Repentance; April 13, 2025

Posted on April 14, 2025 by jgarrott

Luke 22:62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The contrast between Peter and Judas is sharp. Judas, recognizing what he had done, tried to take responsibility, fix the situation, if you will, by killing himself. (Matthew 27:5) Peter knew he couldn’t fix anything, so he went out and wept bitterly. (The Japanese says, violently.) I would not want to be in the place of either one, but I know I am capable of it, and I want to stay on the side of Peter. Don Francisco has given us what I feel is probably a very accurate, and certainly anointed, word picture of how it was for Peter in his song, He Is Alive. It helps us identify with Peter’s utter emotional devastation. We have no recorded details of it, but Paul says that Jesus appeared personally to Peter after the resurrection, before He showed Himself to the other apostles. (1 Corinthians 15:5) What Don Francisco did was to take that tidbit of information and flesh it out, and it gives us a glorious picture of repentance and forgiveness. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul contrasts, in a sense, Judas and Peter: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) If we have no sorrow for what we have done, it’s hard to say we have repented. Just saying, “Oops there,” doesn’t cut it. We need to accept that we have violated God’s rules that are for our good, and genuinely be sorry for having done so. On the shore of Lake Galilee, after His resurrection, Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to declare his love for Him three times, directly corresponding to the three times Peter had denied knowing Him. (John 21:15-17) Jesus then let him know some of what he would suffer for being a disciple, and it was a full restoration of Peter to his position of leadership among the 12. Forgiveness is real and absolute, but it requires repentance.

This is an area I need to focus and meditate on more. There have been times when I have repented with genuine sorrow, but there have also been times when it was much more of an “Oops there,” and that has not been good. I’m not the best judge of my own repentance! And I am certainly not appointed as a “repentance inspector” for anyone else. I am to walk in humility, knowing that in myself I am totally unreliable, but that Christ is able to keep me firm. I have a sad track record of temper outbursts, and today being our annual church business meeting, I’ve got to be humble. I believe that God is wanting to take us into a much higher level as a church, and I certainly don’t want to get in the way. I can’t do it, but He can!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You also for my wise daughter, who is certainly looking out for my best interests. Help me indeed track down the suspicious charges on my debit card, and do what is appropriate. Repentance takes many forms! Thank You. Praise God!

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Submission to God; April 12, 2025

Posted on April 13, 2025 by jgarrott

Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

This is one of the most famous recorded prayers in history, but we don’t let its implications seep into us deeply enough. Jesus was not a passive victim in His suffering; He went through it in very active submission to His Father. Part of His suffering was that He knew what was coming. I’m reminded of a video I’ve seen of the last person executed by guillotine in France, and how he looked being brought out of the building to where the guillotine was set up. In his case, death was quick and relatively painless, but what Jesus faced was the opposite. Man’s inhumanity to man indeed knows no bounds! The point is, Jesus chose to go through with it in order to fulfill the Father’s plan of salvation for mankind. We balk at much less suffering! However, this is what Jesus was talking about not long before He prayed this prayer: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) At this point, He needed a taste of His own medicine! We go through all sorts of things, but Jesus has gone through worse, and He is able to carry us through whatever we encounter.

This is very timely, not only because of the season of the year but because of the stress I’ve been going through in relation to tomorrow’s church business meeting. It is a gentle reminder that a business meeting is no comparison to a crucifixion! The stresses on me at this point are all minor, from an objective standpoint, but they add up, and my flesh wants to escape! It’s been many years now since the Lord told me to rest, relax, and rejoice, but I keep demonstrating that I don’t do that very well. It’s amusing to remember all the things I’ve told others, and need to apply them to myself. Just as Jesus needed to remember what He had told the disciples in the Upper Room, I need to remember to take my eyes off of myself and fix them on Jesus, just as it says in Hebrews 12. When He went through all that for me, I’m a total wimp if I run from anything He leads me to. Yes, in myself I am quite powerless, but as Paul discovered, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) God has good plans for me and for this church. I am to rest, relax, and rejoice to participate in those plans and see them come to pass, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. That I was dreaming about it shows the level of stress I’ve accepted. Help me be active in my submission to You, just as Jesus was, so that I may be fully useful to You in what You want to do in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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The Love of God; April 11, 2025

Posted on April 12, 2025 by jgarrott

John 17:26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

This High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, just before His horrible time of suffering, should absolutely blow us out of the water. It calls for meditation, humility, gratitude, and commitment. That the Son of God, the One through whom we were created, would care this much and in this way about us is absolutely incredible. I believe the Holy Spirit gave John perfect recall in recording this, and indeed, the whole Upper Room Discourse, because it needed to be preserved for believers down through the centuries, and human imagination would never have come up with it. There is a song that some would consider “cheesy,” but it touches on a profound truth: “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen of men can tell.” We are not currently capable of grasping that love in totality, but that doesn’t mean we can’t experience it, enjoy it, and share it. After all, Jesus prayed that love would be in us, and He Himself in us! The question becomes the degree to which we open ourselves to that love, to allow that love to cleanse and shape and empower us. That love isn’t weak or in any way impure, so it is never an excuse for unrighteousness. It is, oddly enough, the basis for God’s judgment of the world, which doesn’t fit in with our usual understanding of love at all. It is perfectly holy and perfectly self-sacrificial, as Jesus demonstrated in the hours after He prayed this prayer. We need to ask and allow the Holy Spirit to work it into and through us, not just for our benefit but so that it will accomplish all that God intends, for His glory.

I knew when I was drawing up this Scripture reading list that I was operating under the anointing of the Spirit, and using it day by day has certainly confirmed that. I couldn’t say how many times I’ve read these words, but they are burning in me with a fresh intensity, and I am deeply grateful. I seek to be a channel of God’s love, and my failures in this area bother me deeply. I am very aware that our definitions and categories of love are inadequate, even using New Testament Greek. There is currently friction between me and a brother whom I care about deeply, and I don’t know how to heal the current wound. The Lord just gave me a surprising illustration on this very point. I was distracted from my thought patterns by how dirty my keyboard was, so I unplugged it from the computer and whacked it, upside down, against my hand. I got an amazing amount of junk out of it! Sometimes God’s love involves unplugging us, turning us upside down, and whacking us! That doesn’t fit any of our conventional ideas of love, but it is “maintenance” and correction we certainly need. I fear being “unplugged” from God, and I certainly don’t relish being “turned upside down and whacked,” but I know I can trust God to do to me, and for me, what I need, so I’m not to be anxious about anything. His love is big enough to handle anything!

Father, thank You for yesterday and all it held. Thank You for Your protection during that incredible cloudburst while I was driving home. Thank You for Your anointing in the fellowship we had. Thank You for Your plans for today. I pray that we would flow with Your Spirit on Your schedule each moment, so that Your purposes may be accomplished for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Giving God Glory; April 10, 2025

Posted on April 11, 2025 by jgarrott

John 17:4 “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.”

This answers the very fundamental question of how do we give glory to God? Yes, singing His praises is good and important, but even more fundamental is simply doing the work He gives us to do. If we claim to belong to Him, but fail to do what He says to do, we are cheapening His name to those around us. Jesus perfectly glorified the Father because He perfectly fulfilled all that the Father gave Him to do. We certainly don’t have the same commission as Jesus, but we too can give glory to God by our obedience. That will look different for each believer, because we each have a different job description, just as Paul expounded on in 1 Corinthians 12, but if the faithfulness is there, God will be glorified. It doesn’t matter at all if our job is or is not something the world might recognize as “great.” Some of Jesus’ highest words of praise were for a woman who simply gave Him her all, in the form of a jar of perfume. (Matthew 26:6-13) Frankly, we aren’t good judges of our own deeds. That’s why Paul said, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4:3-4) However, we are to be seeking the Lord for what He wants us to do each moment, and apply ourselves fully to it as an offering to Him.

This is something that I frankly haven’t thought about very deeply. I do desire to do God’s will on His schedule, but I haven’t thought about it very much in terms of glory. Maybe I need to! I do know that I have the greatest joy and satisfaction when I am aware that I am in the flow of His Spirit. That’s one of the things that gives me anticipation for heaven, because I know that there I will constantly be in that flow, and I can hardly imagine it! The glory of this world is fleeting and unimportant, but it can still be distracting. I am to indeed seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, doing all He tells me to do in the way He tells me to do it, knowing that as I give Him glory in that way, His glory will be reflected back on me, and that is a higher honor than anything this world can bestow.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for causing me to pause my devotions at the beginning and write an apology to a brother I offended, That too is doing Your will! Thank You that I just passed my kidney stone! It’s exciting, not only that I passed it but also that I was able to collect it so simply, to be able to take it to the doctor for analysis. I feel somewhat giddy on that issue! Help me be a good steward on every level of this body You have given me, so that it will be fully available for whatever You want me to do, for Your glory indeed. Thank You. Praise God!

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God’s Loving Care; April 9, 2025

Posted on April 10, 2025 by jgarrott

John 16:26-27 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

This directly counters the sadly widespread practice of praying to Mary or various saints, for whatever reason. That practice actually betrays a small concept of God, that He can’t be bothered with all our little prayers. That’s a lie of the devil! Interestingly, it is as we have developed more and more powerful computers that this becomes easier to understand. Current supercomputers can handle an incredible number of diverse inputs, and with parallel processing can deal with each one with speed. Quantum computers, long posited but now coming into reality, can do that with exponentially greater speed. The God who created the universe is greater than all of that put together, so He has no problem hearing each individual prayer, caring about it, and responding with perfect wisdom, love, and holiness. It’s the ultimate in “parallel processing!” He cares about all of mankind, but that doesn’t preclude Him caring about each individual. We can’t do that to anything like that degree, so we have trouble believing that He can. We need to stop casting God in our image, and understand that in His incredible grace and mercy He made us just a little bit like Him. (Genesis 1:27. Incidentally, that verse is the biggest reason the devil is trying to convince people there are more than two genders, because he wants to deny this fundamental fact of creation.) One of the multiple, incredible miracles of Jesus’ ministry was that He opened the way for our direct communion with the Father. It’s all because of Jesus, and it is indeed through Him, but the Father loves us and hears us directly, as Jesus proclaims here.

I have never been one for very formal prayers. I actually think those who switch into “King James English” when they pray don’t have a very close relationship with the One to whom they are praying! I have long been convinced that God hears everything I think, not to mention speak, even if it’s not directly aimed at Him. One of the few times I have heard Him speak in what seemed like an audible voice illustrates that. I was lying in bed, not praying but just thinking, “There are so many things I wish were different.” As clear as it could possibly have been, I “heard” Him say to me, “How do you think I feel?” That not only blew me out of the water, it convinced me of two very important truths. The first is that God’s gift of free will to mankind has produced a lot of “collateral damage” that isn’t pleasing to Him, but that He has a final solution to it all, as expressed in Revelation. The second is that God is indeed aware of us at every moment, and He cares. I was a small child when I was first introduced to 1 Peter 5:7, that I learned (in a mix-mash of translations) as “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” The sad thing was that adults seemed to think that was a verse just for children, that they had to work things out for themselves. I have learned that nothing could be further from the truth, and I am eternally grateful.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the blessed time we had yesterday with our close friend who has returned to Japan after 30 years away. I do pray Your abundant blessings and anointing on him and his ministry, and on our relationship, so that the Body of Christ may be built up in this nation indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Ears to Hear; April 8, 2025

Posted on April 9, 2025 by jgarrott

John 16:12-13 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Jesus’ disciples had been with Him for over three years, but they still hadn’t seen Him resurrected, so their faith wasn’t at the point where He could tell them everything. Genuine faith grows, particularly when it is exercised. We should always seek to be growing, but we shouldn’t put ourselves or others down for spiritual immaturity. At this point the disciples didn’t have what today we would define as “saving faith.” Paul defines that as “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) Anyone who meets that simplest of criteria is a Christian, however ignorant, immature, or misguided they might be otherwise. Since in their experience Jesus hadn’t been crucified, buried, and resurrected yet, the disciples didn’t yet have saving faith. However, Jesus knew that day would come, so He promised the Holy Spirit to fill them in on all the things they weren’t yet ready to hear. We too need to be eager to hear whatever the Spirit says to us, listening with all humility and the faith that God gives us. Frankly, there are things that if we are told too much too soon, we might balk and even run away. We need to operate in the revelation we have been given, exercising the faith we have been given, and ask the Lord to show us what we need to know when we need to know it, not insisting on knowing it ahead of time.

There have been various things in my life that, had I known about them ahead of time, I would have balked. However, God in His mercy brought me to them and through them, growing me in the process. I have had to learn that I have no monopoly on maturity or insight, and listen carefully to what the Lord says to me through my brothers and sisters in faith. As a pastor/teacher I am tasked with sharing the insight I have been given. I am to pray for my hearers, but not put them down if they can’t seem to grasp what is being said. After all, there was a time when I couldn’t have grasped what I tell people sometimes! I am never to get puffed up over “superior revelation,” but rather recognize the Lord’s grace in revealing things to me and ask Him to pour that grace out on my hearers. The Holy Spirit is more than able to handle the job!

Father, thank You for this reminder. You bring me in contact with a wide variety of people. Today I will be with someone of great spiritual maturity, and tomorrow with someone who doesn’t yet have even saving faith. Help me be a channel of Your love and grace to both, receiving through them what You want to say to me as well, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Prayer; April 7, 2025

Posted on April 8, 2025 by jgarrott

John 15:6 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”

Every bit of the Upper Room Discourse is so loaded, it calls for meditation on virtually every word! Recently, in reading The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, by Frank Viola, I gained fresh insight into this verse. I had not known, before reading it, that in that culture students/disciples usually chose what teacher they were going to follow, so when Jesus spent the night in prayer and then chose the 12, He was breaking societal norms. That makes this verse all the more pointed. It really should blow our minds that He has chosen us. That shouldn’t inflate our ego, but rather cause us to seek to know just why He did that. Jesus Himself gives the ultimate goal of it right here in this verse: that we should go and bear lasting fruit. If we aren’t bearing fruit, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light on us so that we will see where we need to repent and correct. Jesus adds something here that can confuse us, because of our immaturity and greed. The idea of being able to ask the Father for anything at all and receive it triggers all sorts of motives. We need to grasp what it means to ask in Jesus’ name. We tend to tack that on casually to every prayer, without considering whether what we have just prayed is actually in line with Jesus’ character and will. After all, that is exactly what “operating in someone’s name” is supposed to mean. If we are indeed focused on His kingdom and His righteousness, (Matthew 6:33) then we will indeed pray in His name, but if not, then we are just saying empty words.

This is actually something I have spent a lot of time thinking about. As I have commented before, in my family growing up, prayer was as natural as breathing. That was an incredibly blessed experience! At the same time, I have always struggled with just why prayer works. After all, why would the Creator of the universe listen to me? And here, He is saying that He chose me! At times I really wonder about His judgment in that, but He knows and I don’t. At this point in my life, I really tend to focus on the “remain” part of this verse, because I am sharply aware that I won’t remain forever, on this earth at any rate, and the whole concept of legacy looms big. What I need to remember is that Jesus chose me to bear lasting fruit, and though I can’t make that happen in my own strength and wisdom, He can certainly do it through me. As He has told me to do, I am to rest, relax, and rejoice, not getting in His way but allowing Him to do in and through me everything He desires, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for the good service yesterday, and particularly for the girl from Trinidad. I pray that she will be able to find a good, simple way to get here every Sunday from now on, because she certainly seemed hungry for Christian fellowship. Thank You for the really good marriage counseling session in the evening. I pray that Your words through me would abide in them and bear abundant fruit. Thank You for all You have planned for today. May I spend each moment in fellowship with You so that I will be acting as Your agent in everything I do, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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God’s Timing; April 6, 2025

Posted on April 7, 2025 by jgarrott

Matthew 17:1-2 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

We hardly ever know God’s timing. Jesus had said, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28) Then here, just six days later, three of the disciples see Jesus in His glory. They obviously didn’t expect that! God’s promises are sure, whether they are fulfilled six days or 6,000 years later. That’s why Peter, one of the three privileged disciples here, later wrote, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Peter 3:8) We can say that and think we understand it, but we have a hard time wrapping our minds around it emotionally. Patience is a huge part of faith! That’s why one of the favorite expressions in the whole Bible is “wait in hope,” or “wait expectantly.” Japanese has an expression that says that perfectly, but for some reason, Bible translations in English rarely put it as a compound, saying either “wait” or “hope.” One of the most famous places that appears happens to be our Verse for the Year in this church: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) That has been set to music as “They that wait upon the Lord,” but  just waiting gets old very quickly! That’s why Peter also famously told us to be prepared to “give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15) When we wait in hope, that is the very definition of faith, and people take notice. More importantly, God takes notice, and He approves.

This certainly applies to me no less than it does to anyone else! We have been in Omura now for 43 years, and though we have seen some fruit, we haven’t seen the fulfillment of the vision God gave us of Omura becoming the foremost Christian city in the nation, as it was 450 years ago. Whether anyone remembers me when that does happen is unimportant. God said it, so that settles it. Recently many people have been feeling that the Lord’s return is imminent. That could well be, but as my wife and I say to each other, anytime someone gives a specific date, we can be sure it won’t happen that day! There are people with whom I’ve shared the Gospel who haven’t seemed to respond, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. I am to operate always in hope, but never try to put God into a box. God’s timing is perfect, and ours hardly ever is! I am to walk in faithful obedience, never letting go of hope, so that His will may be done in and through me for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Next week we’ll be having our annual business meeting, and we need to know what You want us doing this fiscal year. Help us have unity of purpose because we are agreed with You, so that the love we have for each other would proclaim Christ to those around us, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Listening to God; April 5, 2025

Posted on April 6, 2025 by jgarrott

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Every verse of today’s passage is very meaningful, but this verse is the one that came to mind when I started working on a Scripture list for the Easter season. The point that caught my attention was that Jesus began to show His disciples what He was going to go through. Even that was enough to gain a very negative response from Peter, who of course was the one disciple who explicitly denied he even knew Jesus, when push came to shove. I am regularly struck by how God loves us even in spite of knowing every detail of our weaknesses! Regardless, Jesus did let His disciples know what was going to happen, but it didn’t really sink in. It was only after He was resurrected that they remembered it all, and then it took angels reminding them! (Luke 24:8) To me this shows how dense we can be, and how we need to ask and allow the Holy Spirit to explain things to us in ways we can really grasp them, both in terms of understanding and in knowing how we are to respond and act. We don’t know how limited our own frame of reference is, and so don’t know what we don’t know. However, God in His grace will help us, if our hearts are open to Him, and as He told Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3) We certainly don’t have the “mental horsepower” to figure things out on our own, but He will indeed show us all we need to know to flow with His Spirit in His plans for His glory.

The issue of a framework to be able to understand what you’re hearing is something I deal with constantly in ministering to Japanese. As I have mentioned before, some of the most basic elements of the Gospel are outside of their culture. It’s not at all that they can’t learn them, but I have to teach them the elements before it can begin to fit together in their hearts and minds. Chief among those are love, sin, and forgiveness. The Japanese “field” needs a lot of cultivation before the seed of the Gospel can bear much fruit! However, nothing is impossible for God, so I’m never to give up, whether my function is plowing, adding fertilizer, or simply removing rocks. That image is very clear to me at the moment, because I’m getting to work on our garden plot. There’s enough work to be done that I know I can’t do it alone, but I had some help yesterday and I should not hesitate to ask for help as things progress. Only then will I get the harvest I desire!

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the very timely metaphor. Thank You for the “deep cultivation” You enabled me to do with one man yesterday morning, and for the lighter cultivation I could do with the man who helped me in the afternoon. May I not be impatient, but do each thing, both in the garden and in ministry, as You direct on Your schedule, to gain the harvest You desire, in vegetables and in souls, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Mortality; April 4, 2025

Posted on April 5, 2025 by jgarrott

2 Peter 1:13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body.

Since contemporary records tell us that Peter was martyred, this statement by him isn’t quite the same as some greying senior pastor with medical issues. Even so, there is a lot of commonality, since all of us are going to die at some point. The awareness of our mortality should give every one of us a focus on how we’re spending our time here. Young people, not unreasonably, have very little grasp of their own mortality, and so can hardly wait for time to pass. It’s only years later that they look back and realize how foolish they were. Likewise, young parents often fail to savor the time they have with their children, being so busy with what they “have to do” that they miss life itself. We can be so foolish! The fact that we exist on this earth means God has a purpose for us, and that purpose is good, whether we realize it or not. In the case of senior adults, advancing age generally brings diminished physical capabilities, but that in no way negates the reality that God always has productive things for us to do. I well remember one of my aunts, the wife of my mother’s older brother, who was blind and essentially bedridden before she passed in her 90s. When my wife and I visited her in the nursing home where she lived she was complaining to us that God wouldn’t take her home, when she thought she was more than ready. Later in the conversation she told us about one of her grandsons who “almost divorced” but she prayed for him, and the marriage seemed to be healed. I pointed out to her that showed she still had work to do, because being blind and in bed meant she had plenty of time to pray! Everyone has different work to do, but there is always something. Peter here is rightly recognizing that those who had come to Christ through his ministry needed encouragement in their faith, and that was something he could do even at a distance, regardless of his physical situation.

At 76, I am well past the life expectancy of the 1st Century, but with modern medicine, and being in generally good health, I could well have another 20 years, if the Lord waits that long. My recent bout with a kidney stone was a good reminder to stay focused! I have many advantages over Peter in terms of getting God’s message out, with YouTube and Facebook Live and such. My blog goes out by email to over a thousand people every day, not to mention those who read it on the church Facebook page. However, all of those are meaningless if I’m not using them in obedience to my Lord. If all I’m doing is spouting off my own ideas, it doesn’t benefit anyone! God does want me to enjoy my time here, but if that is my focus, it will quickly become meaningless. As I tell couples in marriage counseling, being focused on your own happiness is self-defeating, but if you seek God in how to bless your spouse, your own happiness can go through the roof! If I focus on what I get out of life it will all be very shallow, but if I focus on what I put into life, I as well as those around me are blessed.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that Cathy and I were able to visit that lady yesterday. I’m sure we were more blessed than she was, though she seemed very grateful indeed. Thank You for Your plans for today. Help me seek and follow Your schedule every day, so that my time here, however long or short it might be, will be spent as You desire and intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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