Living Above the Sun Ministries

  I recently read an interesting quote, "The enemy thought he had taken "everything" from Job.  But Job's everything was God."   I've been pondering on this.  If your week has been anything like mine everything seems to have gone wrong.  All the rain and storms has brought flooding, knocked out power and puts us in gloomy moods.  The gloominess can dim our view of perspective and cheerfulness.  I sat down this morning and made a list of things that have gotten to me this week taking into thought this quote that my everything is God.  It looked a little like this: My everything isn't my car. My everything isn't my health or my weight. My everything isn't technology, or social media, or WiFi. My everything isn't lack of having a spouse or children. My everything isn't whether people like me. Job's words were "I know my Redeemer lives, though my flesh be destroyed, I will see Him in my flesh."  Nothing in life can happen to us ...

  "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." I remember memorizing this verse in 1st grade and it has stayed with me all these years.  I still have my first Bible with that verse highlighted in it. Over the past few years I have written that I believe this verse is the very crux of the Bible. Every verse we read in the Bible can be passed through this and asked questions.   What is being taught?   What is being called out?   Where is it showing work needs to be done?  What sin needs to be repented of? In this same God breath of ALL SCRIPTURE, are we reading all scripture?   One look at our churches today in America and I think the consensus is a resounding NO!  We are not reading our Bibles as a "training in doing right."  Nor are we reading to know the will of the Father in Heaven.  I'm the first to admit my guilt in this too.  While I may read a ver...

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the  Lord : I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.   And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the  Lord ,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the  Lord . For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more...I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanlessness, and from your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you." Jeremiah 31:33-34; Ezekiel 36:25-26 It is thought that John's practice of baptism may have originated with the Old Testament idea of purification.  There are two big things that come to mind when thinking of things that purify, water and fir...

" Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.   Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,   and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.   “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.   Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.   John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”   But Jesus answered him,  “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. ”  Then he consented.   And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and h...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-6, 14 A few Wednesday evenings ago I went to church and we engaged in an Advent study written by one of the members of my church.  I had met with the pastor earlier that day to talk about anything and everything really, but we both recognized the urgency of getting people to come back to church after the pandemic and pondered how you get back in the habit.  That evening after the Bible study we prayed for our church budget and that people would return to church.  I feel like a hypocrite volunteering to pray specifically for that in the closing prayer as I too have strayed away from church, but have been fighting myse...

" Rejoice always,   pray without ceasing,   give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - Thessalonians 5:16-18 In September of 2020 I had the privilege to fly up to Washington D.C. and pray for our country with Franklin Graham and hundreds of thousands of others.  We prayed for peace, reconciliation, compassion and kindness to cross our land.  We prayed for the elected officials, and law enforcement.  We prayed for people to come to know Christ, for communities and families. Standing behind me in this picture is the Washington Monument.  Standing at 555 Feet tall it was the tallest structure in the world upon its completion in 1884.  On the very top there is an aluminum cap noting dates, but the most importantly is the inscription facing the east toward the rising sun.  "Laus Deo" Latin translated to "Praise be to God."  Praise be to God indeed, whose name is higher than the rising sun. Can we lear...

" Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.   In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.   For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had." - John 5:1-5 This morning driving into work I had on my playlist, "Choir Favorites."  I miss and love my choir, I love singing in choirs and have been singing all of my life.  The song, "There is a Fountain" (traditional hymn) came on.  Then in my devotion time I read of the fountain of cleansing in a prayer book.  There are fountains all in uptown Charlotte to remind me of these truths today and everyday. Further in this text of John there is man who has had a sickness for over 30 years who encounters Jesus.  Jesus si...