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Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Inn and Carbon County courthouse in Jim Thorpe, PA
Message Summary: That's you and me today. Don't let any stone cold rock or computer generated voice take our place in praising the Lord!
Listen to this
message on your
audio player.
"I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40).
Dottie
is our mixed breed cat we've had since May 15, 2001. We know her
precise birthday since she was born to a wild barn cat in
the summer kitchen of our rented farm house three months after we moved back to
Pennsylvania. Ester picked her favorite from the
litter of four and she's been ours ever since. Dottie has no idea of her humble
beginnings and now acts pretty sophisticated. Due to her insistence on scratching furniture we generally keep her out in our
utility barn or she also likes to roam around our yard. She must think
she's getting fresh fountain water from our decorative pump although actually
it's just recirculated!
But we occasionally let her come in and she likes to lay near us when we do our work on the computer. Brooksyne had an interesting experience she shares in her own words:
I
was typing out the words to some older choruses that I was going to lead our
congregation in singing. They included the songs, "Oh, How He Loves
You and Me", "He Is Lord", and "Hallelujah, Hallelujah."
Right after I typed these songs along came Dottie sauntering across my desk. Instead of sitting beside the computer she decided to plop down right on my keyboard. Several random letters came across the screen. All of a sudden a stilted, emotionless voice came out of the computer speaker which initially startled me. I turned up the volume only to hear the words of the choruses I just typed!
Apparently Dottie launched a function I didn't even know existed on our computer and it converted the text to voice. Though it was a rather monotone voice, hearing the words of the songs brought them to life in my heart. By the time the computer generated voice broke into the chorus of "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" and repeated it eight times, strangely enough, I found myself beginning to praise God.
I called Stephen to join me so I could share with him about my usual experience. We were both rather blessed but we also considered a spiritual application. Considering the daily text we might render it, "If you keep quiet, the computer will cry out".
Today's Scripture text is from a portion of the Bible dealing with the Triumphal Entry. "When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives,
the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud
voices for all the miracles they had seen: Blessed is the king who
comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest!”
The angry Pharisees demanded that they be silenced, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
But Jesus made a powerful observation, "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
We are created to praise the Lord. We recall a song many years ago by a musician who would periodically visit our church in northern Pennsylvania. The recurring line was, "Ain't no rock gonna cry in my place!" based on the daily Scripture verse. God's Word makes it abundantly clear that He desires His people to praise Him.
Hebrews 13:15 states, "Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name".
The call to praise includes:
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Jesus, I want to praise You, my great Redeemer, for who
You are and for Your acts of kindness seen so many times throughout my
day. I never cease to praise You because You never cease to work on my
behalf. Your mercy and love, Your strength and comfort, Your
sustaining power and guiding hand are only a tiny fraction of the many
reasons that lead me to praise You. Instead of a murmuring and
ungrateful attitude, I want to join with the multitude of believers and
sing of my great Redeemer's praise to everyone, everywhere, all the
time. Amen.
Psalm 148 has this interesting heading "The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord."
Our
longtime friends, Jeff and Lois Worrall along with their daughter
Hannah, visited us yesterday evening for dinner and late into the
evening we watched the busy Rye Harvest across the road. We met Jeff
about 35 years ago when he became an active part of the church we
served in northern Pennsylvania. They presently live
in far northern New York near Watertown but Lois has family in this
area. Last year they brought us a jar of gooseberry jam but this year,
along with a large can of New York maple syrup from her brother's farm,
they brought us two jars of gooseberry jelly, each marked with one of our names on them.
The
reason being, last year Brooksyne carefully concealed the whereabouts
of the jelly by hiding it behind larger items in the fridge. She and I
really liked the jelly, and she thought I'd already had my fair share,
so she decided to keep what little was left for herself. This year Lois
graciously solved that problem by giving each of us our own jar. And it
is wonderfully delicious again!
Jim Thorpe, PA
Loading the bike train in Jim Thorpe Saturday morning.
When we arrived early Saturday morning they were setting up for an Earth Day street fair. The town has a very progressive, new age vibe and as we walked about town later in the afternoon, after our long bike ride, we felt rather out of place! In fact the earth day attraction brought in some folks that looked like they arrived from another planet!
Lots of brick and stone in Jim Thorpe. See here for the history behind the unusual name. It is one of just three municipalities in the United States with the first and last name of a person used as its name!
I rather enjoyed the bluegrass sound from this band.
It's not often you see Smokey the Bear petting a dog!
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Let's Just Praise the Lord" Video Homecoming concert
"Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days)" Video The Isaacs Shortly after our visit to Jim Thorpe this song played on the radio. Brooksyne and I looked at each other as we considered our recent "strange" visit to Jim Thorpe when compared to the message of this song. (Of course, she and I might have looked weird to those whom we thought appeared to be from another planet.) Truth be told, we know everything wasn't good about the "good old days" but the song does has an interesting theme and a lot of old-fashioned truth as well.
Yesterday's mystery photo was a young man assembling the rollers that move a car through a car wash. Several months ago we began our chaplain care service at Kleen-Rite, the country's largest wholesale distributor of car wash equipment and supplies. It's based in nearby Columbia but has distribution warehouses in Texas and Las Vegas. They are building a huge distribution center right here in Mount Joy in a former dress company.
Inn and Carbon County courthouse in Jim Thorpe, PA
"Don't Let The Computer Cry Out"
Message Summary: That's you and me today. Don't let any stone cold rock or computer generated voice take our place in praising the Lord!
Listen to this
message on your
audio player."I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out" (Luke 19:40).
Dottie
is our mixed breed cat we've had since May 15, 2001. We know her
precise birthday since she was born to a wild barn cat in
the summer kitchen of our rented farm house three months after we moved back to
Pennsylvania. Ester picked her favorite from the
litter of four and she's been ours ever since. Dottie has no idea of her humble
beginnings and now acts pretty sophisticated. Due to her insistence on scratching furniture we generally keep her out in our
utility barn or she also likes to roam around our yard. She must think
she's getting fresh fountain water from our decorative pump although actually
it's just recirculated!But we occasionally let her come in and she likes to lay near us when we do our work on the computer. Brooksyne had an interesting experience she shares in her own words:
I
was typing out the words to some older choruses that I was going to lead our
congregation in singing. They included the songs, "Oh, How He Loves
You and Me", "He Is Lord", and "Hallelujah, Hallelujah." Right after I typed these songs along came Dottie sauntering across my desk. Instead of sitting beside the computer she decided to plop down right on my keyboard. Several random letters came across the screen. All of a sudden a stilted, emotionless voice came out of the computer speaker which initially startled me. I turned up the volume only to hear the words of the choruses I just typed!
Apparently Dottie launched a function I didn't even know existed on our computer and it converted the text to voice. Though it was a rather monotone voice, hearing the words of the songs brought them to life in my heart. By the time the computer generated voice broke into the chorus of "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" and repeated it eight times, strangely enough, I found myself beginning to praise God.
I called Stephen to join me so I could share with him about my usual experience. We were both rather blessed but we also considered a spiritual application. Considering the daily text we might render it, "If you keep quiet, the computer will cry out".
Today's Scripture text is from a portion of the Bible dealing with the Triumphal Entry. "When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives,
the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud
voices for all the miracles they had seen: Blessed is the king who
comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest!”The angry Pharisees demanded that they be silenced, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
But Jesus made a powerful observation, "I tell you," He replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
We are created to praise the Lord. We recall a song many years ago by a musician who would periodically visit our church in northern Pennsylvania. The recurring line was, "Ain't no rock gonna cry in my place!" based on the daily Scripture verse. God's Word makes it abundantly clear that He desires His people to praise Him.
Hebrews 13:15 states, "Through Him [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name".
The call to praise includes:
- Everyone: "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD" (Psalm 150:6).
- Everywhere: "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised" (Psalm 113:3).
- All the time: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1).
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily prayer: Jesus, I want to praise You, my great Redeemer, for who
You are and for Your acts of kindness seen so many times throughout my
day. I never cease to praise You because You never cease to work on my
behalf. Your mercy and love, Your strength and comfort, Your
sustaining power and guiding hand are only a tiny fraction of the many
reasons that lead me to praise You. Instead of a murmuring and
ungrateful attitude, I want to join with the multitude of believers and
sing of my great Redeemer's praise to everyone, everywhere, all the
time. Amen.Psalm 148 has this interesting heading "The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord."
Jim Thorpe, PA
Loading the bike train in Jim Thorpe Saturday morning.
When we arrived early Saturday morning they were setting up for an Earth Day street fair. The town has a very progressive, new age vibe and as we walked about town later in the afternoon, after our long bike ride, we felt rather out of place! In fact the earth day attraction brought in some folks that looked like they arrived from another planet!
Lots of brick and stone in Jim Thorpe. See here for the history behind the unusual name. It is one of just three municipalities in the United States with the first and last name of a person used as its name!
I rather enjoyed the bluegrass sound from this band.
It's not often you see Smokey the Bear petting a dog!
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Let's Just Praise the Lord" Video Homecoming concert
"Grandpa (Tell Me 'Bout The Good Old Days)" Video The Isaacs Shortly after our visit to Jim Thorpe this song played on the radio. Brooksyne and I looked at each other as we considered our recent "strange" visit to Jim Thorpe when compared to the message of this song. (Of course, she and I might have looked weird to those whom we thought appeared to be from another planet.) Truth be told, we know everything wasn't good about the "good old days" but the song does has an interesting theme and a lot of old-fashioned truth as well.
Grandpa tell me 'bout the good old days.
Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy.
Grandpa, take me back to yesterday,
Where the line between right and wrong
Didn't seem so hazy.
Did lovers really fall in love to stay
Stand beside each other come what may
Was a promise really something people kept,
Not just something they would say
Did families really bow their heads to pray
Did daddies really never go away
Whoa oh Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days.
Grandpa everything is changing fast.
We call it progress, but I just don't know.
And Grandpa, let's wonder back into the past,
And paint me a picture of long ago.
Sometimes it feels like this world's gone crazy.
Grandpa, take me back to yesterday,
Where the line between right and wrong
Didn't seem so hazy.
Did lovers really fall in love to stay
Stand beside each other come what may
Was a promise really something people kept,
Not just something they would say
Did families really bow their heads to pray
Did daddies really never go away
Whoa oh Grandpa, tell me 'bout the good old days.
Grandpa everything is changing fast.
We call it progress, but I just don't know.
And Grandpa, let's wonder back into the past,
And paint me a picture of long ago.
Yesterday's mystery photo was a young man assembling the rollers that move a car through a car wash. Several months ago we began our chaplain care service at Kleen-Rite, the country's largest wholesale distributor of car wash equipment and supplies. It's based in nearby Columbia but has distribution warehouses in Texas and Las Vegas. They are building a huge distribution center right here in Mount Joy in a former dress company.
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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
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