This post was written for Cee’s Black & White Challenge
Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Far Away in the Distance
Here are my offerings from a distance
Valley Forge PA
Acton MA
Winchendon MA from Whitney’s Pond
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Contrasting Colors
This week’s challenge was a good exercise in color composition. Here are my contributions and thanks Cee for making me think in color
Little Lamb! Little Lamb! Who hath made thee?
“Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made…The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” Ge. 2:7,8,15
“The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.” Psalm 103:13,14
“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” 2 Cor. 4:6,7
For all the posturing we have heard in the world about the greatness of the human race and the glorious future of mankind, the truths of Scripture listed above are echoed again and again throughout our history.
Shakespeare said:
“We all are men, in our own natures frail, and capable of our flesh; few are angels.”
― William Shakespeare, Henry VIII
And Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said
Some of our weakness is born in us, some of it comes through education; it is a big question as to which gives us the most trouble.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The point is that the weakness of man is simply a truth. The sinfulness of man is simply a truth. Our culture may deny it and tell us we are good people who only sometimes do evil. Our culture may tell us that mankind is getting better and better under its own power but that is a lie the truth is spelled out by Paul quoting the prophet Isaiah to the Romans,
10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
11 No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
12 All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”
Romans 3:10-12
I am not strong I am weak. You are not strong you are weak. We are all of us dust kiddies and God knows it; The world around us knows it; The only ones who ever deny it are ourselves. We can easily admit that the person next to us is weak but to admit it to ourselves is another matter.
Today it is time for us to pull back the veil on our vanity and simply admit we are weak. We were formed of dust. Our strength is dust and we shall return to dust in a very few short years. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot help ourselves. We cannot fix ourselves because there is nothing of strength in us.
That is the beginning of the Gospel, the Good news. Now, if that is where the Good news ended I don’t think any of us would think it was very good news. The truth is though we cannot start out on the road to good news without at first acknowledging the bad news. The good news is, though we cannot help ourselves there is a God who wants to help us! And the better news is the only thing standing in the way of His helping us is our own foolish notion that we can help ourselves. Once we line ourselves up with the truth of Scripture that, we are in and of ourselves completely helpless, then God is able to come and give us the help we need! AND HE WANTS TO HELP US!
If you missed part one of this sermon go to:
Some provocative thoughts on hatred. Tell me what you think.
Remember the game we played when we were kids where we would toss something around trying to get rid of it as soon as possible because it was a “hot potato”? Like the “hot potato,” God wants us to let go of any anger, bitterness and resentment. Buddha noted, Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Long-time advice columnist, Ann Landers once said, Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head. But there is so much unfairness, cruelty and just plain nastiness in the world that it is hard to avoid these feelings.
I grew up with the idea that anger was a “bad” emotion. It took a long time for me to learn to admit that I was angry. It took even longer to learn to express…
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Little Lamb, Little Lamb Who hath made thee?
I was recently at a meeting in which someone had the gall to ask “who do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?”
My initial reaction was “Well let me tell you who I am. I am Pastor J. Lillie I’ve been….”
Then God asked me “Who do you think you are?”
And as He asked it these verses came to mind.
“Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made…The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.” Ge. 2:7,8,15
“The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.” Psalm 103:13,14
“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.[b] This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” 2 Cor. 4:6,7
I am a created being made from the dust of the earth. From dust I come and to dust I will return. My life span in this body is 70 years and a few. I am a sinner saved by grace totally irredeemable apart from the miracle of the cross of Christ and the miracle of His resurrection. All my righteousness or good works is nothing more than filthy rags . I have no real glory apart from what He gives me.
Who am I?
I am nothing more than a dust kiddie, a child of dust roaming the earth looking for a place to land, an empty vessel with nothing inside but generations of dust and death to my credit. Under my own power I can never become anything more than dust and death and my friend neither can you.
Do you ever feel like me, a dust kiddie? What do you do with those feelings?
Check in for the next portion of our study tomorrow!
Something God has also placed on my heart.
Is your joke really a judgment? What is the fine line between a joke and a judgment? In my opinion, I would say it is when someone gets hurt at the cost of your laughter. The issue may appear very funny on the surface but in actuality when uncovered it really is not funny at all.
How do you get people to stop judging even after the person has made a desperate cry for help? Sometimes the underlying cause has nothing to do with what your eyes compute to be the problem. There is only one judge and He is the Great I AM!
God’s word says;
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…
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I missed Sharing my world last week because I was away in the Berkshires leading worship and caregiving for guests at the New England Special Touch Getaway! So this week I am answering question for two weeks to catch myself up. When you have finished sharing a bit of my world find out about other worlds by going to:
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/09/08/share-your-world-2014-week-36/
Let’s start with this week’s questions from Cee:
Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?
My first book is the Bible. I read several chapters daily (that’s non-fiction in case there might be any confusion) After that I am a big fiction reader. I am currently fascinated by anything to do with the English royal lineage and I am particularly stuck in the War of the Roses.
What is your biggest fear or phobia? (no photos please)
I dislike new things and change. That means currently I am being HUGELY stretched because everything in my life is new experiences.
What is your favorite cheese?
I love Gouda.
What is your favorite month of the year?
I like November. It is my birthday month and Thanksgiving and this year we will have my daughter’s wedding in November!
Now as to last week’s questions:
Have your blogging goals changed?
When I started blogging on “Reinventing the We’ll” I thought I would be talking about the empty nest. I ended up doing a whole lot with photography and of course sharing the Christian message. I also never expected to get so involved in the blogging community. That has been a happy surprise!
If you were to perform in the circus, what would you do?
I think I would be a clown.
If you could go back and talk to yourself at age 18 what advice would you give yourself? Or if you are younger than 25 what words of wisdom would you like to tell yourself at age 45?
I think I would tell myself to take better advantages of the opportunities that presented themselves. To be more proactive and less reactive. Time passes quickly and some things only present themselves for a brief period.
What is your favorite comfort snack food?
I have to have my daily nutty buddy with a hot cup of coffee.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to help my friends at Special Touch Ministry. The work we did there will last into eternity. I was privileged to baptize three of our camp guests. The joy each guest expressed coming out of the waters of baptism is not something I will soon forget.
The chapel and gymnasium at Eisner Camp
I am looking forward to planning out the Toy Town Fall Festival this week. It is my next big project and now I can put my full attention to it!
Ate you living in the past?
Driving would be more difficult and more dangerous without our properly-adjusted rear vision mirrors. While driving, we use the broad view through the windscreen as we move ahead, but we also use the rear view mirrors for reference, making quick, periodic glances into them for information to aid us in driving decisions. Reversing or changing lanes would be hazardous without them.
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It seems in my world Friday shall ever come on Saturday!
Lillie-Put 