Only Jesus

It seems of late that the Lord has been impressing on my heart just how many trials and disappointments accompany this life. Change and uncertainty prevails. All around me, I see how others and situations so often fail us. Not in my personal life, mind you. Thanks be to God, unity and harmony prevail in our family.

However, I think the Lord has been making it clear to me that in this journey He has to be my all in all. It's so easy to look elsewhere--even to look to things that are good things, But nothing else is Jesus. Only Jesus is Jesus. Only Christ our Savior can take us to heaven and give us true salvation. Only our triune God can fill our hearts. It's okay that we love and appreciate others; I do. But it's my Lord who must be my all in all. I have sensed that there are some things that our enemy has put up to distract me. I refuse to be turned from my first Love. It's Jesus. Only Jesus.

If you happen upon this blog post and are despairing for one reason or another, or you have an emptiness in your heart even though people usually see you with a smile on your face, I implore you to flee to Christ. You can find Him in the words of the Bible. You can open a Bible and cry out to God to show you Jesus, and He will. You could read one of the gospels or the book of Romans, but wherever you begin, keep reading and keep praying for the Lord to open your heart to what He has to give you in His precious Word. If you read and pray with a sincere heart towards God, I am quite certain that our sovereign, omnipotent Lord will show you His Son. If you really want to be saved, tell God and ask Him to show you the way, and I believe with all my heart that He will. I believe with all of my heart that He will show you Jesus, because the way is only found in Him.

Dressing for Your Salad

Doesn't this salad look scrumptious? (By the way, I didn't make it.) This would do me for a whole meal! Do you like peas in your salad? I do. In fact, I love peas and/or corn in salads.

There is something I've been wondering about for a while now: What salad dressing is most popular? I wonder what dressing do waitresses get the highest call for. Anybody know that statistic? What's your favorite? Mine is ranch. Sure would love to have a bowl of this salad with some ranch dressing right now. Yum.

Lately I've been eating salad almost every day, especially because of the need to shed a few pounds. It's good for a lot of what ails us, especially as a precursor for dinner, because I really do think it helps to keep us from stuffing ourselves on the main meal. I would venture a guess that salad is one of the most popular dishes in America and I would also say that it deserves that distinction. So, which is your favorite salad dressing? Do any of you make your own from scratch? I've tried that in the past, but have gotten away from it these days, even though I'm sure it would be better to have one less processed food item in our pantry. Oh, I thought I would mention also that I try to eat the light version of the ranch.

Over the Counter Meds

A couple of days ago I got a forwarded email from a friend entitled "Interesting Medications from the Past." And interesting they are indeed. Here are a couple of the meds from that email:

This one, Bayer's Heroin, was sold between 1890 and 1910 as a non-addictive substitute for morphine. And get this: it was used to treat children with a strong cough. Well now, what do you think of that?

And how about this one? Cocaine drops for a toothache. According to the email, this product was very popular for children in 1885. Apparently, it not only relieved the pain, but made the children happy! No comment on that one.

There were more medicines pictured in the email, such as opium for asthma and others. I just don't know what to think, do you? Oh, by the way, did you notice the price on the toothache drops?

None Other Lamb

Do you sometimes feel the weight of weariness of this life? As I visit other blogs and read about the trials of others, I felt inclined to post this hymn. Christina Rossetti was a well known Christian poet and these words were written by her. I don't know about you, but I'm needing to be reminded of something: "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." Psalm 73:25. Jesus is all I need. Praise His Name.

None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other Hope in heav'n or earth or sea,
None other Hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside thee!

My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart's desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to thee.

Lord, thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love's fire thou art, however cold I be:
Nor heav'n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.

I love the tune. Sing it to the glory of God. He is worthy.

Dare to Be a Daniel

Our church theme for VBS last week was the life of Daniel from the OT book of that name. And of course the theme song for the week was "Dare to be a Daniel." I want my children and grandchildren to have Daniel hearts. Do you want the same for your yours? Here is a video reminder of what the "lion's den" is like for children in some countries. I hope we never forget them.

Have Blog, Will Post

Yesterday, I came upon a blog which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's the blog of a Christian man, rather young, married and the father of two little children. The reason I'm mentioning this is because this fellow's blog was a real inspiration to me, not in the way that you would probably first think. You see, I have a pretty full plate these days and blogging always seems to need to take a back seat. I somehow just don't get to it, and a big reason is the time it takes me to do a post. Why is that? It's because I normally feel that I need to write something somewhat substantial, such as an article about a certain topic. So, waiting for the time to do a post ends up being none done at all.

Now, what was it that I liked so much about this guy's posts yesterday? First of all, most of them were short. He posts almost every day, giving little tidbits of info on a wide variety of topics, including religious news and thoughts, political items, family updates and even some humor. If you're wondering what was there about that which affected me so much, it's because it started me to thinking about my own blogging experience, or lack thereof, lately. I really don't have the time with all the pressing needs; I'm not a fast writer; but I'm not wanting to give up blogging. I thought about how this busy young man still has time to regularly keep up his place on the internet, and I really think it's because I doubt if he spends more than ten minutes tops to make a post. That is really appealing! I don't know how much time he spends finding material to use, but I 'd be surprised if it's much.

I've decided to be a copycat! He doesn't know me from Adam, so he won't mind. The way he does his blog is a perfect solution for me to keep up mine, so I'm going to give it a try. So if you notice a change around here you'll know why. Keeping it up on a daily basis is a bit much, but certainly I hope to do better. And I hope also to go back to my original intent with my devotional blog, Scraps of Glory, by doing just short pieces of inspirational writings from time to time. A couple of my blog friends already have a similar approach to the young man I visited and I like making quick stops over at those places too.

Thanks for listening. I sure have been struggling over this issue of late and feel a lot better about it now. I still love all you wonderful friends I've made here on the web and have no intentions of letting you guys go. Be over when I can and thanks for always understanding that it may not be as often as it could be if life weren't so busy! And keep making all those God-inspiring posts that so many of you bless my soul with. I need to read them when I steal the time. They help keep me sane in this journey through a sin cursed world.

Nothing Between

One of my pastors posted the words to this hymn on a Facebook note this morning and tagged me. I told him I just had to post it here. I remember folks singing this often in the church I grew up in; it was beloved then and no doubt still is in many of the old churches from my culture.

These words were penned by a man named Charles Tindley. He comes from a slavery background--one of my sources says he was born to slave parents, but Wikipedia says his father was a slave but his mother was free and that he was considered to be free. However, according to that article, he grew up among slaves. According to one of my sources, he taught himself to read and write when he was 17 and completed seminary training through correspondence. This man eventually ended up in Philadelphia and became the janitor of a church there. He continued his education while a janitor, eventually earning a doctorate. In due time, he became the pastor of that same church of which he had been janitor. Crowds of all races came to hear this humble man, I've heard, so that larger sanctuaries eventually needed to be built. It sounds to me that if I want to teach my children and grandchildren some success stories, one would be a story like his, rather than about some of the more famous personalities we often read and hear about.

One thing is for sure. Mr. Tindley did not grovel in his unfortunate circumstances, but set his heart and life on the One who could give him true success. Success in this life can only be through Christ, and he knew it. Of his many hymns, this is perhaps my favorite. There are a few others I like very much also.

As we meditate on these words, we should think about the words of Romans 12:1-2. It seems to me that this dear writer had an appreciation and longing for that truth in his own life that we are not to be conformed to this world. Amen, Mr. Tindley. May the Lord Almighty help his saints of today, severely challenged as we are, to have the same longing as this saint from a time gone by.

Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
Naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem;
Must not my heart from Him ever sever;
He is my all, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between, like pride or station;
Self or friends shall not intervene;
Though it may cost me much tribulation,
I am resolved, there’s nothing between.

Nothing between, e’en many hard trials,
Though the whole world against me convene;
Watching with prayer and much self denial,
I’ll triumph at last, there’s nothing between.

Refrain:
Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
So that His blessed face may be seen;
Nothing preventing the least of His favor;
Keep the way clear! Let nothing between.

~Charles A. Tindley (1851-1933)

I always remember it sung with a great deal of inflection and emotion and the tune is quite lovely. I found this video with someone playing it quite simply on the guitar. I wanted you to have an idea what it sounds like if you didn't know.

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