Happy Birthday Jesus

What a wonderful time of the year it is when we get to celebrate the birth of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ. You can't help but marvel over the fact that He left a throne in Heaven to be born here on earth not to receive gifts but to deliver one, our salvation.

The King of kings didn't need the help of the postal system, UPS, Amazon, google, Bing or anything else to deliver what He had to give us. All He needed was a humble couple and a manger full of straw and future hearts willing to accept what He has to offer.

An offer that comes with something good for all year around not just for a day. An offer stamped with the approval of Heaven waiting for us to collect. A door to Heaven, a passage way through the stars, our own manger surrounded by saints rejoicing and angels proclaiming the joy of our King.

The Christmas we have made it out to be can be hectic, a time of loneliness, pain, a hassle we can't wait to get passed. Instead of searching for the Christ child we are more in search for bargains, ways to get things done, how many minutes does it take to cook a turkey, and how soon to decorate and how quickly those decorations should come down. We pick up on the political correction of it but miss what Christmas should mean to us.

It is a gift not to be given but one to be received. In 2010 when I was diagnosed with cancer on the 13th of December it changed our whole Christmas. Instead of a tree being lit up it was my scans that revealed me lighting up like a Christmas tree where all the cancer spots were in my body. Soon money we had set aside for presents, food, and things was used for medicine, tests, biopsies, and such. It felt as if a tragedy had caused us to miss Christmas.

Shame on me to think or feel such a thing knowing what Christmas is all about. I hadn't missed Christmas. Life hadn't cancelled the event. No storm big enough could close the doors to the stable where Christ was born.

I wasn't forgotten, I was remembered. I wasn't alone, I had a traveling companion Jesus Christ that was walking my family and I through a dark time. Four years later He is still there walking along beside me. No longer a babe in a manger but a King at the throne of my heart.

The real tragedy is when we don't accept His gift by not allowing Him into our lives. Leaving Him merely as a babe in a manger with no other purpose in our lives but to give us an excuse to shop, travel, and eat.

It may be Happy Birthday Jesus but its also Blessed salvation for us if we would only accept His invitation and invite Him into our hearts, actions, choices, attitude, and every other area of our lives.

Love you Jesus. Happy Birthday King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In Udder Words ~~~~~~~ X Marks the Spot

 Colossians 3:1-3 if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

 

 

It had to of served as some kind of target for the National Guard to use as something to aim for when practicing their drills. No matter what the purpose of the X was it did remind me of my school years when we use to put X’s on things and then say, “X marks the spot.” It was a game we would plan then but as an adult the game changed into something more to me.

 

When life’s storms were at their peak I would use the X to try and stay focused on God. At work whenever things got rough and rocky I would make an X on a piece of paper and would look at that while the politics of the office went on around me. It gave me something to focus on and to not be sucked into the negative magnetic force around me.

 

It was a trick that worked rather well at home and at work or wherever I was because it made me zero in on Jesus and thinking about things above. As the world tried to get me to focus on the negative, the bad things, the politics of the office, the bitterness at home I had a focus. A much better focus than what the world was offering me.

 

This is what the scripture in Colossians is telling us to do, to seek and stay focused. The challenge of this scripture is the fact that at times you wish they would list those “things above” so you could focus on them. In the heat of a moment, in the highlight of a dark time sometimes it can be hard to think, “Ok what are some of the things I can think of that are from above instead of what is going on down here on earth.”

 

First thing that we can think about is Jesus. He is definitely from above and is something worthy of focusing on. To prevent us from focusing on Christ this is where Satan likes to step in to interfere.  The thought of, “If Jesus cares and loves me so much then why is this happening in my life, why doesn’t He stop it. Why? Why? Why?”

 

STOP! You have just gone back to focusing on the things of the earth, the circumstances around you that are happening, the negative, the sad, and the difficult. God has put up an “X” for us to focus on, to get our minds off of the things of the world. That “X” is on His love, Jesus Christ, joy, inner peace, abundant strength, and everlasting guidance, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and life eternal in a place free of pain and suffering.

X marks the spot, but it’s up to us where we are putting that X. We can focus on the things of the world that will only tear us down or we can focus on the things from God that build us up. The one destroys, the other gives life. Which is it going to be? Where are you putting your X?

 

 

 



 

Castle in the Sky

“Even though we have been transported from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of light, as believers we are still citizens in need of help. We do not want to minimize the significance of our rescue from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son, but this deliverance is not the end of Christ’s work of salvation, it is the beginning. Once he has broken the dominion of darkness over us, he then begins to remove all the darkness within us so that we may be holy as he is holy.” War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles by Paul David Tripp


In shopping around for places to live, dominions to settle in we look at where exactly do we want to put our citizenship. The fact of the matter is we almost take more pride in our citizenship than we do a lot of our other possessions like our marriage, our family, our loyalty to a church and so forth.


In the ideal world we would pick Fantasy Island as the best place to be. Just in case you’re not quite as old as I am Fantasy Island was a TV show where people went to stay and all the wonderful things they wanted to happen in their lives did. Some of the things weren’t too pleasant at first but it always wound up working out well for everyone and they left happy.


We need to take pride in our citizenship of Heaven, its something we are to lay claim to right now before we even get there. Just because that is our choice to pick the kingdom of light over the dominion of darkness doesn’t mean life is all well instantly and it stays that way. Until the day we die we will always be citizens in need of help, it’s how we handle that need that is important. Once in awhile there can be power outages where it seems like everything has gone dark again but it hasn’t. It’s these moments that are used to lead us to the foot of the cross to dispel more darkness and replace it with light one spot at a time.


Yesterday when I found out my grandson’s dad was airlifted to a local hospital for emergency heart surgery I wondered in my heart, “Where does it all end?” Only a week ago I collapsed and wound up having an emergency MRI to check to see if my cancer was getting out of hand. Two weeks before that dad fell and broke a hip and ‘the week before that………’ Sorry, I was just teasing on the last phrase because that’s how it feels right now, always the “week before that!” Praise the Lord all three incidents turned out okay.


None of us are guaranteed a dark free zone to live in once we have accepted Christ into our lives. We will always need the help of Jesus to see us through. Each journey we take no matter how long or short, hard or easy, bright or dark should end at the foot of the cross. It is there where one patch of darkness at a time is whittled away by the light of Christ as we become more and more holy.


Praise the Lord for the light of Jesus, where there is no fear of dead batteries, power outages, or shortages. There’s enough light to go around for all, all who are willing to plug into it on a 24 hour 7 day week basis. Indeed a place not of fantasy and dreams but a destination of peace, happiness, love, and joy where we can proudly placed our citizenship.


Castle in the sky Heaven, thank God, we’re Heaven bound!

**I just thought of the fact that when we take pride in our citizenship we do all we can to contribute to where we are living. We need to contribute to the kingdom of the Light the same way. We can’t expect everyone else to do the work, pretty up the landscape, take care of the poor, feed the homeless, teach the youth, look after the elderly etc its all our jobs. We don’t get the pleasure of repenting and getting our citizenship card without taking it further into the holiness that should come from it down the journey of life with Jesus.

© 2012 Karen Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes

The Source

“ The ethics of Jesus cannot be obeyed or even understood until the life of God has come to the heart of a man or woman in the miracle of the new birth. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk in the Spirit. Christ lives again in His redeemed followers the life He lived in Judea, for righteousness can never be divorced from its source, which is Jesus Christ Himself!” author unknown




Often you hear from people about how “so and so is a good person.” We have gotten the thought in our heads that if we are “good” we have it made on our way to Heaven. We forget the fact that “good” outside of Christ isn’t good enough to get us where we need to be in Christ. Frequently we try to separate righteousness from its source and claim the act for ourselves. The Pharisees tried to do that and Jesus warned the disciples to not be like them.


Christ is our life and righteousness source when we walk and live in Him. It begins with asking Him into our lives and then being obedient to His ethic standards found in God’s word. We don’t get the pleasure of believing in Christ without walking or following in His ways. Likewise we don’t get the enjoyment of not accepting Christ into our lives so we don’t have to be obedient to the things He talks about in the Bible.


We need to get hooked up with the source that will take us places, Jesus Christ. He is our key into Heaven, our door into our future. Indeed the foundation of our strength, the basis of our love, the supply of our goodness, the source that supplies us with all we need. All we need to give us the ability to be obedient to His ethics, His ways, and His will.


Praise the Lord we come supplied when we have accepted Christ into our lives. The rest is up to us to use Him as the source of our resources not the rock to hide behind but the Rock to stand upon!

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Door #1

“‎ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10


The first order of business in this scripture is to identify the “they.” We live in a world where we don’t have a clue who “they” are. “They” said you can’t walk the grass. I don’t know but “they” said you have to do it this way” and the list goes on. In this chapter in the Bible the “They” are the sheep. Okay, those fuzzy furry rollie pollie creatures who never know how to get back in a field that they escaped from! Close but not close enough. They are those who enter via the Door which is Jesus Christ.


Now that we have established who’s coming in through the life giving Door in sneaks the “thief.” In the picture we are painting we all know who that character is. It’s Satan himself. What a complete difference between the two. One comes to steal, kill and destroy the other is here to give life so we can have it to the fullest. Now that we have all the figures right we must not over look our main character. Main character? I thought Jesus would be the main character? No, in this incident the main character is the “they.”


We play the part of the main character because we are the ones who get to pick and chose what side we want to be on. We can pick the side of the stealer or the One that gives. If you think about it there really is no choice. A wise and smart person would choose the giving side. After all who would turn down a free handout!


Problem with all this is the fact that people don’t realize what is being stolen and what is being handed out. Satan isn’t out for our prize jewelry. In my jewelry box right now that would be worth maybe $5.00 if I catch the jeweler in a good mood that day. He is out to steal our lives from us, our eternal hope of peace paradise and prosperity in Christ. He wants to take it away and destroy what rightfully belongs to us.


Too often people have the wrong idea of what God is handing out as well. They think that God should be handing them all they ever wanted or needed in life all under the phrase of, “well God wants me to be happy.” Too many people have put their spiritual lives on the line gambling on that point of “well God just wants me to be happy.” I was one of those people that got close to the edge of that phrase and was almost sucked into something I had no business doing.


God cares about our happiness but to Him our joy means more than anything. Happiness arrives from “happenings” in our lives that make us feel happy where joy is something that comes from within, from God himself. Something if closely guarded can never be stolen by the enemy.


The life of peace, paradise and prosperity that has been offered to us is ours if we go knocking on the right door, the door of Jesus Christ. We aren’t playing “Let’s make a deal” here where we get to pick which door we want and hope for the best prize behind the door we chose.


We don’t have to stand on the stage of life cringing with our eyes have shut as the door is swung open hoping we got the “big prize” behind the door of our choice. When we pick Jesus there is no fear of finding a goat, a broken down car, a pile of goose feathers we have to deal with, no we know before the door is even opened what our prize will be. Eternal life in Heaven with the One who came to give, not take away.


So the next time Satan shows up to try and steal from you, you need to slap him on the hand and tell him “NO!” and show him the door. The door of your choice, door #1 Jesus Christ. Then show him his door, the door to hell and tell him “don’t let it hit you in the back. My choice is Jesus as His choice was me, one of the original 'they's.' Praise the Lord."

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

No Supposing, Only Choosing

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34

In the process of sending out the twelve disciples for duty Jesus was giving them a little teaching of their own. He talked to them about going out to the lost sheep, going where they were welcomed. He brought up the subject of being sheep amongst wolves, fearing not, a little tid bit about sparrows and hair, confessing and denying then he throws in this phrase. “Do not suppose!”

“Do not suppose!’ That one little phrase seemed to bring the whole conversation to a halt. He told them not to suppose He was there to bring peace on earth because what He really was here for was to bring a sword. He went on to say that He was going to turn mother against daughter, man against father. He was going to make it so a man’s enemies will be in his own household.

Ouch! It almost sounded like a declaration of war instead of a proclamation of peace. He went on to say those who love their father or mother more than God is not worthy of God. Another offense that would make us unworthy of God would be not taking up our cross daily and following Him.

There was no beating around the bush that day as Jesus prepared His disciples to go out amongst the people. Before the message got twisted into something it shouldn’t be Jesus made sure He set the record straight. Even before Jesus came some of the people had the message slightly wrong.

Living within our own fantasies we’d like to think that Jesus came to gather us all into His arms just as we are and we get to stay that way as He sweeps us off in to Heaven. As we go flying through the air with the greatest of ease with no effort on our part we get to arrive in our made up hutch in Heaven with no effort on our part at ALL. “And they lived happily ever after.” La de dah la de dah la de dah.

Wrong. We get to be gathered into His arms just as we are but we have to accept the invitation. Our job is to get properly dressed in the clothes of Christ for our journey. The sword Jesus brought was the sword of truth, the sword of discipline, the sword of right choices, and choosing to live as God wants us to on our way to heaven. Doing what is right will divide homes as some will believe in Jesus and others will not but we can’t let that stop us. There’s a song that is often sung that talks about “Though none go with me still I will follow.” That is the way we need to live our lives with the attitude of though none go with me still I will follow.

We are the ones who get to crawl up into the lap of Jesus and hang on for the ride. It’s a journey that is highly recommended as the destination of Heaven is just over the horizon. It’s not up to us to question the order in which God does things. It’s apparent the sword had to come first but peace is definitely on its way. It shows up in our hearts when we get Jesus properly settled down deep within us with its greatest fulfillment to come when eternity arrives and our permanent address changes to Heaven. We don’t have to “suppose” there is a Heaven and Hell we know there is and thanks to the sword of Jesus we can choose where we want to spend our eternity. It’s done with no supposing only choosing, Praise the Lord.

© 2010 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Left Behind for the Packing

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 NASB

As I take this verse from John and mix it well with the great line Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” I come up with something very tender for my soul. Together or separate they make a comforting place to lay my weary head.

Before leaving for His journey back to heaven Christ left with us His example to follow, His love to copy, and His peace to rest within us. Peace not like the world gives but true peace to where there’s no need for our hearts to be troubled or fearful. It’s because of that peace we do find rest for those weary souls caught in a yoke to heavy to carry.

I don’t think anyone in their right mind would turn away “true” peace but unfortunately we do. We think His peace comes with too high of a price when the price was already paid for by His blood. We don’t like giving up the things we enjoy in exchange for His kind of tranquility. Our reasoning is we will get that peace after we die and find ourselves either skipping around on the streets of “paradise” or living it up with all our buddies in “no rules attached” hell.

How stiff-necked and blind can we be? Jesus’ peace isn’t like a medication designed to be taken only once a month, He is something we need to carry in our hearts daily wherever we go. He’s not an inhaler that is brought out only when we find ourselves out of breath. Nor an umbrella that comes out strictly in the rainy season.

Whether we recognize it or not we need His peace today. It is what gets us through tomorrow and allows us to let go of yesterday. As the world is today we may never know what its like to be in total peace but with Jesus we can. We have been given His “perfect” peace to rest our weary spiritual souls upon. ( Isaiah 26:3,4 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord is everlasting strength.”) The kind of peace that is true and total and guaranteed to last forever. A peace He left behind for us to pack up and take with us.

Living in the country all my life being engulfed in the quietness around me is very peaceful until a jet flies over or a mean bull catches wind that I’m in his territory. Strolling down the ocean beach listening to the waves talk is ever so relaxing and peaceful until a storm comes or a sneaker wave shows up. Flying high above the earth in an airplane can be a peaceful moment until interrupted by wind pockets, lightning flashes, and flocks of geese.

UNTIL…..why wait for the “until” to pick up what we need to be stocking up on today. If you think about it, we are not very good shoppers. Frequently we shop for things that will only last a short while or UNTIL the expiration date stamped on the bottom of it runs out. The choice is ours. Temporary or permanent. Everlasting or short-lived. True or false. Now or never.

As we should never wait until the lights go out to get the batteries we need for our flashlight (although I’m guilty of that) we should never wait to store up on Jesus’ peace until the lights go out and we fall alive into eternity.

Christ left it behind for us to pack for our trip to Heaven. Get it into your luggage today!


Our host this day is Miss Patricia drinking on her coffee and trying to type one-handed so visit her at, Typing One-Handed. Travel light but travel with Jesus surrounded in the luxury of His perfect peace.

Prior Arrangements

Heaven must be in me, before I can be in heaven. Charles Stanford

Reading today’s quote made me think of a movie I watched once. The gentleman who owned a ranch told his girlfriend from back East that you have to write your name in the dirt to love it, appreciate it, to be loyal to it. It took her the whole movie to get to that point but in the end she bent over and wrote her name in the dirt. Finally in her heart she was home at last.

In the case of heaven it’s no different. Heaven must be in us before we can be in heaven. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:20 (Amplified) “But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior.”

Being a native of not only the state, town, or land I presently live on my name is definitely written in the dirt. This is where my citizenship or residency belongs. It’s something far beyond the legal aspects of it. It’s something that comes from my heart. Over the years between then and now I’ve lived several places within the state but eventually wound up back home caring for my mother crippled from a major stroke and being there to help my dad.

We are born where we are born but we get to make the choice of where we want to take up residency, where we want to write our name in the dirt. We don’t wake up one day and find ourselves living in the exact location we have always wanted to be thousands of miles away from where we originally were. It’s a choice. Sometimes a choice we want to make and other times a choice that circumstances make for us.

Praise the Lord we get the opportunity to choose our residency in Heaven. It starts here on earth. We don’t get to die and stand at a fork in the road on the other side picking Heaven or Hell as our place of residency. It’s up to us to choose our destination resort ahead of time.

Noah and his family had reserved sitting on the ark because of the choices that they made in their lives before the flood. Moses and the Israelites found themselves on the other side of the sea because of the choices they made prior to God parting the waters. Daniel got to play with the lions instead of being eaten by them because of the choices he made prior to joining them in the den. Jonah could have avoided his underwater trip if he only would have made the prior arrangements ahead of time.
We need to pick our destination resort ahead of time with reserve seating just for us with our name written all over it. It starts with our heart and our decision on where we want to spend eternity. The cost is free. It’s already been paid for by Christ when He died for us upon the cross.

Travel arrangements begin today. They don’t start by goggling our favorite travel agent and what the best deals currently are and the different choices you have to make. It starts with choosing to journey with Jesus through obedience, acceptance, and the desire to spend eternity with the Best, Jesus Christ. Prior arrangements we will never regret making as we take that first step into eternity, Praise the Lord.


Copyright 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing