This . . .
I mowed the yard again today. The neighbors, their two kids, and the two dogs were all on the sideline watching. This time they pulled up chairs and had popcorn. I had another event free mow job. Didn't fall off or anything. Of course I was using the push mower, but still, anytime you don't fall off - that's a good thing. I am concerned that I'm going to lose the neighbors interest. Next time I might have to throw-up or something, just to keep things interesting.
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That . . .
I was paying bills the other day (oh, boy) and I noticed that up in the right-hand corner of one of the return envelopes it said,"Post office will not deliver mail without postage". I was shocked! Unbelievable! If I understand it correctly they are saying we have to pay or they will not deliver the mail! I am so glad they informed me of this . . . I had no idea that postage was required.
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This is That . . .
(some time after this and that, not particularly a smooth segway)
I don't want my heart to be asleep. I don't want to sleep walk thru the days. Wake me up God. Awaken your Spirit within me. Slap me if you need to . . . Just slap me whenever. Get my attention. I thank you that you refuse to let me go in the wrong direction. You desire my attention. I want to do what you want, go where you want, but I desire to love you first - I long to know you. Awaken me God. Don't let me be infatuated with this or that . . . only with you.
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I'm going to sleep now. Just one more thing . . .
JESUS, I love you.
Whahoo!

My mom has two cats, so I guess I have two cats too. Put Cat has been here for about six years. Mom named her Put Cat because my sister put her here. Jasper is brand new. What do you do when a stray cat shows up at your door? If you're my mom you say, "We can't have another animal." And then she names it and lets it into the house and then wonders, "How did that happen?"
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Do you have a cat? Did you ask for it or did it ask for you? If so, what is its name and does it have a brain?
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Just wondering.
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One more most important thing . . . Happy Birthday, Elliott!
Sorry no one called.

This . . .
We have a new cat - Jasper. He showed up at our door begging for food. I told my mom, "If you want another cat, feed it. If not, don't". We have a new cat.
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That . . .
Read a good quote by Yogi Bera on another blog.
"I never would have seen it if I hadn't believed it."
The word of God - read it, believe it, meditate on it, pray it, sing it, speak it . . . PROPHESY!
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I believe God is calling us to a higher level. At the same time, sin on the earth is increasing and will continue to fullness. We live in a unique time. As the good gets better and the bad gets worse there will be less and less space in the middle. The whole thing of no visible difference between believers and unbelievers is going to change. I believe that this will be accomplished by the soveriegn plan of God, but also by the individual choices we make as He calls us to be a holy people. It is going to get more and more difficult to sit on the fence. Choose you this day who you will serve. This is no time for fooling around. If you are sliding downhill, dig your heels in and stop, repent and make a decision to take steps in the direction of holiness. God is very merciful, very kind and full of love. He loves us . . . even in our weakness.

This . . .
OK, I have been away for a few days, but I'm back and still no one has told me how many joints they have in their toes. I'm guessing you peeked and still didn't know and are just ashamed of your toe ignorance . . . or more likely - you just really don't care. Nothing worse than toe apathy.

That . . .
IHOP had a great anniversary for 7 years of 24/7 worship and intercession. I loved being there and hearing all about the beginnings. Great stories of keeping the fire of intercession burning. They knew that it would be small, hard and ugly, but very pleasing to God. Some really funny stuff happened from worship leaders throwing-up between songs to playing guitars with gloves on because of two weeks without electricty in sub-freezing weather.

This is That . . .
It is not easy to pray. That is the stumbling block of answering a call for believers to pray. We are willing to read books on prayer, have discussions about prayer and talk about how important prayer is, but still not ever pray. Now I know "we pray", but for the most part it is just not what it should be. Prayer is not about us getting God's attention. You know, coming up with the right scripture and the right words so God will finally get up and do something. NO. It is about God getting our attention, and filling our spirits with His word, His will, His desires, so that His love moves us and our love moves Him.
So what are we to do?
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Easy answer . . . PRAY.

This . . .
Promise not to peek. In this case that means to not look at your feet. Now tell me, not counting the joints that connect your toes to your feet - what is the total number of joints in all of your toes?
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That . . .
Misty Edwards leads a two hour worship set at the international house of prayer each Tuesday night from 10:00 til midnight. Each time I tune in I am greatly encouraged and glad that I took time to enter in to worship and seek the heart of God. I am going to tune in tonight and just blog whatever comes to mind. Maybe some of the scripture that is read, maybe some words of a song or two, maybe I don't know . . . just whatever.
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This is That . . .
Oh, how I need you. I cannot make it without you. How can I live without you?
Oh God you said if anyone is thirsty, if anyone believes, if anyone will come . . . your love would flow like a river . . .
Anybody thirsty, anybody thirsty - come. My arms are wide open, my heart is laid bear for you to come and drink. Come to me if you are thirsty, if you are weary, if your heart is broken, come to me and your heart will never die, come to me and your heart will live.
Yes Lord, I am thirsty - come Holy Spirit - open up my eyes. Tell me what He's feeling what He's thinking what He's planning what He's dreamin'g - open up my eyes. My mind is racing. My thoughts are wandering. Be still oh my soul and listen to what the Spirit is saying.
Hush. Hear the whisper of His voice. Be quiet . . . listen . . . hush . . . listen. . . Listen to what the Spirit is saying. Hush, hush, listen. Can you hear His heartbeat? . . . . . .
I desire your love - I long for you - for your love - but I cannot, I will not violate your free will. You must come and drink - you must come. I long to come to you, I will come to you . . . Come and drink. Are you thirsty? Draw near and I will draw near.
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All the prayer teams are great, but I especially enjoy Misty's sets. Tuesday nights from 10:00 til midnight and Friday nights from 10:00 til midnight.
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This . . .
What are smithereens? I have always heard of something being blown up into smithereens, but I've never seen one. Or two.
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That . . .
Here is another one. What is a codger? As in, "He's just an old codger". Do you have to be old to be a codger, or are there young codgers too. I think a codger is a man. What if you have all the characteristics of being a codger, but you are female . . . what are you called then.
Life is hard.
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This is That . . .
I have been troubled by something Jeff blogged about recently. He was talking about how little difference there is between believers and non-believers.
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" . . . in poll after poll, researchers are discovering that the behavior of those claiming to be Christian in America is no different from those outside the church. In the areas of divorce, materialism and the poor, sexual misconduct, racism, and physical abuse in marriage (need we go further?), he cites results that show no significant statistical differences between nominal Christians and larger society. Ouch. In fact, in the Bible Belt some of the "statistics were actually higher among "Christians." From Jeffs Blog.
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This is not ok.
Jesus . . . impower us to be salt & light. Lord God we want to be part of the answer, not the problem. I pray that when people encounter us as believers, it would cause them to give glory to you. Let our lives be a "good witness" to all we encounter. Show us your love God, and let us love that way too. Show us your desires, and let those be our desires too. Show us your glory, and let your glory be evident in us. Forgive us Lord for blending in . . . for sitting when we should stand . . . for being silent when you have something for us to say. Change us Lord, for we are not all we should be. Jesus, guide us, we want to follow.
Amen.
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Let's Stand

This . . .
I went to the Monticello Billie football game last night to video. So that's what I did for the first half. Jim Carmical who played for the Billies last year was back from Mississippi State to watch the game. He wanted to video the second half for me so he could get down on the field and smell the players. Some people really like the smell of sweaty young football players. Anyway, he videoed the second half and I sat in the stands and watched the game, the crickets and the grasshoppers. When crickets and grasshoppers fly they are completely out of control. They crash land every time, just smashing into the seats or whatever. It's like they don't know where they are going, how to get there, or how to land when they DO get there. I don't want to be like that. I do want to fly, but I want to know where I am going and I want to make a smooth landing when I get there.
We were ahead 21 to 0 so I was fairly board and found myself watching the clock and wishing it would hurry up so I could go on home. Jim was having way too much fun on the sideline to think of my leaving early and spoiling his enjoyment. This all made me think of watching girls basketball games with Elliott. I used to tell him that a full minute never ran off the clock all at once, because of countless infractions. 5 seconds - ball out of bounds. 15 seconds - walking. 10 seconds - foul. We would get so excited if they made it to 30 seconds. I think the record was 46 seconds. That was when the referees got so fed up they just quit calling stuff, but then this one girl got the other girl down and was really pounding her, so they just had to call a foul - 46 seconds.
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That . . .
I watched"Edward Scissorhands" yesterday. I hadn't ever seen it before. I mainly just wanted to see what Johnny Depp looked like before he became a pirate. It was fairly entertaining all the way thru til the end. What a stupid ending! This is fiction - the writer could end it any way they wanted and this is what they decided on? NOT GOOD. Let me suggest another ending. The girl always proclaiming Edward to be the devil, actually accepts Christ and becomes a wholehearted believer. Then she begins to share Christ with the whole neighborhood and one by one they all are radically and soundly saved and begin to redecorate their houses inside and out. The daughter girl gets saved and invites Edward to a healing service where he recieves brand new hands, but keeps all his cool trimming talent. The guy that fell thru the window and died is resurrected from the dead which causes full scale revival to break out. Then Edward marries the girl in a great castle ceremony (I would be the photographer and Taylor could video) and they live happily ever after - for all eternity. Cool ending.
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This is That . . .
There is a missions base in Kansas City called the International House Of Prayer (IHOP). On September 19, 1999 they began 24/7 praise, worship and intercession. They have not stopped, and their mandate is to continue until Jesus comes. There are about 400 full time intercessors. They consider themselves to be prayer missionaries, praying for revival, peace in Jerusalem, for Jesus to return, for hearts to be set on fire for Christ, etc, etc. Each worship team has singers, guitar players, keyboard players, drummers, etc. There is a reader who reads God's word and then the singers will sing the word back to God as worship and intercession. That is called "Harp and Bowl". They also sing all manner of worship songs. Each set lasts two hours and then another team steps in and takes over without the worship ever stopping. As I am here and you are there, they are in the prayer room keeping the prayer furnace burning. It is a powerful place of encountering God's heart.
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www.fotb.com
At the bottom of the page click "login"
User Name: jqpjames
Password: jqp123
Under the media tab, click watch and then prayer room webcast.
"Click Here" and you are in the prayer room 24/7
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Banjo says, "Hi".
Put Cat says, "Get Lost".