Is there any passage in the Bible that gives us comfort like the 23rd Psalm.  "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters."

Did you know that if the water is moving, the sheep will absorb the rushing water in their wool, lose their footing and drown? And that sheep won't lie down if they are frightened or hungry.

So the shepherd takes care of the physical needs of his sheep.  Of course the Psalmist means us.  Christ is the shepherd, we are the sheep.  We do not want.

"He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."  I have needed quite a bit of restoring of my soul this month.  Christ sustains me as grief overwhelms me.   And he does it so that his name will be glorified.

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

I have felt like I was walking in a shadow this last month.  Death casts a shadow, but with a tap of His rod and with the crook of his staff, Christ comforts me an pulls me out of the shadows.

"You prepare a table before  me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil;, my cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Goodness, and mercy.  What a comfort.  And they will follow me for the rest of the days of my life.

Psalms 19: 12,14  "Who can understand his errors?  Would you cleanse me from secret faults."  "Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O lord, my strength, and my redeemer."

It's a good thing that God doesn't let us see ourselves like He sees us--right off the bat.  I don't think I could have taken it at the beginning of my Christian journey.  But little by little, God revealed areas that I needed to work on. When I was ready for the next step, he provided the strength to deal with my errors.

Looking back, I am reminded of the scripture that says, "To him who knows to good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin."  God will get around to what you don't know you need to improve soon enough.  When you are ready.  That's why we need to be so careful about making judgments of other people.  That's God's job.  He has given us only one commandment.  Love each other.  Warts and all.

I have a much easier time with the meditation of my heart than with the words of my mouth.  I am really trying to make an effort to stop and think before I speak.  But it is so hard.  I just always say what I think before I think about what I'm saying.  Other people don't seem to struggle with this like I do.  Or they have more discipline.

My daughter Pat said: Use the word "THINK" before you speak.  Is it True,  is it Helpful, is it Important, is it Necessary, and is it Kind.  And even if it is true, you don't always need to say it.

That's a good set of five things to ask yourself.  And if your errors seem impossible to correct, remember that what we do we do in the power of God.  If we could correct our sins ourselves we wouldn't need a redeemer.

Finally!!!!   16 days without a computer.  I didn't realize that I was so hooked to blogging to all of you.  To say I am disgusted with my phone company is an understatement.

So, I have read all 150 Psalms twice without sharing much of anything.  I have underlined many of the verses but certainly can't talk about them all.

Psalms 8: 3-5  "When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of man, that you visit him?  For you have made him a little lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor."

Sometimes I get full of myself and elevate myself to the center of importance in my world.  And then, like this morning, I look up when I go to get the newspaper, and there are the stars.  Millions of them.

They are such a contrast to the weather we have been having.  Fog, ice, freezing rain, snow.  You forget the sky.  Everything is gray and gloomy.  And then the temperature rises, the sky clears and the sun comes out.  The night is crystal clear.  The stars twinkle.

And then, like David in the Psalms I ask, "What am I that you are mindful of me?"  When I consider God's handiwork, I am just an insignificant creature on the earth.  One of millions.

Crowned with glory and honor in the eyes of God.  What a privilege to be his child.  The work of his fingers.

Merry Christmas.  The Messiah has come.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God."  John 1:1

For those who do not understand this beginning, there is no way to understand the birth of Christ and what it means to Christians.

He is our hope.  He conquered death.  He gave us eternal life.  There is no end to this beginning.  We will spend eternity with him and with those we love.

The world would prefer to keep Jesus in a manger.  He is so sweet all wrapped in swaddling clothes.  But the point of Christmas is that God wrapped himself in flesh so that he could come and live among us and be a man as well as God.  So that he could die for us.  So that He could die for our sins.

I love Christmas.  I love the story of the trip to Bethlehem.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to have made that long trip on a donkey when you were eight and a half months pregnant.  And get to Bethlehem and not have a place to stay.  And to have your first baby without any of the women in your family to comfort you.  To tell you what to expect and to help you get through it.

I had my first child like that.  In a strange place in California far away from Oklahoma.  No friends. No family.  And Ken was night flying.  I was alone and didn't have any idea what to expect.  Women end up having to have a  baby alone anyway.  No body else can do it for you.  I had five.

God started His life on earth in the most common of circumstances.   I wonder why.  The creator of the universe could have given Himself every advantage.  But He didn't.  He started His life on earth in such a way that nobody could ever say that He had it easy.

And it went downhill after that.  His entire family had to flee to Egypt to keep Herod from killing him.  Thousands of boy babies were killed just to get at that one baby, who escaped.

God always has a plan.  We sometimes don't know what it is, but God does.  And his plan for Jesus was to put Him on a cross.  For me.  For you.

I have been in a broadband crisis for over two weeks.  It doesn't look like it will be fixed before the 26th.  AT@T made a mistake they don't seem to be able to correct.  I certainly don't need this right now, but it has been something to distract me.  Maybe that is good.

However, I have found out that I love writing this blog and that I miss it terribly.  I will be back soon.  Today I'm at my daughter's house so I can use her connection.

In the meantime, I have read all 150 of the Psalms twice.  And that has been so interesting.  He says the most interesting things to God.  Like, "Are you listening to me?  Why don't you answer me?  You promised that you would hear me and rescue me."  This type of conversation goes on and on in almost every Psalm.

And that is what the prayers of David sound like.  A conversation with God.  David does not use the usual phrases that we associate with prayer.

I think I will talk to God differently after reading the Psalms.  No question David asked seems trivial, just a plea from the heart.  An attempt to communicate with his creator.

He uses the phrase, "You promised," often.  I never though of reminding God of the things he has promised us in His word.  Maybe using such phraseology shows our faith--that we really believe what the Bible says.

"I will never leave you or forsake you," sounds pretty good to me right now.

Hi everyone.  This is Janie's eldest daughter.

Mom asked me to let you know that her broadband is out and won't be back up until Monday.  She'll be back and will post then.

She's doing well - hanging in there, cheerful of heart and busy at the task of discovering her "new normal."  Thank you for all your prayers and kind thoughts for our family during this time, and thanks for supporting mom's blog efforts.

God bless you and yours this Christmas season.

Pat

The most interesting new thing I have learned from reading the Psalms is:  David wrote most of them when he was despair.  He felt besieged from every side.  He was sure he was going to be killed.

But the thing that lifts your spirit is that in every calamity, David stands firm on his faith in God.  Even when he thinks he is losing, he begs God to hear him.  To listen.  To answer him.  He never gives up on God, even when his future looks bleak.  He praises God.  He lifts God up to the people.

In Chapter 40 and 41, God speaks.  First, two commands to David.  Don't be afraid.  Don't be dismayed.

Psalms 41: 10  "Fear you not; for I am with you:  be not dismayed; for I am your God:  I will strengthen you;  yes, I will help you;  yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."

I confess.  My worst fear is to feel fear.  I  avoid fear at almost any cost.  I hate the feeling of fear and as a result, I am not very adventurous.  I avoid conflict.  I will stay in my house and read a book.  I always plan ahead:  If "one thing" happens, I will have a  plan do one thing.  If something else happens, I will  have a plan to do another.  I always have a plan.  The unexpected makes me afraid.

Then God says four things to David:   (1.)  I am your God.  (2.)  I will strengthen you.  (3.) I will help you.  (4.)  I will uphold you.  And all of this is done with the right hand of God's righteousness.

I'm counting on God to be my God.  And to do the next three things.  I can't do any of them myself.

Proverbs 3: 24  "When you lie down, don't be afraid.  Yes, lie down and your sleep will be sweet."

I had to drive to Tulsa today--spent most of it in doctor's offices for rechecks--and will blog tomorrow.  God is good, the main roads were clear.  Getting out of the driveway was interesting.  The side streets were still terrible

Psalms 49: 15  "But God will redeem my soul...for he shall receive me."  I know where Ken  is.  He has been redeemed by God.  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  Substance.  Evidence.

A friend who is a Methodist minister said, "If our loved ones are with the Lord,  and the Lord is always with us, then our loved ones must be close by."

Paul said it this way when he wrote to the Hebrews about our forefathers.  "…seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, (those who have gone on before us) let us lay aside every weight…and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."  Heb. 12:1  I just have to suck it up and run the rest of my race.

I like to think of those who have gone before me as Paul described:  A cloud of witnesses.  Their lives and witness are a standard for us to follow.

Psalms 46:1-2a  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear…"

There are good days, and there are not so good days.  But God is truly a defense (refuge) and offense (strength).  He supplies (helps me) what I need to get through these days of grief.  The weather has been so terrible that I have been house bound and that makes it lonely.  But people are so good.  Every day there are cards.  I am not alone even through I am by myself.

Thank you for your prayers.  The thing about a not so good day is that I know I'll have a better one tomorrow.

Well, I'm locked in.  Sleet and ice.  The worst that weather Oklahoma has to offer as far as I'm concerned.  I really feel sorry for those people have to get out in this mess.

I'm sure we've all seen "sayings",  those quotes of scripture--or moral reminders--that are meant to hang on the wall.  My grandmother had one of those.   In her little four room house,  as you walked in the front door, was a little plaque that quoted this scripture:

Psalms 37: 25  "I have been young, and now I am old;  yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed (children) begging bread."

Now that I am probably considered to be old--I understand that scripture.  I find it interesting that she, my Gran, had no other scripture on her walls.  Just that single Psalm.  It made such an impression on me.  It was her statement that God was her strength, that He would never forsake her, or let her go hungry.  The only requirement was that you be righteous.  Christ covers that for us; he is our righteousness.  But if there was ever a righteous woman, it was my Gran.

She was in her 80's, living alone on Social Security.  She had an old 1950 Ford, and she would pick up the "Old Women" (as she referred to them) and take them to the grocery store, or to church.   I don't know if any of those ladies helped with Gran's gas.  I hope they did, but even if they didn't, she depended on God for her sustenance, not other people.

I've been young.  Now I am older.  God has never forsaken me either.

I had a wonderful grandmother.

Today will be interesting.  Sleet, ice, freezing rain and snow.  The snow is not so bad, but rain freezing on power lines and freezing limbs that break trees is a disaster.  There is a saying in Oklahoma, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."  Maybe all of this will melt soon.

I'll just keep reading the Psalms.  Unless I lose electricity and can't see.  The day that Ken left, I had cataract surgery.  Who would have known?  And I still haven't gotten new glasses.  I have to wait two more weeks.  But I've got a magnifying glass so I think I will be able to read Psalms even if I lose power.

Psalms 50: 10, 12  "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit."

If you are like me, there are things that I wish I could redo, or take back, or even forget.  But it doesn't work like that.  Our hearts are not clean.  We're guilty.  And it takes an act of creation to clean us up.  Only God can do that.  He paid a price--his life--for our sins.  Just so we could be clean again in God's eyes.  He sees clean.

And thinking about the things we've done wrong is so discouraging.  Satan would defeat us with discouragement if God was not in the business of renewing a right spirit within us.

And with discouragement comes the death of joy.  And that is what we want.  Joy.  The joy of knowing that things are right with our God.  The joy of salvation.

And we want to be held up when everything falls out beneath us.  Upheld with the Spirit of God that lives within us.  I'm being held up right now.  Thank God.

Psalms 14:1  "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God."  

If I've told you this story before, indulge me.  Ken taught sociology for 28 years.  On the first day of each semester he would say to the class, "The most basic sociological question that humans decide, is whether there is a God or not.  Since I believe there is a God, it will affect the way I present every sociological theory.  If that bothers you, now is the time to find a different teacher.  If it doesn't bother you, welcome to my class."

I have been amazed at the number of people that I don't even know who have told me stories about Ken.  I heard another one today.  I keep hearing things like, "He changed my life."  And, "He changed the way I looked at the world."  Hundreds and hundreds of his students are scattered all over the state.

 I remember checking into a hotel in Oklahoma City with our school's Student Council members and the check-in clerk looked at my signature and asked me, "Are you related to Ken Jacks?"  I told him I was his wife, and listened to his story about knowing Ken when he was in high school.  "We wrote Ken's name on our tackling dummies.  The coach told us that if we could take Ken down, we could beat Pryor.  He was an amazing fullback."

The stories go on and on.  Just when I think I know him, I hear another story.  I know one thing for sure, he believed in God.  It affected every aspect of his life.  It was a joy to be married to a man who had such a strong Christian conviction.   He lived what he believed.

There is a God.  It is the basic question we must answer before we can decide how to live our lives.  Any route that doesn't acknowledge Him is foolish.  Eventually, every knee will bow.

I think that I told you that when I go out to get the paper each morning, I look up and tell God what a good job He has done in creating our beautiful world.  I like to start the day by praising Him, because before the day is over I will almost certainly be asking for something.  As the day goes by, I become more concerned with all I have to do.  With problems.  But in the morning, my mind is clear.

I didn't even know there was a verse on that subject until I started reading the Psalms again.  Maybe I had read it years ago, and it stuck in my brain.  I don't know.  I know that the Bible says, "My word will not return unto me void, but will accomplish that which I have prospered it."  So if I read it years ago, it stuck somewhere and His word returned to my mind.

Psalms 5: 1-2  "Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto you will I pray.  My voice shall you hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct my prayer unto you, and will look up."

When you look up  you may see the sun rise, or like today--fog.  Whatever it is, it feels good to look up and say "Hello" to God.

I also raise my hands to the sky.  It humbles you.

I have been reading the Psalms.  What a wonderful collection of David's thoughts, songs and prayers.  (He was so human.)  I play the piano and the marimba at our church.  So many of the hymns are like David's songs.  Full of meaning and from the heart.  I have found the hymns and the Psalms so very comforting the last two weeks.

Ken loved music.  He would always tell me what a great pianist I was.  (I am very, very average)  The last few months, at night after I got him in bed,  he would ask me to play for him.  I wish I had played more, but there was a 40 year period that I just couldn't seem to get around to it very often. Raising children, going to school, working…Playing the piano wasn't at the top of my list.  But Ken kept after me to play.

He bought me an upright grand.  I gave it to my daughter.  When my mom was gone, I took the piano from her home, but when my granddaughter began to play, I gave it to her.

So four years ago, Ken bought me another upright grand and I began to play again in earnest.  And I got better.  I am glad Ken didn't give up on me.  Every night he would ask me to play, "Eternal Father Strong to Save."  I did.  We sang it at his service.  I have been playing it again each night these last two weeks.  I think Ken is listening.  I am a much better pianist because he kept pushing me to play.

Music.  One of the gifts that God gives us.  We have the understanding of it in our hearts and souls.  It transports us to a memory, a place or time.

"I will sing a new song unto you, O God…"  Psalms 144:9a.  I am trying to sing a new song.  It is no longer a duet.  I am singing a solo.  I will get better at it with practice.