Guard your eyes,your mind and your heart

[Mr. M]

On 9/20/2024 at 7:16 PM, missmuffet said:

What does the Bible say about guarding your eyes, your mind and your heart?

Psalm 101:

1 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me?

I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:

I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

On 9/20/2024 at 7:16 PM, missmuffet said:

How can we do that and what does it mean?

Murder, torture, sodomy, on and on we find all of this in what is past off as entertainment. In order to "set no wicked thing before your eyes", you must be highly discerning in what you observe and contemplate.

2 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good habits.”

Does anyone need to be told to change who you are hanging out with as an absolute necessity?

[Sower]

1 hour ago, Mr. M said:

Does anyone need to be told to change who you are hanging out with as an absolute necessity?

I was a wicked lost person. An old faithful christian brought the good news for me to hear.
           My ears were open.
I now have an urgency to also share that good news to the wicked lost, face to face.

I have many friendly neighbors. I try to be friendly to anybody, so as to till the soil.

"On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick"

I may then have new healthy friends, God's will be done.   In, but not of..

Thanks, Mr. M

[Mr. M]

11 minutes ago, Sower said:

I was a wicked lost person. An old faithful christian brought the good news for me to hear.
           My ears were open.
I now have an urgency to also share that good news to the wicked lost, face to face.

I have many friendly neighbors. I try to be friendly to anybody, so as to till the soil.

"On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick"

I may then have new healthy friends, God's will be done.   In, but not of..

Thanks, Mr. M

I love street ministry! Cities like New Orleans,

where I lived until 2001 are ripened fields.

The French Quarter filled with people from around the world

coming to do what they never would at home.

Two A.M. curbside you find the prodigal son.

Violent public housing projects.

If you have never walked through a valley of shadows,

experience a project at night where shootings are routine,

and have the power of God on you to fear no evil.

[Sower]

52 minutes ago, Mr. M said:

I love street ministry! Cities like New Orleans,

where I lived until 2001 are ripened fields.

The French Quarter filled with people from around the world

coming to do what they never would at home.

Two A.M. curbside you find the prodigal son.

Violent public housing projects.

If you have never walked through a valley of shadows,

experience a project at night where shootings are routine,

and have the power of God on you to fear no evil.

40+yrs ago I received my training on every Monday evening through our church, two by two. The last ten yrs have spent most time finishing construction on our home and my wife's and my businesses. I missed my Monday night visitations, however, our businesses required daily pick up/deliveries by Fed Ex - UPS - USPS - Amazon drivers, most open to the good news. In our old age God's has brought the mission field to our own home, our own back door.   God works in mysterious-wonderful ways....

When Katrina devastated  New Orleans our church got a group of volunteers to spend time down there rebuilding as much as we could. We went to homes in need the churches down there showed us. I think it was the 5th or 12th ward across the river, pretty rough. But everybody was pitching in and had no hassles while we were there. Home Depot had trucks in line waiting to re supply immediately as inventory was sold, at standard prices, no gouging. Thumbs up for H D...

My aunt and cousins lived in the city originally  but moved out side of it many years ago  to get away from all the crime. A lot of stuff went down during and right after the storm, with looting and shootings, at police and rescue workers. Many many abandoned homes and businesses boarded up or bull dozed away. The cost too much to rebuild, more than the mortgage. The field is ripe there for sure. 

Thanks, Mr. M...

[Mr. M]

5 minutes ago, Sower said:

40+yrs ago I received my training on every Monday evening through our church, two by two. The last ten yrs have spent most time finishing construction on our home and my wife's and my businesses. I missed my Monday night visitations, however, our businesses required daily pick up/deliveries by Fed Ex - UPS - USPS - Amazon drivers, most open to the good news. In our old age God's has brought the mission field to our own home, our own back door.   God works in mysterious-wonderful ways....

I love it. Reminds me of when I was working on a receiving dock and had to interact with delivery drivers all day. There was this one brother who made regular deliveries that I knew was a member of Greater St. Stevens. One really nasty cold and rainy winter day, he walked up to the dock shivering and said, "Man, I am going catch a cold today!" I responded "I'm not going to receive that brother, the Lord will keep you".

His eyes lit up and he raised his voice really loud and said "that's what I'm talking about! A man who knows how to confess his faith! He walked a way with a pep in his step. I mention this because we often put so much emphasis on "reaching the lost", that we neglect the found, and fail to edify one another. The entire church is weakened by such neglect. 

12 minutes ago, Sower said:

When Katrina devastated  New Orleans our church got a group of volunteers to spend time down there rebuilding as much as we could. We went to homes in need the churches down there showed us. I think it was the 5th or 12th ward across the river, pretty rough. But everybody was pitching in and had no hassles while we were there. Home Depot had trucks in line waiting to re supply immediately as inventory was sold, at standard prices, no gouging. Thumbs up for H D...

Did your team stay at the gymnasium in Kenner? I was there the summer of 2006 and met soooo many awesome brothers and sisters in Christ, It was like a Holy Ghost slumber party. This group of Korean teens came down from New York and worked tirelessly throughout the day, but we all still had fun that night after dinner, showers, and clean-up. Such a blessing! Listening to tales of dangerous spiders, snakes and molds in those houses. 

15 minutes ago, Sower said:

My aunt and cousins lived in the city originally  but moved out side of it many years ago  to get away from all the crime. A lot of stuff went down during and right after the storm, with looting and shootings, at police and rescue workers.

And way to many police became criminals. Most of the rescue workers immediately after the storm were everyday people. FEMA paid to keep the bus from the airport into the city running, so I could get around for free that summer. I listened to many a tale on bus rides. It was like a massive PTSD therapy session. One guy would say "I broke into that drug store to get my ma some insulin", all of a sudden everybody had a tale. "I was launching boats off the causeway overpass".

Unfortunately, that is being played out right now in FL, GA and the Carolinas as we speak.

[Sower]

1 hour ago, Mr. M said:

Did your team stay at the gymnasium in Kenner? I was there the summer of 2006 and met soooo many awesome brothers and sisters in Christ, It was like a Holy Ghost slumber party.

We stayed at the World Trade Center right beside the river. The volunteer men from various places were on one floor and the ladies had their own floor. Every floor was empty, bare of everything and cots were brought in. I think they served us breakfast and lunch free, a cot and blankets.
There was a lot of workers of all sorts volunteering, and much comradery. We took photo of the different homes we worked on, and a group pic of our team, I'm bottom right. We  drove in two vans pulling a trailer of tools. We re wired two homes after sheetrock was demoed. That's my pastor in front of the trade center  reading his Sunday sermon away from his flock back in Texas. A great feeling to have been there helping out.  And to the Glory of God, he kept all us safe..

  Where we stayed...(Photo of album my daughter made of pictures taken at Katrina)

[Mr. M]

5 hours ago, Sower said:

We stayed at the World Trade Center right beside the river. The volunteer men from various places were on one floor and the ladies had their own floor. Every floor was empty, bare of everything and cots were brought in. I think they served us breakfast and lunch free, a cot and blankets.

Wow, that's like moving into the house where they filmed the horror movie. I am pretty sure that the reason the building was empty is because they housed "storm refugees" there in the aftermath. The worst stories I heard were from the Superdome and the Convention Center. I was not aware of the recovery operations and volunteers staying at WTC. Beautiful thing your church did there. And a whole lot of New Orleanians became Texans after evacuating to Houston.

One of the burdens the Lord has placed on me has been displaced peoples, refugees mostly from war, but natural disasters is right up there. We always here about how the "big one" is going to hit California but no one seems to consider the refugee influx that would result into surrounding areas. I tried to bring this up at a security conference in Phoenix in 2017 and they were baffled.

My vision comes from the famous tent city prison in Maricopa County established by the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpiao. All the materials for setting up just such an emergency city could be warehoused on civic airport property, which has acres of open space. Chandler-Gilbert Airport would be one such place. Mostly crop duster plans and other private fliers, but when you drive past you seen the wide open fields. We are so consumed by the nearby border that leaders don't see the possibility of an influx of people from a neighboring state. Houston could comment on that. They inherited a lot of New Orleans crime.

Edited November 1, 2024 by Mr. M

[Sower]

4 hours ago, Mr. M said:

And a whole lot of New Orleanians became Texans after evacuating to Houston.

I moved to Houston in 68-69 when my military enlistment was up after a brief time chilling out. I met my future wife there an it was a nice neighborly town, very friendly for such a big town/city. Somewhere in the 70's about 74, we found out my wife was with child and the same day I put a for sale sign up in the front yard. So many people were moving there even back then because of the economy, up north the steel mills, Detroit and other automobile manufacturing letting employees go, etc and so many coming to Houston, and many foreigners.

The atmosphere changed, mega traffic, mega people, and we decided it wasn't where we wanted to raise our kids, so we moved back to the gulf coast on the water, Corpus Christi Tx, where we had eloped earlier. I do remember the later mass influx from the  New Orleans disaster and we were glad we moved, even though the hurricanes (Allen +) at Corpus, it was still a good move.

I remember that sheriff, and his tent city prison in Maricopa County and thought he had big ....smarts. Wonder why FEMA hasn't located sites you describe along the hurricane and tornado corridors ahead of time for emergency sites. FEMA has been coming under some poor showing from what I have seen online. We moved inland 40+yrs ago about a hundred miles and no hurricanes and no tornadoes so far. I had some family acreage in the country with the wildlife for immediate neighbors now. Friendly fox, owls, birds and deer. And No traffic.

[Mr. M]

18 minutes ago, Sower said:

I moved to Houston in 68-69 when my military enlistment was up after a brief time chilling out. I met my future wife there an it was a nice neighborly town, very friendly for such a big town/city.

I believe that was right around the time that the Astro Dome was built.  My Dad and Uncle took my brother, cousin, and I to see the Astro's play the Reds. I remember being the first to spot the dome as we pulled into town, and pointed it out. My cousin was looking right at it and said, "I don't see it". LOL The dome stadium has come a long way since then.

24 minutes ago, Sower said:

The atmosphere changed, mega traffic, mega people, and we decided it wasn't where we wanted to raise our kids, so we moved back to the gulf coast on the water, Corpus Christi Tx, where we had eloped earlier. I do remember the later mass influx from the  New Orleans disaster and we were glad we moved, even though the hurricanes (Allen +) at Corpus, it was still a good move.

Gotta love the name, eh! I was staying with my son in Columbus, Oh while he was a grad student. I was working downtown for AEP, ln the SOC(security operations center). AEP provides power for east Tx, (I guess you know that), and I knew the company's assets there were in big trouble when that hurricane hit near CC in 2017, I think. Bad one for sure. I have heard how beautiful that area and S. Padre Island are. I am sure you enjoyed living there and still visit to hit the coast.

31 minutes ago, Sower said:

I remember that sheriff, and his tent city prison in Maricopa County and thought he had big ....smarts.

Absolute genius. put the prisoners on cots in tents in Arizona. No more Mr. Nice guy. I remember Charles Barkley serving time there after getting arrested in Scottsdale for a high speed DUI. He really held court with the prisoners, LOL

34 minutes ago, Sower said:

I had some family acreage in the country with the wildlife for immediate neighbors now. Friendly fox, owls, birds and deer. And No traffic.

Sounds like a veritable Beatrix Potter Idyll. haha. Although I don't remember the fox being so friendly. You must not have chickens.

Great talking with you brother. Good night!