This is the Day that the Lord has Made by Rev. Greg Bishop

Why are we in such a big hurry for this day, or week to end?

We use a lot of catchy phrases like "Thank goodness, it’s Friday," or on Wednesday we say, "Hump day, only two days 'til the weekend," or "Boy, you can sure tell it’s Monday, can't wait 'til 5 o'clock." Then Sunday evening it’s "Where did the weekend go?"

I want to encourage us to look forward to every day of the week. Each day has it’s purpose. Enjoy every day and appreciate the fact that you have today, and today is like no other day.

We need to individually decide how to be productive mentally, physically, and spiritually as we enter into each day. I can only offer a suggestion, you must decide how to make your own agenda Sunday through Saturday.

S - Start the week off properly. Worship with your Christian brothers and sisters. The Word of the Lord says for us to assemble together (Hebrews 10:25), and the purpose on Sunday, of course, is to give praise and worship to our heavenly Father, Who is worthy of all our praise.

M - Make an extra effort to do a good deed today. Make Monday a smile day. If you go to the fast food drive-thru, be pleasant to the person at the window. They could be having a bad day and your smile and kindness might just brighten their entire week. You may even want to try it at the bank, the grocery store, maybe even Wally-World. It really does work most of the time.

T - Take time to be alone with your Lord. He wants to hear from you and He wants to speak to you. We are important to Him. Remember He gave His very best for His children. We shouldn't just confine this to Tuesday, it should be the norm for every day. Just make a special effort today.

W - Walk with integrity. don't give anyone a reason to condemn you. The Bible tells us to refrain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Doing so will ensure no one can legitimately condemn us for any reason.

T - Talk to someone about the Lord today. It will not only help them in eternal matters, but it will give you a sense of obedience to the Lord. The Holy Scriptures tell us to be prepared in season and out to give an account for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15). we're busy people and we don't always get a lot of opportunities to witness as we would like, so make the best of every opportunity. wouldn't Thursday be a great day to tell someone about Jesus?

F - Finish the work week with a sense of accomplishment. Know that you've done your best. You've heard the old adage "don't worry, be happy." Jesus mentioned this. He was telling us that worrying about things won't change them. If you know you've done your best, rejoice in that fact.

S - Saturday is my day of rest, as it probably is for many people. I believe we all want to look back on our previous six days and feel a sense of accomplishment. Be good to yourself today. don't dwell on the things that didn't go exactly the way you would have liked. Instead, concentrate on the good things from each of the days of this past week. And look forward to next week for what it is... a blessing from God.

Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

When I received Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss free to review it for Moody Publishers, I expected it to be just another book about being thankful. But it's really so much more!

This is a book about being grateful in all things... not the happy blessings of life, but the hard-to-handle tragedies that we face. Not the "I'm thankful that you're teaching me through this, Lord," but "I'm thankful for this... for this sickness... for this financial ruin... for this...[insert your own tragedy here].

It's not something we want to even consider, let alone attempt to do.

But DeMoss shows us how tightly woven the theme of gratitude and giving thanks in all things is with the gospel message we love. And she helps us discover how we can be grateful and give thanks in all things.

Joni Eareckson Tada wrote the foreward in the book. And for someone who has faced the trials that she has to be able to recognize that God is bigger than our trials and heartaches--when her trials and heartaches seem so much more severe than mine!--I have to at least try to understand the message of this book. I don't know that I fully "get" it... but I see the need for it. I believe you will, too.

Definitely one worth reading.

Purchase Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy.

The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley

I received The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr. and Cindy Kelley from Bethany House to review, and I have to say, this was a hard book for me to read.

The writing is excellent, of course. The story is gripping, it draws you in and holds your attention. But the tragedy the characters face was more than I, personally, wanted to "live" through within its pages.

This is the story of a woman who almost drowns at the very moment of giving birth to her son, and because of that trauma, the boy is born unable to hear or speak. She learns, as he grows, that the boy has a special gift, however, and their saga begins.

What was so disturbing to me were the unbelievably harsh circumstances the characters were forced to endure. Just at the moment when it seemed as if things couldn't get worse, they did. There are times when a book imposes too much pain into my spirit, and that troubles me emotionally. This was one of those books.

It's a bittersweet story, some would say heartwarming. And of course, it's not hopeless. There are good things that happen in it. And God does prevail. It's just that the book haunted my spirit and it's not one I would choose to read again.

Purchase The Silent Gift.

Regret-Free Living by Stephen Arterburn

While I've heard of Stephen Arterburn for years, I have to admit that Regret-Free Living is the first of his books that I've read. Now, I've found a new author.

Expecting a dry, preachy discourse about "moving on," I was very pleasantly surprised to find this book laugh-out-loud funny in places and filled with practical ideas for living without regret.

Like everyone else, I've done things I would change if I could, but sadly, can't. Using examples from his own life, as well as illustrations from others, Arterburn reminds us that we're all in the same shape and that letting go of what we can't change makes for a much happier and more peaceful life.

The writing is honest and open, holding back none of--what I would consider--embarrassment or pain of past mistakes. That takes a lot of courage, which I admire. And to do so with humor, drives his point home without hitting us over the head with it.

Definitely worth the read. I give this one five stars!

(I received this book free as a reviewer for Bethany House.)

Purchase Regret-Free Living.

But I Just Can't Change!

Enjoy this guest post from Katherine Swarts and visit her website to let her know you saw her on the Christian Daily Blog!

Do you believe that the Bible is truthful?

Does that include the passages that say you “can do everything” through Christ’s strength (Philippians 4:13, NIV) and that “no temptation has seized you except what is common” to humanity (1 Corinthians 10:13)?

You don't fully believe it if you say, “I can't get rid of my temper/worrying/unclean thoughts—what works for others never works for me!”

I know—the temptation to do so can be practically irresistible. I’ve spent much of my own life whining aout how unfair it is that I have to live with this temperament combined with these circumstances. Implying that my bad attitudes are God’s fault for having made me—and arranged my life—the way He did.

Even once we accept that God knows better than we do, we still complain about the difficulty of changing for the better. Like six-year-olds screaming, “I’ll never learn to ride this bike!!!,” we howl at every fall. We demand instant and easy perfection. We threaten to quit trying if God doesn't change us faster.

And He, ever the understanding Parent, keeps a supporting hand on us and bears with us patiently until we finally learn.

Assuming we don't actually give up. Perhaps when Jesus advised us to “become like little children,” one thing He had in mind was that with children, persistence ultimately wins over frustration. No toddler gives up on learning to walk, however frequent the falls along the way. Few six-year-olds really abandon their bikes permanently. But give children ten years to “grow up,” and a surprising number drop each new venture with the first failure: “I tried, and I can't do it.”

In Christian growth, perhaps the ugliest four-letter word is “can't.” It implies God is too weak to lead us to victory.

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Katherine Swarts is founder and owner of Spread the Word Commercial Writing, a copywriting service based in Houston, Texas. Visit her devotional/poetry blog at http://newsongsfromtheheart.blogspot.com.

Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman with Ken Abraham

I didn't know much about George Foreman before I read this book, other than that he is a retired boxer, the person behind the George Foreman Grill, and has several sons all named George. After reading the Knockout Entrepreneur, I've decided he's someone I'd like to meet.

The book gives insight into Foreman the man by sharing details of his boxing career (he was the only boxer to become the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion for the second time at 45) as well as his experiences in business (not only did he create the George Foreman Grill, but he has a line of Casual Male clothing, a line of green cleaners, and he's been involved in many other business ventures) and that aspect of the book alone is worth the read. But there's much more!

Knockout Entrepreneur is filled with practical advice, encouragement, business insights and more to help entrepreneurs develop a winning mindset while maintaining integrity in all their business dealings.

The style is quick and easy to read. Ken Abraham who collaborated on the book, is a professional in his own right, having worked on ten New York Times best sellers.

Personally, I'd give Knockout Entrepreneur five stars and definitely recommend it.

Preview this book.
Purchase the Knockout Entrepreneur.

Strong Relationships

Enjoy this guest post from Corrie Howe!

“He had no majesty to attract us to him; there was nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:2

Since the birth of my youngest, nearly eight years ago, I’ve watched with interest the proliferation of reality TV shows dealing with various types of relationships. There are shows about matchmaking, parenting, swapping spouses, roommate wars, strangers on islands and friends redecorating one another’s homes.

When I nursed my infant daughter, I watched a show called Joe Millionaire. The entire show centered on a construction worker’s dilemma over picking a mate from 20 women who believed he was worth $80 million. He constantly asked himself, “Is she attracted to me or my imaginary money?”

A year later a show premiered called “Average Joe.” I didn’t watch it, but the commercials led me to believe the conflict in the show was “Can a physically attractive woman desire a physically unattractive man?”

I don't know about you, but as I reflected upon forty years of relationships, most of my important and long lasting relationships didn’t start from attraction. As I’m thinking about the people I hold near and dear to my heart, I think most of my important relationships stemmed out of common bonds.

My relationships with my parents, brothers, grandmothers, aunt, uncles and cousins started because we shared the same blood, but the fact that I still relate to them is because I grew to understand and love them.

My relationships with my in-laws (on my side and my husband’s side) started out because we share one person in common, but as I started spending time with them, I grew to value and trust them.

I have several relationships from my previous employment. Initially we shared an employer or vocation in common. The fact that I’m still in relationship with them after leaving the company a decade ago means we built something past the original common bond.

From what I can pick up from these TV shows about relationships, there doesn't seem much to keep the relationship together after the cameras stop rolling.

Pretty much all my own relationships which started out with a strong attraction of some sort usually ended with disappointment. There were dozens of men and women with whom I seemed to “hit it off” right away but now I can't tell you where any of them are. Despite the original attraction, we didn’t share common interests or values. Our personalities conflicted. We couldn’t unconditionally accept one another. There wasn’t mutual trust and loyalty....

One year I had Isaiah 53:2 stuck in my head. The Message translation is “There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.” The NIV says, “He had no majesty to attract us to him, there was nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”

This verse is in the Old Testament in a series of prophecies foretelling the arrival of Israel’s Messiah (savior). The Prophet Isaiah said there was nothing to attract his peers to Jesus, nothing to cause them to desire to know him better. You see, the Jewish people were looking for a King from the royal line of kings to rise up and lead a rebellion reestablishing Israel as a sovereign nation. They weren’t looking for a baby to be born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

I think Isaiah’s words are just as true today. How many times did people introduce me to Jesus and I didn’t desire him. He doesn't have the glamour of Hollywood riches or the excitement of sports fame. When I originally looked at him, I thought a relationship with him meant a lot of “don’ts”...which wasn’t really attractive. It was only after I began spending time with Him and understanding him better that I count him as the most important relationship in my life.

Now, I’m attracted to him because he loves me even though I am not perfect. In fact, he already knows I’m not perfect which is why he died on the cross for my sins. I find him attractive because his death on the cross and my belief in him guarantees me eternal life with God. I find comfort in being able to come to him daily for the things we all look for in relationships – unconditional love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

Thank you, Lord, for your ways are not our ways. In fact, your ways are much higher than our ways. We confess that we are often beguiled by the outward appearances. You are interested in the heart. Thank you for your precious gift of Jesus, who had no earthly majesty about him, but he gave up his heavenly throne to assume the punishment for our sins. Now when you look on our hearts, you only seen the righteousness of Jesus and we can stand before you unconditionally loved and forgiven. Amen.

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Corrie Howe is thrilled to be able to write about her walk with the Lord today. Typically she writes about her middle son over at Just Because My Pickle Talks Doesn't Make Me an Idiot. While she does weave in how her faith helps her in "the joy in the challenge of Asperger's Syndrome," her primary purpose of the blog is to bring hope and humor into an often hopeless and dark community of special needs.