"..the tax collector, ..., would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Luke 18:13

"Far too much of our praying and of our worship is like closed-up boxes; you cannot tell what is in them. But it is not so with broken hearts; when broken hearts sing, they do sing. When broken hearts groan, they do groan. Broken hearts never play at repenting nor play at believing. There is much of religion nowadays that is very superficial; it is all on the surface; a very small quantity of gospel paint, with just a little varnish of profession, will go a very long way and look very bright. But broken hearts are not like that; with broken hearts, the hymn is a real hymn, the prayer is a real prayer, the hearing of the sermon is earnest work, and the preaching of them is the hardest work of all. Oh, what a mercy it would be if some of you were broken all to pieces! Oh, to worship God in Spirit and truth! One has well said, "No one ever worshiped God with his whole heart unless he worshiped Him with a broken heart; and there never was a heart that was truly broken that did not thereby become a whole heart."" -Charles Haddon Spurgeon, (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892)

And now I'm off for a short, and hopefully, sweet vacation with my wife to St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. So, TTFN.

"..I exhort first ..that ... prayers, ..and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all authority, that we may lead a peacable life" 1Tim2

I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His great mercy and kindness toward a sinful nation, and allowing us to have the liberty that we do. I fear that this nation is on it's way to losing this precious gift from the Lord, unless we repent. And I'm heavy in my heart for my grandsons most of all. For it's a dim future for them. Though the Lord shall always be faithful to His people.
It seems to always perplex me; my patriotism and being a Christian, how do these two go together? I surely don't exalt America, for Christ alone is due all my devotion and love. And yet I do love America in a different sense. So without going into a whole lot more, to all who come by, Happy 4th of July!




America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)


"My country,' tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims' pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

My native country, thee,
land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King."- Samuel F. Smith, 1808-1895

"..we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us.." Rom. 8:26

"..it is well to pour out your heart before the Lord in words. And when you cannot do that, it is sweet to sit quite still and look up to him, and even as the lilies pour out their fragrance before him who made them, so do you, even without speaking, worship God in that deep adoration that is too eloquent for language, that holy nearness that, because it is so near, dares not utter a sound lest it should break the spell of the divine silence that engirds it. Frost of the mouth but flow of the soul is often a good combination in prayer. It is blessed prayer to lie on your face before God in silence, or to sigh and cry, or moan and wail as the Holy Spirit moves you. All this is prayer, whatever shape it assumes, and it is the sign and token of a true believer's life." -Charles Spurgeon

Praying from the heart is essential. And that can be from a written prayer; from the Word of God; from the understanding I pose in my mind; or from a soul that is heavy, and has no words. The key is from the heart, not just the lips.

"And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”" (Isaiah 29:13-14 ESV)

*[Not sure if "wonderful" is the best English word for this context.]

The Global Political Warming, or Climate Change Hoax Is accepted, I think, because the people in America have been dumbed down big time.

This video rings true to me. Though, I would love to see a debate from both sides. However, the political strong-arms won't allow it; nor the powerful media. Very sad indeed. Lies seem to be a "cool" thing when discussing Global Warming to a lot of people in our day. Their agenda is what matters most, not science and facts.

And in Congress, and the Presidency, our leaders are going to be spending money like crazy, and there's no one going to stop them. That includes George Bush, who got the whole Bail Out nonsense started. This Cap and Tax thing is another idea that stinketh.

There's my politics rant.

Here's my two verses from God to obey and trust.

"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people." 1 Peter 2:13-15

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36

God is sovereign, over all people, and so we need to love even our enemies, but we are to have a fervant love for the Church, the Lord's own people, whose sins Christ took upon His own body, and washed our sins away, as far as the East is from the West, with His precious blood.
What a sovereign Savior and Lord we have!