[Faith-talk] 2/25/14 Daily Thought, and My Day With the Lions

[Paul]

No, I wasn't in the zoo, nor did a bunch of those cool cats escape from a wildlife sanctuary or anything like that.  However I'll relate this to you all after the relatively short Daily Thought article.  Its compiler was not given, but it appeared many years ago in a magazine called "Psychology For Living." The article in question is entitled "George Washington's Prayer," and is rendered as follows:

Some have claimed that George Washington was a deist, one who believes in a Creator-God but accepts neither the deity of Jesus nor the authority of Holy Scripture.  We now know for certain that this is not true.

The following prayer, written in George Washington's own handwriting in a diary-like manuscript book, give us a glimpse into his spiritual orientation:

"Direct my thoughts, words, and work.  Wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and urge my heart by the Holy Spirit.  Daily frame me more and more into the likeness of Thy Son Jesus Christ.  Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of salvation, upon my repentance and sincerely endeavoring to conform my life to His holy precepts and example."

Words such as these could not have been penned by any other than an authentic, Bible-believing Christian.

And there you have it for today.  Before leaving this subject, for those of you who know Braille (Sorry, but I don't know where you can get this in audio format or even in print regrettably.), the Braille Circulating Library for the Blind in Richmond VA had or has, depending on whether or not they have ceased operation, a book in, I think three volumes, entitled "George Washington the Christian," originally published in print in 1919 by William J. Johnson.  Admittedly the Braille leaves something to be desired in its quality, but if you can get through it, this little book (in print) gives you a thorough in-depth study of his character.  Unfortunately their email address is down, and probably even their phone number and physical mailing address are too, but if you would like to try and phone the Braille Circulating Library, the number is (804) 359-3743.  I don't know if they would serve readers outside the U.S. or not.  Anyway give it a go, if you qualify, and I'm sure it will be a good read.

And now a brief description of my time with several members of our local Lions Club.  We visited a place called the East Side Community Shelter, basically a homeless shelter for people who are down on their luck, have had to be evicted from their apartments because of nonpayment of rent because of a job loss, or other circumstances that we don't know.  In listening to the director Charmaine tell us about the facilities there, we learned that she is a Christian and tries to arrange for a pastor to visit every Sunday to give some spiritual food to the residents, something that I was going to bring up if she didn't.  This, among all the other services that the shelter provides, was very gratifying to me.  I brought a donation to give them, for which Charmaine was very grateful.  After that Lion Tom, one of our members along with Lioness Leslie and the undersigned went to a local Dairy Queen for lunch, and for $5 apiece we got what I considered a very generous lunch, not to mention the senior discount.  Following that Tom drove the undersigned and Leslie (She is legally blind, if not totally.) to our respective living quarters.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another Daily Thought message for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul