More then a game

For we re hisworkmanship, creted in Christ Jsus for good works, which God prpared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

The Game box, that's Juan's thing. Its a little plastic container with four buttons that brings infinite amounts of fun. When Juan touches the switch an the little "On" light glows, th games begin. The Game Box offer him hours of entertainment, and Juan wonders what kind of a genuis could have possibly invente it.

Certainly the kids he sees in the mirror couldn't have ever thought of it. Juan makes a nasty scowl at himself. He might as well; certian kids at school make fun of that face. When Juan looks into the mirror, he dislikes everything he sees.

"If only real life was as simple as on of these games," he tells hid big bother, Fernando.

"Juan, take another look in the mirror, Bro," Fernando says. Juan does just that, a little puzzled, as his brother picks up a bible and read a verse. It's the verse for today, Ephesians 2:10.

The Works Box

Juan has never thought about this before: He, Juan, is God's creation! THe guy who made the Game box, must be smart. but how man smarts does God have? Infinite Amounts! But instead of designing computer consoles, God made animals. And Mountians. And Juan.

If the smart computer guy designed the Game Box to play good games, then God designed Juan o do good works. That means it doesn't mater how Juan looks. Eyes, ears, nose, the whole "Juan coneole" are exactly the way God wanted them to be.

Juan takes one more look in that mirror. This time he takes a deep breath and watches his chest expand. He's not so puny after all. These arms, he'll do. They'll carry whatever load God designed them to carry. And what's that on his face? Somthing new, a smile!

Gettig to the good stuff

I can't think of better news that I could give you. God loves you, He made you exactly the way you are, and He has really big plans for you. As soon as you and those plans connect, everyone will smile, you, God, and all the people around you.

Happy 4th of July!

There are no devotions today do to too many people being one with holiday activities. But please come back tomorrow the 5th and lave a comment about your 4th of july. I would like to talk about it and make it into a devotions.So please tell all your friend tocome by ad leave a comment about there 4th of July, beacuse I'm going to need lot of comments.

How is it so far? Tomorrow is the 4th of July, so there will be no devotions, because I'm sure a lot of you have family things and wont be able to get on the computer. I know I do. But there will be devotions on the 5th.

It's not automatic

And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. Titus 3:14

I've got to tell you about what happened to Kimberly.

She comes from a musical family. Her mom and dad had met many years earlier, when they both sang in the same vocal grou. After they got married and Kimberly came along, everybody said, "Your girl will definitely be a singer. How could she not be, with parents like you?"

Every time baby Kimberly cried, people said, "Listen to those pipes! A future rock star." Even today, when she calls someone to the phone, her mom says, "Don't strain your singing voice, dear."

Well, last week Kimberly finelly looked into th whole singing thing. She decided to try out for the school chorus. A few grownups gathered by the doorway when Kimberly's turn came up. They knew hers was a musical family, and they wanted to see what this girl could do.

The piano player sat down at the keyboard, played a simple scale, and asked Kimberly to sing the notes. But when Kimberly opened her mouth and tried the first note, she sounded like a sick crow! Then she tried the second note. That one came out sounding something like a squeaky porch door. She surprised everyone.

Don't worry, Kimberly took it well. 'Hey, so much for all that natural ability,'she laughed as she turned to leave.

"Not so fast," said Mrs. Burns, the music teacher. "Your voice is fine, you've just never applied it to music before. you can have all the talent in the world, but the human voice doesn't tend toward music naturally. You have to train it. Becoming a fine singer doesn't happen ll by itself. Join us in the chorus, Kimberly, and we'll have some fun developing your voice."

Makes sense, doesn't it? We all have potential, or what we might accomplish. We have to work to make that potential become actual. There aren't many great prizes you can win just by showing up. It takes a little work to be great at anything that really matters.

Wandering and Wondering

Kimberly's story reminds me of grapes, okay, you knew that was coming!

I've found out a number of interesting things about vineyards. One is that they don't naturally produce great clusters of fruit. You'd think that with nature in charge, it would be sort of automatic, just leave the vines alone and wait for the awesome, abundant grapes.

But it doesn't work that way at all. leave the grapevine on it's own and you'll have one disorganized grapevine, sort of like study hall when teacher leaves the room. The vine wanders all over the area. It twists her, twines there, and wrap itself around the nearest tree.you know what kind of graps wild vines make? Small ones; bitter ones.

Those really big, sweet grapes your local grocery store carries didn't grow wild. they took soome work. They were grown by wise skilled vinedressers, people who have worked most of thei lives to learnd how to grow the best, most delicious, and most abundant grapes possible.

It's just like Kimberly's voice, when you think of it. Withought training, her voice might sound like a crow with the flu. But with some work and help from Mrs. Burns, kimberly could become a songbird.

It's also like the fruit of Gad wants to produce from your life. you won't produce an abundance of good works for Him naturally, will you? No, You'll have to work at it. you'll have to dicover what kinds of good things you can do best. you'll have to work on becoming the kind of person who will do them. And you'll have to get started,growing in an inelligent way under the guidence of God and the peope who love you. Otherwise, you'll be like a wild grapevine, wandering, wondering, skittering, and scattering in all the wrong directions.

Knowing and Growing

I know you want o be all that God desires of you. You're not out to produce skimpy wild grapes. You'd rather create the best fruit around. the main point tday isyou can't make tat ahppen just by showing up. You'll need to have the right attitude and do the right things at the right times. But dont worry; God will help you. Maybe that's why you'vee started going to this blog and why you've continued to tink about it these last few days. See? God has already begun to work, and you've already grown! You're in a much better position to produce good fruit than you were a couple of days ago.

Let's think about the seeds God has planted in your life. He has given you everything you need to grow into a remarkable person, today, a person who serves God fruitfully every day. What are your best talents? What are the bet aspects of your personality? These are some of the seeds that can grow. How do you think God will use them?

It's exciting when you think about it . God loves you so much that He is already, right this monent, preparing you t do wonderful things for Him. Everyday we'll draw another step closer. You were born with natural talent!

Please tell me if your liking it or not and what youre getting out of th lesson.

The big Picture

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser... I amthe vine, you are the branches." John 15:1,5

Okay, here's the picture.

Soccer is your game, and you're pretty good at it. your team has the best record in town. You've spent sountless hours practicing your sport, an you could hand in there with any team in the state. There's no reason you couldn't end up in the national tournament! That would mean a trip to the big city.

Your coach has called a special team meeting. Surely Coach will reveal plas for the offs and the national tournament! You and your eammates can scarcely contain your excitement. But the meeting teakes a turn no one expected. Coach takes you out to a garden and starts to talk  about well, things that have nothing at all to do with socce. Coach talks about setting a good example at school, about doing good things in the community. You sneak a surprise look at your friends. Why this? Why now?

That's how Jesus's desiples felt when they heard about the secrets of the vine. Ever since they'd begun to follow Jesus, they'd been thinking big thoughts about what Jesus and the team could do. After all, people in all the towns weere talking about Jesu. The team might just go to the big city, Jerusalem, and take over the counrtry! This could be huge.

Then, just as everyone had gotten all psyched for the awesome things that might happen, Jesus called a team meeting to talk about...grapes.

Grapes.Vines.Brankches.The desciples probably sat there scratching their heads. Jesus wasn't on his way to sit on a throne in Jerusalem after all. He was about to be arrested and executed as a criminal. but the group didn't know this. All they knew was that He was camparing them to fruit!

Garden Party

Imagine you're there with Jesus in the garden, feeling the cool evening breeze. Think about how His words might have sounded to you. Here's what He said:

"I am the true vine, and My Fatheris the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...By this My father is glorified, that you bear much fruit;so you will be y desciples." (John 15-1-2,5,8)

Just a few words, but they're powerful words, words that will change your whole life. Yes, we'll have plenty to talk about over the next few weeks. For example, think of these comparisons:

The vine is like Jesus. A vine brings sap (food) from the roots to the brankches. Jesus's words nourish us.

The branches are like you and me. When we follow Jesus, we grow from being connected to Him, just like the branch grows from the vine.

The vinedresser is like God. The vinedresser gives careful attention to every single branch in a vineyard, helping each to bear fruit. God cares for you in that same way.

The fruit is like your good work in life. Get the picture? Just as a vinedresser tends the vine and it's branches to produce delicious fruit, God gives you the strenghth through Jesus to do good things.

There's a lot there to chew on, isn't there? Fruit for though! Of all the things Jesus taught His group of friends, He saved the most amazing for last. Before this time, the disciples only thought of themselves as people who followed Jesus. Now they discovered they were connected so deeply that even when He left, He would still be a part of them.

Pieces of the puzzle

Today we'll look at the big picture. Let's assemble the pieces of the puzzle:

• The vineyard is all about what God has planned for you. Jesus put each of us in this world ro bear fruit.
• The vineyard shows that God will tend to your needs. Like a vinedesser, He gives you plenty of care. He prepares you for all the good works ahead.
• The Vineyard shws tat God will work with you all the time. That means every day. Tending a vineyard is full-time work!
• The vineyard shows that you're in this world to be a friend of Jesus. A vine gives it's life completely to the branches. That's just how closely you're connected to Him.
• The vineyard shows that God wants to know exactly what He is doing in your life. Some people think God is mysterious and that we can't know Him very well. But that's not how it is with friends, is it?

So there it is, the whole picture. Take some time today to think about all that it means for your life.

Ok we are doing it out of a book called Secrets of the vince. I hope you like it.

It's a Deal!

 "I have obeyed my father's cammands, and remain in his love. In the same way, if you abey my commands, you will remain in my love. I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have. I want your joy to be the fullest joy." John 15:10-11

Do you like grapes? I hope so, you're going to be hearig a lot about them in the next few weeks!

It just so happens that Jesus had a lot to say about grapes during His last days on earth. He was talking to His bestfriends, and of course, He had a lot more in mind than fruit. When He spoke of grapes, planting them, tending them, and so on. He was really talking about you, me and how God uses us. Grapes and vines were almost like "code words" for Jesus and His Diciples, and that's why I like to call His incredible ideas the secret of the vine.

Got it? Great. Thats why I'm changing the sujbect to peaches! No kidding. I'm not trying to make your head swim. It just so happened that I come from a part of the world where most of our baskets are filled with peaches instead of grapes. One day my family moved to a house way out in the country, and my neighbor had a famous peach orchard. He liked to say his fruits were "big as melons, sweet as nectar." That made my mouth water, and decided to check it out.

You can imagine my surprise when I went to see these amazing fruits and saw nothing but trees leaning on sticks. Not a peach was in sight, only trees propped up by poles.

My neighbor explained the mystery for me. He told me to come back in a few months (this was early spring). He explained tha it takes a little patience, but it's well worth the wait. So I took his advice and came back in midsummer. Well, there they were doing: great, juicy peaches. And then I could see what the poles were doing: They were adding support for the bulging cro of peaches on every branch. The branches would have snappe without them, and we'd have been wading in peach juice!

I'm quit a handful!

The air smelled wonderful as I walked through the orchard. I found myself talking to God. "I want my life to be like this," I prayed. "These trees produce bundles of deliciouse fruit, and I want to produce good things for you, too. I want to produce good friendships, good deeds, a good famil, and more! I hope the angels have to come and prop me up with poles! Lord, do what it takes to make my life fruitful, just as my neighbor worked to make his trees fruitful."

That little prayer pretty much sums it up everything I want us to talk about over the next few days. What kind of fruit am I talking about? It's not grocery store fruit that you could top your morning cereal with. I mean those good things grow out of our lives. I often meet kids who are doing amazing things for God. Jesus would say their deeds are their fruit, and these kids are growing a handful. Wouldn't you like to be a handful? Well, you know what I mean.

But here comes the hard part: You have to give something to get something. For example, my friend Tony makes a trade. He mows lawns in his neighborhood, and he gets spending money for his effort. Those yards look terrific when he finishes, but he has to trade sweat, long hours, and he has to take car of his mower. Tony thinks it's a god deal. "I trade time and work for spending money and the cool feeling of seeing all those nicely mowed lawns," he says.

My neighbor trades hit time and work for peaches. Tony trades for spending money and a feeling of doing something worthwhile. What will you trade your time and talent for?

Let's make a deal

Jesus has a great suggestin. He says your life can produce fruit, and the esults will be so wonderful that you wouldn't even believe it f you knew all the details now. Your life's fruit can be sweeter that the best peaches or grapes, for the matter. It can bemore valuable by far that a little extra pocket money. It's better in every way than anythin else you could trade your time and talent for. Are you feeling curiouse? Want to know the secrets?

Well, that would be telling! But I do plan on telling you. As my neighbor might sy, "Some back in a few days! It takes patience, but it's well worth the wait." Hey, that's another trade, a few minutes reading time each day for secrets you can really use.

Well I hope you like it so far. I do. Tell me what you think.

Starting Devotions July 1st!!!!