Happy Friday! 

I do not like to begin my postings with sadness, but my Aunt Lendola (Aunt Lenda) from Colony, Oklahoma, passed away yesterday morning.  She was my Daddy’s sister-in-law.  We will be driving to Colony with Daddy Sunday morning to be with her children and friends for the service on Sunday afternoon.  I ask you for prayers for the children and travel mercy for those of us who are joining together to celebrate her life.

This morning I received a call from Daddy telling me that a longtime friend, Bobbie Gohlke, wife of the late Duane Gohlke, had passed away.  I do not have a memory from high school that does not contain these two extraordinary people. Duane was my high school choir director and mentor. Duane and Bobbie played and sang our wedding and were Casey’s first babysitters.  I was their children’s first babysitter.  We had remained wonderful friends over the years. In the past few years Duane and Bobbie joined the First Methodist Church in Howe where Mom and Daddy attend church.  I am in prayer for their children and grandchildren and am so very sad at her passing.  I am sure she and Duane have found each other and are making the heavens ring with beautiful music and side-splitting laughter.  I loved them dearly. 

Prayer:  “Lord, You are the Head of the church, and I surrender this day to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Ephesians 1:22-23

Christ Jesus is the head of the church.  He is not the head of the church like a CEO but more like the head of the house or a head of state.  It is not an elected position; it is one given by appointment.  The head of the church is the Lord of the church.  Even though the church is the body of Christ which is called to obedience under the Lordship of Christ, the church shares all that it is and all that Christ has to offer.  As the head of the Church, Jesus makes sure the storehouses are never depleted.  The storehouses of the church are filled with blessings, grace, forgiveness and tender mercy.  While the storehouses of Jesus are billed with the greatest gifts of God the church is filled with the character of God through the people who make up the body of Christ.  The church is filled with His power and His life.  We share with Jesus in the life of the church as it is filled with the fullness of God and everything that God enjoys.  Christ shares all He has for the benefit of the entire body. (Kinda makes you want to go to church a little more often doesn’t it…?)

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

Just a thought…Within the last year beginning in the month of October I have lost two uncles, one aunt, my mother and a dear friend. Tomorrow is the burial of the ashes of one of my uncles.  I am unable to attend due to a previously scheduled commitment.  As I get older so does my family.   Right now it just seems that these passings are coming far too close together.  I am somewhat down and more than a little blue over these losses.  While I am praying for these families who have lost these who are dearest to them, I am praying for me, too.   

Happy Wednesday! 

The Rush Creek Christian Church Choir sang the National Anthem at the Ranger Game this evening!  It was so much fun and I might add that we did a really great job!  It was also Dollar Dog Night at the game and we had a great time. 

Prayer alert:  My Aunt Linda Helvey from Colony, Oklahoma is in the hospital in Weatherford, Okla.  I received news today that she is unresponsive and probably is not going to be with us much longer.  She is in her nineties and has always been a very special lady.  When I was growing up we always had such a wonderful time going to Oklahoma to the dairy farm she and my Uncle Arnold owned. She loved the cows and the dairy so much.  She is the wife of Arnold, one of Daddy’s brothers who passed away several years ago.  Please pray for my Aunt Linda, her daughters Debbie and Marsha and her son, Ron as well as the extended family.  Thank you, mighty and faithful prayer warriors.

“Lord, Thank You for the body of Christ.  I rejoice today in the way You created and crafted the church.  I thank You for all the people and gifts You place in it.   As the day of corporate worship approaches, I pray for our church leaders.  Bless our pastors with a relevant Bible passage and our Sunday School teachers to challenge us and motivate us to be better disciples.  Open the windows of heaven and provide for all the needs of our church. Amen.”

“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same functions, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.”

Romans 12:4-5

How many times have we heard this scripture?  Too many to count, I would guess.  As I watch Bruce work with and advise the new leader of this Kairos Prison Ministry Weekend I am reminded of one of the most memorable moments I had in the Kairos ministry.  I was going with a group of free world folks to the closing service for the residents who had just experienced the Kairos weekend. We came in to support these men and let them know they are not alone in God’s love.  I was walking with the other free world people and I heard singing.  And not just singing.  It was the kind of singing that only a group of men can achieve that makes your heart swell with emotion and the goose bumps raise on your arms.  These men were singing “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love.”  A mere four days previous to that closing it would have been stretching reality to have thought that these inmates would have been singing at all, let alone together in a large group.

I have sung that song a go-zillion times since I was a kid and I finally understood the meaning of that song.  To be a part of the body of Christ means that one must have faith in Christ.  The only requirement for membership in the church is salvation in Christ alone.  We are one body in Christ. So here is the question…Are we walking in fellowship with other members of the Church?  Are we even walking in fellowship and faith with the members of our own individual churches? 

Our churches need each one of us to be a member of the body of Christ.  We have been given a task for continuing the life of the Church and have been given the spiritual giftedness to carry out the tasks.  Each of us has spiritual gifts. If you need to find out what I’m talking about, read Romans 12: 6-8 and find your spiritual gift.  Make sure you are walking in faith and obedience with God and let the Spirit of God lead.

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! 

Chapel service at Brite was off the chart awesome today.  The theme of the service was healing and wholeness.  The pastor was Rev. Irene Sessions.  She preached from 2 Samuel about the crippled man who was invited to dine at the table of the king.  Her message was that we are all called to find someone each day to bless.  Not a blessing of our own works, but God’s blessing of mercy, kindness and justice in whatever way we are led.  After the message we participated in Eucharist.  I helped serve at the table and I so love that part of the worship. During Eucharist we were anointed with oil and given a blessing of peace and a prayer for healing in the name of Jesus.  It was a total package today. 

Prayer:   “Lord, I acknowledge You as the One who is able to keep me from stumbling. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus I am made to stand in Your presence blameless and with great joy. To You be all glory, majesty, dominion and authority in my life today and forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:21

Our chapel director really works very hard to craft thoughtful, purposeful worship.  He has a real heart for worship and takes his job very seriously.  And even though I always tell him thank you for the wonderful worship it is really God who deserves all of the glory in our lives.  The glory must be given to Him from all generations.  God deserves the glory because He not only created us but can do all things.  Ephesians 3:20 tells us “God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”  The power that works in us is the power of the Holy Spirit.  God is able to handle whatever we face today as individuals and whatever challenges we face within our churches.  God is equal to the task.

God deserves all of the glory because God has all the power.  The power of God works within us.  Again, the power within us is the Holy Spirit who lives in everyone who follows Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a transmitter of love and power directly into our lives and into our churches. Let us not forbid God’s power to work in our church or in our lives.  God purchased the church and built the church. Within its walls and through its people we must exalt the name of God for God deserves all of the praise and glory.

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 Monday! 

I have spent the day reading the Book of Revelations and other materials on its interpretation.  WOW!  Revelations is a serious amount of apocalyptic literature. I think my head is buzzing!

Prayer:  Lord, Thank You for being the exalted One. You are the head of the church. I pledge to follow You fully today.  Help me understand my place in the body of Christ. I pray to keep You in first place in my life. You alone are Lord. I crown You King of my life and I begin the day. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

“And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

Colossians 1:18

Jesus is the only One who qualifies to be God.  Jesus is the only one who has earned the prominence to take first place in our life and in all things. God placed Jesus at the head of the church. Ephesians 1: 22, 23 says, “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” 

Jesus is sufficient because He is eternal and has the final Word.  John 1:1, 2 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

Finally, Jesus is heir to a priestly line, making Him worthy of enthronement because He was raised from the dead.  1 Corinthians 15: 20 says, “Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (I have sung that song!)

My prayer for all of us today is that no matter what situations the day brings that we will place Jesus on the throne of our lives and go to Him first before we try to engage an issue on our own power.  Jesus is powerful enough to help in any situation with which we are faced.  God dwells within the incarnated Jesus and Jesus dwells in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Take joy in this journey of faith.  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.

Blessed Sunday to you all. 

Go Cowboys!  It was not a pretty win, but as my Daddy used to say “there is only one statistic that really counts and that is the final score.”  Pretty or not…a win is a win.

Prayer:  “Lord, I begin this day with confession.  Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.  Thank You Lord, that You are eternal.  I know I can count on You today. Even when I am weak, You are strong. Jesus, thank You for being my rock today. In Your holy name I pray. Amen.”

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Matthew 16:18

I have always loved this story.  Here is Peter sitting in front of Jesus listening to Him teach.  I do not even know if Peter had ever thought about Who Jesus really was.  Peter just knew that whatever Jesus had to say or do Peter wanted to be a part.  Peter was a lifelong fisherman who dropped his nets and left his boat to follow Jesus without question.  Peter’s confession was the correct identification of Jesus.  Jesus is the promised messiah, the Son of the living God and the bedrock upon which the church is built.  Because of his faith and identification of Jesus, Peter became the foundation of the church all because he confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

The church is built with stone upon stone. Each of us is a living stone placed on the foundation of Christ.  The gospels proclaim the church as an institution against which the gates of hell will not prevail.  It is not the destination of the church to end up in hell’s possession, but to go forward in victory. 

Today was Sunday. I am so grateful for the Church and that it was and is not defeated.  I give thanks that we all can be the living stones in the structure of the Church that is continually being built as long as God’s people continue to worship, pray, serve and fellowship with each other in faith.  We become an integral part of that old hymn Rock of Ages.  In being a rock we can rest in the security that the Rock of Ages is cleft for all of us. We continue to build the church and in answer to “Who is the Church?”,  proclaim with loud voice, “We are the Church!” 

Take joy in this journey of faith.  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.