Category Archives: Mature

Humiliated

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Have you ever felt humiliated when the understanding of Gods truth comes to your heart and mind?

Have you ever felt humiliated when the understanding of Gods truth comes to your heart and mind? Have you ever realized that you and Jesus are not on the same side of the fence on some issue that has been part of your thinking? What is the response that God desires? What are the choices here?

Luke 13: 10-17

16    And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

While He said this…… Let me review here what He was saying.

15           But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?
16           “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

Remember, Jesus was saying this to the synagogue official and all those who sat with him in the places of honor. These men were the ones who organized and led the worship of God in the place designed to exult the Lord of glory. Here these very same men are identified as the opponents (rival, adversary, competitor) of the one whom God sent from heaven to live among them. They had already aligned themselves in their hearts and minds against this Jesus as has did many other religious leaders in that day. Are there religious leaders today who actually speak against Jesus? Continue reading →

Leadership

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The best leaders are devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Follow the leader! People, do you know? The best leaders are devoted followers of Jesus Christ. They are those who know that their gifts of leadership are for the healing of those who allow them to lead by being followers.

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 14                             And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in responds, “There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

In the Old Testament Laws that were given to Moses on Mount Sini, The Lord said, ‘Remember the Sabbath Day. to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work….’ (Exodus 20:9-10a)  The religious leaders had developed an elaborate set of rules designed to try and be obedient to this command.  In doing so they had gotten miles away from the spirit of the command and in fact created impossible burdens for the people.  Somehow, unbelievable as it may seem, they had decided that healing was considered work!

It is of great interest to me that this official does not address Jesus, who is the Sabbath breaker in these events.  Continue reading →

Glorify God

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And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

What exactly does it mean to glorify God. The Amplified Bible says that she recognized, thanked and praised God. Her connection to God went from participation in a ceremony to an experience that she could know, feel and understand. Her knowing of God became an undeniable, obvious experience to her and to everyone who knew her.

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 13     And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

…immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God.

She was made erect again.  Think of what transpired in just the few seconds that it took for Jesus to touch her and transfer the power that was in Him to her deformed body.  She had been viewing whatever was under foot, being unable to ‘straighten herself up or look upward’ (Amplified Bible)  Now in a moment of time she is made erect and is able to see everything around her as others did, free from the bond of sickness that had identified her life and existence for the last 18 years.

Surely, these moments became the centerpiece of her identity from that moment on.
Surely she would repeat each detail tirelessly from then on to everyone she met.
Surely, everyone who looked at her would wonder how she could be the same person. Continue reading →

Gender – Woman and Man

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words and attitudes can we convey to each other that delight in our own gender and respect and appreciate our opposites

How did Jesus say ‘woman?’ What attitude was in his tone of voice? In John 2:4 and again in John 19:36, Jesus calls his own mother ‘woman.’ I know that when Jesus spoke to a woman in public, he used the term woman with an attitude that was gender affirming. He referred to women in a way that affirmed His own creativity. The word of God makes it clear that in eternity past, the genders were created by this same Jesus!

Today, we hear Jesus speak to her……

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 12              And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

“Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

It is strange for us to hear her addressed simply as ‘woman.’  I have to tell a story here….

I was renting the downstairs apartment in my home to a young couple and on a particular day, I was in the basement doing the laundry. I over heard, through the thin apartment door, the young husband loudly yell to his wife, “Woman!  Get me a beer!”  She responded, “Why should I?”  His answer was, “Cuz you da woman and I da man, and da woman do what da man say!”  About that time I went upstairs knowing I had overheard way too much. Continue reading →

Jesus called her over…

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Jesus called her over

Jesus called her in some way that communicated to her that He was the greatest authority in that room.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that He could take care of the leaders who would object.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that close proximity to him was the safest location in the world.
Jesus called her in some way that communicated that if she obeyed, good things would happen.

There is so much more to the story……

Luke 13: 10-17

Verse 12              And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.”

He called her over………

The synagogue arrangement was such that the woman who was bent over double because of an 18 year sickness caused by Satan, found herself with the other women at the worship service.  The women were required to be behind a lattice work wall, separate form the men who would have been in closer proximity to Jesus who was seated on the raised platform near the middle of the room.

The fact that He saw her at all is of great interest and it is clear that in seeing her Jesus also knew every thing about her and the illness that bound her making the ground her most familiar view. Continue reading →

The God Walk

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Here’s the thing… It is never too late to develop a personal walk with God and old age is as good a time as any to begin.

Here’s the thing… It is never too late to develop a personal walk with God and old age is as good a time as any to begin.

I grew up in the early 50’s and my parents like many of their friends believed in making it a practice to attend church as a family.  For them, church was a core item in our home and not an addendum that would be discarded by other distractions.  Quite the opposite… Other distractions were discarded or never considered on the basis of what they were learning and becoming as a result of their devotion to personal growth in their faith walk with God. Continue reading →

Defensive Strategy

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Sometimes it is necessary to “go into the game fighting” so to speak, but most of the time the issue at hand I not a big deal.

Sometimes it is necessary to “go into the game fighting” so to speak, but most of the time the issue at hand I not a big deal.

Football season in here and grandparents are often making sure they are in the stands to cheer for the young people who are “in the game”.

As aging people, living in close proximity to a variety of people, we need to choose a position as well in the games of life that play out all around us each day.   We can choose to play “defensively” when an offensive comment or encounter is hurled our way, seemingly from out of nowhere. Continue reading →

Readers Theatre

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My hope is that we can produce a program that will serve as our holiday entertainment at Christmas time. The story I am hoping to use will of course be, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

My hope is that we can produce a program that will serve as our holiday entertainment at Christmas time. The story I am hoping to use will of course be, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

“Readers Theatre” is an idea that I want to introduce as a new kind of community enjoyment to the friends and neighbors here at Glendale Place.

Readers Theatre connects oral reading, literature, and drama in a group setting. Using only voices and facial expressions, each reader interprets the emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and motives of the characters in a story. A narrator conveys the story’s setting and action and provides the commentary necessary for transition between scenes. Continue reading →

Grow Some Money

Featured

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I like working and having a job puts me in touch with some interesting people. There are jobs for those who are willing to put their passion and experience to good use.

I like working and having a job puts me in touch with some interesting people. There are jobs for those who are willing to put their passion and experience to good use.

I am hearing from some of my peers that they are definitely not living the comfortable retirement lifestyle they always imagined because the needed money is just not there.  Complicating matters, things keep getting more expensive, while incomes remains fixed. Something’s got to give.

The solutions are that same as they have always been.  Cut spending and increase income at the same time. Continue reading →

Uninvited Knock

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I want everyone to VOTE!

I want everyone to VOTE!

I am all for voting and I make it my personal business to find out about the people who are running for office and the issues that are going to be decided by the voters.  As the resident manager of a large apartment complex, I include voter information regarding registration and our poling location for residents in my newsletter that goes out to the people who live in my community here at Glendale Place.  I want everyone to VOTE!

Dealing with the campaigns however, has turned out to be a huge disappointment.  Continue reading →