2/26/2022 a couple of days ago Russia invaded Ukraine in what can honestly be called an act of aggression, an act of evil. China is making aggressive overtures toward Taiwan and Australia. Other world leaders are talking tough about sanctions but little else.

Where is hope and grace? Is there hope and grace for Ukraine and Taiwan? Is there hope and grace for Russia or China? The simple truth is hope and grace are at their best when our situation is at its worst. Our hope and grace are found beyond our circumstances because their source is either Creation or the Creator. Even within Creation grace maintains balance and allows all to work together better.

Their is hope we will be safe. When we are not safe there is hope safety will return and even when we face death we can hope in justice. This is why it is so important to uphold justice.

Pray for the invaded, for the invaders, for the world leaders and even for your heart. May we all pray for and seek justice at this time!!!

 

2/25/2022 I want to have hope. I desire hope. I know hope is essential. Help me to hope in hope!!!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

When I was a boy some were thought well of because they were gracious people. They lived by grace rather than fear. They lived by grace rather than suspicion. They lived by grace rather than anger. They lived by grace rather than hatred. They were a blessing to all around them. They lived grace full lives.

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/24/2022

Amazing Grace

Took my place

Saved a wretch like me

From sin set me free

I once was lost

By sin was tossed

But now I am free

To be God’s me

December 2007

 

2/23/2022

Creation

Bend down low God my love

Kiss my lips and give me life

Breathe Your breath into me

Breathe Your life into me

A lover’s embrace upon me

Fiance’s love empowers me

From dust I rise to embrace

Return embrace and gentle kiss

Two are one in loves embrace

If only I could see Your face

I reach up to grasp Your face

Desiring my Love’s embrace

Reaching up no matter how long

Until I touch Your face so strong

November 2007

 

2/22/2022

Open Door

Swing wide open gate and let Him come in

Let all be thrown back let Jesus cast out sin

A cleansing Spirit flowing silencing guilty din

Satan thrown back as Jesus overcomes sin

Light shines throughout as our Lord steps in

We close our hearts door to hold Jesus within

But we shut Jesus out and open to sin

Swing wide open gate and let Him come in

October 2007

 

2/21/2022 Hope gives you the courage to take the first step!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Grace makes your second step safer!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/20/2022 If you have hope share it and if you don’t find it!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Grace leaves us with more friends and less regrets!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/19/2022 Prepare for the journey of life by being fueled with hope!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Grace is a guide for the journey of life!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/18/2022 What will today bring? If we are honest we do not know. We have our plans and schedules but life always intrudes or even destroys our plans and schedules but hope is greater than our schedules and what destroys it.

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope

Grace is always at its best when life is at its worst!!!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/17/2022 All around there are wars and rumors of war. Leaders are grabbing power, using the Communist Chinese Disease (covid) to limit individual decisions and freedoms. Denominations are dividing at a rate last seem before America’s Civil (or uncivil) War. Hope can be found either in the Creator or the creation.

God created all out of a love for us and even allowed the horrific death of Jesus to bring us back to Him.

Creation still has some of the order and strength of the Creator and we can find hope in the midst of all we face. We can know from the creation “this too shall pass”. What we face will pass – both good and bad. Leaders rise and then fall. Denominations rise and then fall. Nations rise and then fall. But hope and grace continue and will see us through all we face.

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

So much does change but God does not. God named Himself I AM to Moses and declared not Just that God always exists but to God it is always now. Grace offered through Jesus is available to all of all time because to God what we consider time is now to God. So grace always is. For to grace it always is now!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

2/16/2022 Time has been bad for me. Or should I say this last bit of time has been bad for me. I let the spinal stimulator run down and the pain grew until I recharged it and then it takes a couple of days to get back to helping. There are also so many troubles my mind have been working through without resolution. But hope and grace brought me through and once again I can share with you what I need though I do not always live within them. Don’t give up but hope in hope.

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/15/2022

Revealing

Looking through a dusty glass

A shiny luster more than brass

A glow that invades my sight

My vision seared by this light

I want to focus so I may see

Through the glass who may be

My eyes are forced to look away

Pushed back though I long to stay

I try again and the pain is intense

Without wanting to I must wince

The tears are not just from pain

From being withheld by sins stain

A smile is all that I can see

“You will soon be able to see”

The voice soothes my troubled soul

Though it sounds like a thunders roll

The light is felt more than seen

My heart and soul are left serene

I will wait for that blessed day

When before Him I will stay

 

2/14/2022 Monday. People hate Mondays. Many see it as the day of returning to work, to the grind. But we can come to Monday with hope if we remember we have just celebrated Easter! This is a new beginning. The beginning of a new weeek and a new life!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Monday. People hate Mondays. Many see it as the day of returning to work, to the grind. But we can approach Monday with the grace of Easter living within us. We can celebrate we are forgiven and the burden of our sin lifted! We can also offer grace to others relieving us of the weight of anger and allowing them to find the blessing of being forgiven through grace.

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

2/13/2022 Today is Easter! Not the actually date Easter is celebrated but then the actual date is not known. Of course we know Easter happened just after the Passover celebration where the blood of the lamb was put on the top and sides of the doorway. Sunday has become a day of hope and grace as we remember the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world!!!

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/12/2022

Living God made me

Dying God saved me

Alive in salvation

Dead, lost salvation

1/20/2022

 

2/11/2022 “Hope springs eternal.” Hope is like a spring flowing constantly through our lives to nourish us and quench our thirst. Sadly it is too easy to walk away into the desert of the struggles of existence. Let me make this as clear as I can: without hope there is no life just like without water we can only exist and die because of our great thirst. Are you in the desert? Are you thirsty? Drink!!! Drink deeply!!!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

We would never conceive of grace on our own. Humans would try to be nice and especially with those who could help them at another time. The Bible declares few would die for those they think are good and even less would die for their enemies. Jesus not only died for His enemies but also forgave them while hanging on the cross. Each of us is called to offer grace as Jesus reveals it to us.

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/10/2022 Hope and grace are best understood by remembering when you lived without them.

I used to talk with God

Now I do not hear Him

I shut too many doors

Too much ignored Him

I used to talk with God

Now I do not hear Him

1/20/2022

This is how I am now and I understand how important hope and grace are. Hope and grace are the difference between existence and life!!!

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/9/2022 Without hope and grace life continues, or should I say existence. There is a horror and desensitized existence without hope and grace. We live like the Wack-a-Mole game where we fear something will hit us on the head if we poke our heads up. So we stay safe hoping we will not be noticed and wacked by life. I know this is a terrible way of existence.

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/8/2022 Hope is a guard against depression, defeat, doubt, fear, anger, violence and madness. This does not mean they will not happen but they become signs we need to rediscover our hope so we will not spiral into murder, suicide or a number of other destructive and self-destructive ways of life. Hope. Hope in hope. Hope beyond hope!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Grace is a gift I would rather receive than give. I wonder if we can know the true cost and meaning of grace if we do not give as well as receive?

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

2/7/2022 Hope is good the most when life seems beyond hope. How can you hope beyond hope? Hold on to hope when its seems ridiculous and impossible!!!

This is an entry from my Hope Journal which helps me hope, beyond hope.

Grace is unmerited, undeserved and beyond any price we can pay. You cannot earn grace or ever work hard enough to deserve grace. By its very nature grace is a gift we do not deserve given by God who we have betrayed. Isn’t grace amazing!

From my Grace Journal to remind me of our need not for agreement but grace in our relationships.

 

 2/6/2022 This is Sunday and we celebrate this little Easter as we gather as God’s people to praise, give thanks and worship God Who is unending hope, complete grace, bottomless love and Life! We may ask:

Are hope and grace accidental? There is nothing accidental about either hope or grace as each is a full and wonderful gift from God. They are God’s gift to bridge the gulf of sin so we can return to a relationship with Him again.

Does this mean hope and grace are only for those who seek and believe God? Just as God gives the rain to the “just and the unjust” hope and grace can work at a creation level as well as a Creator level. We can find hope in the regular working of creation and live in grace with those around us. Though somewhat limited this form of hope and grace can still perform miracles in lives and communities.

Isn’t God amazing!!!

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

2/5/2022 Hope can be elusive. Have you ever felt like this?

I am

I am not

born

died

lost

found

lost

pain

normal

sin

normal

why

alive

why here

why

am not

1/20/2022

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/4/2022

Lost and Found

Lost in time can’t see Your face

Lost in time without sign or trace

Lost in time not knowing my place

Lost in time taking up Your space

Found in You O Lord my place

Found in You my very own space

Found in You I will leave a trace

Found in You I will see Your face

From 2008 Heart Talks

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/3/2022

Proceeding from the Living God

Hope is alive guiding you to Life

We who are children of the sod

Can have the hope of eternal Life

Proceeding from the Living God

Grace a Living way to eternal Life

Our death ransom paid by God

Setting us free for eternal Life

1/27/2022

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/2/2022

THE WORD

How can I speak without a word

Or communicate without a word

There is no thought without a word

There is no dream without a word

God expresses Himself as Word

Through a termed written Word

But also a glorious living Word

God expresses through His Word

I am called to devour the written word

Like honey and wafers the written word

I am called to eat the living word

In the bread and wine the living Word

It touches my heart does God’s Word

Always calling out to me God’s Word

My mind renewed by the written Word

My soul born anew by the Living Word

This is a combination of my Hope and Grace Journals.

 

2/1/2022 After not being able to drive for over four years I am able to drive now! On the fifth time driving I got lost trying to find a short-cut (What is the proverb about short-cuts?) and as I looked for road sings hit a concrete block in the road and blew a tire. After 20 minutes of trying to get through to AAA (I admit I was not very nice.) it was another 20 minutes to get the car towed to Firestone. My son Jonathan got a very nice Uber driver for me and had supper delivered! Hope and grace alive!!!

From my Grace Journal as a reminder of our need not for agreement but grace to guide our relationships.