It can be challenging, trying to blend two cultures, but it can also be fun. For instance, I grew up in America where my mother and father had a lot of people over to play card games, eat, and laugh. I thought it was pretty cool. Something I have tried to emulate as an adult.
In the last week, I have been teaching my Filipino wife, American games and card games. Today, I taught her a new card game and while going over the rules, I mentioned they can change depending on whose house you are playing at. It’s called, “House Rules”. Meaning, if you are at one friend’s house, then you play the game according to how they play it there. Sometimes you may not agree with how they play the game, but you are at their house, so it is their rules, that rules the game.
That got me thinking about how we are in God’s house. Not in church, but on his earth. “for the world is mine, and all that is in it.” (Psalms 50:12 NIV) He has made things simple. You can live on his earth, according to your rules, if you want to, but if you want to live forever in his heaven you must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and accept him into your life. To do so otherwise means you spend eternity, dying forever, in hell. It’s his rule, which, should, rule your life.
If you haven’t, consider accepting God’s rule of your life. Doing so helps you get through it, hopefully, with lots of love, friends, family and laughter.
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
I had a friend that once stated she doesn’t want to hear her spouse say, “I love you” every day. Somehow, she feels it cheapens the words. I asked her, “Well, how do you want to know you are loved then?” She replied, “Just knowing someone is thinking about me makes me feel loved.” Yes, the next question I had to ask was, “How do you know you are being thought of if that person doesn’t express it in some form?”
Twice now, in my life, it has come to my attention that I have been the answer to someone’s prayers. A very humbling experience. The first time there was a new church in Massachusetts praying for a youth minister. They focused on this need one particular night in September. They had no idea how they could do this, because the church was so small they couldn’t afford to pay, but yet they had several youth in the church. Note; despite the facts they prayed. They believed God would hear, and God would answer.
I was going through my father’s papers the other day. I had to keep some of them, but most of them were old records about his life that were no longer of value, so I shredded them. While going through that process I thought about a man’s life, and the summation of it all. Is the end result a bag of shredded documents? I hope not.
I have always said, “I would rather be one mile behind God than one inch in front of him!” But recently, I feel as though I am trying to catch my breath doing my best to keep up with him. It’s as if I am running late to the party, God has been inviting me to all year. I just didn’t see it. He was orchestrating a new season in my life, and I didn’t even notice him hanging the decorations.
Like clothing, put on love before leaving the house. Others will appreciate it.
I was looking for my leftover Christmas cards when I came across a Father’s Day card that never got sent this year, because he passed the previous month. It caused me to pause and think about words unsaid.
I once had a neighbor, who on the way to the hardware mega store asked, “Why are you so different?” I had helped them with several needs after they had moved into their new home. He asked, I told him. The truth appealed to him and his wife, and they accepted Jesus.
A young woman had been praying for a man of God for years. She had cried out, “God do you not care?” Not seeing any positive movement via the dating site she had joined, she decided to close her account. Three days later she received a message from an interested man. Love blossomed.
brady, mark a. 