I’m an early riser. You kind of have to be when you live in a hot summer climate. The most opportune times to enjoy the outdoors are the pre-noon hours. And the absolute best time is right when the dawn begins to break.

I open up all the windows and let in the cool, refreshing air. Along with the air come the birdsongs. I am never sure if it is one bird — the mockingbird who can mimic all the neighborhood birds—or all the birds that I first hear. But soon, they are all singing, and their song is as refreshing as the early morning air.

There is something uplifting in birdsongs. 

Song of Solomon 2:11-12 says, “The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.” 

Birdsongs remind us of the hope of each day.

God is the creator or all, and although birds aren’t the most often mentioned animal (fish, sheep and lambs are the top three) they often represent God’s care and provision for us.

"Those who hope in the Lord . . . will soar like eagles." Isaiah 40:31

They don’t sow or reap or have a storeroom but God feeds them (Luke 12:24)

Though sparrows cost only a half penny apiece, God knows what happens to each one (Matthew 10:29)

God knows every bird in the mountains. Psalm 50:11

God even uses the metaphor of a bird sheltering us under his wings to demonstrate his protection of us (Ps. 91:4)

One of the smallest and least expensive animals mentioned in the Bible is a reminder of a loving God whose mercies are new every morning. Enjoy the music.

I have always been fascinated with the origins of idioms. Such as . . .


Go the whole nine yards
Definition: To give your all toward something.
Origin: Fighter pilots during World War II had nine yards’ worth of ammunition. When they gave their all to the battle, they would run out of this whole nine yards of ammunition. 


OR . . .


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Armed to the teeth
Definition: Being overly prepared or too well equipped.
Origin: A possible origin is 17th century pirates who wanted to make sure they never ran out of ammunition, and held a gun in each hand. In order to be prepared, they tended to keep another gun in their pocket and held a knife in their teeth. 


Another is Red Letter Day, which goes back to the late 1300s when important and religious days were marked in red on the calendar. Today it means any day of special significance or opportunity.


This reference, of course, took me straight to the red letters in the Bible, the words of Christ. Though “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16, emphasis mine) there is something even more authoritative in the red letters for these are the words Christ himself spoke while he walked with man—not words spoken about Him.


If you ever wake up feeling down, or confused, or disillusioned, determine to make it a Red Letter Day. Pick up your Bible and head straight for the red letters and read just them. All the answers are there—in the power of the red letters.


(If you have never heard Crowder’s song “Red Letters,” click the link below and enjoy.)

Not that one.

Not the one regarding how we should pray, that begins, “Our father, who is in heaven . . . ,” but the one the Lord prayed for us. On the night he was to be betrayed, he prayed for himself, then for his disciples, and then for us. Those who would believe in Him throughout the ages.

This prayer reveals so much: the difficulty that all of Christ’s followers will face in a world that rejects God (14-16); that only God’s word is truth, and only God’s truth will purify man (17); and the great commission to reveal Christ to a lost world (18) — truths for all disciples of all ages. 

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 

18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
But then beginning in verse 20, he prayed specifically for us, those who did not walk with him while he was alive. He prays for the intimacy of relationship we are invited into that reveals who God is and the unity of believers (21-23) and for the hope of eternal life (24).

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 

21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 

23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 

24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 
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The Lord of all creation prayed for us. Amazing.

The chicken was gone. I thought she had either flown the coop (though I didn’t have a coop for her) or ended up on Pedro’s plate. But then my friend gave me a fake rooster to place in my yard, and guess what? She came back.


Now, every morning I can find her pecking for grubs in the bark not more than a few feet from Felix (the rooster’s name). She will also sometimes stop and talk to him, and then strut around him a few times.


Whatever she is hoping to accomplish isn’t happening and isn’t going to happen. She has put her hopes in something that’s not going to satisfy.


Sometimes we are waiting for our idols to come through for us too . . . to satisfy us.


These can be our possessions, hobbies, health, travels, relationships. Anything that we put our hope in to make us happy and complete. And though they can bring us temporary happiness they will never provide lasting joy.


There is only one thing—one person— that will fill that void completely, and that is God.


David writes in Psalms 107:8-9  “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”


Then again in Psalm 17:15 he says, “. . .  when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.”


We should enjoy what God has provided for us to enjoy, but we should set our hopes  and expectations of joy and satisfaction in God alone. 

It came out of nowhere. At least it seemed like it did.

I woke up one morning and could not raise my left arm above a certain point and certainly couldn’t pull it up behind my back very far without pain. If I tripped or had a sudden jar, the pain was excruciating.

I finally asked my doctor for a referral to physical therapy, and it didn’t take my therapist long to determine the problem. Frozen shoulder.


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She warned me that it would be a long process, up to eighteen months, and started me on some gentle stretching, slowly trying to break up the connective tissue which had tightened and thickened. 

Each week, as she assessed my improvement, she added different stretches and then introduced the resistance bands. These were meant to help with both stretching and strength. Each week meant a new band, a new exercise, until a year after I started, I was pain free. 

Resistance bands work on the premise of oppositional force. As you pull on the band there is another force working against you. Research has proven that resistance bands are extremely effective in building strength, as effective or even more effective than traditional weights. To increase intensity you can choose a more resistant band or change where you hold the current band to create more resistance.

The use of resistance bands reminded me of James exhortation to fellow Christians.  “. . . resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7)


Satan is indeed a strong force, one that could definitely create pain and problems. But if we continue to resist, pull away, we will become stronger. 

How do we resist the devil? The Bible offers many ways.

James 4:7 — Submit yourselves therefore to God . . .

Ephesians 6:11 — Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Ephesians 4:27 — . . . give no opportunity to the devil.

 Peter 5:8 — Be sober-minded (living with a single-minded focus); be watchful. 

And what happens if we do resist Satan? 


He will flee from you (James 4:7)


He will leave (Matthew 4:11)


We will conquer him (Revelation 12:11)


So what are we waiting for? Let’s start working out!