Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX

Jan Day gave me some cuttings from one of her roses.  I believe there were three all together.  After several days of sitting on the counter in the house, I found a small plastic pot, planted the stalks, and this one survived.  I walked out into the backyard yesterday after the heavy rain and the rose had so much water on its petals that it was hanging down.  I shook the water off and it perked right up to this beautiful small rose.   It is only about 1 1/2″ across but it is a beautiful rose.  Hopefully the plant will keep growing and we will be able to enjoy many more roses in the years to come.

Isn’t it amazing that God has created plant life that will grow after it has been cut off from its parent bush.   Many times we are removed from a familiar place and planted somewhere we are not familiar with.   In the struggle to grow and take root in a new environment, we can give up or we can set new roots, get involved in a new community and blossom into the beautiful followers of Christ He calls us to be.  Just as that rose was transplanted we too must strive to be all that we can be as a follower of Christ.   He will nurture and feed us through His Holy Spirit if we allow Him to.   Stay in the Word, take time to meditate and read a devotional each day.   These time honored practices will give each of us the connection to the nourishment that our souls need.

Have a blessed day,  Randy

I have added a new page to our blog.  “Visiting the Sick, Opportunities” is the name I have given it.  I base it on Matthew 25:36 where Jesus is talking about those things He would have us do if we want to be a part of His Kingdom.  There are other opportunities listed which are very important actions we can and must take as Christians.  While the scripture says “Iwas sick and you took care of me,” we must remember that caring for also means that we visit and let them know we CARE for them.  Hold a hand, pray, just sit and listen, being there means more than you will ever know.  Be a blessing to someone who is in need.   It gets you in the kingdom when it is done in love.

Mat 25:34“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Mat 25:35For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

Mat 25:36I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Be a light shining through the coming darkness.  The sunset above says that night is coming but there is light still shining.  When we visit we are that light shining that gives hope.

Have a blessed day and may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you,   Randy

Brady (grandson) has started football.  I took him to his first couple of practices.  As I watched them go through the conditioning drills that will get them physically in shape and help them to be mentally tough for the sport, I could not help but compare all that they were doing with our Christian lives.   Just as Brady had to hear about football, get excited about it and make a committment to the sport, we as Christians must hear about Christ, get excited about Him and accept Him (make a committment) as our saviour.

It takes a lot of hard work and committment to be the best you can be in any sport.  Many parents will go to all kinds of practices,  make all kinds of road trips to games and go to many meetings so that their children will have the opportunity to be the best they can be in their chosen sport.  The question is why those very same parents will not take their children to an hour or two a week of church activities?   It takes a lot of hard work and committment to be the best you can be as a child of Christ and just as little Tobey is trying to imitate his big brother so our children imitate us.   If we put no importance on our life eternal, show no committment to Jesus Christ, have no interest in church or the activities that church promotes,  our children who imitate and learn what life is about by our actions,  will show no interest in learning about Christ or accepting Christ as their saviour.

Have a blessed Sunday, spend some of it with God and Jesus, it will make the week ahead a better place to be…

Randy

This picture was taken yesterday evening at the WOS parking lot.  One of the benefits of having my Blackberry Tour is that it takes pretty good pictures most of the time.  It does have its limitations though. 

I love seeing sunsets.  They can be so beautiful and inspiring and in turn remind me of my limitations; another day has gone by and I have left much undone.  But there is hope in this sunset because God has given me a new morning and a new day to go out and be the Christ follower He has called me to be.  Here we are in a new day with a new sunset promised to us.  Make this day a day that you see God in and allow Him to help you make it a better day.

See the link to the right of the post for The Upper Room Devotional.  Try making it a habit each day to read this or some other devotional.  It can help you start out the day with the Spirit of Christ in your heart which will make it a better day.

Don’t forget your Wesley UMC’s cookbook.  It is the Fruit of the Spirit.  Let me know through Facebook, this blog or the church phone number 4098867276 how many you want. You can also email us at Wes2ley@att.net.

Have a blessed and peaceful day all day,  Randy

God is good all of the time.  Sometimes it is just easier to see!   Jane and I were leaving my parents home in Little Cypress when we were suprised with the Rainbow, pictured above, that was taken from the parking lot of the LCM Middle school.   As I turned to get back into my truck,  we were blessed with the wonderful sunset picture.   We were able to enjoy the ride home with the Rainbow off to our right and a beautiful changing sunset  off to our left.  The Rainbow and the sunset were still there when we pulled into our garage at home in West Orange.

I have seen several post on Facebook with the Rainbow so I know that there were many others impressed by God’ s good works in the nature of our world.  

Hope you have a blessed week and get the opportunity to enjoy God’s handiwork in a week that has a really good start to it.

God’s Peace and Blessings to all,  Pastor Randy

I know you cannot get a feel for how huge this old oak is, so here is a hint.  Where the first pillar is, the short one, the oak is at least 6 feet in diameter.  It really is amazing.  It can be seen in Founder’s Park in New Braunsfels.  Jane and I were there last week and we enjoyed our time there walking and stopping to read our vacation novels beneath the shade of the Founder’s Oak.  

The size of this old oak and the age, around 300 years,  puts the short time we are here on this earth in perspective.  While the oak is anchored in one spot and serves to give us welcomed shade, we are not anchored in one spot and we can move around.   The mighty oak is a wonderful example of God’s creation, something to observe and enjoy.  We too are a wonderful example of God’s creation and we too are observed in our lives.  How we live our lives is important because people do observe us and we can provide a positive example or a negative one.  Like the mighty oak shades us from the sun, our God and His Son can shade us from the troubles of this world.  While we are still exposed to sin all around us, we must stand firm in His shade and never move outside of that canopy of love and forgiveness.  Like the mighty oak we must be firmly anchored in our faith and as we move about in His world we must example the beauty found in His Word.

Have a blessed day, Randy

   Its kind a hard to tell that it is a vineyard.  I took the picture with my cell phone.

While riding around in the Hill Country of Texas, in Gruene actually, we saw a small vineyard.  A very new vineyard.  Got me to thinking about the scripture from the Gospel of John Chapter 15 where Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches and then I thought about the fruits of the spirit found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians.   Just as these vines are called to bear fruit for the owner of the vineyard, so are we called to bear fruit for the owner of our souls.   Be faithful in all you do; be faithful in your prayers and most of all be faithful to your God and Savior who is Jesus the Christ.  See the scripture below.  They pretty well say it all….

 From John 15:1-7 ⁵“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

From Galatians 5: 22-25, ” ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Peace and blessings,

Pastor Randy

Sometimes we get complacent and forget what a beautiful world we live in.  When the bad times that can happen in this world seem to be overwhelming us, we need to reach back into that camera of our mind and find a place that brings us peace and solitude.  A place where we can return to the person God calls us to be.  This picture brings me back to that kind of place.  This picture was taken in Sedona, Arizona by yours truly. God’s beautiful country and a very scenic one at that. Jane and I took a trip out west when I retired from Dupont and this was one of the most breathtaking places we visited.

Another area was the Grand Canyon. Man I could sit there and look for hours.  Such an amazing spot to go and visit. God is good and He gives us some spectacular scenery to see.  Another thought about spectacular is the ability to see.  Truly amazing is the God who has given us so much.   When the muck of this world seems about to cover you up, thinking about the creation as a whole,  puts lots of “mucky” things into perspective.   Have a great day and weekend.  Rest up and make time for worship.  God deserves the time we spend with Him.  Why do we cut Him short as much as possible when He has given us so much?

Pastor Randy

You know there are some really nice people in the world.  Maria and Robert in the picture are two of them.  Somehow they knew that I was the Pastor at Wesley UMC and we had a nice conversation about everything from watermelons to Spanish speaking church services.  They attend the Pentecostal church right down the street from their watermelon stand on South Street in West Orange.  While you may not see them at the stand, their son Jose, their right and left hand man,  may be there giving them a break.

Jeremy (my son-in-law who took the picture) and I went to the stand to get a watermelon and some pictures for his blog.  It was nice to visit with people who are interested in starting a new Spanish speaking church services at the Pentecostal Church.  Not a bad idea for many of us in our churches to consider.  After all is not our Christian Faith all about getting the Word out to all of the world.  Jesus Christ charged His Disciples to take His message to the ends of the earth so that all men could hear and believe.

Our churches have been built by people of our communities and as the demographics change in our communities we need to reach out to those new people who are living next door to us.  Remember Jesus put Loving God with all your heart, mind and strength with loving your neighbor as the two most important commandments He could give.   He did not say to love just the white ones or the black ones or the brown ones or the yellow ones or the red ones, He said to love your neighbor.  So get out there and love your neighbor, neighborhood, city, state, country and show the world the love that Jesus was talking about.

Ever notice how blowing candles out gets everyone’s attention and they all want to help blow out the candles.  Notice in the picture that Tobey, Brady and Grant are puckered up to blow also.  Even if there are just two candles.  No I am not claiming to be 2 years old.   A little girl about to be 6 on July the 7th told me how old she was going to be and I had to tell her that on July the 6th my birthday cake would have a 6 on it also but there would be a “O” behind it.  I have been blessed to make it to 60 years of age as of tomorrow.  I have also been blessed with a beautiful daughter who is also a very good chocolate cake maker as well as a very good cook.

We had a really good time visiting with family and friends this weekend with a get together (birthday party) at our house on Saturday and another one at Ida and Tim’s on the Bayou Sunday evening for our 4th celebration. 

At Wesley UMC we had a covered dish lunch after church service and I just want to thank God right now for all the good cooks we have at Wesley.   There was enough food to have fed many more which is always the case at most of these dinners.  What a great day, great weekend, great birthday and great God.  It is truly from Him that all good things come.  Lets be thankful to Him for all of our blessings, even though we may be guilty of gluttony.   Well I guess I better just speak for myself  on the gluttony sin but I did see some pretty good size plates piled up every where we went this weekend.  Good fun, good food, good fellowship.   God is good!!!!!

I want to add a thanks to Jeremy Parzen, my son-in-law, for these pictures.  You can go to his blog page at http://dobianchi.com/ to see some others.