Let God play your life and fill the room with a glorious sound!

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips, he wasn’t able to buy it. Later, having raised enough money to meet the asking price, he returned to the seller, hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner’s home and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized possession and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed, Kreisler was about to leave when he had an idea. "Could I play the instrument once more before it is consigned to silence?" he asked. Permission was granted, and the great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the collector’s emotions were deeply stirred. "I have no right to keep that to myself," he exclaimed. "It’s yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it."

Like the violinist, we have been given a great gift to be shared with the world. Last Sunday, we had shared an impromptu luncheon because of the cold. There were about 60 people there. The meal was good…Thank you to Mike and Traci Beck, and Jim and Shawnee Gardner for the food. Thanks to Scott and Betsy Gettig for the decorations.  Thanks to anyone that helped with prepare and to clean-up…those were all good…but you know what was amazing?   

There was a sense that we didn’t want to leave. Everyone just hung out together.  At one point we just sat back and recognized how we were not in a hurry to leave. True Christian fellowship was taking place. It was a good feeling and at one point I just sat back and watched God’s amazing grace connect people with their creator and with each other.

That is what we need to share with the world. Our vision is to connect with Jesus and with each other and when we are genuine and sincere it is like the sweet sound of a virtuous violinist.

It is our goal to seek after Jesus and then to share him in the world in which we live…this is our spiritual act of declaring how much God is worth to us. It is time for us to take it into the world and let people hear it. 

You know I love ya, Don

How to find God's presence in our present!

In Psalm 90:8 we read that God is God today… “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”

God is God today, just as he has been God in our past. God is the God of the Present Time… 2015 will be just as much God’s possession as any of the years prior to it. The present (or now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of time between the past and the future. God is God of the time in your life between your past and your future.

So, how do you and I make His presence real in the present? How do we see the truth that God is in the here and now and make it relevant for our lives? I think of Carl Boberg .

Here is a man struggling much like us in life to find God in the present time. Mr Boberg, relates that he had been invited, with other men, to a meeting of women who came together to sew for the benefit of missions and there was probably food involved. It was a beautiful day. All nature was arrayed in its summer finery. Both young and old enjoyed the hospitality of the home and roaming about the large estate.

Presently a storm cloud was seen above the horizon and before long the sky was overcast, lightning flashed across the dark heaven and a downpour drove the visitors under cover. Soon the rain stopped, however, and on the sky was seen a bow of promise…the rainbow. From a church across the bay, where a funeral was in progress, the bells pealed forth their doleful cadence.

Enraptured with the wonders of it all, Boberg that evening gave expression to his feelings in the writing of the poem O Store Gud! nine stanzas long. It was first published in a couple of periodicals and then apparently forgotten. Several years later, he attended a meeting in the Province of Varm­land and was surprised to hear the con­gregation sing his poem to the tune of an old Swedish melody…it was translated into English and we know it as “How Great Thou Art.” Carl Boberg was born in 1859 and died in 1940. He lived through the time leading to two world wars and a great devastation, recessions, depressions, and revolution. He never forgot the reality that God is God of the here and now because he took the time to recognize the power of God around him … these are the words:

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder, Consider all the works Thy hand hath made,

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, 

            And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die—I scarce can take it in; 

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclama­tion

            And take me home—what joy shall fill my heart!

Then shall I bow in humble adoration, And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,  How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Your wonder, your amazement, your true gaze into the reality of God in your life, defines how present God is in your present. Psalm 90:14 states: “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

God was God … God is God … God will be continue to be God! You know I love ya, Don