A NEW DAY
A NEW BEGINNING
A NEW GIFT
A NEW PROMISE
A NEW HOPE
A NEW DREAM
A NEW CHANCE
A NEW FUTURE
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Living By Faith
Video Tribute to My Dad, Ted Pavloff
Healing From Jesus Blog
Just a reminder: if you need healing or have loved ones who do, you will find faith-building teaching, inspiring testimonies, and much food for your faith on the “Healing From Jesus” blog here on WordPress.
http://healingfromjesus.wordpress.com/
… And Then There Were Fish
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters teem with fish and other life ….’ So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish ….” (Genesis 1:20-21).
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‘Sarge, Will You Tell Us About God?’ – The Story of God’s Miraculous Protection of an Entire U. S. Marine Unit
This post is the true story of my dad’s miraculous experiences of God’s protection during World War II.
In celebration of Memorial Day, I am re-posting this story. I have several new readers and followers who were not with me when I originally posted “Sarge, Will You Tell Us About God,” and a number of Marine veterans have now discovered that the book is available. So I’d like to share the story again in the hope that many more people may be blessed by what the Lord did for an entire Marine unit during World War II.
The story itself makes up a small book, published by St. Ellen Press and is available on their website as well. Although it’s my story, and that of the other 321 men in my squadron, it is primarily HIS story.
In the past few years I have shared free copies of the book with hundreds of soldiers who were in the midst of horrible combat overseas. In response, I have received…
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Hatred & War Cannot Quench Love
Civil War Soldier Sullivan Ballou Echoes King Solomon.
The Song of Songs, by King Solomon, says, “Set me as a seal upon thine heart … for love is strong as death. … Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” (Songs of Songs 8:6-7). Those words were penned many centuries ago by an Israelite king, but during the American Civil War, a Union soldier penned words that echoed those of Solomon, almost exactly, in a letter to his wife about one week before he died.
Major Sullivan Ballou poured out his heart to the one woman he knew would understand it, his wife Sarah. He told her, “Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence can break. Yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me … to the battlefield.” In another statement he describes the level of his commitment to his love of country as well as his wife: “I know … how great a debt we owe to those who went before us, through the blood and suffering of the Revolution, and I am … perfectly willing to lay down all my joys in this life to maintain this government and to pay that debt.”
In those words, Sullivan Ballou spoke for every American soldier who has left loved ones safe at home to go into hate-filled, death-filled foreign lands and willingly give everything he had — including his own life — to make sure those loved ones were kept safe — and that the nation whose constitution undergirded that safety was defended and secured from all that would try to destroy it.
In every war that America has fought, thousands of her soldiers have gone courageously into harm’s way because they believed in the truth that “love is strong as death.” They believed that all the hatred and all the wars this world will ever know cannot quench love. And they have been right: ALL THE HATRED AND ALL THE WARS THIS WORLD WILL EVER KNOW CANNOT QUENCH LOVE — because real love comes from only one source: the eternal, unfathomable, unquenchable Creator of the universe. It is He who gives soldiers like Sullivan Ballou the unquenchable love that he writes about in his letter — love for his wife — and love for his country and all it represents to millions of people who long with all their hearts for freedom and security.
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No Other Name
Jesus the Christ: “… There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” (Acts 3:12).
There is no other “religion” on the face of the earth — no other religious leader — no other dogma — no other doctrine — no other system of belief — that offers man the guarantee of salvation from his own sinfulness and from this cursed world — into a life of eternal joy and freedom from all that harms and destroys.
Every other system of religion offers man a life of working, struggling, straining, following rules, and sacrificing in an effort to earn an eternity on a higher plane. But even in the midst of the working and sacrificing, the disciple of those religions is never confident of his eternal rewards. He has a hope that he may get those rewards if he’s good enough — but he has no guarantee — no promise.
Only Jesus — Yeshuah — the Christ — the Messiah — offers man a guaranteed eternal salvation that is a free gift. “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son (Jesus), that whosoever believeth in Him should … have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.” (John 3:16-17).
Only Jesus offers His own perfectly-lived life, His own suffering, His own sacrifice, His own death, and His own resurrection for the sake of those who follow Him. He paid the price; He won the reward: That reward was eternal life with the Creator of the universe and the right to impart that life to anyone who would receive Him and the work He accomplished on their behalf.
The price was paid by Him alone. So the reward of eternal life with God is in His name alone. If any of the other religious leaders of the world had paid the price for us, we could be saved by following them. But the simple truth is that they did not. And that’s why all those religions can do is tell us we need to live better lives and follow a bunch of rules and make continual sacrifices of one kind or another in the hope of finding a better eternity after we die.
Why would anyone follow after the teachings, the dogmas, the doctrines of a belief system that requires them to struggle and strain and perfect themselves in order to have a slim hope of something better, when Jesus the Christ stretches out His nail-pierced hands and offers eternity with the God of the universe for free?
Perhaps it’s our ego — our self-righteous belief that we can ultimately be our own savior — that makes some of us choose a belief system that forces us to try to do all the work ourselves — to “earn” the hope of a better eternity. But what a waste. When we could be living a life free from the fear of missing the mark somehow. We could be living a life filled with the joy of knowing for sure that we are moving toward a glorious eternity and amazing rewards and blessings from the Creator of the universe. Knowing that the end of the race is guaranteed makes running it so much easier.
Jesus the Christ is risen. He’s alive. And He’s offering the guarantee of eternity with God to every human being on the face of the earth — paid for by Him. That is why “there is no other name under heaven, that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”
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HAPPY PALM SUNDAY!
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Just Do It
These delightful daffodils — golden bells of sunshine — exploded in my back yard a day ago. They always come — regardless of what the weather man says. A friend told me today that she heard a winter-weather advisory for this area, and I responded that almost every year, as soon as my daffodils come up, then the weather turns mean and nasty and tries to beat them to the ground. But these daffodils represent life, and life keeps producing life — even in the very face of death.
I got to thinking, after talking to my friend, that these daffodils, like everything else God created, have a job to do. They are to push their way up out of the ground and grow straight and tall to announce that spring has come and new life is available. They do their job perfectly, regardless of any possible consequences.
So I’m taking a lesson from these little flowers, and I’m sharing that lesson with you: Don’t worry about whether anything or anyone else is doing what he’s supposed to do. And don’t look all around to see if all circumstances are in your favor. Just be faithful over what you have been assigned. If you have a job to do —- DO IT!
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Macro-Monday — 3/11/13
This banner was one of about twelve that were fastened high on the light poles and lined several blocks of a street in my hometown to draw attention to the Catholic school’s centennial celebration.
To take part in Macro-Monday’s photo fun, visit this link:
http://lisaschaos.com/
In My Footsteps
Have you ever thought about how many people may be following in your footsteps? Somebody is. Maybe one somebody, maybe hundreds.
Parents have children following in their steps. Oh, they may rebel against the rules we set and the paths we try to get them to walk in, but sooner or later, those kids are going to be saying and doing a whole lot of what mom and dad say and do — whether mom and dad want them to or not.
Teachers have children following in their footsteps. Certainly those students who like you and respect you will imitate you. But even students who believe teachers are way too strict and who rebel against class rules and school rules, eventually end up remembering, believing, doing, and saying a good deal of what those teachers believed, did, and said. I know from years of experience as a classroom teacher that often the most rebellious students in the classroom end up respecting and following the teacher who cared enough to discipline them.
If you’re a husband or wife, you have a spouse following in your footsteps. You two may not agree on everything, but after years of living with you, your spouse has picked up some of your habits, some of your attitudes, some of your beliefs, and some of your goals. So he or she is following right along many of the same paths of thinking, feeling, and acting that you are living in on a daily basis.
If you are a businessman, you have employees following in your steps. Sometimes they are choosing to be like you, and sometimes they are just being faithful to do their jobs. But, either way, wherever you end up in your business, your employees will end up too.
If you’re a leader in any capacity — government, military, church groups, civic organizations, volunteer corps, or unofficial neighborhood activities — you have people following in your footsteps. If you’ve been given the gift of organization or the gift of inspiring other people to get involved in social interaction of any kind, you have a great many people who will want to imitate you and will, whether for good or ill, follow in the paths they see you walking in.
And if you are a good friend — to anyone — your friends will follow in your steps. When one person feels loved by another, he wants to keep himself close to the one who loves him, and in that effort, without even realizing it, he will often begin to think and act as his loving friend thinks and acts.
Yes, we all have people following in our steps — whether we want them to do so or not. So it behooves us to stop every once in a while and take a look at where we are going and what kind of footprints we are leaving for others to walk in. The Word of God has something very helpful to say about that subject:
Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” Wherever we are, whatever we do, if we will stop long enough to ask ourselves if God would be comfortable doing what we’re doing, choosing what we’re choosing, or saying what we’re saying, we can save ourselves — and all of those who will be following in our footsteps — a great deal of trouble and grief. And it isn’t difficult to find God’s footsteps. They are embedded indelibly in His Word.
Following God will always lead us to a right place, at a right time, in a right way. Following in God’s footsteps will always lead us in paths of integrity, courage, truth, love, and life. And, oh, what joy there is in knowing we have been the one to “lead” another into those paths as well!
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Thanks to BeautifulFreePictures.Com for the unique photo.
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A Cardinal Sits With Me
A Cardinal sits with me at end of day.
It is a bleak, unhappy time,
And I have lost my way.
He seems content to stay a while and rest,
And my front porch is cool with shade,
Sun moving to the west.
On other days I’ve seen him flit and fly
And labor quite industriously
For food that caught his eye.
And then he’d pick at wings and clean and preen,
Then dart away and back again,
Quite nervous did he seem.
He’d change his stance and cock head constantly,
Not holding still a moment long;
He agitated me.
But, suddenly, this eve he’s come to sit.
As if he knows my sorrowful plight —
That I am in this pit.
And now and then he sings aloud his song.
But when he stops to rest a while,
For much more do I long.
I’m sure his day is done; he should head home,
But here he sits beside my chair,
Just so I’m not alone.
His beauty, I have finally come to see,
Is unsurpassed: his ruby hue,
Wings black-edged perfectly.
In truth he is a masterpiece of life:
Each part of him a sculptor’s dream,
Down to his beady eye.
A good half hour he’s stayed and felt at home.
And looks right at me now and then,
To say, “You’re not alone.”
I sigh and realize I am content.
I close my eyes; begin to smile.
This is what Jesus meant.
He urged us to behold the birds of air,
And take a lesson from each one
About His love and care.
“Yes, Jesus, I’m at peace in You at last.
This little bird you sent to me
Has now fulfilled his task.
So take care of him, Lord and keep him strong,
And send him out to other souls
Who need to hear his song.”
Then opening my eyes, I seek my friend.
But he has flown while I have prayed —
His mission at an end.
~
[“Look at the birds of the air! They don’t worry about what to eat — they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food — for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.” Matt. 6:26 TLB).]
“Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t worry! You are more valuable to Him than many sparrows.” (Matt. 10:30-31, TLB).]
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge — Red and White
Cee’s challenge this week is the colors Red and White. I chose a photo of the front of a greeting card. I create greeting cards, and this particular design is from a set I created for a lady who takes her walk of faith very seriously, but has fun with it too. The cards are blank inside for personal notes, but the cover reflects a feminine take on “walking by faith.”
To participate in Cee’s challenge, visit her site:
http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/02/19/cees-fun-foto-challenge-the-colors-of-red-white-or-red-and-white-together/
Dr. Jehovah Rapha — a poem
Dr. Jehovah Rapha
(Exodus 15:26, Mark 5:25-34)
Her brow was wet with fever,
And her body wracked with pain.
She did not know just what was wrong,
But the symptoms would not change.
She knew she needed healing,
But she had no way to pay.
Who to turn to; who to trust;
Who to show the way?
A friend said to her, “Sister,
I know a doctor kind.
He cleanses lepers, makes lame walk,
And gives sight to the blind.
In fact, He’ll take on any case,
And cure it every time.”
“Oh, would that I could go to Him,”
She then was heard to say.
“But since I do not know His name,
How can I know the way?
And even if He’d take my case,
I simply cannot pay.”
“My dear, fear not,” her friend replied;
“There is no need to fear.
I’ll take you to Him right away;
He’s really very near.
His name’s Jehovah Rapha; He’s
‘The God that healeth thee.’
And because of His Son’s precious blood,
The healing – it is free!
~
© 1998 Sandra Conner
Love -Through the Eyes of Opie Taylor
In an episode of the uniquely popular TV program The Andy Griffith Show, an episode entitled “The Rivals,” Andy tries to help his son Opie come to terms with the troubling symptoms of being in the throes of first love. As they sit together in the living room, Opie opens the conversation:
“Pa, when you like someone a whole lot, that means you love ’em, don’t it?”
“It depends,” says Andy.
“Well, when I’m with Karen, I get a lump in my throat, my ears ring, and my knees get all squiggly. Does that mean I’m in love?’
“Either that or you’ve got a real bad case of the measles.”
“Pa, if I marry Karen someday, her name becomes Taylor, don’t it?”
“That’s right, and all your children become Taylors too.”
“Children? … I don’t think we’d have any children, Pa. We already know enough kids to play with.”
And so – with childhood’s blurry vision of the details of this state called marriage — Opie easily dismisses one of the most important results of engaging in the deepest mysteries of the marriage covenant. Children are a very visible product of those mysteries.
But there are other products as well. Many of them are not so easily seen or identified, but they can be just as important and just as life-changing. There is a sense of fulfillment and a greater sense of wholeness. There’s a sense of security and oneness that melts away all the coldness of being alone. And there’s a new knowledge of self – an understanding of oneself on a new level. The man and woman who have previously been “their own person” have now, for the first time, realized that they are much more complex and much more capable of enjoying that complexity as a result of this new relationship and the new identity that results from it.
But all of this change is not easy. Nor is it simple. In fact, it is so complex that sometimes it’s weeks, or unfortunately even years, before one or both partners actually realize that they have become a part of a brand new whole and are no longer exactly the same persons they were before marriage.
That realization could be frightening if not seen through the plan of God. He, after all, is Love (1 John 4:8). He created this thing called marriage – and the sex that is an integral part of it. And guess what? He knows what He’s talking about. His plan is that each partner in this holy covenant relationship will find in the mate the answer to longings that have never been fulfilled; the key to opening doors in the soul that have never been unlocked; and the love that saturates and nurtures our unique gifts and abilities so that they mature and bring us to the highest and best we can be. In short, it’s this new person, conceived from the two, that is finally complete and whole in a way that nothing but a “covenant” marriage relationship can accomplish.
It is true that our mate cannot fill the place in us that is reserved for God Himself. And we will never be truly whole until He is at home in us. But it is God Himself who has told us clearly, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him. … And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man. And the man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.’ … For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2: 18, 22-24, NAS).
So God said of his “perfect” man that he needed a woman to be complete. And He created the woman to be so much a part of the man that she would have a need of him to be complete as well. Isn’t it interesting that this “need” of each other was created into us as part of our perfection? And this unique completeness that results is probably the one most powerful and thrilling product of a man and woman entering into and enjoying the blessed mysteries of God’s kind of marriage.
I know in this 21st century – especially in the hollowed political halls of this world — it is not considered “politically correct” to make such statements. But, thank God, there is still one Document that supersedes all the political attitudes and postures of every society on the face of the earth. It still supersedes every new “law” on the books that would try to make marriage something different from what God created it to be. What a blessing to know that He still holds the patent on marriage. And that one Document — The Word of God – The Holy Bible – still gives the human race the blessed, supernatural opportunity to experience total completeness through love – when they enter into it the way God Himself created it to be experienced.
Truly, a Valentine gift to be treasured forever.
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The Happy Wordcrafter 