Monday: Wash Job 1

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal.

Good Morning, my dear brothers and sisters..It is Monday and it is the last day of summer, take some time to enjoy it. Coming soon, God's wonderful paint brush, starting in the North and painting His way toward the South we will see the Mountains and fall colors in all their splendor as only God can make it. Makes me wonder how anyone can not believe in God. So many of the most brilliant colors come from the poison trees and plants... Is there a message there, maybe how the evil can be made good when touched by God!

Ah, Monday and the day we pray for our leaders and all those who work so hard to keep us safe and free. Please pray for our President and other leaders and all members of our Military, and please pray for our granddaughter Brittany who suffered a broken leg in basic training, and now the Navy wants to put her out. She wants to stay in so bad and was to finish basic training this Friday. Her brother Daniel graduates on Friday. Prayers also today for the Saylor Family, Anna Troutman, Pastor Tony and Ruby. For David who is in the hospital waiting a lung transplant, and for Tammy who has stage 3 cancer.

Wash Job 1: Titus 3: 5 - He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (NIV)

Back in the late 50's and the early 60's we washed a lot of cars at service stations. We had a wash job we called the "Wet Wash" for one buck. A "Wet Wash" was washing the outside of the car only and not drying it down or doing the windows or anything inside the car. Today you can go to a professional car wash and you can still get the outside only washed. Each morning most of us get up and we go to the shower and we get a "Wet Wash" well except we towel off, MAYBE. We scrub behind our ears and all the places we can reach and we make ways to wash our backs and places we have trouble reaching... we wash between our fingers and between our toes, and we dry off and we stand before our mirrors and make ourselves pretty for the workplace or whereever we are going. Surely we do not want to offend anyone by the way we might smell. We put our arms to the sky and put stuff under our arms to help keep us dry and smelling good. The ladies put on perfume (sometimes way to much) and the men pile on the after shave, even if like me and must put it on a beard.. But like the car that was only washed on the outside, the inside of that car was still dirty... tracked in dirt, smoke covered windows, we are still dirty on the inside.

Now we can get a full service car wash at that car wash or we could do it ourselves. We pull that car up to the garage door and we drag out the shop vac and we clean that car really good, and believe it or not, most of the time it is done so it looks good for Sunday. Funny how we want the car to be clean inside and out, yet all so often we forget about our inners. Oh, there are times when we go for one of those colon tests that we drink all that junk and get cleaned out that way but we do not get our "heart, mind, and soul" cleaned. Folks, only God can do that, and He will only do it when He receives the request from You. Folks, this week I want to give examples of different things we spend time cleaning and how we forget about the parts of us that need the most cleaning.

Will you join me this week as we wash with soap, water, and well, come back and see what else we wash with.

Dear Father in Heaven, start me clean this week by forgiving me of my sins. Lord, I pray that others on the line ask that they are forgiven. Lord, please watch over our president and all those with authority over us. Be with our military and Lord, please as you watch over all of them, please help Brittany be healed and be able to stay in the Navy. Please, please be with David and Tammy heal the lung and the cancer. Be with the Saylor family, with Pastor Tony and Pastor Charles and their wives. Lord, be with the others on our prayer list. And Lord, help me each day to work more for You. Lord, some things in my life need to go to make room for more work for You, help me to adjust my time as You want it done. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Time for me to say, go forth and share those blessings... remember what you give in faith will be replaced over and over again. love ya, dan.