Dust of The Rabbi...

"A talmid or disciple, did not follow a rabbi as a student. They desired to gain the rabbi's knowledge, but for a greater goal-they wanted to become like the rabbi himself.
A talmid followed the rabbi everywhere-every day, and every hour of the day-often without knowing or asking where the rabbi was going.

The talmidim rarely left his rabbi's side for fear that he would miss a teachable moment.

He watched the rabbi's every move, noting how he acted and thought about a variety of situations.
Talmidim or disciples, trusted their rabbi completely.

They were eager to hear the rabbi's teachings and they worked passionately to incorporate the rabbi's actions and words into their lives.

The disciple's deepest desire was to follow his rabbi so closely that he would start to think and act like the rabbi himself." -Ray VanderLaan- http://www.followtherabbi.com/

A famous rabbi once said, "May you be covered in the dust of the rabbi"

Think about it....if you are following a rabbi correctly, you will be so close to him at all times...that you should be covered in the Dust off of His Sandals.

I follow The Greatest Rabbi of all time- Jesus.

How close to Him are you willing to get?

God, thank you for allowing us to follow so closely...forgive me for the times I "hang back"

May we all be covered in the Dust of our Rabbi, Jesus

In His Dust,

DCC

Patience....

Patience, a virtue- I have basically failed daily.....all week long.

God, Thank you for your grace and forgiveness.

It blows me away- over and over again every single time.

May I learn from your example.

Have a great weekend everybody-

Grace and Peace,

DCC

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY KATIE BUG!!

"When people come at you and you give them this face- they back off."

-Mikey

This just about matched my mood the past few days...too much on my plate along with a combo of being surrounded by irritants...both people and situations.

However, God reminded me this morning as I was thanking Him for the life of my precious niece and Goddaughter, Kate, that He is with me- as always- He has commanded me to

"Be Still and Know that He Is God." -Psalm 46:10

I am within His Protection and the shelter of His wings-

just as the precious birthday girl below is wrapped "wings" and love of her Daddy below.

And the protective loving "wings" of her mommy.

And Wrapped in the loving protective "wings" of Hee Hee

"He will cover you with his feathers,and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." Psalm 91:4

Thank you God for the life of Kate-
Thank You for the reminder through scripture and through these pictures- that You indeed have Your Arms wrapped around me and all of us! I love you.

Grace and Peace,
DCC

Jesus and Bob Barker...

Okay....so the first game is over.

Now, according to "sweaty bones Jones with the Mohawk" here, he made two home runs.

According to me, who watched the game, I beg to differ....I'm just sayin'

The after-game conversation went a little something like this-

Mikey: Um, Duhhbbbi, did you know there was a guy in the Bible...and he was little...like me
D: Yeah?

Mikey: His name was Zaccheennnuussstthh. He was little so he climbed a tree-to see Jesus.

D: Then what?

Mikey: Jesus saw him in it and said-was up? Come on Down.

D: Really? Come on down?

Mikey: Yeah....Come on down....and then they ate and hung out.

D: Cool Mike, what if He saw you in a tree?

Mikey: He'd tell me to come down too- we might play T-Ball.

D: You are right Mikey. I think I saw Him at your game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:5-6) (Luke 18:18-30), He sought Jesus out. Unfortunately, the crowds prevented Zacchaeus from getting close to Jesus. Zacchaeus was “short in stature” - which likely has a double meaning. Not only was he physically short ("a wee little man”), but socially he was looked down upon as a despised tax collector, an agent of Rome, a “sinner”.

How awesome that Zacchaeus didn’t let the people prevent him from at least catching a glimpse of Jesus. He took the risk of making an even bigger fool of himself as he hiked up his robe, stretched out his hands and feet and climbed the sycamore tree ("to see what he could see”).

This is where God’s grace arrives in the person of Jesus. Though it seemed Jesus was just passing through, he suddenly stops in his tracks, looks directly up at Zacchaeus and calls him by name and tells him to come down ("for I’m going to your house today”).

Zacchaeus is so fired up that he “comes down at once and welcomes Him gladly.” (Luke 19:6)

He is so grateful for The Grace of God, in Jesus that he makes a public pledge to give half of his goods to the poor and return 400% to anyone he has cheated.
The story of Zacchaeus is a lesson in divine math.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Jesus for knowing our names...for finding us in the "trees" of our lives...and bringing us into Your Very Presence.

Grace and Peace,

DCC

Happy...

Did you know that God made you just the way you are-
He loves you unconditionally.
You, yes...YOU, make Him Happy.

Have a great weekend everybody-
Grace and Peace,
DCC

Seven...

William, aka, Mo Mo

Brand new uniforms...first game....Marlin's #7

You know who else has 7?

God.

You know who reminded me of this?

Mo Mo.

Yep, The Number Seven is God's Very Own Number.

It is symbolic of Divine Completion and Perfection.

When you read Scripture, both Old and New Testament, it becomes apparent that the number 7 is very significant.

1.) God created earth - seven days

2.) One seven-day week is a reminder of our creator

3.) God blessed the seventh day, making it holy (Exodus 20:8-11)

The examples go on and on and on....but today all I needed was to see the way my Godson was quick to remind me of God's connection to Him.

Now I get a visual reminder on his back. (Which I also watched score to runs, thank you very much.)

God, thank you for your ever present reminders in both Scripture and every day life...that you are Completion and Perfection.

Grace and Peace,
DCC

God on Etch a Sketch...

So, I am over visiting William, aka, Mo Mo, and I keep hearing a voice from upstairs:
"Come up here and see this! You are going to love it!"

I resist, and ask him to come down to me!

He says, "No. Come on, I made you something!"

So, I drag my lazy self up there..heaven forbid should I burn a calorie for my Godson!

This is what I found....

"Look! God is in Etch-a-Sketch!"

all different colors and sizes...

"You just have to look for Him."

I love this kid so much I could burst.

God, thank you so much for being available to us all the time. Thank you for the reminder that if we just look for You, You will be there.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."-Jeremiah 29:13

Grace and Peace,

DCC

Good Shepherd...

The Good Shepherd, Himself, Jesus, thinks you are fantastic!

Have a great weekend

Grace and Peace,
DCC

Come Home...

This is how he arrived....he was safe and protected.....

Then he made his way out of the box...and we haven't seen him since...

We are concerned....what if he has fallen and can't get up?

What if the guy below picked him up...in their bobblehead van and took him to the beach for Spring Break '09!!!

Or this dude?

God, there are so many times, in each day, when we are far from You.

You know where we are...and You are willing to meet us more than halfway there.

We are not worthy. Thank You for your...

Grace and Peace,

DCC

Dwight is Missing....

Well, I have a new title...

drum roll please....

"Director of SPECIAL Operations"

It feels very "related to" Assistant TO THE Regional Manager.

Which brings me to my point.

Someone has stolen Dwight from Dave.

If finding him, is not a "special operation", than, I don't know what is.

I gave our Senior Pastor, and my good friend, a Dwight Shrute Bobblehead last year...

and it has been stolen from his office.

This involves so many layers...

First of all, who steals from a Pastor? (This might very well be "going to hell material", in my opinion, which reflects no one else that I know, or am associated with.)

Second of all, the nerve, to take of all things, Dwight K. Shrute.

Third, they left behind, Coach K, Robert E Lee and Moses.

So, what we have learned here so far, is that our sticky-fingered friend watches "The Office", is not a Duke Fan, never whistled Dixie and probably has no clue who Moses is.

Clearly, the thief, ain't David McNitzky himself.

At First, I thought pictures would start sifting in with Dwight in various places...but alas, no...

He is gone.

Someone owes me 30 bucks.

And someone might be singing the song "It's getting hot in here."

"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21, 22.

Really? Even when they steal the Pastor's bobblehead?

Yes, even then.

Grace and Peace,

DCC

Director of Special Operations

Rock, Paper, Scissors....

Have a great weekend...

Live it slowly and intentionally.

Grace and Peace,

DCC

Give It Up or Add It On?

How is your Lent coming along?

I must admit- mine is a little different this year.
I gave up.....wait for it....
Nothing.I usually give up salt or alcohol. (giving up alcohol was not enough of a sacrifice to make any kind of a difference).

So this year- I wanted to focus in a different direction
I read Scripture reading every morning.
Oh, God has just pointed out to me, that I might want to tell the truth here,
I was already doing that....so I really didn't add anything.

However, NOW, it is a non-negotiable. I really didn't feel called to giving up anything this year-I did feel called to adding....more prayer time...talking to Him all day....even if in short spurts...
more Bible reading...more being WITH God, as opposed to staying AWAY from something else.

Best of luck to all of us in whatever it is we are doing- or not doing in order to focus more on Christ.

Grace and Peace,
DCC

Happy Birthday Blog...

God put it on my heart to start a blog a little over a year ago.
I had no clue what I was doing...and not sure I do yet- however, I keep typing...and praying...and listening and typing some more...

God has been so faithful in giving me ideas for the blog, both funny and serious, over this past year.
Somedays I would question it...and then I would receive a comment, that quickly reminded me of His Awareness of everything going on around us! He Knows our needs....each of them...for ALL of us...individually....
Mindboggling!!
or in our case- MindBlogging.
This gets hits from literally all over the world...every day...it blows me away when I see the traffic on here.

So, Happy Birthday Blog and Thank YOU readers, for stopping by to take a look at this servant's humble attempt at following God's Lead.

Thank you God for your awesome faithfulness and for your patience when I get it wrong.

Grace and Peace,

DCC