TOP TEN PREDICTIONS Author Unknown

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost.

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick.

OPENED AND CLOSED By Marion Smith

The red headed woodpecker was perched on the tree, intently pecking away. He was a large bird and the colors on his head and back were very vivid. It was a lovely vision; one I didn’t think could be improved upon. Then he took off in flight. When he spread his wings I knew the sight was more beautiful to behold. In the moments I was able to watch him before he flew out of sight, I saw a pattern to his wing span that was remarkable. This woodpecker was definitely more beautiful with his wings opened up. The same is true of an oriental fan. When the fan is closed you are unable to see the beauty of it. You know it is there, but until that fan is unfolded, you are not able to have a visually enjoyable experience. But just shake that fan out,.. let it unfold, and they beauty of the design or picture appears.

This is also true in the life of a Christian. If we stay all folded up, into our selves, and never fan ourselves out, the beauty of God in our lives will not be shared.

It is good and wonderful to have the love of Christ within ourselves, but even as we do, God calls us to open our wing of love – serving others and sharing with them what He has given to us.

Let’s start today and unfold our wings, taking off in flight in whatever direction God sends us.

OPENED AND CLOSED By Marion Smith

The red headed woodpecker was perched on the tree, intently pecking away. He was a large bird and the colors on his head and back were very vivid. It was a lovely vision; one I didn’t think could be improved upon. Then he took off in flight. When he spread his wings I knew the sight was more beautiful to behold. In the moments I was able to watch him before he flew out of sight, I saw a pattern to his wing span that was remarkable. This woodpecker was definitely more beautiful with his wings opened up. The same is true of an oriental fan. When the fan is closed you are unable to see the beauty of it. You know it is there, but until that fan is unfolded, you are not able to have a visually enjoyable experience. But just shake that fan out,.. let it unfold, and they beauty of the design or picture appears.

This is also true in the life of a Christian. If we stay all folded up, into our selves, and never fan ourselves out, the beauty of God in our lives will not be shared.

It is good and wonderful to have the love of Christ within ourselves, but even as we do, God calls us to open our wing of love – serving others and sharing with them what He has given to us.

Let’s start today and unfold our wings, taking off in flight in whatever direction God sends us.

THE ONION Author Unknown

I was an onion before Christ set me free.
Layers upon layers of iniquity.
An ugly old onion whose fragrance was strong;
That my Jesus bought and loved all along.

Unknown to me what He was going to do.
Of what He was planning, I had not a clue.
Pulling each layer off one by one.
In order to make me more like Jesus the Son.

The first layer wasn't so bad.
I saw all the sins that I knew I had.
They were easy to fix, just change the way I talk.
And learn more of how He wanted me to walk.

Reading His Word, and learning again;
How to put aside my life of sin.
But the next layer was pulled which hurt more.
He was getting closer to the core.

Unknown what He would find there.
I simply gave it to Him in prayer.
As another layer was removed, He started to cry;
Pulling this layer brought pain to my Father on High.

And I was crying over the sadness I felt;
The brokenness and all of the guilt.
Past memories that I thought were gone;
They were buried under layers disguised in a fragrance so strong.

As onions peel more and more;
And they put tears in our eyes as we get close to the core;
So my Father wept over my pain;
Giving me a balm of comfort and strength to sustain.

"No More Layers." I would scream.
As He continued to peel them off of me.
"I'll have nothing left my Lord, what will I do?
I'll be nothing but a worthless core to you. "

But He just said "Trust me," and continued to peel
I was sure He was blinded to my pain that was so real.
Year after year I shrunk more and more;
Until all that was left of this onion was a core.

It was then that I began to understand;
As the Lord embraced me in His loving hand.
He said, now and only now can you be;
The creation that will minister before me.

Clothed with the righteousness only from above;
Gone are your layers of self so you can be filled with my love.
He took my layers of sin, hurt and pain;
And clothed me with love, truth and mercy in His name.

Yes, we are all onions, learning with each day;
How to overcome as each layer is taken away.
Some layers tear and pull at our heart;
While others grieve us to our innermost part.

But we are nothing but an ugly onion without Christ.
Layers upon layers of pride, sin and strife.
Only God can take those layers away.
And clothe us with His righteousness in that final day.

SOMEONE ELSE'S BIRTHDAY By Sally I. Kennedy

She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. Luke 2:5-7

After Christmas, a couple years ago, I received an email from a family friend, a young mom who was commenting on her toddler's take on Christmas.

"I think my son will really look forward to Christmas next year - now that he gets it - on the kid level anyway. He knows it is Jesus' Birthday and I think he's pretty impressed that on someone else's birthday - he gets all the gifts!"

Short and sweet. Profound truth. The "kid level" is where I hope I'm at now this time of year has rolled around. For a lot of reasons, particularly because it's Someone else's birthday.

Happy birthday, Jesus!

45 LESSONS OF LIFE By Regina Brett

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio. "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay cheque.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion, Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

HAVE YOU SHARPENED YOUR AXE? Author Unknown

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job.

"That depends," replied the foreman. "Let's see you fell this tree." The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, "You can start Monday."

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by. Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, "You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today."

Startled, the young man replied, "I thought you paid on Friday."

"Normally we do," said the foreman. "But we're letting you go today because you've fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you've dropped from first place on Monday to last place today."

"But I'm a hard worker," the young man objected. "I arrive first, leave last and even have worked through my coffee breaks!"

The foreman, sensing the young man's integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, "Have you been sharpening your axe?"

The young man replied, "No sir, I've been working too hard to take time for that!"

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to "sharpen the axe" In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But God doesn't want us to get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like taking time to pray, to read and study scripture or to listen to "the still small voice of God."

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness. Take time today to sharpen your axe!

FAMILY TREES By Sally Ireland Kennedy

In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ... Ephesians 1:4-5

This month our family, like many others, plan to gather for family reunions. A special time for members of the same family tree to get together,catch up, share past stories, and see how the kids have grown. Some folks don’t have other opportunities to visit in between the reunions, except perhaps at weddings or funerals. It’s an wonderful time for families, and the memories priceless.

A few friends of mine are deep in the branches of their family trees.
I’ve heard of people doing this in preparation for a family reunion,
too. Thanks to my mom and a relative of my dad’s, we have family tree records going back many generations on one side and the early 1800’s on the other. I treasure the information and have passed it on to my children.

Discovering our earthly geneologies can be interesting. Yet nothing can compare to our spiritual heritage. As believers, we share the same family tree and are all children of the patriarch, Abraham. (Romans 11:17 And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in)

Not only are we children of Abraham, in Christ we are children of our Father God. As believers, we are adopted by Him, making us members of His glorious, redemptive family tree. (John 1:12 to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God) (Romans 8:15-17 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs.)

We may never learn our family tree here, yet the amazing thing is we know we are a part of, and have, the most amazing family tree that could ever be - all recorded in God’s word.

That is good news.

USE CAUTION WHEN ASKING! By Marion Smith

We arrived at the 5 story Embassy Suite in Detroit, Mich., ready to unpack and settle in. “May I see which room we will be in?”, I asked. The receptionist showed me the floor plan of the hotel, and I proceeded to pick the perfect room for us. Only a few had balconies - fresh air was a must for me ! And, I had noticed when we walk in, there were a lot of birds in two trees out front. . perfect.. I want to hear those birds chirping their cheerful morning songs! As I opened the sliding glass doors to allow the refreshing cool breeze into our room, I was assaulted with the unrelenting drone of cars traveling on the freeway nearby. “Well,” I thought” that is o.k., the fresh air and balcony is worth the noise.” As we closed the door for the night, we were unable to shut out the freeway noise. The next morning we awoke and I could hardly wait to open those sliding doors and listen for the birds chirping their sweet songs from the trees. Instead I heard a raucous racket of angry mother birds protecting their nests in the eve above our balcony. As other variety of birds would sweep toward their nests, they would holler and squawk unmercifully. The sounds they made grated my nerves and I finally closed the door, trying to shut out some of the noise.

I was so disappointed- I had received exactly what I had asked for, and it turned out to be.. ”not so good”- to say the least!

This scenario reminded me how cautious I should be when I go to God with a request. Answers which I think may be “perfect” are not always so. Actually, my plans are very often quite bad, and always short sighted. God tells us in the Bible that –He has plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future( Jeremiah 29:11).-. I really need to be careful, as I pray, to seek God’s wisdom (looking in His Word) and praying for His guidance as I place my requests at the foot of His throne. I must always remember that He sees the big picture- not just a short term solution or a quick fix for something which I think needs immediate attention. When prayers are not answered in the way I had hoped, I need to return to that scripture which reminds me that God has a wonderful plan for my life and that of each person I pray for. Then I need to thank Him for being, and staying, in control.