A View from the Nest
Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor
Insight from the Journey across the Sky

From the coming up of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name is to be praised. Psalms 113:3 (BBE)

We take far too much for granted and fail to offer the praise that is due His name. We oft times whine and moan about supposed injustices that befall us as if the whole world revolved around us. The last time I looked up into the sky the earth revolved around the sun and the morning and evening did not answer to my command. Our lives too are ordered of the Lord we can either pause and give thanks or murmur and complain. The choice is ours, the option is left up to us. We are given the freedom to acknowledge the blessings of God or to ignore them. Each day as we awaken, we have the choice to either walk in thankfulness toward God or seek our own will and way.

There is much to be sorrowful for but there is far more to be thankful for. Each new day, each new sunrise brings with it the opportunity for new blessings. From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof the Lord’s name should be praised. If we spent as much time praising the Lord as we do complaining about life’s ills I think we would find far more sunny days then cloudy ones.

So in light of the suffering of those who endured the earthquake in Haiti I leave you with these words from Red Foley. Lord forgive me when I whine I surely am blessed and the world is mine. My prayers go out to all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. I pray for the Lord’s blessings to arise out of the ashes of despair and destruction. May the Lord’s healing flow throughout the land, and may His name be praised in the midst of the storm.

Today upon a bus, I saw
A lovely maid with golden hair;
I envied her – she seemed so gay -
And oh, I wished I were so fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave,
I saw her hobble down the aisle,
She had one foot and wore a crutch,
But as she passed, a smile.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two feet – the world is mine.

And when I stopped to buy some sweets,
The lad who served me had such charm;
He seemed to radiate good cheer,
His manner was so kind and warm.
I said, “It’s nice to deal with you,
Such courtesy I seldom find.”
He turned and said, “Oh, thank you, sir!”
And I saw that he was blind.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two eyes – the world is mine.

Then, when walking down the street,
I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play;
It seemed he knew not what to do,
I stopped a moment, then I said:
“Why don’t you join the others, dear?”
He looked ahead without a word,
And then I knew; He could not hear.
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine;
I have two ears – the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I’d go,
With eyes to see the sunset’s glow,
With ears to hear what I should know:
I’m blessed indeed, The world is mine;
Oh, God, forgive me when I whine.
— Red Foley —

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

Along for the journey

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Keep Pushing Tender Sprout

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.

William James

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)

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• The Original High Speed Communication Device

This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “I am sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way for you.” “A voice cries out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way for the Lord! Make his paths straight!’” John the Baptizer was in the desert telling people about a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went to him. As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. John was dressed in clothes made from camel’s hair. He wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. _{Mark 1:1-6 (GW)}

Let’s start at the very beginning

So goes the famous song from The Sound of Music.

Everything has a beginning, a starting place. As it is in education, so it is with life. When it comes to learning every child learns to read by learning their ABC’s and they learn math by counting 123. Easy lessons become harder as we build precept upon precept, line upon line until we come to an understanding of complex sentences and mathematical equations. Not too many children are able to handle trigonometry in kindergarten.

Being a student of music I too had to learn at the beginning. The Do Re Mi’s of musical  theory and construction. Learning the basics made the complex easier to understand and tackle. Had I started out with an Etude by Chopin I may have given up before I even got started, although Chopin penned the first of these while still in his teens.

Knowing at what level a child is able to perform helps a teacher set forth a lesson plan suitable for each child. Some students can handle more complex principles earlier than others. But nonetheless each must learn to apply the basics if they wish to grow in their mastery of any instrument.

Music instruction includes elements of both reading and mathematics. Numbers and language are involved in a thorough knowledge of music and composition. So a student who does not read well or has trouble counting will probably struggle in music instruction.

A disregard for the basics makes progression in any subject difficult if not impossible. Failure to learn the most basic concepts makes complex formulas and equations almost impossible to comprehend. (more…)

Then Jesus said to them, “So wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16 (GW)

1188 North Valley Road was where my early childhood backyard was located. We were the first family to move into this development and my family owned the corner lot and the one behind it.

Having both building lots meant lots of BIG BACK YARD space for baseball, football, a swimming pool, picnics, golf, and wintertime sledding. Our yard could accommodate all the neighbors from the entire neighborhood and still leave room for people to play in the adjacent lot. We had a Big BACK YARD!

After getting my first bicycle my big back yard got even bigger because now I could ride throughout the neighborhood and play in other people’s back yards. As I got older and was able to drive, towns and cities were in reach from my back yard. With today’s modern transportation on any given day we can travel from our back yards to other states and cities and even other countries. Planes, trains and automobiles have taken the place of that Schwinn bicycle of my childhood.

With the advent of the internet the whole world is now accessible from my kitchen table. I can speak to anyone anywhere in the world in nano seconds. Truly our back yards have gotten really, really big.

From a control room in Houston Texas NASA can play in the big back yard of space. They have launched space crafts into outer space and even landed a remote controlled land rover on Mars. Voyagers 1 and 2 are speeding towards the ends of our galaxy in rapid pace.

Satellites orbit the earth and send back images and sound waves which we can receive via satellite receivers on earth. These satellites can tell us pinpoint accuracy where we are in the world by GPS positioning. Radio and television programs can even be broadcast world wide.

As technologies have changed throughout the course of my lifetime some things have still remained the same. One of those constants is the commission from God to the church to go into His big back yard and proclaim the gospel to everyone. We can no longer just look at our physical address as our back yard.

With the availability of web casting, chat rooms, instant messaging, and email the whole world is in reach of any individual or church congregation. Radio, television and now GodTube have all become instruments from which we can spread the gospel into God’s big back yard.

I do not own physical real estate but I do stake several claims in cyberspace. Our church has an address on the World wide web as well. The Christian witness can be accessible 24 hours a day thanks to the modern day internet. As a church and as a congregation we should be reaching out in every way possible into God’s big back yard in an effort to spread the gospel of the kingdom to all peoples.

To think it all started with 1 man (Jesus) who told 12 others about the kingdom of God and now we have been entrusted with that same message to proclaim from our own back yards into God’s big back yard. We all have a circle of influence, all of our lives intersect other’s lives, and as a result we are required to look out for our neighbors by sharing the same joy of salvation with them which we have received. Are you being a good neighbor? Are we as a congregation doing everything we can to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ? How big is our BIG BACK YARD really?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

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