Arrival

10:24 p.m. Today's project was to teach II Samuel Chapter 8 Bible study at Malinda's home, to a joyful, loving, group of women who are sisters to me. These ladies know their Bibles and have been applying it to their lives for decades. I learn new concepts in walking with the Lord every week!

We realized the relationship between David's dedication  to the Lord all of the silver, gold and brass he took from Israel's enemies, and the fact that "God preserved David wherever he went." (II Samuel 8:6, 14).

As believers, we all need to dedicate our gifts, talents, calling, "treasure," families, leisure time, hobbies, and even our thoughts to the Lord. One verse we looked at from last week that really struck me, was very  intense, I Chronicles 28:9:

The LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intents of the thoughts.

I jokingly said, "So God know what we are even intending when we think! No wonder the Bible says that there is no such thing as clean person!" We need Jesus, don't we, to anoint our very thoughts
 and even our hearts' intentions!

With another wonderful time of fellowship over for the week, I left immediately in a car loaded with a few days' worth of food and clothes in my huge cooler, and arrived in Las Vegas from Moreno Valley in only 3.5 hours, singing and praising God all the way!
                                            

I picked up our son Steven from McCarran Airport, where he and his girlfriend landed for his NPC-USA bodybuilding contest. After weigh-in, we have been relaxing in our room at the Stratosphere and eating some of the tons of food we brought from home. Kathy has her own room, so Steven and I share one with two beds. Two meals of precooked food and a coating of paint-on tan finished his activities for the day. Kathy came over to download Le Crae's "Background" for his performance at the qualifications in the morning.

Steven has dedicated his bodybuilding championship dream to the Lord, with a vision of sharing Christ as a champion. We are praying that skill, dedication and sacrificial hard work will win the day for Steven, who longs to give his testimony on a grander venue!

"Do you not know," the Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:24, "that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." 

Lord, would you be gracious and allow Your child this opportunity to give You the glory, as Your  champion?