YOU ARE ONLY HUMAN

I think we have all heard that remark, sounds innocent enough, after all we are only human. Wrong, if we have asked Jesus into our life then no we are not just human.

Colossians 1:22 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Psalm 65:4 (King James Version) 4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
2 Samuel 7:14 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son.

Psalm 34:4 4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

No we are not only human, we are part of the family of God. By the death of Christ Jesus, He can present us holy before God. We are blessed, able to dwell in His courts, even His holy temple. He is our Father, we are His children. We can seek Him, and He will hear us, and deliver us from our fears. In times of trouble He will hide us, He will set us on a rock. He will hear our prayers and answer them.

What a mighty God we serve. We live in a body, which will come to an end. Our soul which is bonded with Christ and not human, will live forever.

I would like to thank P for inspiring this.

As always LJG and I love you and thank you. God bless each and everyone of you today. You are not only human, you are children of the Most High God, and you are our brothers and sisters now and for always.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

EVEN AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS

3 John 1 (King James Version)
1 The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; 6 Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: 7 Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. 8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth. 9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. 10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. 11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. 12 Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true. 13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee: 14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.

John is writing here to his beloved friend Gaius. Gauis was a man who lived in and lived out the truth of Jesus. John speaks of Gauis’ faithfulness in whatever he does, not only for his brothers but also for strangers.

This letter could be written to any one of us today, by one of our elders. We are to encourage others, when we know their walk is true. Not to long ago one of our writers sent us an award. We are very much aware that God is our source and we give Him all the credit. That award said to us, job well done. It did not lift our feet off the ground; we continue to write as we always have. It let us know that we are encouraging others.

LJG and I had talked were we reaching anyone, we saw nothing, and we heard nothing. Okay maybe we don’t but we will not stop until the LORD tells us to. Within days of that conversation people started leaving messages and comments. LJG and I have had these sites up for close to two years, no responses. Did it matter; no we knew in our hearts that the Lord had led us to do them.

What is important is we listened to the Lord. The award would seem to some to be simple, not a real award. To us it was God saying well-done good and faithful servant, you stuck it out, you stood. We need to encourage others in their walk for the Lord. What to you might be the simplest remark could be just the word that person needs to hear. Even as your soul prospers. Everyone wants to hear that they have accomplished something. I encourage you today to take a few minutes and call some people, write a note, send e-mail, let someone know that that you have seen the walk they walk. Let someone know that they have encouraged you.

Now to each one of you our readers; thank you, thank you for the part you are in our life’s. May our Father above bless you going out and coming in. May you receive encouragement in the walk that He has given you. If you do not know the walk He has for you, we pray that He will open your eyes to that special assignment that is for you and only you. May you continue to grow in Him, and of Him. May the blessing of our Father give you joy in every area of your life. As your soul prospers so shall your life. May your soul grow in strength and knowledge. God bless you each according to the riches that our Father has. Amen

rECj and I are in touch with each other daily. We do tell each other about ourselves when are beginning to get out of line in our walk with God. But the important things that come to my mind is that she never fails to give me joy, peace and most important love. It is the love that only God can give. We keep each grounded. We always know that the other is there no matter what. No, we do not allow agree but we are able to say what is important to us knowing that the other one will understand and give us the help that we are so in need of.

rECj's words for today brings back to mind a good friend of mine. Last year she was going thru a really bad time. Her own mama had rejected her because of the life she was living. So she came to me. As we sat at my dining room table, I listened to her and her troubles, and all of a sudden God put these words in and out of my mouth, "I'm not here to judge you, I am here to love you." She really broke down then and came to me and we hugged each other til she had composed herself. Jesus said, Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man John 8:15., and And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world John 12:47.

Our soul will never prosper until we put God's love in our hearts. Please reach out to someone today. We love each of you.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

2 PETER 3:15-18

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

I want to look here at one of the stories within the story. Peter speaks here of his beloved brother Paul. Let us go back to the 2nd chapter of Galatians. I will only write a few of the scriptures here, but encourage you to read the chapter for yourself.

Galatians 2:2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; 8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. 12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. 13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. 14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Paul had publicity opposed Peter, yet in 2 Peter, Peter speaks of Paul his believed brother. “in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” Peter was willing and able to accept that he was still learning and growing. He understood that some things are hard to understand, and the unlearned will wrestle with things to their own destruction. He goes on to say that, ”beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” We being Believers of Christ should know that we are to pray, and seek the Lord in all things concerning Him, Who is our Salvation. We are not to stick to what we think is right, but be willing to accept change as we grow in the Lord.

Concerning the last days we are to be prepared at all times for His coming, and He shall come again as He said He would. We might not be able to understand all of the scriptures about the second coming. What we do know is He said He would send His Son, and He did. He told us how Jesus would be born, live and die. Both God and Jesus have told us that Jesus will come again. I might not understand how God does everything, but this I do know, He does what He says He will do.

Jesus is coming again; I plan on taking that trip. How about you?

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

SUNDAY EDITORIAL

Today at work I was blessed with a book. After arriving home I glanced through it, and must admit the only thought I had was to crawl up in bed and read. There are people in this world that have a deep abiding love of the Lord and want, desire to share it. That is what this book is. The name is Prayers, and there is a notation to please feel free to copy and redistribute in any way. They also have a web site where the entire book can be downloaded free. I cannot begin to list all the prayers included, nor to print the introduction. We will simply ask you to go to the web site at the bottom of the page and take a look. We sincerely believe that you will be blessed. The following is the insert that is in the front of the book. We believe that just reading it will be movation to go to the site and read the book. As for me, the house will not get cleaned tonight, I am crawling into bed and reading. May God bless each and everyone of you. Sincerely Yours in Christ rECj/LJG

“Daily Confession of Faith”

In Christ I am anointed and a powerful person of God.
I am a joint-heir with Jesus and more than a conqueror.
I am a doer of the Word of God and a channel for His blessings.
If God be for me, who can be against me?
I am blessed coming in and I am blessed
Going out. My enemies are fleeing before me. God has commanded
His blessing on my storehouses. He has opened His
Good treasures and I shall lend and not borrow.
I am the head and not the tail.
He has given me power to make wealth.
I dwell in the secret place I have
His protection and provision. God is my refuge, my fortress
I am not afraid of the snare of the fowler. No
Evil shall befall me and no plague shall come nigh
My dwelling. God has given His angels
Charge over me and they are bearing me up in their hands lest
I dash my foot against a stone, as declared in Psalms 91.
I Peter 2:9 establishes I am a chosen generation,
A royal priesthood, a holy nation.
I am a peculiar person called out of darkness
Into His marvelous light.
I Peter 2:24 states, I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus.
Cancer, sugar diabetes, heart disease, sickness,
Afflictions, infections, or any other disease can not enter my body.
I am without spot or blemish,
An intercessor, the righteousness of God, saved, and washed in the
Blood of Jesus.
“No weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue
Which rises against me in judgment You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their
Righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD.
I am saved from wrath by Him and justified
by the Blood of the Lamb.

Lord I pray that those may prosper that love Jerusalem and that peace will be within them and prosperity in their houses according to Psalms 122:6-9.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Source: www.christianword.org

This just plain makes me want to get up and shout. You have to admit it is wonderful. LJG

SATURDAY EDITORIAL

Titus 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

This week I have been doing research on a couple of Jewish sites. Now before you get the wrong idea, I am not brow beating these people. As Believers, we have been adopted as a Jew. So we must think on that fact and it is interesting to see that they aren't really that different from any of the rest of us. Yes it is very true that they don't believe that Jesus has ever come. But that is something that is between them and God Almighty.

So now I would like for ya'll to think for a minute about this thought of mine. If someone was to start talking about one of our loved ones, what would we do? Well let me just tell you that we wouldn't stand there and let it go on. We would bow up and let them just plain know they are walkin and talkin on very dangerous ground and they had better back off and shut up. Ok that is what I would do anyway.

I know they on live by the Words in the Old Testament. So, therefore, they can't see and understand the change that came about with the coming of Jesus.

The Jews, like so many others walkin around today, believe that there are certain food and drinks that we can't consume. Hog wash! Jesus plainly said that whatever He made is clean and not uncommon.

Paul shows in the above scripture, in few words, that purity consists not in any outward worship, and that which is according to the old Law (as indifference of meats, and washings, and other such things which are done away with the coming of Jesus) but in the mind and conscience. And whoever teaches otherwise, does not know what true Godliness really is, and also is not to be heeded. If our minds and consciences are unclean, what cleanness is there in us before we come to believe in God?

It is not food that makes one impure. To the pure all things are pure. When one is unbelieving and defiled, no food can make him pure. All kinds of meat; the Mosaic distinction between clean and unclean meats being now taken away. The apostle joins defiled and unbelieving, to imply that nothing can be clean without a true faith: for both the understanding and conscience, those leading powers of the soul, are polluted, so is the man and all he does.

Let us all remember that it is not what goes into the body that defiles us but what comes out of our mouths.

God's Blessings to each of you,

LJG/rECj

ALL THESE THINGS

2 Peter 3:11-14 (King James Version) 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Seeing that all things will be dissolved without restriction or limit, earth and the heavens as we know it will be done away with, in a moment, a blink of the eye, what of us? What manner of people should we be? Our conversation should be holy, and our life’s holy unto God.

We should be looking forward to the day and hasting, by your earnest desires and prayers the coming of the day of the Lord. Yes we should be praying that God would come.

Those that belong to Him should live in righteousness, looking forward to the day of His return. Seeing that we should look for his return, we should live our life’s as though He will come at any moment. Clean and pure without blemish, at peace, waiting for Him to arrive.

We will then live in the new earth as God intended us to live when he created it all in the beginning.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

THE END/THE BEGINNING

2 Peter 3: 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The Lord will come as a thief, not that He wants to steal anything from us. But as with a thief we have to be on guard, prepared, ready. I pray that done of you has ever woken to the sound of glass breaking, your reaction, your timing has to be together. The Lord does not let us know the hour or minute when He will come. For that reason we have to be ready at all times.

And the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and everything shall melt with a great heat, that includes the earth and everything that is left here. Burned!

We are foretold in the Old Testament by the prophets of the first and second coming of Christ. Christ told us that He would come again.

Zechariah 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, it is my people: and they shall say, the LORD is my God.

1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Burned just as we must so through the fire to be purified, so shall the earth, as we shall return, so the earth will, it shall be as God intended it to be. As water washed away our sins, so does God put us through the fire. The earth and all shall go through the fire. All the impurities shall be refined as gold.

Science has given us much information that can make it easy to appear that the earth had a big bang, and could have another. “The inner core of the Earth is a primarily solid sphere about 1220 km in radius. It is slightly larger than the Moon and it is warmer than the Sun's outer surface. The inner core is a solid ball of nickel and iron, which has the pressure of the whole earth situated at Earth's center. It is not known why the earth’s core is not, but there are lines of evidence. The changing thickness of the earth's crust indicates a constant cooling, which indicates that the heat was created at the beginning of the earth's formation.”

“It's quite significant that a large number of coral reefs are dying from over-heating. Humans are not causing the oceans to over-heat; it appears to be caused by heat from the earth's core. Galaxies supposedly moved to their present vicinity in a fraction of a second before the laws of physics began.”

“The big bang does the same things God does, except God does it through the laws of physics, and the big bang doesn't. Why didn't the laws of physics begin when matter got half way to its present location? What caused the laws of physics to begin? The whole purpose is to deny the existence of a creator.”

“It is obvious from observations that everything in the universe is about where it always has been, and it doesn't move very much. But physicists cannot explain how it got there. They have a terrible need to justify their atheism by denying that God could have create galaxies and stars where they are, so they synthesize absurdities to prove that it didn't happen. Trying to prove that God did not do what he did is not science, it's corrupt religion. Religion needs to stay out of science. This means that if science cannot determine how the universe got where it is, there is no justification in contriving absurdities such as the Big Bang Theory to explain it.”

That said the Bible says: “in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” The Bible says it, then it will be so. The rest of the story: Read verse 13.

MY NOTES: I have studied how the Bible tells me how to study it and understand its message, rather than inventing my own principles. I have found that people who have other views on prophecy neglect many important Bible Study principles that the Bible teaches. People say, "The Bible is easy to understand and that God wouldn't hide things from us". The Bible says otherwise. (Prov 25:2) People say, "There can only be one meaning in a given passage." The Bible says otherwise. (Galatians 4:24, Hosea 12:10)

The Bible contains "some things hard to be understood" (2 Peter 3:16) And "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing!" (Proverbs 25:2)

The Bible tells you how to understand the Bible: Fear the Lord, Prayer, the Holy Spirit's guidance, diligently seeking, rightly dividing, comparing spiritual with spiritual.

The Bible tells you how to interpret Bible Prophecy: (1) Stories & parallels are prophecies. (2) There are multiple fulfillments and unmentioned time gaps.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

BIBLICAL PROPHECY

We have not forgotten 2 Peter 3, before we go back there we wanted to share some of the things we have found in our research of this chapter.

Just as the Old Testament foretold of the first coming of Jesus, both Old and New tell of His second coming. There are 1,845 references to the second coming of Christ in the Old. As for the New there are 318 references in 260 chapters, twenty-three of the 27 New books refer to this event. For every prophecy speaking of the first coming, there are 8 that speak of the second coming.

Proof of Christ second coming can be confirmed by the fact that all the prophecies of His first coming have happened with absolute accuracy. The rest will also happen, God keeps His promises, His Word is true and not one “jot or one title” shall pass away until it is all fulfilled. Matthew 5:18.

The biggest lesson we can learn is that if the prophecies of His first coming have been fulfilled so the rest will be fulfilled in the second coming.

Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 was quoting Isaiah 61:1,2. 1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
Luke 4:18-19 (King James Version) 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Read that again and think on it, as always the Bible tells us the truth. Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies of His first coming with signs, suffering and offering His life as a sacrifice to reconcile man to God. But, look at the rest of the 2nd verse “ and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;” The NIV says it this way: to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” Jesus is coming back again as the triumphant Lord and all His enemies shall be made his footstool [Matthew 22:44].

To have an even better understanding of what this second coming is about look at the next few verses of Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

We are not Gentiles, we are heirs to the throne of Jesus, we have been adopted into His family, we are Jew’s and being Jew’s all the promises made to them belong to us.

We pray that you do know who you are and that you know all the promises belong to you. We also pray that you know what those promises are.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

TRUST AND OBEY

I loved the comments that we received today. I am including them in part: one of my biggest issues is trusting the Lord even though he is soooooo faithful, betty; What a beautiful way to describe a spiritual truth!! - Barbara

We were the caterpillars, we can become the butterflies. Trust is a real big deal to all of us. It is something that we grow up learning and losing, to trust. We human beings desire to think with our mind, we have done it our entire life. Not an easy habit to break, but one that we need to, to have the full honest relationship with God that He desires from us.

Trust with and for God is nothing compared to the trust that we have in this world. There are people in our life’s that we trust, but honestly we all know they can turn that trust around, after all it has happened before, to all of us. I believe we have all had that friend that we shared so much with to only wake up one day and wonder how could we ever have told them all that we did.

As close as LJG and I are there are things that we have not shared. We can talk about a lot of things but there are some things that are too personal, no we do not go there. As much as we do know we can trust the other, we are very much aware that the one we can trust the most is God.

Do I at all times trust in Him? No I forget, and try to do things myself, or at the least try to help Him alone. And then there are times that I forget who I am and forge ahead, to have to take a step back repent, and look for my axe head, before letting go and letting God.

I know God can do it, I know He will do it on time, I know that He will not give me more then I can bare, I know He will strengthen me in all things. Most of all I know that He is gracious and merciful to forgive me when I do forget to trust Him.

Trust with God is a day-by-day journey. As we learn to trust Him with the small things, it becomes easier to trust Him with the big things, and then the bigger things. One thing I do know the more you know the more you trust, the more you trust the more you know.

God bless each of you for your comments and your thoughts. We must add here that as always we operate with God knows best. Last night the article I was working on would not come together. I was blocked, LJG tried to help and still it just was not right. Okay what do we do? The Lord knew that Betty needed to hear this word this morning. We didn’t know that at the time, but we both said let’s put that on the site. It is not the first time that has happened and we are sure it will not be the last. I will also add we have actually tried to write articles ahead of time, it doesn’t work. We wait on God and follow His lead. That said be blessed in the LORD. Amen.

If you are wondering about the axe head, just ask, LJG will explain it again.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG

SUNDAY EDITORIAL

Today when I left work I went with my ride to the cemetery to meet another young lady at the grave of a young man who passed away not quite a month ago. The facts of what happened to him will probably never be known. What will not change is the fact that he was shot and is dead. That part is final.

The problem one young girl is having is accepting the fact he is gone. Everyone is telling her to “get it together,” “accept that he is gone.” She is a Christian and has prayed for peace concerning his passing and that she has received to a point. She needs time to heal from the lost of her best friend.

As for myself I got angry, as I do each time I hear of the dumb thoughtless things people will say when someone dies. It has gotten to the point that I do not attend funerals. I am the one that goes by the house and tells the person go ahead and cry. I visit afterwards and laugh and cry as we talk about the memories that we share.

Why do people say the things they say? I believe it is because they do not know what to say, but feel they should say something.

Both of the young ladies told me today that they cry everyday. And as tears flowed down their faces I told them of how 30 years after my Granddaddy’s death I found myself crying one day after smelling cut grass; it will get better but the memories will always be there, and yes years from now they might cry and there is nothing wrong with that.

Do not misunderstand me if someone is in a deep depression, or denial then help should be sought. What I am speaking of is letting people heal in their own way, in their own time. The lost of a loved one is tragic, and there is nothing wrong with mourning that lost. People need to mourn, which means crying. It is better to say nothing then to stick our foot in our mouths.

Some people have a gift for saying the right thing. All are not gifted as such. If it is not one of your gifts, then offer your sympathy, prayers, let the family or person know you are thinking about them and leave it at that.

One time that stands out in my mind is a father had died and the children were gathered outside the funeral home just before the ceremony. Everyone was on edge and trying not to cry. Knowing that two of this man’s daughters had prepared poems to read, it was becoming apparent they would not be able to do it in the state they were in. A simple question asked kindly “What is the funniest thing you remember about your Dad?” I can not put into the words the looks that came across their faces as they looked to each other and then and there smiles started to appear as two said together “Daddy Dancing.” Every one of those family members starting talking about how the man loved to dance and at each family gathering he would always grab one of his children to start off the dancing. The thing is Daddy could not dance. As they spoke of this they relaxed and both girls were able to go in the building and speak lovingly of their Dad. A simple question asked the right way, brought about a peace as they talked of their Dad.

We will all at some point and time be in a position where we can comfort someone. You would be surprise at what saying nothing can mean to a grieving family. Stop think and if you don’t feel lead by God to say something, then stand by. Sometimes the best thing we can do is just stand.

God Bless,

rECj/LJG