Michael Harrison's e-devotion

This is my Uncle and Aunt from San Antonio, Texas.   A little history ... not long after I graduated from high school, I made my way to Dallas, Texas for Bible college.  While in Dallas I was blessed to live with Nick and Shelly Harrison who living in Dallas at the time.  Those were the days.   They have 2 great kids (one just had his 2nd child with his wife, and second is about to get married).  I learned to eat a lot of things that I didn't like before.  OH MY, I remember coming into the house after school many days to the smell of fresh bread. Nothing compares... My aunt can cook (please come to Virginia soon). My uncle was a voice of reason and encouragement.  Those were the days. I learned much and was (and am) so blessed to have a great family.  Greetings to and thank you to Nick and Shelly Harrison!

But thankfulness isn't easy for a lot of us these days. With the economy spiraling out of control, many people are more worried about their jobs and houses than finding the perfect place-setting for their family gathering. Some of us have had a downright horrible year. Thankfulness can be a very difficult attitude when we've faced a lot of life's trials. Health issues, relationship troubles, family dramas—all of these things can make it hard to put ourselves in a very thankful mood, and Thanksgiving day becomes nothing more than another salute to gastronomical excess. (copied from Relevant Magazine  's newsletter this week) You might agree.  Holiday's are often blown away with stuff that they are not about.  Look, I'm up for and excited about spending time with family, eating some turkey and watching some Dallas Cowboy football, but that is not what Thanksgiving is all about. What have you made Thanksgiving?  It is time to make a list.  Make a li

Week 2 of Habakkuk: When God Doesn't Seem Fair  was good as we talked about how to survive and hear from God while we are in the valleys that life sends our way.  One of the huge things that our low times call for is waiting.  By the way, I don't have much patience, and I don't care to wait.  Enough said. But God's answer is often "wait" when we ask or seek Him.  The reasons He says wait can be varied.  Anything from the situation will work out in time to this is just not the right time and anything in between.  Waiting builds our faith and tests our faith. Psalm 130:5  (nasb) --- I  wait  for the LORD, my soul does  wait , And in His word do I hope. Isaiah 40:31  (nasb) --- Yet those who  wait  for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. The valleys are not fun, yet the results, the outcome and life after can be full of blessings a

2 Corinthians 6.11-13   (The Message) ---  Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! Mark Waltz shared those verses on his blog today in relation to a series going on at Granger Church  .  What an awesome word. (I love the name of Mark's blog:  www.becausepeoplematter.com ). Those are some verses we need to DIG INTO.  They say something we need to HOLD ON TO.  It conveys the truth of what GOD KNOWS.  But do we really get it?  THINK! Often I get to talk to people who are crushed.  They are crushed by their situation in life, by a relationship or by any number of things.  Being crushed has thrown them into living just to 'get by' and not in the

"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth"   - Solomon, Proverbs 13:7 - Laughed out loud reading this one, thinking about how our society has mastered the art of fronting.  We finance our image at high interest rates.  We're broke but we've got bling.  Truly wealthy people have a different mindset, different priorities…I don't want to be a poser. That was a quote from Steve Furtick'  s most recent blog post.  This guy's passion for God and winning the lost has led Elevation Church in Charlotte to grow to thousands in just a couple years.  Pray for Furtick and his team. Yesterday we talked about living a selfless life of humility set to do what God calls us to do.  I want to head down that same road again today and discuss another of our core values at The Community Fellowship . It is the need of authenticity, of being real.  Far too many people put up a front, as Furtick said "master

My brother and his wife are celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary today.  Congratulations to you both and wow!  What a picture of love and commitment and the blessing of God.  They have 6 kids.  Biggest part of me is my brother Steve is one of the biggest encouragers in my life.  He is always living for others (and that is rare). Enjoy your special day, Steve and Susi. And by the way, I forgive you for stealing my birthday 26 years ago.  I will not speak of it again (at least until next year).  Love y'all!

Romans 12:3  (nasb) --- For through the  grace   given  to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. That is a tough verse, but it also a verse that makes us stop and think.  God's grace is a huge deal.  Fact is, I have met many people who don't think they need God's grace.  Some of them have come back to me later broken, hurting and knowing their need for the big grace of God. When we put to much on our thinking or too much stock in our ways, we tend to loose our sight of God and living by faith.  Is that true for you?  It is for me. I was standing outside of the new baby room at the hospital this morning as one of our leaders was giving birth to a beautiful new baby girl.  I have lots of memories in places like that.  But I have one memory that overshadows them all. That is the memory that when I first became a

In my reading this morning, I came across a passage you have to read with me.  Here it is: Psalm 62  (The Message) God, the one and only— I'll wait as long as he says.  Everything I need comes from him, so why not?  He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I'm set for life... My help and glory are in God —granite-strength and safe-harbor-God— So trust him absolutely, people; lay your lives on the line for him.  God is a safe place to be... God said this once and for all; how many times Have I heard it repeated? "Strength comes Straight from God."  Love to you, Lord God!  You pay a fair wage for a good day's work! That's good.  It doesn't get much better.  Often, real often we need words from God that end up being much more than just good words.  These are words to live by.  Lets hang on to them.  Think about them a little longer.  Make them reality for us.  Think hard and hold tight: He

We just started a new series at The Community Fellowship from the book of Habakkuk talking about the fact that sometimes God doesn't seem fair.  As you read Habakkuk the story unfolds of a prophet who loves God but is asking some hard questions.  We've heard many of those questions.  Like: why do bad things happen to good people? and why does life and God seem unfair? Through the mix of what Habakkuk asks, there is hope.  Big hope.  Listen in for a minute: Habakkuk 1:12  (niv) ---    LORD, are you not from everlasting?  My God, my Holy One, we will not die... Habakkuk 2:4   (nlt) --- Look at the proud!  They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Habakkuk 2:20   (nlt)--- But the L ord  is in his holy Temple.  Let all the earth be silent before him. Seeing through the difficulties and the stress, we find God.  He is still God, holy and merciful.  He is still our God and able to s

Hey friends, I am taking a little time away, time with family and some extra time with God, from the connected world (twitter, blog, e-mail, cell phone) until Monday.  See ya then! MICHAEL

"Key to focus is to clear the mind of unnecessary distractions. Now I just need to learn how to do that."   Ron Edmondson   As I read that thought and began to prepare for our 48 Hours of Praying & Fasting  God said some things to my heart that I now have to get off my chest.  Honesty is the only way.  One of our core values at The Community is authenticity  which means to be real. The two items that distract me the most are busyness and lust.  There, I said it.  If we take what most recovery programs say, then admitting you have a problem is the first step to healing.  So, God heal me from these distractions.  I wish God would remove them, but as one of our wise Community family members said last night 'God didn't make us puppets.' (How true!) Most of the distractions that come into our lives come because we let them.  OUCH!  Did you hear that?  We let them in for one reason or another.  Maybe it is insecurity.  May the reason is not being

You may think that today's devotion is bland or doesn't apply to you.  Wait a minute.  It does apply.  Why?  Because we need God, and the best way for us to communicate with God and to spend time with him.  That is sweet time. This weekend The Community Fellowship is asking our people and you to join us in this: 48 Hours of Prayer & Fasting .  Just one hour praying, prayer walking (or driving), reading scripture, writing a card or letter with a prayer or anything like that.  Would you join us in time?  The fasting is not necessarily from food.  You can fast from anything that keeps you from focusing on God, and then use the urge for whatever that is to remind you to spend time with God and to pray. We need to pray (notice the requests at the end of each day's devotion).  Here are some verses that I claim in prayer: Matthew 11:28  (nlt) --- Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are  weary  and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Lee Greenwood's song God Bless the USA  contains a line that I want to ask us to think about this morning: "And I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free And I won't forget the men who died Who gave that right to me" He said "I won't forget the men who died who gave..."  Those men and woman who have given their lives to serve our country for us are to be held up as heroes.  Some lost their lives, others have continued injuries but all carry in them the truth that freedom is worthy of sacrifice.  This is veteran's day. We live in a nation that is full of freedoms that we enjoy.  Thank a veteran.  Pray for our nation and continue to do your part to keep that freedom. That reminds us of the price that Jesus paid for our freedom.  Thank God as well for what He has given to give us Spiritual freedom. Hebrews 9:28  (nlt) --- so also  Christ   died   once  for all time as a sacrifice to take away the s

This Sunday at The Community we talked about the fact that people who choose to walk with Jesus are a threat to Satan.  That is seen in the fact that Satan is after us and anyone who is with God.  The enemy's goal is distract us and keep us from following God. One of my favorite stories about this kind of thing is Nehemiah and how he led God's people to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.  Here is a portion of that story: Nehemiah 4:7-15  (nlt) 7  But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going ahead and that the gaps in the wall of Jerusalem were being repaired, they were furious.  8  They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion.  9  But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves...  12  The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, "They will come from all directions and attack us!"  13  So I placed ar

Former Bastrop County, TX sheriff has opened a great place to eat. Richard's Back Porch BBQ has excellent food (I had turkey, beef and sausage and only a little piece of each). The pecan pie was saweeeet too. Head on down to Elgin, Texas for some BBQ.

Few people have made the impact that this man of God has made.   It is an honor to wish Billy Graham a very happy 90th birthday .

Are you ever reminded that much of the time our feelings and our faith don't always match up?  I am, and I need to hear and believe what God says.  Then, pass those things along. This weekend I have the blessing of baptizing some precious people at The Community.  We have seen lives changes, and each one has an awesome story about who God is and how God works.  Each also has some choices to make every day.  All of us have choices to make.  Believe God or following what your natural feelings say. Let me give you some of the verses that are pinging my mind this morning: 2 Corinthians 5:17  (nasb) --- Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a  new  creature; the  old  things passed away; behold,  new  things have  come . Saved by God through grace.  Changed.  Forgiven.  Reminded that the new life is lived with and for Christ.  Therefore a choice: my way or God's way. Hebrews 11:6  (nlt) --- And it is impossible to please God  without   faith . Anyone who wa