New Christmas Song

The Light of Christmas
Words M. St. Germain and traditional Music M. St. Germain December 2007 to 12 - 26 - 09

From the Eastern Mountains. Pressing on they come.
Wise men in their wisdom. To His humble home.
Stirred by deep devotion. Hastening from afar.
Ever journeying onward. Guided by a star!
instrumental

Chorus:

Where would we be? Without that wondrous light?
When you came to us? That first Christmas night?
What more could you do? To show us all the way?
All the world will see. Your wondrous light someday!
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There our Lord and Savior. Meek and lowly lay.
Wondrous light that led them. Onward on their way.
Forever to enlighten. Nations from afar.
As they journey homeward. Guided by that star!
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Chorus:
repeat

Gather in the outcasts. All who've gone astray.
Throw your radiance o'er them. Guide them on their way.
Those who never knew you. Those who've wandered far.
Guide them by the brightness. Of that guiding star!
instrumental

Chorus:
repeat

Until every nation. Whether bond or free.
'Neath your starlit banner. Jesus follow thee.
O'er the distant mountains. To that heavenly home.
Where no sin nor sorrow. Ever more shall come!
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Chorus:

instrumental

"Sometimes it's a noble thing to fight evil, but this is not our mission, our task is to bring more light."

I started on this two years ago at Christmas time.
Now it's early for next year !!!

The Bridegroom Cometh

The Princes Bride

Words M. St. Germain Music Traditional Spring of 2009

Time for Me to see the world. Time for Me to leave this place.
I'm in love with a golden girl. Who longs to see My face.

Chorus:

She's been true to Me. In a foreign land so brave. Now the time has come. She won't have long to wait. She won't have long to wait.

I'm gonna take her home with Me. To the place where she belongs.
Gonna take her to the place. Where time goes on and on.

Chorus:

Yes, she's been true to Me. In a foreign land so brave. Now the time has come. She won't have long to wait. She won't have long to wait.

Even though she's suffered wrongs. Not knowing all it means.
Even though it's been so long. She'll know that it's Me.

Chorus:

And, she's been true to me. In a foreign land so brave. Now the time has come. She won't have long to wait. She won't have long to wait.

A beautiful melody and a beautiful love song. Beautiful metaphor.

The Gift of Faith

The Real Gift of Christmas
"Every Englishman will do his Duty"

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch that beareth not fruit He taketh away, every branch that beareth fruit He prunes. Now you are purified through the Word. I am the vine and you are the branches. He that knows Me brings forth much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing. If you don't know Me you are cast into the fire and burned like dead dry prunings. John 15 : 1 - 6.

Naturally when I think of Christmas I think of the cross. This was the real gift of Christmas. What does that really mean for us though. We will spend eternity learning its significance. What more could God have done? Without the cross, or more specifically, without Christ on the cross, Christmas would be meaningless and futile. Along that same line, the first coming would be meaningless and futile without the second, which consummates our relationship, with the resurrection and eternal life. Seeing Him face to face!
I'm sure you've heard, each of us have a cross to bear. The important thing is to know that this is a wonderful gift. Jesus came in the middle of all the muck and mire of this earth to show us our duty. Yes this is the gift he gave. Without it we just wallow in one mess after another wondering why we have to. He is the vine, we are the branches. The pruning might seem painful, especially if we have the wrong perspective, but it is so vital.
In the tree business we have thousands of customers that pay good money to keep their trees neat and clean and strong. At the same time there always seems to be a majority that are neglected. Then Mother Nature comes along and makes up the difference. These are our customers too. It's always interesting to see different peoples response to the storm damage. The problem is, without the periodic pruning, they risk losing the whole tree or a major limb. Proper tree care and maintenance is what we call stewardship.
We are surrounded by storms and disaster and evil. It is the knowledge of God's Word the preserves us and protects us. We might still get swept away with the storm, but we are still prepared. No matter what happens we know where we are going and what road we are on. If we don't practice good stewardship we don't know Him. If we neglect the pruning in our lives we face the eternal fire ( God is the eternal fire.) and eternal DEATH.
I've said before, "True success is exactly proportionate to how well we know Him." How do we know that we know Him? It's as simple as 1 2 3. I John 2 : 3 "Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments."
What would you think if I said, "True success is exactly proportionate to how well we keep ourselves from idols as stated in I John 5 : 21." Isn't this our duty? This is talking about the first four Commandments. Idolatry is so much more dangerous today. Now we have all these fantastic images that we can't live without. They talk to us, sing to us, dance for us, and they carry us around so much better than a horse or our own two feet, ( so we think ). It's amazing to me, NO ONE even thinks of it as a violation of the second commandment, not to make anything in the likeness of anything God has made. Why do people think that all of their redundant bottled and canned noise and filth is so much better than the bird's singing, or a real person playing and singing, or the babbling brook, or the wind in the trees, or the feel of a horse under you?

What would you think if I said, "True success is exactly proportionate to how well you honor your parents?" If they are true to their calling for better or worse for richer or poorer, isn't it your duty to follow and support them? If the mother and the children depend and rely on the father shouldn't he direct in their lives, and in family government?
Of course this brings us to the 7th Commandment. This is where true success is usually lost before it is found. If the husband and wife are not on the same page, "minding the same thing, walking by the same rule." Philippians 3 : 16, submitting to the higher power, and living by faith, what a disaster.
This is just common sense. Why do you think the British were so successful? Everyone did their part. A chain isn't any stronger than the weakest link. Anything else is foolishness. "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Don't you see? This is the same as saying there is no law or no authority. That sounds to me like the world today.

Righteousness by Faith

ARE YOU A CRACKHEAD !
"A Wise Man Provides an Inheritance for his Children"

Obviously I'm trying to be provocative. If you have read much of my blog you know that I am a little hard core about addictions. Crackhead has come to be a general term for anyone addicted to anything, often as a joke. Believe me, I have been called a crackhead because I can't remember anything. No brains no service so they say.
To me, this is the Bible definition of an addict, a crackhead if you will.
Philippians 3 : 18 & 19. "....enemies of the Cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, Whose GOD is their Belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."
Now, from the same source, a description of discipleship.
"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as would be perfect, be thus minded, and if any in anything be otherwise minded God will reveal this unto you. Nevertheless, let us walk by the same rule, let us all mind the same thing." Verses 14 to 16.
I Corinthians 9 : 24 - 27. "...they which run in a race all run, but one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain. ...every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. So I run and I fight, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep my body under subjection so that when I preach I myself will not be rejected."

This is a pretty good picture of Righteousness by Faith. Many would interpret it as righteousness by works. What's the difference? The opposite of Righteousness by faith is; unrighteousness excused by grace, which is really self-righteousness. God covers our unrighteousness, but He doesn't excuse it or condone it.
We are judged by our works, but we are saved by grace. He has us covered. The best definition is; we are saved by a relationship, by knowing Him. The way to know Him is to follow Him. This is called discipleship. Pressing toward the mark, winning the race.
Righteousness by faith is a process. It doesn't matter where we've been or even where we are. It's where we are going from this moment on. People have always been easily confused about faith and works. It's so simple though. "No one will be saved by their works, but no one will be saved without them."
"Most of our sin is laziness, the rest of it is ignorance, and it's all selfishness." You can't just sit on the couch be justified. You have to get up and get to work and to school. Keep trying, don't give up and don't look back.
What does this have to do with providing an inheritance? It's all about family. Not just your own family, but the whole family of mankind. The older I get the more I think about what kind of an inheritance have I provided for my family. The older I get the more I realize it's not about money or things. You know the old saying, "The best things in life are not things." Probably the first thing I've tried to bequeath to my children and anyone else I've tried to help to grow up is to control their appetite. People don't realize how critical this is. Addicts are made not born. If children haven't learned good habits of eating and drinking at home, they're not going to learn them at school or work. Naturally the best way is to be an example and to be there.
I would never abandon my dog let alone my family for: one beer ( even if it was free ), or one cigarette, or one tattoo ( I've never seen a tattoo that looked good, that didn't look dirty.) or one mutilated body part with hardware ( talk about rude and irreverent ), or one horse ride when my kids are left behind, or any selfish wasteful vacation when so many of the family of man are starving, or one football game, or one idolatrous ( bottled ) song to listen to while my children are ignored, or even an hour work out when there's real work to be done.
I am amazed how many so called Christian people in this country can justify any and all of these things because they can afford it. It's all right if you have the time and the money to provide that kind of an inheritance. "Prosperity is the most dangerous thing to spirituality." Also, "Prosperity produces a mass of professors." Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it to. Waste as much money as possible and profess to be somebody or something at the same time.
Now we have produced a generation of people who are "...lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God", "who don't know clean from unclean...holy from unholy", "who's god is their belly", and like the people of Nineveh, "...don't know their left hand from their right." Of all the things you can imagine, they call it Jesus.
The time is come for history to repeat itself. It's time to take our medicine. Time to be really poor. The last great " time of trouble", that will produce a remnant. "How fortunate to be poor" Luke 6 : 20.

Living by Faith

Are You a Welfare Case?
Freedom or Slavery

I've always said, "The definition of a welfare case is; someone who won't work unless they're paid."
I know what you're thinking, "I go to work everyday, I'm not a welfare case." Are you sure?
The Hebrews had been in Egypt for 400 years, they went to work everyday, and they were on guaranteed social security. All they had to do was show up to work and all their basic necessities were provided, and they had the protection of Pharaohs army. 40 years in the wilderness was not enough for most of them to learn to live by faith.
Without the wilderness experience very few would have been able to handle freedom. Along with freedom comes uncertainty, insecurity, doubts, and fears. It's much easier to be a slave.
A welfare case has no work ethic. It's no matter that they go to work everyday or how much they make. If they're not getting paid they're not going to get too excited. Even if they make the big bucks they still have no work ethic. They can just hire servants to do all their menial tasks. Their welfare is at the expense of cheap ( slave ) labor. If they don't make the big bucks they can't pick up their messes or paint their house or clean it, etc. No one's going to pay them to do it.
If they can't get their wife or mother or kids to do it, the garbage would just pile up.
The funny thing is, if people have no faith, it's all about money. They would rather work for minimum wage than be free and independent. So, it's not really about money, it's about security.
"If making money is your first priority, you have your head on backward and you will end up with nothing but eternal death." Life is too short to spend being a slave. Rich or poor you should be true to your calling.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament and the New Testament writers said the same thing. "The just shall live by faith."
Most people live by fear.
Who are the just? Those that are justified. In other words, "The forgiven shall live by faith." How are we justified? It's in the first commandment. "I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the house of bondage, thou shall have no other gods before me." No one escaped Egypt without the blood sprinkled on the door post. It had nothing to do with how rich they were, or how hard they worked, or how perfect they were, or how well they kept the commandments, or how good looking they were, or who they were related to. "There's no other name given under heaven wherein we are saved." Under the Old Covenant it was the blood of animals, under the new it's the Lamb of God. It's really one and the same. The blood of animals pointed forward to the Messiah, now we look back at that completed work.
The sad fact of the matter is; without faith you cannot handle freedom. If I turn my dog loose, being in town here, he just runs off looking for females to love and males to fight. He has to be in bondage. Unless we go into the wilderness, then he can run free. He doesn't have any morals. He's just a dog. How many people are in prison because they have no self-control? How many need that slave job to force them out the door on time every morning?
So many times I've hired people and treated them like they were free, and expected them to be self-motivated, and self-disciplined, and to give an honest report. Most could not handle it. It was only a matter of time before they accumulated enough rope to hang themselves. What do you know, they wind up back at MacDonald's or WalMart, working for peanuts.

Lessons From Natural Horsmanship

Through the Eyes of a Child
Children Need Training, Not Discipline

There's no such thing as a bad horse. There's no such thing as bad kid. There's no such thing as a bad person! If a horse kicks, is he bad? Is it just a bad habit? Is it just what horses do? If he is allowed to kick it's not that he is bad. It's just his natural inclination. The result of a lack of training. Anything short of this is Nazism. There are people who sort through horses like tomatoes and can the bad ones. Hopefully no one does this now with people the way Hitler did.

Children might need discipline all right, but only because they missed out on their training somewhere. You can imagine, discipline can really get out of hand with a lack of training. Even to the point of abuse. This happens with horses all too often. There's a lot of people that are just animal lovers and have no business owning a horse. There experience with horses is usually short lived. The same can be said of many parents now. They mistake love for permissiveness. they think they just need to love them to death. If you do this with a horse he's liable to kick your head off someday. At least he is going to throw you off and leave you in the ditch. What good is love if you haven't done the work?

My Dad was a World Champion Cowboy. He wasn't that great of a horseman but he really worked at it. He used to say, "I better get out there and work with that colt or he'll grow up to be an idiot." I remember someone complaining to him about the problems they were having with a horse. He said, "Just get on that horse everyday and ride all the way to the end of the road and back." About 10 miles I think it was. There's always all kinds of details and imperfections, forget all of that and just put in the time.

If you let your kids run with the herd instead of with you. What do you think will happen. There's no substitute for being there. The only thing worse than leaving them for someone else to tend is leaving them unattended. "The only thing worse than doing nothing, is watching television. At least if you are doing nothing you might be thinking."

If - YOU - are going to raise your children, remember they are generally going to emulate you. If you want your children to behave properly. You have to behave properly. If you have your head stuck in the television and so do they. Forget it! What a disaster. How can you compete with what they are seeing there? The best television programs are not going to raise your children. Most if not all of the best programs would be better if you just read the book. If the child isn't mature enough to appreciate the book, he surely shouldn't be watching it.

One time we were at Jack in the Box for dinner. ( veggie burgers ). This mother came in with her 6 kids. Ages of about 1 to 10. She must have been 30 or so. They were all so quiet, and they flocked right around her like little chicks. No one even noticed there were 6. I actually counted. I couldn't believe it. She only had to whisper. Reminds me of the old saying. "Words that soak in are whispered not yelled." Also, "You can tell a good trainer by their voice." "Silence is Golden", this should be the atmosphere in the home. How can little ones learn their manners if there is chaos; idolatrous ( canned ) sounds and images every where. Then we wonder why they have attention deficit disorders.

Everyone should study Pat Parelli's book "Natural Horsemanship". He talks about the three big lies of NORMAL horsemanship. One, "You pull to stop", two, "You kick to go", three "You just jump on and go". He didn't include yelling because it's implied. Obviously you don't yell at horses. You want to keep in mind the ideal. Good horsemanship is like good stewardship. It has to be built on a relationship. What does a ship have to do with it? Smooth sailing requires smooth communicating. Ultimately your horse knows what you want from the slightest touch without a word. He slows down when you relax a little, he turns with the slightest pressure from the single line against his neck, he stops when you completely relax, he starts to go with the slightest squeeze of your legs. You are careful how you introduce new things to him. Once a horse learns the right way he never forgets. If he has a bad experience he doesn't forget that either. They are never just ready to go if it is something they haven't encountered. It's easy to break a child's spirit by giving them an assignment they are not ready for, and then demanding they do it.

Parelli talks about the different levels of horsemanship. From the beginner to unimaginable levels of skill. He gets horses to do any kind of maneuver completely naked. Running, jumping, spinning, etc. No lines, no saddle, no bits, no spurs, nothing. Then he gets them to do things from 50 ft. away. It's all about building on that relationship between a human and a horse.

So many times I've seen parents who were going to make sure their kids were under control, only to have it backfire. "Control freaks ultimately loose control." They try to force them into a mold and make them conform. All of sudden they are in shock when their children develop a mind of their own and go their own way. Whether it's at age 13 or 18. There is a saying, "The definition of a great man is, one who keeps the hearts of his children." By the same token, I've seen people with dogs or horses that were confined, isolated, and restricted to the point they were completely uncontrollable. The resultant problem is, they can't handle freedom. They've never been free. When I get a dog or a horse like that, I start to give them freedom whenever and wherever I can. The best way to accomplish that is to have good dogs and horses there that follow your commands. "Parenting is not about hanging on, it's about letting go." From the earliest age you begin to let them make their own decisions and learn from their own mistakes.

Another reason things backfire is because we try to play God. Instead of learning from Nature, we rely on our own great inventions, we think we are so smart. Definitely smarter than our kids, right? "God made man upright, but he has sought out many inventions." Even the old timers had trouble here. Children were barely tolerated.

If you want to have a relationship with a child they have to have fun doing things with you. No matter if it's work or play. Initially you will encounter resistance. Once they get going though, they want more. If you work with your horse everyday pulling logs or whatever, pretty soon they are not happy unless they get out and get their quota.

Here is a quote from Pat Parelli to end with. "You never work with your horse, only play, you work with yourself."