The bank teller looked up, “Where did you get this?” he asked the man standing before him.

“I sold my lawnmower,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because this $100 bill is a counterfeit!”

“Really?!! How do you  know that?”

“Well I  have seen so many legitimate $100 bills  that I can  instantly spot a fake. See here, this line is too thin. Look at this regular bill, see the difference?”

“Yes, I do,” the customer reluctantly admitted. “So what do we do now?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate this and you are out $100. If I didn’t know you, you could be arrested, but I’ll let you go.”

How about us? When we are presented with a teaching, a perspective, a spiritual idea,  are we able to quickly spot an error?

To be able to do that, we must immerse ourselves in Scripture, to know it so well that we can quickly discern an aberration,

and there many out there.

Many people listen to pod casts, read things on line, follow a certain preache–but don’t get into the Word  themselves,

they are at the mercy of whatever they come across, like health and wealth, or Jehovah Witness doctrine, or liberal ideas.

But if you know the Word for yourself, your will spot the lies quickly, protecting yourself and others.

How are you doing with this? Reading in the Word every day? Reading in an orderly fashion, going through books, a chapter at a time?

And then memorizing striking passages, like Psalm 23? And learning to pray Scripture, like Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 4?

“The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:9-11

Picture: taking God’s Word very seriously

From  my journal.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1

Praise you, Lord God, for you bless your children with your continual presence.

Today I feel far from you, without much positive emotion and for this I thank you—

it is an opportunity to live in faith, to trust your Word, to live by Truth, not sight or sense.

You, O Lord, have proclaimed yourself as the God who saves us—you are there, despite all the negatives.

And in the midst of the woes of  this world, you are at work, guiding, protecting, carrying, teaching.

You are giving faith-opportunities to offer the sacrifice of praise—times when

there is no visible reason to trust you, but plenty of reason from your Word to rejoice in you.

Thank you that our feelings are not the measure of truth,

that although our view is so limited,

yours is high and wide,

full and complete,

total and eternal.

We can trust you to act in power and wisdom out of your understanding.

So I praise you now for whatever will come today, whether I like it or not!

Picture taken from our porch: A Glorious start to a new day

“Bow down your ear and hear me, O Lord, for I am poor and needy….”  Psalm 86:1

If there is one thing that we begun to learn while living in the Middle East, it’s how poor and needy we are—that is, how much we are in need of the Lord in every way.

There are many other opportunities for God to act into our neediness.

While in Syria, we gave a ride to a fellow who befriended us. As we drove through a rural area, there was a drought looking man standing beside the road holding an AK47. He waved for us to stop, but I just stepped on the gas and kept going. I wasn’t going to  stop for  some bandit. Our new friend, however, was appalled. “That was a policeman,” he said, “you should have stopped!”  But I didn’t and the Lord protected use.

The next  day we returned from our exit to Syria. The trip itself was long and arduous with heavy traffic, many big trucks,  and rough, winding roads making travel slow.  Near evening I failed to see a large pothole and when I hit it, the right front rim was bent and the tire began to go flat. But, praise God, it was not totally dark yet and we were able to drive far enough to find a place to get off the narrow, heavily traveled road and change the tire.

If the tire had  gone flat immediately, it could have been a disaster, both for us and the others on the road, as we would have blocked everyone. We didn’t have control over these things, but God did!

And we are thankful that He got us home before real winter weather set in the  next day with freezing temperatures and lots of snow.

There is so much out of our control, but our Heavenly Father is totally watching over us, every minute, every hour, every day. We can rest in His  goodness.

Picture: slow traffic on the way home

I prepared two cups, filling them to the brim, one with tea and one with hot chocolate.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.” Hebrews 13:15

Hebrews 13:15

Once upon a time there were two people living in a foreign land who got a package from Germany.

When they went to the post office to pick it up, the customs official opened it and took out two packets of tea,

the kind of tea that they really liked but wasn’t available locally.

Smiling, he said, “You can’t have these; customs regulations!”

And with that he put the tea into his desk drawer.

Now, how should these two people react to such random injustice?

There are only two basic possibilities: to complain or to praise, and we all know which is correct.

These two people took a moment to pray, “Lord, thank you for all the times tea did come to us and customs let it through.

Thank you that this time you chose to have it otherwise.”

Then those two people left the post office with light hearts and good thoughts and had a really good day.

Praise is a wonderful responsibility that God has given us. It keeps us dwelling in the Truth,

and, as you know, Jesus said in John 8:32, “…the truth will set you free.”

Praise sets us free from the nasty so we can dwell on the nice,

as Paul pointed out in Philippians 4:8.

Very often we seek God’s will in certain matters, but more often we forget God’s will for all matters: Praise.

“…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1Thes. 5:18).