Number 3 in a series. (I included this one to prove that I was actually on the cruise, too! - Bruce)

Happy Wednesday!

Just in case you were wondering, I made it to Granbury and back in one uneventful try; making the trip home the same way I went to get there. I prayed as I was backing out of the driveway and I felt much better about making the journey. We had a wonderful Bible discussion and fellowship time. We began at 10:30 and did not part company until around 2:30. The time really flew by and none of us realized that we had been sharing, eating and praying for 4 hours. Somehow or other we are going to have to squeeze this time back to less than an hour in just a few short weeks as school will be beginning very soon.

Romans 15: 32 “…and that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.”

As my summer begins to wind down for me, my thoughts are beginning to drift to returning to teaching. I set for myself different goals I wished to accomplish during the summer months. It was my intention to clean out closets of their excess clutter and make them usable instead of the tall clutter hampers they have become. I have not gotten my closets cleaned out. I wanted to learn to smoke meat in a wood burning smoker. I have learned to do that and in fact I am considering a second attempt this weekend if it does not rain. I decided to become a better housekeeper (I could not have gotten any worse!!) and I have kept the public areas of our home cleaned and the plants watered and healthy. But the area of my life I have enjoyed most of all is my time on the deck with a cup of coffee and my computer and devotional materials. The next thing I have enjoyed greatly is meeting with the teacher’s fellowship each week. Even though I drove with uncertainly and a great lack of confidence each week; drive to each home I did. These amazing, incredible women bring great joy to our time together. I come away refreshed and renewed with each meeting. These women are extraordinary because the love of Jesus flows through them in such healing streams.

Have you ever considered a waterfall? Waterfalls are amazing works of nature. But they also hold a tremendous spiritual message. When we stand at the edge of the mountain where the waterfall goes over the lip of the precipice we stand in awe of its magnificence and power. We also look in fear and dread as it dashes itself on the rocks below. But if you look at just one part of the fall and follow it from the stream to the rocks below, you will notice that the water, as it pours itself over the fall, does so with total surrender. It does not hold back anything; it cannot wait to get to the lowest place. When it finally dashes itself on the rocks below it splashes and then explodes into the most amazing droplets of joy we can even imagine. It is doing exactly what it was created to do and takes the greatest joy in its creation and the accomplishment of its assigned task.

The coolest part is that it is not just a single trickle of water that causes that waterfall to give of itself so freely. The waterfall as a single entity is made up of billions of droplets created all for the same purpose. They were created to fall obediently over the lip of the edge of a mountain to the lowest place of all and rise again in the greatest joy.

When I meet with the teacher’s group I may share the burdens of my soul or the joys in my heart and come away refreshed and filled with joy. I did not get my closets cleaned out but God blessed me with a place to clean the clutter out of my life in my weekly fellowship group.

God wants us to have joy in our lives. He desires that relationship with us that will invite joy to our lives. But He also places us in relationships that will bring refreshing joy. If you do not have a “joy” group; get one! Make yourself some Vegas style rules (what is said here – stays here) and experience the joy that only Christian love and trust can offer.

Take joy in the journey and experience joy with a friend. 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.