Woke up this morning for the first time in a long time that I had no pain.  I feel better today than I have in months.

Trusting that I really am on the road to as full recovery – at least as much as I can be.

HOT the past couple days and will be for at least the rest of the week.  Carla’s garden is doing okay, just demanding more water, which we expect.  She brought in the first of the blackberries this morning, most were ready, a couple were still a bit green and tart.  But the handful was nice to have.

Deer are doing a lot more visiting.  A couple have even chosen to bed down on the north part of the property.  Young bucks probably trying to escape all the activity in the orchards during the harvest.  Thus far they are sticking to the wild alfalfa she lets grow for them and leaving everything else alone.

Philippians 1:20-21 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

As I meditated on God’s Word today, the overwhelming desire is to be like Him. 

It is indeed a lofty goal, one that doesn’t come naturally.  We must first KNOW who Christ is, we must understand not only is He our Savior, but He expects us to mirror what He did on earth.

To help us we have the Holy Spirit to teach, guide and direct us.  When we study His Word under the influence of the Holy Spirit we find that these are more than just words, they breathe life, they establish a boundary for us to live in and a guide for us to serve Him.

But, we look at our life and we see so many times we have failed God.  We know how history, we know how weak we are and we know that even though He is there to help we have turned our back on Him.

How can I possibly say that my life is a direct reflection of Him and when people see me they know that He dwells within and my actions and my words are the voice of Christ.

Yet, we know, as AW Tozer points out that “There are rare Christians whose very presence incites others to be better Christians.  I want to be that rare Christian.”

Rarely have these people had little sin in their lives.  When we meet them we are often meeting the person they have become over a lifetime and it isn’t a coincidence that they are men and women of more advanced age.  It took time for them to attain that level of trust and peace in Christ.

While I have met many outstanding Christians in my life, I have met very few who meet that criteria of their very presence making a difference in another Christian’s life.  It is the way they hold themselves, their confidence, speech and face adversity; they are even in their emotions and solid on a foundation of understanding who God is and who they are in Him.

They are very humble and really don’t need to speak, they just ‘are in Christ’ and we just feel their in depth relationship with Christ, like an energy wave emitting from them and we want to be like them.

We often have not seen the struggles they have had in life, the things that they have endured and the hours the daily spend in prayer and communication with God.  But we see the end results and we want to be like them, strong in Christ.

Will I ever be able to give that kind of impression on people?  I do not know, truth be told I really don’t think I am capable of it.  But, that doesn’t excuse me for striving to, at all times, have Christ and His Life shine through me.

It takes work and determination, no halfhearted attempt but a full dedication to Christ and that only comes from paying the price of prayer, studying His Word, following the Holy Spirit and displaying Christ’s love and practicing until it becomes a sincere part of who we are in Him.

Later, Art :-)