Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken. Psalm 34:19,20
Monthly Archives: December 2016
Evening Meditation 12-27-16
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:17,18
In what way is the Lord near the broken hearted? Is this linked in some way to having a contrite spirit?
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Share Your World 2016 Week 52
I have been coming to Cee’s blog for about four years now to participate in her various challenges. Share Your World was the very first challenge I took up as a blogger. In Cee’s own words here is what share your world is all about.
Share Your World (SYW) is all about having a safe place for everyone to answer random questions that I post each week. Here is the basic format. I will ask you:
- To answer four questions each week.
- Bonus Question is always the same “What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?” Because we all need to be reminded that there are many things in our lives to be grateful about.
Here are this week’s questions and my answers:
What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?
I think this changes regularly but right now it is Mount Washington Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. I think I will have to have a bowl tonight!
If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to?
Right now it would be a shoulder and foot massage. My shoulders are killing me.
Have you ever been drunk?
No. in fact I can count on one hand how many times I have even tasted alcohol and I would still have at least one finger left over.
Complete this sentence: My favorite supposedly guilty pleasure is…
Right now it is Bryan Davis’ series Dragons In Our Midst series.
Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
It was a wonderful Christmas service. I am glad the piano work came off so well. Here is Pastor Deb and I performing the song Noel on Christmas Eve.
This week I am looking forward to a fairly quiet week as we await our first Nor’Easter.
NOW CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW OTHERS ANSWERED THE CHALLENGE.
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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Duck,Duck, Goose
Cee has had us playing games with her fun foto challenges. THIS WEEK SHE HAS ASKED US TO PORTRAY DUCK DUCK GOOSE
Here is my interpretation
See how others answered the challenge by clicking the link above.
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Mid Afternoon Meditation 12-27-16
I have been away from the meditations for the Christmas holiday. It is time now to turn our attention back to them.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:17,18
What does “crying out to the Lord” look like?
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Tehillah Tuesday 12-27-16
A Christmas Sunday Hymn 2016
I love Christmas Sunday above all other Sundays!
Learn more about King’s Kaleidoscope Here
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Shoutin Saturday 12-24-16
Christmas without Christ is just “mas” and who knows what the heck that is?
Learn more about the artists of Kutless Here
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A Very Lillie-Put Christmas
I struggled with my list of who to send out my family and friends Christmas letter to this year. I did the same thing last year and by the time I got done creating the send list it was St. Patrick’s Day and the point was moot. So rather than make the same mistake this year I decided just to make my letter a post and anyone who is a follower on WordPress, Facebook, or Linked In can read about the past year in Lillie-Put if they care to.
So 2016. What a wild and crazy year Ay? As my lead Pastor would say. It was full of busyness and blessing.
The kids? They are all doing fine.
Joe continues to teach in South Korea
He is travelling between four schools and teaching English and Western culture to children from elementary through High School. He loves it and is finding a home there. I do look forward to having him home for a week in January. We have some fun plans!
Amanda is living here with me in Winchendon MA and is working at a Dayhab in Ashburnham, as a one to one aid. She also got her certification as a minister with the Assemblies of God and is praying about her next steps in ministry.
She was also just given the post of Vice President of the Special Touch Ministry REACH New England chapter. She will be working with the leadership of this group to bring ministry to the disabled population of North Central Worcester County.
Melanie and her husband James continue to work and minister in their church in Saugus MA. Melanie is the Children’s Pastor and James is an assistant to the lead Pastor there. Both also continue to work in youth ministry and hold down full time jobs. They are very busy people as you can imagine.
My sister Brenda has returned to the Netherlands, her mission field, and is continuing to work with the theater ministry out of Ichtus Church in Zaandam. She is also going to language school and now sometimes when she calls she forgets I don’t speak Dutch.
She has a beautiful little apartment on an island farm on the outskirts of Zaandam. Amanda went for a visit last summer. I hope I get to visit before her job requires her to move.
Brenda’s Apartment
As for me…I continue to work as the assistant pastor of Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA. Amanda and I live with my Mom in the house I grew up in. Mom just turned 80 in September and is still pretty spry. I have to watch her or she’ll start shoveling the drive or lugging wood from the wood pile. She does let me cut the lawn and do the grocery shopping and the lions share of the cooking but she still insists on doing the laundry and the dishes and God forbid I should try to vacuum the rugs downstairs!
This year was a really busy year in ministry, especially the fall. In August I led worship for a week in Berkshires for Special Touch’s New England getaway. In September I was privileged to be a part of planning and running the Toy Town Fall Fest. We had about 3,000 people in attendance on the newly acquired Ingleside property. This was a culmination of three years of work on behalf of our committee to buy and create a makerspace in the center of Winchendon.
One week after the Fall Fest I was a presenter at our church network worship conference where I got to explain our artist’s collaborative to about 50 worship leaders from the Tri- state area. From there it was a mad dash to get ready for C.cada’s ( our artists collaborative) fall art show in October. We hung over 100 works by our collaborative, presented an evening of music and held several workshops for the public.
Finally in November Cornerstone opened its doors to Special Touch to do a regional Disability Training Conference. After that it was an end run to Christmas and here we are. The season has been full of parties and concerts. Tomorrow night we are having our annual Christmas Eve service and then on Sunday we have my favorite service above all other services. Christmas Sunday. It only happens once every seven years and while I am not sure why it is my absolute favorite service period!
The church is fully decorated. My teams are rehearsed. The special music is ready. All my Christmas food is bought. Now I just have to wrap presents.
To you and yours Lillie-Put wishes you a very merry Christmas!
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Evening Meditation 12-23-16
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Psalm 34:15,16
Lillie-Put 