GETTING IT JUST RIGHT By Sally I. Kennedy

My husband enjoys relaxing in the living room, listening to me play the piano. Amateur though it is, I try to get it just right. He is gracious, and praises my playing, then I try even harder.

One year for his birthday, I planned to surprise him with a tape of me playing his favorite songs. Oh boy! Was that ever a project! Taping, re-taping, and patching it into my hand-held recorder was more than tedious. Still, I wanted to get it just right.

My piano playing is riddled with mistakes, yet to my husband it sounds wonderful. He doesn't notice the errors. He simply enjoys the music I am making.

How often we want to do everything just right for our heavenly father. We want to please him, be as good and nice as possible, make him proud of us. Because we are human, we can never be perfect and do everything just right. However, what is so cool is that in God's eyes, we are perfect. He loves us just as we are, and sees us as we will be.

What a relief we don't have to get everything just right for Him. God has already gotten everything just right for us. When we believe in Jesus, and His sacrifice for us, it all falls into place. Perfectly.

That is good news.

I AM A SOLDIER By David Langerfeld

I am a soldier in the army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Commanding Officer.
The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, Prayer, and the Word are my weapons of Warfare.

I have been taught by the Holy Spirit,
...trained by experience,
....tried by adversity,
....and tested by fire.

I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this Army or die in this Army;
But, I will not get out,
...sell out
....be talked out
....or pushed out.
I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable.
If my God needs, me, I am there.

I am a soldier.
I am not a baby.
I do not need to be pampered,
...petted,
....primed up,
....pumped up,
....picked up,
....or pepped up.

I am a soldier. No one has to call me,
...remind me,
....write me,
....visit me,
....entice me,
....or lure me.

I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place,
...saluting my King,
....obeying His orders,
....praising His name,
....and building His Kingdom!

No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy, or give me handouts.

I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to.

I am committed.
I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside.
I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.

When Jesus called me into this Army, I had nothing.
If I end up with nothing, I will still come out even.
I will win.

My God will supply all my needs.
I am more than a conqueror.
I will always triumph.
I can do all things through Christ.

Devils cannot defeat me.
People cannot disillusion me.
Weather cannot weary me.
Sickness cannot stop me.
Battles cannot beat me.
Money cannot buy me.
Governments cannot silence me, and
Hell cannot handle me!

I am a soldier.
Even death cannot destroy me.
For when my Commander calls me from this battlefield,
He will promote me to a captain.

I am a soldier, in the Army,
I'm marching, claiming victory.
I will not give up.
I will not turn around.
I am a soldier, marching, Heaven bound.
Here I stand! Will you stand with me?


"Choose you this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15


PRAYER
"Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me joy in seeking you more closely. Increase my faith in all your promises, my hope in the joys of heaven, and my love for You as my All."

HOW RICH ARE YOU? By Harold Sala

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward" (Matthew 10:42).

How rich are you? In 30 seconds you can take inventory, seeing how you rate in comparison to the rest of the world. I'll ask you four rather basic questions, and you can simply give a yes or no answer.

Question #1: Do you own more than one pair of shoes? Not too difficult to answer judging by the display of footwear on the floor or shelf of your closet.

Question #2: Do you own your own car, truck, or motorcycle? Again, not too tough when you consider the difficulty you may have finding a parking place for that second car, boat, or camper.

Question #3: Do you have a choice of food each day? Last question: Do you have more than one change of undergarments?

Listen carefully to how most people in the world answer. If you answered yes to three of those four questions, you are rich compared to most of the people in our world because only one in ten people around the world can answer yes to even three of those questions.

And you think you have it tough? Yes, riches are relative. When we were living in Asia, one of our children asked, "How come we are so rich here and so poor when we go home, [meaning to the States]?"

Most of the people of the world live only a meal away from hunger. Having no refrigerator they go to the market each morning to supplement their diet of rice or beans. Shortages, storms, or famine affect them, especially the poor of the world who grow poorer each day. According to the United Nations, 42,000 die of starvation each day. For them, poverty is terminal. But of course it is hard for most of us to relate to that as we look in the mirror and plan our next diet.

Riches and wealth are relative, yet no matter where you are in relationship to the rest of the world, what you have and need is intensely personal. If you are hungry, the condition of the rest of the world isn't as important as your immediate need. If you are a single mother and your income is exhausted and you live in a large city
surrounded by thousands of unfriendly strangers and no help is in sight, you are faced with a crisis of major proportions.

Bob Pearce, a man great in compassion who founded World Vision, wrote, "I have lived in Asia and seen the wretchedness and poverty and the revulsion of disease and the disgust of ignorance. I have also noticed that when you look the other way it is so much easier to pass by until you do not see it at all. The pain of suffering has been totally masked out by the little world you live in. Hunger, be it physical or
spiritual--lies at our doorstep. We do not ask for it; we do not like it; but nevertheless it is there. The needs of people knock one at a time. Eventually every person must answer the question, "What am I going to do about it?"

You can, of course, say, "That's not my problem!" and shut the needs of others from your mind; or you can say, "I can't change everything, but I can do something about the pain at my elbow."

Two friends were walking on a beach covered by starfish washed ashore by a high tide. The starfish were destined to die soon in the burning sun on the sandy beach. One man began picking up starfish and gently tossing them in the ocean. The friend says, "What are you doing? What difference does it make? You can't begin to save all of them." "True," he said, "but it makes a difference to the ones I save."

So is it, friend, with those you can do something about. Frankly, I don't have all the answers, but as I have come to grips with the enormity of the problem, it's amazing how I begin to see needs and hear the Spirit of God say, "Help, here!" or "Do something about this!" And when you do that, you do make a difference.

Resource reading: Matthew 10:37-42.

GRACE Author Unknown

When my son was in kindergarten, we used to take his little red wagon and walk to the library. While he was searching for the last of the books to return, I looked at the calendar and saw that the books were due back the day before.

"Oh, no', I said, 'we should have returned them yesterday but we still have three days grace."

'What's 'grace', Mom?' my son asked. I answered without thinking, "It means we are late in getting them back and owe a fine, but 'grace' means we don't have to pay."

A warm glow washed over me as I thought about what I had said. It was a perfect explanation of God's grace. When we come to him with our sins and confess our faults he extends his grace to us.

Christ provides that grace and 'we don't have to pay.'

PRAYER
"Lord Jesus, you fill us with the joy of your saving presence and you give us the hope of everlasting life with the Father in Heaven. Show me the Father that I may know and glorify him more fully."