AUGUST 31,2008

Jesus loves me this I know --- for my heart His love overflows!

Welcome back my friends to what I like to call that piece of my mind that might have existed. This is that little area between what God has given me and what I have let myself use. It's a place where I try to actually let go of my feelings and put them into words and since I'm not very happy with my own words I try as hard as I can to find ways to put them into the words He gave us to live by. I don't make any claims about how smart I am or how talented because I'm not, but the one thing I do know is how Christ Jesus has taken over my life and allowed me to be a speaker for Him. I had plannerd for this Ministry to be a reflection of our old Serenity Site, which was in it's own right a huge success, but God has convinced me that we don't need to redo it because it was meant for the people who used it and Golgatha is meant to serve you who join us here now. I'll probably do most ov my talking on this page, but please keep watch on the main homepage because I will be adding a lot of things there as well. Right now I am working on a study of the Gospel of Mark which my son and I are using to test it out and work out any bugs and I will be adding it to the website for you to use. There won't be any charge for any of the materiel I offer, but I would love to hear your oppinions on it so that I can improve it. I am also working on writing a 4 or 5 week study on evangelism by looking at Paul in the Book of 1Thesselonians. I'm actually writing it for my wife Beautiful Becky and myself to share in the evangelism group we facilitate, but I'm hoping to share it with all of you as well in the hope that you will find something i n it to use to share God and His love with another. Beautiful Becky made me decide on a mission statement for my page to share with you and after several weeks of prayer what he gave me is "Taking Jesus to all His people" because that's what being a follower of Christ and the path He made for us requires. I have been pretty busy lately getting ready to share my first message in front of an audiance since 1982 and working on things for a series of talks of which mine last Friday was only the first in order to get our church congregation prepared spiritually for our big yearly fundraiser, but now got the most part I can relax and learn grom our other three speakers. O'm also working on materials to present at a prayer table during the event and organizing that with our evangelism group members who are working so hard to make sure that we usr the opportunity to share the love of God as much or more than raising money for the church, but with their help I should have more time, so I,ll be able to share more with you here as well. If you keep watch you'll notice a lot more links starting to go up including new writers pages for us to share with. I promise you that all of these people love both God and us and that we can all learn a great deal from what they have to say to us. Also there are some new links I will be adding to other sites that I pray you will be able to benefit from.

"The meek eill inherit the land and enjoy great peace!"
Psalm 37:11

"Meekness is the mark of a man who has been mastered by God."

Geoffrey B. Wilson

Ok, it's not very often that you will find me arguing with someone elses devotions especially when they are printed and sold in Christian bookstores because I don't look at myself as being on that level. And this one may be correct in some places which I won;t argue with, but this one really got me thinking about what they were saying. This comes from a very popular devotional that Beautiful Becky uses and normally I find it really insightful, but just the way they dhose to present this one on this one day really bothered me and I had to throw what I see from reading this Psalm out there for you to think about as well.

Now, I can see that being meek could help us to see God as our Lord and Master, but I don't think that He ever seeks to master us. The devotion starts out by likening us to a wild horse that has to have his spirit broken before he can be used. I've got to tell you honestly that I have a big problem with that because the God I know made me in His image and that means my spirit, not my physical body. Wgich tells me that the Father wants me to be a reflection of His spirit and love and how can I do that if my spirit has been broken by him. No, if I'm going to use an analogy involving a horse it would be the way a horse is gentile and trusting because he knows that the master's hand is there to protect and guide him, not to punish and break him. I tully feel that the meek are simply those who do not promote themselves as first, but work calmly to hrlp others while trusting that God will protect us and lead us where we need to go to hoin him. Far from being broken when I surrender to Jesus the Holy Spirit empowers me.

Solidarity August 31
No one played a larger role in the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe than Karol Wojtyla of Krakow. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, Wojtyla had attended an underground Catholic seminary by dodging military patrols and taking secret classes in convents, churches, and homes. At length he graduated, donned clerical robes, and traveled to a small Polish village to serve as priest. Communists, meanwhile, were replacing Nazis as the oppressors of Eastern Europe; but with intrepidity, Wojtyla performed baptisms, heard confessions, offered Mass, foiled the secret police, and thwarted authorities.

The years passed, and by 1978, the village priest had advanced to become the first non-Italian pope in 456 years—John Paul II. On one of his first outings, the new pope heard someone in the crowd shout, “Don’t forget the Church of Silence!” (that is, the church under Communism). John Paul replied, “It’s not a Church of Silence anymore, because it speaks with my voice.”
John Paul soon returned in triumph to Warsaw where his plane landed over the protests of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Oceans of faces met him everywhere, weeping, praying, shouting. Communist leaders in Russia and Poland trembled as they listened to his words: “Dearest brothers and sisters! You must be strong with the strength that flows from faith! There is no need to be afraid. The frontiers must be opened.”

Within a year, spontaneous strikes occurred throughout Poland; and in Gdansk, Lech Walesa stood atop an excavator and announced a strike in the shipyards. Back at the Vatican, John Paul watched, prayed, and spoke to a group of Polish pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “All of us here in Rome are united with our compatriots in Poland,” he said, signaling his blessings on the strikers. Within a week the Communists made historic concessions, and on August 31, 1980 the Gdansk Accords were signed, permitting the first independent union in Eastern Europe. There was no mistaking the role of the Polish pope, for Lech Walesa signed the papers using a brightly colored Vatican pen featuring a picture of John Paul II.
The Iron Curtain was crumbling.

I’ll tell you what it really means to worship the Lord.
Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
Share your food with everyone who is hungry;
Share your home with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
Don’t turn away your relatives.
Isaiah 58:6,7
Morgan, Robert J.: On This Day : 265 Amazing and Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs & Heroes. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000, c1997, S. August 31

Thank you my friend for letting me share my feelings with you and for sharing the love of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ with me. May God truly bless you in every way in Jesus name we pray;

AMEN