Take Courage!

 "Take courage! It is I!" Jesus said to the disciples 

when they were terrified of the stormy weather and the high waves.
One of my fears is dealing with the government 

because I hate it when I have to have a 

face to face encounter with extortion. 

The other week, inspectors from the QC Fire Department came. 

One of them said for someone to sign our 

Fire Safety Certificate, I'd have to pay. 

Why? And he talked to me about facilitation and other such gibberish. 

How much? "It's up to you," he answered. 

"A school paid P50,000.00." 

What? That's not facilitation! That's grease money! 

Then he said, "You'll be in violation of the government," he warned. 

I said it was better to be in violation of the government than with God!

When you are in business,

 you can find yourself in many such cases with 

the BIR, the City Hall, customs, etc. 

I like the example if the Proverbs 31 wife. 

She was in business too. 

I am far from this ideal woman who wakes up early, 

 takes care of her family, dresses well, 

makes good investments, and is kind to the poor. 

"Strength and dignity are her clothing and 

she laughs at the days to come." (v. 25) 

In another version it says "smiles at her future." 

We can only laugh and smile if we are confident, 

like the disciples, that the Creator of the Universe is in our boat!

 This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible 

because of the promise inherent in it. 

When the disciples go to Jesus worried 

about the huge crowd going hungry, Jesus said, 

"Give them some food yourselves." 

They then said they only had a meager amount!
When they gave the 5 loaves and 2 fishes to Jesus, 

He was able to multiply it. 

 Whatever we have in our hand, 

if we offer it to Jesus first, He blesses it. 

He can do the impossible with it.
We all have time and it is seldom enough. 

When I give time to God first thing in the morning, 

I find I am able to do much more in a day, 

accomplish more than if I didn't. 

The same with money and other resources. 

The same with our talents and gifts. 

I get surprised with how God makes it all 

multiply, bloom and grow! 

Our business is a miracle and considering 

how we manage it, it's almost laughable!
Thank you Lord for saying to all of us, 

"Bring them here to me!" 

Thank you for blessing whatever we bring to You!

"At a birthday celebration for Herod, 

the daughter of Herodias performed a dance 

and delighted Herod so much that he swore 

to give her whatever she might ask for." Matthew 14: 6-7

This is such an absurd scenario that 

sometimes I think no one could be that stupid! 

 Imagine if you will our president enjoying the 

 dance of a young girl and promising under oath 

to give her anything up to half of our country. 

She runs to her mother and instead of asking for wealth 

or power OR half the country, 

she asks for the head of a poor itinerant preacher!

I can't help but relate this story 

to the book I am reading right now 

(bought for P10 at the Books for Less 

Warehouse sale yesterday). 

It is written by Mackenzie Phillips, 

daughter of John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas 

(a well known singing group in the 60s). 

John Phillips had more money and fame 

and foolish friends than he knew what to do with. 

He threw it all away on drugs, women and wild parties 

and brought his young daughter for a ride with him. 

She had her first high at 10 years old 

and brought cocaine to school in fifth grade!

Maybe Herod was high on drugs. 

Maybe all of them at that party were on acid! 

Drugs are one way to escape the truth. 

Killing the messenger another! 

I guess by nature, we want to silence 

the still small voice, our conscience, 

when we want to continue to keep doing the wrong things. 

It gets easier every time we do wrong. 

Until we can't hear the truth anymore 

because of the cacophony of noise, 

the pollution of sin that kills it.

In our world today, no one wants to hear the word sin. 

Even televangelists shy away from saying it 

for fear they'd lose their audience. 

They won't get their heads chopped off 

for telling the truth today. 

But I can't help feeling it's easy to shut the truth out 

by turning to all the feel good programs on TV 

and nice messages on facebook. 

God hates sin and if we get mired in it, 

we'll sink in it like quicksand!

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