Your Plans For Tomorrow

They were sitting there,  at a conference, when my grandfather looked at grandma with a big smile on his face and said, “Mama, I’m going home”; and plop, his face dropped into his soup. They say, grandma just sat there and giggled for a moment, before the reality of it all hit her. Without warning, grandpas body quit and his spirit was in heaven.

I have heard what seems like a million stories over the years, about how he/she was just sitting there, when they didn’t wake up or come home, they were found dead. In perfect physical condition, running everyday; they sat down on the couch and died. Surprise Surprise !!

I remember waking one evening, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, When I heard an almost audible voice, “call 911”. Then POW a horrible pain hit me in the chest and neck. I walked out of my room, looked at my daughter and said, “call 911” . All I remember is the paramedics asking questions I couldn’t answer; I couldn’t talk. It all seemed like a dream… but I also had that still small voice whispering; You are not going to die, not tonight. 

Below you will find today's devotional that inspired all this…

But First:

(James 4:13-17 NLT) "Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." {14} How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone. {15} What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." {16} Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. {17} Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it."

(James 5:1-3 NLT) "Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. {2} Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. {3} Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh in hell. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment."

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Plans of Tomorrow
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, May 13 2013
"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." - James 4:14b

A group of workplace believers meet at my office every week for fellowship, study, and prayer. One man attended our group for several years. Jim was well liked and in good health. One Thursday he showed up as usual. The next morning I received a call, "Jim is dead! He died in his easy chair last night!" Jim had no prior problems and there was no indication he was about to go be with the Lord. Naturally, it came as a shock to us all.

Whenever things like this happen close to home, it brings us face to face with our mortality. A friend of mine said he was challenged by someone to do an experiment. He challenged him to live his life for one year as if it were the last year he would live. He responded to the challenge and did as proposed. It changed his life forever. He began to focus on different priorities and people when he viewed life in these terms.

James gives us a perspective on viewing tomorrow.

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15).

Life is fragile. Consider where you are investing your time and energies. Someone once said they had never heard anyone on his deathbed say that he wished he had made more money in his lifetime or he wished he had made a certain deal. Usually it is something like, "I wish I had spent more time with my kids." Ask the Lord to give you His priorities for your life.

The Cost Of Obedience

Has God ever asked you to do something, that lit a fire under you; only to loose or fail? Well… it looked like you had lost or failed, in the eyes and ears of your family, friends or peers.  The emotional and spiritual devastation is amazing…

You were so sure you were doing what God wanted, that you sacrificed everything, gave up a career, or even let that relationship walk away. 

90% of the time, God does not reveal the miracles and victories you uncovered, and lives you touched, while obeying, loosing or failing at a task ordained by God… yet judged by culture, community, the church, family and peers.

Then, like a steam roller, the health, finances or relationships are crushed;  right in front of the world; adding fuel to the condemnation and judgment of others.  It isn’t long before you are getting sick of “You just have to…” whatever.

My favorite is, and its said in many ways…“God is punishing you, so I am stepping away until He has finished, and you are prospering again”.  Oh yes… I’ve been there… and lived it… it is amazing, the horrible things people say, and even make up; after the great fail or loss. At least in their eyes, it is a fail or loss… but great battles and victories were achieved during that time, that no one knows about… yet. 

Then every sort of evil, comes out of the woodwork, to kick you, while you are down. You want to runaway, get away from everyone that knows about this.  But that still small voice says, Stay Put… We are not done yet… But the devil can see the impact you are having, just being there.  He will do everything imaginable to get you to run… heck, your own humanity will start screaming RUN get out of here. I cannot take it anymore…  But the Holy Spirit says STOP… stay put… we are doing far more than you realize. 

Well, I guess I’m suppose to stop there.  Please read on, to the devotion that inspired this… or lit my fire this morning.  

I receive these devotionals on a daily bases, and every once in a while, one jumps out at me; and I am compelled to forward it or repost here. It is usually something that has already been on my mind, and I had not written it down.

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The Cost of Miracles
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Sunday, December 30 2012

"Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit'" (Matt 1:19-21).

There is often a cost associated with a miracle. Mary carried a miracle in her belly. No other woman in history had the distinction of birthing the Son of God. It was a one-time event in history. However, for 30 years she was viewed as a woman who was often judged, shamed by public opinion, rejected by her own, and thought to be an adulteress by her townspeople.

I can only imagine her cries at night, "You are God, you can help them understand I am not an immoral person. I am doing the will of God! Why must I be shamed and judged the same as a prostitute!" God's silence must have been difficult. She would not be accurately viewed for years to come. In many ways, she was called to the same path as Jesus was. He was rejected by His own people too.

Her finance Joseph was going to break off the engagement when he discovered she was pregnant. Had he not had a visitation from an angel, he too would have rejected her. However, he married her and also carried the stigma associated with a pregnancy that most assumed was immoral.

Sometimes we are called to experience rejection for the Son of God living in us. When we carry the cross of Christ, the world and even our families sometimes look at us as though we have a few marbles out of place. Jesus said that He did not come to bring peace. Even our families would judge us and think wrongly of us.

Yes, a miracle often has a cost. But that miracle is the seed for something imperishable. It is the seed of eternity in our hearts.

A Little Bit About Greg

Okay, I will put it in writing, though I have always said I wouldn't... But It will be easier to point at this blog than to tell it over and over again.  I'll be 55 in a few days... and hopes of ever being in a relationship have faded away.  I've been told over and over to not post or tell anyone I'm disabled as long as I can cover it up... especially if I ever hoped I would date again. But what the heck... here is a brief overview.  So I will just let it flow out... here we go! 


Over and over, my entire life, I begged God for a single profession. So I could establish an identity. So when people asked I could say.. I'm a carpenter... or a program coordinator... But no, every time I tried to lock into a profession, something would happen and I was into something new. Maintenance and remodeling worked good because I could use a multitude of gifts and talents all at once... then the accident... and bingo !  

NOW.... I'm into the computer and the internet. Just as my web business started taking off... BINGO!  Heart attack... then infection... boom.. another heart attack... open heart surgery... another infection... just as I'm starting to feel better BINGO!

Cut cut cut ... I loose half my colon to what they thought was cancer. And something happened to my leg along the way, and I now need a mobility scooter. All this since 2007... and the kids club is now gone, the computer lab gone, my website business.. POOF! gone.  

And Here we go again...

I'm not even counting the 9 surgeries I had before 2006... and the unidentifiable auto immune disorder. Yet, the CAT scans and tests, say I'm doing pretty darn good; and I'm not even on any heart meds anymore. Never did have high blood presure, or any of the usual heart stuff that tends to bring on an attack. 

I live it pain everyday. My skeletal structure, by bones, do not look real good on xrays. After I had put on 40lbs from the RA treatments I finally get into see a rheumatologist and I do not have RA... but I have Fibromyalgia and Polymyalgia ... Sucks Hey !   I still think the doctors just reach into a bag and pull out a name when they just don't know why your SED rate hovers between 60 and 90... and life hurts...

My life has been more like living four different lives in 10 year increments.  When change would come, it did so in a big way, completely changing everything.  Keeping me 100% dependent on God and his provisions.  Now it seems my creative side, poems, photography, writing... ect... just turned off. 

When I pray and ask God why I have to know so many things, he replies, "For a day that has not come yet..."  Thats it.. no details...  100% faith... in a day that has not come yet.  LOL.. Never imagine that God does not have a sense of humor. 


It feels really weird posting this... 


Greg