Sometimes a thread just runs through your day....(or your reading.)

Caleb and I were reading Claude Hamilton's book "Toughen Up" today.
In it, Claude speaks of people who honor their video games or TV more than their potential for real excellence. Claude sites an article entitled "Unsuper Mario" that was submitted to a letter to an editor,
Here it is:

     You're 31 years old, stop playing video games.  You don't have a job, you neglect your girlfriend
(my sister) and, more importantly, your son.  Be a man, take care of your responsibilities. Why is it today's males still act like children?  Your grandfather, who you brag about fighting the Germans in Holland, he did so at the age of 20.  He wasn't sitting on his @*# getting fat off chips, pop and playing......Call of Duty. - A Very Unhappy Sister

Claude adds "When I read this at seminars it usually gets a standing ovation."


This morning, I ran across an article regarding Bread and Circuses that opened my eyes to the damaging effects of the centuries the Roman Empire spent seeking entertainment.

"The complicated causes of Rome’s decline have long fascinated historians, and provide a lens through which to examine the vulnerability of other dominant cultures. Americans’ addiction to entertainment has been compared to the circuses of ancient Rome.  

When entertainment dominates a society, it changes more than the culture; it also reshapes the economy. You can see that circuses are where the money is from the rise of digital entertainment, which has steered enormous amounts of discretionary income toward digital content and the devices that run it: laptops, televisions, gaming consoles, smart phones. In the decade leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, the only major industry other than health care that consistently showed strong real growth was consumer electronics."

Then, I had Caleb randomly pick a poem to read to me. He picked
"The Way to God" by Helen Steiner Rice

Here is an excerpt:

If God sent no winter to freeze me with fear
would I yearn for the warmth of spring every year?
I asked myself this and the answer is plain;
If my life were all pleasure I would never know pain
I would seek God less often and need him much less
for God's sought more often in times of distress.
No one knows God or sees him as plain
as those who have met him on the pathway of pain.

I'm thankful for the messages I read that inspire me to
sacrifice because sacred things come from it.  I pray for
the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are required to be the best
version of myself. If we do the things we ought
through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
we ought to never grow weary in our well doing.

In His Service
Debbie

Miracle, Healing and Deliverance

The Reflection for today

I enjoy reading the daily readings and reflections 

with the Laudate app.  Here is today's reflection.

TOUR GUIDES

  Jesus "got into the boat and his disciples followed Him." —Matthew 8:23  

After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus decided to take the disciples on a tour with Him. It was a healing, miracle, and deliverance tour. The disciples saw a leper cleansed, the centurion's servant healed of paralysis, Peter's mother-in-law healed of a fever, a storm stopped, two men delivered from demons, a paralytic cured, the daughter of Jairus raised from the dead, a woman having hemorrhaged for twelve years cured, two blind men given sight, and a mute delivered of a demon and enabled to speak (Mt 8:1—9:34). What a tour!

The disciples were sightseers on this tour. At its conclusion, Jesus asked His disciples to pray for tour guides, that is, workers for the harvest (Mt 9:38). They became the answer to their own prayers and were given the authority to do what they had just seen Jesus do.

Jesus has given us "authority to expel unclean spirits and to cure sickness and disease of every kind" (Mt 10:1). Yet most Christians don't believe Him. We should first go on tour with Jesus and see His mighty works. Then we will believe His promises. Jesus is arranging a miracle, healing, and deliverance tour. Obey Him. Come, see, conquer.

In His Service,

Debbie