Sunday 8/23/15 Old Sliding Board

Dear Father in Heaven:  Lord, it has been a long, long time since I have put out a message for You, and I am sorry. However, if it is Your will, I really want to get back to this. Please, Lord, help me with Your Word. Today I pray for that and also for You to relieve pain in the bodies of Dolores and also me, Lord. I pray for Gospel singer Buck Rambo and I ask Your healing hand upon him. Also for the mother of Carol and Elaine who is having serious  heart problems and other health issues. I also pray for peace today, worldwide peace. I pray today for Young's United Methodist Church and their outreach to school students as schools open. I also pray for the safety of children going to and from school on school buses and even those who walk. Please, Lord, help this be a safe school year. Now, Lord, please help me with a daily message. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters. The last fresh message I wrote was on June 4th of this year. I put out a rewrite on Independence Day. I am praying to get back to this daily. Thanks for all of you who have been asking about my health and what is going on. Just a short note on that. I had a crash-out in my health caused by the long-time use of Percocet which is Oxycodone. I have been on that since December 24, 1990, after I was struck in the rear while stopped in a line of traffic on my motorcycle. What happened was I awoke one morning feeling great and thought the good Lord had healed me. So I stopped taking the medication. That was not the smartest thing I have done in my life. My medications are now adjusted and I am doing much better. I also had my teeth removed and was put to sleep to do that and that set me back, resulting in me dropping to 147 pounds.

On the advice of the doctors regarding our health, we have closed our beloved food pantry and donated the remaining food to two other food pantries. We still have one rescue dog and a puppy we purchased a few years back. We also have a bunch of cats we take care of. We pray that we will be able to spend time in Santa's House telling the real meaning of Christmas to some of God's children. And of course I am going to get back to writing for our Good Lord.

We appreciate all your support over the years; however, since we have closed the food pantry, we have returned checks sent to us for that purpose. If you want to keep supporting Carry The Light Ministries, we would appreciate that. Your dollars, along with ours, will be supporting the other parts of the ministry, which includes writing (and yes, the computers have cost us a lot of dollars as we have had them hacked over and over.) We will also be purchasing Bibles through Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, most of which we ask to be sent to Russia. Please keep us in your prayers as we go forward walking and working for Jesus until the day He calls us home.

Sunday:  August 23, 2015:  That Old Sliding Board

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good and pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)

Titus 3:4/7 4 - But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washings of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 who 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 days of my childhood when the streets were still dirt and the Dead Sea was still just sick, we did not have money to go to real amusement parks. We were, however, blessed by having a city-funded playground called the "Luce Street Playground." We had a small baseball field made of long grass and stones, a swing set, tether ball, see-saws, and one really tall sliding board. Yes, we also had a picnic table, and we had a "playground instructor." One of the things I remember was that old sliding board, yes, high and made of steel.

Looking back to those days sort of reminds me of my Christian walk, my personal walk with Jesus, my dear Lord and Savior. It seems we tried to go up the sliding board part of the slide instead of going up the steps. First we would send someone down sitting on wax paper to make it fast. Then we would try and go up the slide. I would look at the top and get back and take a ruin on it getting part way up and sliding back. As I worked at it I would get a tad farther up and slip back again. Over and over I would try and try each time coming back down. We were not to be doing this at all and it did make our instructor get upset, but we just went on trying and trying. No, we could not hold onto the sides, we just had to make a run for it. One day I came to realize that if I was ever going to make it I needed to grab on and pull myself up, sometimes even with the help of others. Looking back, it reminds me of my climb to salvation.

My goal was to come to Christ and yes, I did that, but some days I did not hold on and I took that slide backwards down the hill, only this time it would have been Calvary's hill. I lost my focus on Jesus. But as the scriptures say that God gave me today, I just needed to renew my focus on Jesus and He would send the Holy Spirit over me and cover my sins once again with His wonderful Grace and Mercy.

Brothers and sisters, if you lost your focus on our Lord Jesus, you also could slip backwards. I did not say that if you are saved you would lose your salvation, but you surely will miss out on a lot of good things when not walking FULLY with Jesus daily. So today as I get back to writing, I want to tell you that since I have been away from the line I have addressed myself and also the Ministries of Carry The Light and I am pleased to tell you that I HAVE RENEWED WITH JESUS CHRIST, and I am holding on tight. I have been forgiven and am moving forward again. Please keep us in your prayers, but more important than that, please keep your eyes focused on our Lord Jesus Christ and stay off that old sliding board. Our Lord Jesus is ALWAYS there for us. All we need to do is focus and keep our eyes on Him.

As I close this day I do want to remind you of this. Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, the only way (John 14:6). Your church cannot get you in, your spouse cannot get you in, your pastor or priest cannot get you in. Only Jesus. Please join me this day and either renew or come to Jesus.

Dear Father in Heaven, please forgive me of my sins and wash me with Your blood. Thanks for dying for us on the cross. I love You and I have faith in You, and Lord, I believe each and every Word in my Bible. My prayers and praises come to the Father through Jesus His Son and our Savior. Amen.