WHERE TIME HAS NO HOLD

I attended a funeral for the father of a good friend the other day. I was moved by her son's poem/song presented in honor of his grandfather. After getting his permission to place it here, I share it with you in hopes it will speak to you as it did me. To me it had a message in it about how time goes by so fast and how we need to take time with those we love because before we know it they will be gone. Please read it and see what it says to you:

WHERE TIME HAS NO HOLD

It really seems like we were laughing

Just the other day.

So it goes that, I got older

and time got in the way.

I never even came close to all I had to say.

I must admit I feel an emptiness

Now that you’re not here anymore,

But I take comfort in believing

You’re only passing through a door

To where there’ll be no regrets anymore.

Where we will be

Forever in the presence of the love that made us whole.

Where we will be

Fulfilled beyond imagination

Beatific new creations where time has no hold.

All the hallways of my memory

Are scattered with images of you.

When I add up all those moments

They still seem too few

But death holds no sway over this truth:

That we will be

Forever in the presence of the love that made us whole.

Where we will be

Fulfilled beyond imagination; beatific now creations

Where time as no hold.

Where a day is like a thousand years.

A thousand years like one day.

We will be there, before the Throne

When He wipes all tears away.

I must admit I feel a happiness

Knowing that I’ll see you again.

I will be here, holding on ‘til then

When real living will begin.

Where we will be

Forever in the presence of the love that made us whole.

Where we will be

Fulfilled beyond imagination, beatific new creations

Where time has no hold.

In Loving Memory of My Grandfather, John Berlin Adams

By: Tom Gregory

A NOTE FROM HEAVEN…..

 We received this from a dear friend, Betsi Calhoun yesterday. We love she and her husband Mike. Amazement was what we felt as we observed God’s Grace sustaining them as they walked a dark journey in life losing their daughter, Misty.

Father’s Grace has proven more than sufficient in their midst of loss and tragedy. I share this with you for encouragement.  Hope these words speak into your Soul today!

I am awed at how God is using Misty’s Life’s Message as it lives on reaching others although she is on the other side. Consider it “A Note from Heaven” to you as she must be smiling down from Heaven knowing we need what she left behind at the direction of her Father and ours!



This is the email from Betsi, her Mom:
    "Just returned from a Ladies' Spiritual Life Retreat in PA where I had the opportunity to minister to about 200 women. The subject matter was taken from some special journal entries from our Misty's journal and one of the things I shared was FIVE DAILY RESOLVES she had put on a little yellow index card and plasticized. - I often think of you all in relation to our daughter because you all were so THERE for us in the aftermath of her death (Graduation to Glory!). We don't often ever get to talk with you and share about Misty - but thought you might all like these resolves and be able to apply them in your own lives in some way :)"

Misty’s hand wrote this. I think she’s aware you are needing this life plan today to encourage you as you face tomorrow with courage…..

Today is a new day - HENCE,

1. I refuse to be shackled by yesterday's failures.
2. What I don't know will no longer be an intimidation: it will be an opportunity.
3. I will not allow people to define my mood, method, image, or mission.
4. I will pursue a mission greater than myself by making at least one person happy he saw me.
5. I will have no time for self-pity, gossip or negativism . . . from myself or from others.

My personal note:
If you have passed this way please know I care and my prayers are with you...

"GOD’S WORD IS ALIVE – THE BIBLE”

It sits on the table, we carry it to church, it is written to help us understand it in modern day language which has brought it into many sizes and colors--and to think it started out on simple paper of scrolls. It is criticized over and over, questioning if it is truly God’s Word, and yet it still stands True to the test.

It is a light to the world. Man may try to destroy it but it will still exist. It’s a Light! It’s Alive! It carries one through the long night of darkness until the morning light breaks. It brings the lost soul to Life Eternal. It is the pathway to Truth!

“There is no hope” is the thought of one taken by the angst of life, as they see it lying on the table, as if illuminated…they look over and decide to open this book called The Bible. Words taken in seem to be the answers they were searching for to unlock the tightness they felt. It was as if its words had jumped off the page into the eye gate, going straight to their soul, as a laser would go to its target. Hope fills the heart when just moments before they were overcome by life’s pressure. It’s Alive, It’s Alive! It’s indestructible! It’s there and freely available. It has all the answers for life. But, it has to be picked up, read, and believed by the person for whom his Maker wrote it, as His love letter….THE BIBLE.

LIVING IN THE MOMENT

I read this verse, “Be Still and Know that I am God,” Psalms 46:10. It caused me to take note that I had not experienced a time with Him in a while, a time to get to know Him and learn of His care for me. Living so fast is like driving in Europe on the Autobahn. You're driving fast, with the speedometer showing over one hundred, looking out the window cars are passing going faster than you. There’s something wrong with that!

Is it good to go so fast that life is but a speed of light zooming by? Well, NO! So what can you do? Just say, “Stop it” and experience the moment. Get alone, sit quietly using your senses God gave you. Ask these questions; maybe write them in your journal. What do I hear? What do I smell? What do I feel…inside and out? Begin to get quiet in your mind where all the “chatter” goes on. Now be still in your Soul where your Mind, Emotions and Will reside. Let your Spirit be open to the voice of God. He wants to speak to you as His child. The words you might be hearing are, “I love you my child." "I’ll go with you.” “It will be OK, you are going to make it, I will always be with you and never leave you or forsake you.” You might be saying by now, “Why haven’t I taken this time before now?”

After experiencing this time alone with God I feel refreshed, realizing it has been a time of getting in line with those things that are His and made mine to live out life each day. Setting my mind on His love for me, and for me to give my love back to Him, has brought strength to my being. What if I had not taken this “time out” to focus on the Truth to guide my thoughts and feelings? Then the things of this world would have been my directing power instead causing worry, doubts and fears, resulting in a life of defeat!

Now that I know what this has done for me, this devoted time; I can’t wait until another day to Stop and LIVE IN THE MOMENT!