Up the Sunbeam

-- "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." John 10:9 NASB Jesus paints Himself in the simplest of things, such familiar things. The Bread of life, the Light of the world, the Lamb of God, and here He calls Himself "the Door." For the longest time I didn't understand how Jesus could, in the same breath, be both the Good Shepherd and the Door for His sheep. Only after studying the shepherds of Jesus' day, did it become clearer for me. For the protection of his flock, a shepherd would lie down, placing his own body across the threshold of the doorway of the fold through the night, saying in essence, "you can't get to my sheep without going through me." He became the door to keep the sheep in and to keep the predators out. In the morning, he would lead his sheep to pastures of his choosing, always going before them. Evening would find him leading his sheep back to the shel...

-- "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; " Psalm 91:11 NIV We would surely be amazed if we knew all the near misses we have with calamity. Once in awhile, sometimes twice in two days, we get a glimpse of the results of the unseen efforts of God and His angels to protect and guard us through the hazards of this life. Last Wednesday night, my mom in Canada was at her weekly Bible study with friends, expected home around 9:15. My daddy was happily watching a Gaither Homecoming video, and assumed the noise he heard outside about that time was the sound of her car driving up the long gravel driveway. He anticipated she would be in soon, but when she didn't come in the house, he went out to see what was keeping her. To his surprise, she wasn't even home yet. And then he saw it! His truck was missing!! As he looked around for clues, my mom drove up, much later than she ordinarily would be getting home. As we talked abou...