REMEMBER ME - Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter six, “Be There Like a Good Neighbor”  p.78

REMEMBER ME

Yesterday was Memorial Day…remember day.  So I’m one day late with these remembrance thoughts…

Remember the line from the old song…“We will have these moments to remember"?  I remember my dad today; hunter, fisher, trapper, hard worker, Bible teacher and scholar.  When Alzheimer’s got him at 80 he remembered my name, but once I had to convince him that I was the one whose name he had remembered.  He remembered things from the past, but he had trouble with the present.

We need to remember those we loved who have passed on  and what they gave us that we can pass on to those we love today.  The older I get the more I remember my mentors.  So I talk to them often and from time to time, I get calls from those I mentored as well.  This is a good thing.

David, when he was well established as king, remembered Jonathan, his close friend from the past.  David asked his advisors if there were any descendants of Jonathan’s family left alive. They told him of Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth.  He came to David with great fear though, as the custom was to kill all descendants of a previous king. But David remembered his pledge to his friend. So he made Mephibosheth like one of his own family.  From that day on, he sat at King David’s table like a son for the rest of his life.

My last remembrance thought today is what Jesus said at the last supper.  He said, “Remember me.”   Barry McGuire wrote a song that the Continentals recorded in 1979, “The Communion Song”, and it is one of my all time favorites.  The recurring lyric is Jesus words… “Remember Me, Remember Me.”   Jesus wanted us to remember Him.  Today and every day…

Remember Him...

ENJOY THE GO - Todays Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

The Prelude p. XX111   

ENJOY THE GO

David said, “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  If you seek him, He will be found by you…Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you.” 1 Chronicles 28:9-10

Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.” John 15:16

I say, “What real pleasure is there in bearing fruit if you don’t like growing the trees.”

Some people are never hot and they are never cold.  They avoid experiencing real life.  You must sweat and you must shiver or you will just be an amoeba that never progresses into something wonderful.

You have heard that pain builds character, but we avoid it for good reason and unless it is absolutely necessary we should.  But if bleeding a little is the only way to bear fruit, then we need to dig in and pay the price.

When I climb mountains, I love the challenge, the comradery, the hurt of the push to altitude, the exhilaration of making the daily objective.  Yes, the summit is always the final goal on mountains and in life, but the “go” is the part that gets you there…

Find a way to enjoy it.

WONDER - Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter 7   “Cry Out and Shout” p. 89-90

 WONDER

It’s 6:00 a.m.   I’m blessed, sitting not far from some soft waves hitting the lava shore.  It’s rainy, misty still and there’s a floor to ceiling rainbow off in the distance, the pot of gold near some Spinner Dolphins or other sea creatures.  I’m awed.  The rainbow comes and goes in the haze, the hidden sun just risen off in the eastern distance above the sea somewhere.

The Great I Am is everywhere.   I feel His presence.  It’s a breathtaking feeling this morning.

David knew these same feelings when he wrote, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies, your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep." (Ps. 36:5-6)

Here are some of his phrases from the Psalm of Thanks he wrote in I Chronicles 16 for a national worship event:

“Let the Heavens be Glad…”

“Let the sea resound….”

“Let the fields be jubilant…”

“Then the trees of the forest will sing…”

“Cry Out, ‘Save us’ O God our Savior”

Continentals recorded a song in the mid-60’s called, “Isn’t it a wonder, in the Heavens…”

It is…  every day…   a  WONDER.

www.continentalsglobalfoundation.org

BLESS - Today's Perspective from David's 7 Secrets

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

 Chapter 5,  “ ALL”   P.71

BLESS

We all remember the chorus we used to sing….

                       “Bless Lord, O my soul,

                         And all that is within me

                         Bless His Holy Name”

Today, in most of our Bibles, the synonym “Praise” is used for the word “Bless”.   But there is still something about the word “Bless” that brings it to a more personal, adoration level.

When we say “Bless you, my friend,” there is a feeling of thanks to it.

When we ask God to bless us and our children, we want Him to make our lives better in every way, like we learned in Bruce Wilkinson’s book, “The Prayer of Jabez”.

Thousands of years ago, in early Biblical history, the blessing of a father on his eldest son had a powerful significance as in the case of Jacob conniving to get his father’s blessing rather than his older brother Esau (Genesis 27).

Think for just a minute about the word “Bless” and what a wonderful word it is.

The best known “Bless” scripture was written by David in Psalm 103:1.   Here is how it is translated in today’s Amplified Bible:

“Bless – affectionately, gratefully praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is (deepest) within me, Bless His Holy Name.”

When we bless God, it blesses Him and He blesses us.  How can it be better than that!

CREATIVE JUICES - Today's Perspective from David's 7 Secrets

May 26, 2016  PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS

Chapter one, “Bring on the Giants”  p. 8,

CREATIVE JUICES

No matter what you are trying to do, chances are you need some creative ideas to be successful.  And once in the flow, you just want to keep those creative juices flowing!

I have always believed good ideas come from God.  He created everything and obviously there is no idea new to Him.  He has lots of them, so it just makes sense to ask for His assistance.  I believe they are carried on the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes a great idea will come to two or more people at the same time.  A case in point is the song, “No Fool” written from a statement by Jim Elliott (martyred missionary in Ecuador in 1956.)  “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Sometime in 1988  both Twila Paris and Scott Wesley Brown, wrote a song with that title, over 30 years after Jim penned the phrase.  Both were recorded, and both had the same message and both were successful.  Obviously the Holy Spirit wanted that message out that year.

Did you ever wonder if God knows exactly what your needs are for  creative answers right now, today, or how someone like King David, who was running a nation, judging long lines of people’s problems every day, who led the army in the spring as they conquered every nation on their borders, oversaw the government and the economy and watched over his own family and still had time to be creative?  Here is what he wrote in Psalm 139:  “O Lord, you have searched me and know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.  You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.”

God’s hand is on you and me as well and if we need a good idea, we both know where to go to find it.

FRIENDS - Today's Perspective from David's 7 Secrets

My very close friend, Maverick, a 9 yr old Golden Retriever who watches the sunrise over the Pacific with me every day.

Congratulations to a friend of 46 years,  Leen La Rivere, who won Holland’s coveted “Silver Dove” recently for his Continental album, “Worship the Great I Am” in the category of groups.

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS:

         Chapter six, “Be There Like A Good Neighbor”

FRIENDS

People who have many friends are just plain friendly people.  Their cheerful, giving attitude just brings you in.   David eventually had a nation of friends, but in his early years it was just one who brought him in.  It was Jonathan, King Saul’s son, the prince in line for the throne. He respected the young hero, David, who had just killed Goliath, so much that he gave the new arrival, who had nothing appropriate to wear, his royal robe, his tunic, sword, belt and even his bow.  They were close friends throughout David’s early career until he was forced to flee into the desert from King Saul.  They made a covenant together and their friendship lasted well past Jonathan’s death on Mt Gilboa, which opened  the way for David to become the next king.

And friends are friends forever

If the Lord’s the Lord of them

And a friend will not say never

‘cause the welcome will not end

Though it's hard to let you go

In the Father’s hands we know

That a lifetime’s not too long

To live as friends

“Friends” Michael W. Smith

At this point in my life, I have many wonderful, lifelong friends, and in just the last few months, four of them are now facing life threatening diseases.  David wrote in Psalm 17:17, “A friend loves at all times…”  And when we are at a loss as to how to be a friend to those we love, very often just being there face to face or by text, email, or on the phone is enough.

MAKE IT HAPPEN

MAY 24, 2016

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID'S 7 SECRETS... Chapter two,  David's Virtues,  COURAGE, P. 11

MAKE IT HAPPEN

In order to have the courage to follow your dream and God's calling on your life, you have to face and defeat obstacles that come your way even if they are GIANTS IN SIZE.   Negative words and barriers thrown in your path even by well wishers can sap your strength and often grip you with indecision and fear.  So when you feel you are going nowhere and treading water, take courage from David's words in Psalm 18:32.  "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."

So really, it is not your strength or your actions that move you forward.  That's God's job.  You just need to let Him take over your life from the inside out and then you can move out in strength.  After all, it is His calling on your life.  Let Him do His work in you.

That's how you can really, MAKE IT HAPPEN.

www.continentalsglobalfoundation.org

MAKE A DIFFERENCE - Today's Perspective

PERSPECTIVES FROM DAVID’S 7 SECRETS:

The Prelude, p. XX1, “The Heart of the Matter… is the Heart.” 

                                  MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I think about these heart matters all the time because I know that God chose David to be the king because of what he saw in his heart.  Also,we read in Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward man according to his conduct.”  When things aren’t going that great, I look deeper inside.

But what should really get us is if we want to be people after God’s heartare the words from the Lord in 11 Chronicles 16:7 delivered by a prophet to King Asa, 4th king down the line after David.  He told the weakened king, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”

If you want to be strong for the Lord in the coming days as Christians face more and more anti-sentiment and eventual persecution, you must develop a fully committed heart to the Lord.

This is how you can really… MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Cam

www.continentalsglobalfoundation.org

(By the way, take a look at the CGF (www.continentalsglobalfoundation.org) website.  I think you will love it.)

DESCRIPTION AND REASONS FOR THIS BLOG

DESCRIPTION AND REASONS FOR THIS BLOG.

Aloha to all 40,000 Continentals and their families and unnumbered concert goes and 25,000 Christian Artists registrants, Artists and Clinicians, and other friends out there somewhere.  

THIS BLOG IS FOR YOU.

Vilar Goncalves, Continental Director from Brazil, created this blog for me to keep in touch with all my friends on a regular basis.

After 49 years with Continental Singers plus 3 with the Original Continentals and 25 years of Christian Artists Seminars, I was thinking of all the great themes and Ideas we dreamed about together at Director’s camps, Opening nights, and leadership gatherings at Estes.

I captured a significant number of them in a book called, DAVID’S 7 SECRETS.  Over this summer, I will remind you of many of these themes brought to light from David’s life and times, his songs and writings.

David's 7 Secrets Video

let's get started

In David's 7 Secrets I examine how we can learn valuable life lessons from David's mistakes and successes. I extract seven secrets to experience a closer walk with God. A detail facilitator's guide for leading a Bible study based on the seven secrets and related Bible's verses.