Morningside Devotionals

Does this sound like something you may have said to a young person, "don't stand in the street, you'll get..." and you finish that sentence with, "hit." We learn from early days what it means to anticipate or plan against danger, but do we learn to take refuge? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g9MYBtfUDc The idea in this Proverb is tied strongly into the relating of a person to God, the idea is tied into that because the Hebrew so strongly overtones their existence with that in their culture. We today are not so strongly tied into that idea. When this Proverb says to take refuge it is with the cultural understanding that your strength and refuge is found in God. We today in our culture don't see that we see instead our own way of design and that is where our flaw is. If you'd like to get some more impressions of this then click on the tab on this blog that says, "Taking It Deeper." In fact we today believe in plann...

"Well my time is already tied up, so I just don't know where he thinks I can find the time to do that?"  Ever hear somebody saying something like this when asked if they could do something concerning church or volunteer work?  Now in this blog we're going to go into why church work and volunteer work, ought to be the same thing, and my hope is that some Christian's will read this and just get furious and write me all sorts of really mean and nasty stuff- do it, defend your way of life; anybody should, we all should, but when we're wrong, we ought to be big enough to admit it, and correct it (!) (NOTE I DIDN'T SAY MOVE ON- MOVE ON  ISN'T GODLY...we'll "scuss" about that in "taking it deeper")  Christian's need to correct it.  Do you correct it? When  you get mad at somebody, without cause, and they get mad at you, without cause, do you correct it, or let it sit?  Heat on ice...melts the ice and turns it in...

Moved, we say it about the people who "used to live next door," they moved; we say it about a time when we felt strongly about something, we were "moved." Interesting how they mean a transport to somewhere else, you either go there in your mind, or, you go there physically, but you transport, you are moved, we are moved, we become, moved- it's an active word. The Proverbs are designed to move you, you aren't supposed to just read the words and say, "wow that was nice," that's not the deal. The Proverbs are really meant to be read under the starry sky, with your heart open to the heavens so far above what any human might even consider; so enormous, and so full of promise, or, something else, but if you can look up at the starry sky and not be moved, then you can read Proverbs and not have a clue, the sayings must move you. Like the first time I heard this... (a video of Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah" should app...

Wonder why sometimes the people who should be the most giving, aren't?  Ever wonder why the people who have the most to give, don't?  Ever wonder why the people who aren't blessed with enormous resources, seem to be the ones who make the most use of those resources? Ever wonder why those who have huge reserves aren't willing to share them when doing so would have no real consequence to them? We live in an age where for the price of a tank of gas a person can obtain valuable knowledge worth thousands of dollars, and yet, most choose not to? Ever wonder why someone would choose to stay without knowledge? The most perilous thing that we face as a people isn't a threat to our economy, but those who seek to control the population through fear, would want you to believe that, ever wonder why?  The most perilous thing that we face as a people isn't our educational decline in standards, although, those who want to rule you by fear, want you ...

NIV - Pro 21:23 - He who guards his mouth and his                              tongue keeps himself from calamity. The facts, how do you get to know the facts? You may see them, on the evening news, you may hear them, from the radio or T.V., if you are just listening, but more often than you realize, you get your news, or at least your sense of the news, from someone else. You hear them tell you what they thought they heard.  It is a perpetual and much faster paced rumor mill than at any other time in history.  Now that's not a terrible problem if we are talking about things that people say that are just moderately important, but when the depth of the item takes an another dimension, the rumor spread can cause absolute devastation, and people can lose not only money, but something much more important than money- they can...

What is the show Melissa and Joey about?  Did you watch the opening of the show?  Have you seen this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2jUPjQ6Ml4 The idea is an interesting and upbeat one. Obviously the concept of a single family change is a tough one, and obviously the Bible says some pretty profound things about the family unit; (most of which have not been brought to light - guess why?) but it seems that ABC is taking an interest in trying to get some ideas about the family out there. What do you think about this? Just the fact that a network is trying something like this says something pretty intense to our culture. It's a comedy, that's a friendly format for ideas, if they work, everyone laughs, if they don't then you have the option of saying, "it's a comedy get over it," it's win-win broadcasting at its best. But is it possibly something else? Is it possible that while media often pushes the latest BUZZ of the masses at ...

Dr. James C. Taylor, co-authored a power work with Dr. Harold Bryson called "Building Sermons to Meet Peoples Needs," as a student of the great Dr. James C. Taylor, it is my pleasure to distinctly remember him and his wonderful, loving, Christian ways. As John would say of Jesus so would I say of Dr. James C. Taylor, I knew him, and was with him and know that today, he is with Jesus. So the greatness of us, who we really are, comes at us daily; but the sum will come back to us, from those whom we touch and reach and influence. Likely it will not come from the work that we do, unless that work touches people and that will last.  At 3 A.M., this morning it hit me how powerfully Nehemiah affected time and history. The mental blows came at me from Nehemiah chapter 11 and from teaching, from the past. Many times people who say that there is no God, they scoff at those of us who believe in God, and it hit me, Nehemiah chapter 11, verse 6- these men, stood, in th...

Hard To Believe Reality-Click Here One of my associates works at an extremely time intensive site, and, they simply do not have time to consume a book of ideas- SO- that's why I came up with that page called "taking it deeper"- sometimes you'll see a new post over there- sometimes not, but if you get a chance and want to check it out, usually there will be some new thing going on- as in Proverbs 21:13:  Here goes the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZvSbTuj9o There is a thing about who is watching and who is being watched, put another way, the beholder and the beholden? Who are the poor, is that a reference to monetarily poor, because quite easily one can see it might be a reference to poverty of all sort? And really what happens when someone is impoverished is the tendency of others to not listen to them? This is a fantastic Proverb for social media because it so clearly tells us that we can be heard, and that when we hear, we stand ...

The first time you kissed someone, remember it, not a little peck, but a real grabber, that first real kiss?  For some of us, it's hard to get that memory to come back, but if we try, really hard, we can get it back. It is a great memory for just about anyone, and the question about that is, why?  Why is a first kiss significant, is it possibly because, for just about every person,  it is a moment they will remember? Relationships of the wise are based in such common ground of human meaning.  When you chose to make that first kiss, it was with the knowledge that others had kissed before, and they survived it, somewhere in the back of your mind was that certain knowledge of it being so, wasn't it? Now as you are contemplating that, because the answers are myriad as to what that is really all about, and they largely depend upon the viewing point of the person who is making the memory, let's switch gears ever so slightly and move into second gear, no not...