4th of July Celebration

Happy Independence Day from Lily Grace and Bailey and friends!

Since Mommie and Daddy have been sick all week, Mommie said I could write the post for today! I know some of you may not even know who I am, so you can read more about me HERE.    

And since we can't have a family party here today, Mommie said it would be okay if I had my own picnic with my friends.  Bailey (my doggy) and I went outside to take these pictures, but we soon found out it was just too hot to have a picnic outside...

so we went back inside where it is nice and cool and had an indoor picnic with my special friends.

Below are Rebecca, Valerie, me, Margie, and Anne of Green Gables.  We had a really nice time on our little picnic, and finished up with a delicious cake that Rebecca brought over and we had pretend home made ice cream, since Mommie couldn't make any real homemade ice cream this year like in years' past.  Here's a link to one such gathering many years ago with some very special people.

Oh, and my little friends over at Pamela's Victorian Cottage had their own picnic outside too!  I don't think it's as hot over where they live...(actually they are standing in one of John Sloane's special Country Seasons calendar paintings from July of 2020...it made the perfect place for their 4th of July picnic)

So that's what we've been doing here today. What about you? Are you having a special picnic wherever you are?  Are you celebrating the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave"?  What good food are you eating?  Hamburgers? Hot dogs? Chicken? BBQ?  Homemade ice-cream?  We are missing all of that today, but Mommie says maybe we'll have to have a special picnic later this summer when everyone is well and also when everyone is back home again, since my big brother Benton and Auntie Rose are away on a vacation right now.   

What else has been going on?  Well, Mommie said there has been some activity on the empty lot next door this past week.  One day she heard a big dump truck over there, and looked outside to see lots of piles of dirt on the lot!

It started out with just a couple of piles, and then over the next two days more and more pile of dirt showed up!  There were two big dump trucks that just kept bringing more and more dirt!

Mommie says they must be getting ready to spread them out and build a foundation for the new house!

That must mean that there's going to be a lot of activity going on over there in the next few weeks!  

Mommie said it's a good thing she's not a little kid anymore, or she'd be over there building roads and tunnels in the dirt with her trucks and cars!  I said, "Mommie, did you ever do that when you were a little girl?"  And she said, "Oh yes!"  She said that she and her big sister (my Aunt Doris) used to play in a big pile of dirt that was on their property one time, and they had so much fun building roads and tunnels for their little cars and trucks to drive through.  She said they would get all dirty and full of sand and have to get hosed down with the garden hose to get all that dirt off of them before they could go back in the house, but because it was so hot, it felt good to get hosed down!  I didn't know Mommie and Aunt Doris used to have fun playing like that when they were little girls! That sounds like something a boy would do!  But Mommie said they had lots of fun playing outside and in the woods when they were little.  They didn't always just stay indoors and play with dolls!

Now I wish I could go over there and play in those big piles of dirt!  I wonder where I could find some cars and trucks to play with?

OOOOHHHHH!   I just went inside my brother Scotty's room, and looky what I found!!!!

He has LOTS of cars!!!  Do you think he would mind if I play with them in the dirt????

Uh, yes, my Mommie said he would mind very much and I am not to go near those cars, and especially I am not allowed to take them outside and play with them in the dirt!  I guess I'd better not think about that idea again.  I don't want to make my brother Scotty unhappy with me.  But he doesn't live here anymore...just his cars live here...but still, I'd better obey Mommie and not go near those cars.  Besides, he's supposed to come home sometime this weekend, and I could ask him, but I know he won't let me do that. Besides, Mommie says we can't mess up the piles of dirt and they are not on our property so we cannot play in them.  She said she was just thinking about how much fun it was when she was a little girl, but she said it wouldn't be that much fun anymore because the dirt would stick all over us in this hot and humid weather,  and we'd be such a mess!  So, I guess Mommie knows best, but it sure sounded like a fun idea.  What do you think???

Well, I guess I'd better close this little story and go back and play with my friends. 

Meanwhile, here's a few pictures Mommie took when she was outside...the first two are of the island (she calls it "Goose Island") and the pretty white puffy clouds in the skies.

Mommie says we should celebrate all the beauties around us on this Independence Day.

And this is one of those big old Red Shouldered Hawks that live over there, and he was making lots of noise, so Mommie took his picture so he'd quit squawking at her. LOL.

Mommie said we can only see his silhouette because the sun was so bright behind him.

But he was sure big!  Here he turned his back on us:

Mommie said these are just some pretty little wild marsh pink flowers alongside Still Waters Pond. They are really pretty down there in the weeds, so she wanted to take a picture of them.

Mommie said we should close this special 4th of July post with a very special song, "The Star Spangled Banner", and it is being sung by a very amazing singer, Sandi Patty.  I wish I could sing like she does, but she is pretty unique and wonderful.  So please listen as she sings our National Anthem.

Happy Independence Day everyone!!

John 8:36 NKJV

 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, 

you shall be free indeed."

I hope you enjoyed this Independence Day post from me.  It's been nice visiting with you again.

Love, Lily Grace and Bailey

 

Sermon Notes: "God Is Calling"

Today's Sermon Notes come from the book of Exodus, chapter 3, verses 1-10

You may recognize this passage best as the story of Moses and The Burning Bush.  But the focus today was on "The Call of God".

Exodus 3:1-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Now for the sermon notes:

• God calls us when we least expect it...Moses was tending his father-in-law's sheep out in the desert.
• Moses was minding his own business when an "Angel of the Lord" appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. (vs. 2)
• Moses said he would turn aside and see the great sight of why the bush was not burning (vs. 3)
• What would have happened if Moses had not turned aside to look...He would have missed the call of God on his life.
• Too many of us are too busy, only interested in the pleasures of this world...and perhaps we are missing the call of God on our own lives.
• In verse 4 God saw that Moses turned aside to look at the burning bush, and when He saw that He had Moses' attention, He called to him.  God is the Messenger.
• God got Moses' attention...Moses responded..."Here I am". (vs. 4)
• Think about this...The Lord has also appeared to us...Jesus is His Name. I wonder if we have stopped and sought the meaning of this...
• Look at Luke 11:9-10

• 9.  "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  10.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

• Have you asked? Sought? Knocked?  Moses stopped and sought to understand the burning bush.
• God's call goes out to the person who wants to know God's plan.
• Are you seeking God?

• Jesus tells us in the book of Revelation 3:20 

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

• Moses was called by name.  "Here I am", he replied.
• God knows us by name. He knows my name. He calls us by name.

Think about some the great ones of old:

• Abraham
• Samuel
• Isaiah
• Paul 
• Moses

They all responded to God's call by saying, "Here I am".

Have you responded to God's call by saying, "Here I am?"

God stopped Moses dead in his tracks and told him to take off his sandals, for the "place where you stand is holy ground"  (verse 5)

("We Are Standing On Holy Ground", with the Gaither Homecoming group)

It was Holy Ground because God was there... God is holy...separate and distinct, pure, righteous, just, eternal.  

When we are standing in God's Presence, we are on Holy Ground.  

• Be prepared
• Be respectful
• Be submissive
• Be ready to accept what we are being asked to do.
• Be ready to serve in whatever way we are asked.

Without God in our lives what would our lives be like?

In Exodus 3:7 God said to Moses:

"I have surely seen the oppression of My people 

who are in Egypt,

and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters,

for I KNOW their sorrows."

• God sees our suffering and pain. 
• God hears our cries
• God KNOWS our sorrows.

In I Peter 5:7 we are told to 

"Cast...all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Back to Exodus 3:8...

• God came down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...to save them..
• God has power to deliver us.  He is more than willing to do so.

Listen to the call of Christ...He can and will deliver us.

John 8:36 

"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."

You will be free indeed.  Freedom from no direction and purpose in your life...to having direction and purpose in your life.

• Have you allowed the Lord Jesus to set you free?
• God redeems us from Satan and the world.
• Heaven is so spacious--there's more than enough room for all of us.

When God calls us He expects us to respond and accept that call.

• Go out as messengers to deliver others from the ways of this world...
• I can't imagine more of an urgent call
• God is interested in us...Are we interested in Him?

Can we respond, "Here I am, Lord" ?  Right now is the time to answer that call.

Our closing hymn was "Where He Leads Me"  

MY personal notes on this message... My husband and I both discussed this sermon all the way home from church.  Husband asks me, "What did you think of that message? What does it mean for us?"  I responded, "I don't know. We've answered God's call on our lives over and over again in our lives. " We spent over 30 years in full time ministry.  We have answered the call to serve Him, we even at one time said we would go to the foreign mission field, but God said "Thank you very much, but I want you to stay here "at home" and serve Me."

So, Okay, Lord, what are you asking of us now? We are supposedly retired, but we've been waiting for Your call...actually thought we already heard it, and we have answered by putting our house on the market and making plans to move to this community where we attend church, thinking that is where You want us to be.

We don't know what the future holds...at this point we are beginning to wonder what God's plan is . Our house hasn't sold...we haven't found a home to move to either...so we wait and pray and trust that God will show us His plan in His time.

Another familiar hymn we sang this morning is one that I know I've sung so many times, usually at a point in our lives when God was about to do something, like call us to a new "mission field"...

"Have Thine Own Way, Lord"

And then to finish it off, we also sang, "I Surrender All"

I've seen this all before in my life...many times...God calls us from the "burning bush" of His Word, His Messenger, whether it be a Godly Pastor or friend, or even through a still small voice speaking to our hearts and giving us the inspiration to to stand still and listen, and look and wait for the "call".  

And we open our hearts and cry out, "Here I am, Lord..."

We know that God is faithful...and in Exodus 3:12, just as He promised Moses, He promises us

"I will certainly be with you..."

Sermon Notes: FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Pastor A.C. Myers, 2/10/2019

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given. I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously. Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said. Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear... That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts. So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.