One Missing Piece Ruins The Puzzle Picture, 1 Corinthians 12:18-25

Buddy staring at me, as usual.

As Buddy approaches his 14th birthday, I’ve been a bit traumatized as he’s noticeably losing his hearing. I rushed him to his veterinarian because he scarcely reacted to the fireworks this past holiday. I gave him ear ointment for a week due to the beginnings of some irritation in his ear canal, but there was no noticeable infection. The poor little fella is aging.

Now, when Buddy passes on to heaven, it’ll be a devastating event in my life and for my parents. However, in the grand scheme of life, the world will continue as if nothing of any importance occurred. But for me, it’ll be a big event.

Occasionally I’ll post a blog relating an issue I’m struggling with to share how I’m overcoming in the hopes it’ll help someone else.

Illustrations introduce each chapter in my Cattle Capers(tm) novels. I had nearly completed the cartoons for the second novel when my main computer died, preventing publication last year. Coupled with a frustrating job hunt, this event precipitated my slide into mild depression.

I’ve been asking myself the past few months: What did it matter that my second novel wasn’t published? No one cares that it didn’t see the light of day. What does it matter if I publish or not? Who gives a hoot?

Those questions led to asking myself: Do I matter? Does what I do matter in the grand scheme of things? If Christ is returning to destroy the world and all its works one day, why bother to spend my time working on my projects? Am I competent enough to contribute anything memorable? I want to have a positive impact on my culture that is hell bent on sliding into the trash heap, but does what I do really matter? Do I have any real impact?

I prayed fervently to the Lord earlier this week, as “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1)” and “comforts the depressed (2 Corinthians 7:6).” I knew that my attitude was wrong but didn’t have the correct answers to pull myself out of the muck.

The image of a puzzle came to mind. No matter how lovely the image depicted on the box top may be, the picture is incomplete if just one piece is missing. It doesn’t matter if the piece belongs in a corner or the center, the puzzle is ruined after assembly if only one piece is absent, whether there are 500 or 10,000 pieces.

I realized that I am just one piece in God’s great creation. He’s assembling the world according to His desire and design. I may not see what the completed picture should look like, but God created me for a reason to live at this time and where I am —now. If I just give up, I’m leaving a hole in the great design in my Creator’s universe where something should exist.

True, there are nearly 7.9 billion people in this world, so I’m just a tiny piece. But isn’t your eye usually drawn to that one flaw in a garment or an image? Once you notice the hanging thread or the missing pixel, it nags on you.

Apostle Paul pointed out the importance of each person in the body of Christ. Every born again Christian is part of one body through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Not everyone has the same gifts or functions, but all God’s children are important to the proper functioning of Christ’s body.

“But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor,… But God has so composed the body…that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”—Apostle Paul, 1Corinthians 12:18-25

Recently I’ve read that the liver performs over 500 functions in the human body. So often disease can be traced to one bodily process not working properly. Yet, that function is not noticeable to the person till it’s awol, missing in action.

I cannot say that I’ve arrived, resolved my feelings of inadequacy. I know that my self worth comes from God alone. But it’s difficult, in this age of social media, not to be aware of the many artists and writers out there and not feel inadequate in comparison. However, with God’s help, He will shine His light of truth into my soul and reveal the false beliefs that need to be overcome.

And will give me the victory.

God bless you.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

***

All of us were created by God to fellowship with Him. But we are all born separated from Him, devoid of His Holy Spirit which fills us with spiritual life and power. This creates a void in our soul that only God can fill.

People try to fill this void with food, material things, exercise, fame, power, alcohol, drugs, sex, escapism, etc. but we can never get enough of these things or experiences to feel satisfied or whole, because only God can do this. This void can also be experienced as depression or loneliness or a longing for Utopia, a desire for the perfect world and fulfillment humanity once had but lost when Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s authority.

As you can see from my blog post, receiving God’s life is not usually an instant cure for all of life’s struggles, but it’s a start on the path of true living as false beliefs and sins are revealed that must be surrendered to God for our benefit and that of others.

If you’d like to receive the life of Jesus, please repeat the following prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I humbly ask Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I acknowledge Him as my God and King. Please forgive my sins and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. Thank you for saving me and bringing me into the body of Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.”

If you prayed sincerely, congratulations, you are born again. Like the body needs food to thrive and grow, so does your spirit. The Bible is your supernatural food. Please begin reading it daily. I recommend starting with Matthew. The Psalms and Proverbs also bring bring comfort and instruction. Also, please join a Bible-based church or Bible study. If that’s not possible right now, I recommend these three ministries, which are my favorites: http://www.BasicGospel.net, http://www.InTouch.org and http://www.LTW.org. Each also have apps.

God bless you. See you in heaven with Buddy.

The Two Points The Buddy Blog Is Trying To Emphasize

My pal Buddy

Hi. A quick blog post before composing my weekly update.

There are two messages I’m trying to emphasize with my blog, but in different ways.

1. There is no neutral ground. We exist in either the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ or in Satan’s kingdom, on earth and eternally. We have the choice to choose to be rescued or remain enslaved to sin and Satan.

“With gentleness correcting those in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”—Apostle Paul, 2 Timothy 2:26

2. We are all born spiritually dead. As descendants of Adam and Eve who rejected God’s authority over their lives, we are all born incomplete. We were designed to be triune beings—body, soul and Holy Spirit—just as God is a Triune being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Until a person accepts that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sins, rose bodily from the dead and is acknowledged as the Lord God Who has authority over their life, they will have a deep emptiness in their inner life—because they lack the presence of the only life giving Spirit. “You must be born again (John 3:7).” Many people believe that Jesus exists but not that He is Lord.

“Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”—Jesus, John 8:24

Thanks for reading.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

Being Loved, Flaws And All, Jude 24

My little monster

Buddy has a new game that we play. He interrupts what I’m doing by whining. I asked what he wants. He runs off and I chase him. He has food and water, so I ask if he wants to go outside and grab his harness. I chase him around the coffee table or other obstructions till I finally catch him and place the harness around his head. After slipping his front legs (by himself!) through the loops, he wags his little tail. Once again he has won the game.

It’s both funny and infuriating. But I still love the little monster.

When we become born again, we are seated in Christ in the heavenly places and declared righteous in God’s sight through faith in Jesus Christ—blameless in God’s sight:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him….In Him we have the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”—Apostle Paul, Ephesians 1:3-4, 7

And the physical brother of Jesus, Jude, also noted in his letter, verse 24:

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy.”

Yes, we are all little monsters. Even after we become born again, we still think, say and do things that displease God. And although indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we still disobey Him at times.

The Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin or rebellion, kindly and patiently. Because God loves us, He doesn’t want us doing things that bring ourselves, or others, harm. If we don’t listen to His warnings, He’ll discipline is for our good “for whom the Lord loves, He disciplines (Hebrews 12:6)” so that:

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man does, this he will also reap.”—Apostle Paul, Galatians 6:7

God does not want us sowing bad things so that we reap bad things.

When I was a fairly new Christian and hadn’t learned to trust God yet, I deliberately rebelled, letting my emotions control me and not the Holy Spirit. After several warnings, God lowered the boom. I’m very thankful He didn’t allow me to continue in the world’s ways, rather than His. He minimized the reaping because He disciplines reluctantly.

Just as Buddy’s bad behavior will never cause me to reject him, so our bad behavior will never cause God to stop loving us. I absolutely adore Buddy, laughing while I try to snag him with the harness.

God loves His children dearly and sees them as “blameless” forever. Because we did absolutely nothing to merit or earn His love or our salvation, we cannot do anything to merit our continuing salvation (Galatians 3:1-6).

Nothing can cause the Father to stop loving His children. “For God is love (1 John 4:8).”

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”—Apostle Paul, Romans 8:38-39

Much love from Dawn and Buddy, the little monster

***

Everyone is born dead in their sins, separated from God, Who is totally righteous and holy. We can do nothing to earn a right relationship with God, because it’s impossible for anyone to live up to His standards and, therefore, earn the right to live in heaven with Him.

But He loves us and wants to fellowship with us, to be acknowledged as our loving, heavenly Father. So how can a holy God tolerate the presence of unholy people?

Jesus declared that God’s standard to enter His presence was perfection (Matthew 5:48). So how do we become blameless in His sight?

Jesus took on human flesh, lived a perfect life in our place, died for our sins and took God’s punishment for our wickedness. He rose bodily from the grave, defeating death and proving that He was God, the Lord of life.

By faith in Jesus, we become born again—indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In other words, God clothes us in the righteousness of Jesus as a gift. We cannot be sinless so Jesus did it for us.

You don’t have to clean your act up first because you’ll never be clean enough. You just gotta ask Him for your salvation. It’s a gift, not earned.

Tired of engaging in self sabotage or living with an inner emptiness? Why not invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? You don’t have to understand everything right now. You just gotta pray the following with a sincere heart.

“Dear Holy Father, I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive all my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I give my life to you. Please reveal to me how much You love me. In the name of Jesus, the King of Kings, amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, congratulations. You are a born again child of God. He will, or has just, revealed Himself to you in your inner being. Please start reading the Bible, which is your spiritual food. I recommend starting with the book of Matthew, as it’s easy to understand.

Also, please find a Bible-based church or Bible study group to grow in a knowledge of God and be strengthened in your faith. Just as baby animals cannot survive alone, neither can you stand alone. if that’s not possible right now, the following are my three favorite ministries: http://www.BasicGospel.net, http://www.LTW.org (Leading The Way) and http://www.InTouch.org

God bless you. Buddy and I will see you in heaven one day.

We Are Already Living In Hell, 2 Timothy 2:24-26

Buddy looking in.

Buddy literally had a conniption fit last weekend. My dad accidentally dropped a light bulb in the kitchen while I was helping to change the ceiling lights. To protect Buddy from the broken glass, we locked him in a bedroom while we cleaned up the sharp debris. He cried, whined, scratched on the door and barked furiously as if we were trying to ignore and abandon him.

I’ve been listening to Richard Pfeifer’s audio CD set about the book of Revelation, which is available through the Basic Gospel ministry. I like to hear different viewpoints regarding this confusing and symbolic book as the false religion I was raised in camped on this last book of the Bible. He has a different take on our earthly lives: We don’t need to tell people to repent or they’ll go to Hell, as we’re already living in Hell.

Some months ago I blogged about the Titanic, how we’re all living on a sinking ship. We’ve hit the iceberg of sin and are dead in the water. Like the last scenes of Director James Cameron’s hit movie, “Titanic,” people are floating in the icy water, dying. Jesus is rowing His lifeboat amongst the chunks of ice, looking for people to save from eternal death. Yet, most people are unwilling to get into the boat with Him, preferring to drown in sin with most of the other dead and dying people in the water.

But Mr Pfeifer’s interpretation puts a slightly different spin on things. When someone taunts you, asking why do children get cancer or bad things happen to decent people, you can respond, “Because we’re in living in Hell. Satan, a corrupt creation and sinful people, cause bad things to happen.”

Considering it further, what is Hell? The absence of God and His love. Our earth belongs to Satan—“for the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19)”—and he is bent on “stealing, killing and destroying us (John 10:20).”

The only reason we are not living in a total Hell here on earth is that God has not abandoned us. Humanity, because we’re all descendants of Adam and Eve, rejected God’s authority and decided to choose for themselves how to live their lives without Him. But God continues to share His love, His blessings and His kindness on us although we have turned our backs on Him.

“‘But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,…for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.”—Jesus, Matthew 5:44-45

When we continue to reject God throughout our lives, rejecting His authority, He gives us what we want at our death: an eternity in Hell, existence totally apart from His love and presence and rule.

“The Lord’s bond-servant must…with gentleness correct those in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his (Satan’s) will.”—Apostle Paul, 2 Timothy 2:24-26

Right now we’re just experiencing a taste of what Hell is like—and the love of a God Who continues to intervene, to give talent, beauty, intelligence, skill, good health, fame and fortune to people who continually reject Him.

And comfort, hope, encouragement and perseverance to those who are willing to grasp His hand and allow them to be pulled into His lifeboat, to one day land at that distant shore, safe and sound—for all eternity, rejoicing in His love.

Forever away from Hell.

“I am the truth…”, Jesus, John 14:6

God bless you.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

***

Are you willing to step into God’s lifeboat and get out of the dark waters of sin? Many of our problems are self-inflicted because of our foolish impulses and fears. But Jesus can get you on a new path, onto the “narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:14).” If you are, please pray the below to God:

“Heavenly and kind Father, You sent Your Son Jesus to die for our sins so that I don’t have to pay the penalty for my own sin. I call on Jesus to be my Lord, my God, my Savior. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.”

If you prayed that prayer with sincerity, congratulations. You are a child of God and the Holy Spirit indwells you by faith. You have begun walking a new path in life. Please start reading the Bible, which is your soul’s spiritual food. I recommend starting with the book of Matthew as it’s easy to understand and interesting.

Also, please find a Bible-based church or Bible study to attend so that you can grow in an understanding of God, faith and salvation. If that’s not possible right now, please consider these ministries which also have apps, if you prefer: http://www.BasicGospel.net, http://www.InTouch.org or http://www.LTW.org. There are other good ministries but these are my favorites.

God bless. See you in heaven!

Happy Independence Day From Dawn & Buddy

“It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”—Apostle Paul, Galatians 5:1

A Society Benefits Because Of The Presence Of Christians, Mark 4:35-39

Buddy wondering what I’m doing.

When I moved to Arizona in late 2019, I had no clue that all my plans for 2020 would go up in smoke, irrevocably changing the course of my life. Buddy became my sole companion, besides the Lord, for an entire month as the State of Arizona went into lockdown. Residents were not permitted to leave their homes except to buy essentials or go to and from work. Otherwise, we were self quarantined. What a blessing Buddy was. To me, God is as real as my right hand but I will not see Him face-to-face till after my earthly life has ended.

Just like I couldn’t foresee the coming pandemic, as I am blind to the future, so I often read a Bible passage many times yet miss something. Then, suddenly, as it often happens to believers, something jumps out at me that I never noticed before that gives me a new insight.

“On that day, when evening came, He (Jesus) said to them (the 12 disciples), ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; AND OTHER BOATS WERE WITH HIM. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.”—Mark 4:35-39

Please note my emphasis above: “And other boats were with Him.”

In this passage I’ve always focused on the disciples’ dire situation and Jesus, as God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23), calming the waves. Till recently I’ve totally missed the fact that some people in the crowd also got into boats and were sailing on those same treacherous waters. But because of the presence of Jesus and His power, they also benefited from the miraculous calming of the waves.

So, too, did the shipmates of Apostle Paul benefit from his presence. Paul was a prisoner enroute to Rome under the guard of a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. After the ship embarked from Fair Havens, Crete, the crew encountered a dangerous storm that blew them off course, tossing their ship about for two weeks till all hope of finding a safe harbor was lost.

But 276 men survived the massive storm and arrived safely on the island of Malta because the apostle Paul was sailing with them. There may have been others sailing on those same treacherous waves on ships that foundered and went down, taking many lives with them, because there was no one aboard who merited God’s favor or had a mission that the Lord wanted completed.

“When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, ‘Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only that of the ship. For this very night an angel of God to whom I belong and serve stood before me, saying, “Do not be afraid Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.”’ …All of us in the ship were 276 persons…And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.”—Luke the physician, Acts 27:21-24, 37,44

An aspect of humankind’s sin nature is the desire to control others, to be in control. As the pandemic proved, it’s impossible to predict the future. But people try their best to control the future and others. Every totalitarian society rejects the Lord Jesus, three examples being the Soviet Marxist Revolution in 1917, the French Revolution in 1789 and the Chinese Cultural Revolution in 1966.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”—Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 3:17

When a society rejects Jesus, persecuting born again Christians and rejecting God’s Laws, it will fall into increasing lawlessness, oppression and eventually totalitarianism. Christianity is a religion of grace, forgiveness, acceptance and freedom founded in a relationship with Jesus.

A culture benefits greatly from the prayers of Christians. For instance, scientists have discovered that seriously ill people who are not even believers benefit from the prayers of believers. A society benefits from the good works of Christians: the SPCA, Salvation Army, CareNet and many organizations that benefit the poor were founded by Christians. Christians don’t typically riot, loot, shoot police officers, commit murder and mayhem.

The United States was founded upon principles of liberty, not license, upon the expectation that a free and moral people could rule themselves without requiring an all powerful central government to keep them in check. (This is a simplification to make a point.)

“And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’”—Acts 18:9-10

Every single Christian, living their lives on the rock of Christ, helps a society remain free.

To reject the Spirit of Freedom, is to be enslaved.

As Jesus said to the apostle Paul, “I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God,”—Acts 26:17

A society benefits from the prayers, good works and presence of Christians and the power of God working through them.

If you’re a Christian, stand strong, you are invaluable to your country, whether your fellow citizens acknowledge that truth or not.

Much love from Dawn and Buddy

***

If you don’t know the Lord Jesus, you are not only incomplete, your inner self devoid of God’s life-giving Spirit, but you are under the dominion of Satan. Yes, that sounds harsh and scary, but the Apostle John warned “that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).” But Jesus said, “The thief (Satan) comes only to kill, steal and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).”

Look at this world. You know something is really wrong. Things seem to be going to Hell. But Jesus, the giver of life, wants to stop the destructive power of sin in your life. Giving your life to Christ doesn’t mean that your life will suddenly be carefree, but you’ll begin the process of stopping self sabotage.

Forget the critics who claim Christians are hypocrites. Everyone is a hypocrite because there was only one perfect person who never sinned, Jesus, God in the flesh. Being perfect, He did not have to die for His own sins, but could offer Himself to be punished for our sins in our place.

The difference between a person who truly knows God or not isn’t whether they mess up at times or not, but whether they feel bad about their sin and want to change, become a better person. If a person feels no guilt over bad behavior, something is wrong in their heart as the Holy Spirit is not within, convicting them.

If you want to know God, please pray this prayer: “Dear Heavenly Father, I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive my sins. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

If you prayed with sincerity, congratulations, you are born again and a new child of God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).”

Please start reading the Bible, which is your spiritual food. I suggest starting with the book of Matthew. And please find a Bible-believing church to join to grow and be strengthened in your faith. If that not possible right now, these are my three favorite Christian ministries, which also have apps: http://www.LTW.org, http://www.InTouch.org and http://www.BasicGospel.net.

May God strengthen and encourage you.

And because Jesus is your advocate before the Father’s throne (1 John 2:1), freely pour out your heart to Him, “because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).”

God bless you. See you in heaven.

I’m praying for all new Christians.

Dawn and Buddy