Divine Inspiration
When God shares an idea and partners with us to see it through. This thought includes a prophetic word that we are to share. Here are two of mine:
2021 – A Year Like No Other
2022 – Life Anew
It was very early in January of 2021 when I knew this was the word for the year. I had not received a statement like this to describe a year ahead ever before. Trusting it was the first step, recognizing all that would be involved in it was the second step. Personally, I was teaching in school everyday with more than half of my students learning remotely. After over 20 years of teaching and amassing a large number of files loaded with worksheet to develop lessons, having students do all of their work on the computer was new. Then came a vision that would change my year and cause me to invest significant time doing something that I had never done. The vision was Enemy 11, a card game name, and I began writing out my thoughts in documents, not just on the game and everything that I did for the development of the game, but other thoughts that intrigued me as well. Trust me, there is a reason that I teach mathematics, and it is not because I love reading and writing. In December of 2021, I purchased my license for WordPress and started organizing this website.
In 2022, the word did not come to me in the first week of the year. I was busy through January trying to get this site ready to publish as all of the parts came together. In February, with the help of the most special person in my life, my wife of 36 years, we described this year as Life Anew.
Anew: adverb. – in a new manner or form
I actually stated in March of 2019 when we were about to go into our lock down, that either we would be done with this event in a few weeks and could go back to normal, or that we would have to learn how to do things differently as we come out on the other side of the most horrible event of our lifetimes. Life needed to have a new manner or form. Looking around at all that I saw yesterday, here are a few observations: the traffic is different, far less people driving than before and sorry to say that many are not good drivers; the weather is different as we had significant snows this year not experienced in this area; the items in stores is different as many things are in short supply; the world events are different as two Olympics took place with few fans. For me, I am now teaching a paperless classroom, something I read from a colleague years ago and did not believe possible in a math class at the time. My faith is needed to move into the cyber world in a manner more bold than I imagined I would be capable of doing. My exercise is different, my eating is different, and my daily routines are different. Doing life, in a new manner is exciting. I pray that this will be true for you too.
True Relationships
Based upon my theme of perspective being a thought on a true relationship, I am sharing my reflections along this faith walk. I describe my walk on the New Beginnings page. There is a Making Connections page which will have perhaps random thoughts and my most recent post on faith. The third page is talking about Christian Leadership and ways to help you develop as a leader. You can leave comments at the bottom here with encouraging words, thoughts on what touched you along your walk, or even a brief testimony.
See the links to the side to take you to any of the pages described above.
I like surprising scriptures, challenging words that make us reflect deeply on what we do.
Our Hearts
I was reading some verses in the Book of John one morning and was again struck by how strongly I could feel the words that I was reading. How could just a few sentences feel like they hit you so deeply? I sat there and prayed out of my amazement; “Lord, how can these words hit me like that, affect me so deeply?” And I was amazed by how quietly I heard the answer. “Because they were spoken to the heart.”
You probably have thought about the phrase Jesus used “Whoever has ears let them hear”. I understood that was an expression saying to those around “Listen up!” This is going to be important. Taken with other parables that Jesus shared, there is more to this than just an attention getting phrase. God describes people’s hearts as being calloused in Isaiah, causing them to not understand what they hear, not perceive what they see. We are not capable of knowing God or what He wants if we do not allow the words to reach our hearts. This is to say that His words are to become part of our being, allowing them to make changes in how we think, how we act, and how we interpret the events around us. God wants us to see things the way He does, event through our finite vision and limited thinking.
Matthew 13:17 “For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Guard Our Hearts
Our hearts and the hearts of those who are younger must be guarded. Let’s look at how we can guard ourselves, and how the things that we do affect the younger hearts.
If our hearts are where we need to take in His words, then there are certainly unacceptable things that we can take into our hearts as well. What makes them unacceptable is that they affect how we think, how we act, and how we interpret the events around us in a negative way. The verse from Ephesians below list some of those negative thoughts and responses to what we take into our hearts. We have verses Galatians which describe acting on our sinful nature, and how living like that will not inherit the kingdom of God. Keeping away from these do not limit us from having fun in special events or sharing strong joy in building relationships. Guarding against these means to be aware of what we are doing and how it makes us think.
The second part here is to protect the younger hearts. What we show them is most important, not just by what we offer them, but by what we do by example. One of the worst ways to hurt a young person is to show them that we do not care about their hearts. Instead, we are wrapped up in our own gratification and have no time to invest into them. We are warned strongly against bringing harm to the little ones.
Ephesians 4:31 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, and every form of malice.”
Pages on Faith
Making Connections
Moving scriptures, lessons from sermons and more.
Take a look for some encouragement.
New Beginnings
My first encounter with the Holy Spirit
A boy in faith
Christian Leadership
You might be surprised what makes a leader.
My prayer is for more people to recognize that that are leaders, and that the world around them needs them to be leaders.
To be normal
Lizzy was an 8th grader in my class. She arrived right at the bell as usual but quickly asked me while in the hallway, “Can I please go upstairs and get my notebook? I left it in my class. Please.” I was determined to say no because I knew that was a 10 minute trip away from class. Lizzy had braces on both legs and needed the two braces with supports attached to her arms just to be able stand.
I responded with hesitation that I was not sure and I did not want her to miss some class time. Then she claimed with a determine voice, “Please, I will run!” There was a friend there to go with her so I simply could not resist that plea.
Do we not realize that the plea of every person is to fit in? There is a lot of talk about being special and amazing, but look at anyone who has something about them physically that stands out, and what they want most is to be normal like everyone else. Famous people have this longing, yet these are people who seem to have it all, yet for a short period of time they would treasure being treated as normal.
I could say being special isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. But being treated as normal? Well that’s pretty special.
Old Testament
“How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?
Exodus 33:16
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
Exodus 33:17-18
And the Lord said, “I will cause all of my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Exodus 33:19
Doc Dave DeWitt 
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