Yesterday for the first time since I moved to Edmond, I got in the car and drove to Oklahoma City for an appointment without using my GPS.  I knew where I was going and how to get there.  Yea!  It has taken me all this time to get comfortable with the highways in this area.  There are a lot more "angled" roads than there are in Tulsa.  Of course I've lived in the Tulsa area most of my life.

Navigation.  Some people don't read the Bible because they don't know how to navigate through it.  I would suggest you start in the Gospel of Luke or John, read through Acts and Romans and then read the rest of the short letters written by Paul, James, John and Peter--eliminating Revelation.  You would think that would be too much, but actually it's only a few pages.  If you hold your Bible up sideways and put your thumb between the New and Old Testaments, you will find that you are looking at less than a fifth of the pages in the Bible.  It's really really short.  Less than 1/4 inch wide.

My second suggestion would be that you underline passages that jump out at you.  I do my underlining in green when I memorize a verse.  But the rest of it is in pencil or pen.  Just get used to marking it.  I write in the margins as well--when I hear someone say something about a verse that I want to remember.

Skip the rest of the Bible for a later time.  If you get discouraged in your life, read some of the Psalms.  If you don't know what to do in a situation, read Proverbs.  Other than that, there isn't much you need to read when you are starting out.  But what  is there is powerful.

The Old Testament is for scholars who study prophecy and it's fulfillment in Jesus.  Which is important because it validates who He was. You can read all of that later.

In Ephesians 3:16-17 Paul gives us a reason to read.  "...to be strengthened...by his Spirit in the inner man...that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith..." so that you can know and comprehend the love of Christ.  Reading God's words gives us strength for times of trouble.  And lifts our Spirits.

If we believe in life after death, we would do ourselves a favor to learn about it.

My next door neighbor on the South is a retired minister.  He and his wife are really good to me.  If I have a problem, they seem to know what it is and take care of it.  Yesterday, my front exterior door wasn't catching exactly right.  Later--it was.  Dean fixed it.  He noticed it wasn't right and just did it without being asked.  His wife Jeanine had asked me over for tea--and while I was eating cake and drinking tea, my front door was restored.  They do things like that for me all the time.

Why?  Because they have a heart to help others.  I think they have adopted me.  God provides for our needs and He plopped me down in a perfectly, heavenly place to live.  My neighbors across the street are just as nice.  Every week Linda fixes beans and Mexican cornbread and sends me dinner.  She will send me something to eat other times during the week as well.

The other night, Linda and John were out of town and someone or something was in my back yard.  I called John--not knowing he wasn't home--and John immediately called a neighbor down the street.  Within a minute or two, this neighbor was knocking on my door with a strobe light and a gun--and proceeded to "case the joint."  All was well.

Why?  Because they all have hearts willing to help others.  Last night, Craig and Becky came by.  Craig set up my online banking account while he was here.  And cleaned the Koi pond filter.  And reset the timer on a display case in the hall--it has a light that I use as a nightlight.  My electricity was out last week and all the timers were "off."  He replaced my front porch lights that had burned out.  Becky brought me a box of anklets--she knows my feet get cold.

Why?  Because they have hearts to help me.  And others.  Becky is forever taking food to people she knows who are in need of some help.  She gets eggs from Pat to take to a friend who is sick and needs eggs that don't have all that antibiotic junk in them.  And Pat sends me fresh farm eggs as well.

Pat called this morning to see if I was ok.  Did I need anything?  Lisa calls every day between 5 and 5:30 as she is driving home from work to check on me.  Carolyn called last night to see if my sinus infection was better.  I am so blessed.  I am so grateful.  Family and friends are God's gifts.

We get together at Thanksgiving with our families.  And on Sunday, we get together with our other family--God's people.  We love our families.  Paul puts it this way: "...you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets--Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone..framed together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord." Ep.2:19-21  The first thing is the corner stone.  Then comes the foundation of the building.  Then you and me.

Those verses are a picture of a building built with stones.  I like to think of myself as the pebble on the South side six rows up from the bottom.  Holding my place with all the other pebbles, rocks and stones in the building.  Not very important, unless I fall--and then the stones around me start to crumble.  We are all important in God's building.  We hold it together.  We are his church.  His abode.

Jesus said to Peter, "Peter, you are a pebble, but upon this Stone (corner stone) I will build my church."  Some religious groups take that verse to say that Jesus built his church on Peter, but if you read Greek, you find the correct interpretation called Peter a pebble and Jesus the Stone.  Christ is the corner stone of the church, not Peter.  Peter is a pebble.

I built two houses from scratch in my lifetime.  The most important part of the house was the foundation.  I watched them dig the trenches and pour the concrete.  I opted for the deepest trenches and the most reliable concrete company to do this job.  The rest of the houses went up without a hitch because they were built on a solid foundation.

We finished the book of Leviticus Sunday.  It was really hard to teach.  But it ended with an easy theme.  It was a list of "If/then" statements.  Being a mathematician, If/then statements make sense to me.  It listed what God would do for us "if."  We have responsibilities.  And "if" we are faithful to do them, "then" God will bless us.  If you are His child, you will be blessed--if--.  You can't expect God's blessings if you aren't in line with his will.  The relationship will remain--you are his child.  But the fellowship will be broken.

The best thing about Thanksgiving is family.  Ours has a reunion every other year at Thanksgiving and everyone knows what food item they are supposed to bring.  We usually have between 28 and 40.  Never less than 25.  You think it is going to be chaos, but at the last minute, everyone puts what they brought on the table and there is a feast.  Two turkeys and a ham.  Becky always bakes 8 pies.  And makes crust from scratch which is heavenly.  Carolyn sent pecans from her tree for the pecan pie.  Fresh.  So good.  My job is to make dressing and giblet gravy for all those people.

I had people sleeping in all the beds and on the sofas last night.  So did Becky.  We both have four bedrooms, so that was a lot of people that stayed.  Fun.  I love it.  It's the best weekend of the year for me.  I get to have all my people interacting with each other.  And as long as I can keep the Democrats and the Republicans in different rooms, it stays peaceful.

And they all are Christians--for which I am eternally grateful.

I'll get back to writing on Monday when everyone here has gone home.

God bless you and yours.

Have a wonderful day of thankfulness.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!!  And do I have something to be thankful for--in spades.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning, fixed my tea and sat down to do the crossword.  And the electricity went off.  Talk about pitch black.  I was sitting in my chair and had to feel my way along in the darkness to get back where I keep the flashlights.  Then I had to figure out where the candles and matches were.

I tried to do the crossword by flashlight, gave up and about then, Squig came shivering up into my lap.  No heat.  I covered up with a coat and blanket in my chair, covered Squig up and he kept my hands warm.  He snuggled down and went to sleep.  Not me.  I started worrying about how I was going to do my part of Thanksgiving dinner without a cooktop.

Sometimes we forget about what we should be most thankful for until we don't have it.  Water--hot water, food in cans, electricity, ice.  Start there and then think car, gas, etc., good roads, (well, it is Oklahoma--so perhaps I should say "generally good roads.")  Then go through the list of things that work on your body: your eyes, ears, taste buds,  arms,  hands, legs and feet--all of which some people don't have.

The list is endless.  Hot air, cool air, a roof over your head.  Some people don't have those.

We are so awesomely blessed.  Praise God who from all blessings flow.

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights--in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

 "In every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Have a thankful and blessed day.  You will be doing the will of God.

Salvation by grace--not good works.  This letter, Ephesians is the letter that defines that concept.  Paul, who had lived his entire life by the law and good works, is ecstatic about what God has done through grace--and wants to make it absolutely clear to people that it is a gift.

Eph.2:8-10,15 "For by grace you are saved through faith; and that is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ  Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them...having abolished in his flesh...the law of commandments contained in ordinances.."

Those verses are the clearest and most concise description of how we come to God.  It is by faith in Jesus.  Period.  His atoning death and resurrection.  We believe.  We have faith in Him.  Nothing you can do will earn it.  Jesus paid it all.

However, our lives are a constant testimony to the world of who we are.  After salvation, our desire is to please God.  It isn't because there are rules, it is because we love him that we want to live by His design for our lives.  Are we perfect?  No, we fail.  But we pick ourselves up and with his grace, we try once more.  I personally don't want to do anything that would bring the Father shame.  I personally don't want to feel God's disappointment in me--because I love Him and am so thankful for what he has done for me.  But that is not what saves me.  He Himself, is my salvation.

You and I are the children of God, in different stages of growing up.  You and I must not judge another child of God.  You wouldn't give a baby a steak and baked potato and salad and say, "Enjoy!"  Christians start out wherever they are and start growing.  "For he is our peace, who has...broken down the middle wall of partition between us." Eph. 2:14.

Our job is to love each other, encourage each other, provide for each other and be a help in time of trouble.  Just because you have conquered something in your own life doesn't give you the right to judge someone who hasn't.  Help them.