John presents Jesus Christ as God in human flesh. John presents Christ as the Messiah of Israel. John presents Christ as the Savior of the world. That's John's purpose in this gospel. And in the gospel of John, Jesus appears before the people of Israel to make His claims to be their Messiah. As we have seen, they have rejected His claims even though again and again Jesus has made them and corroborated them, there have been a few in Israel who have believed, but not many...a small number. Most have rejected Him. God deeply and greatly loved Israel and still loves Israel. God loves the Jew. He made His own Son of Jewish birth. His chosen people is still Israel. And God still has things for Israel. We believe that the nation that blesses Israel will be blessed and the nation that curses Israel will be cursed.

This is the day of feasting! My mouth can't wait for a generous "chunk" of that succulent turkey, delicious ham, mashed potatoes and a sundry of wonderfully prepared vegetables. And then, just when you think you can't eat another bite, your eyes fall on the table covered with deserts that make your mouth juices begin to flow. It's fun.

But the celebration sometimes misses the mark. We feast in celebration of the time when the Pilgrims gathered with the Native Americans, who were largely responsible for teaching them how to raise their crops in the New World, and feasted. It was a time of giving thanks to God for blessing, life, and friendship, all of which are very worthy of thanksgiving.

The Random Thoughts of Henry Holloway is a gem of a site I found a couple of days ago.

The web site is taken from the publication 'The Random Thoughts of Henry Holloway' - a collection of some of the articles from the series originally printed in the Portadown Times (Portadown, Northern Ireland) over many years.

The short articles (I would almost call them devotionals) are some of the best I have ever read.

ChristianityToday.com has published their list of the best Christian albums of 2008. As with any "top" list, debates can go on forever as to its content. With that in mind, check out the list in more detail here. You may discover some new music!

Author --Adelaide A. Pollard, 1862-1934
Composer --George C. Stebbins, 1846-1945
Tune Name --"Adelaide"
Scripture Reference - Jeremiah 18:3,4

"But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand." Isaiah 64:8

It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord-just have your way with our lives ...

This simple expression, prayed by an elderly woman at a prayer meeting one night, was the source of inspiration that prompted the writing of this popular consecration hymn, in 1902. From that time to the present, it has been an influential hymn in aiding individuals to examine and submit their lives to the Lordship of Christ.

The author of this hymn text, Adelaide A. Pollard, was herself experiencing a "distress of soul" during this time. It appears that it was a period in her life when she had been unsuccessful in raising funds to make a desired trip to Africa for missionary service. In this state of discouragement, she attended a little prayer meeting one night and was greatly impressed with the prayer of an elderly woman, who omitted the usual requests for blessings and things, and simply petitioned God for an understanding of His will in life. Upon returning home that evening, Miss Pollard meditated further on the story of the potter, found in Jeremiah 18:3,

Yogi Berra was a master of the English language. Here are just a few of his quotes:

• "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

• "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

• "Baseball is 90 percent mental -- the other half is physical."

• "If you come to a fork in the road, take it."

• "This is like deja vu all over again."

• "If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."

• "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."

• "I always thought that record would stand until it was broken."

• "You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."

• "90% of the putts that are short don't go in."

• "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."

• "You can observe a lot just by watching."

• "I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early."

• "It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."

• "I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"

• "It ain't the heat; it's the humility."

• "I didn't really say everything I said."

Several years ago, my wife and I were invited by some friends of ours to spend an afternoon on the lake in their Cabin Cruiser. It didn't take us long to say "yes." After all, what could be more relaxing than a lazy day boating, fishing, and swimming?

It took my wife and I about an hour to drive to the lake, a large lake in the North Georgia Area. The afternoon was beautiful. The sun was shining. The wind was slightly blowing. It couldn't have been a prettier day. We had the opportunity to cruise the lake and park the boat in a large, private cove. I can remember jumping in the water and swimming in the beautiful water until I was so tired, I had to climb back on the boat. After we took time to eat a relaxing lunch on the boat and were bored of this particular spot, we took off for another part of the lake, cruising at top speed with the wind blowing in our hair. Not a worry in the world.

The Preacher's Son

Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said,

'OK, dad, I'm ready.'

His Pastor dad asked, 'Ready for what?'

'Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out.'

Dad responds, 'Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring down rain.'

It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color. But a cold front from the North had brought winter's chill back to Indiana. I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the towns-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." My heart sank. I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways.

On Tuesday the best man I know will do what he always does on the 21st of the month. He'll sit down and pen a love letter to his best girl. He'll say how much he misses her and loves her and can't wait to see her again. Then he'll fold it once, slide it in a little envelope and walk into his bedroom. He'll go to the stack of love letters sitting there on her pillow, untie the yellow ribbon, place the new one on top and tie the ribbon again.

The stack will be 180 letters high then, because Tuesday is 15 years to the day since Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years, died. In her memory, he sleeps only on his half of the bed, only on his pillow, only on top of the sheets, never between, with just the old bedspread they shared to keep him warm.

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