Saturday, March 23, 2013


Happy Saturday! 

Today Ken and Sheena hosted a family and friends wedding shower for Travis and Sarah. It was such a fun event. I think there were about 30 guests. The room held a simple elegance and so much love and warm wishes for this precious young couple. They are in for an extraordinary journey in this life of forever together. Please pray for them as they continue to learn to love each other in the shadow of God’s grace.

Prayer:  Holy and loving LORD, giver of every good and perfect gift.  Tomorrow we will begin the final journey into Jerusalem and to the Cross. You were celebrated outside the gates of Jerusalem and once inside those gates You did those final teachings, said good bye and suffered at the hands of Your accusers. LORD, let us humble ourselves under Your hand and remember that through Your powerful obedient will You were able to endure this horrible week and emerge victorious. Help us, Lord, through Your example of powerful obedience to endure when life experiences weigh us down and we want to quit or be tempted to take short cuts. Help us to remember to look to You when our weakness sets in just as You looked to the Father in Your moment of weakness and may we, too, emerge victorious.  In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

1 Peter 5: 6

“[God] gives more grace. Therefore he says:  ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’…Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

James 4: 6, 10

When we are feeling weighed down by life experiences and circumstance it is easy to stand still or sit down and just do nothing.  God requests each of us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and give over the circumstances to Him.  When we humbly submit ourselves over the sovereignty of our Creator then things seem to fall into place and bring the peace we need. Our energy is renewed because we have once again found our trust that God will lift us up and that feeling of being overwhelmed seems to be relieved in God’s good, perfectly appointed time.  God is so good.

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes, give thanks with a grateful heart and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.


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.


Friday, March 22, 2013


Happy Thursday!

Prayer alert:   A while back I asked for prayers for prayers for a friend who had been diagnosed with cancer and was having some surgery to check on the status of some small masses that had developed elsewhere. Tonight we are giving praise to God that the masses were benign!  He will beginning a second round of chemotherapy and will have scans in July to see is the chemotherapy has worked or is currently working. Please continue to pray for our friend as he continues to receive treatment and that it will work to dissolve the tumors in his lungs.

Prayer alert: This week we were notified that another friend of ours from St. John Lutheran in Grand Prairie was recently diagnosed with cancer and a week into his chemotherapy he had a heart attack. He had stints placed on Wednesday. Please pray for our friend Karl for his healing, comfort and peace.

Prayer:  Lord of healing and grace there are so many who tonight need to feel Your loving embrace and know You are with them. They are scared, completely vulnerable and want to not have these diseases. Lord, give them courage and keep them from becoming discouraged. It is hard to be strong and courageous when they/we feel so very weak.  Let us all see You through the eyes of faith and may we all take just one step at a time closer to You. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the one who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Lamentations 3: 25-26

My friends, when everything seems to be going wrong let us not be discouraged. God has immense compassion. Our God also delights in turning impossible situations into possibly victories. God is not limited by our possibilities. God is creative and powerful in His claim, “With Me ALL things are possible.”  Our problem is that we are so used to instant gratification that we do not know how to wait. God does not run on 24 hour time. God works on the eternal clock. When we learn to wait on the answer or solution God has planned then we are closer to understanding God’s time clock. In the time that we are called upon to wait we can choose to become more aware of God’s living Presence. When we learn to wait and focus on the living Presence of God in our lives we live a life saturated in blessings and stand continually on holy ground.

Take joy in the journey of hope remembering that hope does not disappoint. Wear comfortable shoes, pray with a heart filled with gratitude for all of the blessings given to you by the living presence of God and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.


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.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013


Happy Wednesday!

Happy first day of Spring! Just a quick update…I received a B on my latest Religion and Violence paper and an A on my Religion and Immigration paper.  Several critical papers due in April so please begin to pray for me now!!!

Prayer:  Holy, Holy, Holy Lord; God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of Your glory. And yet you love us, your human creation, enough to call us your own. You brought us out of darkness into Your own brilliant light. We belong to You.  You brought us out of the darkness to proclaim Your praise. 
You, O Lord, are the constant reminder that we are never alone.  Thank you Lord, we love you so much. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who call you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
1 Peter 2: 9

I love these words of Peter. Peter, who was a simple fisherman, was known to his friends as one who was filled with shame and disgrace over his denial of Jesus at the crucifixion.  Yet when Peter had the encounter with Jesus following the crucifixion he changed once again and learned to speak the truth of Christ to others which brought about remarkable a change .  With the words of this scripture Peter gathered the church and caused its members to look past the boundaries of gender, race and class in order to see themselves as God sees them.

God sees all of us as children who are claimed for royalty. God calls us holy and special people. This marvelous passage carries with it three powerful insights. The first one is that God is sovereign. God is God. The second is that we are to call out to God in the darkness so that we can be brought into the light of His love. The third insight is that it is our responsibility to proclaim the praises of Him who loves us so much that He chose to shed His own blood to cover the darkness of our sin and disgrace and bring us into the light of holy ground.

Take joy in the journey remembering that hope does not disappoint. Wear comfortable shoes, pray with a heart filled with gratitude and get some sleep.  Love you all, 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. 


Happy Tuesday! 

Prayer:  Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of every blessing I have and ever will receive. Your blessings by Your very Word are never ending and Your storehouse is always in abundant supply. Your love is unfailing and for all of these gifts and graces I offer You all of my thanks and praise. I love you Lord. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you."
Jeremiah 31: 3

By His Very Word, God has soaked us in His loving kindness and tender mercies. I don't know about you, but I need every blessing and tender mercy God has to offer. The meditation tonight tells me that my job is to open my heart fully to God--to fully acknowledge to God--just how needy I am. As much as Bruce and my children love me, anything I accomplish in school or the greatest songs I could ever sing will never provide the infinite blessings held in the reservoir of love God has for me. (Please insert you name where ever you see the word I).

God has loved us and continues to love us with an everlasting love and showers us with mercy and compassion. God desires above all else for us to come before Him when we are weak, vulnerable, unsure or scared. Never be afraid to pour out your heart to God and rest in His holy, comforting presence. We are God's children purchased with a holy price: God's own blood. God loves us with an everlasting love and is totally committed to us!  Give thanks. Open your heart and prepare to receive all that God has in His limitless storehouse of blessings.

Take joy in the journey of hope remembering that hope does not disappoint! Wear comfortable shoes, pray with a heart full of hope and gratitude and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.


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.  

Monday, March 18, 2013


Blessed Sunday to you all!

Prayer:  Holy One, Lord within our midst, You are mighty! You are the Creator of the universe and choose to dwell within each one of us. You have chosen to be as close to us as our very next breath. You are at the center of our souls and are aware of our every feeling, thought, desire and need. You are sad with us when we are sad and You rejoice with us when we rejoice. Thank you, loving Savior. We love you so much. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

"The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3: 17

Sometimes when I am just quiet before God I try to imagine how the Creator God we love so much can encompass the universe and still have the greatest of desires to dwell within me. I am humbled and feel sort of small and yet the thought of the immense power dwelling within me is pretty overwhelming. I think the insight God wants us to learn about His strength dwelling within us is that when we are weak His strength shows itself in the most amazing ways. It is God's strength that causes us to see light in the darkness and blessings during times of trial. The best part is that when we recognize God's strength within ourselves we are aware of God's Presence 

Lent is almost over. These journal entries for the last weeks have been about hope and recognizing God's presence in our lives. Let's try at least once or twice a day to remind ourselves that God is dwelling within each of us and see what happens. Maybe when we do this any discouragement we have will be driven away and will be replaced with hope and great joy. I think this is totally possible... because God dwells within us!

Take joy in the journey of hope remembering that hope does not disappoint! Wear comfortable shoes, pray with a heart filled with gratitude and get some sleep. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni, Travis and Sarah.


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.