 Memorial Day, traditionally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembering those who have fallen in our nation’s service. During my high school years, I would play taps at local cemeteries on Memorial Day where special services included a color guard and a 21 gun salute to honor the fallen.
In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:
We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
On Memorial Day the flag is raised to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to the half-staff position, where it remains until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day.
The half-staff position remembers the more than one million men and women who gave their lives in service of their country. At noon their memory is raised by the living, who resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain.
From http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp
“In its first 100 years of existence, over 683,000 Americans lost their lives, with the Civil War accounting for 623,026 of that total (91.2%). Comparatively, in the next 100 years, a further 626,000 Americans died through two World Wars and several more regional conflicts (World War 2 representing 65% of that total). “
The war among ourselves remains the most costly war America has ever fought.
The Bible records a stone that was placed as a war memorial, reminding the people that God had helped them defeat their enemies and to remain unified under His rule.
1 Samuel 17:12
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the Lord helped us.”
( Ebenezer means “stone of help”.)
Conflicts within nations, businesses, organizations, churches, families and marriages continue to be the most costly. Our nation needs to have a stone of remembrance that God has helped us and will be our deliverer when we are unified under His rule.
 Bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. A significant theme in his church, ministry and his life is that God wants to release things here on earth the way they are in heaven. The peace of heaven, justice of heaven, purity of heaven, healing of heaven and every aspect of heaven is to be prayed for, hoped for and lived for today. Jesus instructed His followers to pray for this, “here on earth as it is in heaven” and to promote this kingdom living.
In an article titled, “You’ve Got The Power!” (March 2012 Charisma) Bill Johnson writes, “While Jesus is eternally God, He emptied Himself of His divinity and became a man (see Phil. 2:7). It’s vital to note that He did all His miracles as a man, not as God.”
Johnson continues, “ If He did them as God, I would still be impressed. But because He did them as a man yielded to God, I am now unsatisfied with my life, being compelled to follow the example He has given us. Jesus is the only model for us to follow.”
I understand Jesus on earth was 100% God and 100% man. I always considered that miracles were beyond human ability because we do not have the 100% God part. I thought that the miracles done by anyone other than Jesus were extraordinary people. But, then I read passages like James 5:17 which says, “Elijah was a man justlike us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.”
Jesus told His disciples and included future followers that they would do greater things than He has done. I have concluded that Jesus really expected His disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom of God. Jesus really expects followers today to do the same.
Like Bill Johnson, I am compelled to follow Jesus’ example. It seems like a very high and difficult standard to follow. The strategy is simple.
Only do what the Father is doing.
How?
By being completed yielded to God.
What is your reaction to Bill Johnsons’ statements?
Comment here:
 Everyone is in a position of either giving or receiving correction; whether you are a parent, teacher, student, church volunteer, business owner or a new employee. Each of us can easily remember times of harsh or unfair correction. Hopefully you also have people in your life who build you up with encouragement and careful correction. These people are true gifts because they see your strengths, weaknesses and have your best interest in mind.
Priscilla and Aquila were a husband/wife team who gave correct correcting to a friend named Apollos.
Acts 18:24-26 (NIV)
24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
They realized two things about Apollos. One, he was sharp and smart with God’s word. Two, he was missing some key truths that should be part of his life and his teachings. With courtesy and respect, they corrected him in the privacy of their home.
Seven keys to giving correction:
1. Publicly praise, privately correct.
2. Begin by sharing strengths and positive points.
3. Be truthful, factual, and respectful.
4. Suggest brief strategies for improvement or change.
5. Offer a time-frame for accomplishing the improvement and ask if it is a fair expectation.
6. Schedule a follow-up meeting. (Step #4 and #5 are for a work review setting.)
7. Finish with encouragement, review the strengths and share confidence in their abilities.
Wise leaders and people value honesty.
Proverbs 16: 13 (NIV)
13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value a man who speaks the truth.
You may not always receive correct correction, but can still benefit from incorrect correction.
Six keys to receiving correction:
1. Listen well.
2. Do not defend or argue.
3. Embrace what is accurate.
4. Ignore caustic criticism.
5. Ask if there is anything else the person wishes to include.
6. Thank them for their comments.
Proverbs 16:23-25 (NIV)
23 A wise man’s heart guides his mouth,
and his lips promote instruction.
24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
What have you found helpful giving or receiving correction?
Comment here:
 God’s world is so much different than my world. The way He chooses to do things is so much better than the way I do things.
In my world, if expectations are not met the consequences are negative. When our children were growing up, an unpleasant summertime activity was weeding the garden. There was a greater success if there was a specific reward when the weeding was complete. If the garden was weeded in the morning I would take them swimming, or some reward for their success.
If they breached the unwritten contract there would be a new contract without a reward and perhaps a punishment. Because they did not finish weeding, they were not going swimming and they had to clean their rooms instead.
God operates much differently.
Jeremiah 33:31-32
“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
Right now I would be holding my breath wondering what harder task is ahead because of failing to do what God wanted us to do in the first written contract or covenant. But God’s new covenant is BETTER than the old covenant. God begins to explain that the sacrifices will end because Jesus will be the perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross. Jesus will be our High Priest whom we can have a relationship with God through, not just the priests in the temple. The Holy Spirit will be God’s guide in our minds and hearts.
Jeremiah 31:33-34
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
Instead of a more restrictive or punishing covenant, God gave us a SUPERIOR covenant. I am glad God is in charge and not me, because I need to operate more like God in my life.
 This past Sunday, was a great service! The time of worship was meaningful and vibrant. My son led us through Scripture on how to have a powerful prayer life. There were familiar friends and new friends who were there for the first time. Following the service, people stayed enjoying birthday cake brought by a family who had an extra sheet remaining from their child’s party. More delicious than the cake was the deepening of relationships through meaningful conversation.
Today, I am experiencing what many people go through on a Monday morning – a choice. My mental review of Sunday included a challenge to change. My prayer life can remain as it is or it can be raised up a notch. Nothing will change unless I intentionally do something different that I have been doing.
Just like growing deeper in a relationship, whether the relationship is with a friend, family member, co-worker, or a spouse, it requires an investment of time and truth. When you increase your time conversing and listening with a person, you will grow deeper in that relationship. When your exchange with one another is based on the foundation of personal truthfulness which goes beyond the safe topics of sports and weather, your relationship will grow deeper.
We will have the same vibrant growth in our relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit when our time and truth increases with Him.
So the Monday morning choice you and I have is whether we will intentionally make some changes to increase our time and truth with God. The challenge given on Sunday was to trade 30 minutes of TV, Facebook or computer time for 30 minutes of prayer time with God. Let’s go for it!
 This Sunday, my son Elliot, is speaking at our church on the subject of prayer. I am looking forward to having him speak and hearing what he will share. Elliot believes that a Christian’s prayer life is vitally important. Prayer is necessary to walk in faith with God.
Elliot and I talked about the challenges of prayer. The more years spent walking with God, the more prayers you have answered and unanswered. Experience can affect your faith or intensity of prayer. You give your life to following God and believe that He wants to guide you, but sometimes the next steps to take are not clear. You hear news of a situation and are not able to pray intently at that moment, but are surprised to discover God answered the prayer almost immediately. You are convinced God heals today and that it is His will to heal a child’s illness, but they are not healed.
Prayer can be peculiar.
Prayer impacts Elliot’s life, especially in the area of knowing God’s vision for him. He took a break from college to manage a restaurant for a year to see if that is what God was opening the doors for him to do as a career. Elliot discovered that he was good at managing, but will return to college this summer because he really wants to be a teacher. His prayer life has affirmed the year of managing and the return to college.
Prayer must be purposeful.
One of the areas that Elliot has intentionally done in his prayer life is make prayer a priority. He prays a minimum of 30-60 minutes each day. He does not have a stopwatch or timer going. Elliot knows that a focused, unrushed prayer time for him cannot be accomplished in less time.
What have you discovered about prayer that has deepened you relationship with God?
Comment here:
 I have a picture of my granddaughter, Madison and I think she is absolutely beautiful. You and I may not share the same perspective. My granddaughter is due to make entrance the end of September. The black and white ultra-sound picture may look unattractive in your eyes. The eyes of my son, daughter-in-law, my wife and I see the beauty of potential in this baby girl. Her parents have a name picked out already - Madison.
God sees even more beauty than we see in the life of each individual. Before you or I were born, God had plans for us and He thought about us often.
Psalms 139:15-18
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
This Saturday, I am joining many others in our community to support our local Pregnancy Resource Center which has helped thousands of individuals and couples over the past 26 years. The Walk for Life is a fundraiser which provides free services to women and men facing an unplanned pregnancy. A recent service is a free obstetrical ultra-sound. When people see their baby’s arms, hands and fingers, any thoughts of ending the pregnancy changes because they see beauty of their baby.
Let the next baby you see remind you that God knew you before you were formed and all His plans for you are good. For more information about the Cambridge Pregnancy Resource Center go to www.cambridgeprc.com.
 At the beginning of each New Year, I list goals that I want to accomplish during the next twelve months. I typically have six categories that these goals fall into: Marriage, Family/Personal, Spiritual Growth, Ministry, Financial and Physical. I did a quick review of my goals to see how I was doing so far. With one quarter of the year gone already, I am doing terrible. The good news is that there is still three quarters of the year to make it happen!
Blogging each weekday was not one of my goals, but was something I began January 4 and I have only missed one weekday column since. I am enjoying the experience of putting thoughts on paper each day. I sense the Lord using this venue for His honor and glory.
I have a good supply of subjects that I have not written about. I was initially concerned that I would have a couple weeks of material to write about and then be searching for new stuff. This has not happened yet. I do wish to invite each reader to suggest a topic that perhaps I have not touched or that should be looked at from a different perspective.
What do you want to hear about?
I want this blog to be encouraging and engaging. I have my radar set on the world around me and recognize that there is a tremendous scope of life that is not on my radar.
This is your chance! Send me suggestions of topics you would like to see asked, answered, debated, posted, pondered and remarked about.
Post your suggestions here:
 My wife, Connie has a two-wheeled gardening cart which she uses for transplanting flowers, weeding, adding black dirt and a variety of other gardening chores. The cart is designed quite well with a gardening “dashboard” of slots to hold trowels and garden hand tools. The cart can hold close to half a cubit yard of soil and rolls along well on its large plastic wheels. It rolled along well until yesterday.
I used Connie’s cart for filling in holes around the yard with dirt. There were brown patches that I added black dirt and reseeded. I discovered that the plastic wheels of the cart were not designed to support a heaping load of dirt while rolling back and forth over the lawn. I exceeded its capacity and the wheel broke. My wife’s wonderfully useful cart cannot do anything now with a broken wheel.
God designed you and I with a remarkable usefulness and with a capacity. Your career, schooling, family, finances, health or any number of issues can become a weight. Perhaps they were added to your cart by others. Perhaps you added them. Many times they were added by circumstances of life. Health, economy, work deadlines and a variety of weights can exceed our capacity.
What can you do when the weight of life threatens to break your wheel?
You may claim, Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."
That may be appropriate most times. God will supply strength to our “plastic wheels” so we can bear the load. There are times that this is not the right app because the crushing weight is breaking us.
The solution for keeping our wheels from breaking is Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
What keeps your wheels from breaking?
Comment here:
 When does a thought or a temptation become a sin? The Bible tells us that being tempted is not a sin, but giving in to temptation is a sin.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Jesus tells us that thoughts of sin are counted as sin.
Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
When does the thought of temptation become a sin?
Imagine if your neighbor’s dog did his doggie duty in your yard, you step in it and begin thinking “Raca” thoughts against your neighbor (“Raca” is an Arabic term for contempt). Your neighbor comes over to get their dog and instead of apologizing, they do not understand why you are so upset. Now you are angry and think they are a fool. You are tempted to put some of the droppings inside your neighbor’s dress shoes. You have not given in to temptation (yet) but you have sinned because of the anger in your heart.
What is important?
1. Watch where you are stepping.
2. Watch the condition of your heart.
3. Ask the Lord to fill your heart with good thoughts, actions, and reactions.
Luke 6:45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
How does the Lord fill your heart with good things?
Comment here:
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