Oh man!  What a great day.  It is Sunday!  My favorite day of the week.  The day set aside to worship God and the day God set aside so man could rest!  Rest from the normal activities of work and life.  And so I love this day.  My first reason to to think this was such a great day, was because of my experience of worshiping the Lord in the presence of so many others with like minds and hearts.  It was amazing.  I was a first time guest at Bethel Redding.  It is a church body well spoken of and known for their ministry to equip the body of Christ to go out into the world to serve others.  On the Welcome card this is what is written:

“Our house is your house, and we’re glad you’re here.  We are a big family who loves Jesus, and we have committed our lives to serving Him.  We aim to love extravagantly, hope contagiously and serve joyfully.  Enjoy your time with us, and we look forward to seeing you again!”

One thing they left out was the fact that they worship with their whole heart and that you better be ready to enter into the presence of God when you lift your hands in praise and worship!  I could just feel the power of the Lord in that place.  It was awesome!

Tomorrow is the first day of the class I will be taking.  I will be taking a ministry class for healing.  Can’t say what it will be like as I haven’t started the class yet.  All I know is that if the Lord should use me to lay hands on others and pray for healing, I want to be equipped to understand and know what it is He wants me to do.  When we continually seek the Lord I do not think that we ever cease searching for more to do for God.  Will I be used in this area?  I do not know.  But, if I choose not to learn or discover my potential for the calling God has for me, how will I ever know?  I am the child of the King and I long to do His will.  It was just so amazing to be in the house of worship this day.

Today’s sermon was about worship.  Why do we worship?  Why do we do what we do?  It was the third sermon in a series on worship.  I think another sequel to the sermon comes next Sunday.  It was very interesting and caused me to have a greater understanding of what worship is and can be.  Several key points that stayed with me are: “Any act, thought, or deed, done for the Lord that brings pleasure to the heart of God is an act of worship. To impact someone deeply you must know that person deeply!  We must learn God’s love language in order to worship Him.  We must know Him intimately to know what moves the heart of God.  We are aware of how we love to be loved.  Are we aware of how God loves to be loved.”

I recommend listening to this series online if you have opportunity to do so.  I certainly hope to do so.  Many excellent scripture references were given and would make a great study topic.

For those who are reading this blog you may remember my friends Lana and Tim from Albuquerque where I stayed a few nights on two different occasions.  They have also come to take the class this week.  I am excited to see what God has planned for our lives.  I’ll keep you posted.

It is late tonight so I hope to make this short but I would like to tell you about an interesting place Lana discovered, and she and Tim took me there.  It is called the SUNDIAL BRIDGE located in Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding.  It was designed as a work of art and that is exactly how I saw it.  I saw it as a beautiful miraculous piece of intricate, graceful art.

Here is a little excerpt that I copied off a webpage for you to give you some facts:

“The Sundial Bridge is beautiful because of its aqua green, opaque glass deck; strips of granite; and smooth, white imported Spanish tile. The bridge is unique because of its design. The 217-foot pylon acts as a sundial, telling time on a tile covered garden border on the north side of the bridge. The designer of the bridge, world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, has said that, to him, the bridge resembles a bird in flight, and symbolizes the overcoming of adversity. The bridge is also environmentally sensitive to its river setting. The tall pylon and cable stays allow this unique suspension bridge to avoid the nearby salmon-spawning habitat. Several fly fishing publications and professional guides have rated this area of the Sacramento River as being in the top 10 tail water fisheries in the world!”

Words cannot make it beautiful enough.  It must be seen and experienced to comprehend the size and architectural design.  I had no camera with me so I only have images on my Iphone.  That’s re reason I have so many photos to send.

I must make my apologies to the little dog who lives here and her people.  I misspelled HER name last night.  First of all, I thought Nikki was a boy.  She is a girl.  Secondly the spelling of her name is not Nickie but NIKKI.  She is a SCHIPPERKE (pronounced “skipper key”).  She is a breed of dog bred to catch the rats aboard ships.  She has powerful jaws, strong short legs, bushy hair like a cat, and no tail due to having it bobbed (OUCH).  From the rear she appears to be part monkey or miniature baboon (no disrespect Nikki).  And…she is totally lovable and affectionate to me and melts my heart.  She is a bit heavy and is going through a slow process of eating less than she is used to in order to reduce.  She is always acting like she is hungry (but what dog doesn’t do that?).  Her diet is working because she is weighing down 2 pounds since her portions have been cut.  I’m with you Nikki girl.  I know what that is like!  The best part is, Nikki likes me!  It seems like all the dogs like me, what can I say!

At church today I met a young man named Parker.  He was an astounding young man, a junior in high school who came up for prayer while I was there for the same thing.  Daneece knew his parents and so I was introduced to him also.  I felt like I was to pray for him for specific protection from all the bombardment that the universities now teach our young people in persuading them that there is no God and that the Bible is not real.  He has been accepted into Harvard and will be starting in a year.  I asked him what wisdom he had and it came quickly to his lips:  “Anything is possible if you believe and that you can do all things through Christ, and to never give up believing.  Just continue believing. Nothing is impossible”

Parker was at the last minute accepted into Harvard University and needed $12,000 for tuition fees to hold the position.  He trusted God, put himself on “Go Fund Me” (I have no clue what that actually is) and money came in.  From what I garnered from listening to the conversation he still needs a bit more but it seems it is doable.  We need young men like this with a strong faith in God to be our Harvard graduates of tomorrow.  You go Parker!  There will be prayer warriors standing behind you.  You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, just like Philippeans 4:13 says!  I just love the wisdom of a well grounded young person.  It doesn’t matter how young you are, God gives wisdom to those who seek wisdom.

It is 10:30 p.m. and I still want to write a poem so I guess I’ll sign off.  Have a great tomorrow when it becomes today.  It is always so fun to see what poem God gives me each day.  Like a present I haven’t unwrapped yet.  I shall go and unwrap the words that fall into my brain and see what sense they become.

The poem is written and now it is 11:19 p.m.  I’ll type it below for those interested.

Goodnight.

THE ACT OF WORSHIP

By Kathleen Martens

May 17, 2015

When everything we do

Is an act of worship to our King,

Our will is surrendered

That to God, joy we bring.

Sometimes our lives are get complicated

And our focus may be lost.

We forget that all we do

Should be simply done before the cross.

When what we do is worship

Only truth is what is said

For the opposite is always false

It is through acts of worship we are fed.

When you completely surrender

The selfish in you has died,

And it becomes your desire to worship

The one who was crucified.

Goodnight again.

P.S.  Please notice the blueberries I picked today from Daneece’s back yard.  They were delicious!