Praise You Lord for All Your Creation

Praise you Lord for the beauty that is always right in front of us.  
This is Lake Colby across from Saranac Lake Hospital.  
An overcast day had been predicted. 
God gave us a beautiful day to visit the doctor in Lake Placid.

Praise You Lord for the stars and moon
   that light our nights
   and bring our time of blessed sleep

Praise You for the sun that lights
   and warms our days so we can marvel
   in the glory of Your mighty hands

Praise You for the hills and mountains,

                Whiteface Mountain Lake Placid, NY

   for the rivers and streams

                     Eel Weir near Black Lake, NY

   that fill our lives with animals, fish, birds,

                             White tail deer

               A groundhog who makes his home under our shed.

                       A blue heron at Black Lake, NY

                  

   trees, flowers and bountiful foods for us 

Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia

                   Flowering crab apple tree in my back yard.
   to enjoy, to nourish our bodies and our souls

Praise You for the oceans filled with endless fish
   and amazing creatures.
   The seas are vast and deep
   like Your amazing love.

       On the shore of the St. Lawrence River near Massena, NY
           The sun shines on the water like God's love shines on us

                      My husband Tim with Rev. Dave Tulloch 
                       and the large mouth bass they caught.

Praise You for the four seasons
   that bring us variety and allow nature to rest,
   revive, grow, mature and be fruitful.        
   Your creation never ceases to amaze me
   with its variety and beauty

Near West Potsdam, NY

Ice storm Feb. 2016  Plumb Brook Road Norfolk, NY

Spring on the banks of the St. Lawrence River near Massena, NY

The trees are anxiously awaiting the coming of Spring
just as our souls are anxiously awaiting the touch of God.

                             River near Santa Clara, NY

                         Canada geese families at Black Lake, NY

                                       Summer wildflowers

                                  From bridge near Brushton, NY

                                Route 11 after Malone, NY

                                    Mown hay field near Lisbon, NY

Praise You for the rain and snow
   that bring life-giving water
   to our lives and our environment

                              Bank of frozen Black Lake, NY

 Praise You for all of nature that shouts Your praise         saying “The Almighty Creator and Lord of all,
    the Great I Am, made me. 
    Look at the beauty and infinite creativity
    of His loving hands.”

Praise You Loving Father for making me,
   “for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   Your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.” 
          Psalm 139:14

   The details of Your creation are infinite.
   No photograph has sufficient pixels to capture
       all the details.
   No painter can begin to duplicate the Master.

Praise you Lord for the wondrous majesty
   that is You!

Praise You for Your incredible love
   that caused You to call all creation
   into existence” to create mankind
   just a little lower than the angels,
   and crown him with glory and honor.” 
        Psalm 8:5.

Blessed be Your most holy name.  Amen


Commentary:

Look to the Lord, keep your eyes on Him.  
There is so much turmoil in the news right now.
It is so upsetting, so distracting.

Satan is working overtime.
He's polarizing us, dividing us.
He is taking our eyes off God.  

We must stand together in this
United States of America
to solve our problems and we must turn to God
for the solutions of these problems.
We cannot solve them on our own.

Our Loving Almighty Father can solve ANYTHING! And He will.  "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
   2Chronicles 7:14

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Knapps Station Community Church 

Roberts Wesleyan College Wind Ensemble
Monday Feb. 20, 2017    7pm    
Free Concert
Directed by Dr. Paul Shewan
at Knapp Station Community Church
3035 County Route 47
Norwood, NY  13668       353-5093

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Voice of the Martyrs

I invite you to check out this link to find out what Christians in some countries suffer just because they believe.  We have no idea how fortunate we are. Please pray for our less fortunate brothers and sisters. 
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Give God Time To Answer

I heartily recommend this new blog post by my friend Jean Oathout.  It reminds us to keep praying for those things that are really important to us.  

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What Do You Need To Be Intentional?
Jane Ault's new blog post gives great advice on keeping focus in life, something I always need help with. 

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Book Reviews

 
Dirty Faith by David Z. Nowell

Do you feel that God is calling you to do more than go to church on Sunday, give your offering and "follow the rules?"  This book makes one think seriously about what it means to be a Christian and to do it the way Christ lived.  Great "food for thought."


Arms Open Wide by Sherri Gragg

Do you like a good story?  I do and this book takes well known Bible passages about Jesus and His followers and makes them into short stories.  These stories help us to better understand the Bible passages. 


The Lost Letters of Pergamum by Bruce W. Longenecker

This is a fictional set of letters between the apostle Luke and a Roman nobleman named Antipas.  The historical background gives us much insight into the horrible conditions that the early Christians lived in. It also gives incredible insight into the power of living as a real Christian and how that causes lives to be transformed.

Blessing

May you be greatly blessed as you see the magnificent beauty that our Loving Father has created for us.
May you always look to our Loving Father for guidance through the turmoil that life is throwing at all of us. Remember...God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
And may your days be filled with the knowledge that your Loving Father deliberately chose you and loves you so much that even the hairs on your head are numbered and He knows that number so very well.

All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen unless otherwise noted- 

  used with permission

All bible reference from the NIV unless otherwise noted

If you are interested, you can click on the Blog Archive 

  dates on the top right side of this post to connect 

  to previous blog posts

I would love to hear from you either on the      

  comment section of this blog post
  or through my email  

  debbieamcewen@gmail.com

I post every other Saturday 

The next post will be February 25, 2017

May God bless you greatly until we meet again.

And Happy Valentine's Day!

   Pictures of the 2017 Lake Placid Winter Festival Ice Castle taken 2-8-2017

I Could Never Be as Good as You, Lord

                             gazebo downtown Potsdam, NY
    
In heaven there will be peace and rest from our labors.  God has a place waiting for each of us.
His grace gives us more that any of us could ever earn.

I get impatient, angry, frustrated 

   and so on with others

You never do

Your patience Your love, 

   Your tolerance are positively amazing

It reminds me that You are God who is perfect 

   and I am only an imperfect creature

I profess to be Your child

But I make so many mistakes
I sin so often

I try to apologize

But it must be monotonous to You

To see my sins and hear my apologies so many times

I never hear Your frustration,

I never feel Your anger,

I never sense that you are impatient with me

You are so amazing

I am so blessed to be Your child

I need so much help from you, so much patience,
so much tolerance and forgiveness

I am so imperfect, a real work in progress

How wonderful You are that You love me so much

   that you died on the cross
   to redeem me from my sins

I can’t wait to see You in person
   when I get to go to heaven

Praise You that You paved the way
   for me to get there

Thank You so much, Lord
   for Your immeasurable love and grace

Blessed be Your Most Holy Name.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:8

        At boat launch on Canton-Ogdensburg Road  Canton, NY
    The water was like glass.  Notice the clouds and trees reflected on the water.

            

         Bend in the river on Canton-Potsdam Road  Canton, NY

                Same location.  Notice all the geese in the water.
Despite the sin, the chaos, the wrongs perpetrated every day by man against man, God loves us and reaches out to us.  He coaxes us.  He says "Come to Me, My love for you is limitless."

I Was Wrong, Lord

Please forgive me

I could say it wasn’t a “big” sin

But compared to You and Your perfection,
   it was HUGE

Please forgive me, Loving Father

I’m trying to follow You, to copy You, to model You

But I fall so short

I cannot do all this without You

   without Your love, Your mercy, Your grace      
   and Your forgiveness

With You I can accomplish mighty things

Without You, Lord, I am lost

Please help me, a sinner.

"Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me." Exodus 10:17

Notice the collapsing shed that is overrun by vines. That could be our lives unless we are on guard, watching out for Satan.  His voice sounds enticing. His ways easily lead us on the wide path to destruction.  Choose your path carefully, my friend.  Eternity is for keeps.

           Deserted house on rural road near Morley, NY

                Swamp on Back Hannawa Road  Potsdam, NY

                        Heritage Park downtown Canton, NY

The Golden Days

Nature has taken on a golden caste
   as if her photographer used a golden filter
   on all his photographs

                        Canton-Ogdensburg Road   Canton, NY

Trees are starting to be tinged gold
   with red highlights
   and are peppering the lawns with leafy fallout.

                  Heritage Park  downtown, Canton, NY

Green grass is rapidly fading to pale green
   with golden brown tints

                             Heritage Park

Fields are turning shades of brown and red
   with some vivid greens steadfastly soldiering on

                   Field in rural near Morley, NY

The fogs are rolling in both days and nights
   as air and ground temperatures
   no longer remain constant

                 My back lawn near Potsdam, NY

I often hear the honk of Canadian geese
   as they fly to their winter homes

We have had a bird convention some days
   with dozens of birds perched on trees
   and telephone wires. 
   Is the result cacophony or just plain squawking?
  
Are they discussing their plans for winter?
I wish I spoke “bird”. 
It would be fun to eavesdrop and learn.

The caterpillars inch along
  also seeking a resting place
  for their long winter’s nap.

I see many deer on the side of the road.
Fortunately for all of us,
   they have stayed away from my car.

The air is cooler. 
This weeks “warm” days
   would have been considered “cool” days
   just a month ago.

I enjoy the color changes
   but dread the inevitable coming of winter.

I tell myself to stop complaining and enjoy today.
 

There is no guarantee of how many “todays”
   remain in my life.

                      Brook near West Potsdam, NY

So for now I will enjoy the beautiful golden days
   and the soon to come brilliant orange and red days.

I will let the next day worry about itself.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

Knapps Station Community Church

This is my church.  I have been fed spiritually here as I never had before.

(Check out the website for directions and lots of other great information.)

Knapps Station Church is a great place to feed your soul with the "good stuff" from the Bible.

My church is always providing new bible studies. We have begun one on what it really means to be a Christian.
The class takes place every Sunday at 6:30 pm and runs 4 more weeks. It's not too late to start and find out what the word "disciple" really means.


Christian, It's Not What You Think

Knapps Station Community Church has many surprises in store for those who seek.

Some creative soul put this in one of the sidewalk blocks.  Can you find it?

         Tree on Potsdam-Madrid Road  Potsdam, NY

I would also like to suggest that you check out the blog page for my friend, Jean Oathout.  I have received much good information and many blessings from her blog:

Treasures in Christ

Resurrection Power  is a current post that is very inspiring.

Book Review

The Jesus I Never Knew

Phillip Yancey takes a serious look at the Jesus he found in the Gospels.  He explores Jesus as the passionate, dynamic, emotional and incredibly loving Son of God that we will find when we carefully read the Gospels and truly look at the One whose life inspired "the greatest story ever told!"  This book is one to be read slowly and savored in order to pick up the insights Philip Yancey learned from many decades of study.  I heartily recommend it. 

Audacious by Beth Moore

Do you have an "audacious" love of God?  Beth Moore, who is a dynamic teacher of Christian classes, takes on the challenge to lead women and everyone to learn to boldly love God who "audaciously" loves us and is longing for us to "audaciously" love Him in return.

Commentary
A friend gave me a Gospel Parallels.  In it, you read the same New Testament stories from Matthew, Mark and Luke - at the same time.  The Gospels are not all identical.  Each has a lightly different slant. Matthew wrote to the Jews, Mark wrote to the Christians in Rome and Luke wrote to the Gentiles (all those not Jewish).  I've read all these stories before but reading them together like this has helped me to gain greater insight into what Jesus meant when He spoke the words.  I am enjoying this.

Blessing

May you be blessed by knowing
   that the Great I Am
   who is Creator of Heaven and Earth 
   is YOUR Loving Father.
   His grace and forgiveness
   for whatever you've done or should have done
   is anxiously, audaciously waiting for you
   to come to Him, to acknowledge Him
   and to ask for
   and experience His complete forgiveness.
And may you be blessed by the absolute JOY
   that only His love can bring.

                    Bridge downtown Potsdam, NY

Blessings for you,my friend for a wonderful week. 

All photos taken by Debbie and Tim McEwen - 

  used with permission

All bible reference from the NIV unless otherwise noted

If you are interested, you can click on the Blog Archive 

  dates on the top right side of this post to connect 

  to previous blog posts

I would love to hear from you either on the comment 

  section of this blog post or through my email  

  debbieamcewen@gmail.com

I post every other Saturday 

The next post will be 10-22-2016

                A cute birdhouse on a stump near Higley  Colton, NY