Do it with love

Do everything with so much love in your heart
that you would never want to do it any other way.

Trust

'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did'
When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.
Concentrate on this sentence.....
'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'
Something good will happen to you today.

JOY

You say joy, I say happiness, we're saying the same thing ....or, are we?

I think perhaps we've confused joy with happiness. Happiness is dependent on happenings. Circumstances in your life dictate whether or not you are happy. Joy, on the other hand is a gift from God - a fruit of the Spirit that transcends whatever is happening in your life. Joy allows you to rise —even to soar— above difficult circumstances, challenges, and heartaches. Joy comes from knowing Who is in control and that He has a plan to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) We do not draw our strength from the great feeling we get when things go right; if we did, we would be powerless when hard times and adversity hit, and we would all be easy pickings for the devil. Good times, happy times, come and go. When the times are not so good, its alright to be not so happy. Paul experienced some not so happy times, but his joy was
not in the jail cell that held him. No, it was the joy of the Lord that was his strength!
"Joy in unrelenting pain" (Job 6:10,NIV), joy in not so happy times, it is the joy of the LORD that is our strength!
Lord, help me to draw my strength from your gift of joy and not from my feelings or present circumstances!

Beauty

Never lose an oppurtunity of seeing anything that is beautiful,
for beauty is God's handwriting ~~ a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

OLYMPIANS FOR CHRIST

These Christian athletes have more in common than astounding talent and the thrill of representing the United States in the 2008 Olympic Games. They also share the goal of crediting God for their athletic success.

Olympic Diver Laura Wilkinson:



Olympic Runner Ryan Hall:

Serenity and Wisdom !

God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I can not change,
the courage to change the one I can,
and the wisdom to know it's me.

DAILY RULES

1. Wake Up!! Decide to have a good day. "Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalms 118:24

2. Dress Up!! The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7

3. Shut Up!! Say nice things and learn to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs 13:34 .

4. Stand Up!!... For what you believe in. Stand for something or you will fall for anything.. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..."Galatians 6:9-10

5. Look Up!!... To the Lord."I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Phillippians 4:136. Reach Up!!... For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, And He will direct your path." Proverbs 3:5-6

7. Lift Up!!... Your Prayers."Do not worry about anything; instead PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING."Philippians 4:6Send this to the people you care about.I thought this was mighty special, just like you.

Pass this on and brighten someone's day, and remember: God answers Knee-Mail.

Life by GPS

Milan Ford

My wife and I recently decided to purchase a GPS (global positioning system) device for our new m-i-n-i.......van. Sorry for the long pause there. It's just that as a 32-year old urbanite, it's still rather hard for me to believe I actually own a mini-van. Very humbling to say the least.

I must say I was quite excited about finally having our own GPS; we had been talking about doing a few road trips with the kids for some time now, and the whole

MapQuest thing just wasn't going cut it anymore.

I mean who in the world still finds enjoyment reading and carrying around a folder full of printed directions everywhere they go?

Wow. I just said something pretty good right there...but will have to try revisiting that some other day.

We decided to try it out the other day while coming back from church one day. The following are just a few life lessons we both learned along the way. All courtesy of GPS.

1. When turning on the device, a screen immediately popped up and told us that the driver of the vehicle should never try entering any new coordinates into the device...while driving.

2. When entering in a specific destination, the device gave us the option on whether or not we wanted to travel by avoiding one of the following: Highways. Intersections. And U-Turns.

3. We decided to enter the address of a restaurant we had been to several times before. To our surprise, the device took us a totally different route. A scenic route. But one that was much faster.

4. While traveling, we just couldn't believe this device (controlled by a satellite 12,000 thousands miles in the air), could possibly know more than us about a community we have lived in for years.

We decided to test it out and turn the opposite way it had told us. Immediately after we turned, the device immediately began "recalculating" an alternative route that would take us to the destination we entered.

5. Once we arrived, we pulled aside to enter in a new destination, when suddenly, the device shouted out, "lost signal." We discovered that our GPS will lose its signal whenever it has not been properly charged. Considering we took it right out the box, we had to return home on our own.

Once we arrived back home, we realized something. Our GPS and The Holy Spirit have a lot in common. The lessons we learned unveiled the very way God desires to direct our lives every day.

The Holy Spirit is an incredible guide. One that is ready and willing to show us the path in which we our to follow to reach every predetermined destination God has established for us.

In fact, the only difference we discovered between our GPS and The Holy Spirit (besides the obvious difference in manufacturing companies), is that we decided to call our GPS... Anne.

The device talked to us so much along the way...we figured we might as well give it a name!

Milan Ford is a 12-year leader (and survivor) of college and student ministry within the local church. He serves as Content Editor for Streaming Faith and as the author of "The Pew View" (

www.thepewview.com), a blog for church ministry leaders.