Living Above the Sun Ministries

"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...

 ...and as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me! For I am His, and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ!" At Jesus' death on the cross, the nights He was buried in the grave, to His resurrection and "missing" body, the disciples were full of fear!  Two and Two were not going together making four in their head.  As they confessed out of their mouth unknowingly to Jesus on the road to Emmaus "We had hoped He would be the one to redeem Israel!"  The women had this tall tale about angels, and an empty tomb, and it was making sense for them.  The men were locked inside their home afraid of what would happen to them.  Then Jesus appeared among them and said, "Peace be with you, and to you."  This was a frequent phrase Jesus used in His ministry.   In the silence of the days after Jesus died don’t you know his followers were reflecting on all Jesus had said and spoken. Reflecting on the scripture He had taught th...

  "Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way.   And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.”   So the  Lord  sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the  Lord  and against you; pray to the  Lord  that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the  Lord  said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”  So Moses made a br...

What is it about water?  The way the waves come and in and out and take us in with it...the ebbing and flowing.  The way it flows down rivers, marshes, and streams to find something bigger, and be apart of it.  What about its roar to its quiet laps that calms us?  Why do we love to be near it?  Laying next to her on a sandy beach?  On a pier on a lake? Does is remind us of our cleansing?  We find hope in our washing away of yesterday to a clean slate. Is it because it is refreshment, and a very life source to our bodies? We find comfort and sleep in hearing rain patter, and the soft rumble of thunder.   Maybe it's the rhythm it all keeps, and it becomes something familiar.   The truth in all of it is that God the creator, is the one who gives and brings peace.  He reveals Himself to us through the ocean waves, and continuing rain of nourishment and refreshment.  He teaches us of boundaries of the shoreline, he won't put mo...

  “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7 I was reading in Genesis this morning pondering the difference in offerings that Cain and Abel gave God. More so the persons of who they were. I see Abel very much being a shadow of King David and later the person of Jesus. Abel’s name meant ‘breath’ or ‘nothing.’ He was a keeper of sheep. Not sure how many trades there were in the beginning. Typically, in the context of the Bible being a sheep keeper was a very low job. It was maybe a step up from being a leper. Cain was a first born, he worked the ground that was already cursed because of the sins of his parents. There isn't a lot of background given, all we know is Cain brought an offering of the work of his hands, and Abel brought his offering of the firstborn of a flock, and it's fat. "And the LORD respected Abel's offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering." When we d...