fourth quarter

Life can be like a raging river...  Turmoil...  war, natural disasters, crime, epidemics, deprivation, racism, terror, hunger, etc. Watch your step! You may fall in!  1 The LORD is king, robed with majesty; the LORD is robed, girded with might. The world will surely stand in place, never to be moved. 2 Your throne stands firm from of old; you are from everlasting. 3 The flood has raised up, LORD; the flood has raised up its roar; the flood has raised its pounding waves. 4 More powerful than the roar of many waters, more powerful than the breakers of the sea, powerful in the heavens is the LORD. 5 Your decrees are firmly established; holiness befits your house, LORD, for all the length of days. Psalm 93 https://www.flickr.com/photos/15741149@N02/13901594249 attribution: Justin Schuck and flickr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

Footprints in the Sand One night I dreamed a dream. I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord. When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma. "Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me." He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." https:/...

1 * a Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 b He fasted for forty days and forty nights, * and afterwards he was hungry. 3 The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” 4 * He said in reply, “It is written: c  ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” 5 * Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” d 7 Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” e 8 Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 9 and he said to him, “All these ...

Think about it. When was I the best?  answer: The day I was born--a beautiful, pure, wonderful, amazing creature of God. I knew no evil.  It wasn't long before I knew that all was not well. I cried when I was hungry. I cried when my diaper needed to be changed. I threw temper tantrums when I didn't get what I wanted. (Some call this "the terrible twos). Then came school--knowledge, work, relationships, mischief, lies, etc.--grade school, middle school, college. Then came the adult world--work, relationships, deceit, war, pollution, etc. Perhaps Psalm 139 says it best: 1 For the leader. A psalm of David. I LORD, you have probed me, you know me: 2 you know when I sit and stand; * a you understand my thoughts from afar. 3 You sift through my travels and my rest; with all my ways you are familiar. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all. 5 Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, far too lofty f...