14 Days...Hard Work

Do you ever wonder why you have to work? Or go to school?

We complain having to go to school or to work. We discuss it with dread. The word "work" has come to have a negative connotation in our country. The definition of work is pretty simple:exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil. something on which exertion or labor is expended; a task or undertaking, productive or operative activity.

In reality, working isn't a negative thing. Working is being productive. Working (or going to school) gives each of us a direction; a purpose in life. Each morning we get up we know where we are going and the general expectation for the day.

God called us to work; right from the very beginning. "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." (Gen 2:15) Throughout the process of creation, everything God did He declared as "good", this includes giving man to work.

But when we complain or when we work (or go to school or study) with a negative attitude, we are telling God that He was wrong. Simply by making first thoughts and our first actions about working or studying or schooling negative we are disobedient to God and His Will.

You may really dislike math or spelling or history or your job, but know that God put you in those classes or that job for a purpose. Your ultimate goal, regardless if you like what you are doing or not, is to glorify God in your job or in your school.

The next time you think, "I hate this subject" or "I hate this part of my job", pray to God to help you find the positive in the moment so that you might be able to remain in obedience to Him. The more you can focus you mind and heart toward God's purpose in your work, the more enjoyment you will find living each day.

We were all called to work.

Wouldn't it be more fun to enjoy everyday rather than resent everyday?

And like with everything in life, your attitude toward your work is a choice.

You can choose to reflect negative thoughts or you can choose to reflect your calling from God.

What do you choose?

Scripture (click below....it's a good one...)

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NIV)

Fun Fact...

The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Union of New York.^[1] It became a federal holiday in 1894 (but we might talk more about that tomorrow....)

Question of the Day...

What is your dream job and why?

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15 Days...Another Saturday...Another Wedding

Another Saturday...Another Wedding.

Have you ever been to a wedding reception - the party after the wedding?

Most wedding receptions are filled with good food and laughter; lots of dancing and music; cake and drinks; and a sense of hope for what will come. Wedding receptions are in a word: FUN.

The party hosts of the wedding reception are generally the parents of the bride and historically they would invite people into their home to celebrate the union of the couple. Friends and family would come from all over to celebrate the young couple and their new start in life.

Before Jesus officially began his ministry he and his friends and family went to the wedding in his neighborhood. During the reception, the wine quickly ran dry and there was concern among the servants:On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

Without being asked, Jesus' mother Mary turned to him and wanted him to intervene. But Jesus' response was much like how many of us talk to our mothers: “Woman,^[a] why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” Jesus wanted to enjoy the wedding and celebrate the couple. He did not want to make it about himself.

But Mary responded as many mothers often do. She ignored Jesus and pushed him to do what was right. "His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

And Jesus, as both the dutiful son and the Savior of the world, did what his mother wanted: "Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^{[b] 7} Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

At this point, the amazing miracle of the Wedding at Cana is about to be revealed...Jesus has turned the water into wine...

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Jesus took ordinary water, in ordinary clay pots, and turned it into "choice wine". Jesus does the same thing with each of us...

He takes ordinary people - ordinary girls and ordinary boys - and transforms us into something

extraordinary. Jesus can do amazing things with the simplest of ingredients. You just have to allow him to fill you up to make the transformation complete.

Scripture lesson...

John 2:1-11 MSG

Fun Fact...

The phrase “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe” symbolizes continuity, optimism for the future, borrowed happiness, fidelity, and wealth or good luck, respectively.

Question of the Day...



What was the first wedding you ever attended?



16 Days...to Worry or not to Worry....

Are you a worrier?


Did you worry about who your teacher or teachers would be this year, or maybe about who would be in your class? Did you worry about what you would wear the first day of school or about riding the bus?


Maybe you worry about fitting in with a group of friends or maybe you worry about something in your family or something you saw on the news or the internet.


Or maybe you aren’t a worrier at all and you can’t relate…


I hope you aren’t a worrier, but if you are, I can relate.


I have been a worrier since I was young. I have a tendency to worry about all sorts of things from projects at work to my house to my family to how many GUMY’s will come to a Sunday night session J. But l learned something a few years ago. Worry is a learned behavior. If you are a worrier, you learned to worry just like you learned to walk or to talk or to write your name. And just like talking or walking or writing your name seems to be natural worrying now seems to be a natural behavior. But it is not.


When you were in the second grade, you learned to write your name in cursive. Your teacher was no longer satisfied with block letters she wanted you to learn a new way to write. And we can do the same thing with worry. We can “unlearn” worry and learn “unworry”.


Worry starts in your heart…did you know that? Worry pulls on your emotions, your fears, until it becomes consuming, infiltrating all of your thoughts. Worry moves from your heart up to your mind. In Jeremiah 17:9, the Lord tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” If worry starts in your heart, how do you “unlearn” worry? You start where all learning starts: with your mind.


As I have tried to “unlearn” worry, I have been training my mind to take the worries that my heart sends up and turn them into prayers. The prayers are my way of releasing the worry from my heart and giving it to God. The prayers look something like this.


“God, You know who will be coming to GUMY this fall. You know each of their needs, hopes, and concerns. I pray that You will equip the leaders and me with the wisdom and the tools to support them and to help move each of them to a deeper relationship with You. I pray that everything we do in and through GUMY will glorify You. Amen.”


Sometimes when my worry is super big, I simply begin to take stock of all of the blessings God has given to me and the knowledge of how He has always provided eases my worry and unshackles the burden from my heart.


I will be honest and I often have to pray about the same worry multiple times before my “deceitful heart” will let it go to God, but ultimately the “unworry” will take over and I release the worry to God.


You can “unlearn” worry, but it is a choice you must make with your mind. And just like learning to write your name in cursive took hours of practice, learning to “unworry” will take a lifetime of discipline and practice. But I think we can do it with God’s help.


Are you up to the challenge?


Do you want to be an “unworrier”?

Scripture Reference (click below)

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV ... Jesus' little reminder to us not to worry)

Fun Fact of the Day…

Each year, about 500,000 detectable earthquakes occur in the world. About 100,000 of those can be felt and about 100 of them cause damage.

See…nothing to worry about.

Question of the day…

Did you feel the earthquake last week?

(Answer below in the COMMENTS section….)

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17 Days…. Home

What does “home” look like to you?


Home may or may not be the place where you sleep. Home may or may not be where your family lives.


But, HOME is definitely where your love resides. Home is the place where you are most real. At home, you cannot hide any part of yourself, you don’t want to, because you are loved for exactly who you are. Home is a place where you are in complete comfort; where you find complete acceptance. Home is a place of unconditional love.



Does this place sound familiar?


Are you still looking for home?

Jesus is offering you that place. A home …with Him…in Him.

In the King James translation of our scripture lesson today, Jesus says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (John 15:9-10).


The word abide is an old fashioned word that means to remain or to stay. Jesus is telling His disciples (and all of us) that He loves us with the love of God, and He is calling us to abide or to stay in that love.


Jesus is calling us not merely to follow Him, but also to live in His love, intimately; to be perfectly connected to Christ – at home.


Do you hear Him calling you today?

Do you hear Him calling you home?



Scripture Reference (click below)
John 15:9-15 (MSG)




Fun Fact of the Day…

If you plug your nose you can't hum (keep your mouth close too).

 Go ahead….I know you want to try. 

Question of the day…

Where do you feel most at home?




(Answer below in the COMMENTS section….)



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