Saturday Silly – June 12, 2021

As some of you may know, I come from a state where there is no sales tax. I say this because I recently purchased underwear for a friend of mine (I was running an errand for him). Boy, oh boy! First, I could not believe the purchase price for men’s underwear at some stores. They’re much more expensive than ours, ladies. What really got me, though, is that there is a sales tax on underwear. At first, I thought it was just a Las Vegas thing. You know, “Sin City,” so, if you want to wear underwear in this town, you’re gonna pay for it”, kind of thinking. But, when I researched this, I found out that only three states fully exempt clothing from sales tax. Some of the rest exempt some clothing, but tax other clothing. But, really, underwear?! C’mon now. That needs to be exempt. I mean, granted, one can choose to go “commando,” but there are times and places when that just doesn’t work. For instance, what if I’m standing over a subway grate in NYC? What if I’m wearing a dress that day?! OMG! Can you just see that?! Yeah…hmmmmmmm. Marilyn Monroe did that, and that’s how her dress got blown up around her hips, and it became an iconic photo! Thank goodness she was wearing undies. LOL Bit of trivia for you, in case you didn’t know. I love Marilyn Monroe!

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Saturday Silly – May 15, 2021

I heard a couple of people on the bus recently, discussing the Marijauna legalization and some of the problems we have now due to that. One lady said, “They’re smoking that weed everywhere now! They don’t care where they’re at when they do! You can’t go anywhere and you smell it!” Her male friend said, “I know; you don’t even have to buy it anymore. Just walk by somebody smoking it; you can get high for free!”

I thought to myself, “Boy that’s true! The other day, some guys were on the corner by the dispensary, smoking their weed. I said, “Excuse me three times to the same tree there. It’s a good thing that when I went by the fourth time, I noticed it was a tree; I was beginning to think I had a stalker!”

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Admonition Of God’s Love=Power

Today’s message comes to us from Psalm 64. It speaks to us about the power of the admonition of the LORD/Lord. In terms of generational curses, it gives us a glimpse of the destruction caused by anger and violence.

Psalm 64:1-6 paint that picture for us. “Preserve my life, O, God, from dread of the enemy. How many times did you dread going home, or dread your mother, father, or even your mate, coming home? We can either be a child’s (or a mate’s) best friend, or his/her worst enemy. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I instilling and inspiring fear and animosity; or am I inspiring and instilling courage and security in this relationship?”

Let me tell you what the enemy’s secret plots are. They are to kill, to steal, and to destroy you and everything God has for you. Not only that, but the enemy wants to destroy every generation after you! The goal is to destroy love-love for God, for yourself, and for others. Love is the divine in man, because God is love. You are created in His image and after His likeness.

Verses 3 and 4 tell us they: “whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear.” Have you ever chewed out your mate, or your children, and couldn’t even believe the stuff coming out of your own mouth? That often comes from a generational curse. Let me say this now: A generational curse isn’t some mysterious religious thing. Generational curses are wrong and destructive habits, beliefs, attitudes and ways that we pass on to our children-because they were passed down to us from our parents. There is a spiritual significance to those things; but that’s because the devil knows your weaknesses just as well as God does. Now, look at the part of that scripture describing ambushing the blameless, and suddenly. That has to do with two things. First, God doesn’t impute evil to us; so we should always assume the best intention of our children, our mates, etc. Secondly, remember what I just mentioned above? You had the very best intention when you started out with that correction…and the enemy just jumped right in there with anger and bitterness, and reminding you of “your rights,” etc. Now all those feelings of being unappreciated and disrespected just blew up inside you, right? Yeah, the enemy, Satan is the accuser, and he will seek out injustice within you-your mind and heart. But, there’s good news! Gods Word will always refute and defeat the accuser!

Verses 9 & 10 tell us that the admonition of the LORD/Lord causes us to think about, explore, and be willing to implement His Word and Ways. By and through God’s steadfast love, mercy, and grace, we are emboldened to approach Him-not only that, but to RUN to Him! We’re emboldened to exult in His love for us, even when we mess up, because we know and cannot be shaken in our knowledge that God loves us! When we deal with our loved ones the way God does, they’re emboldened to run to us and exult in our love as well-even when they mess up.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Which One Will You Be?

Today’s message is Part Two of Yesterday’s message from Psalm 35. We’re picking up at Verse 10, and I’m reading from the ESV. “All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

I want to focus on the words, “poor,” and “needy.” I also want to focus on that “from him who robs him,” part of the statement. Do you know that being poor and needy in this psalm means you are lacking something spiritually? King David was not a poor man materially. In (3 John 1:2) we read, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you (you may prosper) and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul (as your soul prospers). ” That lets me know that I might be, (actually, I am) either my own best friend, or my own worst enemy. My soul is my responsibility. Remember the parable of the sower and the seed in (Mark 4)

How do you deal with the relapse, the slip, the stumble, etc.? (Matthew 9:5) “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” Yes, rise and walk you must. But when you take on guilt, shame, fear, embarrassment, you are taking on so much weight spiritually, that you cannot get up. That’s what the pierced head, hands, and feet of Jesus freed you from. When your mind/spirit/heart/soul is hedged in (crown of thorns), your hands and feet are pretty much powerless. You’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Take responsibility instead. Acknowledge the truth of the situation, but do what you must do to correct it.

When we mess up, we have to speak salvation to our soul. When we speak God’s Word, we are sowing seeds of life giving power into our spirit and soul. Do you remember Jesus’ words on the cross just before He died? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” God’s Word is God, Himself, coming to your rescue! Be your own best friend, and find every scripture that tells you what you are in God’s Sight! Precious, honored, the head and not the tail, etc. Write them down, and read them out loud’ every day, all day long throughout the day if you have to. Do not take the embarrassment, guilt, or shame! Jesus took that to Hell when He died for you!

This song never ceases to fill my heart with gratitude to the LORD/Lord. I get teary-eyed when I think of Jesus’ love for us. It’s the very same love the Heavenly Father, Himself has for us! Love yourself like they do; you’re worthy! Jesus did that for you! Thank you, Gather Vocal Band! I don’t know where I’d be without you.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes…

“You have ordained praise.” (Psalm 22:3, Psalm 8:2, Matt. 21:16) Psalm 22:3 reads: “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22 begins with, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”

When I think about my own life, I have to take the comma out of there. “Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?” There; that’s the truth. That all makes me think of Jesus’ words: “Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17) The groaning only feeds the devil. The praises hurt his ears! Every time; praise God every time! And, yes, there have been times when I had to ask God to help me stop groaning and just grow me up!

Psalm 22 is actually a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross at Calvary. It’s also a picture of us in this world. Don’t expect friendship from the world. Jesus told us that the world will hate us because it hates him. However, God has us from the moment of conception, in our mother’s womb. Verses 22-31, again, is that recounting of God’s love, His power, His peace, His purpose, and His plan for us. I had a friend who had a bumper sticker that read: “Question reality.” Children don’t really question us, do they? They trust that we’ve got their best interests at heart; and they’re almost always so eager to learn from us. -until they’re 13 and know everything, and we now know nothing…LOL We need to do the same when it comes to the LORD/Lord. We need to trust Him. When you’re being assaulted by evil, losing your strength, and feel as if you’re unable to answer back, it becomes painful to walk uprightly, or to stand firm. Believe me, it’s designed that way by the forces of evil. They want you to lose your conviction, your courage, compassion, commitment, your course, and your control -because they want to destroy your divine character. Hold on to those truths in verses 22-31. This is how Jesus got from Gethsemane to Calvary, and on to the tomb and His resurrection. He stayed focused on God’s Word and God’s Will. He held fast to every truth He knew about God. He’s the one who said the truth will make you free. It freed Him from all that the forces of evil were trying to do to stop Him from destroying that curse, and saving mankind from eternal damnation. We deal with tiny ordeals compared to Jesus. But we have the same promises. We have to do it the same way He did. You can bet on the fact that evil will assault you like nobody’s business as soon as you get to doing something for God. We can win against evil by learning to recognize their tactics, and by standing firmly on God’s Word, His Will for us, and His Love for us. This is so important in a world that’s getting darker and darker.

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly – January 16, 2021

My goodness, what a week it’s been! I had my cardiology appointment; hit the floor running to make it on time. I don’t know why, but it seems as if the buses are crawling along at fifteen miles an hour whenever you need them to hurry. Then, some of them go at breakneck speed, only to jump on the brakes with both feet and all their body weight behind them. Passengers and baggage come up out of the seats. LOL I think they need to serve cocktails on some of those buses, just like they do on airplanes. Speaking of airplanes, I was on a bus the other day, and there was a car wash just short of the stoplight. This guy was out front waving a white rag like crazy. I couldn’t figure out if he was trying to flag us down, or land a plane…we are right by the Air Base.

There are some characters on the buses, too. We passed a construction site, and someone asked what they were building there. A lady on the bus said, “Its an Amazon Warehouse.” “Oh,” replied the guy, “what’s if for?” “It’s where they’re going to lock up all the strong and angry women,” replied the lady. LOL

I got my ID renewed recently. I couldn’t believe it when I got the new card. My goodness; I need to get some good facial serum and face cream. My grandbabies will be calling me Grandma Sharpei. Sure enough, I sent a friend a selfie – of myself, and he texted me back: “Can she sit up and beg?” Hmm, maybe I could get one of the kids to take me to the dog shows; I could use the money. Ah, never mind…I can’t wag my tail like that anymore. Besides that, I’m not going to sit up and beg for anybody!

Love you from Cafe du Mondieu

Saturday Silly-December 12, 2020

Boy, I don’t know about you all, but I believe that studio apartments have gotten so small, you may as well just rent a closet somewhere. I went with a friend to look at a furnished studio apartment recently. When we opened the door, I felt like we were walking into a closet. My friend said, “It’s not too cramped; I think I can manage this.” (She’s a little flighty, and doesn’t think things through sometimes) I thought to myself, “Oh, yeah? You’ve only been in here three minutes. Spend a whole day in it.” The apartment manager said all the furniture in it was brand new, and encouraged my friend to try out the easy chair. My friend kicked off her shoes so she wouldn’t mess up the upholstery, and settled herself in the chair. She flipped the lever and reclined the chair, and this loud voice came from next door. It said, “Oh, my God! Will you get your feet out of my lap, please?! And go change your socks!” She jumped up out of that chair so fast. She decided not to take that studio apartment…and I’m still laughing!

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Saturday Silly-December 5, 2020

I was talking to a friend earlier, about today’s inspirations post from God Calling. It has to do with giving of spiritual things first; then material things. We were also discussing holidays and observances for the month of December. I said, “The 27th is National Fruitcake Day, you know.” My little friend said, “Oh wow, you got your own holiday!” “Ha ha,” said I. “That means I get more gifts, doesn’t it? What are you going to give me for National Fruitcake Day?” She never missed a beat. “Oh, I think I’m going to get you one of those pretty little jackets that buckle in the back,” she replied.

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A Friend Indeed Is He

Today’s message from God Calling – A.J. Russell, reminds us that we have a true friend in our Lord, Jesus Christ. We are reminded that it makes our service much sweeter when we remember that He values that friendship with us. Isn’t that awesome? What you do in obedience to Him, touches His heart in this particular way. What a beautiful thing; to be called “friend,” by the King of kings!

I love this old song. I thought I’d share it with you, to help us get the week started. Thank you, Larry Ford, and Gaither Family.

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Saturday Silly – October 10, 2020

I love visiting with my friend Sadie Snide. We were discussing my birthday…I told her I’m really looking forward to turning 39 again again. LOL Her birthday was in August. She said her family threw her a big party, and it was actually a family reunion, so many of them came to help her celebrate. I said, “Oh, Sadie, it must have been wonderful to see all those relatives again.” She said, “Yeah, it was alright. I could have done without some of those relatives; especially that one sister of mine.” I said, “Really? Don’t you get along with her, Sadie?” “Well, let me put it this way,” she replied. “NO!” I said, “Well, did you at least get an update on her life? I mean, is she healthy and doing okay? I know you want to know that, don’t you?” Sadie said, “She’s in great health, had a facelift and a boob job, and won a bunch of loot in the lottery recently.” I said, “Well, that’s great! Aren’t you happy for her?” Sadie replied, “Yeah, now she’s got enough money to pay someone to blow smoke up her behind; so she doesn’t have to delude herself anymore!” Ooh, Sadie, as soon as I stop laughing, I’m going to pray for you and sister. LOL

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