Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »
January 31st I am honored to speak at the evening service at Alma Temple. My presentation is titled “The Goal Posts of Life.” The service begins at 6:00 pm. Beginning at 6:30 pm the message will be on live radio broadcast on KPOF, AM910 and audio streaming via the internet. Please join us. Alma Temple is located at 1340 Sherman Street, half a block from the state capitol building, Denver, Colorado.
Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
St Malo Church
At the foot of Mt. Meeker in Colorado
“…knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God” (1 Thessalonians 1:4 NKJV).
Election by God! If we were talking politics here, with someone like God backing you there would be no doubt as to who would win. We are not talking politics, but we are talking about winners. Election is another one of those blessings we receive by grace.
Another word for election is ‘chosen.’ In Matthew 22:14 Jesus tells a story about a Wedding Feast. The purpose of the story is to explain the phrase “many are called but few are chosen.” The story begins with the king sending servants out to invite guests to the feast. Sadly, those invited didn’t come because they either didn’t like the king or they had more important things to do.
Then the king told the servants to invite anybody to come and they filled the wedding hall with all kinds of people. The king sees a man not wearing the proper wedding attire and sends him away. Jesus tells us the point of the story. He says that many are called, but few are chosen. Only those who are covered by the blood of Christ, only those who have been ‘chosen’ will be welcomed into the Kingdom of God.
Election is being chosen by God through the Holy Spirit. He draws us to Him and we have the choice to accept the covering of the blood of Christ or to reject it. He gave us free will and sometimes that free will imprisons more than frees us. But still, the choice is ours. The miracle is that when we accept, we are elected. The blood of Christ cleanses us and makes us presentable.
This excerpt is from “The Miracle Of You,” a forty-day devotional designed to demonstrate how unique you are and how much God loves you! Click here to order.
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Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
In the distance the Capulin Volcano rises to 8,182 feet
The Capulin volcano is considered one of the youngest around, only about 62 thousand years old. This accounts for the rare condition it is in. A very interesting three miles from highway 46 and 87 takes you to the summit where you can actually get a spectacular view of other volcanoes, lava flows, and the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains.
In addition to the geology, this national park contains an abundance of wildlife. You could actually run into an elk, mule deer, black bear, coyote, or a mountain lion. So drive slowly and pay attention to what’s going on around you!
Pronghorn at the Capulin Volcano National Park
Click here to see more pictures and what visitors had to say about their experience!
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Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 17, 2016| 2 Comments »
“To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Colossians 1:2 NKJV).
Grace is my favorite word. In fact, I am working on a book right now that will be titled Grace. This simple salutation that Paul writes to the Colossians is filled with power and assurance. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace has been explained to me by an acronym. G-God’s; R-Riches; A-at; C-Christ’s; E-Expense. GRACE. I can’t think of a better way to describe grace. God sent Christ to pay the debt of our sin, making us acceptable to have a relationship with God. God pours out blessings upon us every day. Did you see the sunrise this morning? Many times that is the first blessing of the day, but from there it just continues.
Did you get a good breakfast? Perhaps you met a friend and had a cup of tea. Perhaps you grabbed an Egg McMuffin on the way to work. You got nourishment. You have a job. Perhaps you were out of gas and barely made it to the gas station, by the grace of God. Blessings. Grace.
God has shown us grace in a million different ways every day. The most beautiful thing about grace is that we can extend it to others. Yes, we can give grace. It’s one of the things we do to be more like Christ. A friend said something that hurt you. Let grace cleanse that wound. When someone wants to cut in on you in traffic — let them in. My husband loves to say, “Why don’t you be first?” when people do this to him. He means it. He explains that he has enough patience to arrive two seconds later if it makes someone happy. There’s no room for resentment with grace. Grace is free for us, and free for us to give. That’s the miracle. By receiving His grace, and bestowing grace to those around us, we are more like Christ.
This is one of a forty-day devotional, The Miracle of You. Click here to order.
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Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Eklund Hotel
Clayton, New Mexico
One of my favorite things is finding out of the way places that carry a mysterious and delightful past. One of those places popped out in front of me recently as I drove into Clayton, New Mexico. How easily I could have driven past it! The front view is not spectacular and if it had not been past noon, I probably would not have stopped for lunch. What a find! In addition to serving one of the best burgers around, the hotel staff gave me a history lesson.
Notice the amber glass chandelier in the dated dining room
Built in 1892, this hotel is actually available for vacancy. Instead of horses parked in front, cars can park along the street.
Click here for more about this fascinating hotel.
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Happy Trails!
Posted in Christian, religion, Travel on January 10, 2016| 2 Comments »
Historical Church
Dobbin, Texas
“Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ” (Colossians 3:3-4 The Message).
The Bible goes on to say that since the old life is dead we should put away the old things we used to do, knowing all the time it was wrong. Whatever we thought was more important than God falls into that category. Some of the things listed are sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil, desires and greed. All of these are idolatry. And we need to let go of things like anger, rage, malice, slander, lying and filthy language.
What are we to do? If we let go of all these things, what will we replace them with? God has the answer to that question. Let me paraphrase what He has outlined for us in Colossians verse 12. First He says since we are His chosen people that we are dear to Him and loved. And because of that we can show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience to others.
He wants us to be considerate of each other and to forgive each other. Don’t ever forget how Christ forgave you. Then He says the neatest thing ever in verse 14, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (NIV).
We don’t earn our salvation by doing all the right things. Jesus did all the right things and in fact, He did everything needed for our salvation. All we have to do is accept that gift. Beyond that, He gives us the power to do all the things talked about above. And the miracle is that you are with Christ now—.
This is an excerpt from the forty day devotional, The Miracle of You. Click here to order.
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Posted in Christian, Non-Fiction, religion, Travel on January 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Here’s another look at what I wrote in my book, “On Our Own In Jerusalem’s Old City” about our 2009 adventure in Jerusalem, from “Cauliflower and Cats” – Part of the adventure in traveling is enjoying different foods in another country. One night as exhaustedly returning to the hotel, we stopped for a nice meal in a local restaurant. We chose the salad bar to get in some veggies, and David offered to bring back a plate for me while I washed up. This is the plate he brought back for me. I am a very visual person when it comes to food and sarcastically asked, “What is that plastic looking stuff?” He said it must be a local thing, but he knew that I like color, so he thought we should try it.
Well, to me it should at least look edible, but I can close my eyes if I have to. I decided he should go first. He tried a bite and then I tried a bite and we both agreed it tasted even worse than it looks. It is some kind of pickled cauliflower just in case you are wondering. I like pickles, but this was over the top. Sometimes they served cold fish on the breakfast buffet. I drew the line there too. The bread on the other hand, was wonderful in Jerusalem and we often made a meal of bread we picked up from a street vendor on the way back the Gloria Hotel.
The are several mentions of cats in the book, this is one of them:
“Cats abound here. People like cats because they keep the pests down. No one I know here actually owns a cat. People feed cats to keep them alive. Many times, walking back to the Gloria, I see dried cat food sprinkled along the edge of the street.”
When we were touring The Citadel, we saw these cute kittens inside the museum. There are cats everywhere in Jerusalem and watching these little guys play was a real joy. One day in the Museum of Psalms, a cat kept chasing the end of my cane like it was a string, so I played along for a little while by waving the tip in the air and letting him attack it. You can have fun almost anywhere in Jerusalem if you have time and aren’t rushing to the next activity. Not rushing was the best thing about spending 25 days inside the ancient walls of Jerusalem. It’s such a small area that we had plenty of time to really enjoy it and get a flavor of the city behind the tourist sites.
Happy Trails!
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Vicki Andree Books 