Rethink & Rejoice

There is an account where Jesus touched a blind man, healed him but then the man needed another touch to see more clearly

i cry, “Touch me again Lord.” One may ask, “Why did Jesus have to touch the guy again?”

Because it was needed.

He is and gives more than what we need, often i think we don’t realize it or maybe take somethings for granted..

My oldest daughter Kyri’s accepted a challenge as part of National Novel Writing Month. The goal by participating is to write a 50,000-word (or more) novel within the month of November. “NaNoWriMo” is an intense month of pumping out words. The site encourages you not to go back and edit. Therefore, naturally, Kyri accepted the fact that she will have typos and the novel will not be developed into its final form by the end of the month. The editing process will come later. Rather than holding on to not writing a novel for fear of; it is to hard or there would be too many mistakes or it would take too long to edit Kyri is “just doing it!” Throwing all inhibition aside she has jumped head long into this experience and  as i read it’s development i am learning so much about myself. In one of her blog post (NaNoWriMo Day 2) she points out how a child (one character in her novel) notices the change of the season without the use of a calendar. How much we miss because we don’t look and don’t see (more details in comments below).

May i take a double take, rethink things, not just take a 2nd glance but really look, ponder my surroundings.

When i do this sometime i see things that cause me to not have a reason to rejoice. I recognize that

“they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”

some times we “don’t know what you got till it’s gone…”  (from the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by the band “Counting Crows” -video in comment section).

So i look around and sometimes don’t like what i see ! ! !

However, this causes me to now know what i got and i am truly thankful or full of thanks.

Seems ironic that the less we have

the more thankful we are for what we got.

Even in my worse situations i MUST rethink and see clearly now God’s grace is sufficient and i have real reason to rejoice.

I think  of a song by the band Petra,  “I have a thankful heart!”

There is a story, a record of the account, where Jesus healed a group of lepers, 10 of them,  and only 1 came back to thank him.

So, as i rethink and now rejoice i ask myself, “What am i going to do with my thanks? How am i going to express it?”

Look, see, hear, become aware , then share to wake up others and tell them, “IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING!” …wait thanksgiving 1st ok,ok,ok but I WILL:

• before
• during and
• after all holidays

convert all my celebrating into praise to Him who deserves all praise and hope that others too will be made aware of what i have personally discovered and always in all ways give thanks.

Pressing On,

Tom “Beetle” Bailey

I work at The Salvation Army of Saint Augustine, Florida

That is also my church. Visit our Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/The-Salvation-Army-of-Saint-Augustine-204243596357064/timeline/

And if you’re ever in beautiful Saint Augustine, Florida visit us

at 1425 Old Dixie Highway Saint Augustine, FL 32084

M-F 8am-4:30pm

Wednesday Nights 6:30pm Men & Women’s Ministry

Thursday Nights 6:30pm Bible Study

Sundays

10am Bible Study Sunday School

11am Worship/holiness Service

6pm Salvation Service

We also offer opportunities for “Community Care” visits, projects and more

call me at 904-824-6956 Ext. 4407