SONG BIRDS AND BIRD WATCHING

This spring Sherrill and I have really been enjoying watching the birds in our backyard. We put out a couple of bird feeders, and they have come flocking into our backyard. It is so enjoyable watching them as they fly around our backyard, sit in the trees, eat at the feeders, and sing away. It is lots of fun spotting and identifying different species. I believe I have spotted at least seven different species, but admittedly I’m not very good at distinguishing between different ones.

Every time I watch the birds in the backyard and listen to their songs I am reminded of the famous hymn “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”. What a wonderful and encouraging song it is.

The story behind the song:

Early in the spring of 1905, Dr. Martin and his wife Civilla were traveling through El­mi­ra, New York. They developed a deep friend­ship with a cou­ple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doo­lit­tle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle had been bed­rid­den for nearly twen­ty years. Her hus­band was an in­cur­a­ble crip­ple who was confined to a wheel chair. De­spite their af­flict­ions, they lived hap­py Christ­ian lives, bring­ing in­spir­a­tion and com­fort to all who knew them.

One day while they were vi­sit­ing with the Doo­lit­tles, Dr. Martin com­ment­ed on their bright hope­ful­ness and asked them for their se­cret. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle’s re­ply was sim­ple: “His eye is on the spar­row, and I know He watch­es me.” The beau­ty of this sim­ple ex­press­ion of bound­less faith gripped their hearts and fired the imag­in­a­tion of Dr. Mar­tin and Civilla. The hymn “His Eye Is on the Spar­row” was the out­come of that relationship, written by Civilla Martin.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Sometimes we get down and depressed about the circumstances of life, but focusing on Jesus gives us the ability to rise above our circumstances and sing for joy because of the great and awesome God who has blesses our lives so much, in good times or bad. The blessings are always there, and his presence is always with us.

I pray you are encouraged today, and ready to take on the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Memorial Day: Remember the Fallen

Watchmen on the Walls of Freedom

"We in this country, in this generation, are by destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men." --John F. Kennedy
(from a speech that was never delivered, due to Kennedy’s death)
SOURCE: Presidential Prayer Team Update for April 4, 2003.

On Memorial Day: Remember the Fallen and Wounded

Revolutionary War(1775-1783)
Served: No Data
Deaths: 4,435
Wounded: 6,188

War of 1812 (1812-15)
Served: 286,730
Battle Deaths: 2,260
Wounded: 4,505

Mexican War (1846-1848)
Served: 78,718 Battle
Deaths: 1,733
Other Deaths: 11,550
Wounded: 4,152

Civil War (1861-1865)
Served: 2,213,363
Battle Deaths: 140,414
Other Deaths: 224,097
Wounded: 281,881

Spanish-American War (1895-1902)
Served: 306,760
Battle Deaths: 385
Other Deaths: 2,061
Wounded: 1,662

WWI (1917-1918)
Served: 4,734,991
Battle Deaths: 53,402
Other Deaths: 63,114
Wounded: 204,002

WWII (1941-1946)
Served: 16,113,566
Total Deaths: 406,000
Wounded: 671,846

Korean War (1950-1953)
Served: 5,720,000
Battle Deaths: 33,686
Other Deaths: 2830
Wounded: 103,284

Vietnam War(1964-1973)
Served: 8,744,00
Battle Deaths: 47,378
Other Deaths: 10,799
Wounded: 153, 303

Gulf War (1991)
Served: 124,100
Deaths: 162

The War on Terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan (2003-2008)
(as of May 18, 2008)
Deaths in Iraq: 4,080
Deaths in Afghanistan: 501
Other locations: 64
Total Wounded: 30,329

"Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. Through faith they fought whole countries and won. They did what was right and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners." Hebrews 11:32-34

In all wars every death is tragic and appalling. May we all pray for an end to this conflict in Iraq, and a safe return home for our soldiers. But may we also realize that there is an enemy lurking around the world that wants to destroy and wipe Israel off the map, and since we are a defender of Israel, the enemy would like nothing better than to destroy us as well.

May we have the resolve to stand for freedom, justice, and human rights around the globe. John F. Kennedy believed in our calling to do so. I believe it is our deep Christian values that motivate us to action when people suffer around the world. May the Lord give us wisdom when to fight and when to stay home. And may the Lord continue to keep His hand of protection over our nation. Take a minute to pray for our nation, our leaders, and our soldiers, and a successful outcome of the present conflict.

May this Memorial Day be a day of thanksgiving to all who have served, especially to those who died in service, and those who have been wounded.

May God be with us, and bless us all.

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son …." Romans 8:29 (NIV)

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Have you ever asked the question, or been asked by another, "If God is a God of love, and if He loves us so much, why does He allow us to suffer? Why does He allow tragedies, disease, poverty and hunger? Why does He allow bad people to run around doing bad things to good people?

Well, I think Rick Warren (the author of "The Purpose-Driven Life") does a very good job in answering that question. In response to those kinds of questions he asks a question in return, "Did Jesus suffer? Was Jesus sometimes lonely? Was he tempted to be discouraged? Was he misunderstood, maligned, and criticized unjustly?"

As you read through the Gospels, you’ll quickly see that the answer to all these questions is: YES! Jesus suffered in every way we could possibly imagine, and more! So, what makes any of us think we’ll be exempted from suffering or loneliness or discouragement or unjust criticism?

The truth is, God is developing within each of us the character of Christ, and in order to do this, He must take you through all of the circumstances in life that He took His own Son through. This means God is more interested in your character than your comfort, and He’s more concerned about your holiness than your happiness. So, the question is not "if" you’ll go through dark times in life, rather it’s "when" you’ll go through them.

The Bible says in Romans 8:28, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

Does that mean that God causes tragedies, disease and suffering? No! Absolutely not! God is good, and He cannot and will not cause evil, nor do anything that is evil. But God can use these dark and stressful times for good; and he’ll use them to build a Christlike character within us.

So, what should you do when you are going through difficult times in life? Let's take a look at Psalm 23 to see what King David did in the face of trouble.

1. Don't allow discouragement to overcome you. David said, “I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4 NIV). It appears to me, by those words, that David made a choice not to fear evil. Similarly, as Jesus approached the cross, he chose to submit to God’s plan, and not seek his own; he made a choice to not back down from fear; he made a choice to trust God rather than give in to despair.

2. Remember that God is ALWAYS with you – David said, “For you are with me” (Psalm 23:4 NIV). God not only promises his power, he promises his presence. We will never go through a dark day alone. Jesus knew he wasn’t alone as he walked out his passion. Jesus also tells us in Matthew 28:20, "Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Jesus promises to be with us, and to help us in every circumstance of life.

3. And finally, We must learn to Rely on God’s protection and direction – David said to God in Psalm 23:4, "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." The rod and staff were basic tools a shepherd used to protect and guide the sheep. God will be with you, and He will protect and guide you. Jesus could have called down 10,000 angels; he could have called his disciples to arms; instead he relied on God to protect and guide him.

The Bible also says in Romans 8:29, "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." If God the Father allowed His own Son, Jesus, to go through all the difficulties of his life, and He wants us to become more like Jesus, "conformed to the likeness of His Son," then what in the world would make us think that we are exempt from going through the same process.

God loves us passionately, just the same as He loves His own Son. Therefore, when we are going though difficult times and suffering in this life, trust and know with confidence that "God is at work in you to will and to act according to His good purpose" (Philippians 2:13). He didn't cause the bad things in this world, they are a result of a fallen world that we have all contributed to by our own sin, but He can take those bad things and begin to build the character of Jesus in us.

We just need to not let discouragement defeat us, know that God is always with us, and rely on His protection and guidance all the way. God is good all the time. Trust Him and He will be with you and guide you in ALL circumstances.