H O L Y

Posted on January 27, 2022 by Tom Bolton

Upon studying 2 Peter 1:4:

 by which He has given to us exceedingly

great and precious promises,

so that through these things you might become partakers of the divine nature

and escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.

                              Can I Be Holy?

This drop of water is like the Atlantic,

Not with the power or magnitude of oceans,

Not in Size and scope,

But in essence and saltiness.

So am I.  Can it be?

My heart made clean, I am filled with

Love to God and to each other.

My love seems so small compared to Christ,

but it is the same love,

filling me.

Joy in the Spirit, Joy in the the Word,

Joy to the World.

The spark in this ember is like a forest fire,

not with the same heat or destruction,

Not in size and scope yet,

But in essence and combustion.

So am I.  Can it be?

My heart washed by the water,

and tempered by the flames,

I am clean and holy.

In ways I still need to learn daily, I am in His Spirit,

and filled with His Spirit.

The skin of my frame is stretched taught,

pulled  to springy transparency to allow the

Spirit to fill me each moment.

Holy now, I conform to His nature,

Revealed in me the Spirit of Jesus.

It is love.

Joy in the Word, Joy to the World.

(c) Tom Bolton, January 26, 2022, Cudahy home.

Advent Devotions:

Advent: Mysterious Love

Mystery Anew

Mysterious Piety

My life of Hope in Christian community.

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Leaders Lead in Sunday School Too

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Tom Bolton

I’ve been studying how to breathe new life into our Sunday School Classes and our small groups.
Allan Taylor provided this great list about why Sunday School is so important, and I added a few comments.

Sunday School is about God’s Day.
   The first day of the week is when Jesus rose from the tomb. The early Church worshipped and studied on the First Day and it continued for many centuries.
Sunday School is about God’s Home.
   It is the place where we gather to worship, and we rightly learn here.
Sunday School is about God’s Word.
   The Bible is the storybook for children, the molding of youth, God’s strength for young adults, and God’s ever-present help in middle age, and God’s sustaining grace in old age. We all ought to be there at every age.
Sunday School is about People.
   Preschoolers need love there, children need to learn, youth need guidance, adults need challenging and older adults need to end well.
Sunday School is about transformation.
   We are renewed, served, prepared to share the Gospel, and souls are saved here.
Sunday School is about the Great Commission.
   Sunday School is how the Church has energized, evangelized, organized, mobilized and individualized so we can achieve the Great Commission.
Sunday School is about ministry.
   Jesus directed me through the Holy Spirit to teach Sunday school.
   It is a friend to the perishing, a hug to the hurting, a smile to the lonely, a boost to the downcast, a prayer for the sick, a comfort to the mourning, and a boost to the bored.
Sunday School is about Inspiration.
   It is a safe place to think, to learn, to feel something, to do something, and to grow.

Mid-week groups are important too, but the place for Sunday Schools is well-established in the Church. Growing churches have growing Sunday Schools. I want to be part of that, and I want lots of newbies to join in too.

Lets pray for our Sunday Schools. And please join us!

Hopeful

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Chastened and Eyed

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Tom Bolton

Jesus’ Eyes

Chastened and Eyed

On Hebrews 12:10, looking at Matthew 16:23 and Luke 26:61-62

I seek the worthy life.

When Jesus looked at Peter,

With no new words,

Peter remembered His words, a

Warning before the rooster crowed three times.

Man, I do know what Jesus says to me,

And I want too to watch for His look.

Let me be holy enough and righteous inPractice

That I see His look.

Get behind me Satan.

(Satan does deceive me—with my own words,

And so often my mind is in the wrong place.)

Let me see Jesus’ eye on me too—As often as I need it.

Joy!

Joy to know Jesus.

Let me too receive the kingdom that cannot be shaken.


(C) Tom Bolton, Cudahy, 9 December 2021

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Winning My Shirt

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Tom Bolton

 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

—- Matthew 5:40 NIV

Winning My Shirt

When I was sued, I thought only of winning;

I focused on his lies and never considered his needs,

And after 1000 days in Courts and Conferences,

We left deadlocked, and yet

I could never let it go.

I was wronged and that is all I see.

I live my life as a competitor

Too often.

In my meditations, I can see

who I really am,

And I know that I need to love and share,

But it is not my first nature.

I will give my shirt,

But not my victory.

Lord, hold me close,

Even when I want to fight in man’s Court,

And when I want to wrestle in the arena.

Lord, bless me to change me.

(C) Tom Bolton December 1, 2021 in Cudahy, WI

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Ikigai

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Tom Bolton

I learned a new word that I will contemplate during my prayer time this week. This is from Dr. Ingrid Hicks.

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Time to Return to My Blog

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Tom Bolton

I posted this in Learners, Leaders and relationships on FaceBook in July. I am copying it here as I recall how to use this blogging software again.

I want to share this and some other Maxwell maxims with our Church Council. We are always working on developing more leadership.

“The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract.” ~ John C Maxwell

Like attracts like is a basic principle of life. Others also say that birds of a feather flock together. If you want to play with leaders at a certain level, you need to raise your game to match theirs. A leader who’s a 7 on a scale of 1-10, will not be attracted to a leader who’s a 5.

The same is true that a leader who’s a 9 cannot be attracted to a leader who’s a 7. The onus is on you to develop your leadership capacity.

I hope to start adding to my poetry each week, and also I am going to be adding a section about my experience with Kidney Failure and pursuing a Kidney transplant.

I will try posting this now.

Fingers crossed.

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2016 Re-run

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Tom Bolton

Another re-run:

In that One Week, in the World

In that one week,
there was an anniversary party,
with 60 years remembered and celebrated and re-lived,
and friends found and met and recalled.
There was cake and movies and photos.
There were children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren too.
There was joy.
We were sent there, and Christ filled us.
We celebrated parents.
In the world, with all that is there,
we were filled with Christ.
Dinner and hugs, laughter and audio squeals,
chances for stress and moments for what-ifs,
We were awed by the love.
In that one week,
there was Billy in the park,
sober and thinking of coming in,
in appreciation and thoughtful,
hugging us.
There was solemn joy there too.
We were sent into the world,
and Christ filled us in that week too.
In that one week,
we texted a missionary in Michigan,
and he texted back, and he inspired us.
We shared words from Isaiah, and
domestic, routine words too.
In that one week, I connected with a son,
And Christ was there.
In that one week, we shared pillars at work,
and heard each other and calmed each other,
and Cared for each other,
and Christ filled us when junk crept into us.
In that one week,
we shared what we could.
We shared cash and Spirit-filled fruits too.
In that one week, we saw that we
were sent into the world,
and we shared with servants planning and supporting
Head Start.
We knew at each turn,
We are sent into the world.
Christ filled us at each turn,
And there was room for no more.

© Tom Bolton, Milwaukee, 2 July 2013

John 17:18 New English Translation (NET)

Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.

1 John 2:16 The Message (MSG)

15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

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