Flat Out Fun.... a devotion from Phil at PrayerMetro

To: Friend Friend From: Phil at PrayerMetro

Subject:  Flat Out Fun 

 

Exodus 23:5 If you see the donkey (car,truck) of one who hates you lying [helpless] under his load,(dead or with a flat) you shall refrain from leaving the man to cope with it alone; you shall help him to release the animal.(fix it and get down the road)

 

Flat Out Fun : After spending a few hours in a public facility, I returned to find a flat on my truck.  Ram pickups are big trucks.  That wheel looked imposing.  My casual business dress felt restricting.  Really glad I did not put on that white shirt this morning.

Immediately I set to work.  Rain was coming.  Lightening was threatening.  Finally I figured all the needs out, dropped the spare, jacked the truck, changed the tire, put everything back and climbed in to drive home.  The rain spit on me as I replaced the jack under the seat.  Whew!  I laughed and thanked God for muscles for the moment.

All the while, people were coming to their cars, beeping to unlock, and driving past me on the ground under the truck, by the wheel, lifting the big ol tire, and doing the deed.  Where was that great security crew I saw driving around all this time?  No one asked to help or even offered an encouraging word.  Many passed and looked the other way.

There must be a way to make time for others.  I’m sure every person felt I had the situation under control.  Between me and Jesus, we did.

I laughed and had a good time and thanked God the rain held off and I was able to do what needed done.  Honestly, it was fun.

 

Quizzical

That verse in Exodus used to be common practice in our nation.  I grew up picking up hitchhikers and changing tires on the side of the road for others.  In our age of cell phones and hurry-up, we seem to have lost time for others.  I am just as guilty as any.  The moral center of our nation is skewed a different direction.  I don't have a solution, but I certainly see the issue.  Somehow, we need to get back to some easy to understand scriptural guidelines of civil responsibility and common neighborliness.  What an opportunity for the Christians in our nation to show the effect of reading that book with effective behaviors.

 

Prayer:

Father, we could sure use some help in our courage and consideration of others.  What has entered our cultural soul that enables us to walk by friend and fellow citizen and not offer our time and selves?  What has happened to so busy us that we leave others to fend for themselves.  Father, we need your intervention.  Our view has been skewed.  Our understanding has been shifted to self and hurry. Father, I am guilty.  I have passed others on the road and not offered help.  Cure our hearts.  Bring us to a simple living of simple scriptural principles.

Phil Larson 405-388-8037 Add:508 Tumbleweed Dr. Yukon, Ok 73099
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Contented Days for Friend.

"Never be discouraged if you don't do too well - or over elated when you make a good play. Simply do the best you have in you again on the next down." Bud Wilkinson writing to his son, Jay. In the same letter.... "Character, kindness, and thoughtfulness toward other people, and an unselfish attitude of service to others are the qualities which make a man." in the book Dear Jay, Love Dad.

Matthew 6:34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow or the next decision or the next moment, for tomorrow and the next moment will have worries and anxieties of their own. Sufficient for each day and moment is its own trouble.

An element of success is the ability to be in the moment, focused on the moment, and not overly concerned about what cannot be controlled. Giving our best to the moment and decision and day brings good results over time and great results in our character.

Father, let Friend see success in the moments.

Let me see success in my moments.

Allow Friend to find contentment in giving the best to the decisions and days met this week.

Open a window of refreshing enjoyment of the journey this week for us.

Bless and do not hold back, Father.

You are good to all and Your tender, loving kindness covers all Your works. 

Phil Larson 405-388-8037 508 Tumbleweed Dr. Yukon, Ok 73099
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Blog: http://prayermetrodevotion.blogspot.com
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Bearing Up In Hard Times

I Corinthians 13...Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]

Love is easy to understand and hard to keep at times. Love means having the best concern for the other person. Simple to feel. Tough to walk out.

Times test love. Attacks test love. Long days and nights test love. Misunderstandings test love.

As a leader, love is important. It guides the big decisions and keeps you going when results take long.

I pray for love to find you.

May the love the Greatest Father come up under your tiredness and carry you through the day.

May the love of family and friend encourage you to keep hoping against hope.

May the love of what you do believe in others to come alongside in the journey.

May love find you, keep you, encourage you, and never fail you.

In Him. In love.

Making a Difference For Youth, Friend.

Isaiah 40:30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: (feebly stumble and fall exhausted,

 

Youth, teenagers, jovenes.... all the same.  This generation is looking for fathers and encouragers. 

= On FB recently I ran some test prompts centering on lack of hope.  Only teens responded.

= Of course teens have emo moments online.. they are teens.

= What happens when it goes beyond?  Do they "utterly fall"?

 

Isaiah looked at his times and looked at the youth and pointed out a potential for failure.  He did not do that to simply point out a problem.  He did it to point us to take action.

 

On my current reading time is a book featuring the fathering of Bud Wilkinson.  Legendary Coach, television personality, politician, businessman, and father.  Dear Jay, Love Dad.  Is a book written in love by his son, Jay.  It is based on letters (the emails of his day) of encouragement and counsel to a son growing through his youth. His letters from the sixties are teaching me even today.

 

As you go through 2012, think about ways you can hold up a young man or a young woman.  Make a difference.

 

Prayer:  Father, many have been in my life to hold me up.  When I would stumble, a pastor held me up.  When I would fall, a friend businessman would hold me up.  When I would trip, a concerned older man would hold me up.  So many times, I remember.  Can You hold me up that I might hold others?  Show me someone that needs holding up and moving forward.  Help me to make sure a young woman or a young man might be held up.  In giving, I am given strength and life.

 

HeartLine, Oklahoma’s Community Crisis Connection, needs community volunteers to help address youth suicide rates in Oklahoma. You can make a difference by becoming a volunteer presenter for HeartLine’s Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative, the Healthy Education for Life Program (HELP)! The next training session will be held on January 14^th from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.  Pre-registration and full attendance is required.  To sign up for this training, please contact HeartLine’s Director of Suicide Prevention & Outreach Programs, Lisa Harper, at   lharper@heartlineoklahoma.org or at             405.840.9396       ext. 114.

Phil Larson 405-388-8037 508 Tumbleweed Dr. Yukon, Ok 73099
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Blog: http://prayermetrodevotion.blogspot.com
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