Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

Just a thought by coppi

“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭5:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jeremiah draws a direct connection between faith and peace. He says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought” (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV).

Justin Bieber to Simone Biles through InstagramI when she withdrew from Tokyo Olympic’s due to her mental health – “it’s as simple as—“what does it mean to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul. Sometimes our no’s are more powerful than our yes’s. When what you normally love starts to steal your joy it’s important we take a step back to evaluate why.”

It was very difficult for me to say “no” to anything I was asked to do or what I wanted to accomplish.  I can remember at one time, I was taking voice, piano, art. golf, etc lessons.  I was running in every direction trying to be something that people would love me – not for me but what I could do.  “No” was not in my vocabulary.  I thought I had to be the Wonder Woman doing and not being.  It was a hard lesson to learn, because when the bottom was “knocked out” of my world I created, where were the many “yes’s” that I thought was the answer to “love”.  Everything became a vacuum.  Where were these people whom I thought liked me – “nowhere”?  Painful – yes.  However, out of the pain and hurt, I learned to be me and I learned to slow down and smell the roses.  And, my “no’s, and “yes’s” were selective to “what’s the motivation behind them… “evaluate the why”.

Just a thought by coppi

What a challenge it is, Lord, for me to let you take over.

I read this today and thought “yes, that is a true statement for me”.  I remember as a child reading about the little train plugging along to climb a very steep hill  – “I can do it, I can do it”, it kept repeating until it reached the top.  There is truth in “I can do it” but the reverse side is ‘I don’t need any bodies help, I can do it myself”.  It was when I totally faltered at being the administrator of the world that I said Jesus I can’t but you can, i turn this headache, problem, difficulty, etc over to you & I will trust you to take care of it.  As the words in song & scripture says “take your burdens to the Lord & leave them there…..leave them there……..leave them there.

Just a thought by coppi

“Tell the story of the mountain you have climbed. Your words could become a page in someone else’s survival guide.” – Morgan Harper Nichols

Rabbi Abraham Heschel was right: “The course of life is unpredictable; no one can write his autobiography in advance.”

I am big in journalizing feelings because it helps me to release pain, sorrow, grief, etc from my soul.  I am a believer in Jesus so my journalizing is usually a letter to him.  But, just putting words on paper and reading them will help you too.  I love to read testimonies because they tell of what’s going on in others life and how they managed to make it through them.  Guidepost magazine was a big help to me in my life.  Dr. Norman Vincent Peale started this little magazine years ago because, I believe, he knew it would help others if they read real stories of the mountains people climbed and survived.  I started writing ‘Just a Thought by Coppi’ years ago, sending them to different folks and the list has grown in the years since I started writing them.  Last year a dear friend knew a source to help me get them published in book form. I have sixty printed at a time – I am on my third time of having books printed.  My prayer was to help you people know the mountains I climbed and how I survived.  I believe we live in a fallen world and the devil (and as Billy Graham has stated “the devil is not a creature in a little red suit with a pitchfork) will do all he can to lure you into his kingdom of unbelief.  There will be happenings that cause us heartache, but there is a bright side too – Jesus Christ.  He will help you through them if you surrender and turn it over to him.  He might take you in directions you do not want to go, but in the end, from my own life experiences, they were the best.

The song, “There is a River” was written by David Sapp when he was 17 years old in the late 1960’s. 

Psalm 40 reminds us that it is to Yahweh that we must turn in trouble as well as in joy, when we’re in the pit and when we’re on the peak. That transition from pit to peak is precisely where Psalm 40 opens. It doesn’t take much imagination to feel the Psalmist’s former distress.

Lyrics to “There is a River”:

There is a river, and it flows from deep within

There is a fountain, that frees the soul from sin

Come to this water, there is a vast supply

There is a river, that never shall run dry

And there was this thirsty woman, she was drawing from the well

You see her life was ruined and wasted, and her soul was bound for hell

Oh, but then she met the master, and he told her, her sin

And he said, “If you’ll drink this water, you’ll never thirst again

I lived in Dallas, Texas, when this song was written by David Sapp, and it was a song that ‘hit the charts’, and was sung by many gospel artists.  I was reading Psalms 40, and when I read the words in Psalm 40 “There is a river, my thoughts drifted back to the song “There is a River by David Sapp”.  Yes, there is a river that flows within.  It is a river and will never run dry.  If you drink this water, you will never thirst again.  I guess you can say, I tasted this water, and it “tasted” so good that I decided then I would flow with the river of life. 

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” ― John Newton

Lord the greatest success I can achieve is to know You and to love You, and help others know and love You too.

“A God wise enough to create me and the world I live in is wise enough to watch out for me.” Philip Yancy

“Heavenly Father, help me graciously accept changes knowing that in a world of unknowns and twists and We’re in it right now; we just can’t go backwards, only forward. There’s no reverse gear!” 

Truly, this has always been my desire “Is to know God and His love, and help others to know and love God too”.  I started writing Just a Thought, being vulnerable about my struggles in hopes that I could be a catalyst for healing, and to help others to find peace and comfort in theirs.  Being vulnerable is not easy, because i wanted to be loved, and by allowing myself to be open about all my shortcomings is not an easy task, but necessary,  because I need to take my mask off and allow others see me- “uglies” and all. 

I believe in journaling and as Tom calls it “writing letters to Jesus”; I write about all that is bothering me – good and ugly.  I then tear my letter into tiny pieces and toss into the trash and say “it’s yours Jesus, and you say “those who ask you for help or radiant with joy”.  I have journalized for many years – it’s my way of coping with my emotions in life.  Also, I do not want to forget to thank him with a heart filled with gratitude and thankfulness for all He has done for me.  That is a must. I have to move forward in the moment, knowing I cannot go backwards. 

Romans 8:15 –  so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.  Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.  Now, we call him “Abba Father”.  For his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  And, since we are his children, we are his heirs.

It was in the seventies or eighties, I don’t remember exact date.  I do know, it was a time when youth were turned on for Jesus.  I attended a Bible study in Euless, Tx.  Dr & Mrs. Joe Smith (not their real name) opened their home for the youth at their church to come & study the Bible.  I took a seat across from a youthful, young lady strumming on a guitar.  All of a sudden she stopped & with a loud voice started repeating Abba Father over & over.  Then she said Rm 8:15 came alive to her before she came over.  I have a father now, I am his child, I am a heir to all that is his…my spirit joins with his confirming this to be true.  She was so full of joy & happiness of her new found truth , it would have taken a catastrophic happening to hush her & I am not even sure that would have.  To be truthful, I felt the green-monster of jealousy arise within me.  True,  I could voice all the blessings that were mine in my Abba Father.  I could repeat them over & over, but if my spirit didn’t join with the spirit of God…..it would be nothing but a clanging bell.  We know what it is like when a scripture, or a word seems to light up, like neon lights off the pages when reading the Bible…….you know, because you know, because you know, because you know.  No one will ever convince you otherwise.  Well, this young lady knew because  she was one great big neon light which lighted the entire room.  It was so bright that it burned  “the green-eyed monster of jealousy” out of my being.  Praise the Lord.

Just a thought by coppi

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’” Isaiah 6:1-7

I had a dear friend, she is dead now, but this was one of her favorite scriptures.  She loved the part where it says “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”  I think we all carry guilt from the past and wish we could have a retake, but that part is in the past and not to not retrieved: guilt will raise its ugly head and the regret is overwhelming for me.  My theory is journaling the wrong and going back to the source with forgiveness, if possible,  and for sure going to the Lord asking Him to forgive for the sin.  He does not touch my lips with a coal but he removes the guilt  and my wrong/sin is atoned for.  

Quote from Matthew Henry’s commentary: “A glimpse of heavenly glory is enough to convince us that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Nor is there a man that would dare to speak to the Lord, if he saw the justice, holiness, and majesty of God, without discerning his glorious mercy and grace in Jesus Christ. The live coal may denote the assurance given to the prophet, of pardon, and acceptance in his work, through the atonement of Christ. Nothing is powerful to cleanse and comfort the soul, but what is taken from Christ’s satisfaction and intercession. 

Jesus is our Jacob’s latter to God.  We are now able to come before him with our filthy rags – sin – and ask for forgiveness and he will atone all our filthiness into “clean filthy rags”.

“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.  John 21:6 – NIV version

I remember many years ago I was facing a test that I was frightened to have because I feared it was cancer.  I opened my Bible to see if I could find a scripture to ease my fear.  I don’t know why but the above scripture seemed to give me peace.  The disciples were fishing and their nets were empty.  They were about to give up when they heard Jesus say “cast your nets on the right side of the boat and you will find some”.   They did and their nets were filled to the brim.  I kept saying to myself, ‘Jesus cares about all things in my life’.  If He cared abut the disciples having empty nets after fishing all day, He cares about my fears – everyone of them.  Even the fear I have for this test tomorrow.  I went into the hospital the next morning  to have my test with my basket empty but when I awakened from the test, I found it wasn’t empty but filled with many ‘fish’, named hope, peace, joy, and love.  I was fine.  

“I really want to ask you to practice prayer as a practice of the presence of God. You don’t have to say many words. You don’t have to have deep thoughts. You don’t have to worry about how to think. You can just be where you are and say, “I love you. I love you. I know you love me and I love you. I don’t have any big things to say. I don’t have any profound words to express, but I am here and I want you to be with me and I want to be with you.” It is that simple. It is a very simple thing. Prayer is not complicated. It is not difficult. If people ask you how you pray just tell them, “Sit down and say, ‘Lord, here I am.’” (Henri Nouven)

Prayer can move the hand of God.  I need to pray more…

On the cross, Jesus has shown us how far God’s love goes. It’s a love that embraces even those who crucified him. When Jesus is hanging nailed to the cross, totally broken and stripped of everything, he still prays for his executioners: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”

I think of all the suicides that happen in the world, and I know many are causes by drugs but many are from intense pain inside them. My youngest brother was one. He was only 42 when he decided alcohol and Valium could not cover his emotional pain.  He opted to take his life rather than deal with it. Of course, my family was devastated as we had no idea that was an option for him.  I remember the day, after this tragic loss of my brother, a letter came in the mail from a dear minister, he was the father of a very dear friend of mind, and in it were uplifting words but the what stood out in the letter was this “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”  He then went on to say “Do you think your brother knew what he was doing….no, I believe the pain he was in emotionally overtook any rational decisions.” It was a beautiful written letter, which I will forever be grateful to have received.

God is love.  He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us that we may live eternally with Him.  Grace, wonderful grace.  We don’t have to earn it.  It is a gift.

Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of this gift, Jesus.  What a gift of unconditional love; It’s the best gift one could find wrapped under a Christmas tree,  because inside this gift we find the path of choices inside.