Truth is, just ain’t no getting away from who we were and what we might have done—good, bad, or indifferent.”
              –J. Lee Butts  (Gun Works)

    “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
              –2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
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Ponder the following from Dave Roever:

         “Yet, here we are with open arms embracing the religious and political radical ideas of the perpetrators of 9/11 as though they are the answers to the questions we are not willing to ask.
          There is a story of a cold snake who promised a young boy that he would never bite him if he would pick him up and put him in his shirt.  The boy did so and when the snake was warmed, he bit him.  With his dying breath, the boy asked the snake, ‘Why did you bite me?  You promised not to hurt me if I warmed you.’
          The snake responded with a hiss, ‘You knew what I was when you picked me up!’
          We are holding a snake in our hands and pretending to be safe and secure knowing that what we are embracing will destroy us.
          In the last decade, worldwide, 900,000 Christians have been martyred for Christ.  That’s 90,000 every year…nearly all at the hands of jihadists.”
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The past has helped make us who we are.  Some of the things we cannot escape.  Some of the consequences, good or bad, still follow us and some might even haunt us.  The dreams of the past, those unfulfilled, are exactly that–unfulfilled.  Perhaps that is for the better, but no matter, they still did not occur.  Some may argue, “they still can happen,” but I would beg to differ because most of the dreams of the past were of a time when we were younger; age has a way on interfering.
    However, the past does not necessarily have to dictate who we are.  The Lord can make our past work for our good, if for no other reason than lessons learned.  The past does not have to dictate our future.  “I was once a sinner…” the old hymn begins, and then there is that powerful word, “BUT”.  “But I came, pardon to receive from my Lord…”  Then ponder the last phrase of the old chorus, “With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven, nevermore to roam.” (C. Austin Miles)
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Ponder the following that was say of Ulysses S. Grant.  

         “We are in reality a Christian nation which owes much to the teaching of the Bible through the Churches and Sunday schools.  There can be no question, in his opinion, as to the fact that the various humanitarian institutions in the several States owe their existence indirectly to the teaching of Christianity.  He was glad to notice that there was so much religious activity in our country; and if the Churches and Sunday schools continue to do their duty, the danger of growing out of lawlessness, anarchy, and the secret machinations of a countryless enemy will be diminished and overcome.”
(Rev. M.J. Cramer)

Ask yourself, have the churches discontinued doing their duty?  As Terry Tuley writes, “We can never vote our way back to God, but if we will proclaim God’s Word and teach the moral and ethical principles found in it, our nation could and would turn back to its spiritual roots.”  This country can only be destroyed by moral deterioration and this can only happen when the Church forsakes God’s Word.

A murky, yellow-tinged blackness hung low over the city.  He recollected that stars, and sunrises and sunsets, and untainted air, and silence were not for city dwellers.”
              –Zane Grey  (The Call of the Canyon)

    “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.”
              –Malachi 1:11 (NKJV)
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When we built our house in San Antonio the view to the west was magnificent.  I would often stand outside and watch the sun go down over the ridge.  The sky moved from brightness of red and orange and yellow, moving as the sun finally disappeared to a rich, deep purple.  We were one of the few houses in the area; there was relatively no clutter.  The fields were full of wildlife, especially doves.  
    Then came progress.  Houses were built, some along the ridge, but the setting of the sun was still visible.  Then one day I noticed a structure being built.  It was huge and it all but destroyed my view of the ridge, spoiling not only the view of the sun when it set, but also destroying the atmosphere that was creating by the setting of the sun.
    I’ve walked in cities.  People tend to look down, even more so now because they have a phone in their hand.  Even if they would look up they could not see the rising or setting of the sun.  The monoliths are huge and they block out all but a few rays.  The concrete and asphalt heat up from the rays that do strike them, and a person almost wilts because of the heat.  
    Most cities are full of smog; they are dark, dingy, and dirty because of it.  Man may try and declare an “ozone day”, but the haze remains.  If you’ve ever been to Denver you can see the dirty brown layer that covers it.  Thank goodness the winds will come in to blow it away, but until they do that layer of smog looms over the city.
    Add to that all of the noise.  That’s one thing I really appreciate about where we now live–the quietness.  Nature is there, the quiet is there and when I sit out on the back deck in the morning writing and reading my devotions, I feel that God is there.  Seldom is there any man-made noise.  Oh, the crows fly by and give off their caw-caw, but that is nothing compared to the sound of truck, cars, horns, beeps, and whistles of the city.
    In the city, man has made his artificial stars, moon, and sun with the lights of business, factories, cars, and a sundry other things.  When we were building our house a man who was delivering material said he could not stay out here in the woods because there were wild animals.  But I say, that is more comforting than walking the dark streets of the city at night, for there is the worse form of beast–the wildness of man is seen.

A man can have a little bit and feel rich, or he can have a lot and feel poor.”
              –Elmer Kelton  (The Time It Never Rained)

    “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
              –Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)
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In my earlier years I spent some time learning how to tie knots.  I figured that a person might not know when a certain knot by become useful.  Over the years, I’ve forgotten some of them, but then again, I’ve have been able to use some of them in my work and journeys.  There is the legend of the Gordian Knot.  It was said that whoever could untie this particular knot would rule the world.  On the scene, Alexander the Great.  The crowds grew around him watching if he would be able to untie the knot.  He walked up to it, looked it over–then took out his sword and slashed the knot in half.  That’s one way to untie a knot.  Hmmm, perhaps you have gotten frustrated and cut a rope, shoestring, or other item that has been tied and instead of untying it, you simply cut it.
    I came across this story last week, I don’t know the author, but there is quite a bit of common sense in it.  I know, that is something that is rare today–common sense.  Actually it is a prayer:

         “Dear God:
          Please untie the knots
          that are in my mind,
          my heart and my life.

          Remove the ‘have nots,’
          the ‘can nots’ and the ‘do nots’
          that I have in my mind.

          Erase the ‘will nots’,
          ‘may nots’, ‘might nots’
          that may find a home in my heart.

          Release me from the ‘could nots,’
          ‘would nots’ and ‘should nots’
          that obstruct my life.

          And most of all,
          I ask that You remove from my mind,
          my heart and my life all of the ‘am nots’
          that I have allowed to hold me back,
          especially the thought that I am not
          good enough.
          I pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.”
                   –unknown

Hmmm, do you have a naughty mind; I mean to say a knotty mind?  A mind that looks like the backlash of a fishing reel?  The mind is a tangled mess because of who you are, what you’ve read, what you’ve done, where you’ve been.  Let the Holy Spirit take the sword of God’s Word and slash through it, removing the “knots” and straightening your mind, focusing it on Him.