i know i haven't put up a prayer in a long time, and i know it's not Monday...
but i just came across this one, liked it, and decided i had to put it up...
Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans, were devoted Christians. Below is a prayer written by Roy.
Lord, I reckon I'm not much just by myself,
I fail to do a lot of things I ought to do.
But Lord, when trails are steep and passes high,
Help me ride it straight the whole way through.
And when in the falling dusk I get that final call,
I do not care how many flowers they send,
Above all else, the happiest trail would be,
For YOU to say to me, "Let's ride, My Friend."
Roy Rogers
in honor of Pentecost here's a Nightline webcast about tongues.
"Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before you and try to bribe you with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask you to forgive us. Give us the grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate your mercy when we are at our weakest, to rely on your mercy no matter what we may do. Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the gospel of grace, and to delight in your love. Amen."
Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel --
Lord, I lift my children/grandchildren to You today and pray, according to Your Word, that:
>They will know Christ as Savior early in life and desire a close relationship with You throughout their childhood, teen, and adult years (Mark 10:13-16; Luke 2:52; 2 Timothy 3:15).
>They will develop the discipline of prayer and time in Your Word (Joshua 1:8; Daniel 6:10; Matthew 4:4; Philippians 4:6-7).
>You will bring into their lives godly adults and friends who will help them grow in godly living (Psalm 1:1-3; Philipians 1:27; Proverbs 27:17; I Corinthians 4:15).
>You will keep them pure and strengthen them against temptation (Job 17:9; Psalm 24:3-4; I Corinthians 6:18-20).
>They would develop discernment, wisdom, responsibility, and a strong conscience (I Kings 3:11-12; I Timothy 1:5; Daniel 6:3).
>They will be caught if they wander into cheating, lies or mischief (Psalm 119:71; Proverbs 20:30).
>They will see other people as You do, treating them with love and kindness (Matthew 25:35-40; Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:1-4).
>You will protect them from emotional, physical and spiritual danger (Psalm 28:7-9; Psalm 41; John 17:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:3).
>You will prepare them to be a godly, loving and faithful spouse or prepare them to glorify You in their singleness (I Corinthians 7:7-8); and that You also prepare their future spouse (2 Corinthians 6:14-15; Ephesians 5:21-33).
>They would leave home with an eternal perspective and Christ-like values (Matthew 28:18-20; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21).
>They will sense Your calling on their lives and their lives will count for Your kingdom (Psalm 78:1-8; 103:12-18; 2 Timothy 1:9).
“Lifting my Children/Grandchildren through Prayer” 2006 by FamilyLife
* taken from a Family Life Today publication
yesterday was Holy Humor Sunday...
Holy Humor Sunday has it's roots in history. For centuries, in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant countries, Easter Monday and "Bright Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) were observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.
Parishioners and pastors played practical jokes on each other, drenched each other with water, sang, and danced. It was a time for clergy and people to tell jokes and to have fun.
The custom of Easter Monday and Bright Sunday celebrations were rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. Easter was "God's supreme joke played on death."
"Risus paschalis ¯ the Easter laugh," the early theologians called it.
let us pray:
Hear us, God of joy, in our laughter and in our tears too, as we offer our prayer, Our Father in Heaven, let your holy name be known, let your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today the bread that we need, and forgive us our wrongs, and OK, we'll forgive those who have done wrong to us too. Do not lead us into trial, but save us from evil. For we want for you alone to rule in our hearts; you have power to transform, and in the light of your smile is your glory. Amen.
from FCC liturgy 2006, a UCC church in Oshkosh, WI
Eternal Father,
you gave us the Easter mystery
as our covenant of reconciliation.
May the new birth we celebrate
show its effects on the way we live.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank Thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle.
Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavours. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and, down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another.
As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire, we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ’s sake.
Robert Louis Stevenson
