An Ornament

Colorful lights, white lights blinking. Shinny bulbs in red, gold or green. Popcorn strung with cranberries, bows and fragile memories surrounded by tinsel and topped by angels.

Beautiful and unique, Christmas trees reflect the creativity of the owner. Some are bright and shinny, others elegant. Trees can create warm feelings of nostalgia or push the envelope of tradition with modern trimmings.

I came across an interesting passage in the Bible the other day. Proverbs 19:11 says, “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.” I wondered what the word, ‘glory meant, so I looked it up. Turns out, the first meaning on the list is the word, ‘ornament’.

Well that made me pause. I’ve heard a variety of metaphors used to describe Christians such as sheep, lights, and soldiers, but I’d never heard of a comparison to an ornament.

So God tells us that if we are slow to anger and willingly overlook a transgression we can be one of His ornaments.

“Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself…he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”

During this Christmas season, ask God to use you to decorate His tree.
Senia Owensby

Christmas lights

I just love this time of the year, when all the Christmas lights are up on the trees lining Main Street and people decorate their houses with lights, especially the ‘icicle’ lights that hang down from the string.
I got to thinking about Christmas lights and how pretty they are and I began to see some parallels between Christmas lights and ‘Christ-lights’, (Christians).
Sometimes, it’s easier to understand the spiritual by the natural. So think about these as you read. You may be able to add a few of your own.
Christmas lights…
1)…enhance anything.
2)…have an external power source.
3)…can be used anytime-not just at Christmas.
4)…come in all colors.
5)…can be plugged in by any one, not just by expert electricians.
6)…shine no matter who’s around.
7)…have something wrong with them when they aren’t shinning.
8)…that are tiny/weak can still sparkle pretty in the dark.
9)…have to be wired in individually.
10)…shine for the benefit of those around them.
11)…are effective when displayed in new and creative ways.
12)…shine more intense as it gets darker.
13)…are unable to function when one is broken.
14)…are often unplugged and put away after Christmas.
15)…are useless when unplugged.

…prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world. Philippians 2:15
Senia Owensby

Pray for rain in Georgia

Georgia has been suffering from an intense drought in recent months that is so severe it has threatened supplies of drinking water.
Recently, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has called for a prayer service to call on the Lord for relief from the drought.

Of course, droughts are nothing new and neither is praying for them to end. The Old Testament records a long drought that occurred during Elijah’s time in 1 Kings 18. When Elijah earnestly prayed for rain, the Lord answered him with a downpour. According to James 5, we have the assurance that if we pray as earnestly as Elijah did, we too can have our prayers answered.

This is an opportunity for the Body of Christ to demonstrate the love of God. The water shortage in the South is not only a Georgia problem, it hurts us all.
Proverbs 11:25 says, “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.”

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 tells us, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain… and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
Let’s join with Georgia, and the rest of the south by calling on the name of the Lord to pray for rain.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,309619,00.html

Now is the Time to Worship

Editor's note:
I'd heard about the worship ministry that Nella was doing with the college students and asked if she would be willing to share her heart with us and also provide a bit of background on this ministry

My name is Nella Schnase and I am very excited about this new service started mainly for college students and anyone going through a new journey in their lives. The idea of “Now Is the Time to Worship”came to me when I was sitting in church listening to my father speak on reaching people on your own level. I felt a strong calling to get other people my age together and praise to the One who gave us the freedom to do so.

In this calling I was very nervous about actually making it all happen. I have never been in charge of such a thing, but what I am sure of is that I knew this ministry was meant to start through me. I love music and I love God. He wanted me to put them together and make sure my eyes are on Him first and foremost. More about

Well?

You know how it is. Sometimes, when you’re reading along in the bible, a verse will suddenly develop more significance? I recently came across one of those.
“Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not {your countenance} be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:6&7.

After reading that verse, I got to wondering what exactly the word, “Well” meant.
When I looked it up and began reading its meaning, I was amazed. Even though it’s such a tiny little word, it is packed full of attributes.
[Read more]

Presbyterians help with Ethiopian needs

Six Presbyterian churches in the Sacramento Presbytery, including the Red Bluff Presbyterian Church, have joined together to try to meet the stated needs of a small village (Maasha) and area in Ethiopia. The Shekkacho people live in a wetter area of the country but they have a problem with good drinking water.

One of the projects that the churches fund is the cost of building water collection points that enable the villages to have clear, unpolluted water. Before this project, everyone washed, cleaned dishes, and drank the polluted water. This water flowed pure out of the mountains. Ethiopia, which has English as its official language, tests all students going into 9th grade and those going to college.

A student has to pass this test to go on in school. It is a very difficult test and those in the villages don't have much exposure to English. For two years now these groups of churches have had an English Project in which teachers go and teach English in the local high school for one month in the summer. Last year only two teachers went.

This summer, Ann Wittorff Ferry, one of our very capable teachers in Tehama County, answered the challenge to volunteer. Five are going as teachers. They are spending from July 3-Aug. 8 on this mission.

The Red Bluff Presbyterian Church is paying for Ferry's expenses through the Rose Etta Todd Mission Fund that was established three summers ago in memory of Rose Etta Todd. Ferry will be teaching a morning and afternoon session of fifty students each for almost a month.

The students there are so anxious to learn that they complain if the breaks are any longer than announced.

These projects have been requested by the Ethiopian presbytery in the area. A fact that very few people know is that there are more Presbyterians in Ethiopia than there are in the U.S.A.

Most people walk in and out of your life ... but friends leave footprints in your heart.

Guarding Our Gates

Our homes are important. They should be sanctuaries and havens from the rest of the world. It doesn’t matter what size they are or what kind of decor they have, it is the atmosphere which identifies it as a sanctuary or a sanatorium. Both are places that protect from the outside world, the difference being is that life dwells in the sanctuary while death inhabits the sanatorium.

What are the steps that we can take to ensure that the atmosphere of our homes brings life to those who enter? It is the presence of God that brings life, Ezekiel 47:9, and we know that God inhabits the praise of His people, Psalm 22:3, but what inhibits His inhabiting?

In Psalm 101, God tells us that He will come to us when we ‘give heed to the blameless way’. What is the blameless way? He tells us that it is walking within our homes in the integrity of our hearts, (verse 2).

So what does that mean in a practical sense? (Or, how do we know we are?) The next several verses give us some clues to know that we are walking in integrity.
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Keep On Striking!!

There is an interesting story in 2 Kings 13.
It’s about Jehoash, king of Israel. He hears that Elisha is sick, and goes to visit him. Before he leaves, Elisha gives the king a couple of strange commands. One of them is to strike the ground with his arrows. So the king grabs his arrows and strikes the ground three times. The prophet then gets mad and tells him that he will only have 3 victories against the Arameans and will not be able to completely defeat them, (which is fulfilled in verse 25).

Too bad! Thoses Arameans were horrible people, if King Jehoash had only known, he would have struck with those arrows ‘till he dug a hole to China, (or whatever country is on the other side of the world from Israel).
Wait, let’s give that poor king some slack.
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Puzzle Pieces

Have you ever bought a jigsaw puzzle at a garage sale? It’s kinda risky. With used puzzles, you can never be sure if all the pieces will be there. But…if you really like puzzles, it may be fun to give it a try.

Lets say that the puzzle pieces were simply in a plastic bag with no picture attached. Would you buy it then? Unless you are quite the adventurous type and you really, really liked puzzles, that sack of puzzle bits will stay right where it is.
Have you ever noticed that our lives tend to resemble a sack of puzzle bits? We have lots of parts and have to work frantically at times trying to piece it all together with out the benefit of a picture to go by.

Here’s the Good News: Jesus really, really likes puzzles. He is constantly checking out the ‘yard sales’ in hopes of finding another puzzle to put together. He even buys us with the full knowledge that some of our pieces are tweaked, tattered and torn. Some are missing. That’s okay, because if we are willing to be bought by the Lord it becomes His responsibility to fit all the pieces together.

Now, when I begin to work on a puzzle, I like to start with the outside parts. It seems to me that if I can get the outside finished, the inside of the puzzle comes together more easily. Jesus has a different strategy. He seems to know that the outside will take shape as the insides are worked on. And, since God has the finished picture for each one of us, He is able to work systematically in our lives putting all the right pieces in all the right places.
So, what does that look like from our point of view?

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Your Move

Chess is an interesting game. I enjoy playing it with my daughter. Unfortunately, 3,000 miles and busy lives tend to interfere with frequent games. One day we hit upon a solution. By using a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet, my daughter made a chess board and set it up using colored text for the pieces. She is blue and I am orange. A move is made by cutting/pasting. The Excel® document is then attached to an e-mail.

As an extra bonus, we have fun getting creative with the subject line of the e-mails. For example, when I took one of her pawns, I wrote in the subject line, “A-pawn departure”. When she took one of my knights, she wrote, “Do I hear the sound of a horse galloping away?” (I know, all you ‘chess purists’ out there shudder when the knight is referred to as a horse). Capturing a rook prompted, “I hope you don’t feel too ‘rooked’.” The taking of a rook with a knight (which moves in an ‘L’ shape) was announced by “A c-rook-ed move”. “The ‘check’ is in the e-mail”, accompanied a very bad move which cost me one of my rooks. One of my favorites was a warning that read, “If you take my queen, I’ll take yours.” I believed her.

Chess games, like wars are won by developing and following good strategy. When we move a chess piece, we need to be aware of the consequence of each move, including the effect that (we hope) it will have on our opponent. If we can somehow get them to respond in a particular way that fits in with our strategy, we will win the game.

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Christmas lights

I just love this time of the year, when all the Christmas lights are up on the trees lining Main Street and people decorate their houses with lights, especially the ‘icicle’ lights that hang down from the string.
I got to thinking about Christmas lights and how pretty they are and I began to see some parallels between Christmas lights and ‘Christ-lights’, (Christians).
Sometimes, it’s easier to understand the spiritual by the natural. So think about these as you read. You may be able to add a few of your own.

Christmas lights…
1)…enhance anything.
2)…have an external power source.
3)…can be used anytime-not just at Christmas.
4)…come in all colors.
5)…can be plugged in by any one, not just by expert electricians.
6)…shine no matter who’s around.
7)…have something wrong with them when they aren’t shinning.
8)…that are tiny/weak can still sparkle pretty in the dark.
9)…have to be wired in individually.
10)…shine for the benefit of those around them.
11)…are effective when displayed in new and creative ways.
12)…shine more intense as it gets darker.
13)…are unable to function when one is broken.
14)…are often unplugged and put away after Christmas.
15)…are useless when unplugged.

…prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as light in the world. Philippians 2:15

Senia Owensby

Get Real!

“I want to be real!” Lamented a friend of mine as we were visiting one evening. “I want to have a purpose.”
I nodded in agreement. That statement echoed my own heart’s cry. To have a purpose. To know with certainty at the end of a day that I had not expended all of my energy reinforcing my wooden house with hay and stubble. To fall asleep knowing time had been spent on eternal things.
What is real?
But what does it mean to be ‘Be real’? And, how do we find our purpose? Real is risky. When the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse what real was in the book, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, his reply was very insightful:
(Read more)

Drive by blessing

While on an errand recently, my path took me past three churches. While driving past the third one, it occurred to me to pray that God would bless them, and that they would thrive and be a successful part of the Body of Christ.
I know that there are many who do this on a regular basis, but I wonder what would happen if everyone did. Would there be a perceptible change in the Church in Tehama County?
We could allow churches to become ‘prayer reminders’. Every time you drive, (or walk) past a church, please take a moment to pause and pray.
Become a ‘drive-by blesser’

Releasing for Freedom

Jeremiah 34 is an interesting chapter. We learn that the kingdom of Judah is in trouble. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and all the kingdoms of the earth were fighting against Jerusalem and all of Judah to destroy it, (verse 1).

God sends Jeremiah to Zedekiah, King of Judah. He tells him that that even though judgment is coming He will show compassion on him in the midst of the judgment. This kindness of God leads Zedekiah to repentance. He knew that he and the people of Judah had been sinning by keeping their brothers and sisters in bondage, so they all agreed to make a covenant with God to release their brothers and sisters, (verse 5). When the Lord saw what they did, He put a stop to the army that was coming to destroy them.

Even though they did agree to release their brothers and sisters, we can tell that they still didn’t get it. Unfortunately, their willingness to free their brothers and sisters was simply a token effort to ‘appease’ God. As soon as it looked like the problem was taken care of, (the army left), they quickly placed their brothers and sisters back into bondage of slavery again.

So, what are the dynamics of the events that are taking place here? Why were the kingdoms of the earth able to make such headway against the people of God? Why didn’t God rise up and protect them? (Continue)

Gotcha Covered

Have you ever been hanging out with someone and noticed that their shortcomings were showing? They may have said something ‘out of character’, used the wrong fork, or committed any number of indiscretions. How did you react? It may even have been a thoughtless remark or action directed towards you. What was your response?

The 12th chapter of Proverbs contains two verses that explain the proper way to handle those situations. Proverbs 12:16 says, “A fool’s vexation is known at once, but a prudent man conceals dishonor”. It is the ministry of the prudent to cover. Now, I’m not talking about bank robbery, or terrorism here--just bad social etiquette or rudeness. Prudence is not only a quality for the moment, but later on also when we find ourselves among those who weren’t present when the incident took place. At that point we get the opportunity to exercise the prudence described in Proverbs 12:23, “A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims folly”. Even if someone else brings it up, it is our responsibility to down play the matter and end the discussion.

Prudent is defined as 'subtle, shrewd or sensible. It can also mean sly or crafty.' Covering over another person’s faux pas is an act of mercy. When we use shrewdness or craftiness to cover the mistakes of another person, then we are ministering mercy to someone who, right at that moment needs mercy more than any other commodity. Jesus, looking down the corridors of time remarked that the sons of this age were more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light, (Luke 16).

The New Testament steps it up a notch and defines the quality that covers as ‘love’. 1 Peter 4:8 says, “…love covers a multitude of sins”. I Corinthians 13:7, speaking about love says it, “Covers all things…” That word translated covers means ‘like a roof’. ‘Put a lid on it’. When we put a lid on a matter, we protect the other person’s value. A facial expression that shows annoyance at another’s ignorance or shortcomings, or repeating the incident later clearly lowers the value of that person in the eyes of everyone present. Covering others is also evangelical. The bible tells us that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, (Romans 2:4). When an unbeliever experiences the mercy and kindness from us at not having his blunder exposed, he will understand the kindness of the Lord and an opportunity is then opened to him to repent.

I heard a beautiful illustration of this recently at a gathering of woman. The speaker described a vision she had where she saw a large group of ladies in a circle. Each lady was wearing a full skirt that she held out at the sides so that it covered the skirt of the person next to her. If one of the ladies had a stain on her skirt, it would never show because the skirt of the one next to her covered it over.

Why is it so important that we cover for one another? Proverbs 17:9 states, “He who covers a transgression seeks love.” As stated before, the expression of love covering over another person’s shortcomings is an act of mercy. We are all in need of mercy. The best way to get mercy, according to Jesus in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” He goes on to say that the way we act is the way we will be treated. If you have found yourself coming up a bit short in the mercy area, don’t despair. Another way to get mercy is to go to the “Throne of Grace and receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” Hebrews 4:16. Begin to look for ways to give mercy to others in even the tiniest ways by covering their errors. The Holy Spirit is faithful. If you ask Him, He will begin the process changing your heart and responses to life’s irritations and unfairness. While stretching out your skirt over someone else’s stain…don‘t be surprised…when you look down and see someone else's skirt stretched out over your stain.

Senia Owensby