Auto update: all is well with the "Old Girl"! Some clamp wouldn't tighten correctly and the hose to the tank wouldn't stay in place without it. The Ford House replaced it at no charge. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a pure faith.” How do you come near to God? I come near to God when I sing songs of praise. I come near to God in my prayers. I come near to God in my morning drive time devotions. And I come near to God in my daily scripture readings and writing. And tonight I came near to God as Bruce and I sat across from each other at dinner each having a bittersweet moment about Casey. Bruce worked in Wichita Falls today and remembered that the last time he went to Wichita Falls, Casey was with him and they served on the Kairos Prison Ministry weekend. And I remembered that Casey died one month ago today. Time goes by so quickly. His life on earth was so brief, but his life was complete. To the best of our knowledge Casey left no unfinished business and no regrets. Casey’s legacy was a sincere heart and a pure faith.

Watching Casey during this last year has taught me so very much. I learned the power of prayer and how to pray without ceasing. I prayed very often to walk into the throne room of God Almighty and be granted audience with the God of all creation. I have never prayed so sincerely in all of my life. I learned to trust in God’s Word. I learned to read the Holy Scriptures and ask God to reveal their meaning to me and show me how to communicate those thoughts to others. When you ask God to reveal Himself to you, watch out as He will show up! I have become so dependent on God’s Word each day that I can’t go to bed until I have had some encounter with the scripture and in turn God is faithful to be present and help me to understand what His Word says and how it applies to my life.

As you all know I love serving at the Communion Table and serving the musicians at the 11:00 service. When I began this part of the service ministry I was so excited about what I was going to do for others. And then I began to go to the nursing homes and serve elder church members the elements of communion. My practice would be to stop in at the chapel to pray and read a scripture passage before going to my communicant. And then as usual God showed up. When I would serve these precious ones, it was I who received the blessing because these wonderful elder believers had sincere hearts and pure faith. What precious lessons they had to teach without ever picking up a piece of chalk or a Big Chief Tablet (remember I am old!). Their faith had everything to do with the gift of love in Christ Jesus our Lord played out in their lives and the joy they were taking in the journey. For you see, God always comes to us with a sincere heart and has given us the gift of His pure faith. God calls each one of us to come before Him with any and all we have, our desires, our short comings, our needs and our joys to teach us in His ways and to shower us with His amazing love. What a blessed adventure and journey God has put before us.

Take joy in the journey. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.