By Senator John Grant, FL (Retired)

Week Thirteen, 2018

CLEANING OUT

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1-2).

Our refrigerator has hung around our kitchen and has served us well, but when it was time recently for her to depart to the great scrap yard in the sky, we shopped for and purchased a new one.

When it was time for the new one to be delivered, my bride and I cleaned out the about to be departing one. My, what surprises we found tucked on the corners and hidden by other items. We began examining each item and I soon discovered that when the discard date ends in BC (Do I get a rebuttal in this assessment? – Beverley), that is not a good sign. Some of what we had been cooling was just plain expired junk and needed to be thrown away.

Our lives are much like that. We harbor junk, some of which we don’t even realize, yet it is deeply imbedded in our subconscious and affects our daily behavior. The prophet Isaiah (1:16) said “Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings, so I don’t have to look at them any longer.”

Sometimes our morning room table gets cluttered. For one, it’s a big table. It actually takes up so much space in our morning room that It’s become the easiest place to set stuff. Toys. Mail (JG’s mail). Homework (BG’s Bible Study). Cups. More cups. The generous tabletop makes it simpler to just move things around rather than move them away, and after a while, it accumulates a swath of unrelated, inordinate objects into one centralized location, which is called clutter, which can be a lot like life. (So we took out the leaf. Now there is less table top!!)

We are constantly piling on one thing after another onto the tabletop of our lives. There are always more things we should be concerned about, and give attention to, and make room for — somehow. Before long, it’s a life full of clutter. It’s a whirlwind of good intentions, but bad directions — maybe a load of participation, but a litter of purpose. And it stays this way until God’s arm intervenes, mighty to sweep, and clears the table.

Paul told the Romans to not be conformed to the world, yet in this digitalized, technology driven world it is so easy to get conformed to this world and not even realize it. Yet, we are called to present ourselves holy and acceptable to God.

How about you? Have you cleaned out the outdated, immoral and other junk out of your life? If not, do so today and begin living a renewed life.

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

Reminders

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” – Jude 1:24-25 NIV

Reminders are all round us…

We have Calendar Pop-up Reminders on our phones and computers. We have alarms that serve as reminders. We have Post-It Notes and pocket notecards that can serve as reminders. We can even get phone calls from friends or a service to remind us of a special day or appointment. Facebook, Instagram and others can remind us of special dates, days, anniversaries and birthdays. Some of us have Spouses and Office Assistants who remind us all the time of places we need to be, people we need to see and when.

Sometimes… we need a reminder of who He is, what He has done (and continues to do), and the glory, majesty, power and authority that He has and deserves.

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

While we are in awe of famous people, it is easy to forget the unique and wonderful ideas that the very people that surround us possess. Dwight Short

***

Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com and Thoughts-About-God.com. You can subscribe directly to those on their respective websites.

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2018

©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618

Week Twelve, 2018

SPILLED MILK

By John Grant

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him. – 2 Samuel 14:14

There are all kind of special holidays. Many of which you probably haven’t heard of. For example last month on the 11th, it was National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day. When I saw that, it started my thinking. While I haven’t cried lately over spilled milk, I have fretted over a lot of other things I cannot change.

The spilled milk line is an old saying that reminds us that just like spilled milk cannot be put back in the glass, there are many events in life that are irreversible and cannot turned back, so why fret about that which you cannot change?

We cannot put the milk back in the bottle, but with expectation we can strive for and look forward to the next glass of milk.

2 Samuel 14:14 reminds us that some things we cannot control are in the future and we should not worry about them. For example, we are all going to die, so we should not worry about it. Rather prepare for it, be certain of your eternity and look forward to the greater life.

Jesus pointed out, we cannot change anything by fretting and worrying! (Matthew 6:27) No amount of worrying can add a single hour to your life. If we are willing to receive it, He will give us the grace to laugh instead of worry, to rejoice in all things, and to joyfully trust Him no matter what.

Paul opines to the Church at Philippi: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:16)

God encourages his followers to fear not 365 times in the Bible, one for each day of the year, emphasizing that He didn’t intend for Christians to spend their days preoccupied with anxiety and worry.

Learn from your past mistakes, but don’t dwell on them. Instead, set your mind on things above. Look forward and with God’s help, finish strong.

Start today and take small steps today toward living fully free from anxieties, don’t worry about the things you cannot change (like spilled milk) and don’t underestimate the power of God to make you whole again.

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

Religion……..

• Doesn’t go deep enough.

• Doesn’t go far enough.

• Doesn’t go high enough.

–o–

We love God …………………………… We love people

We worship God……….. OR ………. We worship people

We use things …………………………..We love things

–o–

THE BOOK:

Did you know that the Bible is not simply one book? It is 66 books in one, composed and compiled by more that 40 human authors over a period of more than 1,600 years. Its human writers included kings, fisherman, diplomats, prophets, shepherds, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, historians and many others.

Furthermore, the Bible addresses hundreds of subjects, including life, death, marriage, the family worship, truth, and eternity. Yet despite its many authors and countless topics, the Bible is in perfect harmony from cover to cover, is entirely consistent within itself and proves its supernatural origins through its supernatural unity.

No wonder it is the most widely published and the best selling book of all time.

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

God does not grade on the curve. He grades on the cross. —Ken Whitten

What distractions hinder you as a leader from recognizing opportunities? If you can minimize distractions and focus on mission accomplishment, you will soon move forward in obtaining the goals you set in strategic planning. —General Dick Abel.

Enjoy your day, no matter what it brings! —Kathy Merlino.

Christianity is a fact-based religion. —John 20:27.

***

Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com and Thoughts-About-God.com. You can subscribe directly to those on their respective websites.

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2018.

©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618

Week Eleven, 2018

THE VIEW WITHIN

By John Grant

That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith. – Ephesians 3:17

Our refrigerator has been in our kitchen for almost twenty years. She has served us well, but with age, she is in failing health. Our eggs are freezing and the compressor grunts and growls. So, in order to avoid a total shutdown, off to the appliance store we went.

As I walked around the showroom, I saw features I would never have imagined. One refrigerator in particular caught my attention. It had a giant tablet built into the door. From it you could play music, order groceries or do anything you wanted to do on the Internet. I played a demo and it showed a camera inside that allow you to view the inside without opening the door. Not only that, but there is a phone app that allows you look see the inside of the refrigerator on your phone anywhere in the world. My, isn’t that amazing?

Then I thought of another see through application and that is Jesus. He can see into our hearts anywhere we are in the world. Nothing escapes His knowledge or attention. He knows our every move.

I the Lord

I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve. (Jeremiah 17:10).

He sees right through us. The inward parts of us, every room and corner in us; and know the thoughts of us; all our intents, purposes, designs, contrivances, and imaginations; all the secret motions of us, and the wickedness that is in us.

The heart is deceitful, but (we) cannot deceive Jesus, because He judges not according to outward appearance. He sees and knows our hearts far better than we ourselves. Only He can see right through us.

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

1. He Came to Bring Identity to Your Struggles • Jesus Understands More than You Think.

2. He Came to Bring Sympathy to Your Pain • Jesus Cares More than You Know.

3. He Came to Bring Glory to Your Weakness • Jesus Can Do More than You Realize.

—Ken Whitten

***

DIRECTION:

The story is told of the great British explorer, William Edward Perry, who led an expedition to the Arctic Ocean in the early 1800’s.

They wanted to go farther north to continue their charting. So they calculated their location by the stars and then started a very difficult and treacherous march north.

They walked the whole day. And then totally exhausted, they finally stopped for the night. They took their bearings again from the stars. And they were shocked to discover that they were farther south than when they had started. They then discovered that they had been walking on an ice flow that was moving south faster than they were moving north! They were drifting in the opposite direction.

If we’re not careful we can find ourselves drifting spiritually. Walking, we think in the right direction, but actually failing to move in the direction commanded by the Lord.

—Thepreachersword.com

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Being close to Jesus makes you want to be close to someone far away from Jesus. Ken Whitten

Before we can be old and wise, we have to first be young and stupid.

The past is in the past. The future has yet to unfold itself. Enjoy today. Kathy Merlino

***

Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com and Thoughts-About-God.com. You can subscribe directly to those on their respective websites.

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2018

©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618 

Marketplace Ambassador – “Living as Christ’s Ambassadors”

Recently we witnessed Christian Evangelist Billy Graham pass from this world to eternity. Many have reflected on the welcome he received to his heavenly home. Each Christian believer should, at the end of their days, desire above all else to hear the Lord Jesus Christ say, “Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come share your master’s happiness!”

This should cause one to ask oneself the question, faithful to what? Faithful to that which you’ve been commanded or “called” to accomplish. One of the very simple commands in Scripture (Matthew 28:19-20) tells those who call themselves “Christian” to share their faith and help others grow in faith.

The 48th Annual Leadership Prayer Breakfast is just such an opportunity. Prayerfully consider sponsoring a table and inviting those in your sphere of influence who are unconvinced about Christ to come and hear Danny Wuerffel share his powerful testimony. Those who attend will be challenged to make a decision for Jesus Christ. Don’t miss this opportunity to invest eternally in those God has placed in your life.

• Date: Friday, April 13, 2018
• Time: 6:30 am – 8:30 am
• Location: Florida State Fairgrounds, 4800 U.S. 301, Tampa, FL 33610
• Speaker: Danny Wuerffel
• Signup: Visit www.tampaybayprayer.com for event info and to purchase a table of ten (we are not offering individual tickets at this time).

Week Ten, 2018

WONDERFULLY MADE

By John Grant

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. – Psalm 139:14

Not long ago, I spent several days at more than thirteen thousand feet in the Andes Mountains. We had a wonderful time, but the price was altitude sickness. In the middle of the night, the sickness felt like my bed was a swinging hammock and when I got up, I could barely stand up and was totally out of balance.

They say that the best cure for altitude sickness is to go to a lower altitude and I did. It partially helped, but when it lingered after arriving home, I knew I needed professional help. So I went to see an otolaryngologist.

He explained to me that the ears control our balance and in each ear there are two gel sacks of tiny crystals, billions of them. The crystals (sometimes called ear rocks) in one sack control horizontal balance and the crystals in the other sack control vertical balance. Imbalance is caused by a mechanical problem in the inner ear. It occurs when some of the calcium carbonate crystals that are normally embedded in gel become dislodged and migrate into one or more of the 3 fluid-filled semicircular canals, where they are not supposed to be.

After learning so much about my ears, I drove home thinking how wonderfully we are made by God. Only a God of creation could design such a complex body.

Do you ever wake up, take a good look in the mirror, and tell yourself, “No doubt about it—I’m fearfully and wonderfully made!” Maybe when you think about the kind of person you are, words like “average” or “not bad” come to mind. Sometimes you might see yourself as above average, but there are days when a closer look reveals insecurities and flaws that you can’t ignore. If you ever consider yourself unremarkable or even ordinary, you’re not seeing yourself as a result of God’s divine creation.

When we discover the truth that we are God’s unique design, it is overwhelming. In Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his own image…male and female he created them.” We often mistakenly equate this with just physical appearance.

On a more practical level, God has fearfully and wonderfully made us, setting us apart as the brightest, clearest mirror of His creativity. While evolutionary biology considers us nothing more than glorified apes, scientific research confirms that humans are vastly unique on many levels.

We didn’t evolve from goo to the zoo, to you. We are a direct creation from the hand of God and we are wonderfully made. Never underestimate the power and creativity of the hand of God.

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

“The most important commandment is this: . . . ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength’” (Mark 12:29-30 NLT).

Do you hear the emotion in these words from Jesus? He’s saying he doesn’t want you to just kind of love him. He wants you to love him passionately — with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. God doesn’t want your head knowledge; he wants an emotional relationship with you.

There are some things you need to understand about emotions.

1. First, God has emotions. God is an emotional God. He feels joy, grief, pain, and hatred toward sin. He gets frustrated with people. The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in God’s image. If God wasn’t an emotional God, you wouldn’t have any emotions.

2. Your ability to feel is a gift from God. Emotions are what make you human. It is your emotional ability that allows you to love and create, to be faithful and loyal and kind and generous, and to express all of the emotions that are attached to the good things in life. Your emotions may not always seem like a gift, but even the negative ones have a purpose in your life.

3. There are two extremes to avoid. Emotionalism is the extreme of saying the only thing that matters in life is how you feel — not what you think or what’s right or wrong. Everything in life is based on your emotions, this view says, and they control your life. On the other hand, stoicism says feelings aren’t important at all, and the only things that matter are your intellect and your will.

God gave you your emotions for a reason, and he wants you to worship Him with all your heart and all your mind. Rick Warren

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

It’s just as hard to attain satisfaction and success from attaining goals we don’t have as it is to get pleasure from reminiscing about things we haven’t done. Ernie J. Zelinski

Positive thinking is of zero value without positive doing. Robert Sharma

None are so good they need not be saved – None so bad they cannot be saved. Ken Whitten

***

Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com and Thoughts-About-God.com. You can subscribe directly to those on their respective websites.

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2018

©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618

By John Grant

Week Nine, 2018

DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2

Are you on digital overload… Internet, email, FaceBook, Twitter and the list goes on. Social media swallows more than a quarter of time spent online and a third of all internet usage is now happening via mobile, a new global report has found.

The average person has five social media accounts and spends around 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day, accounting for 28 percent of the total time spent on the internet.

Have you thought about doing a digital fast? This includes cutting off all access to the Internet, television, email, cell phones and even radio for a day or a few days. This kind of fasting is very hard to do but it is exceedingly rewarding because all of a sudden, you have more time to read your Bible, play with your children, talk with your spouse, take a walk and contemplate just how good God is.

no phone

A Jewish organization called Reboot promotes a nonsectarian concept they call “digital Sabbath.” It’s a day of rest in which people disconnect from technology—particularly computers, iPads, and smartphones—so that they can reconnect with the real world.

The digital Sabbath is not a punishment but rather a means through which one can lay aside the world’s cares (at least the ones communicated to us via digital technology). This is akin to the ancient Christian habit of ritual fasting, which is still observed with relative strictness by many Christians. Many faithful Christians observe Lent—the forty-day period before Holy Week—by abstaining from meat, fish, dairy, and other foods. They must also increase their prayer, repentance, and worship.

This fasting teaches us to rid ourselves of accumulated distractions that keep our eyes from seeing our faith clearly. How about you (and me)? Are we up to a digital fast in order to see our real world. Have you thought about how much you could grow spiritually if you spent as much time in the Word and we do on social media? Let’s give it a try.

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

Advice from Dr. Irwin Lutzer on praying for prodigals:

These five steps can change your life and relationships with those whom you love have drifted away. It is not uncommon for children to be brought up in a Christian home and church and later, sometimes even in adulthood drift away and sink in sin. You want so badly for them to return to the fold and here are his suggested five steps:

1. Pray for God to change you more than you pray for God to change the prodigal. It is easier to repent from sin than it is from unrighteousness.

2. Surrender that person to God and let Him deal with it. Don’t just rely on your own strength.

3. Pray for God to change that person’s heart. He can and you can’t.

4. Let sin run its course. So often we want to intrude to cause deeper harm from being experienced, but God can use tragedy and difficulties in marvelous ways.

5. Always welcome them home. Only God can bring them home, but you can welcome them back. Hold no grudges. Demand no repayment. Just welcome them back with unconditional love.

–o–

PEW FOUNDATION STUDY:

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.

The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.

The falloff in traditional religious beliefs and practices coincides with changes in the religious composition of the U.S. public. A growing share of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, including some who self-identify as atheists or agnostics as well as many who describe their religion as “nothing in particular.” Altogether, the religiously unaffiliated (also called the “nones”) now account for 23% of the adult population, up from 16% in 2007.

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

With a rooster or without a rooster, God will still make the dawn.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill

He who laughs last may laugh best, but those who can laugh together know the joy of brotherhood. Dwight Short

You don’t get to choose the life you have, but you do get to choose who you are going to be in it. —Unknown wise person

***

Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com and Thoughts-About-God.com. You can subscribe directly to those on their respective websites.

Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2017

©2018 John Grant | Florida State Senator (Ret.) | 10025 Orange Grove Drive | Tampa, FL 33618