Philippians 3:4-9

Hello Everyone!

We had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner

at our home last Sunday night with our church family.

Now, we are looking forward to having TD with Andrea C., my daughter's family

in Indiana on Wednesday. We will be missing Amy D., my other daughter and her

family who are now living in India...that's right...India, not Indiana...what a

difference a "NA" makes!

It felt so good to have our church family here.

We missed Carmen, who was flying back from Savannah, GA due to the passing of

her grandmother.

Carmen, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

I love to have people in my home...family...friends...neighbors...

Sometimes...OK...most of the time...the "getting ready" for a "gathering"

in our home is tiring....but WHAT A GOOD TIRED!!!

I told Andrea B., one of our church members...that it felt like warm oil

being poured over me ~ the feeling of working hard for an event and then

seeing everyone there and enjoying themselves...WOW...can't buy that

feeling with any amount of money!!

Anywho... (shout out to Dawn H. in Plainfield, IN who always says that)

one of the items I served was Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips.

This recipe has fond memories for me.

When Bob was the Children's Pastor at a church in Avon, Indiana,

I was involved in a Moms group, called Moms Connection.

One of the Moms (Traci P.) brought this to our monthly meeting-pitch-in.

W>O>W>!! We all started making it and we couldn't get enough of it.

Here it is:

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Makes 10 Servings

2 Kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Apples, peeled, cored and diced
8 Ounces of raspberries
1 Pound of strawberries
3 Tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Cups cinnamon sugar
10-10" Flour or whole wheat tortillas
Butter flavored cooking spray, margarine or butter (your choice)

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.


2. Preheat over to 350º


3. Coat one side of each tortilla with margarine or butter or butter flavored cooking spray. (your choice) Start by buttering or spraying one tortilla, then stacking the next one on top and buttering or spraying the top of that one. When finished with the whole stack, cut it into wedges from the top of the stack to the bottom. Lay them out on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. Spray with the cooking spray. Sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture again and spray again. The "spraying" helps to hold the cinnamon/sugar mixture onto the chip.
   


4. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with the chilled fruit salsa mixture.

Note from Debbie: This original recipe was designed to look like the colors in regular Mexican salsa. You can sure use any fruit you have on hand to acquire the same taste. Also, 2 Cups of Cinnamon/Sugar would be 2 Cups of white sugar and I used approximately 4 teaspoons of cinnamon, although it is determined on how much you like cinnamon!


Here is our Scripture passage for this week:

(Verse 4) "though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:

(Verse 5) circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;

(Verse 6) as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

(Verse 7) But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

(Verse 8) What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

(Verse 9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is built by faith."

In these wonderful verses is one of the great personal testimonies in the New

Testament. It is also one of the most significant statements on the matter

of salvation

found in the New Testament.

It takes us into the very heart of the sinner's attitude in conversion.

As you read this you may see the phrase "profit and loss". A lot of people are

thinking about their profit and losses in these financially slow times.

Paul was using accounting terminology in verses 7 & 8.

He is talking about a business transaction that involved a profit column

and a loss column. There were certain things which he felt were in the profit

column which he switched over to the loss column when he met Christ.

Paul is saying that he is willing to give up trusting what was once valuable to him

as a means of salvation to trust Christ instead!

It is an exchange.

It is what salvation is.

It is self-denial.

It is not walking in the flesh. (see my last post for that definition)

In other words, consider all that you have attained as useless, worthless

and follow Christ.

I will give up everything I have depended on to earn my favor with God for Christ.

I will give it all up.

Any man-made effort to gain salvation is as rubbish.

Paul says that he was the worst of sinners. (I Timothy 1:15 New International

Version)

• Not because he lived a lewd and immoral life

• He lived an extremely moral life

He saw the deepest vilest rubbish of life as RELIGION ~ not immorality!!

It is one thing to act immoral ~ which is very wrong...very wrong...

But it is something else to believe that God is so low that you can earn

acceptance with Him!

Paul says in verse 4 that he has no confidence in this fleshly way of living.

True Christians do not trust in anything they do to earn salvation.

• Their JOY

• Their Glory

• Their Boasting
  

is all in Christ Jesus!!

Paul is not belittling Judaism because he is jealous of something he does not

have.

Paul is not belittling Judaism because he is envious of what someone else has.

Paul is not putting Jewishness down because he could not have it, so he

is going to cut everyone down who is a Jew.

NOT AT ALL ~ he is saying that I have been there...

I have stood on that same ground...

I have impeccable Jewish religious credentials...

And I can tell you to put not confidence in the flesh...

It is garbage.

It is waste.

it is useless.

It is profitless.

It is a big fat zero.

It makes Jesus' death on the cross, unnecessary and useless!!

What is your "bottom line" in your profit and loss statement??

What is in your profit section?

Are you depending on your church attendance?

Are you depending on how much you work in the church?

Are you depending on how good of a person you are?

Are your depending on your baptism?

Are you depending on the sacraments you take?

Are you depending on lighting candles?

Are you depending on praying through beads?

Are you depending on praying certain prayer formulas?

The only thing that we can depend on is that if we were the only person on earth...

Jesus Christ would have come and died just for us....

We can only depend on His sacrifice for our sins...once and for all.

Amen.

Until next Friday,

Debbie Gerstenberger
Reference: John MacArthur commentary on http://www.preceptaustin.org/
(See the sidebar under links and click on "Online Commentary".)

Philippians 3:1-3

Hello Everyone!

Time for another Chonda Pierce video ~ "My Mother and the Mini-Bar"

(To hear this video, look for the Playlist on the left side of this blog and click on the

"pause" button or the far left top square and turn off the music.)




It seems as though Chonda and her sweet mom have a great relationship!


This week we are talking about Philippians 3:1-3.

Let's do a little review again. At each Chapter "milestone", I like to remind

you of our little outline: (watch for the pattern of "P's"...:O)

I. Rejoicing in Christ as the Principle of Life (Chapter 1:1-11)

II. Rejoicing in Christ as the Pattern of Life (Chapter 2:1-30)

III. Rejoicing in Christ as the Prize of Life (Chapter 3:1-21)

IV. Rejoicing in Christ as the Power of Life (Chapter 4:1-23 )

The Book of Philippians shows us what the true Christianity experience is in our

daily walk with Him.

We just learned about Christ as the Pattern of Life, Someone we need to copy

our life after.

In Chapter Three, we see that we are to rejoice in Christ as the Prize of Life.

When things here on earth seem to be going sour...

we can hold our heads up high and breathe...

we know Who wins in the end...

we know Who will have the final say. Amen!

In order to have Christ as our prize, we must be CONTAGIOUS Christians,

not COUNTERFEIT Christians.

Here is our text for this week:

Philippians 3:1-3

Verse 1 ~ "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is not trouble for me to write the same things to you again and it is a safeguard for you.

Verse 2 ~ Watch our to those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Verse 3 ~ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh–"

We had 2 "C" words...Contagious, Counterfeit and now...

"Confidence"...

My Bible has as a heading for verses 1-6 ~ "No Confidence in the Flesh"...

There are many different avenues that we could take with these 3 verses.

I am choosing to take the avenue of what the "the flesh"

means in the Bible.

Paul talks about CIRCUMCISION (another "C") in the first 5 verses of Chapter 3

because he is trying to show that we can not have CONFIDENCE in what

we can do on our own, but what CHRIST (another "C"!) did on the CROSS

(you know what I want to say here... another "C"!!)

I have actually thought about circumcision before (!) and thought...

"What an odd thing to do to 'mark' (this is going to leave a mark!)

a covenant ( ahhhemmm...I will go on...) between God and the Jewish people!!!

What a strange way to have a covenant..."

(The first instance of this ritual is in Genesis 17, when God appeared to

Abraham to confirm His covenant with him. Also, see Romans 4.)

It reminds me of the song "Strange Way to Save the World" by 4Him.

I have added a snippet of the song on my Playlist, if you are interested in

listening to it. (I did not have the whole song available to me to

download for free. If you do not see it listed, click on the right arrow to move

the listings.)

Anyway....for anyone needing more information than you ever wanted on

circumcision...here is a link to answer any questions you may have.

How painful it is...

How smothering of pride it is...

How giving over control (depending on his age) it is...

How a process of healing it is...

How keeping out infection it is...


Compare this to our process of cutting away "the flesh" in our

spiritual life. By "the flesh" I mean doing things our way, not God's way.

Abraham (again) in Genesis Chapter 16 walked in "the flesh" and fathered

a child named Ishmael, by his wife's maidservant, because he and Sarai (later named Sarah)

were tired of waiting on God's promises. What a mess they made!!!!!!!!!!!!

We still feel the affect of their decision today because the nations that are enemies

to the Nation of Israel today are descendants of Ishmael....

What a mess

we make when we walk in our own ways....

What a better way it is when we give our control to God and walk in His ways

even though...

It is painful...

It hurts our pride...

It is giving up our control...

It involves a healing time...

But>>>

It keeps the "infection" of the world out...


The GOOD News is that even though...even though...

Abram (later changed to Abraham) walked in "the flesh"...

and he was temporarily counterfeit to his calling...

God STILL confirmed his covenant with him.

God STILL said that he would be the father of many nations.

God STILL called him a father before he became a father.

God STILL said that the generations to come after him would be blessed.

God STILL said that Sarai (later changed to Sarah) would be the mother

of nations and kings of peoples would come from her.

This is a source of JOY for us ~ to know that even when we mess up

and walk in our own ways and we do not "cut the flesh" away...

and we are temporarily counterfeit...

• A fake

• A copy

• A fraud

• A phony

• A "knock off" of the original calling or purpose of our life
  

• A forgery

• A pretender
  

God still sees our heart and still blesses us!

God saw Abraham's blind trust and his blind faith...

(blind trust and faith...most of the time!)

It was if Abraham had blinders on.

(most of the time!)

Not very often did he take those blinders off.

He was not often distracted from his vision and God's calling.

He was a contagious worshiper of God.

This is my prayer for us all,

that even though...even though...

we mess up and walk in our own ways,

we do something and then ask God to bless it,

or we are tired of waiting for the promise of God

and take things into our own hands ~

our Heavenly Father will see our heart.

He will see that we trust Him with our lives.

He will see that we believe.

He will see that we have faith.

He will see that we have joy in midst of our circumstances.

He will see that we are a contagious Christian, not counterfeit.

(most of the time!)

We will win the Prize of Life.

(for eternity!)

Amen.

Until next Friday,

may God keep you in the hollow of His hand.

Debbie Gerstenberger

Stay Tuned For This Friday

Hello Everyone!

My sweet husband has been sick since last Wednesday afternoon.

He is on the mend and should be able to go to work tomorrow.

So...I will post this Friday.

Thanks for checking in,

Debbie G.

Philippians 2:26-30

Hello Everyone!

We are talking about sacrificial love in Philippians, Chapter 2.

Our 4 examples are Jesus, Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus.

The last 5 verses of Philippians, Chapter 2, discusses Epaphroditus or as I stated

last Monday, in all due respect, we will call him "Ep".

Speaking of sacrificial love, I searched "sacrifice" on God Tube and found this

video. This is to honor all of the many adoptive families in our nation and world.

This honor has been interwoven in the fabric of our family tapestry. (And

somehow, I have the feeling that more "beautiful threads" are going to be taken on

the "loom of our life" and intertwined with our heart strings.) This is to honor you,

the doers of "pure religion and undefiled before God our Father" (James 1:27)

Now, I know that adoption is not everyone's calling in life, but to those that it is,

may I present to you the "Ep Award"!!!!!!!

Since Ep would be the one most like us common people out of the Fab 4 listed

above, Ep would also be proud of you!! Ep would approve!!

Verses 26-30:

(26) "For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.
(27) Indeed he was ill and almost died. But God had mercy on him and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
(28) Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety.
(29) Welcome him in the Lord with great joy and honor men like him,
(30) because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me."


In verse 25 we learned that Paul was sending him BACK to Philippi.

Why would he send him back to his home after the 5 glowing attributes

that Paul used for him in verse 25?

DID HE:

∆ Have a moral failure?...NO

∆ Get into tax trouble with the U.S. Senate or the IRS?...NO

∆ Ask his "followers" for money and lived a lavish lifestyle?...NO

∆ Get homesick for good 'ole Philippian cooking?...NO

∆ Missed his wife and children?(if married)...probably, but not the reason...

The Philippian church would see him coming through the "lobby" of their

church and say..."WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE???

WE SENT YOU THERE TO STAY AND TO SEE PAUL THROUGH TO THE END,

EITHER HIS RELEASE OR THIS DEATH."

So, we must ask the question...WHY

Verse 26 ~ "For he longs for all of you..." There it is...homesick...nice try!

No, you did not read far enough. "and is distressed..." You say...There it is

again...so homesick, pining away that he became distressed!

The word "distressed" describes the confused restless half-distracted state

produced by physical derangement or mental distress. So he says that Ep

is restless and he is in turmoil and he is distressed.

By the way, this is the same word used in Matthew 26:38, where Jesus in the

Garden of Gethsemane says that His soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.

Full of heaviness. He is really upset.

It is the distress that follows a great traumatic shock.

This, I believe, is what we use the term for Post Traumatic Shock Disorder

or PTSD in today's world.

But the rest of verse 26 and part of 27 says: "because you heard he was ill. Indeed

he was ill and almost died."

We may think: "What planet did that kind of guy get off of?

I have never heard of such a thing."

When is the last time you got completely disoriented and restless

and totally distressed because you knew somebody was feeling bad

about your situation? And your distress was directly related to the fact

that they were having a difficult time with your situation?

Now...that will show you the depth of love.

Now...that will show you the bond.

Unfortunately, in our society, we are more concerned with things than people.

More concerned with possessions

than relationships.

"Our" Ep was some kind of guy.

He loved his Philippian church family so deeply that he does not want them to be

distressed. Paul says that he has to send him back because he is so distressed

that you have heard about the fact that he almost died and he wants to eliminate

your distress. And what a compassionate man Paul was! Paul could have said,

"Look, Ep...get your act together, for mercy sake, we have got to advance the

kingdom. Don't you know that I am THE Apostle, and you have to stay here for

me? You can't be worried about how they feel about how you feel!"

Nope.

The problem is that Paul feels bad because Ep feels bad that the Philippians

feel bad. Everybody feels bad. So, Paul says..."You've got to go because they

feel bad, you feel bad, I feel bad. If you just go, they'll feel good, you'll feel

good, I'll feel good."

Isn't it wonderful to know that some people in the ministry are compelled

by relationships rather than programs?

Paul is saying that he is more concerned about Ep's and the Philippian church's

JOY than his...

That's humility...that is absence of complaining.

In Philippians 2:3-4, Paul writes:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Paul was walking the talk.

Which brings me to some life application questions:

1.) Have you tried to out-love your spouse, children, parents, inlaws?

2.) Have you sacrificed in ministry to others?

3.) What allurements have you turned from in order to wholly focus on Christ?

4.) What have given yourself away for a cause other than your own fulfillment?

Let's pray...

Dear Heavenly Father,

Lord, help us to be like Ep. He had a humble concern for the needs of others.

He was so loving. We see him risking his life to meet the needs of Paul. Help

us to put relationships above things and not to find ourselves trying to insulate

ourselves into comfort zones. Put us out there on the cutting edge where we

risk, where we can see Your mighty hand of deliverance in our behalf. Some

of us don't even know what it is to be rescued because we have never been

where there is any danger. We've never opened our mouth to speak of Christ.

We've never taken a stand. Help us, Lord, to know how to listen for Your direction

and Your calling. We want our lives to be a pleasing fragrance rising to Your

throne. We want our sacrifice of our lives to be acceptable for Your glory in

Jesus name. Amen.

In sobering repentance,

Debbie G.

(Resource: www.preceptaustin.org - Look under "Links" on the sidebar of thisblog and click on "Online Commentary". Commentary by John MacArthur for Philippians 2:25-30)

Philippians 2:25

Hello Everyone!

I pray that everyone had a great week!

OK...this is what I was doing instead of working on this Bible Study blog:

hehehehe!! We went back to Indiana over the weekend to celebrate two

of our grandsons birthdays!!

The above grandson is Zane, age 5. (it is not his birthday) His big brothers, Chase and Trey (pictured here with their birthday

cup cakes and getting "silly stringed") celebrated their

birthdays. Chase was 12 on October 31 and Trey will be 9 on November 16.

Happy Birthday to our wonderful grandsons!!

My daughter Andrea and her husband Jim, had a blow-out party in their

back yard with many adults and many kids!!

The only regrettable part of this day was that we were missing family members

that could not come because of various reasons, one being that they were in India!!

OK, now onto our purpose here....

I was reading ahead in Philippians last week.

I was reading in the 4th chapter.

I am so excited about the 4th chapter!!

To be transparent here...when I read our Scripture for today,

and 26-30...

I thought...oh my...

what am I going to say...(notice that I said "I"...leaving out the Holy Spirit...)

there did not seem to be much material there.

THEN I read a commentary from www.preceptaustin.org

(link on the sidebar)

The commentary was from John MacArthur on Epaphroditus...

OH MY....

But first, I wanted to tell you of a new website that I found this week.

I know many of us are trying to cut back on our expenses.

This website gives us practical tips on using everyday products to clean, etc.

I have been using my mom's "recipe" for a window/surface cleaner,

which is white vinegar, ammonia and water.

I had to ditch the pricey cleaners in a bottle.

Here is a sample of what you can do yourself.

This website also has a daily tip that comes to your email.

It is called:

http://www.tipnut.com

Floor Cleaning Recipes:

1. All Purpose Floor Cleaner: 1 cup of vinegar in a pail of water


2. For greasy floors: 1/4 cup washing soda and 1 TBS vegetable oil based soap (Murphy's Oil Soap is one type) to every two gallons of hot water


3. Polish linoleum floors with club soda


4. Clean & Deodorize Carpets: Mix two parts cornmeal with one part borax. Sprinkle generously over carpet, allow to sit for one hour then vacuum

Windows & Mirrors: Store these solutions in spray bottles.

1. One part vinegar added to four parts water


2. One cup cold strong black tea with 3 TBS of vinegar (interesting...:>)

Oven Cleaner: (NO this is not my oven!)

1. A paste of baking soda and hot water or sprinkle the soda on a damp sponge and wipe.

Water Spots On Furniture (Removal Tips):

1. Massage white toothpaste on the spot, let dry, and buff with a clean cloth.


2. Scratch or Stains: Rub the meat of a walnut into the scratch.

Homemade Citrus Household Cleaner:

• Fill a large, wide mouth jar with citrus peels (such as lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruits). Cover the peels with white household vinegar. Let brew for four weeks, shaking the jar occasionally (just to mix it up a bit). Strain (I did this twice).


• Use as a laundry booster (I just tossed it in with the whites), window cleaner, floor cleaner, counter tops, appliances (Dilute in water–1/2 cup per gallon of water works well). For a stovetop grease buster I just sprayed it on undiluted. Test surfaces first before using.

Homemade Vegetable and Fruit Wash:

1 cup water

1 cup vinegar
2 TBS baking soda
2 TBS lemon juice

Directions:

• Mix ingredients then pour in clean spray bottle. Spray fresh vegetables & fruit generously. Sit for 5 minutes then rinse off well.


• Note: Make sure to first mix ingredients in deep container since there will be some fizzing from the baking soda & vinegar.

There’s also this Fresh Fruit & Veggies Washing Tip:

• Sprinkle wet fruit and veggies with baking soda then gently scrub and rinse. This cleaning method safely removes dirt and residue off produce. Mentioned previously on this page: 50 Quick Tips For The Kitchen.

Did You Know: You should wash the outsides of melons before cutting through them? If you don’t, the knife will drag the pesticides/dirt/bacteria from the outside rind into the fruit as you cut.

Now...onto our one verse for this week...(I keep getting side-tracked!)

Philippians 2:25

Verse 25 ~ "But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs."

(New International Version)

Last week, we talked about the third out of four examples in Chapter 2 listed as

as sacrificial people. This week, we will look at the fourth ~ Epaphroditus.

For sake of my fingers...we will now refer to him as Ep ~ no disrespect intended.

Ep may be the one most like us out of the four.

The other three, we can readily agree that they are very gifted.

(See last week's blog for the other three ~ sneaky...I know!)

What do we know about Ep?

We really don't know anything directly about him.

>>We don't know anything about his background.

>>We don't know anything about his parents.

>>We don't know how long he had been a Christian.

>>We don't know what his function in the church was.

All we know is what is implied in verses 25-30.

The fact is that the Philippian church sent Ep with money;

staying to be at the service of Paul ~ serving all of his personal needs.

Now that alone would tell us something about Ep in addition to:

~ The Philippian church would never have sent a man to work

in close proximity with the Apostle Paul, who may have been the most

discerning human being that ever lived and who could see through anyone.

So, we can be fairly certain that Ep was a man of genuine spiritual virtue,

a man in depth in terms of his love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

~ We can be relatively sure that he was a man with a servant's heart.

The Philippian church to have chosen him to be their ambassador,

means that they knew that this man would literally give his life away in service

to Paul. Because to not do so, would betray the Philippian church's love for

Paul.

~ We can assume that he was a man of great courage because he knew

exactly what he was walking into. There was no question in his mind how the

Roman government felt about Paul. It was possible that Paul could lose his life

at any time. The Roman government would consider taking the lives of those

who served alongside of Paul.

...So here we can introduce Ep as a godly man, a servant and has courage.

And he is willing to do that.

He came out of a pagan background and was converted to Christ.

We don't know where or in what way.

It could very well have been when Paul founded the church at Philippi.

He has become, however, a key Christian in the church, a sacrificial man

who has left his home, his employment, his ministry, his church, his friends...

to go and serve the Apostle Paul...

Paul addresses him with 5 titles:

1.) My brother ~ "my" ~ they both have the common source of life, God the Father

having given them life through Jesus Christ. Also, friendship, camaraderie and

affection.

2.) My fellow worker ~ This phrase is used 13 times in the New Testament; 12

times by Paul. Common effort ~ workers together.

3.) My fellow soldier ~ this is a very,very honorable title. My fellow strategist, my

fellow commander-in-chief, leader in the matter of spiritual warfare.

4.) Your messenger ~ the word messenger in the Greek is "apostolos".

Question: Does this mean that he was an Apostle like the Twelve Apostles or

Twelve Disciples?

5.) "To take care of my needs" ~ many translations have "to minister" instead.

The money he brought is talked about in Chapter 4, verse 18 as and acceptable

sacrifice. Ep was a "priest" doing a sacred service and offering a sacrifice of money

for the needs of Paul.

This reminds me of a story that I read while researching the topic of being

a servant. It seems that there were two men riding on a city bus.

All at once, one of the men, stiffened and fell to the floor where he writhed

in a terrible seizure. The man sitting next to him calmly secured his head and made

sure that he did not swallow his tongue. The second man calmly waited until

the seizure was over and helped his fellow passenger back up to his seat.

A man gawking from across the aisle could not help but ask if this man knew

the man who just had the seizure. The "helping" man said..."Oh, yes. You see

we were in the Vietnam War together. I was being surrounded by enemy fire.

My friend here, carried my wounded body to safety while taking on bullets himself.

I returned back to normal, but my friend has developed these seizures over the

years. When I learned that he was developing more and more seizures each year,

I made the decision to leave my home and my friends to come and take

care of my friend. I am his constant companion, for whenever he has his seizures,

which can be multiple ones a day, I am here to take care of him. I am here for

him, to serve him in whatever way he needs me. Because without him, I would not

be here today."

This is what we can say about our wonderful Lord Jesus,

**who took the punishment that we deserved

**who stepped in and bore our sorrow and our pain on the cross

**who thought more of us, than he did himself

**who paid the price so that we may have eternal life

**who ministered to us

Jesus, may I say, is our Ep...our sacrificial example!

(More on "our Ep" this Friday, verses 26-30.)

Go with God and He will go with you,

Debbie G.