Zion – Frosted Trees
“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
(Psalm 51:6-7)
Hi Men:
I pray you had a great week “in” Christ. This verse always floors me, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name….” Jesus gave the right for us to become children of God. Children of God……. That is astounding. Children of the Person who spoke 2 trillion galaxies into existence. What the heck!!
Many of us are looking forward to Zion Boot Camp. I ran across the photo above sometime back. It is a scene that can occasionally occur while we are at Zion. It can be 68° and sunny on one day and then wake up to a whole different subset of God’s creation. Psalm 51 above, a very profound psalm of David’s confession after his sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah when confronted by the prophet Nathan. I love the words David used……. And I shall be whiter than snow. Wow! Only because God honored his broken spirit and repentant heart. When we sin, do we get to the same place David was at? Do we have a broken spirit and contrite heart? Will we be whiter than snow?
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IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD – PART 4
Ok, this is getting too bizarre…….
Side note: My wife and I are getting very excited because this Christmas, Lord willing, we will have our entire family together……. Our sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Most of you know we have always had horses…. Jane has trained them and given riding lessons for the majority of her life. We have found over the years that the best footing in the arena is washed cement sand. We didn’t really need anymore at this time, but with our grandkids coming, nothing better than a big sand pile (behind us in the photo)
This past Tuesday, a 10-wheeler arrived with 15 tons of sand, I had the driver (Diego) dump it where our previous pile had been. After he dumped it, we got talking about how much fun kids can have with a big sand pile. He shared some special memories about his grandpa. He asked a few questions and I mentioned my son’s involvement with his church in Mexico and that opened the door. Then he asked, “Are you a Christian?” He went on to say that he is also and shared an amazing testimony about God’s miraculous hand in the life of his wife. In short order I gave him a “Steps to Peace with God” and he loved it and wants more. I also gave him one in Spanish. I told him about Zion and he was excited to attend. But I received an email from him later that night that his little girl was having a birthday that weekend. Although, he wants to get together because he has NO Christian fellowship and is very interested in meeting some of the Friday guys. I am staying in touch with him.
As we were parting that morning, I said, “Diego, we are like brothers.” Then he corrected me and said, “No, not like, we ARE brothers because of Jesus.” We hugged each other, and he got in his truck and headed off to the next job. Please pray for Diego…..
Once again, I am completely humbled at the opportunities that God has unfolded …….. Right In Your Own Backyard!
Amazed and Bewildered by God’s Grace,
Dan
(Galatians 2:20)
Men: As I read Day 317. I thought of the verse from John 5:44….
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another
and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?”
This is a very scary verse. Why? Because if you receive glory (praise, accolades, honor, etc) from another person you will not believe. Somewhere along the line, this happened to Ravi Zacharias and he stopped believing. I ran across one of his letters, titled “Think Again” from his Just Thinking blog (see PDF). He even quoted: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Unfortunately, that became a self-fulfilling prophecy for Ravi. We touched on Ravi’s fall from grace in previous Friday Letters. Here is one of them: E2Vegas.org/Friday-Mens-Group-10-9-20 Let’s make sure it never happens to us. The best prescription is to pray that we live our lives in a perpetual state of brokenness and dependence………
A Very Important Person – Day 317 Red Book
The purpose of these devotionals is to help you think Biblically
Solomon said, “As a man thinks, so is he”
Great Audio Teaching to Review
Men: With everything going right now, do we view circumstances that come into our life as God’s leading in our life?
This is a timely teaching to review. Interesting to note that Walt gave this message while his son was dying of Leukemia.
Attitudes Toward Circumstances – Walt Henrichsen ( 24 Min)
DiscipleshipLibrary.com
Stirring Up Biblical Faith
Great Message from the Southwest Men’s Retreat – 10/28/21. Make yourself a note to listen to this teaching….
Soundcloud.com/CBMC-Southwest/Stirring-Up-Biblical-Faith-Winston-Parker
7 Differences Between Male and Female Brains
Amen Clinics
Men: This was super interesting. And you thought you were going crazy!
“In one of the largest functional brain imaging studies ever, Amen Clinics compared the brain SPECT scans of 46,034 female and male brains, and it revealed fascinating differences between the sexes.”
If interested, see attached PDF. Otherwise to read online, click here.
I REMEMBERED YOU
Men: Another great article my wife sent me by the gal that wrote, “No Such thing as Too Hard Music.” Very convicting. Pass it on………………
A quote from her blog:
“It’s easy to just say the words “I love you” when opportunity presents itself. But those words are only meaningful if they are true. We need to hear them and say them, but perhaps more importantly, we need to prove them by saying through our actions “I remembered you.”
“It may take work, and it may be inconvenient, but let us strive to be a people who remember in a culture that expects us to forget. Let’s be a people who prove our love for one another by remembering them.”
Men: Next time you are with some of your Christian buddies, ask them if they “truly” fear the Lord. Jesus said:
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
(Matthew 10:28)
