Tag Archives: God

And Cloverton Too!

Posted on by under C.cada: Arts and Stuff

I know it ia past  midnight here in my little part of the globe but I just wanted to get this post done on my last big event of the autumn season. This has been a BIG fall and I am so grateful to God for all he has done. Saturday we had my daughter Melanie’s wedding and tonight our church played host to the band Cloverton all the set up tear down set up tear down set up tear down again has been a little tiring but soooooooo worth it.

The night was opened by Ben Schaffer and then Cloverton took the stage. I think by the time Lance sang his third encore his voice was truly spent. But it was a great night.

Lance, Lane and Ben with Pastor Risto our lead pastor, Michelle King our concert promoter and Janet Girouard Michelle’s mom.
Lance at the piano
This concert happened because of a group of very dedicated volunteers
The band Cloverton played to a nearly sold out house in our church last week.
Photo ops at the signing table

One of my favorite songs of the night was Great Plans

Heaven Pt. 156: The Most Incredible Nobody Who Ever Lives

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD?who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? Psm 89:6

The world is full of great men, powerful men. The universe has many examples of incredible power both natural and spiritual. I have watched as men steer the nations  with their words saving or destroying the lives of countless individuals. I have seen the devastation of a tsunami and the world- stopping power of a blizzard. I have also been present at times when angels have ministered healing and grace while demons created discord and destruction. But all of these displays of power are small in comparison to the power of God. There is no one like Him. His greatness  dwarfs the  galaxies that dwarf the planets that dwarf the mountains that dwarf the people who live and walk among them.

In His greatness God is God and therefore the One being in all the universe who has no governing authority but His own character. He is the slave to no galaxy or planet or mountain or man; But we are all His. As this is true, it makes the Scripture in Philippians all that much more potent:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” Phil 2:5-7

The God, whose greatness made and one day will unmake the universe, became, in the course of time, the most incredible nobody who ever lives (I can’t say lived because He lives still). The Darling of Heaven was crucified  so that you and I might live.  Forget the dying part for a minute and just concentrate on what He gave up, even in coming to Earth, so that you might know how special you are to Him. He is so big and you are so little. He holds the span of the universe in His hand. You can hardly hold a basketball in yours. But He gave up that universe-sized hand for one like yours in the hopes that you would catch a glimpse of his dedication and love for you. He became nobody in time so that you could become somebody in eternity!

Now that is love! How could we not love Him back?

Reflecting Divine

Posted on by under The Stories

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Reflecting Divine

by JE Lillie

“Darkness stirs the deep.”

Weeps the world.

Argent fire splays across obsidian

Medians, right from left divides.

The sacrifice cries

“My God, my God…”

And then He dies.

Rise up you who would follow!

“Darkness stirs the deep.”

Weeps the world.

Oh salty light on a hillside

Bide your time no more.

Let the sleeper awaken

Taken by the final rising tide.

Renewal, revival expecting,

Reflecting Divine!

Driving Into the Light

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles, Travel

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This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1:5-7

When I get to Heaven I expect many surprises. I get more than most that there are things about Christianity that just don’t make sense within the current context of a fallen sinful world. We have never known anything but this so how could we expect ourselves to understand something that is totally other than this?

For instance: How do we work out the concept of eternity (the absence of time) in a universe that measures everything in time. How do we rationalize having complete free choice under the auspices of a completely sovereign God? How can innocence ever return when the knowledge of good and evil is so deeply ingrained within our race? AND how can  Something or Someone be entirely light in a universe that is only able to measure light by the amount of darkness it dispels?

We cannot fully explain these things now but we Christians must firmly hold to them because God has taught them in His Word.

As Amanda and I mosied from Moher along the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, we traveled into a place called the Burren.

The Bay Of Galway

A veritable moonscape splattered along the Western coast of Ireland, the Burren is the badlands between the green spaces of Kerry and Connemara. Amanda and I were struck to silent wonder as we twisted the corkscrew roads down into the nothingness and back up and out again towards the bay of Galway. Always in our travels there was this light in the midst of the lonely terrain that reminded us that magic and mystery can exist side by side with the natural man.

100_5388The sun was setting over the Bay of Galway as we pulled into the SaltHill Hotel along Ocean Dr. As it nestled itself to sleep under a haze of dark black cloud I was reminded that I may not know how time and eternity, sovereignty and free will, innocence and knowledge, or light and darkness can exist perfectly side by side, but there are a great many things I do not know or have not seen; My not knowing them or not seeing them does not make them any less so.

What parts of God’s Word do you struggle with because it doesn’t seem to match up with what you have experienced?

Skywatch Friday 10-31-14

Posted on by under Photography

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A storm is brewing! We can only run for cover. There is only one safe place!

Psalm 91:1-7King James Version (KJV)

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Many times over the past week’s I have felt to remind my readership of these facts. Cling to them people they are all that is unshakeable!

A Touch Of Majesty

Posted on by under Travel, Uncategorized

 

While we truly enjoyed Blarney Castle, Amanda and I were glad to be shed of the traffic of Cork. I have to admit I get a little excitable in heavy traffic and Cork had no shortage of that. Add the whole left side of the road thing and forgetting which side of the car to look out of as I entered incoming traffic and  you can just imagine how our sense of inner peace was challenged.

Things got better, though, as we headed toward the Mangerton Mountains and the town of Killarney in Co Kerry.

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The word majestic is apropos’ here. I cannot suppose it is the size of the mountains or even the color. Yet there is no mistaking the otherworldly quality of the place that makes you feel you have entered the domain of kings or of the King. There again,was the sense of loneliness that became so familiar to us as we traveled the island. Yet, there was something else too as we drove into Killarney, a sense that somehow God was sharing with us some secret key to His own majesty. Many times as I travelled through Ireland I was struck by the truth that here in this place I was having a unique experience, one I could not have anywhere else in the wide-world.

The questions and truths of Psalm chapter eight seemed to echo through the landscape and somehow the terrain itself called back the answers.

Psalm 8

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.[a]

1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
    Your glory is higher than the heavens.
2 You have taught children and infants
    to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
    and all who oppose you.

3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
    the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
    human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God
    and crowned them[e] with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
    putting all things under their authority—
7 the flocks and the herds
    and all the wild animals,
8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
    and everything that swims the ocean currents.

9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

The Mangerton Mountains in Killarney National Forest as seen from our hotel window
Our ride into Killarney
Some walls are made to protect us.
Muckross House
The Mountains seen from the front lawn of Muckross House
The mountains seen from the front lawn of Muckross House
Amanda at Torc Waterfall
Amanda in the Magerton Mountains on the road to Moll’s Gap
Ladie’s View

From Boston To Dublin And Wicked Tired

Posted on by under Travel

So these are the chronicles of my recent trip to Ireland.

I think I told you all before I left that I was tired. By tired I mean asleep on my feet with certain pieces of my anatomy in a constant gyration between pain and tingly numb. I badly needed this vacation.

My sister dropped Amanda and I off at Boston Logan sometime around 5:30 P.M. which gave us three and a half hours before our flight. We were through baggage check and security by 6:15 P.M. and that with me being pulled out of line for a full body scan ( yeah, I forgot my glasses in my shirt pocket again).

Us on the way to Ireland.

Us on the way to Ireland.

We ate supper at the café down towards our gate and then watched as our airplane pulled into its dock.

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Here’s a question. What do you do when you have three hours to wait for a plane? Amanda and I talked and talked over coffee, a thing we would do throughout our 12 days together. Perhaps that was one of the things I liked best about the trip…. the conversation!

Oh yeah and our game of “Whose Line Is It.”

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I love the prop game. If you think this is funny you should see me as Princess Amidala. That unfortunately is on Amanda’s camera.

Despite my weariness I think I slept for just over an hour on the flight to Ireland. My hands started throbbing an hour into the flight and when the pain ended a two-day long tingle session started in. Even in this though God provided. We landed and stayed in Dublin those first two days; So I was spared from gripping a steering wheel. By Sunday when I had to start driving my hands and arms were much restored.

Our rooms, in Dublin,were not quite ready for us when we arrived at the Hotel Alexander;  So we stored our luggage with the front desk and took a tour around O’Connell Street and Trinity College:

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By noon I was fading; By one o:clock or two cups of coffee later depending on how you mark time, we were in our rooms and I plummeted into dreamland for a few hours. Not even caffeine could keep me up! God knew I needed the rest and so He provided us with the most comfortable beds of the trip those first two nights. It was like sleeping on clouds!

Our resting place in Dublin.

Our resting place in Dublin.

Skywatch Friday and Redemption

Posted on by under Photography

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This incredible rainbow appeared over our town hall last night after the day’s torrential rains.

It reminded me of this verse in the Bible.

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

We have ebola. We have the entero virus. We have war all over the world. We have weapons of mass destruction being discovered where people assured us there were none. We have fear and anger and well the list just goes on forever it seems. But we also have the promises of God and the good news of the gospel. I can still sing “Jesus Loves Me” and “This World Is Not My Home” and those two things are the truth unshakeable.

Ebola can come. War can come. People can hate me, curse me and hurt me but in the end all these troubles will pass away and I will stand in the garden again with my Jesus and sing! And so can anyone who comes to the cross and receives the grace of the One True Messiah of mankind! Now that is good news that no amount of bad news can undo!