Off Topic! (2)

[IisJustMe]

Ruskin Heights Tornado, Kansas City, Missouri
May 20, 1957
This photo was taken by a Kansas City Star photographer near Spring Hill, Kansas, about 35 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, roughly 20 minutes before the storm hit Kansas City. In all, the storm was on the ground for 71 miles in Kansas and Missouri, killed 44 and injured 537, despite most people along it's path knowing that it was coming.
It was the first F-5 tornado ever photographed in the US. It is still four and a half miles away from the photographer.

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[Floatingaxe]

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. ​

I was feeling particularly sassy that day, because I had just come from a thrilling choir practice followed by a powerful prayer meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.
I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection just lost in thought about the Lord and how good He is, and I didn't notice that the light had changed.
It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus, because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed. ​

I found that LOTS of people love Jesus. Why, while I was sitting there, the nice man behind started honking like crazy, and he leaned out of his window and screamed, "for the love of God, GO! GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for the Lord. ​

Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people. ​

I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love. There must have been a man from Florida back there, because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach. I saw another man waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. When I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, he said that it was a Hawaiian good luck sign or something. ​

Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back. ​

My grandson burst out laughing; why even he was enjoying this religious experience. ​

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me. ​

I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is when I noticed the light had changed. So I waved to all my sisters and brothers, smiled at them all, and drove on through the intersection. ​

I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before the light changed again, and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down, leaned out of the window, and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck sign one last time as I drove away. ​

Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks! ​

 

[BustedFlat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o29VoxtsFk​

 

[Cris413]

We sing praises to your Name
oh Lord
praises to your Name
oh Lord
for your Name is great
and greatly to be praised!​

 

[BustedFlat]

21 and counting

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[Floatingaxe]

HAVE A HAPPY BOIFDAY, BUSTEDFLAT!​

 

[BustedFlat]

Welcome to Our Church

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnCw_AgLHyY​

 

[Floatingaxe]

 

[IisJustMe]

The mountains rose; the valleys sank down
To the place which You established for them. (Psalm 104:8)

South Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
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[BustedFlat]

The Resurrection Essential to the Gospel of Grace
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And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain…And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…But now Christ is risen from the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 20)

_________________

Dear Father, I rejoice in the resurrection victory of Jesus, my Lord! I praise You, Jesus, as my risen, living Savior. What a mighty salvation You have secured through Your victory over sin and death. Glory be to Your name for providing it all by grace through faith. Teach me to trust in You more and more, in Your holy name, Amen.
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[psalms 91]

Good morning

 

[IisJustMe]

Some thoughts on my posting of the picture of Denali yesterday. I live 20 miles from Pikes Peak. I can't see it from my house because Mt. Hermon is in the way, but when I pull out onto I-25 and head south toward the Springs (Colorado Springs) every morning, Pikes Peak soon looms into view, dominating the landscape, towering about Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. It is unique among the 54 "14-ers" in Colorado in that it stands alone, unchallenged by any other peak in its vicinity -- majestic, beautiful, commanding in it's 14,110 feet of height.

It is the shortest 14'er in Coloarado. It barely qualifies. But is it the most famous mountain, not only in Colorado, but in the USA. It is more famous than Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley). It is probably one of the five most famous mountains in the world.

Denali stands alone too, nothing in its vicinity anywhere approaching it's gigantic, majestic slopes rising amazingly out of the Alaskan landscape. Look at that photograph again. Denali is as breathtaking as that photo, almost frightening in it's immensity and solitude. Denali can be seen from almost anywhere in the interior or south central regions of Alaska, sometimes from over 700 miles away! That is because Denali is 20,320 feet. That is 6,220 feet taller than Pikes Peak. That's over a mile higher!

The first of far too few times I ever saw Denali was when I was in the Army. I was flying, leading a flight of Cobras at about 7,000 feet, kind of high for a helcopter although the ceiling is 12,000 to 15,000 feet, when we banked around that range of foothills to the left in that picture. And I saw for the first time what you see in that picture. I was absolutely mesmerized. I'd seen Pikes Peak many times. My parents, siblings and I loved going to Colorado when I was little. But now I was confronted by Denali. This was a mountain in front of me.

We see our lives much like I had, to that point, seen Pikes Peak. We believe them to be in order, a standard by which others can measure. We see them solitary in their majesty, effect, and measure.

Then we see what our lives can be in Christ. It is Denali vs. Pikes Peak. It is a life of beauty counterbalanced by humility. Denali, standing in one of the three least populous of the US states -- a state, by the way, that is mischaracterized as being inclimate, cold and inhospitable when in fact the summers there are warm and gorgeous. Much like the Christian walk is mischaracterized as harsh, "cold", foreboding, even inhospitable when in truth the Christian walk properly undertaken is warm and gorgeous also. There is Denali, rising high above the landscape inescapably majestic but viewed by so few. Then there is Pikes Peak, rising out of the foothills of Colorado, the number one tourist attraction west of the Mississippi each of the last 42 years -- yet so much less than Denali.

Pikes Peak is accessible. You can drive up it. Anybody can do it. Let me repeat, anybody can do it. Few people have the strength, fortitude and ability to climb up Denali. There are no roads, except to its base. Dedication and commitment are required. I couldn't even fly up to it. Over it, yes, but land on it? No way.

It is the road easily traveled for a common reward (Pikes Peak) vs. the hard, difficult road of great reward (Denali). I could rewrite that sentence: "It is the road easily traveled for a common reward (the world) vs. the hard, difficult road of great reward (Christ)." Most people go to Pikes Peak. They are happy to be like the world.

I want to go to Denali. I want to be like Christ.
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[BustedFlat]

Resurrection Victory by the Grace of God
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The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

 

[IisJustMe]

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. (Psalm 23:2)

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[Nadiine]

Hoping everybody's Sunday is blessed!!

 

[IisJustMe]

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[BustedFlat]

22 in a row

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[BustedFlat]

Resurrection Victory for Effective Christian Living

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But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:57-58)


The resurrection of Jesus Christ brings spiritual victory over sin and death, to all who believe in Him. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." As we allow the Lord to be our guide through each day, He "leads us in triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14). When this process is unfolding, an effective Christian life is developing, by the grace of God at work in us...

 

[Nadiine]

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ROOM HUG

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[IisJustMe]

Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,
To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:78, 79)

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