..... And he can be a delightful person.  I only recognized it for the first time tonight.    

I never thought that I could learn anything from him, but I did.  I don't believe that there is a bit of guile in him.  He may not understand, but he seems to always mean well.  There is no hostility in him at all.  He tries to do the right thing, even when he isn't capable of doing it.  

And he taught me something more without ever trying to or meaning to:  
He taught me that there is joy in simple human company, with two people simply talking without vast ideals, high intellect, lofty thoughts, clever teasing and complex games...   

Simply talking and enjoying the company of another human being created in God's image is a great thing.  

More, you don't have to do great things with your life to feel accomplished.  Just doing  something kind for someone when you didn't have to and seing the joy in their eyes is its own reward and well worth the doing.  
   

There are times in your life when you just seem to wake up.  You stand up straight, lift your eyes out of the rut that you are in, out of the regular repeated views of everyday life and just get some perspective from an angle you don't normally see things from.  At those times everything in life seems to take on a little extra dimension, and for a little while you become just a little more, just a little wiser than you were before.  It is these times that are a real blessing from the Lord, because then we fit even better into His creation, and it was His sovereignty that planned and brought the entire day.  
   

    Only by His grace,    

        Keil C   

   kdcoppes@hotmail.com  

20030614 A thought: Thy will be done & dreams  

How do dreams work together with "Thy will be done, Lord?" or can they?  

Dreams and life hopes are a great thing - they warm our hearts, give us added purpose, make us smile.  At times they make a grey world come alive with color and music.   

It is difficult when things don't go the way you always hoped they would, particularly if you have big dreams - and good dreams for that matter.  Sometimes it feels as though they are soap bubble that show rainbows when the light hits them, and burst into a million rainbow shards when you touch them.  You find your heart and hopes struggling with what you know is right.  Even though your head may often know the right thing, it is often hard to trust in the right thing and even harder to actively feel and live in trust in the right thing.    

So what do we do?  Are we to continue contending against God?  Do we accuse our almighty, gracious, sovereign Lord of unfairness for not bending these particular providences as we would have them?  May it never be!  May God be true and every man a liar, ourselves included!  We are the ones to obey our Lord.  

So what then?  Is there no possibility of the good things in life coming to us?  Are we never to dream?  Are we condemned to a gray and faded life, with no hope?  

As I sit out here under the back awning, listening to the Colorado rain fall, I know that there is real good in life.  God says that He makes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him.  Elsewhere in Scripture it says that He does what He wills in heaven and earth and among the children of men, and no-one can stay His hand.   What was that?  The sovereign God of all creation is seeking my good?  Yes!  

And that is where the pinch comes - God uses His definition of good, not mine, and as the all-knowing, all-loving, eternal author of all creation and history, He knows what He is talking about so much better than I ever will, and He does it!  

Am I never to dream?  Are we never to dream? Not at all.  But all those dreams are conditional on God's will.    

Work, yes.  Strive, yes.  Pray with zeal, yes.  But always, my spirit (and yours) must always come back to "Thy will be done", knowing that God has my good at heart.  If I don't come with that attitude, then I am putting myself in His place.  Knowing takes very little - doing, that is the hard part.  

Great dreams, tender dreams, warm dreams, awestruck dreams, dreams of all the heart's desire?  Yes, indeed!  But always, God's will be done.    

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain."  1 Tim 6:6  
1 Tim 6:6  
 

 PATIENCE  

Time unfolds and years must pass  
With days fading lik the summer's grass  
Before the future comes at last  
To be whatever God in secret will  
Has planned.  I know not now  
What will occur, or how  
My precious Lord will strengthen me  
To face the storm, the calm,  
The days of joy or sorrow  
That lie between.  

-kc 2/24/1993  

And yet I know He will  
For good or ill I know through all I've seen  
His hand has sheltered me!  

-kc 6/14/2003