The newly released book by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn titled "The Harbinger" (www.hopeoftheworld.org) has been promoted through various Christian media outlets. We have been absorbing the information and the bottom line to this message from Rabbi Cahn is that we are called to humble our selves before our Holy God, to pray, and seek His Face.

The Rabbi's heartfelt cry to the Body of Yeshua is lifted from the Lord's response to King Solomon as the King asked for an answer to what the future would hold for the nation that he was leading. God's response was simple and direct.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says "If My people which are called by My Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek My Face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."

On our digitally remastered CD "He Loves You" is the scripture song "If My People" which is taken from 2 Chronicles 7:14. We recorded the song over 30 years ago, however, the message is relevant for us today. The solid foundation of God's Word, which is eternal and unchanging, is our only source of Truth.

Y'shua, our Messiah said "I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life no one comes to the Father except through me..." If you are a child of God though adoption into His family, then check your heart for the leaven of sin and sweep it out of your life. If you do not know our Loving Father or have relationship with Him through His Son, then all you have to do is ask Him to forgive you and clean you up from the inside out and accept His Gift of Love - Life Forever!

We all want to see healing in our Nation and all around the world. As the old song says...Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed with the amount of work that we have to do with a limited amount of time. We need to be ready to calm ourselves down and recognize that our busy schedule and the pile of tasks assigned to us will be accomplished without going into panic mode.

On a recent flight I was a witness to how quickly one can go from being relational and calm to "get out of my way and out of my face and don't bother me with you questions and requests" mode.

The flight attendant in on the 50 seat plane was relational and accommodating with all the passengers. She took extra time with making sure each person's need was met and went over and above the call with some requests. The flight was less than an hour long and the flight attendant was still at the rear of the plane serving the last couple of rows their beverage service when the cockpit signalled the 20 minutes to touchdown call.

The cart and the attendant came up the aisle with great haste as she put the announcement over the system to shut down all electronics, stow your carry on luggage, tighten your seatbelts, put away your tray tables and place your seats in their upright and locked positions. She also had to pass out declaration forms and make her final trash sweep of the cabin and finish her own paperwork and stowing and locking of the galley items. Time was running out and she was in panic mode!

The man in the seat next to me had spilled his drink and was asking the attendant for another drink to replace it. She did not really have the time to process his drink order, but she did it anyway. It was impressive that she completed all the tasks and was able to strap herself in before the final approach phase of the flight.

Once strapped into her seat, which faced my seat, we talked about the amount of work that she had to get done in a very short amount of time. She blamed herself for taking too much time with the passengers and giving out extra drinks and stopping to talk to people instead of just performing her duties. She went on to note that while she was in a panic the people behind the cockpit door were cool, calm, and collected and not worried about her state of affairs as they quietly and efficiently went about their job.

I appreciated several things about the lessons that I needed to assimilate. I need to slow down and take my time with the various tasks presented to me to accomplish in a day, but still be relational to those around me. Rabbi Saul told us that "love is not rude." I need to be aware of those in my space, but not let the people around me distract me from getting the job done. Last, but not least, I need to acknowledge the Presence of the Lord even though He is hidden from my view. He is quietly getting me safely to my destination. He is never in panic mode and He is the One Who is always on my side.

"Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side..."

I love children's songs. What's not to love? They are simple and clear and teach many things. Children's songs about the love of the Father in Heaven are especially powerful teaching tools. Instructive songs are important to learn, whether for children or the childlike at heart.

One song resonates in my soul very loudly and since I am a Natural Born Follower, I can testify to the truth of the power in these simple, straightforward words.

My God knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow
My God knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow.

Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus
Anywhere, everywhere
I will follow on
Follow, follow, I will follow Jesus
Everywhere He leads me
I will follow Him.

It doesn't get much simpler than that, people. Jesus invites us to follow Him. He knows the way because He is THE WAY. He is never in darkness because HE IS THE LIGHT. He is never uncaring because He loves us with AN EVERLASTING LOVE.

Can you say in your heart and with your mouth, I will follow Jesus? If you do then the wilderness of this world's woes will not bring you fear as you follow our Leader through this world system's fearful and dark maze.

"Anywhere He leads me, I will follow on....!"

Whose side are you on?

In political life there is the left and the right. In the legal world there is the prosecution and the defense. In the sports arena it is the home club against the visiting team. In the male/female relationship conflict it is "he said, she said."

Whether in the area of politics, law, sports, or marriage, the conflict is always just one side versus the other side In truth there is always the third alternative, another side...the Lord's side.

When you choose to be on the Lord's side you are on the side of the One who sees the end from the beginning. He knows our thoughts and the intent of our hearts. His perspective is perfect.

Who is on the Lord's side, who will serve the King? We get to choose everyday whose side we are on...as for me and my house we will serve the Lord (see Joshua 24 verse 15.) When we are on the side of the One Who says He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (see John 14 verse 6) we are on the only side that matters.

No one comes to the Father except through the access door of the resurrected Son of the Living God and in so choosing the Lord's side, one chooses life and that life is abundant and full. We are filled with love and peace and joy and assurance.

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) who penned the hymn which began "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee..." wrote the hymn "Who Is On The Lord's Side?" Miss Havergal was a woman of many talents and abilities, although she was frail and in poor health for much of her short life, she was filled with a strong faith and assurance in the Lord's merciful provision.

To choose the Lord's side is the best choice, the only choice that one can make to have a sure victory over the conflicts in the world.

"The Death of Intimacy"

Strange title, but not really once the context is given. The context is the observation of the modern Church's apparent lack of teaching the value of one on One quiet time with the Lord. We are so busy running here and there in pursuit of the latest mega meeting that we forget that the Walk with the Lord is just that...a WALK with the Lord.

The old hymn "In The Garden" expresses the joy of "He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own..."

What are we missing in this era of "bigger-is-better-megachurchianity?" In a word, we are missing - EVERYTHING!!!

The joy that my Father and I share on a daily moment by moment basis is so sweet that even nature seems to pause to take in the beauty of our conversation. My relationship with the Lord is so deeply personal and intimate that it is too private to be shared with anyone else.

My personal time with my Father is leisurely and refreshing and filled with Life. He instructs me to "be still and know that I Am God!" To that end I choose to turn off the TV, radio, IPod...whatever electronic gadget is drawing my focus and attention and listen........then He speaks in the Still Small Voice that I have grown to love and trust and He assures me that I am His own!

"I am my Beloved's and He is mine His banner over me is Love..." is a chorus that I learned many years ago in the infancy of my walk with the Lord. Here I am many years later and that chorus - taken directly out of Scripture - expresses the depth of the feeling that fills my soul.

I feel sad for the banging/clanging/drum beat driven corruption of what constitutes a "Worship Service" in the mind set of today's Seekers. Am I against drums and electric guitars in a Service? No, I am against the "Death of Intimacy."

"I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the Voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known."

Here's the crux of the matter and the challenge..are we willing to take the time to give our undivided attention to a quiet time of Life giving Intimacy with our Father or are we going to put intimacy to death?

Michael J. Fox, the actor widely known as Marty McFly from the "Back to the Future" movie series, and spokesperson for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter games once said that in spite of his current physical limitations he was grateful and thankful. He added that he did not know what mailing address to send his gratitude to....in other words, he did not know God or where God lived.

If we are followers of Jesus (Y'shua) we know that He is the Son of the Living God. He has shown us God's Face - "if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father" - he told his disciple Phillip. Talking to His Father was a daily, living, breathing, reality for our Lord Jesus. We are one in Him, so talking to our Father should be a daily, living, breathing, reality for us as His Children.

If I could answer the mailing address quest of Mr. Fox I would tell him about the One Whose Name and Address he can send his gratitude to....The True and Living God; The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; The Beginning and the End; The Author and Finisher of our Faith; The Great I Am; The Bright and Morning Star; The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world; The Faithful and True Witness; Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace...........

The first followers of Y'shua asked Him to teach them to pray so he instructed them:

"Our Father" the Person, the Object of our petition is named...

"Which art in Heaven" there you have it, the mailing address of our Father. He resides in a Place called Heaven.

"Hallowed by Thy Name" Wow!!! His Name is called "Holy" He is far above us in the place of Heaven and yet He is our Father.

"Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven" Not only is our Holy Father residing in Heaven, He is the King. We should desire to see His good will accomplished in our Earthly residence. He should sit on the Throne of our life and heart.

"Give us this day our daily bread" Our needs are met in the day. We need only today's provision to make us full.

"And forgive us our trespasses.." We need to give up our own sinful ways everyday and seek forgiveness for the times we give in to our old nature.

"As we forgive those who trespass against us..." Mmmm. We need to forgive. Harbouring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping it hurts our enemy.

"And lead us not into temptation" We are led into temptation when we allow our eyes to see things they shouldn't and our ears to hear things they should not hear. We are led into temptation by our own lustful nature...so we need to kill that old man, everyday!

"But deliver us from evil" Okay, so we allow our eyes and ears to succumb to the lusts of the old nature and we fall into the old routines of sin...Praise the Lord that He will reach out His Hand and rescue us from the slimy pit of despair that we have slipped into by our willful, stubborn, pride. But...we need to remember that we don't go out and sin just because we know that God will rescue us. Why would we put our Heavenly Father through the anguish of seeing His Child in such jeopardy? We love Him and want to honour Him...

"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory..." He is the All Powerful, Glorious, Mighty King! We should bow to Him and worship Him with contrite and grateful hearts as we lift our hands to Him and sing out our praises to Him now and...

"Forever!!!!! Amen"

"Mr Fox," I would say if I met him with this answer, "You have been bought from slavery to a mean taskmaster and delivered into the household of the King who has adopted you and made you His Son by washing you clean in the Blood of the Lamb. You are no longer a pawn in the evil one's fallen world, you get to choose to become a member of the Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, a Person belonging to God.

You don't have to be in the dark as to Who it is that has blessed you with a wonderful family and resources to stand on a platform of influence. You can be a voice for the King, if you choose to accept Adoption into His Family."

Once upon a time, I was singing at a conference in a local church. The guest speaker at the event asked me to sing "The Lord's Prayer" in an unusual fashion by singing each line and then stopping so he could expound on each truth.

After he was done his teaching he asked me to sing the prayer straight though with no interruption. The joy that I felt in sharing this beautiful piece of music and words reached deep into my soul.

I know Who I am talking to when I pray. I know where He lives and what He has done in my life, what He is doing, and what He will do...forever. Amen!!!

The snowball is created by the compacting together of millions of crystals of frozen water. The frozen water is commonly called snow flakes.

In the design process, each crystal is a unique creation, no two patterns are alike.

The crystals can be packed together into a ball of snow that can be used as the perfect artillery shell in a snowball fight.

They can be rolled around to make a bigger set of three balls which, when stacked on top of each other and embellished with a corn cob pipe, a carrot nose, a set of coal eyes, with a jaunty top hat, can become the subject of a winter yuletide jingle.

But, alas, the lowly snowball will melt away forever when heat is applied. So the second law of Thermodynamics states that all things pass from a higher state of organization into a deteriorated and lower state. Example, leave an apple on the counter for a month...you get the point?!

So what does this have to do with hymns, songs, and spiritual songs?

Our life here is about as long as the life span of a snowball, when compared to the length of eternity (which does not have a beginning or an end) and like the snowball our life here on the planet has a start and a finish.

We are each uniquely designed by the Creator out of the crystal composition of earth. Like the lowly snowball we can be used as artillery shells by the enemy of our souls to attack those around us or we can be like the frosty snowman and live for a season before we melt away back into the dirt from which we were formed....but wait...there's more!!!

What about the lowly snowball? As the saying goes "it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell." Why? Because hell is hot and it is filled with burning regret and terror and turmoil that makes anything horrific on this plane of existence look like a sesame street playground.

What does that have to do with nice Christian songs?

Glad you asked....

Unlike the snowball, we are alive because we have been made in the image of our Father, our Creator. He formed our first father from the dust of the earth, breathed into him the Breathe of Life, and made him a living soul. Yes, like the snowball, we are a unique Creation, no two humans are identical in our Spiritual make-up, each Soul is unique unto itself. We are unlike the lowly snowball because you and I are Living Spirits made in the Image of our Creator. We live in a DNA House of Clay and have free will and the ability to choose. We can choose our future destiny. What do we have to do to be kept from melting into a puddle of eternal regret?

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and the cleansing of your heart with the Living Word of Life. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and you will be transformed, made new, and saved.

Back in the day, Andre Crouch penned the song "Soon and Very Soon (We Are Going To See The King)" and we anticipated the wonderful event with wide eyes.

The reality of the King of Kings coming back to Planet Earth is True as a future event, because He told us He would return, so we look with eagerness toward The Day of His Appearing.

We have assurance that we will see Him one day, whether we go to see Him through the grave or go to see Him through the skies, we can look for the Day with joy.

In recent days notable people have been leaving their earthly habitation and stepping into Eternity. We grieve with their loved ones, because Death is an Enemy. For the ones who have left their bodies without taking the time to make room for the King in their hearts and lives, the day of Death is indeed sad.

Without the Lord, the Existence beyond this life is a forever separation of unspeakable darkness, away from the Father's loving Presence of Light.

In the Lord, the Existence beyond this life is a forever time of unspeakable joy, love, peace, and Light in His Loving Presence.

So, here is the gist of the message for today...soon, in the twinkling of an eye, time will be no more for you and for me. We will see the King and either cower in fear as He rejects us or we fall down in awe as He receives us as one of His Own...soon - maybe today?

In the blink of an eye I found myself tumbling in my car one and half times! My eight month pregnant belly was behind the wheel of the car and my twenty two month old daughter was strapped in her car seat in the back when I hit the black ice and found myself topsy turvy in the snow covered field. It seemed to be no more than the blink of an eye, yet it was a slow motion event that had my mind racing and my heart jumping in my chest.

The car stopped on the driver's side and my daughter's loud cries in the back as she hung suspended in her car seat drove home the reality of what had just happened and how we had miraculously been spared from a tragic occurance. My racing heart and whirling head began to thank my Heavenly Father for being so close to us as kind strangers appeared outside the car, pulling my whimpering child out of the back seat and righting the car so that I could get out of the driver's door.

All was well with the baby in the back seat and the baby in my belly.

How fast is a camera flash? The blink of an eye is how fast it is! Do you know how fast our life span is in the span of Eternity? The blink of an eye, in the flash of a millisecond, that's all that our time registers in the Big Span.

So, why do we think that the dash between the two dates on a tombstone is such a very long duration? Is it because, when we are in the middle of living the dash between the dates it seems to stretch on and on and on?

In the span of Eternity the dash between the dates is as fast as the flash of a camera or as fast as the blink of an eye...so why do we live our lives so carelessly? Why do we tap dance on down the road without looking at where we are going and thinking about what lies on the road before us?

The blink of an eye is all it takes to be breathing air one second and then not breathing the next. The black ice event made me realize how close we can come to stepping out of our "DNA House of Clay" and stepping into Eternity's House.

The question one needs to answer is...how will we live our dash between the dates? At the end of the road, in the blink of an eye, in the camera flash of time that we've inhabited we will step out of time and into Timelessness. We will stand before the Creator of Time, Space, and Matter and He will judge the "dash between the dates."

We will either hear from His Lips "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest!" or "Depart from Me, I never knew you!"

In the blink of an eye, we can surrender our Dash between the Dates over to the One Who Created us in the first place.

Warren and I arrived in the city of Hamilton, Ontario on Sunday June 14th where our son, David was booked to share his music with the folks at Harmony Baptist Church's contemporary morning service. We had a bit of time between the end of the Traditional Service and the start of the Contemporary Worship service and as David went to meet with the Worship Leader and Team for a short practice we waited in the foyer with David's wife, Samantha.

The anticipation of joining with our brothers and sisters of like precious faith for the time of praise to our loving our Heavenly Father was refreshing and took away any weariness that we felt from having a full schedule and little sleep over the course of the previous few days.

Suddenly, David appeared in the doorway and told us that the worship team was shy a few people and he had offered our services to help in the morning worship, an offer that was accepted by the Leader! We found ourselves meeting with the musicians a few moments later and going over some unfamiliar, yet beautiful music. A few short minutes after that we were in the main sanctuary and testing microphones on the platform!

"Okay, Lord, here we are ready and willing to serve!" It was not said out loud, but we thought it in our hearts. We had quick introductions to the leadership and expressed our thanks at being allowed to share the platform...we never take it lightly when we are given the privilege of being part of those who serve by leading praise and worship, because the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, a commission that we accept in deep humility.

The service began and we were up and singing the few contemporary pieces that Warren and I had just learned. The praise flowed from the congregation to the Throne and the one familiar song that we sang was a hymn "All Hail The Power of Jesus' Name" and its words can be sung to three different melodies. The melody chosen for this particular service always reminds me of a Christmas Carol, as the word "Crown" is sung like the phrase "Gloria In Excelsis" and one cannot help but feel lifted up into the Heavenlies as the notes flow like living water over diamonds in a rushing stream.

Jesus' Name truly is powerful, at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the leaders at Harmony Baptist Church for allowing us to share with you and letting us join your worship team.

That morning of service refreshed us and lifted our hearts above the grief of laying Warren's Dad to rest. We were reminded that this earthly journey is temporary, but with the Father's Gift of Eternal Life, Eternity will go on and on and on....so we can rejoice and be glad because we will be able to sing "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" and know that we can join in the everlasting song and Crown Him Lord of All!....forever and ever. Amen!