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Colossians 3:23 New Living Translation (NLT)

23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
If we have given our lives and hearts to Him, we are commanded to live for Him. To honor Him in all we do.

Why? Because when we consider what He has done for us it becomes the desire of our heart to honor and worship HIm.

When? Not monthly, not weekly, not even daily, but every moment of our lives we are to honor Him.

Where? Everywhere. At home, at work, on vacation, under the sea, and high in the air. Everywhere you go, do all, as unto Him.

How? We must honor Him with His:
1. Love. Unconditional love for others, just like His love for us. He gave His life for us.
2. Compassion. Deep care and concern for others welfare and condition. His compassion.
3. Grace. Love given freely and unmerited, just as He gave His to us.
4. Forgiveness. Let it go, give it to Him, forget it, just as He forgave us.
5. Power. We could never accomplish His mission for us in out own strength, but He, through the Holy Spirit can enable us to accomplish all He requires of us.

In scripture it says that He not only forgave us, but that he threw our sins as far as the east is from the west and, remembers them no more. Let me share a wonderful story;

There once was a young girl in a Mexican village and she told her parents and friends that Jesus
was visiting her and talking with her. Soon there was stir of interest in her wonderful stories of what Jesus was saying. The Catholic Priest was concerned about these stories and called the young girl in and asked her about her visits with Jesus. In order to prove to everyone that his
child was not actually being visited by Christ, he asked her to ask Jesus a question the next time He visited her. The question was what sin did He just confess to Jesus. Several days later the Priest called the little girl and asked her to come back in. He asked if she has seen Jesus since they had last talked. The little girl said, yes she had, and the Priest asked what Jesus and said when she asked what sin the Priest had confessed. The little girl said, He said, “I forgot”. That may have not been what the Priest expected, but it was the correct answer. He not only forgives us, he even forgets our sins.

God wants you to Live Large.
Large in a Never Ending Hope. 1 Peter 1:3-4 : 23
Large in Mercy & Grace. Titus 3:5
Large in Love. 1 John 4:7
Large in Overcoming Evil. 1 John 5:18
Large in Victory. 1 John 5:4

Come Just As You Are

Come just as you are
Hear the spirit call
Come just as you are
Come and see
Come receive
come and live forever

Come just as you are
Hear the spirit call
Come just as you are
Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever

Life everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever

Life everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever

Life everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again
Life everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Come just as you are
Don’t you hear the spirit call
Come just as you are
Come and see
Christ my King
Come and live forevermore

Today’s blog was written in response to an email I got from someone that attended the class I taught at Dury’s last weekend in Nashville. The person thanked me for coming and sharing with them and sharing my faith openly. They said it was rare to see someone be so open to share their faith public-ally. My Savior gave me a new life and desires for me to “Live Large”. It could be no other way. I could not bare to fail HIm.

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: Painted brick wall in my hometown, Nikon D3x, 70-300 AFS VR.

The metal doors above are slowly rusting away, so are our bodies. We were never promised that we could stay here forever, and we won’t. Now that does not have to be a downer, life is short but eternity is, well, eternity. We can be assured that after this life is over we can be in paradise with family and friends, and our Lord forever. That only takes one easy step, accept Him.

Why this theme today? I have a doctors appointment this afternoon for a general, supposed to be, yearly physical. I say supposed, because I fight going in for exams with a passion. Why? Let me make a list for you. In my past appointments I’ve been told;

You have cancer, requires surgery and radiation treatments (1982)
You need cataracts repaired in both eyes (1988)
You have a detached retina requiring emergency surgery (1994)
You have Type II Diabetes (1995)
You have a bleeding ulcer need transfusions (1996)
You have had a TIA, (mini stroke), need many tests, and meds (2003)
You have stage 2 colon cancer need surgery (2004)
You have hypertension need medications (2008)
You have a torn rotator cuff, need surgery (2010)

And I’ve survived two airplane crashes, used to white water canoe, and raced motorcycles when I was much younger, and had even less sense. Oh yes, and I fly ultralight airplanes, and scuba dive.

You can imagine why I don’t like going to see the doctor, seems it never goes well………

O.K. the bottom line is this, I’m, by the grace of God, still alive, feel great, for my age, and
love life, and serving Him. So whatever the Doc has to say is fine with me. As Paul, said,
to be here with you, or in the presence of my Lord………… I’m good either way. (the pilgrim’s loose translation of scripture)

Have a great weekend,

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: D3 and 70-300 AF-S VR

I heard an ad on the radio today, that left me puzzled. I know you’ve heard it, it goes something like this…. “Due to a turn down in the economy and major car companies going bankrupt, a special program has been developed so that automobile owners with less than 150,000 miles can get repair bills paid in the event of major failures in your automobile.” It goes on to “infer” that
this is a government program for the “general public”. It brought to my mind several questions.
How does anyone think that some benevolent agency is going to fix your car and pay all the bills?
Never is it inferred that this “coverage” will cost the consumer very much, in fact it states this
coverage is a fraction of the program offered by dealers. The tell is this, the ad states, that the participant will pay nothing for all “covered” repairs.

The question is what’s covered? It is shameful to see what has happened to our society, ad copy writers obviously know that many people out there today believe that someone is going to help them with every difficult circumstance in life. It’s not surprising since our congress, senate, and
administration have developed programs to meet every conceivable need, accept for the need for people to accept some responsibility for there own lives.

Christ commanded us to help the widows and the orphans and I believe we need to do that. I can find nowhere in scripture that urges us to invite half the population to not work, not pay taxes, and
live off programs supported by the half that do work, do pay taxes, and provide these services. We live in a country in which if you have a job, work, and pay taxes, you support the needs of the other half of the population, that is not contributing to the effort. The maddening things is that if any of the half that work and support the system, had needs, they are not eligible for hardly any of the programs they support and provide for the other half.

The car ad is a symptom, a symptom that we shouldn’t have to worry about anything bad happening to us, because someone will come along and fix it. When America was first settled
everyone had to work together so that everyone could survive. No one could stand on the sidelines and wait for others to provide for them. It’s time for society to start again being responsible. If you are young and unemployed, don’t start a family, that seems to make sense,
but we have programs that actually make it profitable to bring children into the world. Once a child is born and the parent, (notice I didn’t say parents – plural), can prove that they have no means for supporting, and caring for a child, they immediately become eligible for countless programs. No wonder some unmarried mothers produce countless children, adding layer after layer of support payments. Do I want these children to live on the street and go hungry, absolutely not. What I do pray for is some restraint in this endless parade of new members of the welfare state.

I have always thought it would be cool to have a Ferrari, but I can’t afford one. Do you think if
I bought one anyway, the government might help me pay for it, and buy me some gas??? Go figure.

the pilgrim

Have you ever gotten a song in your head that you couldn’t stop humming? Sometime over the weekend, while driving home from Nashville, I imagine, I heard an old rock classic and it stuck in my mind. This morning I woke up hearing it in my head. Then I thought about the words and thought how sad the song is. You know the chorus. “I want you, I need, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you, now don’t be sad, cause two our of three ain’t bad.”

As a child of God. we don’t have to ever accept anything less than the best, and two out of three “ain’t “ the best. Meat Loaf may have had a hit, but he’s dead wrong.

Consider Romans 12: 1-2
 1 Christian brothers, I ask you from my heart to give your bodies to God because of His loving-kindness to us. Let your bodies be a living and holy gift given to God. He is pleased with this kind of gift. This is the true worship that you should give Him. 2 Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.
This morning’s In Touch daily devotional said it better than I could ever express, and it fell right in line with what God was giving to me as I awoke this morning, amazing, but then He’s God!
The Lord wants to give each of us an abundance of blessings. Let’s explore what is required so that we may enjoy all that He has planned.
Today’s passage clarifies the one necessary condition for receiving His best: full surrender. Every aspect of our being—body, soul, and spirit—is to be a living sacrifice. This may sound dreary, but contrary to human logic, true freedom is found only when we fully yield to Christ.
In the Old Testament, sacrifice was very common. To atone for sin, a person could bring a lamb to the altar. The animal was set apart for God’s purposes as a holy offering, and through its death, restitution was made.
When we give ourselves as a sacrifice, there is, thankfully, no need for our blood to be shed. Jesus died to atone for all our sin. But out of love and gratitude, every aspect of our lives should be dedicated to Him.
What does a surrendered life entail? Most importantly, it involves complete commitment to Christ, unaltered by the world’s influence. Our desires and old ways of functioning are no longer driving forces. Instead, His Spirit guides, and His will is the goal. Yielding to Him means following His way in attitude, words, thoughts, and deeds—and doing so unapologetically, unwaveringly, fearlessly.
You have a choice—either be content with less than God’s best, or give yourself fully to Him. Complete surrender is not an easy road; it means dying to your desires and selfishness. But remember that the Lord is willing and able to do more than we can even imagine. Courtesy In Touch Ministries
Let your Heavenly Father do more for you than you can even imagine, He’s willing and that is what He wants for you. Never settle for two our of three……
Be blessed,
the pilgrim

* Photo Note: Nikon F5, 80-200, Velvia, Serengeti Plain, Kenya, Africa.