Sunday Evening Thoughts

Today on the church calendar is what is remembered as Ascension Sunday...the day we recognize and "celebrate" when Jesus was caught up in the clouds and ascended back into heaven 40 days after His resurrection on Easter Sunday.  You can read more about that in the first chapter of Acts, with particular attention to the following verses:

Acts 1:9-11 Jesus Ascends to Heaven

9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 

10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 

11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Our Pastor preached a very good sermon on this topic today, and if you wish to hear the whole message, you can watch it here, right after the choir sings.

This morning before breakfast we were reading our daily devotions and scripture verses, and this was also the topic for today.  When I got to these verses above, I was overcome by emotion. It took me back to when I was a little girl, sitting in our church services in the old church building, where these two big stained glass windows adorned each side of the sanctuary:

On the right side was this one above, the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and on the left side was this one below, of  Jesus as The Good Shepherd.   I've written about this before, and the link is below, but today in particular my mind went right back to that picture depicting Christ ascending in the clouds, and I can remember as a child thinking about that and wondering how He did that...because at that time I didn't really understand the whole story of Jesus overcoming death and then going up into heaven right before their eyes, and also hearing the angels stating that He would come back again in the same manner! But as I grew in my relationship with Christ and studied the Bible more, the wonder and amazement that I felt as a little girl actually became even more pronounced, and so much so that even today I was overwhelmed with emotion in thinking that one day we will see Christ coming back in the clouds to call us all up to heaven to be with Him forevermore... But in the meantime...

Psalm 47

"1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2 For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

3 He will subdue the peoples under us,

And the nations under our feet.

4 He will choose our inheritance for us,

The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah

5 God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7 For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

8 God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

9 The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

He is greatly exalted."

I think it is amazingly appropriate that today also marked a Day of Prayer for our Nation to turn back to God...Reclaiming our nation for Almighty God, because our country was founded as "One Nation, Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  And also that even our monetary system proclaims, "In God We Trust".   I didn't get to watch any of the proceedings at the Washington Monument in our Nation's Capitol today, but I hope to see some of it tomorrow on YouTube.  However, we definitely prayed for our nation this morning in church, and in my heart it felt good to know that churches and people throughout the country would be doing the same thing.  I do believe God is at work in our midst, and there are some very good things ahead. May we continue to pray.

You can Click HERE for another post on the back story on these windows.  And I thank my sister Doris for these current pictures of the new windows that have replaced the old ones in that same building, which you can read about in that post linked above.

I was going to write some other stuff and show a few pictures from the past couple of days, but I think I will save that for another day and  just close this post now with all of the above giving us all much food for thought and prayer.  

So until then, good night my friends. Be blessed.

 

Woodsy Walking

Okay, time for some lighter subjects. Had a tough day on Facebook...debating serious issues...and in some ways it was very good to get a good discussion going. I appreciate that most every one was respectful in stating their views. That was encouraging at least.  I won't go into it here, as I want to keep this a debate free and a safe and happy place where friends can gather and relax.

So now, what to talk about?  Let's see...we went for a walk this morning, as per our usual routine. I kind of wandered through the woods while hubby was walking more deliberately.  I got side tracked by the  tap tap tapping of a Pileated Woodpecker on a tree nearby, and I had to go find it.

Actually there were at least three of them, and they all kept flying around this tree and then back to another tree, and I am not certain that these pictures are of the same bird or of different ones because they were so fast. I just kept trying to find it, focus and shoot before it flew off again.

By this time I managed to be standing pretty close under the tree looking up. 

That was the last picture, because out of the corner of my eye I spied my husband driving down the road looking for me. Somehow he had managed to walk all the way down to the end of the road and back again to where we park the car, and I was not there, and he didn't know where I was, so he got in the car and started driving up the road to find me.  I was in the woods a little ways and could not easily run out without tripping over tree limbs on the ground and other bushes, so I had to find a path out to the road, but by then he was down at the next "block" (there is one long dirt road with several other dirt streets going off to the east of it in blocks. No houses...just woods)  I finally got out to the main road, in time to see him turning down another street. I was waving and hollering, but he couldn't hear me or see me, but he did at least turn around and start coming back toward me.  As I was running toward him he finally saw me and headed back to me.  I was soundly "reprimanded" for wandering away from the road and for not having my whistle with me. Wouldn't have helped because he had the windows up and couldn't have heard me anyway.  Oh well, all's well that ends well, and I got some decent pictures of the Pileated Woodpecker so I would have something to share with you! Next time I will remind my husband to take HIS phone with him and then he can call me or vice versa! He usually doesn't take it with him since I have mine, but now we can see why we both need our phones...because if I see a bird or something I want to photograph, I will not stay on the beaten path for long...just saying...

Not gonna let "The Grinch" spoil my fun! (This "Grinch") has made his appearance here before..)

Nor this other dinosaur that came creeping out of the woods. LOL. Fooled you!

And don't let giant green pine cones fall on your head!

Yes, that is my big size 9 foot next to that pine cone. Just giving you a perspective.

Now this is a serious subject. I shared this on Facebook last week, but I don't think I showed the rest of you.  This is a Coral Snake. 

The little rhyme goes:

Red on Black,

Friend of Jack.

Red on Yellow,

Deadly Fellow.

As you can see, the red band touches the yellow band, making this a "deadly fellow" coral snake. There is a king snake that has similar markings that is not poisonous, but his bands are red ones touching the black ones, so that's how you tell the difference.  Anyway this bad boy was crossing the road in front of us one evening when we were walking. Thankfully he made it into the wooded area before we stepped on him. Now I am more careful where I walk and I do look before I step down. (Except this morning I was looking up at the birds in the trees and praying there was nothing on the ground)

Well, I probably need to end this on a more positive note than a bad snake.

For Diane over at Lavender Dreams: Yes, I have seen the "Earth Star"!  This picture isn't as good as Diane's pictures of this unusual kind of mushroom. So click on that link and go see the ones that Diane saw. She also gives a good definition and description of them.

Here's another fun picture...my hubby doesn't like bugs in his face when we walk. I call him the green monster.

But it works. 

Okay, here are some good verses for the day:

Psalm 47:1-2, 5-7

1. "Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

2.  For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth."

5.  "God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

6.  Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

7.  For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding." 

So, no matter what is going on in the world, or even in our own neck of the woods,

let us give God glory and praise Him, because He is the King of all the earth!!

Praise God!!

Have a blessed day dear friends. 

I hope this post made you smile.

Oh Clap Your Hands, All You People!

"Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He IS a great King over all the earth.

He will subdue the peoples under us,

and the nations under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us,

the excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

God has gone up with a shout,

The LORD with the 

sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth;

Sing praises with understanding.

GOD reigns over the nations;

GOD sits on HIS holy throne.

The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth

belong to GOD;

He is greatly exalted."

Psalm 47

Our God, the Creator of the whole earth, rules and reigns over all the earth.  Psalm 33:12 tells us 

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."

Verse 18 says:

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,

On those who hope in His mercy..."

Verse 20-22:

"Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

For our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in 

HIS HOLY NAME.

Let YOUR mercy, O LORD,

be upon us,

Just as we hope in YOU."

Amen

My plea and prayer for our nation is that we will truly trust in the Lord our God, in His Holy Name...and that we will acknowledge His Presence and Power in our lives and in our nation.  Just as we heard God's Holy Name invoked in many prayers during the inauguration of our new President yesterday, as godly men prayed for our country, our new President, his cabinet and our government...prayers in the Name of the Father, and The Son, and the Holy Spirit, may it be so, Lord God.  May YOU truly reign over our nation, and bless us just as the rain fell upon our new President as a sign of Your Blessing...

May we truly acknowledge and know that You are our God,

"Our God forever and ever;

He will be our guide 

Even to death."

Psalm 48:14

Amen.

"GOD BLESS AMERICA,

LAND THAT I LOVE!

STAND BESIDE HER, 

AND GUIDE HER,

THROUGH THE NIGHT

WITH THE LIGHT FROM ABOVE!"

Oh, Clap Your Hands!

"Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!

Shout to God with the voice of triumph!

For the Lord Most High is awesome;

He is a great King over all the earth.

He will subdue the peoples under us,

and the nations under our feet.

He will choose our inheritance for us,

the excellence of Jacob whom He loves.

God has gone up with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises!

Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth;

sing praises with understanding.

God reigns over the nations;

God sits on His holy throne.

The princes of the people have gathered together,

The people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth 

belong to God;

He is greatly exalted."

Psalm 47

When I first read this Psalm yesterday morning my first reaction was to 

CLAP MY HANDS!

And then I wanted to 

SHOUT TO GOD WITH THE VOICE OF TRIUMPH!  

Why?  Because

"THE LORD MOST HIGH IS AWESOME; HE IS A GREAT KING OVER ALL THE EARTH!"

And that was a good enough reason for me!  Let me ask you, do you ever get so excited over the way God works, and the marvelous things that He does, and the beauty of His Holiness...the glory of His power...the awesomeness of His majesty...the power of His love...and the mystery of His grace...

There are not enough words to describe Him, not enough ways to express this...I just have to 

"CLAP (MY) YOUR HANDS!

SHOUT TO GOD WITH THE VOICE OF TRIUMPH!

SING PRAISES TO GOD, SING PRAISES!

SING PRAISES TO OUR KING, SING PRAISES!

FOR GOD IS THE KING OF ALL THE EARTH;

SING PRAISES WITH UNDERSTANDING!"

If you have never felt this way about our marvelous and awesome God, just start counting your blessings.  Look around you at the magnificence of all creation...look into the heavens and try to count the stars and try to understand that God not only "counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name..." (Psalm 147:4)... and this God of the universe, Who created and named every single star

(Image Credit: Photos.com)

in every single galaxy...also knows my name.  He knows me inside and out...He knew me before I ever took my first breath...

"For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother's womb....

My frame was not hidden from You,

when I was made in secret,

and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance,

being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them!"

Psalm 139: 13, 15-16

"Oh, that  men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

and for His wonderful works 

to the children of men!

Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,

and praise Him in the company of elders."

Psalm 107:31-32

Wow!  All I can say is, "Glory!"  Sing along with me this Doxology of Praise:

"Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen."

NEED I SAY MORE?

Oh, and by the way, if you are ever told that you should not clap your hands in praise to God,  you may need to find another place to worship...Just saying...