It seems like everyone wants to witness one of NASA's last space shuttle launch, and today's planed liftoff of the shuttle Endeavour is no exception. NASA has a long list of VIP guests for Endeavour's afternoon launch, and even Hollywood found a way to nab seats for the launch... Read More
SITUATION - When Samuel retired, Israel rejected his sons as judges and asked for king in spite of God's warning against this. Their request for a king was based on a desire to be like all the other nations.
OBSERVATION - Israel demonstrates that our desire to imitate the world may seem righteous at first, but the final result will be destruction.
INSPIRATION - We need to show how cold, black, hard and ugly we are, to get motivated to stay in that fire. Unless we do, we will never hate sin and fear sin and be repelled by sin enough to stay in the fire. (Says Tozer, "The Holy Spirit is first of all a MORAL flame.") . . .
I see how when liberalism waned and we evangelicals rose to popularity and were listened to, we could have given our authentic message and cried to the world. "Repent! Be radically cleansed of your sin! Received Jesus Christ's PURITY and HOLINESS for your lives!"
But instead, in that time of golden opportunity, we lost our courage. We Madison-Avenue-trivialized our glorious gospel. And we stained ourselves with the world's adulteries and fornication.
We must never weep; we must mourn! We must hate what He hates! Let us ask Him to forgive our unwashed praises before Him, our silliness, our ignorance. Let us see how our coldness, blackness, hardness, ugliness become colder, blacker, harder, uglier--unless in terror we wrench ourselves free and rush to His precious Fire! (From My Sacrifice, His Fire by Anne Ortlund)
Life Application Study Bible,, Max Lucado General Editor, New Century Version, Zondervan Press, page 319 Life Lesson 1 Samuel 8: 1-22 Israel Asks for a King
Make any casual meal into a party with these fun and unique sandwiches. Both kids and adults will have fun making and eating these creations and what better way to get kids to eat more veggies than to make them a fun sandwich like these...
Steven Gambrel's fresh, innovative approach to color and form has been widely celebrated in magazines and newspapers, including House & Garden, Elle Décor, Interior Design, Departures, New York Times, and New York Magazine. All of his projects share a classical sensibility that come alive with his individual mix of modern and traditional furnishings...
These springtime treats are perfect for Easter — or anytime! For more delicious desserts the whole family can help out with, have the kids bunny hop in and lend a hand with all our charming Easter cakes!
Photo credit: With a Greatful Prayer and a Thankful Heart
Making a beautiful French apple tart like this one is easier than you might think. It all comes down to a simple slicing technique—one that cookbook author and TV personality Sara Moulton learned during her time at New York's La Tulipe restaurant in the 1980s—in which uniform apple slices are fanned out in spirals that mimic the petals of a rose. To learn how please click on the link above.
If only one out of ten United States Citizens planted just two fruiting trees,
the world would be richer by nearly 6 billion pounds of fruit.
-Rosalind Creasy
Are You the Apple of His Eyes?
A few years ago a group of candy salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples.
Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding. ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got intouch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.
He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when theyarrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.
The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, 'Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?' She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister....." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued,"Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul:"Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too,have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.
Show-Stopping Desserts for Easter1 of 15 Celebrate the holiday with festive Easter desserts such as bunny cookies, easter egg cookies, strawberry cake, and colorful fruit tarts.
You can get very creative colouring your easter eggs – and it is fun to involve your children in the process as well. Some techniques are more complicated than others – but there really are very simple and easy ways to create a nice selection of colourful eggs....
Croatian Easter eggs, called pisanice (meaning "to write") are often decorated with a white star in southern Croatia and with flowers, pines and various geometric shapes in other parts of the country. The eggs were traditionally colored with natural dyes from vegetables like onions and beets....
Never look at what you have lost, look at what you have left.
Robert Harold Schuller
Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch."
Romona C. Carroll
The Lost Get Found
by Britt Nicole
Hello my friend
I remember when you were
So alive with your wide eyes
Then the light that you had in your heart was stolen
Now you say that it ain't worth stayin'
You wanna run but you're hesitatin'
I'm talkin' to me
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found
So when you get the chance
Are you gonna take it?
There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it
There's a girl on the streets, she's cryin'
There's a man whose faith is dyin'
Love is calling you
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found
The lost get found
Why do we go with the flow
Or take an easier road?
Why are we playin' it safe?
Love came to show us the way
Love is a chance we should take
I'm movin' out of the way
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
(Stand out)
Don't let your lights go down
Don't let your fire burn out
(Stand out)
'Cause somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe
Your idea of a good time after a bad day is a scoop of dulce de leche ice cream piled high atop a fudge brownie. You’re digging in because each creamy mouthful makes you feel inexplicably happy. Is that really so bad? ...
"We’re hardwired to eat for emotional reasons," Dr. May says. "From the moment you’re born and your mother holds you close to feed you, there’s an emotional connection between being fed and being loved. That’s why it’s counterproductive to say to people, ‘Just don’t ..."
WORDS TO WARM THE HEART
Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.
Coincidence? I think not!
~Author Unknown
Your stomach shouldn't be a waist basket.
~Author Unknown
A diet is the penalty we pay for exceeding the feed limit.
~Author Unknown
The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out.
~Author Unknown
Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.
~Author Unknown
People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.
Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection,
not in books alone but in every leaf in springtime.
Martin Luther
SUPERCHICKS
PURE
This is my brand new day starting now
I let go the things that weigh me down
And rob me of the beauty
That's to be found in life all around
And this is my prayer without ceasing
The negative releasing
And as I rise above my burden is easing
I bring the pure flow like water around
The rocks of life won't pull me down
I bring the pure flow drink so deep
The river of life my soul at ease
I bring the pure flow of water around
The rocks of life won't pull me down
I bring the pure flow rising above
The storms of life to live and love
This is my brand new day in the light
Troubles rising up on the left and the right
I keep my eyes fixed on where I want to go
The rest will follow
This is my brand new day starting now
Letting go of the ways that I fall down
The old can be made new the lost can be found
The lost will be found
My soul is at ease and I am free
My soul is at ease and I am free
This is my day
My soul is at ease and I am free
I am free
DIGGING DEEPER
These are the days of purification and separation [from all that is apart from Me] in the lives of all those who truly love Me - a purification and separation [unto Me] that will prepare them perfectly for the glorious days that lay just ahead.
...."And the clean person shall sprinkle [the water for purification] upon the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day, and on the seventh day the unclean man shall purify himself, and wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening. But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for purificationhas not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean"....
Numbers 19:19-20 The Amplified Translation
...."Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. "He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness"....
Malachi 3:1-3 NASB
...."For the grace of God [His unmerited favor and blessing] has come forward [appeared] for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness [irreligion] and worldly [passionate] desires, to live discreet [temperate, self-controlled], upright, devout [spiritually whole] lives in this present world, Awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus [the Messiah, the Anointed One], Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us [purchase our freedom] from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial [righteous]deeds...
[Deut. 14:2; Ps. 130:8; Ezek. 37:23]".... Titus 2:11-14]
"Eva Longoria decided formal attire would be best for her interview with David Letterman on Wednesday night. But the star must have been so eager to appear on "The Late Show" that she forgot to finish getting dressed in wardrobe.
The "Desperate Housewives" star appeared with Letterman on Wednesday to promote her new cookbook, "Eva's Kitchen," but all eyes -- especially the host's -- were on what she wore on set.
"I wore a tuxedo for you," she told Letterman, to which he replied, "That's only part of a tuxedo....."
