Happy Friday and happy first day of fall!

This is one of my favorite days. There are some ways where my being a teacher for 30 years will not be dismissed for a long time. Today I wore my first day of fall sweater, put the dead plant garden to bed and replaced it with new plants from Hare’s nursery. There are no open blooms but in a short while there will be a burst of beautiful fall color. Tonight we also celebrated Geni’s having been hired as a teacher. Her menu request was chili. So we had chili, chicken cheese nachos and lemon bars out on the deck. We had not eaten out there all summer due to the heat. It was so wonderful.

Prayer: “ Father, help me remember how You saved me. I don’t want to forget what I would be without Your saving work in my life. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. Thank You for loving me before I loved You. Thank you that You cared enough to see me, find me and cleanse me from all sin and unrighteousness. You sought and found me, and I want to tell You today that I love You for loving me. Amen.”

1 John 4: 20 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

I have heard people say how their lives became different when they found God. In truth we did not find God—He found us. God took the first step in loving us. Through His creation God took the initiative to have a relationship with us and to do the work of atonement for our sins. This extraordinary act of love was deliberate and took all of His love and His greatest sacrifice - Jesus. Do you remember the story of the sheep that went astray and the shepherd who left the 99 to go and find the 1? Guess who the 1is? I am the one, and you are the one. For you see, even if you or I were the only person on earth, God would have still sent Jesus as a sacrifice for us. We are so valuable to the heart of God because He created us.

This amazing love is not based on anything we have done, but on His love, grace and mercy alone. Jesus left the glory of heaven to come to earth so that we could know Him and scripture tells us that any who know Me (Jesus) knows God. Let us take some time to get to know the One who knows and loves us completely with all of His heart.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Give thanks with a loving heart. 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 only moved by what I believe and I believe God.

Prayer: My dear Uncle Gene is nearing death. The family has been called in. Please pray for God in His tender mercies to prepare Him for his leave taking, his wife of over 60 years and for our family as we prepare for loss. Thank you, gc