Greetings from Austin St. (Really!!)

Happy Wednesday! We are back online! Bruce patiently worked with AT&T today for over two hours, but we are finally back online with full internet service restored. I had a gozillion emails. I still have about 50 left to go through. I will tackle them tomorrow and Friday. The butterfly count is 16! Tonight we went to the Senior Parents Meeting tonight. We heard all of the procedures and plans for prom and graduation. It is hard to believe that we are graduating our youngest in just about two weeks.

John 3:17 “God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through Him.”

How many times a day do we make judgments about people? I don’t think any of us can claim innocence about judgments. We meet people and immediately form an opinion. And then sometimes we voice that opinion or judgment to someone else causing them to make a judgment and the pattern continues to repeat itself. Did you ever think of Jesus as He walked the Via Dolorosa on that Friday? The people spat on Him, threw stones, called names and mocked Him. If you read the passage from Matthew 26 through 27 and read all of the terrible, humiliating, degrading acts committed on this man, Jesus, what you will never read is Jesus saying, “You are making a big mistake. Do you know who I Am? Do you know who My Father is?” No, Jesus is silent as He walks the road to the cross. He does not curse the crowd for shouting, “Crucify Him!” He does not shout to these frenzied townsfolk, “Please stop!” No, He simply says, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Jesus went to the Father and took all of our sins of judgment and asked God, His Father, to forgive us. Since Jesus did that for us, then we must not judge either. God has asked us to leave that part of this life to Him and only Him. God tells us further in Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that we be not judged.” God wants the job of judgment to be left to Him.

So next time we meet someone before we pronounce judgment on them, let us spiritually breathe. Remember last night’s journal? Breathe in the Holy Spirit. Breathe in God’s very essence and ask for a spirit of acceptance, then exhale His gifts of love, grace and peace on the ones we are holding in judgment. The one we meet will then meet the One we love and serve.

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

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

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