The paralyzed man couldn’t get to Jesus by himself. His friends needed to carry him to Jesus. Overwhelming grief, tragic news, crippling diagnoses can leave our friends paralyzed, as well. The shock, the numbness, the pain of their circumstance prevents them from uttering prayers but He intercedes (Romans 8:26.) Tears and groaning are languages He understands. We can carry our friends to the Lord as well, not on a mat but in our prayers. We read of Jesus healing and forgiving the paralyzed man because of ‘their faith,’ the faith of his friends.
Have you ever made a pinky promise or pinky swear? Have you shaken hands as an agreement of ‘let’s do it!’ Have you and another pricked your fingers and dropped blood on each other’s fingers as an act of promise? We often make promises to one another with every intention to keep them but we don’t, we fail to keep those promises.
If you have a sibling you have probably found you remember the same situation differently. You may think your sibling was Mom or Dad’s favorite but they think you were the favorite child. You may remember your sibling encouraging you to lick the dog’s tail and they remember you doing it all by yourself. You may remember your sibling hitting you on the head with a broom but they remember someone else hitting you on the head with a rake.
Voice command software with training recognizes our speech, our patterns, our frequent sayings, and like our phones become more predictive overtime at what we will speak. Designed to streamline our already busy days, voice recognition software increases in use and popularity. Without spending that training time however it is an inefficient process. The key is investing the time to make it work.
‘We would like to have you over for dinner, Saturday,’ says a couple from church. “We are having a birthday party for my husband Friday night and we would like you to come.’ In the mail, is an embossed envelope with calligraphy and a burgundy seal closure, you are invited to celebrate a wedding. You may not be excited about the event but deep down you are glad to be asked. Even the extremest of shy introverts like to be invited even if they choose not to attend.
In the 1920’s a doctor presented the public with his theory that animals respond to a dangerous situation with one of two responses; fight or flight (running from the situation). This theory was then adapted also as a natural human response, our flesh’s response.
We often want God to rush answers to our prayers. Nothing seems to be happening, you wonder if He was even listening. He was, He is. God being all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise knows that waiting will make us stronger and healthier and make it easier for us to fly high, soar and dance.
There is a term in the computer world ‘GIGO.’ It means garbage in, garbage out. You understand this. If we
‘Alicia, you’re not listening to me,’ said her seven-year-old twin sister exasperatedly. “Because you’re always talking, Addy,’ retorted Alicia. ‘Talk,
