Generation NeXt Parenting

Friday, August 17, 2007

Just a Spark!

I live in Montana ... it's one of the prettiest places on earth, except during fire season.

Even though the fires are miles and miles from my home, the sky is filled with smoke. In fact, it's so gray and dark it's hard to see the HUGE mountains from my window.

This reminds me of something I read recently:

"It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or
wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruinthe world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell."

This is scary:

"You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue? it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image.Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!"

I love that ... by our speech we can send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it. It's a great passage from The Bible.

The Bible? Did that sound like the Bible to you? Where are the thees and thous and hard language? I was asked this question by some of my teen friends who heard me read this passage. They didn't read the Bible much, and this isn't what they expected.

The verses are actually, James 3:5-12, The Message version. I LOVE the Message because it is the Bible is today's language.If you don't have this version on the Bible, don't worry.
Check it out, http://www.biblegateway.com/" See that box next to Quick Search? You can change the version. Just go down a few and find "The Message." Then you can enter in some of your favorite passages.

Isaiah 40: 27-31:"Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,or, whine, Israel,saying,"God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired,gives fresh strength to dropouts.For even young people tire and drop out,young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.They spread their wings and soar like eagles,They run and don't get tired,they walk and don't lag behind.

Labels: bible, heart, montana, speech, taming the tongue, wildfires

posted by Tricia Goyer @ 8:07 AM

2 Comments:

At Friday, 17 August, 2007,  sherry boles~ said...

My favorite verse is Phil. 1:3 (KJV: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

It is translated beautifully in "The Message": "Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God."

 

At Friday, 17 August, 2007,  Tricia Goyer said...

I love that ... THANK YOU, GOD!!!

 

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About Me

Name: Tricia Goyer

Location: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Tricia Goyer is the author of thirty books including Songbird Under a German Moon, The Swiss Courier, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference in 2003. Tricia's book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like MomSense and Thriving Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife.

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