The Great Adventure!

♫ “Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze

Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace

Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown

This is a life like no other, whoa whoa this is the great adventure.” ♪ *

                                                                                 --- Steven Curtis Chapman

I had the opportunity to get blessed yesterday toward the end of our grocery shopping adventure at our local Super Walmart.  The older gal who checked us out has been a regular checker since we first started shopping there a couple of years ago.  In the past when we had gone through her line I barely got a few lines of communication from her.  But for some reason this time was different. 

By the time we got to the front of the line I had already been joking with the gentleman before me as I noticed that he was about to purchase a pair of slippers identical to the pair I have.  He in turn joked with the cashier and she just seemed to keep it going when she started scanning our items.  As we laughed she suddenly took a real interest in Piper, her situation and my care for her.  The lady mentioned that she had seen us many times in the store and always took note of my attentiveness to my wife.

She went on to say many nice things about my attitude concerning our situation and my personal care for Piper.  By the time we walked out of the store I felt like I was walking on the clouds!  Once we got to our car in the parking lot, I pushed Piper up to the car door, opened the door and then went down on a knee so that I could gently move her feet off the foot stirrups, pick her up and seat her in the car.  While I was kneeling by her I heard a man’s gentle voice behind me asking if I needed any help.

When I turned around I observed a gentleman about my age with long gray hair smiling at us.  I politely declined his offer and thanked him profusely for the offer. (I have the process down to a science and don’t really see how another hand or two would be able to help me get her through the car doorway into the front seat!)  A few minutes later after I had gotten Piper into the car and was unloading the groceries from the cart into the back seat, I suddenly heard that same voice joking that he forgot the item he was planning to return to the store and had to come back to his car.

We talked for a few moments and he made mentioned of how peaceful “my daughter” looked as he motioned to Piper in the front seat.  I had to laugh at that point and told him that she actually was my wife.  He went on to say how young she looks and then stated many of the same nice things that the cashier had back in the store. 

I have to admit that his taking the time to talk with and encourage me really touched my heart.  After loading the groceries and parking the cart, I slumped into the driver’s seat next to Piper and simply stared across the parking lot as I considered everything both the kind folks had said.  Then I found myself drifting off into deep thought as the events of the last ten years flashed through my brain…

Piper took a long time to drink a good portion of her breakfast this morning and I have to admit that I did have to fight a little bit of discouragement while I encouraged her to swallow each little milliliter of her breakfast protein drink.  By the time it was obvious that she wasn’t going to swallow anymore, I was feeling like I’d just run a few miles on our new tread mill but I pushed on, grabbed the dog’s lease and prepared to take him out for his morning constitutional… and that’s when I heard Steven Curtis Chapman singing “The Great Adventure” from my computer’s Pandora morning mix.

At that point I stopped in mid-stride and had to smile and admit that we have been on quite “The Great Adventure” since we began this journey.  That thought along with the remembrances of the two conversations yesterday cause me to reflect upon the “POSITION” that we took back in the beginning days in 2007.

In 2 Chronicles chapter twenty we read the story of King Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel’s fight against three enemy armies that had joined together to attack them.  In verse seventeen we hear the Lord speaking to the people telling them: “You won't fight this battle. Instead, take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD for you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be frightened or terrified. Tomorrow go out to face them. The LORD is with you." (God’s Word ©)  A few verses later we find out that the POSITION they were called to take was that of PRAISE! (2 Chronicles 20:21)

The thought of Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel’s POSITION of PRAISE made me smile as I stood between the table and the sliding glass window on the way to the back deck, for that is the exact same POSITION that Piper and I took and continue to take throughout this “Great Adventure” of faith that we have embarked upon.  That scripture and that POSITION contain so much material to discuss, but I’ll bring today’s post to a close sufficing to say that it is our POSITION of PRAISE that gets me up with a smile on my face, a song on my lips and the expectation of God’s best in my heart each day.

Without a doubt the mornings have been the toughest time of the day for us as Piper is usually at her weakest point when I first get her up, it is the time when most of her emergency situations have taken place and for some reason is the time when she consumes the largest intake of food for the day.  Without our POSITION of PRAISE, I am not sure how I could face each and every new day. 

2 Chronicles 20:20 informs us that even though they faced unbeatable odds and the very real potential of death itself that the children of Israel still “got up early in the morning and went to the desert of Tekoa...”  That determination was the effect of their POSITION of PRAISE because they believed the Lord and what their King told them when he declared: “Listen to me, people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. Trust the LORD your God, and believe. Believe his prophets, and you will succeed." 

It is our trust and belief in the Lord and His Word that empowers our POSITION of PRAISE to face the trials of this life… with a smile on your face, a song on your lips and the expectation of God’s best in your heart each day.

What can I say?  IT WORKS FOR ME… and will for you as well! 

Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to take a POSTION of PRAISE today?”

PS:  The conclusion of Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “The Great Adventure” ends with the words:  "The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams"* 

*Songwriters: STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN, GEOFF MOORE

© CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP

It's Okay!

On Saturday night my wife and I were in the living room watching a movie when she suddenly started twitching a little.  It wasn’t an emergency situation but it was obvious that something out of the ordinary was going on.  So I leaned forward as she was sitting in her chair in front of the couch and gently began to massage her shoulders while I softly told her “It’s okay.”  Well the hand touch and words of comfort did the trick and she relaxed and didn’t have any more difficulties throughout the rest of the evening.

About ten minutes later the dog who was asleep at my feet began to whimper and twitch as he was having what seemed to be another nightmare.  So, once again, I leaned over and gently began to pet his side while I softly told him that “It’s okay!”  And as with my wife, he quickly responded, woke up and barely turned his head to look up at me with a blank expression that seemed to be saying “Huh?”

Once Fiver went back to sleep, I leaned back on the couch and suddenly began laughing as I thought “How many times over the last ten years have I said that to my wife during the many emergency situations that we have been through since that first report of the potential of Alzheimer’s back in 2007.”  Then feeling a bit of self-pity, I looked up to the ceiling and said, “Gee, I’d love to have someone (like Piper) saying that to me!” 

But you know… that thought didn’t last very long as the direction toward feeling sorry for myself was suddenly side-swiped by my recalling the personal experience that I have every time I read or confess the Word of God and/or break out into heartfelt or many times “the sacrifice of praise.” (Hebrews 13:15)  For EVERY time I’ve done that, Papa God comes through by telling me that “It’s okay!”

I’ve been studying II Chronicles 20:14-30 over the last week and I keep finding myself astonished at the POWER that our praises unto God have on the situations we all face on a daily basis.  Verses 14-17 outline God’s plan for the childen of Israel as they were about to face off with an overwhelmingly large and well trained enemy force.  Through a prophet the Lord told them:

“This is what the LORD says to you: Don't be frightened or terrified by this large crowd. The battle isn't yours. It's God's.  Tomorrow go into battle against them. They will be coming up the Ziz Pass. You will find them at the end of the valley in front of the Jeruel Desert.   You won't fight this battle. Instead, take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD for you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be frightened or terrified. Tomorrow go out to face them. The LORD is with you."

Then when you read on you’ll see that it looked like the Lord wasn’t done with His instructions and must have spoken to the King during the night.  In the morning as they prepared to march off to meet the enemy, King Jehoshaphat encouraged his troops and “After he had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, "Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!" (20:21)

So wait a minute here folks… If I read this right, the King’s strategy to fight the battle was to put the Praise and Worship team out in front of the army?  Have any of you ever heard of this type of military plan before?  Obviously God must have known something about the power of PRAISE that not too many others knew… and probably don’t know today as well!  So what happened?  Did God’s preposterous plan work?

Well, of course it did!  The next four verses tell us exactly what happened. “As they started to sing praises, the LORD set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir who had come into Judah. They were defeated.  Then the Ammonites and Moabites attacked the people from Mount Seir and annihilated them. After they had finished off the people of Seir, they helped destroy one another.  The people of Judah went to the watchtower in the desert and looked for the crowd. Corpses were lying on the ground. No one had escaped.   When Jehoshaphat and his troops came to take the loot, they found among them a lot of goods, clothes, and valuables. They found more than they could carry. They spent three days collecting the loot. (20:22-25)*

WOW!  What do you think about that?  Have you ever experienced a similar situation in your life where your exclamations of heartfelt PRAISE positively changed the negativity that you were facing?  Maybe it wasn’t the treat of complete annihilation to you and your family… and everybody else you know… but yet important enough to you that you took the time and effort to PRAISE Him.

It was THAT power, THAT peace and my overwhelming TRUST in God that has empowered me to PRAISE Him in my darkest moments and thereby cause me to understand how much God has been helping me since that fateful night as I received that call while standing alone in the power tools aisle in the Garden Department at the South Tulsa Home Depot in 2007.

You and I can PRAISE Him in the midst of ANY situation or circumstances and know that “It will be okay” BECAUSE we love Him and trust Him and his Word… more THAN ANYTHING ELSE!

Obviously it worked for the Israelites back in Jehoshaphat’s time, and I can relate experience after experience in my life where it has worked… and I bet you can too!  Have a great new week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting myself to PRAISE GOD so that it will be okay when my life takes a downward spiral?”

*All scriptures quoted from the God’s Word © translation.

♪ SING OUT ♫

I wrote a song back in the nineties for a children’s play that I penned for a holiday presentation that declared:

♪ “He put a new song right into my heart,

 It’s a song of praise to Jesus

 Just like the shepherds sang when they saw the King,

 It’s a song of praise to Jesus!”

Halelu……jah, Hallelujah to the King,

Hallelu.…..jah, Oh we praise the newborn King!” ♫

Over the years and many Christmases and play presentations later, that song and certain lines from the play have become a regular part of our family’s Christmas celebration traditions.  There is a line in the play where the main characters gleefully shout: “Tomorrow’s Christmas day, and you know what that means… Presents in the morning!”  Well, with our family currently spread between California, Oklahoma and North Carolina over the last few years, I can always depend on one of the siblings sending out a group family text on Christmas Eve with that familiar line, which in turn opens up a long thread of communication of Christmas cheer between all of us!

I thought of that particular song this morning as I continued with my study of Psalm 100.  Verse four in the King James Version encourages us to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”  Many of the modern translations tell us to enter in with ‘songs’ of thanksgiving and praise, which is exactly the way the original Hebrew implies that the actions ‘thanksgiving’ and ‘praise’ should be presented.  That revelation got me to realize that we are not to just come into His presence with dry or empty words but with actual ‘songs’ of heartfelt thanksgiving and praise!  Our desire to come into His presence should be such a joy-filled and exciting event that we can’t help but sing our way in the door! 

In Psalm 69:30 the writer declares that “I want to praise the name of God with a ‘song’ of praise.” (God’s Word ©)  I am sure that for the musician David, singing unto the Lord was a natural way of expression for him.  I was thinking this morning that Piper’s and my relationship was filled with music from the very get-go!  We were both raised in musical families where singing around the piano was not an uncommon activity. 

I was in a secular rock band when we met and played the guitar while Piper was classically trained on the piano (and continued lessons into her Junior College years when she also took organ lessons – I have fond memories of going to meet her after her individual lessons in one of the practice rooms in the old, musty music building!) Piper also played flute and piccolo in the high school band and then gave all of our kid’s piano lessons… which they still play today!

So… to come into His presence in song is quite natural for us as well.  But let me say… that while a certain familiarity with music is helpful, it should not be the driving factor for songs of praise.  The heart of a worshipper should be ignited into songs of praise and thanksgiving by their close, personal and intimate relationship with the Lord!  Psalm 100:3 gives us the key premise to the workings of this Psalm… and most likely for all the Psalms as well.  It states that we are to: “Know ye that the LORD he is God…” (KJV)  The word “know” is that word in the Greek that we’ve all come to know and love (if you are a regular reader of this blog) “ginosko” which implies a close, personal and intimate relationship with the Lord.  It is the “Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.” (Thayer’s)

As I meditated on this point yesterday I felt the Lord saying down in my spirit that “I should know Him just as I know my wife of 42 years… intimately, closely and with a loving knowledge of her innermost thoughts, needs and desires… and with ZERO doubt in my mind concerning the extent of her love for me!”

That natural kind of love between us is the driving factor for me to do ANYTHING for her.  It is also the kind of love that should automatically drive us to come into the Lord’s presence with heartfelt songs of thanksgiving and praise.  And you know… it doesn’t matter if you have a beautiful voice or can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  David makes that extremely clear when he began Psalm 100 with the encouragement to “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD…” (KJV)

My Mom used to joke about her close friend Norma who knew she couldn’t hold a note but sang to her heart’s content when singing hymns in church!  She always figured that her off-key rendition would just get lost amongst the other worshippers in the service!  I believe that God is more interested in the heart of the worshipper than the tone!

So what do you think?  Are you going to enter His presence with ‘songs’ of worship?  I think that it would make Him very happy and bless you as well!  Go ahead… give it a try! 

Have a wonderful weekend, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to enter His gates and His courts with heartfelt ‘songs’ of thanksgiving and praise today?”

Serendipity!

I can recall a gathering at my parent’s home a few years back when some of us were sitting around the dining table and for whatever reason, were discussing movies.  The one statement that I’ve always remembered from that conversation was my Mom’s comment that she liked “happy movies” and that she watched movies to cheer her up and not make her sad.

Through the years since then, I have often thought about that declaration and realized that I am the same way!  I usually will not watch a movie if I know it has a sad ending.  I can deal with trauma and other negative life events in a movie if I know that has a happy ending!  I think part of this stems from the reality that I tend to be one of those people who looks at a partially filled container as being half full instead of half empty.  It must be one of the characteristics that I picked up from my Mom! 

As I endeavor to accomplish my daily activities I find that I would much rather have a smile on my face than a frown… and like I continually share… the same could be said for my lovely wife.  That’s probably one of the reasons we connected so quickly a few years back in high school… Okay… so maybe it’s more than just a few years back – Time does seem to fly when you are having a good time! 

One of the many attributes of my wife that has always captivated me is her smile and contagious laughter.  Today I can look at a picture from our past of her smiling and laughing and I can’t help but to burst out into laughter myself!  The memory of the unique pitch and timber of her laughter ignites all the memories of what she means to me.  It is a reflection of our love, of all the things that we have accomplished together and of that special serendipity that happens between us and through us when we work together in ministry, family and in the events of our daily lives.

I believe that this special serendipity is exactly the way Papa God wants us to connect with Him!  And I also believe that a smile and laughter is one of the main ways to enter into this level of relationship… through our PRAISES unto Him.  While studying Psalm 100 over the last few days I keep being drawn to the repeated idea of being “happy” when coming into His presence.  Verses one and two set the stage declaring: “Shout happily to the LORD, all the earth.  Serve the LORD cheerfully. Come into his presence with a joyful song.” (God’s Word ©)  Other translations say to “make a joyful noise” and to “serve the Lord with gladness,” (KJV) or to “Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.” (The Message)

The use of these terms gives me the clear sensation that we should be happy when we PRAISE the Lord.  I learned through years of experience that although I may not always start out very happy when I begin to PRAISE the Lord, I just about always end up with a joyful heart and a big smile on my face when I am done!  Our heartfelt PRAISE does many things, one of which is to bring an atmosphere of joy into the situations we face in our lives on a daily basis.  I firmly believe that this is the main reason that I am able to continually face each new day with an attitude of expectation and peace in the midst of the trying times with my wife’s health needs.

The expectation, peace and joy that accompanies our heartfelt PRAISE brings encouragement to the one giving forth PRAISES unto God and also spreads forth that encouragement to anyone in the company of the PRAISER!  I’ve learned that a house without PRAISE is like a house without heat and light in the middle of winter… and believe me… I’ve been in some of those houses and they are not a comfortable place to stay for any period of time!  The Lord made it pretty clear to me early on in our stand of faith for Piper’s health, that I needed to limit her exposure in and around PRAISE-FREE people and their houses!  The lack of PRAISE has a very negative effect on her physical well-being in her weakened state.

As I’ve mentioned before… our house has never been and will never be… as long as I have something to say about it… a PRAISE-FREE zone!  What about you and yours?  I want my continual PRAISE to the Lord to be seen, received and felt by Papa God as a regular reminder and reflection of our love, of all the things that we have accomplished together and of that special serendipity that happens between us and through us when we come together in this life.

Would you agree?  Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to live in a PRAISE-FULL or a PRAISE-FREE zone in my life today?

Your Benefits Package

I was led to Psalm 100 and the subject of PRAISE a week ago today.  I actually started thinking about it sort of “out of the blue” while I was still in a semi-sleep state before I got up for the day.  Once I started studying on the subject I couldn’t help but get excited as it brought back a whole slew of memories surrounding Piper’s and my dating days and the first twenty some years of our marriage.  During those days I guess you could say that we were heavily into PRAISING THE LORD! 

We had a business/ministry for many of those years called “The Praise Work’s” through which we sold a set of Scripture Confession Cards that Piper had put together on the subjects of praise, healing, love and finances, along with a thirty day devotional for children that I had penned that we sold directly to customers and on assignment through three or four local Christian bookstores. 

My creative juices were freely flowing at that time and I also wrote a fictional children’s adventure novel entitled “The Adventure at Pine Lake” which I tried unsuccessfully to get published for quite some period of time.  I finally set that project aside as Piper and I prayed over other potential projects including a web site, a daily blog, a line of wooden children’s toys and a daily encouraging word to be called “Piper’s Proverbs” that stemmed from her uncanny ability to always seem to have the right word at the right time attached to the right scripture!  I also always dreamed of publishing the myriad of youth and children’s ministry skits that I had written as well as the countless original puppet skits I had penned for our extensive puppet ministry at our church at the time.  And the thing that fueled all of this creative activity was our life of PRAISE! 

The mid-eighties and nineties was also the period of time when Piper was in the prime years of her homeschooling adventures with our kids.  Like I’ve stated in many blogs, this was simply a great passion of my wife’s!  It was like she ate, slept and lived homeschool.  Every moment was turned into a learning experience with which she had the knack of turning into a fun filled project for our four kids… And she enjoyed just about every single minute of it!

And how do I know this?  By the smile on her face, the shining light in her eyes and the almost continual PRAISE that came out of her mouth!  I should also mention that during the early to mid-nineties we went through the most difficult time with our finances with our home that we have ever experienced before or since.  But we finally made it through and by 1996 our income had changed (for the good) so dramatically that it was hard for us to recall those most difficult of times… and through it all we kept up with the PRAISES of God.  FOR IT WAS ALL WE KNEW TO DO!

After our financial situation was over and what we had gone through came out, most people who we knew told us that they would have NEVER imagined that we were going through such an ordeal.  Was it easy for us?  Absolutely NOT!  But through the thick and thin, through the extreme moments of stress, those hard meetings with the bank and other financial experts, we did our best to keep a positive thought on God’s promises, a smile on our faces and exclamations of PRAISE and confessions of God’s Word coming from our lips.  The Word of God in Hebrews 13:15 became a standby to us during those days as we learned by actual experience that: “Through Jesus we should always bring God a sacrifice of praise, that is, words that acknowledge him.” (God’s Word ©)

I have a feeling that I’ll be on this subject for a long time in the coming weeks.  Over the weekend I could not get a release to move onto another subject… and then the Pastor steps up to the podium yesterday and announces that his subject for his sermon is: “The Untapped Power of Praise!”

Hummm… see what I mean!  When he made that statement I could not help but to burst out laughing as I turned to my wife and said” “See!  Is that confirmation or what?”  He proceeded to share eight benefits for the ones who choose the lifestyle of PRAISE.  I’ll share those steps and a lot more over the coming weeks… So… get ready to learn about and then become… if you’re not already… one whose trade mark is the words, “PRAISE THE LORD!”

Have a great new week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to receive the benefits available to the ones who PRAISE the Lord?”

Keeping Your Bota Full...

One thing that I always admired about my wife, even from before the earliest days of our relationship, was her confidence.  I remember back in our junior year in high school when we were just friends as part of a larger group friends that enjoyed getting together on weekends for various fun activities.  It seemed like whenever we came up with a potential plan for something to do that she would always be one of the first to jump in and offer transportation and/or ideas as to how we could enhance the event.  And even though she was physically one of the smallest members of our group, you would always find her right in the middle of the action, be it a touch/tackle game of football on the beach, a softball game at Howarth Park or a gathering for Ice-Cream at Basket Robbins on Fourth Street.

In hindsight, I can now see that we unknowingly began to work as a team even back then… a year before we starting dating!  Many times I would come up with an idea and it was usually Piper who seemed to be right in sync with me by taking the suggestion and tiding up all the loose ends of the plan.  Once we finally connected, she was almost always open to trying new and exciting adventures.  And while she was never one that would just have to hold other people’s babies, when we started our family it was like she was born to be a Mom. 

She loved babies but didn’t necessarily feel the need to instantly be close to them and giggle in their faces.  But when our kids were young… well, it was a different story!  And believe me when I say, she would NOT let just anyone hold one of our kids!  I think one of the reasons that she was so confident with the things she did was because of the degree of spiritual discernment that she had attained through the years of her personal relationship with the Lord.  (She often talked about the day she walked down the aisle when she was just eight years old to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord)  I’ve said it a lot, in fact was just sharing with the CNA who was here on Wednesday helping Piper, that she is the MOST spiritually discerning woman that I have ever had contact with.

Then there was her passion to homeschool our kids.  During those years it was like she was NEVER afraid to do any new project, teach any subject or go on any outlandish field trip that our large Independent Study Program group had planned.  I can hardly remember her balking on anything.  She was determined, confident and did whatever research needed to complete a new task or teach a new subject.

But I also believe that the real reason for her confidence, level of spiritual discernment and every other talent she was blessed with, can be directly attributed to the PRAISE that filled her heart.  Let me tell you… she was BIG on PRAISING THE LORD!  It was quite a common event in our home for her to stop us in the middle of a family activity, homeschool or meal and say: “You know, I think we need to PRAISE THE LORD!”  She just seemed to be able to sense when things would begin to get muddled down in self-pity, complaining, tiredness, or under attack of the enemy of our souls and her solution was always the same… PRASING THE LORD!

Another favorite Psalm of PRAISE for me is found in Psalm 40.  In the third verse the Psalmist declares after waiting patiently for the Lord to hear his cry in the midst of a horrible situation, that “He placed a new song in my mouth, a song of PRAISE to our God.  Many will see this and worship.  They will trust the Lord.”  I thought for a moment that I had looked up the wrong word when I checked the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “song” in this verse.  But after I rechecked it a few times I realized that I had the right definition.  According to Strong’s the word in the Greek describes “a skin bag used as a bottle.”  My first, second and third thoughts when I read this were: “Huh?  Am I missing something here?”

But the more I prayed and meditated on it, I began to see a picture of a shepherd or traveler in Bible times with a goat skin bag over his shoulder filled with wine or water.  The liquid in that Traditional Spanish Bota as it is known in some circles today (See: https://www.tienda.com/dons-travels/botacare.html), was not only for refreshment, but was also a source of life sustaining fluids in a harsh environment, in times of extended activity, or when one was physically strained.

Now put that idea into the mind of the Psalmist at that time and it is easy to see his reference to the Bota or goat skin bag as a container of the life-sustaining reservoir of PRAISE! Piper was never a wine drinker and even though she knew it was good for her, she never really enjoyed drinking a lot of water either… BUT what she did do was to partake of A LOT of PRAISE! She had the discernment and the experience behind it to know that PRAISING the Lord was a key to the alleviation of worry, fear, confusion, anger and stress… among other things!

She also had the sense of mind to know that in order to keep that reservoir of PRAISE full and therefore available for any situation, at any moment, that you needed to keep filling up your personal Bota by regular and consistent time in the Word, through prayer and… you guessed it… through more PRAISE!  And for those of us who have been blessed to know Piper, you know that she did these things, and that PRAISE, a big smile, a kind word and a happy disposition were just a part of who she was… and still is today!  She may not have the capacity to do all those things right now, but in my role as husband and 24/7 caregiver I do it for her… and do my best to keep that attitude of PRAISE alive and active in the atmosphere of our home.

One thing I learned about the use and care of the Traditional Spanish Bota was that it has to be seasoned before its first use.  Once this process is complete you never have to do that again… UNLESS… you stop using it for a prolonged time.  In that case you have to go through the long process of seasoning the skin again before you can put the liquid of your chose inside.  And that same analogy can be used for your PRAISE Bota as well.  Like Piper, you need to keep your Bota full of PRAISES so you don’t run out and never have to go without, while you re-season your container.

So there ya go!  Lots to think about when it comes to having a Bota of your own.  You might want to check the online link above and learn a little about the Traditional Spanish Bota before you try using this analogy with someone else!  Have a great weekend and keep your PRAISES up… what’s that old saying in church circles… “Be Blessed to Be a Blessing!” With your personal Bota filled to the brim with the PRAISES of God, you can’t help but be a blessing to others!

We’ll see you again next week… and until then, keep asking yourself… Am I expecting to have my BOTA filled with the life sustaining PRAISES of God today?”

What Did You Say?

When Piper and I went to the local ATT store to purchase a new cell phone a few months ago in our new hometown of Fuquay-Varina, a large and growing metropolitan area with a burgeoning population of about 19,000 friendly folks (I’m kidding about the metropolitan area but the town is definitely growing with its relatively close proximity to Raleigh and the Research Triangle – NC’s Silicon Valley) the sales guy asked for my Apple password so he could transfer the old phone’s account information into our new 7 plus.  Well… you guessed it, as soon as he asked, my mind went blank and I immediately thought about the little black book I had back home where I keep track of all the various passwords I use.

Am I the only one that this ever happens to?  With so many different online accounts and each of them seemingly asking for stronger and more complicated passwords, I finally deduced that the little black book was the best way for me to have a quick way to recall them!  The only ones that I tend to memorize are the ones that I use all the time.  The downside is that I don’t carry the little book around with me 24/7.   And since I don’t trust the supposedly secure online password saving programs, I will occasionally run into a problem like at the ATT store.  But to be honest, this very seldom happens because 95% of the time I am online is at home where I have easy access to my password book.

If you recall our blog post from last Monday, I mentioned The Message Bible’s modern paraphrase of Psalm 100:4 where it talks about the use of a particular password.  If you met the Psalmist today he would say to you: “Enter with the password: ‘Thank you!’ Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.”  The only difficulty with the modern twist on this favorite Psalm is that it doesn’t really ever tell you where or what you are entering into!  In my opinion, the answer to those two questions is kind of the key to the whole Psalm.

So for us to find that important information, we have to fall back onto a more traditional translation.  My old standby, The King James Version, explains that we are to “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”   Ahhh… now that makes a little more sense!  But I must also must confess that I do like the picture that the Message Bible implants in the reader concerning the idea of THANKSGIVING as being the PASSWORD to get through the GATES and into the presence of Papa God.  As it turns out, THANKSGIVING is one of those few PASSWORDS that I use often enough to remember without the use of my little black book!  What about you? 

Once you get through the gates the next keyword to remember and activate is PRAISE.  The physical and verbal action of PRAISING God is what brings us into God’s courts, or maybe a bit easier to understand… into His presence.  While reading this verse I was captivated by the realization that the Psalmist specifically talks about ‘courts’ in the plural sense.  In his well-known book, The Treasury of David, Charles Spurgeon says about the ‘courts’ spoken of in this verse as: “Whatever court of the Lord you may enter, let your admission be the subject of praise - thanks be to God, the innermost court is now open to believers, and we enter into that which is within the veil…”

As I got deeper into my personal study of these GATES and COURTS I suddenly had the idea that THANKSGIVING will get you in the door and PRAISE will bring you into the very presence of Papa God.  Then it seemed to make sense to me… and I have some personal experience to back this up… that the more we PRAISE Him, the deeper we enter into His presence!  Then I had another revelation in that continued PRAISE gets us and then keeps us in His presence.

So… am I saying that we need to be physically and verbally PRASING the Lord 24/7?  Well, as nice as that could be, I do not think that it very practical… nor do I feel that this is what the Lord would require of us.  But what I do think He may be desiring for us is to stay in a continual ATTITUDE OF PRAISE and THANKSGIVING! 

That kind of ATTITUDE comes from regular fellowship with Him through His Word and prayer.  A lifestyle that puts Him first will turn you into an individual who is alert and aware of Him in all that you do… and it leads to that ATTITUDE OF PRAISE and THANKSGIVING!  My own attempts at this have been sorely tested over these last ten years, and there have been more than just a few occasions where I have fallen short of an ATTITUDE OF PRAISE and THANKSGIVNG. 

But at times like these, I am also very thankful for the last verse in Psalm 100 where it says that “The LORD is good. His mercy endures forever. His faithfulness endures throughout every generation.” (God’s Word ©)  And all I can say about this truth is THANKS to God and PRAISE His holy name for this reassures me that when I hit a slippery slope I can rely on the FACTS that He is GOOD, that His mercy is ENDURES FOREVER and that His faithfulness ENDURES THROUGHOUT EVERY GENERATION!

Whew!  Pretty cool wouldn’t you say?

This is getting a little long, so let me wrap up this post by encouraging you to give THANKSGIVING and PRAISE a try in your life!  I can’t tell you of all the times something would happen out on the manufacturing floor where I supervised at Hewlett Packard when my first verbal response would be either “Thank you Jesus” or “Praise the Lord” and inevitably someone who heard me would say: “What did you say?” 

That seemingly weird response always worked in giving me a peaceful solution to whatever difficulty I faced at that moment… and opened many doors of Christian conversation and counseling!  So, like I said… go ahead and be weird and give THANKSGIVNG and PRAISE a try!  You never know… after a while you might start seeing some things change in your life… as well as in some of those around you!

Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting to say when life’s circumstances get a little testy?”