Many things considered by civilized people as necessary were merely superficial.  Annie had the great qualities, virtue, courage, and love.”
              –Zane Grey (The Drift Fence)

    “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
              –Romans 15:13 (NKJV)
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    “Doll, here is some money for your birthday.  Why don’t you take Don out for dinner?”  So said Annie’s Dad to her on that birthday more than a few years ago.  His nickname for her was “Doll” and I don’t know if he really used it here, but it fits and I knew it was going to be a good relationship from that birthday so many years ago.
    I remember the first birthday that I shared with her.  She thought we had been dating too much and, though I didn’t agree, we decided to “cool it” for a while.  Then I was asked to get her over to the Joust (Student Union) for a surprise birthday party.  I had just agreed to not see her so regularly, but not sure how I got her to come with me.  Maybe I gave her that “look” and she followed me and “Surprise”!  Let me see, I reckon that would mean that we’ve spent 50 of her birthdays together.  
    Now today isn’t her birthday, I’m beating the gun some.  It’s actually Sunday, but I don’t write “Echoes” on Sunday and so here it is.  We don’t move as fast as we used to, well, I don’t anyway.  She’s still a go-getter; you know she’s been that way ever since she went and got me.  Ha–need to laugh in here somewhere.  
    So I’ll say an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the grandest gal I know!!  Bar-none!
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    I came across the following prayer from Cowboys 4 Christ.  We don’t thank the Lord nearly enough for all the things He provides for us and all the things He does for us.  Now before anyone says anything about it, I didn’t misspell the word “cosy”, it came that way.  

         ~ Heavenly Father, Thank you for today, for all the ways in which I have known you…
           For the sunrise and the birdsong For the music I’ve heard, and the things I’ve enjoyed,
           For the meals, and for the cosy home I live in For my close family and for my special friends,
           Most of all, thank you for being beside me through each moment. May I dream good dreams and arise again tomorrow to thank you once more. In Jesus’ name. Amen. * God Bless and keep Sharing the Good News !!! ~ C4C

    There are so many things in this little prayer.  Don’t miss out in what the Lord has given you each and every day.  Even through the night He is watching, and I’ve always wondered how He is working on us while we are sleeping.
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This day in the Texas Revolution:  King’s troops are captured by the Mexicans.

Life is full of adjustments…you just hafta deal with them.”
              –Lou Bradshaw  (Ace High)

    “And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.”
              –Matthew 10:38 (HCSB)
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Have you heard some of the complete nonsense coming from the mouths of pseudo-leaders?  Some of the things they are saying are completely absurd.  I guess absurdity knows no end.  People are listening and being duped.  There is a sense of delusion floating through the country.  People are losing hope and are grasping at outright lies and absurdities.  When I was a kid I used to wonder how in the world people would believe what the Antichrist would say.  But looking at what I’m seeing now it wouldn’t take much.
    Vision propels us.  People look forward and are motivated primarily by hope.  People now, instead of working hard, instead of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps are clamoring for more, more, more.  More of what?  They don’t know they just want more.  Achieving the dream is no longer necessary, they wanted it handed to them on a platter, and a silver one no less.  People tend to focus on the blessings of the moment.  Realize that those blessings soon fade.  And they want another one.
    What have you thought recently about heaven?  How far in the future is it in your mind?  Folks don’t think much of heaven.  It has been said that people don’t think of heaven because that requires one to think of death and if they think of death then their happiness will be destroyed.  But folks, look at the hope of heaven.  Death isn’t an obstacle, it is a gateway.  But then, we are too preoccupied with being happy here.
    We search for satisfaction, here, in the now, on this earth.  We don’t realize that this earth offers no real satisfaction.  That idea is another one of the devil’s deceptions.  True meaning and happiness in this life are subject to meaning and happiness in the next.  Ted Dekker wrote, “It is by fixing our eyes on the light of eternity that we see clearly the pleasures of this life.”
    To think of heaven should bring hope and expectation, not despair and glumness.  Think about heaven.  Life is about heaven.  As the Lord prepares a home for us, so we should also be preparing ourselves to see it and get ready to live in it.  Heaven is the great vision and pleasure.  God is there.  The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, eases the path between this life and the next.  In that process one of the greatest gifts He offers is that of hope.
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There is a moment of celebration to be taken.  On my website yesterday was posted my 1000th blog.  Can you imagine?
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This day in the Texas Revolution:  King, Ward and the Texas attempt to fall back to Victoria.

It [the wilderness] was no place for a fellow who didn’t have a lot of sand in his craw and a boundless store of hope in the heart.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (A Rider of the High Mesa)

    “Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'”
              –Exodus 3:18 (NKJV)
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I’m in the process of slowly reading through Exodus and then in my devotions just before the campfire dies down at night I’m reading Exodus.  I have also been perusing stories and writings of some of the renown leaders of the church and in the Bible.  The more I study, the more I read, the more I seek the face of the Lord–the more I’m convinced that there is an acceptable way of worship.
    Is the place important?  Well, yes and no.  I would say a person would not/could not worship at a rock concert or any concert for that matter.  I doubt it could happen at a sporting event, a bar, or nightclub.  So there is a place to meet with God, or better for God to meet with you.  Is it a church building?  It could be, and it should be, but that is not always the case.  It could be in the great cathedral of His creation.
    Let’s take a further look at where Moses wanted to take the people of Israel to worship–the wilderness.  This was not just on the edge, a place where the wilderness was a backdrop.  Oh, no, it was a three-day journey, deep into the wilderness.  See, God does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24) though He could (i.e., the Tabernacle and the Temple).
    The wilderness may suggest danger, it may also beckon you to come closer, to come nearer.  Moses requested of Pharaoh that the Israelites be allowed to enter so they could offer sacrifices to God.  There is more truth here than what is seemingly on the surface.  Cannot one worship God anywhere?  Isn’t it more comfortable in a nice building?  The issue is that the wilderness demands attentiveness and sacrifice, diligence and solitariness, endurance and fulfillment.  To enter the wasteland of the wilderness may be to die to self so that you may live unto God.  Maybe that is the allusion that Paul leaves in Romans 12:1-2, to become, now, a living sacrifice.
    I have pondered many times why the Israelites had to go to the wilderness to meet with God and offer sacrifices to Him there.  Could they not have done this in the safety of Egypt?  Maybe it was because they could not properly meet with God in that location.  Possibly the atmosphere “of the world” would be a great hindrance to them; that part of worship required them to come apart and be separate.  In Scripture, Egypt often represents “sin” or “the world”; it was a place of bondage and oppression.  Is there a part of the world involved when you try to worship?
    When the world and the things of the world get into the church it hinders true worship.  Oh, a golden calf might not be set up but people cannot worship God in the manner and methods of Baal.  Israel learned that the hard way.  Check, do that inventory, and see it there are any practices of “Egypt” that you are embracing when trying to offer a proper sacrifice to God.  Meditate deeply on Romans 12:2, “And do not be CONFORMED TO THIS 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.” (NKJV, emphasis added)  That word “acceptable” alone indicates that there is an acceptable way to worship the Lord.
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  The Mexicans are repelled at Refugio as William Ward’s troops arrive to aid the Texas.  The battle continues.  More people flee in the Runaway Scrape.