10-31-13 “The Enemy’s Agenda”
1 Peter 5:8-9a
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil... Pay attention to what is really going on. Don’t be indifferent. So many people, Believers too, don’t protest like we should over injustices and unrighteous acts. We don’t want to make waves. My husband always says that as long as Disneyland is open and people can use their ATM cards, no one will “rock the boat.”  And the Enemy will use that to his advantage to swoop in and raise up policies in our government and practices in our culture that undermine God’s will and his ways.

He prowls around like a roaring lion... Paul says that our fight is against evil rulers of the unseen world. We might assign blame to the adoption of ungodliness in our nation to certain political figures and popular individuals, but they are being led by our enemy, the devil. They are the suckers. They think and claim they are wise and free, but reality is that they are his puppets doing his bidding!

Be strong in your faith... That is how we stand firm against him and the effects of his influence all around us. I must have a strong faith in God and in his Word well. Knowing God’s Word well and  practicing trust  - that means living the way he prescribes in his Word regardless if it’s popular or accepted or not - is what builds my faith. And strong faith produces the kind of confidence that Believers need to recognize and resist things from our enemy designed to trip us up.

Rob said on Sunday, “Our culture today is not more informed than God’s Word. Our culture has undermined God’s Word” with it’s brand of “wisdom.” And it is Satan’s plan for people everywhere NOT to recognize God. Things that God says are good are always culturally being called into question. Marriage (Ephesians 5:31), 
spanking (Proverbs 22:15), unselfishness  (1 Peter 3:9), swift justice (Ecclesiastes 8:11), even eating food (1 Timothy 4:3-4). Satan wants God’s Word to be what society deems wrong so they won’t see that God is good. It’s so sad because it’s working!

Dear God,
I pray today for the family of Believers to be alert and build up their faith by knowing your Word and not being indifferent to the changes society makes to accomplish Satan’s agenda. Help me to be bold to point out things that are unjust and unrighteous according to your Word not popular opinion. I love you and I thank you so much for REAL TRUTH to cling to in our day and age when our enemy is gaining so much momentum with his evil schemes. I praise you and ask you these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

10-30-13 “The Only Explanation”
Ephesians 2:8-9
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 

We love to take credit for stuff. It feels good to get noticed for doing something good or for being an example - especially when we’re caught off guard by it by a teacher. When we’ve dutifully taken to a task and hear the teacher point it out to the whole class, we get a little nervous warm feeling and then become instantly aware of being monitored and continue on trying to do a good job when we just were before without any thought of it.

The thing that sets God apart from all other possible observers to my behavior is that he has access to my inside, my invisible parts, my thoughts, my heart. We are completely cognizant of the fact that our salvation is a gift from God. We accept it; we don’t earn it. But beyond that do we try and do extra stuff to get him to love us more, accept us more, save us more? Why? The loving, the saving, the accepting is already done!

Last night we were having Bible Study with our kids and the lesson was about just being real with Jesus. He doesn’t need fancy Christian-ese prayers or big lofty titles from us. He’s our friend (John 15:15)! You don’t have to put on big fancy airs for your friends. And he taught us to pray to God calling him, “Abba.” That means “Papa.” “Daddy.” We have not entered into a distant, clinical, antibacterial relationship with our Savior and God. It is personal. It is messy, funny, interactive, and real. And since he sees my heart, I should not fall into the trap of trying to impress him. He already loves all of me as is.

Matthew 6:5-8 gives us Jesus’ advice on how to interact with our very personal “Papa...”
When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 




God saved me by his grace. And everything he’s done for me since has been by his grace. I can’t take credit for that, and I’m not gonna try. God didn’t give me a wonderful husband because I’m so great. He didn’t bless me with healthy children and a beautiful home because I performed a series of noticeable tasks. I have no idea why he’s done these things. He’s just full of grace towards me. That’s the only explanation. I can’t take credit for it. I’m just being me; HE is the one who is amazing!




Dear God,

Thank you for your truly amazing grace. I didn’t follow any special formula for you to care and love for me so lavishly, you just DO. Thank you so much for your many blessing to me. You are so full of grace and mercy, help and comfort, joy and wisdom. I love you so much and I pray in your Son’s name. Amen.

10-29-13 “A Life Full of Life”
Romans 12:1
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Why is Paul pleading with us to give our bodies to God? Why isn’t it just a suggestion or an encouragement for us to do so? I bet it’s because Paul has lived both ways; he has lived for pleasing his own self all the time, and he has learned that living to please God is better.

I know a lot of non-smoking family members plead with rather than just encourage their smoking family member to stop smoking. They want their beloved smoker not only to just live, but to have a good quality of life that typically isn’t typical for a chronic coughing, chest wheezing chain smoker.

Paul doesn’t wish for Believers to only be saved and that’s it. We can and should have a great quality of spiritual life. In fact, that’s why Jesus came. He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

The way to have life to the full is to give God my body. That means don’t do anything that wouldn’t be pleasing to Him. Don’t physically go places that would be bad for my heart and lead me astray. Don’t do things to only ensure only my comfort and preferences. Take an interest in others and in their needs as well. (Philippians 2:4)

Furthermore, the sacrifices I make should not be done begrudgingly but thankfully. I know that it’s hard to be thankful about something I about to not get my way in, but telling God that the reason I am resisting this or denying that for myself is because I am more thankful for what he’s done for me than I feel entitled over something I should do for myself or receive from someone else. 

And I am! I choose to be thankful and to live in such a way that pleases God more than being comfortable and pursuing all my preferences. The way to worship God all the time is to give him my body. That sounds weird; it simply means to do what he wants me to do over what I want to do - and do so with a thankful heart. And that’s why Paul is pleading. He knows it’s a better life to have life that is full of God’s life rather than a life just full of me!

Psalm 119:7 
As I learn your righteous regulations,
I will thank you by living as I should!

Dear God,
As I learn of the way you do things and of the things you want me to do, I will do them to show my thankfulness. I want to please you more than I want my way fulfilled. I want to thank you for all you’ve done for me by living to please you. I want to give you my body as in let you be in charge of what I do and say, where I go and what I think about because that is not only a good life, but a life full of life! I love you and praise you and pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

10-25-13 “Three Simple Questions”
Romans 2:4
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

I think this scripture gets busted out a lot when sharing with people who are considering believing in Jesus or new to the family of God. They even sang “It’s Your Kindness That Leads Us To Repentance, O Lord” by Jamie Owens Collins for years and the Harvest Crusades. But today, for me, I choose to consider this verse every day. It consists of 3 simple questions that I’m thinking will benefit me throughout my day and help keep my eyes on the Lord.

Question 1:
Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient God is with you? The fact is that God is wonderfully kind, tolerant and patient with me or I would have been smite-ed years ago! Complaining about circumstances, coveting someone else’s, or not being thankful today defies the very fact that God is wonderfully kind to me every day. I must recognize it with a thankful heart. He is tolerating my moods, my questions, my laziness, my stubbornness, (I could go on and on). He is patient with me as my changes are slow and small. Who else can put up with me like He can?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 instructs me to always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. I know I don’t fit this bill everyday. And the fact that God doesn’t shun me for it proves that the response to Question 1 is “WoW!”

Question 2:
Does this mean nothing to you? Conviction. Yikes! Does all that God has done for me mean nothing to me? Am I such a spoiled brat? He provides for me every single day, yet I still find ways to worry about provision. He healed my husband of a life threatening illness, yet I still can invent catastrophic events in my mind when I should be falling asleep at night. I should, instead, be remembering all the GOOD he has done for me every single day!

In Deuteronomy 6:12 God reminds his people, be careful that you do not forget (aka: REMEMBER) theLord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (aka: who miraculously takes care of you time and time again). The answer to Question 2 is “I’m feeling convicted.”

Question 3: 
Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin? This is the model I need to follow. Kindness. I know how thankful I am that God has forgiven me from my sins out of kindness since there’s nothing I can offer or do that would make me deserving of this. And that he pursues a relationship with me beyond just salvation proves that he is kind and loving on top of being kind and loving. He parents me with kindness and love. He doesn’t condemn me when I mess up; he simply invites me not to do that again. 

In John 8:11 Jesus said to the woman caught in sin, “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” The answer for Question 3 is “Don’t be mean, don’t be a grudge holder, or a control freak, or bitter.” Sometimes self entitled practices like these really tangle up my day and rob me of obedience and joy. All of Jesus’ actions, whether he was healing the sick, feeding the hungry, answering a ridiculous question, or clearing out the temple, were bathed in kindness. 

Zephaniah 3:17 says, 
The Lord your God is with you.
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you.
He will quiet you with his love.
He will rejoice over you with singing.

God is with me. God takes care of me. God delights in me. God loves me. God is so very kind. Yes. This means EVERYTHING to me!


Dear God,
Please help me keep these 3 simple questions in mind everyday! You are so kind and tolerant and patient with me. And that means everything to me! I am so thankful for you and I love you so much and pray in your Son’s name. Amen.

10-23-13 “The Body or Everybody”
Galatians 6:2
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

Believers are called to be separate from the world, but part of the family of God. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 confirms that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. So this is why we share one another’s burdens; we are all part of the body of Christ.

The rest of the beginning of Galatians 6 says, Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

I love this reality check from the Apostle Paul. You are not that important! But, wow! I sure think that I am when I’m indifferent to or too busy for those who are weeping or rejoicing. We are part of the same body. I know personally for my own body that I never ignore a headache. It bothers all of me. I’ve stubbed my toe before and the rest of my body didn’t ignore that either. And when lemon juice finds a paper cut, my whole body finds out about it immediately.

How true this should be for the extension of the body of Christ too. I need to spend more time being concerned, having empathy and sympathy, and rejoicing with the glad hearted and praying for the sad and lonely. Just because I don’t know them all doesn’t mean I can’t pray for some. 

I can take time for the ones I do know. I can pray for protection for missionaries that I know. I can pray God’s comfort every day for my friend who is now a widow.  I can pray for God’s sustaining grace for my other friend who takes care of his sick wife every day. I may not have any physical solutions or be able to offer monetary help, but my heart can go out to them and we can lift our concerns and praises together to our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who has united us together in the first place.

Dear God,
Thank you for the design you have created for YOUR family. There is no one who is insignificant  or left out to you, and you have let Believers be the Body of Christ - an extension of his personal and individualized care. I love that so much. I have benefited from it greatly myself at times and desire to be a benefit to the other members. I love you and pray for your guidance, wisdom, direction, and joy today in Jesus’ name. Amen.

10-22-13 “Avoid Avoiding”
Proverbs 15:23
Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!

The NIV says it this way:  A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!

Bottom line:  The right words at the right time benefits us.

Jesus always has the right words at the right time for everyone. Do you know why? Because he loves everyone.

As Rob pointed out on Sunday, Jesus had genuine love for the rich young ruler (Mark 10:21), but told the man what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 
(Mark 10:21-22)

The woman at the well was probably very uncomfortable with Jesus pointing out the facts about her love life, but it was what she needed to hear. In fact, The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?”  So the people came streaming from the village to see him. Jesus telling this Samaritan woman what she needed to hear over what she wanted to hear resulted in her whole town getting to meet Jesus. (John 4:28-30)

There are many more examples, but the truth to carry away is the fact that the right words are fitting and beneficial. They are good. It is good to give people what they need over what I think they want. And completely unnecessary to avoid them.

Every parent knows to introduce vegetables to children early so they will acquire a taste for them. They will automatically enjoy cookies without any encouragement, but a strict diet of cookies is not what they need. I love my children, I want to give them what they need so I shouldn’t avoid the veggies.

Avoiding certain people isn’t loving them. And God calls me to love others (1 John 4:11) and to follow Jesus’ example of loving others. Rather than avoid someone, I should give them what they need.

John Eldredge proposes, in his book The Utter Relief of Holiness, that every human being has a gravitational pull.  These are quirks in people’s personalities they’ve most likely developed to protect themselves, yet it produces particular feelings associated with the individual. That is why we are attracted to some, serious around another, dismiss some, and ignore others. But Jesus never treats people according to their gravitational pull. (from pgs. 176-177)

If there’s someone I avoid because I honestly don’t have time for one of their “stories,” shouldn’t I just be honest and tell them I don’t have time? Playing a game of duck and cover to avoid them isn’t loving. But simply stating the truth is. Then when I see that person again and I’m not in a terrible rush, I can freely participate in an interaction with them. Maybe the reason a person with “stories” can go on and on is because no one has loved them enough to require them to wait until a mutually beneficial time to share.

It is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!




Dear God,

Thank you for your Son! Thank you for his example to me. Help me to love people based on truth, not their gravitational pull, or my preferences. Help me to have correct and beneficial words for people at the right time and to state the truth, not avoid it. I love you and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

10-17-13 “No Appointment Required”
Psalm 25:14
The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

We use the word “confide” for special relationships only. I would never go to the grocery store and tell a complete stranger all my secrets and dreams. They might get a head nod or a “hi there,” but they certainly won’t get a private, intimate, meaningful conversation out of me.

The Lord confides in those who fear him... Ever notice how the longer you have a relationship with the Lord and the more time you spend with him the more you know about him? My marriage is like that, and I experience this with my best friends and my kids too. We confide in one another. God can’t tell secrets and dreams to people who don’t know him because they don’t have his Spirit, and they absolutely wouldn’t understand.

2 Corinthians 2:14 confirms: The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.

But for the ones who have a relationship with God through his Son, Jesus, we are privy to the secrets of the One, True, Almighty, Powerful, God who made the Heavens and the Earth!

I would like to be inside that mind. I know a lot of people would jump at the chance to get access to the brains and masterminds of our day and age. Teen girls would love to win back stage passes for their favorite concert. College students wait long hours to meet privately with an important professor. And Robin Leach used to give us glimpses into the homes of the rich and famous. We crave inside information. We want to know.

Well, God shares his will, his plans, his ideas for us freely. It is the best and most important inside information to have. No appointment or backstage pass required.

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)

Dear God,
Thank you for revealing things to me through your Word, through prayers, and through your Holy Spirit. Please access my heart and tell me all the things I need to know today. Give me wisdom, discernment and all joy. I love you so much and I thank you that we have an intimate relationship and can confide in one another and know each other well. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

10-16-13 “Just Ask”
Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

My desire is for everything that I think about and say would be pleasing to God, the right things, good things, helpful, inspiring, encouraging things. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Good tips include reading the Bible every morning. Even if it’s just one verse, it gives me something to think about during the day. Regularly going to church is helpful too not only because that gives me stuff to think and talk about during the week but also because the encouragement of the fellowship of the family of Believers is there too. And making all of my thoughts little prayers is helpful as well. Constant dialogue with God means constantly comparing what I’m talking and thinking about with his Word.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul calls constant dialoguing with God capturing every thought and judging if they are in line with God’s Word and getting rid of the ones that aren’t (especially before those thoughts escape out my mouth).

I could also blast worship music on my iPod all day, listen to the Bible on CD, and read in my spare time. We live in a day and age where I can literally technically be immersed in scripture 24/7. And that’s a good thing.

But the most simple solution of all is this: just ask.

Just ask God for thoughts and words that please him. Ask HIM for something to think about during my down time or when I’m falling asleep at night. Maybe Believers get so busy capturing thoughts that we forget to just ask God for the right ones!

For everyone who asks receives...
(Matthew 7:8)

...Ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault... 
(James 1:5)

You do not have because you do not ask God.
(James 4:2)

Just ask.

Dear God,
Thank you for today, for your beautiful sunshine, for your Word, and for your presence. I ask you to please give me things to think about today that are pleasing to you. Help your Word to be the “song stuck in my head” today! Help me to have encouraging, helpful, and special thoughts and conversations today. I love you and thank you that you give generously without mocking me for not knowing any better. You are so good to me, and I pray in your Son’s name, amen.

10-15-13 “Believing is not Seeing”
2 Samuel 7:22
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!”

The Bible is full of firsthand, eyewitness accounts of the amazing things God has done. God miraculously and faithfully preserved them for us so that we too in our day and age know about Him and how amazing He is. There is no one who even comes close to doing the things God does. Even after all these many years, we still have never even heard of another God like God!

Rob was teaching last Sunday from Luke 7 where a Roman officer hears about Jesus and sends his servants to go find Jesus so Jesus can come heal his highly valued slave. In fact, the officer believed in Jesus’ authority so much he sent word to those servants to not trouble Jesus with traveling all the way to his home. Just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”  (Luke 7:6-8)

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:9-10)

Jesus even says later, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” (John 20:29) Blessed are those who recognized the authority of God and believe. Blessed are the people with faith. And faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)

Jesus’ disciple, John, saw everything firsthand and later writes his personal recollections for us. He was there. And in conclusion, he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I can believe without seeing for myself, I can have faith in what I’ve read, God’s Word was written so that I may know. God’s Word came to earth (John 1:14) so that I may know. 

I don’t need to be a firsthand experiencer. I don’t need to have lived over 2,000 years ago in Capernaum and have seen Jesus for myself to be sure. The Roman officer didn’t need Jesus to come to his house. He believed by faith back then, so I can too. For everything that has been written about our God is amazing. I have yet to hear of another God like ours!

Dear God,
Thank you for YOU and your amazing qualities. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that I haven’t missed out on anything. Your forgiveness, grace, love, and power is available to me now  as it was for those who lived long ago. Thank you that I can just trust you, that your Holy Spirit defies the distance in our long distance relationship. Thank you for the invisible miraculous qualities of faith. Thank you for preserving your Word so that I too can believe by hearing your Word, and that I can be SURE! I love you and praise you in Jesus’ name, amen.

10-11-13 “Treasures in Heaven”
Matthew 6:19-21
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

I went to a funeral a few days ago. It was the funeral for a very godly and respected man named John. The family and the pastor and all who shared about the life John had one single common theme: John knew Jesus and it was John’s greatest desire that everyone he knew have a relationship with Jesus too. His son, Rick, shared that it is more important to John that we make sure everyone hears the Good News about Jesus Christ more than about John’s life at that funeral. And that’s what happened. The Good News was preached that day. And the family brought up the fact that the thing this dad and grandpa was most proud of was that he shared Jesus with every single one of them. People shared how John regularly gave time and money to several people, several ministries, practiced hospitality regularly, and made a practice of mailing out “I prayed for you today” postcards to people all the time. He his spent his time during his life showing people what Jesus looks like.

And that is what storing up treasures in heaven looks like.

What exactly are the treasures that will be in heaven? How do we get them stored there anyway? We’re not like the Egyptian Pharaohs who buried their earthly possession with them. We all know that when the graves are excavated thousands of years later the king’s body has disintegrated, but the possessions are all still there. So these heavenly treasures can't be concrete items.

When God talks about his treasures,  he refers to it as his people in Deuteronomy 7:6. For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. Believers are treasures to God.

I would like to store up people in heaven. My husband, my children, our parents, our families - those are my treasures aka: the most important, precious, and valuable things to me. Even the mailman, co-worker, or a stranger in the grocery line that I show Jesus to and share the Good News with would be welcome treasures to see in heaven. Being like John, using all my time and resources to make sure people know Jesus so they will be in heaven - these are treasures that will reach the destination of heaven. Oh, how happy are the families who know they’ll be united with their loved ones again!

Hey! Jesus is a person, and he’s already there in heaven!  And we now have this light (Jesus) shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. Being united with Jesus is a treasure waiting for me in heaven.

And Colossians 2:3 says, In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The more I know about God and what he thinks and how he operates, the more Believers will be storing up for themselves a good reserve (treasure) for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real according to 1 Timothy 6:19. God's Word is a treasure that I can take with me. I can know it now and it will still be with me when I'm in heaven, not like my body or my clothes that will definitely still be in the coffin. God's Word is in heaven and I will know there what I know now and then some!

Everyone knows that “you can’t take it with you when you die.” But clearly, God is showing us what treasures we can take with us when we die and go to heaven. We can take true wisdom and knowledge (what I know about God here, I will also know there), and we can take PEOPLE!

Dear God,
Thank you for your Word! Thank you for showing me now what is important to accumulate, and help me to be to be diligent about storing real treasures, real truth, real knowledge, and real people in heaven for all eternity. Thank you for John’s life, a great reminder that I need to use my time and resources to show others Jesus and that I need to send people cards telling them I’m praying for them. What a great legacy for him to leave behind. Thank you that I got to know him. I love you and pray continued comfort and peace for his wife, Sandra, and their kids and grandkids. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.