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Showing posts from January, 2017

Echoes from Gaza

From Lehi to Timnah And all the way to Gaza Tears followed after His mighty slaughter Surrounded at night Everywhere secured tight Yet gate and posts vanished at midnight Carried away by his might Never was he defeated But his passions he left unguarded And then he met her Whose name was Delilah Before he said "seven" there was hope Then came "a brand-new rope" Finally..."seven locks of hair" And he was left empty as Air. From Victor, he became Victim Yes, they blinded him He who was their "Terrible Punisher" Now became "Top Performer" But Mercy came, unknown to the foe For strands of hair again began to grow Could Gaza yet bring forth Gain? Could the fallen Giant rise again? Prayer time, what will yours be? Will it be - Lord I'm sorry, Or better still - Lord Restore me, Ask now, believe, Receive Yes he received answers to prayers As he leaned upon the pillars As he pushed, God pushed too The Gi...

DESIGNED BY GOD 2

...Perhaps fifteen years ago Debbie bought two books, each of which are titled, Your Life Story in Your Own Words: A Lasting Heritage for  Your Children. They are designed for parents or grandparents to write in, responding to a series of questions that prompt them to fill in details about their lives. Debbie made some progress on filling in her book, but I forgot about mine. Recently she reminded me about it, so I glanced through it last night. It asks many questions. Here are a few. What were your youthful goals and ambitions? That’s easy. I wanted to be a major league baseball player. Were you able to fulfill them? The short answer to that is no, my goals and ambitions changed. When you were young did you admire a famous person? Yes. Who was it, and what made you admire that person? I will not give the name, but the reason I admired that person was because he hit more home runs than anyone else in major league baseball. When you were young, did you ever go ...

DESIGNED BY GOD 1

M ost of us probably do not look in the mirror in the morning and say, “Lord, You did an amazing job here.” However, He did do an amazing job. He made you! God’s involvement with you did not begin at your birth, but at the moment when you were conceived. On the basis of God’s very personal involvement, the Psalmist stated in Psalm 139, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (verse 14). The theme of Psalm 139 is praise to God. In it, the Psalmist David expressed a number of reasons to praise the Lord, beginning with the fact that God is omniscient—He is all-knowing. “Thou hast searched me, and known me,” the writer stated. He went on to give specifics: God is aware when we get up and when we lie down. He knows the path we will take before we choose it. God is all-knowing, but we are not, and David acknowledged that. He declared in verse 6, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” In verse 7, David indicated that G...

Experience True Freedom

What does freedom look like to you? The word freedom means different things to different people. Those of us who live in the United States of America celebrate freedom on July 4, looking back to that date in 1776, when the founding fathers of our country declared the thirteen colonies to be independent of the British crown. They deemed their new nation to be self-governing, and felt God had endowed them with that right, viewing independence from British rule as freedom. Freedom was a deeply appreciated blessing to the Chris Botofan family when they arrived here in Portland, Oregon, on July 5, 1979, and stepped into an Apostolic Faith camp meeting which was in progress. To them, freedom looked like liberty from the oppression they had felt in Communist Romania until just a few months earlier when they immigrated to America. They had a view of freedom which those of us who have not lived under that type of regime perhaps cannot fully appreciate. Brother Chris was fulfilling a dream t...