LORD, I am Yours

Whatever the cost may be, may Your will be done in my life. I realize I am not here on earth to do my own thing, or to seek my own fulfillment or my own glory.

I am not here to indulge my desires, to increase my possessions, to impress people, to be popular, to prove I am somebody important, or to promote myself.

I am not here even to be relevant or successful by human standards. I am here to please You.

I offer myself to You, for You are worthy. All that I am or hope to be, I owe to You. I am Yours by creation, and every day I receive from You life and breath and all things.

I am Yours because You bought me, and the price You paid was the precious blood of Christ.  

You alone, the Triune God, are worthy to be my Lord and Master.  I yield to You: Gracious and glorious Heavenly Father; Lord Jesus who loved me and gave Himself for me; Holy Spirit and Your gracious influence and empowering.

All that I am and all that I have I give to You.

adapted from Ruth Meyers "31 days of praise"

A Prayer For You

I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today.

To guide you and protect you as you go along your way.

His love is always with you, and His promises are true,

When we give our cares to Him, we know He will see us through.

So when the road you travel, seems too difficult at best,

Just remember I'm praying, and our God will do the rest.

Final Approach

On July 21, 1944 the 304th Bomb Wing of the 15th Air Force took the final approach to shortening the war. Their target was the 4th largest synfuel plant in the Third Reich — the Sudentenland Treibstoff Werke — located between Brux (Litvinov/Most) and Teplitz (Teplice) in the Sudentenland, now the Czech Republic.

During this raid several B-24 Liberators were shot down. One landed near Teplice and the crew all evacuated safely and were captured and sent to German POW. camps. A second, named "Final Approach" crashed near the farming hamlet of Mukov. Seven crewman parachuted to safety but were quickly captured and sent to German POW camps.

Three airman did not parachute out of "Final Approach" and were killed. Lt. Leon Polinski was killed when he was ejected from the aircraft's cockpit. Sgt's Robert D. Finley and Flight Engineer Teunis Gaalswyk were killed in the wreck.

The destruction of the synfuels plants was one of the key elements of the Allied strategic bombing campaign. Without the synfuels the Germans had to ground their advanced ME-262 fighters, without the synfuels only limit fuel was available to German panzers for the Ardennes offensive known as the battle of the Bulge. The panzers stopped within sight of their target, the Meuse River bridges because they had no more fuel. The destruction of the synfuels plants probably was the most efficient and effective thing the Allies could do to shorted the war.
It was an effort that was individual and then cumulative. Lt. Polinski, Sgt's Finley and Gaalswyk made the ultimate sacrifice and today, over a difference of 66 years we can say they made a difference.

On July 17, 2010 representatives of the United States Embassy, Prague, laid a wreath on a plaque in Mukov. The plaque commemorated the sacrifices of Leon, Robert and Teunis. The townspeople had erected the plaque in 1993. The representative stated that it was an honor to see that the sacrifices these men made was still celebrated in a small corner of a place so far away from their homes.

Who were these men? Teunis Gaalswyk is buried in Ft. McPherson, Nebraska, close to the banks of the Platte River. Did he have family? Did they know the details of his contribution and sacrifice and that these details are still remembered to this day by the freedom loving citizens of the Czech Republic?

Yes, we remember. Teunis was my Dad's first cousin. He was greatly missed and his sacrifice never forgotten. Today, we thank all those who serve and have served. You are not forgotten.

For My Friends

SANDS OF MY HEART
Rod Walford

The autumn turns to winter and the leaves blow through the door
The seagull turns her icy glance along an empty shore.
The beach is all deserted now, the ocean cold and bleak
Its blues and hues have turned to grey, all muted, quiet and weak.

Now more than thirty years have passed since last I saw your face
I wonder if you’re near, or if, in some far distant place
You ever sit and reminisce, in quiet thoughtful pose;
And ponder all your memories as you trace the path you chose.

Do you gaze downward from the bridge, where time’s fast waters flow,
Along the pathways of your life... how fast your children grow!
And do you spare a passing thought for absent friends you knew
In far-off days... in summer haze... when cares were far and few?

When spring turns into summertime, blue skies return once more
And laughing children build their castles on the sandy shore.
Tho’ sunkissed lovers surf the waves, with lovelight in their eyes;
The test of time will surely find regret in long-lost ties.

For friendship’s hand is precious, and its hold will life enhance
I wish I’d held yours tighter, when you first gave me the chance;
And yet somehow, I look back now, and though we’re far apart
You’re still there... right beside me... on the warm sands of my heart.

Jehovah — YHWH — Tetragrammation

Jehovah is an English reading of (Hebrew) יְהֹוָה, the most frequent form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, which is the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. It is Tyndale’s (1530) erroneous, direct phonetic transliteration.
By long tradition, in modern Jewish culture the Tetragrammaton is not pronounced—the full name of YHWH being too sacred for utterance. Instead the above vocalization indicates to the reverent Jewish reader that the term Adonai (Lord) is to be used. In places where the preceding or following word already is Adonai, the reading Elohim is used instead, indicated by a different vocalization of the Tetragrammaton. It is generally agreed, in line with Jewish teaching, that יְהֹוָה is a "hybrid form," created when the Jews added the vowels of Adonai to the consonants of YHWH. [this works in the Hebrew, with slight modifications, not in English]
Early English translators, unacquainted with Jewish tradition, read this word as they would any other word, and transcribed it (in very few places, namely those where the Name itself was referred to) as Jehovah. This form was widely used in the translations of the Protestant Reformation, and although it was later regarded by both Jews and Christians as a mispronunciation, it has nevertheless found a place in Christian usage.
In the New International Version: the divine name YHWH, commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the translators adopted the device used in most English versions of rendering that name as “LORD” in capital letters to distinguish it from YHWH, another Hebrew word rendered “Lord,” for which small letters are used. Wherever the two names stand together in the Old Testament as a compound name of God, they are rendered “Sovereign Lord.” When YHWH and YHWH Sabaoth occur together, they are rendered “the LORD, the LORD Almighty or Lord GOD.”
God has MANY names. Check out this website: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/El/el.html

When Moses asked who spoke out of the burning bush, (Exodus 3:14) “God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM: This is what you are to say to the Israelites, I AM has sent me to you.” And all the Jews KNEW WHO Moses was talking about. When Jesus was asked who He was, He said that he, also, was the great “I AM” as we read in Mark 14:61-64 “Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I AM,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy.”
Jesus was claiming to be the same “I AM” who spoke to Moses in the burning bush—that is why they crucified Him. We know He was claiming to be Yahweh or Jehovah God of the Old Testament because the high priest tore his clothes and stated that Jesus had blasphemed—which is to say that you are God.

Define Judging Please!

Define the judging we are and are not to do.
Is this about condemnation verses discernment??

DO NOT JUDGE
Mt 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged.”

Jn 8:15 “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. Jn 8:16 But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.” That's pretty plain!

Jn 12:47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”

Lk 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.”

Ro 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Ro 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (Hmm. This sounds like humanism!) 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “ ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.

1Co 4:3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. (What about Lk 12:57 and 1 Cor 11:13?)

Jas 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

JUDGE
Judging myself:
Lk 12:57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?”

1Co 11:13 Judge for yourselves.

Judging those in the church – but not the world:
1Co 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

Judge those in the church AND the world: AND the angels:
1Co 6:1 If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 5 Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?

1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.

Rev 20:4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.

All of Jude:
How can we know who to “snatch” if we haven’t judged?
Jude 1:22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

How can we do this unless we have already “judged”?:
Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.

Mt 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. …17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” This tells me that we can know if a person is a follower of Jesus Christ by their behavior or by what they "produce."

Grandma

One of the best things about being a Mom is that you "get" to invest your life, heart and soul into your children. That is also one of the best things about being a Grandma!
You get to.

Ella Kate: 3 months

Ella Kate: 4 months

Ella Kate: 5 months

Ella Kate: 6 months