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.

Written years ago, but still a memory tucked in my heart.   Coppi

“We are not meant to be seen as God’s perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace.” — Oswald Chambers

There are times in my life that I like to return to – remember and write about. This is one of those times:  I was born in San Antonio, Tx, but grew up in Fredericksburg, Tx.  I spent most of my life after graduation in Dallas, Tx.  I have mentioned before in my thoughts that I volunteered at the V.A. Hospital as an undercover person working for the chaplain, The lady that worked in our locker room at the Club I belonged to knew I was a volunteer at the V.A.  One day when I was there to play golf and was putting on my golf shoes, she came to me and told me one of our member’s husband was in the V. A. Hospital and would I pay him a visit when I was there.  I said sure I would.  The next time I was there, I looked up where his room was and went to see him.  His son was standing by his bedside.  I went to Al’s bedside and started a conversation with him. (I had played golf with Al and his wife at the Country Club).  Our conversation eventually turned to Jesus and His grace, love, and salvation plan.  I prayed with him and bid he and his son goodbye.  Years later, I was having a problem with my toe and went to a podiatrist not knowing it was Al’s son, to have him check it.  When I enter his office, his first words were “Coppi I want to thank you for talking to my father at the V.A.  I was the son in the room when you were there.  “I wanted to have this conversation with my father, but did not know how to begin.”  My father died not too long after your visit”.  You know, life is a journey and if we are connected to our Shepherd, Jesus, He will lead us to a pasture that one of his sheep is needing His love, grace, and help.  In Luke 15:1-7  – “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent”.

We serve a Shepherd, Jesus, who has great love for his sheep, us, – He will carry us through the tsunami’s of our life; we will know we are being carried by “The Foot Prints in the Sand”……there will be only one foot print in the sand, because we will be carried on His shoulder’s.  I speak from my own life – I know I was being carried; His love ad  grace carried me. 

Heavenly Father, every moment You have given us is an island ,an isolated thing of beauty.  May we live within the beauty of this moment and leave tomorrows worries for tomorrow.  Linda ChingSledge

“Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there”…these words were given to me by the person who was moving me back to Dallas from Oklahoma years ago. I left Dallas due to a very hurtful, disappointing, thirty-two marriage that ended in a disgraceful divorce.  But, that was then and this is now, and I was now returning with a promise given to me by a man who was moving me back to Dallas –  “Don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there”.   Trust and believe. 

“Leave the irreparable past in His hands, and step out into the irresistible future with Him.” – Oswald Chambers.

18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland”.  Isaiah 43:18-19

“I will make your crooked path straight” – I heard that expression very clearly when I awakened yesterday morning.   I  got out of bed, knelt beside the bed, and repeated what I heard, and said “I will to do thy will”.   I am not a theologian, nor am I without  “crooked paths”, I am just a sojourner following Jesus.  In these crooked paths there are lots of rocks and debris that cause pain , but the lush-green meadows quickly become an antibiotic for healing my wounds of anxiety.   

“Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God”.

For the LORD my God is living in me.    He is a Mighty God. He rejoices over me with gladness, He calms all my fears with his love, and He will rejoice over me with glad songs.   And, He will make my crooked paths crossable – He does things that way, and I trust him with my heart and soul. 

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

y heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah“

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭61‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We are not King David running from his enemies and King Saul – but what are the enemies we are running from?  Mine are the enemies that block abundant life from me. Dwelling on my past is an enemy….worrying about things that might never happen….envy . …Insecurity. …Indecisiveness. …Intolerance. …Fear of Failure. …Impatience….etc.  Jesus said in John 10:10 …”The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.“

My prayer is Psalm 61:1-4….”I will trust in the shelter of Your wings”…..”Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

y heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah“

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭61‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We are not King David running from his enemies and King Saul – but what are the enemies we are running from?  Mine are the enemies that block abundant life from me. Dwelling on my past is an enemy….worrying about things that might never happen….envy . …Insecurity. …Indecisiveness. …Intolerance. …Fear of Failure. …Impatience….etc.  Jesus said in John 10:10 …”The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.“

My prayer is Psalm 61:1-4….”I will trust in the shelter of Your wings”…..”Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

PRAYER

As a deer yearns for running streams,

so I yearn for you, my God.

In you is the source of life, by your light we see the light.

[Psalm. 42:1; 36:9]

A deer will seek water after being chased or hunted by predators. In the heat of the day, the watering hole becomes the assemblage of many different types of animals seeking the same relief in the cooling water. The deer will pant or cry for the water, knowing his survival depends on it.

We can’t see our future, direction, or destination, but Jesus can. Like the lighthouse guided the ship, Jesus directs us toward God’s light. The light of Christ guides us through the darkness of sin, life, and struggle both spiritually and literally.

For me, Jesus has been the ‘go to’ source in my life.  I have walked through many different light and darkness situations running from pain and hurt , which would crop up from my past, and daily life.  . The light of Jesus, and running streams were the source of protection from the predators of darkness in my life.  I have no idea where this camper would be if I didn’t have faith and belief in the God of my childhood – so I sought the cool streams of water, Jesus, and His guiding light for help. He was enough, and still is. 

I wrote this when I lived in Seminole Heights years ago. 

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.“

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭18‬

”See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.“

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

On one of my walks around the Hillsborough river in Seminole Heights Fl, I saw a person whose job was to take care of and protect a park.  He was tucked away in the corner of the park weeping.  I stopped and said “May I help you and why are you crying”?   He responded “I am going to kill myself – I have nothing to live for anymore.  My wife left me and is filing for divorce.  I have two children and she will be awarded them because she is the mother. She is leaving me not for a man, but another woman”.  On and on, he empty himself of all the pain he was experiencing.  Finally, I said “Why kill yourself over something that is causing you excess pain at this time.  Time heals.  You have two children that I am sure loves you and they are not divorcing you, and you really don’t know what the future holds.    

If you kill yourself, you will never know what God can do in any situation.” Are you a believer in God.?  “Oh, yes I am,” he said.  “Okay, great, now why don’t you call upon Him to help you”.   “I said, “Do you mind if I pray for you now”?  We held hands and I prayed that Jesus would guide him through this trial; that he would experience the love of God that passes all understanding, and I prayed every encouraging word along with a few scriptures that would give him hope.  I also encouraged him to go to the church he attended, and talk to the minister or a trusted friend. When I left, I said “Please  don’t kill yourself.  You will get through this.  Trust and believe that the God who created you, will help you”.  I would like to end with I saw him again and everything was fine, but I didn’t.  I could not solve his problem, but I left him in the hands of someone, Jesus, who could. 

Hope is when you believe, in the midst of a particularly hard winter, that spring will follow.”

—Norman Vincent Peale

If i had not had hope in my life when I was going through the throws of blasts of icy winds, I have no idea what chill factor I would have experienced.  Hope in my God is what  I held tightly too.  I knew if I did not waver from the promises 

of my Heavenly Fat her, summer would come and melt the ice cicles hanging from my heart.  Jesus is faithful to his promises  – Summer came and true to his promises, the ice cicles 

melted, and left puddles of icy water around my feet as a reminder “nothing is impossible with God.”   He is faithful to his word.

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I went to Winston-Salem for my yearly checkup with Dr Jan Moreb, my oncologist since 2011.  He used to be in Gainesville at Shand’s Medical center, but moved to Winston-Salem approximately 4 years ago.  He is well known throughout the United States for his expertise in Multiple-Myeloma, the kind of cancer I have. Mine is of the bone- not of the blood.  As I was waiting to have blood work done before seeing Dr Moreb, a lady of color kept looking at me. She finally said I love your curly hair; she continued her conversation by saying, “my hair used to be that curly.  She was bald now because of the chemo therapy. She rub her head and said “I think it will come back curly”,  I agreed with her.  She smiled.  As I sat, I looked around the room.  People in wheel chairs, oxygen tanks, crippled from a disease that seems to take your life away by sickness and treatments.  I have cancer, which is in remission I am very grateful for, but sadness sneaks into my spirit when I see  others wiped out with this disease.  Silently I prayed for the ones with me in the waiting room.  I pray that fear will be replaced with hope and that Jesus will  cover them with His great love, and a miracle of healing will take place in their lives.   Our lives are in His hands, and I do not understand the “whys” in this life.  I only know I am not the healer, but only a conduit of prayer.  So I sat, and prayed for angels of the Lord to encamp around them, and His love to fill their saddened and  weakened bodies.