It is 61 degrees and clear skies in this morning @ 7:08 cst.  Wish you all were here and worshipping God together.  It was a beautiful sunrise, the birds are singing, and our spirits are high with enthusiasm at the prospect of a new day to try to do better today than we did yesterday; trying to give God all praise, honor, and glory in all the good He has for us to walk in. 

Ofttimes I wonder why God would be so good to a dust worm like me, to permit me to see another one of His wonderful days.  But then I think, if He didn't permit it, that means He would be ready for me to see the greatest day of all, so I am blessed either way.  I am blessed to see the temporary day or I am blessed to see the greatest day of all - The Eternal Day.  Isn't it marvelous that He allows us to see, understand, and feel a little portion of His day of eternity while He richly blesses us in these temporary days while we are here on earth?   He says in Matthew 11:28, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.    To rest in God is the greatest rest there can possibly be. 

He tells us, Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Heb. 12:1-2)    That cloud of witness is the Paul' life, Peter's life, and every one who have suffered trials of fires in their lives as they realize that Christ suffered the greatest pain and shame of all for them; those who can identify with the entirety of the preceding chapter in the Hebrew letter.  The weight they have laid aside is all the work, labour, and burdens of life before they see the ease of the yoke of Christ.  Paul tells us to lay those things aside and not to fret about them, just as the cloud of witness has done.  Weren't the blessed brethren in the 11th chapter able to do that, also?  This is what God is telling us.  We have the same ability, faith, and strength to do that very same thing.  The sin of the flesh that we are born with is to be omitted as we commit our lives to Christ anew every day.  He has taken our sins upon Him on the cross.  Let's not let them weigh us down with the remembrance of them.    

Each portion of our life, whether it be a day, month, or years is a leg of that race we are given to run while we live here.  This race is not for competition; to get to the finish line before anyone else.  We all run it to finish it in as good a fashion as we can, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.(Phil. 3:14)      Sure we are going to stumble and fall along the way, but by the grace and strength of God we get up and go on with the race until the day when He, by His power and His alone, changes our temporal blessings to our eternal blessing; at home and at rest with our Master, Saviour, Elder Brother, and Friend; Jesus Christ our Lord.  May God bless all with His daily watch care over us.

Your Brother in Christ, I hope,

Carl Arnold