Coming to the Still Waters

Hi all - just thought I would post this short video of our youth worship team from last Sunday.  Stephanie, my wife is in the middle on the piano and our youngest son, Jason, is on guitar on the left side.  I am so thankful for Stephanie's heart to her God and also to help others lift up His name.

Today's verses are Proverbs 21:13-16, which read, v.13 - He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered. This proverb deals with our compassion which is love in action.  The word  "poor"  can mean financially but also physically and emotionally.  Those in this condition cry out and he who shuts his ear to what he can do for them will experience the same thing when he is the one poor and crying out for help.  This is a simple proverb to understand but one that is hard to follow through on.  Sometimes our ears are full of wax and our compassion meter for others is running rather low.  Usually our focus is so much on ourselves that the only voice we hear is our own.   v.14 - A gift in secret subdues anger, and a bribe in the bosom, strong wrath.    Here is someone trying to solve the situation by giving something under the table or not with the fullest of honest intentions. The giving ...

Today's verses are Proverbs 21:9-12, which read, v.9 - It is better to live in a corner of a roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman. We think of roofs a different way than they were then.  The roof was another living space.  It was typically flat and resembled a patio space.  So the person in this proverb is using just a corner of the living space that is available and exposed to the elements.  The house proper provides more shelter and space but it also contains a contentious woman and of course we could change this proverb around to be the other sex.  Being contentious is the point. The word  "contentious"  comes from a root word that means  "firm, strong, lord, and master."   On top of that you add another word that means  "to judge, content, and plead."   Putting them together you get the description of someone who produces strife and discord with the constant judging as someone superior than...