BoldGrace

Happy New Year to my "FAVORITE" Family

Only 6 Days left until our annual  PIG ROAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: CLICK HERE  to see pics of Pig Roast

ALL who read and contribute here on Bold Grace are invited to our house next Saturday September 5, 2009 to share in one of the MOST wonderful days you will experience this year! We will have of course THE PIG! THE CHICKENS, BEEF BRISKET and wonderful side dishes made by the best chefs and cooks the WORLD has to offer! We will also have a wide assortment of your favorite beverages. And if you happen to have too many of the assorted beverages you can stay over at our house. We will have as they say a real BLOWOUT! Also we will have our friend and brother Cliff Hazelbaker of Bold Grace here!!!!!!!!! Cliff will be providing a secret ingredient for the PIG ROAST!

Here is a link to some pictures of a past Pig Roast www.boldgrace.com/pics/pigroast/

If you need directions or more info I can be contacted here boldgrace.com/contact/

CLICK GEO and email me.

We look forward to seeing ALL!

Peace

Geo

I used to read this and I was convinced that these were the knees of those who lived their lives choosing not to believe that God could really love us as much as he does. I prided myself on not being one of those who would need to bow down before God at some later date because I was convinced that I already believed in his awesome grace and understood how deep his love was. And then a funny thing happened, I was reading a book called “Furious Pursuit” by Tim King & Frank Martin. In the last part of the book they list some sacred vows that God (the bridegroom) wants us to hear from his heart to ours. They are very simple and at first I didn’t put much into their profound meaning to my heart.

Here they are:

I have always been there for you, and I always will be.

I will walk with you forever—-just the two of us.

I will always understand you.

I will always be kind to you.

You will always be my own personal concern.

I love you. I always have, and I always will.

Now here is the strange thing. After mulling these over in my mind I found myself asking “Is God that loving?” “Can he really accept me with all my flaws?” “Don’t I have to do something to at least show him I love him?” And then I found myself going back to read these vows over and over again, and I began to weep, not because of how great his love is, but because I realized that his love is so great that as long as I am a human in the flesh I will never really be able to comprehend his love for me. Then it struck me that until we lose this body of clay that is so subject to weakness of all kinds we will never truly be able to appreciate everything God really is to us.

Yes, I do believe in God’s Love for all mankind, and I want others to believe it too, but I also know a time is coming for all of us when we will shed this body made from dust and we will see God with clarity for the first time, and when that happens we will all bow our knees and give the truest form of praise that we have ever given. We will be witnessing the brightness of his glory and we will be doing it without all our questions, and doubts, and divisions, and weaknesses of our flesh.

And at least for me I think I really know now what Paul meant when he said: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

I have worked so hard NOT to judge my brother, and I will continue to do that, but now I also realize NO human being can really fathom how unbelievable God’s love is for us. Yes, that means me too. And guess what? It feels great to know that as much peace as I feel right now, it’s even going to be greater, grander, and beyond my wildest imaginations.

The challenge we each have while we are still in the flesh is to trust his love. His love is trustworthy, and even when we struggle with that trust He is greater then our heart and the day will come when He will take away all our doubts. I am going to read those simple vows more often, and when my time comes to lay down this tired old body of flesh, closing my eyes for the last time, I will be bowing my knees for the first time in perfect praise of my loving God.

As I live says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. Rom 14:11

This is a post that I found on my Father’s computer this morning. I don’t remember ever reading it before so I am really unsure if he ever posted it or not, but I found it and just had to share it with all of you.

Submitted by Cliff on Mon, 2006-05-22 15:48. Everyday Life

I drive a school bus as well as pastor a small church. Two weeks ago four of my sweet children got on the bus. Two of them, Jordan 7, and Brandon 9, are foster kids. The other two, Mary 7, and Emily 9, are adopted children of the same woman who fosters the first two. On this particular Monday morning they were the first four to get on the bus. As they got on they were all excited and couldn’t wait to tell me how they had been baptized the previous day. They talked and talked about this event in their lives. Emily and Mary told me how they would have to wear dresses from now on. Jordan announced that he couldn’t lie anymore. At least for that brief Monday morning all seemed well with the world in their little eyes. The problem started on the afternoon ride home. Emily accused Jordan of lying. Brandon screamed at Emily for being a tatletail, and poor little Mary just seemed depressed from being teased about wearing a dress. The innocense they had in the morning seemed all but gone. I asked them what would happen if they sinned after being baptized, and Emily told me they would have to go back to the church and repent. I then said, What would happen if they continued to sin. Emily said: "Well, you have to go down there", poiniting her finger toward the floor. Of course I have to be very careful what I say on the bus, but I couldn’t help feeling a great sadness for what was ahead in their lives. They were already judging each other and condemning each other—-sounds like the church doesn’t it. Toward the end of the week I had got to the school early and went inside to talk to some of the staff. Mary had been telling her teacher how she had been baptized and then in a kind of defeated voice she said: "I guess I’m gonna have to go to church the rest of my life". Aren’t those the saddest words you ever heard. How many people are going to church out of a sense of fear that if they don’t they are dammed to a place of eternal torment. When I encounter adult christians who strongly condemn me for my stand on grace I just try to remember they were little children at one time who may have been taught the gospel of fear and legalizm since they were very young. I will continue to try and reach out to everyone telling them that God loves them period……….And I will pray for these little ones.

Peace,

Cliff

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 @ 9:00pm EDT will be a dedication to Cliff Hazelbaker. Go to www.glennkleinonline.com to listen or call 1-800-436-3260 to tell your story of Cliff.

"The Purpose of our lives is to give birth to the best which is within us."

Marianne Williamson

The best that is within us is up to us to acknowledge. It is always there. It has always been there and it will always be there whether we tap into it or not. To be reborn is to have acknowledged the perfection within. The perfection that God sees. The perfection that God made. The perfection that Jesus died on the cross for.

How do we find it again? BE KIND. See the beauty in everyone you meet. Say hello to a stranger. Enjoy life. Take comfort in the ones you love. Have no fear. Don’t fear getting old. Don’t fear your faith and your spirituality. Don’t fear speaking up for yourself. FIND out what makes you YOU! Parachute out of a plane. Travel someplace you want to see. Take a day off with your children. Learn how to play the guitar. Learn to love what you cannot change and change whenever you can!

Life is taken so seriously. People live everyday walking in circles rather than taking a different path, a path that they would never take because they are afraid of what is around the corner or who might be watching. I truly believe that organized religion has done this to us. How can we find ourselves when we are taught that we aren’t good enough for God? WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

Find your inner child. Reconnect with that child and allow your heart to filter out the mess that organized religion plugged it up with. You will find that God has been in there all along and peace will fill your soul.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

….and many more.

This meant a great deal to Colleen and she wanted to share it with all of you.

I continue to pray for you and your family. When I lost my daughter at an early age, I found the daily devotional "Streams in the Desert" to be a constant source of comfort and hope to me. Please let me know if I can send you one. It was a real moment of submission for me to acknowledge that "God is God, and I am not". I literally heard the voice of God convict me after many, many days of tears and the same monotonous unanswered question, "Why,God, Why"? God’s spirit spoke to me, commanding me to answer the question:"Am I God". My somewhat begrudged but humbled answer was: "Yes, Lord". His next question: "Am I Good"? My even more humbled answer: "Yes, Lord". And the final declaration from Him: "Then Praise Me anyway"! And so I have. I always cry even today when raising my hands to Him to sing the verse to that song: "Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be His name, Jesus. …He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away, My heart will choose to say, Blessed be His name…" That was a real turning point in my life, as I am sure this will be for you and your family some way, some how. During our time of grief and seeking God, my husband had a similar experience, where he heard God’s voice say to him, "I know how you feel, I lost My Son". I am so thankful we serve a risen Savior who knows how we feel. I am so grateful to God for the refining by fire he has done in me, and I pray that you will experience that eventually as well. I thank you SO MUCH that your email to all of us at ACP demonstrates the grace and hope that can ONLY be found in Christ Jesus. Thank you for being a witness to those who do not know Him. May God Bless you and your family abundantly and I pray for you to feel loved, comforted, peaceful and assured that you and Caitlin will be together again for all eternity.

Carol