As the following poem will confirm, I am so thankful and blessed to live in this great country that allows each of us to freely speak our minds and share our thoughts ...even if they are not Politically Correct. It is my prayer that after celebrating Memorial Day, we may all feel that it is good to be an American and will bless the name of the Lord for our good fortune.

I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

I am proud to be an American

In this land of sweet Liberty;

For those who have gone before

And died to keep us free.

I am one with those whose blood cries out

From lands across the sea...

Who gave their all in sacrifice

To protect our sweet liberties.

I stand with those whose struggles

Keep them downtrodden and forlorn;

And I mourn with every mother

For the child that was never born.

I lift up the broken-hearted

With their Spirit,  I too weep;

And lament those who have no place

To lay their head in peaceful sleep.

I champion the desperate ones

And pray for them sweet rest;

For the sure and ever present beat

Of freedom in each breast.

I unite with those whom I oppose

So together strong we stand...

In defense of this great nation

And the God who rules this land.

Oh, I am PROUD to be an American

So on this bright and glorious day;

May my actions and deeds speak louder

Than the words you hear me say.

Yes,  I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

Thus my prayer will always be;

That God will shower His blessings upon

 This land of the BRAVE and FREE!!!!

W. Patrick Queen

     January 20, 2017

This Monday is a special day on the calendar when we pause to remember the brave men and women who gave their full measure to insure that we each may live a life free from the bonds of tyranny and oppression....we owe them a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. So please lift a prayer for every family touched by the loss of their loved one who surrendered his or her life to pay for our freedom...for freedom is never FREE!!!!! 

Tribute to Our Fallen ….Memorial Day 2017

Bombs exploding, bullets flying… upon this dying field;

Each man to give his all…his spirit he must yield.

To march to that beating drum…to follow, to be led

As comrades fall around him…living…dying… dead.

What great honor compels a man to pledge to give his life?

To focus all his energies to bring peace where now is strife.

What great passion ignites a man to stand for freedom’s cause?

What leads him into battle without question, without pause?

It is the hope of every man; it is freedom’s Holy Grail

To stand and be victorious …against all evil to prevail.

It is the spirit of hearts united that welcomes freedom’s call

And answer as one in unison …to pledge to give our all.

So on this special day, we’ve set aside to praise;

To lift our voices in one accord; our glasses we now raise…

And offer heart-felt gratitude for those who gave their best

To grant to us Sweet Liberty and though now, they lay at rest….

Let not their voice be silenced for as freedom’s anthem ring;

As angels in great chorus, the songs of freedom sing….

May their sacrifice be worth it all….May truth and valor lead the way…

May we honor those who died for us on this MEMORIAL DAY!

W. Patrick Queen

Copyright May 2009

GOD BLESS THE USA AND THE MANY MEN AND WOMEN WHO

DIED TO PRESERVE OUR FREEDOM….THIS DAY IS DEDICATED 

TO EACH OF YOU!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GREAT SACRIFICE TO YOUR GOD AND 

YOUR COUNTRY AND MAY YOU RECEIVE THE HONOR AND 

GLORY DUE YOU FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO LAY DOWN 

YOUR LIFE SO THAT YOUR FELLOW AMERICANS 

MIGHT LIVE FREE....

Forever honored....FOREVER FREE,

WPQ

R U ONE OF THE CHOSEN?

I don't know about you, but growing up as a child, I was usually the "runt of the litter" when it came to choosing sides for some athletic contest in the backyard of one of my neighborhood friends. But, though small in stature and frame, I was pretty athletic and had good hand/eye coordination...so I was often one of the first one's chosen to participate. Of course, as you can imagine, that left me feeling pretty good about myself.

In the book of Ephesians, we find the apostle Paul explaining to his young flock of believers that they too have been chosen by God to receive the salvation that God has made available through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus. But Paul is also very quick to point out that though we are chosen as the "elect of God the Father," we have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to merit that selection by a Holy God. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For you are saved by grace through faith and this is not from yourselves; IT IS GOD'S GIFT (my emphasis)....not from works, so that NO ONE CAN BOAST (my emphasis). For we are his workmanship; created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do."

So, let's take a moment and let that word from Paul truly sink into the depths of our soul.  God knew before time who would be the chosen for He had already created good works for us to do in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But here's the kicker....we were chosen by God not because of who we would be, our talents, our gifts or even our great faith....we were chosen before the beginning of time for what we would do for God and His Kingdom....and those good works were already prepared for us to accomplish through our faith and trust in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I know that I myself have been tempted on many occasions to look at the "good things" I have done and want to take credit for them and bask in the glory that comes from doing a "good deed." But God chose me and brought me into existence so that when the opportunity was presented, I would be in the right place, at the right time, to do the right thing, so that He would get the glory and I would fulfill my calling in the choosing of God to do His will in that moment.

If this way of thinking gets you to asking questions about the "chosen" and the "un-chosen," then do yourself a favor and start reading in Ephesians 1. I trust that Paul's writings will help you to see that you belong to God because He chose YOU...and not the other way around!

And when you get good at that kind of thinking, you will spend more time shining the spotlight on the Father and the workings of His Son and the Holy Spirit in your life than on yourself and the woes that may beset you....remember, YOU BELONG TO GOD ....FOR YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE....AND THERE IS NO ONE JUST LIKE YOU!!!!

Basking in the glow of being chosen for the Kingdom of God....

WPQ

From One Extreme to the Other

I grew up in a household where my mother was diagnosed as what we today call a bipolar disorder. She would have these horrific mood swings that were often triggered by the smallest of incidents…and if I am totally honest, some of those incidents were cause by me. Often, she would go from elation to devastation, all in a matter of minutes…volatile mood swings from one extreme to the other.

The same can be said for each of us when it comes to our standing and relationship with Christ. At one moment, we are the chief among sinners; a vile and conniving reprobate that only wants to please ourselves… and then, when we accept what Christ did for us on the cross, we are saved into the family of God …an adopted child of the King with all its ranks and privileges.

James best captured those extremes in James 1:9-10, when he wrote, "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away."   

You and I are that lowly brother when we compare ourselves to a Holy God…we have nothing on which to stand and plead our case…we are totally lost without his intervention through His Son, Jesus Christ. But, when we accept Him as our Savior, we are exalted and raised to new life in Christ…we have gone from one extreme to another!

And what of those of prominence, wealth and prosperity…those that would ask God to judge them on their accomplishments for Him (salvation by works)…they see themselves in positions of grandeur and authority, but they will be brought low as they bow before their maker and He declares, "Depart from me for I never knew you." They, too, will know what it means to go from one extreme to the other!

So, where are you today? Are you exalted by what God has done for you or will you be taken down to the lowest of lows in spite of your worldly position? Only you can answer that question…and it is a question with eternal consequences.

My prayer for you is that you would come to grips with your need for a Savior…. that in you time of admission that your are a sinner in need of God's grace, YOU WILL ACCEPT THE FREE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD…may that be your prayer today so that you may go from one extreme to the other.

Extremely thankful…living exaltedly,

WPQ

Bearing Good Fruit....One Good Work at a Time!

In our last post, we took a brief look at how Jesus related to His disciples regarding their desire to follow Him and how they were to relate to His Lordship over their lives...THEY WERE TO PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT...and good fruit only comes from healthy trees.

So if we consider ourselves to be "good trees," then the fruit that we see manifested in our lives should be good. In practical terms, our "fruit" is our good works...a thought, attitude or action of ours that God holds in high esteem because it glorifies Him. In essence, the fruit from your life is how God receives His due honor on earth. Jesus said it best in John 15:8, "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit."

I have found that I bear inner fruit when I allow God to nurture a Christ-like quality within me as in the fruits of the Spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, humility...the list can truly be endless. On the other hand, I bear outward fruit when I allow God to work through me to do a good work that will bring Him glory...and that would certainly include sharing my faith with someone...believer or unbeliever.

So how important is the "fruit bearing" to Jesus? In John 15: 16 Jesus said, "I chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that you fruit should remain." The good works that we do in Jesus name have a permanent place in Heaven and they are one of the main earthly reasons that we were saved...if you are alive and reading this, then God has a unique purpose for your life and it will be wrapped up in the good works that He has prepared for you to do.

God's greatest dream for you is really quite simple...You will bring Him glory by the remarkably abundant life that you live...and you will find your GREATEST personal fulfillment, both now and in eternity, by producing an abundance of good fruit through the good works that you will do for Jesus.

So whether it's chopping wood for a senior citizen, taking a friend to her chemo treatment or spending a lifetime in service in the foreign mission field, you have been called to bear fruit...much fruit...and even more fruit, so that the hallways of Heaven will be filled to overflowing with the good works that you have done...and God will have been well praised, love and adored because of you and the "fruit" you have borne for His Glory.

Harvesting for the Savior...Bearing Much Fruit,

WPQ

Praying  for Crop Failure?

There is an old saying that says, "Be careful where you sow your wild oats, you can't approach judgment day and pray for crop failure." Of course that saying follows on the heels of  "You reap what you sow."  Jesus, however, taught a different message by instructing us to live within the will of our Heavenly Father and produce "good fruit."

As he is winding up his eloquent teaching known as the "Sermon on the Mount," he tells all who are still listening to beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing ...and how we will recognize such charlatans? He says, "You will recognize them by their fruits."

Throughout Scripture we are told to bear good fruit; even to bear much fruit...and what is good fruit? Is it bringing more lost into the presence of a loving and forgiving God so that they may seek His forgiveness and be assured a eternal life with their Heavenly Father and His Son...Of course, I think we would all consider that "good fruit".

However, I believe Jesus is teaching us to be known by the good deeds that we do so that others may see our good works and be pointed to our Father so that He may receive the glory that He is due. So giving to a family in need after a natural disaster with no thought of reward would be a "good fruit"; helping a elderly widow with her yard work at no cost...a "good fruit"; adopting a child from another country so that they may have a life that they never expected...a "good fruit"...and the list is endless. Why? Because God has ordained each of us to bear "good fruit"...and if we are truly trying to live up to our calling to bear His name as a Christian, then we must be about the Father's work and that means bearing "good fruit."

But what if we fail...Matthew 7: 19-20 reads, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."  So does that mean we can lose our salvation if we fail to produce "good fruit"? I think not; however, we will lose the opportunity to be used by God, to be recognized as His child and to share in the glory that comes to Him when we do good works. Simply put, our influence goes up in smoke because we have been cut off from the power of the Holy Spirit for God's Word says, "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree good fruit. Matthew 7:17-18

So, what kind of fruit are you producing ...or maybe the more important question, "What kind of tree are you...good or diseased?

Come back tomorrow and let's see if we can dig deeper to know what kind of fruit we should be producing?

Pruned by the Father to Produce Good Fruit,

WPQ

Ten Life Commandments that Lead to a Blessed Life!

1)  Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble; rather, it is a "steering wheel" that helps keep you on the right path throughout your journey.

2)  Ever wonder why a car's WINDSHIELD is so large, but the REAR VIEW MIRROW so small?  Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE... So, focus on the road ahead and don't look back! 

3)  Friendship is like a BOOK. It only takes a few minutes to be destroyed in a fire, but it often takes years to write the entire story.

 4) All things in life are temporary.  If they're going well, enjoy them while you can for they will not last forever.  If things are not as they should be, don't worry... that won't last long either.

  5) Old Friends are Gold and new friends are Diamond!  If you get a Diamond, don't forget the Gold!  Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a Base of Gold!

  6) Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, "Relax, friend; it's just a bend in the road, not the end of the road!"

  7) When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn't solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.

 8) A blind person asked St. Anthony:  "Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?"  He replied, "Yes, losing your vision!"

 9) When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them. So, when you are safe and happy, remember, often someone has prayed for you.

 10) WORRYING does not take away tomorrow's TROUBLES... it takes away today's PEACE.

If you adhere to these and commit your ways to the Lord, He promises that He will pour out a blessing so great that you will not be able to take it all in...Trust in the Lord and remember this:

Too often when we become complacent in life, we just stop trying! It is then that we must remember...To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.

When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'

Go today with God as He goes before you and makes the pathway straight!!!!

WPQ