Christine's Blog (2,521)

Forgiveness is costly. . . .Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3.13 The Lord forgave us

of the very thing that cost him his life.…

Good Day!

Yesterday we spoke of Paul’s desire to forgive a man who had hurt him deeply . . . forgiveness is immense. It breaks down walls, frees hearts, mends

countries, restores families, and draws out the best in us. It can turn

hatred into tenderness and the desire to destroy into a passion to

protect. It is more powerful than any weapon,…

I always think of Paul as bold—assertive, even to the point of being aggressive, with keen intellect and a ‘take no prisoners’ kind of

mentality. Somebody wronged him terribly, and the whole

assembly knew about it. Consequences were meted out, to

correct the behavior not to cause him to feel alienated or unloved. Now….Paul

tells them, ‘Enough! It is time to forgive him and move

forward.’ We see Paul’s…

This last week I got to be with my Long Beach people two times, Thursday and Friday. Love that. On Thursday, I took the

message of “In Jesus Christ…yes!” to a large, restless crowd. Crazy

Bonnie came waltzing up, wanting to interject things, but the folks

shut her right down. A young Hispanic woman in the back

yelled, ‘sit down, I want to hear,’ which only…

JOY . . . People want it.

People want to be around others who have it.

People want to know how to get it.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “we work with you for your joy . . .” 2 Cor. 1.24…

When I was a kid, we made an annual trip to Clear Lake (California)—honestly, all my best memories from childhood go back to

that lake. It wasn’t just the waterskiing with my family,

though I LOVED that, it was all the other stuff like fishing, clamming,

jumping off the pier, and trying to get so many people on the dock that

we would sink it. I also remember the lizards. My cousins…

Can you give me meaning in my life, God? Yes, Child.

Can you show me the way to find peace? Most certainly, Daughter.…

Can you imagine questioning Paul’s character? Now I don’t mean even from our perspective and all we know about this man…but as a contemporary of his—Paul, who had been personally

confronted by Jesus…

[Weekly installment on my ministry to the street people of Long Beach. It has been quite a journey and I have introduced some winsome folk over the

months of writing about LB. It is

great reading if you would like to read past briefings—…

Do you ever think about your behavior? You know,

~why you do the things you do

~why you look at things like you do

~why you view the world around you as you do…

Today is the day that I will conduct my friend’s funeral—my beautiful friend, who life got the better of. I have conducted quite a few

memorial-type services, including my own dear mother’s, but this is the

first one of my friends to depart. So near my age, living

only four houses away, this feels so very wrong. Nonetheless,

it is mine to honor, and mine to give hope—especially to her three

teen-aged…

Two men met to transact some business in wartime. The one was full of how the train in which he had travelled had been attacked from the air. He would not stop talking about the

excitement, the danger, and the narrow escape. The other

man, in the end, said quietly—‘Well, let’s get on with our business now. I’d

like to get away fairly early because my house was demolished by a bomb

last night.’…

Where did we leave brother Paul? We look now at his letter to the church he had established in the city of Corinth, in which he

encouraged, instructed, and corrected the body of believers. In

our study of 1 Corinthians, we learned so much about our Christian

faith, including proper conduct within the church, and how different the

church should be from the world around us. Paul explained

the essential…

In case you haven’t noticed, no two days are the same with the prayer and teaching ministry to the street people of Long Beach. [for those of you who just

joined ‘Morning Briefings’ – from Kenya, Nigeria, India, Pakistan,

Tanzania, Texas, San

Clemente and beyond—once a week, I have the privilege of leading…

There’s the historical scope of Scripture, the inspirational and instructional value of God’s Word, and insight into the various translations that abound . . . now

what? Is that it? Actually, no . . .…

So, Mark decides to go to a men’s group that meets at the golf course before work on Friday

mornings. It is an inspirational

meeting that encourages men to be more spiritual, in a Christian way. He likes it so much, it becomes one of

his favorite weekly activities. The

references to the Bible have really been intriguing and so Mark decides

he

wants his own Bible. Heading to the nearest…

Forty-three years ago, I got my first Bible for Christmas, just three days before my sixth birthday. ‘My very own Bible!’ I thought.

How I loved to hold it in my little hands, turn the pages, look at the

few colored…

‘In a little while, we'll be with the Father . . . can't you see Him smile?

In a little while, we'll be home forever, in a while....

We're just here to learn to love Him; we'll be home in just a little while . . . ‘…

I pulled up to the familiar Long Beach church, where a lot of gnarly-looking folks were milling around out front. The Duke of Earl

was waiting, ready to carry in my basket with my Bible, notes, music,

etc. Inside, folks were finishing up their breakfast of

donuts, eggs and fruit. My friend,…