Scripture: Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

“FRAPPING”

“Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”

The Captain gazed at a horizon where brooding waters met an angry sky;
it was going to be a difficult day.

There had been difficult days before, many times. And each storm had
been met with courage and skill. The little ship had survived, but
each onslaught had taken its toll.
Battered and splintered, squeaky and leaky, with sails ragged and
joints loose, the ship was in real danger of buckling under the stress
of one more storm. When today’s tempest slammed heavy seas against
her, when whipping winds tore at her sails, she could fly apart,
shattered and broken, losing all.

But the Captain was wise and knew just what to do.

All available rope was gathered, and wrapped tightly around the hull,
each coil lending much needed strength and support.
“Frapping”, it is called, and means the difference between survival
and disaster, between making it to safe harbor and foundering in the
deep.

“…Grace to help…”
The word translated help speaks of this practice of frapping a ship.

We live in a stormy world, each tempest taking its toll, and
threatening to be the end of us, to see us shatter, fly apart, and
founder in a sea of despair.

But our Captain is wise, and knows just what to do.

He fraps us with His all-sufficient grace, wrapping us in His
everlasting arms, holding us together while the storm rages.

We’re still squeaky and leaky, tattered and torn, but we’re held
together by the encompassing strength of His amazing grace, and He
will bring us safely through the storm.


PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank You for holding us together, and giving us
Your strength to survive the storms of life. Amen.

Johnny D. Taylor

What He Sees

A man had a wife and a dog.

The wife had a husband and a diamond ring.

Then one day, the dog had a diamond ring.

The wife had a fit, and the man had a problem.

Two days later, the dog had a deep sense of relief.

And the man had a dilemma.

But what he sees in the back yard is much, much more than it seems.

So, the man gets his hands dirty.

The wife gets her diamond ring back.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Priceless)

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Wrapped in…)

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Worth more than we appear)

“Jesus never met a person He wouldn’t die for.”

When I keep this truth in mind, the Bible takes on a whole new complexion when I read about the Lord Jesus Christ’s interaction with not only tax collectors and prostitutes, but with the Pharisees, Judas, Pilate, Roman soldiers, and both thieves on the crosses beside Him.

“Jesus never met a person He wouldn’t die for.”

Boy, I sure have.

The ugly, evil, lazy, life-sucking parasites of society that I bump into often make me wonder how God could love such low creatures to such an amazing degree as to give His only Son for them.

What could He possibly see in them that would warrant such sacrificial devotion?

Then I remember that God (and His Love) are higher than the heavens. From such lofty heights, we are all tiny specks of dust, so that the differences that seem to us to be so glaringly obvious from ground zero, become insignificant from the heights of God’s love.

I’m also reminded that God operates from the platform of Grace, not Merit, and I’m happy to receive from Him that which I do not deserve. (God forbid that I ever demand that God give me what I deserve!)

So, if He can love one of us, He can love all of us.

“Jesus never met a person He wouldn’t die for.”

Thank God, that includes me.

“Man’s ignorance is only exceeded by man’s arrogance.” ~ Johnny D. Taylor

“Is there a God?” we ask. And Modern Man answers with confidence, “No”.

Hmmm…

Where did the universe come from and how big is it?

We don’t know.

How is it possible for anything to stay in orbit for billions of years?

We don’t know.

How many stars are there in the universe? How many galaxies? How many stars in our own Milky Way galaxy?

We don’t know, but we say with confidence that there is no God.

How does magnetism work? How does gravity work? What is time?

We don’t know, but we say with confidence that there is no God.

How can a universe that is not sentient, not self aware, not intelligent, not rational, not able to think or plan, able to bring about an organism such as man that is all these things and more?

We don’t know, but we say with confidence that there is no God.

Where is the missing link between ape and man? Where are all the tens of thousands of missing links between every organism alive today and the ancestors from which they sprang?

We don’t know.

Whatever happened to Brontosaurus?

We had the wrong head on it, it never existed.

Why haven’t sharks, pine trees, bacteria, ferns, and many other organisms evolved over the last 400,000,000 years?

We don’t know.

If you are supplied with all necessary elements and the world’s finest laboratories, can you produce life?

No.

If you are given all necessary parts of cells already prepared, can you produce life?

No.

If you are given already prepared tissues, even organs, can you produce life?

No.

If you are given an organism that just died a few minutes ago, can you produce life?

No, but we say with confidence that there is no God.

If human DNA is over 95% identical to chimpanzee DNA, how do you explain man’s ability to produce symphonies, space shuttles, technology, cruise ships, cruise missiles, architecture, art, mathematics, scientific achievements, humanitarian endeavors, war, religion, agriculture, New York City, LA, Nashville, high fashion, tofu, anything made of metal, the petroleum industry, all other industry, etc, etc, etc,?

We don’t know, but we say with confidence that there is no God.

Why?

Because Man’s Ignorance is only exceeded by Man’s Arrogance.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…” ~Psalm 14:1

Wild places call to me.

Places filled with grass and trees that need neither watered nor trimmed, but are cared for by nature’s wisdom, compel me to abandon my own care and grooming and join in a timeless day of sheer existence.

It is very square where I am.

The gridwork of streets and houses, the surveyed, plotted, platted, and marked boundaries of every square inch of my world is punctuated by carefully compassed curves of flower beds and city parks.
Where is the Randomness of boulder-strewn dry wash?

Where is the strategic invasion of tiny wildflowers in the edge of underbrush?

Where is the absence of domesticity?

Wild places call to me.

Deep woods.

Shallow rivers.

Barren peaks.

Big Silence there will mute the myriad voices in my mind that scream and whine for my fragmented attention.

The rugged and jagged will brush away the orderly cubes among which I live.

The dictatorial hands of the clock that portion out my life in minute, exact segments will be broken. They can move forward, backward, or not at all.

I’ve lost some of me. The man in the mirror has a hollowness about him, reflecting the pale and air conditioned world in which I live.

Where is the core?

Where is the vitality?

Where is the shining gleam?

Out there somewhere.

Wild places call to me.