea of forgetfulness
  
• The Palmist says that He (God) has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west
• How far does our responsibility go when someone asks us for forgiveness?
  
• The forgiveness of Christ also heals us and delivers us
• God's forgiveness through Christ gives us eternal life
  
• We are to forgive our brothers before we offer our sacrifices
• Not forgiving hinders our worship of God
• We must forgive others or God will not forgive our sins
• We should make every attempt to help the one who needs forgiveness to receive not only our forgiveness but to lead them to God's forgiveness
  
• Our sins effect others more than we can imagine
• This subject is too large for me to grasp
  

Feel free to share any of your thoughts on forgiveness.

Robins

The baby robins are out of the nest and this one spent the day on my patio. I have enjoyed watching it hop around and chirp loudly until it's parent found it and brought it something to eat. It was quite after it was fed and allowed me to get this picture.

Solitude

I was leafing through Max Lucado's book "Just Like Jesus" looking for the quote I blogged about several days ago and this question jumped off the page at me. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU LET GOD HAVE YOU? I mean really have you? How long since you gave him a portion of undiluted, uninterrupted time listening for his voice? I guess for me it has been too long. I have been feeling like there is something missing. Tonight James Pinkerton taught our youth 5 exercises for staying in spiritual shape. Prayer, worship, study, solitude and journaling. Thanks for the reminder James. I think it is time for me to go spend some time in solitude, and let God have me.

Killdeer

The Killdeer that I have been watching out the church office window were gone this morning. There were no signs of the parents and no signs of the eggs. Since Killdeer babies remain with there parents for 20 to 31 day until they learn to fly I am guessing that the eggs became a meal for a opossum or a raccoon. It was interesting watching them and I have learned more about them. I also found out that they may lay 2 to 3 broods a year and only raise one successfully. So this is probably more than anyone wanted to know about Killdeer but I find looking into things and learning about them exciting.

Can you feel it?

It's seems as though there is excitement in the air. I love new things. Spring, new clothes, new ideas, new knowledge, visiting new places, babies. I am enjoying the new robins growing in the nest on my down spout. I am waiting for the new kill dear to be hatched outside the church office window. I am excited about the new babies born to members of our church and am excited about meeting them. I am also looking forward to the new pastors we are going to hire and of course the new building we are going to build. I also love new attitudes! Anyway can you feel it?

M & M's

Here is something that I found to be fun. Besides I love M&M's. Check out the web site, you may want to become an M & M too.

Love

Love has been on my mind a lot lately.
This is one of my favorite quotes.
Max Lucado wrote it.

God's love never ceases.
Never.
Though we spurn him.
Ignore him.
Reject him.
Despise him.
Disobey him.
He will not change.
Our evil cannot diminish his love.
Our goodness cannot increase it.
Our faith does not earn it
anymore than our stupidity jeopardizes it.
God doesn't love us less if we fail or more if we succeed.
God's Love Never Ceases.

I pray that today you will feel loved by the Father as you never have before.

Longings

Sometimes I long for His presence. This expresses my heart tonight.
Psalm 63:1 -7
O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.

Nice or not so nice

There are times when I just don't have anything worth saying. So as my mother says, if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. I often think of sayings like this and wonder what would God say about this. He often had his prophets say things that weren't "nice" but were for the good of a group of people. He also sent John the Baptist out to say repent and be baptized not a nice thing to hear. Sometimes we need to hear things that aren't nice because in the end they make us better. If when we hear things about ourselves that are not so nice maybe we should consider if they are for our good or the good of a group of people and allow them to make us better.