Happy Friday! 

My dear friends, I will be on call at JPS from Saturday morning until Sunday morning.  I am a bit nervous.  I ask for your prayers.  Thank you.

Prayer:  “Lord, fill your temple today and glorify Yourself through everything I do.”

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

1 Corinthians 6: 19

The House of God is not a building.  The true house of God is you and me; we who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  We are the temple by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Before Jesus was crucified, He promised not to leave his followers as orphans and would never fully depart from them.  God needed to complete the redemptive work promised through Jesus in every follower by sending of the Holy Spirit to dwell within all who love and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

I really needed this passage tonight because this is the assurance that because I/we are the temple of God that I/we will never go anywhere or do anything without God being with I/us.  As I/we continually submit in obedience to God’s call on my/our lives the Holy Spirit empowers each of us to serve Him. 

My prayer for me tonight is that I, God’s temple, would rest tonight so that I may glorify Him tomorrow as I learn a building and a system but most importantly that I bring a word of hope to those who need it most. 

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some rest.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  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.

PS  Pray for Travis tomorrow as he competes in a power lifting meet.  He is out to shatter records tomorrow both personal and recorded.  Peace, gc

 Happy Thursday! 

Last night I was on-call at Huguley!  I am not exaggerating when I tell you I was tested by fire.  From dinner time on I never got back to the office.  Each of the issues that presented were life and death issues and while making the time during the evening go quickly, each issue was heart wrenching for the families and very serious for the patient.  Trying to assist a family that has lost a loved one is sometimes very difficult and emotionally draining.  As Travis said, “Remember Mom, you signed up for this.”  To say that I arrived home pretty drained is an understatement.  The real test of stamina and energy happens Saturday as I am at JPS form 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday. Please, please, please, pray, pray pray for endurance and focus for me!!!

Prayer: “Father, as I walk through this world and face the burdens of making a living as well as making a life, it seems as if at times the mountain gets higher, the burden gets heavier, and the road gets longer.  I confess that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  I face life today knowing that Your Son will guide me and guard me, and because of His presence I will overcome anything life brings to me every day. Amen.”

“Who is He who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

1 John 5:5

Yesterday I brought the worship (presented) in chapel for the CPE students and anyone else who came to join us. I spoke on the passage from Matthew 8:23, the story of Jesus and the storm on the sea. Little did I know how prophetic these words were going to be as I ministered to a very distraught family at the death of their loved one.  The passage shows the disciples being frightened and becoming part of the storm in their fear and panic.  The storm really escalated.  The chapel message called each of us to not become part of the storm. If we don’t become part of the storm, the storm will blow itself out.  As chaplains we walk into storms each day and sometimes many times per day. It is our task to not become part of the storm, but to try to be the eye of the storm.  Jesus simply stood and said, “Peace, be still.”  When we become the eye of the storm we are acting on Jesus’ behalf, helping the families to find a place of peace very close by.  Please pray for the chaplains.  We need all the prayers we can get as we minister to people sometimes at the point of their deepest need.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  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.

 Happy Tuesday! 

I will have my first day of on call duty.  I am at the hospital from 6: 00 AM and stay until 10:00 PM.  I will begin in surgery and work from there.  I will answer each call and respond to any codes that come across as well as working my floor and the nursing home.  Please pray for me and the patients.  Thank you, dear friends.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, the longer I live the more I see just how precious this thing called life really is.  The passing years remind me of its brevity; good health reminds me of its quality; children remind me of its sanctity; youth reminds me of its vitality.  This prized and precious possession causes me to pause you all over again that Your Son gave His life for mine.  It truly is a debt of love that I could never repay—even if I had an eternity to do so. Lord, thank You for giving Your perfect life for imperfect me, and thank you for giving Your love to undeserving me.  The love You have shown me, show through me to others today. Amen.”

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

1 John 3: 16

When Jesus laid down His life on the Cross he was saying how much He loved us.  Jesus was telling us that He loved us more than His own life.  Jesus did not say we should be able to read scripture and tell how much we are loved, or send a messenger or ambassador to give us this message of love.  Jesus did not “staff it out” or send a text, email or mass memo or even have it on the 10:00 news.  God showed us His love through His own son.  Jesus became our substitute for sin and settled our debt forever and finally!  If Jesus has shown us His ultimate sacrificial love then how much more do we need to show love for our brothers and sisters?  When the world sees that kind of love, they will know we are His disciples. 

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all so very much, 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.

 Happy Monday! 

Today, Casey would have been 28 years old.  This birthday is a bit different than the others because Sunday was Father’s Day and Casey was born the next day on Monday.  We had Casey’s favorite meal tonight; fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans.  We were going to have red velvet cake but were unable to locate one so we had a Reece’s peanut butter pie for dessert. (He would have loved that, too.)  The table talk was hilarious and we had a great time.  We sure do miss that boy.  I know the table in heaven is unimaginable to earthly eyes, but I hope God let Casey look down and see his family gathered, enjoying his favorite meal and remembering him with laughter, love and joy.

Prayer alert:  Please put Roberta Dennis and her family on your prayer lists.  We go to church with Roberta.  She lost her young grandson, Nathan, on Sunday at Children’s Medical.  The family is devastated and really needs the loving arms of God to wrap around them and they deal with their broken hearts. 

Prayer:  “My Sovereign Lord in heaven, I come to You saddened at the thought of the times in my life when I rejected You, Your Word, Your will, and Your witness.  My heart breaks when I remember the times that I hid my face from You and the times I did not esteem You or show my word and deed that You are my first love.  Lord, today as I go out into a world that still despises You and rejects You, give me the power and strength to stand for You and speak for You at every opportunity.  Thank You for giving me another day to show my allegiance to You. Amen.”

“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Isaiah 5 3: 3

I heard a story from a military chaplain today.  This chaplain described himself as having failed retirement the first time and so continued on in civilian life as a hospital chaplain and a supervisor of CPE.  He told the story of ministering to the men in foxholes in Vietnam among other avenues.  But today he shared about an incident on the battle field. There was a unit of men on the front line and a young soldier kicked what he thought was a rock, but it was really an IED.  Both of the young man’s legs were blown off.  The chaplain was called to minister to the remaining men in the unit.  These soldiers were so angry that they were walking around cursing God and calling God every name in the book except holy. These curses included the chaplain.  

These men, in their anger and hurt, were seeking God in the situation. The chaplain, in his thinking, thought that he needed to defend God to these men.  In reality, God really did not need defending. His sovereignty is all encompassing so that He is bigger than our anger, our hurt and our frustration. Even though we might reject Him, the life He offers in Jesus is never ending and His love is never failing.  The best news of all is that he will never reject us!

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep ( I am so speaking to myself).  Count your blessings and say your prayers taking special care to pray for Roberta’s family.  Thank you.  Love you all so very much, 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.

Blessed Sunday! 

Today we met Ken and Sheena and respective daughters and one great granddaughter at church in Howe to worship with Daddy.  Daddy won several awards in having the next most family present and the family who traveled the farthest to worship with their Dad.  We took Daddy to lunch in Sherman and had a perfectly wonderful time.  It was great to see the folks at the Howe church and spend time with Daddy.  There were a number of people who made it a point to tell me how great they thought Daddy was doing since Mom’s passing.  We are really proud of him. I know he misses her so very much, but he is still getting up each day and staying as active as he chooses.

Please continue to pray for my Aunt Linda and Uncle Johnny as he is still battling cancer in his lungs and other parts of his body. 

Prayer:  “Father, I think of ways You have revealed Yourself to me. I am so very thankful; thankful that I can look around to a world that is clearly Your handiwork and unmistakably carries the sound of Your voice.  I am humbled that You spoke last but not least through Your Son, who is my Lord.  In every way You choose today, speak to me and through me.  Amen.”

“God…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.”

Hebrews 1:1,2

As I journey through CPE I am learning a great deal about myself.  One of the things I have learned is that if I am given too much information or offered too many choices in rapid fire succession, I tend to shut down. Or, as we say in CPE, I “disconnect.”

Even though those who are speaking to me are experts in their field and their information is important, I cannot learn if I “disconnect” from them. When this happens I shut out the voices and wait. It is at this time I need some one-on-one instruction and one way to accomplish the task at hand.

God spoke so clearly through Jesus. Jesus was not just a prophet or just a messenger. Jesus was God’s own unique Son. God, the creator, re-created Himself in the form of Jesus—in other words…Jesus was God on foot! Not only was Jesus God’s best Word to the world, Jesus was also God’s last Word to the human race. The world offers other books and other prophets, but God offers Jesus so that we can clear away the other voices and hear only His voice so at the end of the day we can be thankful that we are heirs with the One who is heir of all things. This voice, the Voice heard in the Word of God, is the strong, clear voice we must hear above all others so that we can stay connected and know what to do.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all so very much, 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.