The Gift

Have you ever received a gift that when you opened it you were totally and completely shocked.

No, I mean REALLY surprised? Do you remember as a child asking for something that you really, really wanted, maybe you were testing the whole "Santa" thing to see if "just in case" he was real?

Sure enough, Christmas came and there it was. Or the thrill of your own children or grand children when they receive that special gift they were truly longing for?

I have had several of those experiences in my life. Maybe not on Christmas, but definitely the experience.

Like when I gave birth to 2 daughters. That truly was an amazing gift. One that has continued to give to me daily for the last 34 years. The days each of my grandsons were born. Each of those moments are recorded in my mind and I can replay the waiting and the fear as I paced the floor and prayed while my daughter Summer was in surgery giving birth 3 times by c-section. The utter JOY that overcame me when I saw those precious boys and then even greater joy still when I saw my baby girl doing well after the ordeal and the happiness on her face.

I especially remember the third time when Walker was born on January 25, 2008, I asked to be able to go to Summer (after all she is MY baby) and the shock she was feeling because God had entrusted her and Matt with yet another son. She was overwhelmed at the fact that they had another boy. Mainly the responsibility of raising a son to be a mighty warrior. Summer knew even in recovery what having a boy meant. Raising up Godly men is not an easy task, but one she knew God must think she was up for. She felt overwhelmed and honored that our Father thought she and Matt were up to the task.

Thinking back on all that made me remember another very young mother 2000 years ago. Her name was Mary. She was all of 14 or 15. She was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. But one night the Spirit of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she was going to be pregnant before she and Joseph married and going to bare a son. Not just any son but the Savior, The Messiah, the PROMISED ONE! Mary, did you know?

Can you imagine what must have gone through Mary's mind immediately following the visitation of the angel? Why me? What is so special about me that God, the one true God, who made heaven and earth is trusting me to bare His Son as a human to bring God to Earth. What will I do? How will I know how to raise Him. Who will help me? I am but a child. I can't know how to raise the Son of God... It's impossible.. I can only imagine all the sleep she must have lost wondering if this was real let alone true.

And what about Joseph? Don't you think he must have had a little bit of doubt in his mind about what his betrothed was telling him. "Ok, let me get this straight, you are going to have a baby, we are to raise Him and He is the Son of God and you are pregnant by the Holy Ghost?". I imagine the thoughts of what others might think, say or even do to them must have tormented Joseph as well.

And what about Jesus, do you think that when the Father talked to Him and told Him that He was going to Earth, as a baby to be born and raised as a human that His Father didn't warn Him about what was ahead? Do you think that when Jesus left Heaven the conversation between Him and His Dad went something like this: "Oh, by the way, once you have been raised by these humans, I'm going to send you to a cross to die a brutal death and you will be resurrected again after 3 days and come back to live with me. But other than that, do all that you can to show people who You are and why I sent You and what Our love is all about."

No, I don't think the cross was plan B, C or D. I believe the cross was the plan before the first Christmas!

I believe Jesus knew He was going to die and rise again to give us the most amazing gift of all: eternal life.

I always say Christmas is wonderful, but without Easter, it really wouldn't have mattered! You see, Jesus could have been born and died just like all other humans. But because He was GOD in man, He died and rose again on the first day of the week to give us what God had tried to give us from the Garden: Eternal Life with Him.

We were created for one reason and one reason only: to have a relationship with God. He created Adam to have communion with Him. Not that God was lonely. He just desired fellowship, just as He created us to desire fellowship with Him and others.

Do you realize the value of the GIFT? The gift of Jesus?

He came and lived a very normal life (if you take away the part of Him teaching the elders in the temple at 12) and worked as a carpenter, maybe he built furniture or cabinets, I just know that Joseph taught him the family business even though Joseph knew that his first born was the Messiah. Jesus had siblings, he had a family life, just like you and I, but always, always there was the knowing in his mind that his mission was to be fulfilled with His death and resurrection.

He came to give me, you and every human that has been born in the last 2000 years the same gift. ETERNAL LIFE with HIM and a home with Him and the Father in Heaven forever.

This was the most unselfish act anyone could ever perform. He knew those 2000 years ago that someday there was going to be a little brown eyed girl who claims Arkansas as home that would love to sing and would need a Savior. That she would someday meet a boy who called Oklahoma home whose parents and her parents had served in the same church some 16 years prior and they would make a home and a life for 2 daughters who would marry men of God and give them grandchildren who also needed a Savior.

I love my children and my grandchildren enough to die for them. Without a doubt, no questions asked. But to say I would die for Charles Manson or the men who caused 9/11 or Jeffrey Dahumer, probably not. I owe these men nothing.

But Jesus owed me nothing!! And He said, Yes, Father, I will go. I will die. I will sacrifice my life for this person and all others before and after her to make sure they can have a home here with us forever. Where there will be no more pain, no suffering, no heartache. I will go Father. Send me.

Do you think when Jesus was in the garden and He prayed "Father, if it be Your will let this cup pass from Me" , He was saying God is there any other way to save mankind? He was proving He truly was human. He didn't want to bear the pain of the cross, but He was willing and He did.

I am trying even now to wrap my head around the gift.. THE GIFT! Eternal life. Just what is that? It is eternally being with God. Never separated again from Him, our loved ones and family, the saints who went before us. The joy of being with not only our family forever but also being able to talk to Jesus, David, Moses, Peter, John, Abraham, Mary, should I go on?

No cancer, no diabetes, no heart trouble, no illness of any kind. No death, no separation. I try to imagine this by putting it into perspective as to how long my Dad has been in Heaven. Dad has been gone over 5 years. To me it feels like a very long time. But to him, it isn't supposed to feel like time at all. How can he not miss us, when we still miss him horribly? THAT is what makes it heaven! There is no concept of time. We can and will enjoy the beauty that God created and all His creations forever without ever having to give it up or say goodbye. But even when I look at it from the time Dad has been gone, it still doesn't really come through. We don't use enough of our minds to be able to understand God.

He not only numbers the stars, he NAMED them. He set them into place by blowing them out of His hand. When astronomers find new planets and galaxies, I just smile, because I know my Father is ever expanding. He isn't bored, I like to suppose He just like making things!

We humans aren't so much for Him that He is too busy to be creative!

Do you get it? Do you understand that the creator of the universe wants a relationship with you like NONE you have ever experienced before? Do you understand that your Daddy owns the cattle of a thousand hills and that His children have never been forsaken. That He (this same creator) actually is still pursuing you. Yes, you.. Little insignificant you. And Me. He pursues us!!

We are His children and He wants us to get "the Gift"!

Mary, did you know that the baby you bore that day in a cave or barn, wherever it was would someday SAVE the entire world? Did you understand that the gift you gave was "THE GIFT". Did you understand that this was the answer to the world's problems? Did you know that 33 years later you would be required to watch that Son die on a cross for you and me?Did you know what would be required of Him? Did He share with His Mother about what would happen to Him?

I don't know any of these answers but I do know that He IS the "GIFT" and that those who ask can freely receive.

I don't understand all that I know and I don't know a lot. But I know I trust Him. I know that I have chosen to serve Him & worship Him even when I don't understand.

If He could do what He did by dying on the cross for me, then I can do what the Word of God says in Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you brethren, in view of God's mercy , to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God , this is your spiritual act of worship."

THIS IS THE LEAST I CAN DO!

As I try to comprehend what Jesus did for me and try my best to comprehend His GIFT, I realize I'm not ever going to be able to in this life or with this mind. He is more than amazing, more than my mind can conceive. I'm so grateful.

As the season of Christmas winds down for another year, I am doing what I always try to do. Keep the true meaning of Christmas and the GIFT that Jesus brought with me on a daily, moment by moment basis. He came to bring me eternal life. I have chosen that life. Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!

Thank you Jesus for "The Gift".

The Plumb-line

For weeks there has been a subject nagging at me and no matter how hard I've tried I can't get away from it. It is something you don't hear mentioned alot from the pulpit of most churches these days.
Righteous living. Exactly what is "Righteous Living?" Is that where you try to impose your ideas, opinions, rules or own convictions on someone else? Or is it really where you live a life according to what the Biblical translations for righteousness are? Let's hope it's the latter.

I lead a ladies Bible study group through my church. For a little over 6 years I have talked to them about the "plumbline" of righteousness. I see that as the Bible. In Amos 7:7 God talks about the plumb wall he is standing on and the fact that He is going to extend a plumbline over Israel because of their sin. He is tired of sin being rampant so he is giving them a chance to "clean up their act" as it was. Matthew Henry's commentary says God's patience was about gone. But the prayers of Amos stayed God's hand from totally destroying Israel. He just sent the plague of locusts instead! (But if you read it, He waited until the spring fields were harvested, so that they wouldn't totally starve. Even then, when His patience was gone, God was merciful, because of the prayers of the righteous)





I contend that there is a "plumbline" today that as a "Christ-follower" as Brady Boyd likes to call it, we should be observing. I believe that the Bible, the Holy Word of God is that plumbline. I tend to make reference to that in my weekly Bible study. I will extend my arm out straight holding my bible and explain that the Word is our plumb line and I see too many Christians these days who are out dangling around in left field. They are not adhering to the principals and commands of the Word because we have become so lax in our thinking about sin and the reprocussions of sin. We live under grace. I'm good... God is good. everything is cool.
But that's not exactly right. The promises of the Word come with a few provisions shall we say. We must adhere to certain things for the promises to be fulfilled in our lives.

The Word of God has not changed. It is unfailing. It is as He is. The same, yesterday, today and forever. No one has gone in and removed the 10 commandments and said, "oh, those don't apply in today's society". They are still there.

As a Christ-follower, we would never commit murder, rob a bank, steal a car, etc, etc.
These are acts that we KNOW are wrong. But what about the little things?
Does the bible not tell us to "abstain from the very appearance of evil"? (1Thess. 5:22)

In the verse previous it says, "test everything, hold on to that which is good".
It doesn't say just to stay away from evil. It says that that APPEARS evil.
What appears evil to you?


A friend of mine made a comment a few weeks ago that spoke to me literally at my core.
She was talking about grieving or offending the Holy Spirit of God.
If the Holy Spirit of God lives within us and as a Christ follower I believe it does, am I willing to subject Him (Holy Spirit) to things like movies where His name is used vainly, where sex outside of marriage is glorified,where homosexual lifestyles are shown as the norm.
If I am at a movie and the previews are of anything that would seem demonic in any way, (yes, vampires and even aliens in some instances) my spirit immediately rises up and is offended.

I believe that is the "plumbline" that the Father has placed in me to live a life that is consecrated to Him.

I know that in today's society many Christians have become less "offended" shall we say at the things of the world than we were when I was a child. Television shows today are so much more sexually explicit than they were even 10 years ago, it is staggering. We are desensitized to sin on so many levels.
Is it a sin to watch a movie where they use the filthiest language over and over and use horrible terms for another person or use the Lord's name in vain? That's not my place to say, but for me it would offend the Spirit of God living in me. So yes, for me it would be wrong.
We wouldn't THINK of cheating on our husbands, yet we fill our minds with images of people doing just that and call it entertainment!

Is it a sin to drink? Probably not. Is it a sin to get drunk, yes. (biblical ref. 'be not drunk with wine, wherein as excess' Eph. 5:18 - that's the new testament, in case you are wondering, so it DOES count) Is it a sin for me to offend my brother or sister and cause them to stumble? Absolutely.

There are people God has placed in my life who look up to me for spiritual guidance and they are under my leadership. For me not to TRY and live a life that is pleasing to God is unthinkable to me. I take the role I have very seriously. I believe that I am called to a higher standard than the world, because of my personal relationship with God, the creator of Heaven and Earth. The one who SPOKE the universe into existance. HE knows my name. He knows the number of hairs on my head. He knew long before my parents were ever born that my life would happen and that I would have a burning desire to follow Him all the days of my life and make a difference whether it be great or small for the kingdom of God.

The bible says in Luke 12:48 ..to whom much is given, much will be required.. This is the parable of the unfaithful servant. It talks about the servant who is faithful to do the work he has been set forth to do, but that the man who is not doing what he is called to would be beaten with 'many stripes'. This particular passage is where most people get the "called to a higher standard" speech.
I prefer to use as my "called to a higher standard" scripture Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, HOLY, acceptable to God, which is your "REASONABLE SERVICE" (emphasis added) And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. CONFORMED according to the NKJV bible I have says ; to conform oneself to an outward fashion or appearance as in 1 Peter 1:13-16 where it says.. gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not 'conforming' yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct , because it is written: Be holy, for I am holy.

Wow! It doesn't get any more plain than that, does it?

And what is this "renewal of the mind" that it talks about in Romans? It is a restoring to freshness, to an original state. It intimates the potential of redemption's power to God's original purpose for us, His creation. It means a change in your thought process. Redemption power instills Godliness in us, it is a power that literally TRANSFORMS!!
Christ like living is not complicated. We have a "plumbline". It just calls for submission to our heavenly Father's provision and His ways!

What do we receive in return? Only eternal life and the joy of knowing that we are indeed presenting ourselves to Him to use as He would use us.

Isn't that after all our "reasonable service"?

Sister Friend?

Proverbs 18:24... but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

I saw a movie with my youngest daughter tonight about girlfriends. You know, the kind that have been best friends since second grade and are always there for each other. Like sisters. Except not.

I don't have a sister. I have an older and younger brother. I always wanted a sister, a female soul mate. A confident`. Someone to share my deepest, darkest secrets with. But it never happened for me. There were times when I think I came close to having a 'best friend'. But invariably something would happen, and that bond would be broken, strained, severed. I have come to realize in the last couple of years that most of the people I felt close to didn't reciprocate. Not in the same way at least. Their friendship meant more to me than mine did to them. Again, they already had a "best friend".

I think I'm friendly. I think I am easy to talk to. So why is it not in me to let people in? Why do I not have friends? Close friends, 'heart' friends.

I'd never heard that expression "heart friends" until 4 years ago. I went away for 5 days on a retreat of sorts with a bunch of women. With pretty much a guarantee that my life would be changed and I would come back "sisters" until we died with these women. Nope. Some of them, I haven't talked to since we got off the bus. Others, that you felt close to the first 30 days.. now, you are lucky to hear from. Don't get me wrong it wasn't that way for everyone, but it was for me.

Growing up, my Mother, a preacher's wife (who is one of 7 girls) always said "familiarity breeds contempt" and always warned me about the evils of getting "too close" to people outside the family.She would warn me about not trusting others with my secrets or deepest thoughts (what she was saying was: my weaknesses) She would tell me: Everyone has a best friend and just because that may be your best friend doesn't mean they are yours so if you want to keep something a secret, Don't tell anyone. To this day, she is still very careful about whom she trusts. She has no "special friends".

I have the wonderful blessing of having 2 daughters of my own. I told them numerous times how fortunate they were to have each other. No one will stick by you like a sister. How do I know this? I have a sister in law who had 3 sisters. The 4 girls would meet at least 4 times a year somewhere between where they all lived. They would shop, play games, work puzzles. Whatever. Just be sisters. It is a ritual that makes me jealous and long for a kindred spirit such as the one they share. Their baby sister is gone now, but the three remaining still meet every quarter. It is more important to them now than ever before. I have laughed and said someday I would crash their party, but I won't. I would know it wasn't the same. I don't belong to that "club".

My high school is planning a reunion this year for several classes together, including mine. I have been gone from the town I grew up in 30 years. Have not talked to most of the people I went to school with in that entire time unless by some fluke chance I would run into them when I would be home for a visit.

Because of the upcoming reunion, I decided to reach out to some old friends that I had found through years of searching to see if they would like to reconnect, just through email, etc. and catch up on each other's lives. Two of the women I was especially close to in high school are already gone, so these connections would have been even sweeter. But no luck. Not even an acknowledgement. It makes me wonder, was it me? Was I so unpleasant that people still remember that insecure girl who only knew she wanted to sing and stay pure for her husband. What was I like? Was I obnoxious? Was I difficult? I just remember that I tried to be nice to everyone and hoped everyone would like me. Hey, I was 17. I know that's unrealistic, but I was a kid!! Problem is, I still want every one to like me!

I've had a lot of things said about me in the last 20 years. It's been said that I "march to the beat of a different drummer" (whatever that meant) that I don't have a good filter (not sure about that one either) that I'm perky, opinionated, generous, nurturing, a control freak (that came from me) wise...You name it. But am I friendly?

I open my home every week 9 months out of the year to other women. I love on them, I nurture them, I pray for them and try my best to make them feel what I want to feel: loved, respected, important. I know that most of these women love me. They tell me I'm like a second mother, that I'm warm and hospitable. I love these young (and older) women with my whole heart. But as far as being close "heart friends" we aren't. When Bible study morning is over, they leave and some of them stay connected all week and me..well, it's hasn't happened.

Why has that blessed friendship been something I have never been able to attain? Because I have a guard on my heart? Why is it so hard to be vulnerable and open up to other women? Is it a lot like the love between a man and a woman? When we get hurt, we put a guard around our hearts to protect us from further hurts. Yes, I believe it is!

Where is this going? What is the purpose in all this? I am saying: LADIES: get out there, open yourself up. Don't be like me! If you get hurt, don't close yourself off. You have to keep trying or you will one day wind up with children who are grown, have moved away, have their own lives and you have no one to have lunch with, shop with, share a cup of coffee with. This is the voice of experience.

My daughters are not like me. (well, they are both rather opinionated, so in that way they are like me, but not when it comes to friends) They both have at least 1 amazing friend that is what I would call a 'heart friend'. Someone that I believe will be there for them as long as they live. Someone to share "life" with. Jesus has been the ultimate friend! And I know He always listens and He knows my hearts desired. I think maybe that is why the desire for a heart friend is still with me. He knows the intentions of my heart. Even now as I write this, I think, do I really want to let other people read this? Will it sound insecure and pathetic, am I making myself too vulnerable.

Don't get me wrong, my life is FAR from empty. It is extremely full and busy.

I don't have time to hang out all day, drink coffee and shop with someone. But, I'd like to know there was someone to call just on a whim to grab lunch or even a coke.

Now, don't everyone feel sorry for me and call me at once. I'm not looking for sympathy friends. (I'm wise to that) I'm telling you to avoid this place if possible.

I haven't given up. I'm still looking and waiting. As I walk the halls at church or even some public places, I catch myself looking at other women and thinking: Could she be the one that Father has picked for me? Does she need a friend? Is it her?

Mom's are kinda like Jesus or: Grateful, Great and Full

Today was the day we celebrate Mother's. One day. Somehow that doesn't seem right does it?

But at least mother's get a nationally recognized day. A day they (we) are supposed to get our desires and wants met by someone else in the family. How many Mother's Days has that worked out for you? None that I can remember. I don't remember ever taking care of my mom either. Not totally. But, instead of complaining, Mother's just keep doing their job.

You know the whole "man must work from sun to sun but a mother's work is never done". If you're very perceptive, you figure this out even as a child! I know when I'd be watching Gunsmoke with my Dad and brothers and Mom would be running the sweeper under our feet, I figured out really fast that she was never caught up with her many jobs..

But what I have to say today is about being Grateful and the Great and the Full.

Grateful: Grateful for an amazing woman we called Big Momma. Because she was over 5 ft. tall. Which made her taller than her oldest daughter so my oldest cousin called her "Big Momma" and it stuck! She birthed 10 children. 9 of whom lived to adulthood. One of them my mother! Grateful that Big Momma and Poppa took my mother to a spirit filled church where she played piano and my Daddy found Jesus in a tent revival! Grateful that my parents raised me in a spirit-filled home where basically serving God and putting HIM first wasn't an option. Big Momma has been gone over 20 years. But her memory is as alive to me today as it was then. She was our rock! Thank you Jesus for the Aunts and Uncle that still remain that pray for our family like Big Momma did.

Grateful for an amazing Mother who worked full time even in the 1960's and still managed to raise 3 kids, be a pastor's wife and put up with everything a mother, wife and pastor's wife puts up with.. She learned from the best!

Grateful that she taught me about Jesus, first and foremost and that in our home there was never any question about how you would behave or what was important. My values are what they are because of the way I was raised.

I instilled those same values into the 2 daughters that God entrusted into Jerry and my's care.

Grateful that one of them is a mother of 3 boys. She is an amazing mom and is again carrying on our family's values with a little of her husband's family included! She homeschools, cooks every day, reads to them, writes, and still manages to run a household. She is truly my hero.

Grateful for another daughter who isn't a mother yet but has the promise of God on her life.

Missing her this particular first mother's day that she lives away from Texas. But God is in that too.

Grateful: for my health

Grateful: for 2 son-in-law's who love God more than they love my daughters and follow Him faithfully: NO MATTER WHAT!!

Grateful: for extended family

MOST importantly: Grateful to Jesus. For saving me. Loving me. Pursuing me. Filling me over and over and over with the precious Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me every step

Great: Being a grandmother~ Positively the best thing that has ever happened to me.

When those little boys put their arms around me and say " love you, Nana", nothing else matters!! Hand made cards, pieces of rock (heart shaped of course) a wild flower or acorn cap, all treasure for Nana~! Priceless.

Full: My heart is full tonight. Full of love, gratitude, emotion.

Love from my girls, my husband, grandboys, Mother and extended family.

Gratitude to God for all He has given us. I realize nothing I have is because of me. It is ALL Him and I can never forget that. Emotions are up and down. Like a roller-coaster. Happy and sad all at the same time. Lonesome for my baby girl...but happy... because I know she is where God has her. For now....

As the day we celebrate Mom comes to an end, let's remember that Mom's are kinda like Jesus... The never give up on you, they love you unconditionally, they are always there for you and will always listen to you even if you are complaining!

Yes, the more I think about it...Mom's sound a lot like Jesus!

Wow! I wonder... Do you think that's an accident? God created someone in His image to take care of His children here on earth. No, no accident. Nothing with God is ever and accident!

Thank you God for Mothers who are made in YOUR image to care, love and nurture their children as You do yours~

Yes... I'm blessed.

Did it really make a difference?

For 12 hours, I've been listening to the news reports, watching Facebook posts and listening to different people voice their opinion on the death of Osama Bin Laden. At first, I thought there must be something wrong with me. I wasn't elated. I didn't really feel anything. Ok. He's dead. But terrorism isn't dead. His followers are not dead. It doesn't bring back the over 3000 American's who lost their lives. Closure for those families will probably never truly come. After such horrific loss and the nature of the attacks that day, how do you ever "get over it"?

My concern is for the Americans who find such joy in the death of this soul.

Is it really happiness, joy at his demise? Do we not realize that in all likelihood this man will spend eternity in hell? Yes, it is his just deserve. But is it not ours as well? BUT for the blood of Jesus, that same fate would be ours.

The war that started to many of us on September 11, 2001, really started thousands of years ago. The fall of man in the garden is when this war started.

Ephesians 6:12 says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Bin Laden, Castro, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Gadhafi, these are all people who are ruled by spiritual wickedness, the powers of darkness. When a man's goal is the destruction of others there is a disconnection somewhere in the soul. As a Christ follower, my mind cannot comprehend that.

Do you know anyone who has been to war and came home changed? The things that had happened to them, the things they were required to do had changed them forever. Have you seen how once dedicated Christian men come home from war scarred to the point that you don't recognize your brother, nephew, son? They have seen evil. They have stared it in the face. They have been asked to do the same kinds of things that men like Bin Laden did in the name of religion, our soldiers have been asked to do in the name of freedom. But that doesn't make it any easier on a man or woman whose heart is turned toward Christ. They are forever changed because in their spirit man, they know this is not the way mankind was created to behave towards one another.

The only difference between these terrorist leaders and you and I is that we have Jesus.

God created man. Period. It was not His desire that any man perish, but because of our free will, because of man's fall, men like Bin Laden will continue to rise to power until Christ comes back the final time to rule and reign!

Did Osama Bin Laden dying affect my life in any way? No. Did it affect yours? Probably not.

The death that had profound affect on my life is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! It gave me the hope of life eternal when I received Christ as my Lord and Savior.

We are not to gloat or boast when our enemies fall (Prov. 24:17) We are to only boast of the things that HE has done. Proverbs 24:20 says there will be no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked will be put out.

Bin Laden's candle may be out, but the light of wickedness in this world is still burning bright.

Our job is to watch and pray. Be diligent in our faith. Praying for our leaders, our brothers and sisters in the fight. Praying for the lost. Even the Bin Laden's of this world.

Don't boast in the fall of Bin Laden but rather in the Lord our God!

Psalm 34:2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord!