Today begin early as we left for the mission center at 7. The service for the men was great (sorry no pics, I was thinking through my lesson for the gentlemen and forgot the camera, but I will have it tomorrow). Afterward we went to the ship and saw the aircraft carrier that is under construction. Then in between meal the students sang at 3 nursing homes! It was a wild and tiring day…

[rockyou id=138504996&w=500&h=376]

If you want to save one of these pics click on the tab “View Show”. It will take you to a page with the slideshow and the invididual pictures laid across the top. Click on the one you would like to see (or you can scroll through the large size pics).

 Isaiah 55:1-3b (Click here for the scripture)

Message keeps getting clearer
radio’s on and I’m moving ‘round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man I ain’t getting nowhere
I’m just living in a dump like this
There’s something happening somewhere…
                                  ~ “Dancing in the Dark” [Springsteen]

It started in college. I just had my hair cut, short as always, but looking in the mirror I noticed one long hair sticking out above my ear. I grabbed the scissors and pulled the hair tight. I was ready to cut it short, but as I pulled I realized it was not connected to my head. Instead it was connected to the top of my ear!

  With every year I find hair growing in new places. First the ears and now my nose has become such a thick jungle that I have a special trimmer to cut the hair (no one wants to see 6 inch nose hairs…).

   Yet this is our reality. We are not all super models, and no matter what, we grow old (with wrinkles and aching muscles). But many of us dream of another reality. We wish we looked differently, so we tan and lotion and dye and pluck and… Eventually as adults we may be tempted to visit doctors who slurp, cut, or inject.

  We have listened to society and discovered the secret for success and happiness. So when we imagine our future it is not God’s Kingdom we picture but a reality about ourselves. For ourselves. A reality which will cost us everything… even our hope and joy. All the while God is offering a new reality that will not cost hope and joy, but will create them both!

                                                                 

 In the New Testament Jesus does not  just pull ideas out of the air. Instead he picks up the promises God delivered in the Old Testament.

On bread: “Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life’” (John 6:35)

On water: “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you have asked him and he would have given you living water.’” (John 4:11) [Of course in John 2 he turned water into wine! ]

                                                                 

IMAGINE: If everything was free in the mall…

Why do we listen to other people’s definition of success?… Why do we allow them to define our self worth?