Happy Friday! 

We arrived home late this afternoon after a wonderful, wonderful time in the Texas Hill country.  We stayed at the Walden Plantation outside Llano, Texas.  It is a beautiful plantation style bed and breakfast owned and operated by TCU Alums!  GO FROGS!!  It is right on the Llano River and about 45 minutes out of Fredericksburg. 

On one of our trips to Fredericksburg, we toured a winery.  It was a fascinating tour through the past, the vineyards and the processing area.  We sampled wine from the oaken barrels where the wines age and we learned so very much.  Totally cool! Of course we shopped in Fredericksburg, too!

Prayer:  “oh, the wonder and the joy that is mine when I hear Your voice, Oh God!  I hear You speak through the written words of Your Holy Scripture. I hear Your voice through Your Holy Spirit within me. I hear Your gentle whisper, Your still small voice. Speak Lord, Your servant is listening. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen”

“But He said, ‘More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Luke 11: 28

I love to hear Bruce’s voice.  I love to hear it when he calls my name, talks to me on the phone, sends me text messages, when he sings and when we talk each evening after dinner. When for some reason I do not hear from Bruce after a call or a message for what seems like a very long time, I am relieved when he returns the call or sends the message and I hear his voice in my ear or in his words. These are the blessings of the intimacy that we have shared for 32 years and pray we share it for 32 plus more.  It is the personal relationship with each other and with Christ that has allowed us to get through the toughest times of our lives and not to take the easier times of our lives for granted. 

The blessings of a relationship with Christ begin in the intimacy of a personal relationship with God and the communication shared within that relationship.  The passage today shares that God blesses us when we learn to listen first, (do we hear that correctly? ..listen first.) when God speaks to us.  This blessing is a divine blessing given by God because we made the choice to listen when God speaks to us.  We all have mountaintop experiences and they are awesome. But the day-to-day practices of living a faithful routine life of communication with God through listening, prayer, study, service and worship is how the intimate relationship grows with God.

Pastor Chris says that once you have an intimate relationship with Christ our lives are never routine again.  The blessing of intimacy with Christ is really determined by our response after hearing and reading God’s Word. God calls us to observe it, obey it, keep it and practice it.  The way we can accomplish it is not by our own power or will, but by recognizing that the One Who gave the Word is the One Who is sovereign and Who sacrificed all for us.  Our part is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and let Him bring us the rest of the way. 

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all and missed writing to you each evening, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.

 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.