Morningside Devotionals

Science, (which you may know as computer science, or biological science, or DNA genetics, or medicine; there are many branches to science; would you agree with that- science), dominates our lives today.  Without the technology which makes our lives what they are, we are in real trouble.  We have become so dependent upon the technology that we don't resist the scientific influence into other areas of our lives.  For example, relationships, if they (watch this) "don't work," that is a scientific statement, it is treating the holy relationship of people, whether it is love or simply respect for each other; it is treating that relationship as a hypothesis, so that it is broken into two pieces- one works, the other doesn't, and if it "doesn't work?"  What happens is like a petri dish with bad culture, the relationship gets tossed out, that's about as involved as some people are in the most intimate of all relationships, love.  While we hypocritically...

Different - there you have it, if you are different, are you the sort of different where somebody wants to take you out back and school you with their best intellect -OR, are you the kind of different where people say, "yes I get that, that makes sense."  See the difference?  The difference will always be there, especially if you follow Jesus, you will find yourself being at odds with something, that's just how the worldly system will happen to a person who follows close bye the will of the Lord Jesus.  How you handle that being at odds, determines how people will react to the Jesus they see in you.  Now sometimes, we've all got to admit, folks aren't seeing a really nice Jesus, are they?  But many times, you'd be surprised, if you even open your mouth about Christ, you'll be stepping outside the norm by quite a bit of difference from those who talk about politics, world wars and wars that are happening, and the latest disease scare, and the latest media h...

We live in a time where information is all over the place; we have instant news, cellular photo and recording that goes out instantly, we have "the web." So what we have is instant satiation of curiosity. This one is going to be so different from anything you've ever heard before, that you might want to share it with someone else - see, here is what folks don't understand about the instant generation, they have very little curiosity. Think about that a while and you will see that the factor of curiosity that is fundamental is the imaginative process whereby the curious must obtain information about what they are curious about. As the curiosity increases, so does the interest, but as the interest is satiated, the curiosity goes down, and so does the interest. The result is, boredom. Look around at how the generation behind yours looks at life, you will see this happening, we are being conditioned not to question. Just as we are being fed literal poison in our fo...

There has been in the last few years a drastic change in Christian thinking and feelings, a drastic distancing from the warmth of the Body of Christ, flesh intermixed with the Holy Spirit of God, toward, groupthink and standardized behaviors.  More psychology than spirituality; and yet, in it's danger, is also the very thing that must be the solution to much of what we have allowed to happen.  It is not about being accountable, that's a term that a jailer uses when they are making sure the inmates are in the right cell!  Rather it is about surrendered life, the giving over of ones will to the only King one needs to willingly serve.  Now don't think this is semantics, because at the very heart of God is a want for those who should love Him to understand both His mercy and grace, neither of which are present when someone demands to know why you haven't done what you were supposed to do- that's not life in Christ, that's bondage in Egypt!  For all those who believe...

In the time when Jesus ministered the lives in the villages were being ruined by two branches of community life leadership.  Poor religious, to non-existent religious leadership, the people kept their mind to God because they spoke of, remembered in song and tales, their God and His actions; but the leaders, were fast becoming paid enforcement officials of "what ought to be done," note that difference, it is as if though they knew.  The second life leading force that was against the people was the government in which they were held, Israel, was captive to Rome; and Rome was, watch this one, overtaxing them, abusing them by use of the law to their disadvantage; and terrorizing them to live in fear of the power of the enforcement of the Roman Law (Pax Romana).  One Pastor has said that America seems a lot like that today?  In my humble opinion America today looks more like another nation, France, prior to the revolution therein, we have many of the characteristics worl...

"Don't make a major production out of it,"  ever hear that one, or, "it's not that big of a deal," you may have heard it put that way?  Those are both ways of trying to get a person to see that something that they believe is important, may be to them, but it's not to, you, or perhaps, generally to others and you're aware of that.  We also call this a "common sense," approach to things; which I like Zig Ziglar's statement, "there is nothing common about common sense."  And like so many things Ziglar says, that one is based in the Bible, and yes you are right, Proverbs, see, and you thought you weren't catching on- give yourself a little credit; maybe it's a bigger deal than you realize?  What's that you ask, that's a bigger deal than you realized?  Why your life, the time that God's given you to achieve, to grow, to manifest, to accomplish, maybe that's a bigger deal than you realized it was?  If you hav...

Have you ever noticed how it is that the things that you don't want to have happen, happen?  Ever notice how when you really need something, it's just not gonna be there?  Ever hear the statement "events are spiraling out of control?"Ever wonder why that was?  Something happened the other day that has rocked my thinking on the subject of life- and I want to pass it on to you.  It began with a webinar by best selling author Jack Canfield, "Chicken Soup For The Soul" - in that webinar he said that Events + Response = Outcome-  how we respond to events; is the outcome of our life.  There it was, the connection - I'd always known in my heart that metaphysics was right, but the language that they use, sometimes doesn't fit a Christian perspective- nevertheless, I knew they are right- and there it was, the connecting point!  How we respond to events determines the outcome of our lives.  So simple, and yet, it now seems, this may be why Jesus was so oft...

Dr. Covey called it "the collective dialogue of the deaf," meaning, blissfully unaware of the problems, we strive through life never coming to grips with life, until, life is over.  We listen but don't hear; see but don't look, we are involved but not intensely so; until it's a crisis, and the list goes on and on. You know that the problem is that this is true of us; we love God, so long as, God isn't bugging us to change.  We're thankful for the earnest gift of the Holy Spirit, so long as, we don't have to respond to conscience?  We respect Jesus, so long as, Jesus doesn't ask us to forgive in a way which is not only costly to our human ego, but downright difficult to our pride.  Oh we have tons of them, don't we- only in the end, the only person we've fooled is us; God isn't like us, we don't fool Him.  Wouldn't it be interesting if at the start of each new day we not only expressed to God what we appreciated, thanking God for...

How do you see God?  Your view of God really is the determining factor in whether you have anything to say about God or not.  Do you live as if though God is real?  Do you love and forgive, donate, sacrifice in behalf of those who have less than you, as if though God exists?  Do you uplift, pray for, support, encourage and treat your fellow God believers, as if though, God exists?  If you don't, do you believe God exists? Do you believe- really believe, God is real?  If God is real, and you don't live as if though you believe God is real, then do you really believe God is real?  Simple isn't it- but this revolutionary idea is still kicking the tales of those who want to lie about what they really feel - who want to hide behind false statements, false actions, guarded notions of inner hatreds which they refuse to turn loose of, and the worst of all possible things that can happen to a person who believes they believe in God- live as if though God i...

  Some of the worst natural and man made disasters have all occured in a very short frame of time, within the decade the amount of, and, severity of these events should be alerting Christian's to passages of the Bible which talk about them.  But let's get outside the box for a just a few moments together, I think you may find this interesting...at least, like the usual stuff you read here, I'd be willing to bet it's gonna challenge your current thinking, a bit; good chance of that, isn't there?   Suppose you were capable of analyzing things in a different more advanced way, than say, the most advanced statistical analyst which has all the computational skills available to them in todays world; where the evidences of degrees of intervention, probable results in measured statistical normative values less than millionths in probable certainty; suppose you were capable of that, would you warn people of what was coming?  What if your enemies, the ones...

One of the politically correct statements which has emerged in business is "well, going forward, let's," and then some curt statement is added about what it is that the politic cop thinks you did incorrectly that they'd like you to correct.  It is insulting and demeaning to humanity the way that modern business is conducted- and it's because of the way that greedy and egotistical people who were interested not in the general good of those the managed, but in their own avarice, conducted business.  The years of people being treated badly which resulted in thousands upon thousands of mistreatment law actions, because they were necessary, suddenly created a Tsunami of legal actions which resulted from those preceding years.  The result of this carnival of the bizarre immoral is the current backlash called "political correctness," wherein the very ways in which people talk are controlled by policy.  It is beyond imagination, Jesus called it, "hypocritic...

Don't you just love humble folks- I do, people who have their heart locked into other people, they really blow my mind- because their concern isn't for them, it's for others. Those people seem close to Jesus to me- one of them is a person that it's been my pleasure to know, and she was given a pretty difficult task by her pastor- "teach the Trinity." She took it on, and let me tell you, in seminary, my first preaching assignment, as Dr. Taylor lovingly laughed, with that twinkle in his eye, was, "now you preacher boys here wanna really listen, 'cause brother Richardson is gonna straighten us out on the Trinity." His eyes twinkled with real joy, because he knew, I was going in fast and cocky- to deliver the model description which Anselm had popularized- and which during the evenings teaching - discussion, it was my pleasure to hear an elder of the church go into, yet again.  But my friend, my humble friend, she serves Christ well in teaching ...

We spoke yesterday of the test about love and the Body of Christ; how you did on that exam, tells you a lot, you see it is between you and God where you stand with the Body of Christ, but it is between you and the world where it will stand for eternity.  Loving without presence, isn't loving.  One of my associates heard someone say, "Love people use things, don't use things and love people," but when asked where that quote came from, in other words the presence, they didn't know- Dr. Covey, whom it's been my thrilling pleasure to have met on two occasions, both unannounced and both, without getting his autograph, but by meeting him, he allowed me to move into his presence.  Dr. Covey brought that, to love people, use things; to everyone's attention when he was explaining to them that they needed to expand the fences that guarded their hearts in their lives.  Dr. Covey uses a famous story about the man who gets on the subway train on Sunday morning in New Y...

Ever take a test where you got an A, but you knew good and well that one of your answers was incomplete? It may seem hard to believe, have you ever been asked a question that you thought you knew the answer to, so you gave it, and it was right, but later, you realized, the answer was not totally right, even though it satisfied the question? This is the harder aspect of what we are walking in today, as Christian's, we're being fooled into believing we are doing what is right, that we are following Christ, but what's happening is we are being led along a path that is not the path Christ wants us, Christian's to take, and the way that we know this is two fold - 1) Does the path you are taking agree with Jesus teaching in the New Testament- and - 2) When you listen very carefully in your prayer time, does the still small voice confirm it? The test you see, of Christianity is conflict, any time that anything conflicts with Christianity, that conflict is a measure of the...

The day is coming when you and I won't look nor act like we do now- we will essentially be what we are, but we shall be changed into something gloriously different and free- right now we're bound by the gravity that forces our bodies into the earth- but then, gloriously, we shall be free, we shall fly- we shall mount up with wings like eagles- and FLY!  One of my associates lives a sort of lonely existence, work is a part of their world, they have a spouse, who largely ignores their life, it's sad in some profound sense that they are bound by their sense of loyalty and fidelity to Christ into a relationship which isn't fulfilling for them; they are in some sense; held in place- a sad place.  Oh don't misunderstand me, they have some joy in their life, on occasion they have famliy who come around and cheer them up, and they have friends who try to help them see that it's not just the sad and incomplete relationship they are in which is their life, but otherwise, ...

"We can't possibly be that stupid," what sort of measure would you use?  Humankind has now built cities that stretch up into the heavens- the worlds tallest building, (we might see it painted in the blood of those who shed their valiant blood on the sand to pay for the oil that built it)  at present in Dubai, shows so clearly how cities get bigger and taller and yet, oddly, don't they become, less habitable, which you can read as - SMOG- pollution and the offshoot of what we call, progress.  God called it gardening, and in the grand design lacking greed God would have had us plant and manage and work under His guidance.  Today we strive mightily to ignore God 24/7 except when there is a personal or larger disaster, then we cry about God and ask with arrogant stupidity- "how can God allow this to happen."  God doesn't allow "this to happen," God has been trying for centuries to get the free will of man to understand His control; and we resist. ...

You can't believe for somebody else, right? Well partially right, because if they don't believe, still you must, for otherwise, how will they see what belief is about? A very close associate of mine is a control freak; and walks fairly close to fear; he doesn't realize how damaging both of those characteristics are as he determines how we are to conduct the business of God. Now he believes in God, and yet, he also believes that he has to direct how things are going to go; and, no matter how you slice it up, those two won't fit into the same pie. So my friend is often feeling as if though he doesn't do enough; doesn't accomplish enough, and isn't satisfying enough to God; and he shows it and says it and lives it in his every moment with others. Only problem is, Jesus said, "don't be filled with fear, be filled with joy, you believe in me, and I've overcome the world." (several statements put together there...) My associate the control ...

Hatred is an interesting emotional experience because it leaves you feeling like you put something into the fracas, but what came out didn't add up, it's an odd feeling of having done less than you needed.  My first encounter with hatred was early in life, we were poor, my father either didn't care about us, or, just simply couldn't handle being a "dad," so he left us when I was two, or so when my folks were alive, they would tell me.  What happened then is, we became poor, mom worked at jobs that didn't pay much, the family tried to make ends meet, but work hard as they could, they never quite seemed to catch a break above even, and mom and I always were the poor end of the family gathered, and they hated us for being poor.  My friends in school didn't hate me for being poor, but their parents did- odd thing about parents of well off kids, they don't trust poor kids, you know "well why aren't they better off if they're honest hard wor...

Someone said the other day, "I read your writing," which usually I take as a compliment, but what I didn't know was what was coming next when they said, "and I don't agree with what you said, and here is why," now I was really loving it, because this is what anybody who writes desires, that those who differ with them would say so, and say why.  This is also, in my heart, what Jesus did, which is why, those who worship Him as the savior, are so splendid in how they do what they do, and those who don't, revere Him anyway.  Can the same be said of you and your conduct?  Would someone say, I know them, and I don't like them, but I do respect what they represent?  Read the statement and then... FREE PC/Laptop Speed UP "drd's" Blog Ooh Visit Our Twitter Group 1000 plus strong and growing! Visit our Facebook effort, it will make ya smile! Visit our MySpace effort, it will make you glad you did! Visit our YouTube- it is truly, goin...

Have you ever found he or she not hearing what you are saying? Ever wonder why? It was clear, to you, it was very clear, and obvious, and yet the person you were talking to, they just didn't get it. Maybe you've even read that they are from Mars or Venus, only, you aren't? Maybe your confusion seems like something that just shouldn't be, and you are tired of it- does that sound about right? Would you like to be able to talk to them without them misunderstanding what you are saying? If you think yes on that one, we have something you will love- just fill in the subscription block on this page and we'll be getting back to you with what is a very wise, very deeply spiritual, very meaningful set of truths and ways of "talking from the heart," which will change your bad situation and bad results (you might say, "no lovin'") into something which is hard to believe in terms of real and deep feeling. This isn't a method, methods can fail, this is...

Iran celebrates Nuclear Day today and it is as bad as it sounds.  If you had a juvenile delinquent criminally minded child that said that they were going to burn your house down, AND, they had the matches to do it, AND, they showed you their matchbook - as they turned to walk to the gas station- they said, "I'll be back with the gas to set this fire."  What would you do, wait until they were in the yard with the red plastic tank of gas before you got alarmed?  Here is the problem in a nutshell- we're being warned right now; if we don't act, we will inherit what happens as a result of that.  Here are your Congress persons contact number U.S. wide , you need to call them.  Here is the Headquarters page for the Tea Party - who knows - maybe you can get their attention on this?  Now for those who say this isn't biblical - it certainly is, we are told in the Bible that we are to " prepare for war in times of peace. "  You can believe that or not, the Pr...