(This is the last Karen's Korner for a week as I will be away from my computer.)

Our community is saddened at the loss of life of Bailey Devries, 22, who was killed on Tuesday afternoon in a car accident.

To know Bailey, was to love her. She came from a less-than-the best background. But something special happened to her in her middle years. She became part of CHICKS, a Christian support group of local gals in their teens. Her leaders helped her to hear about the love of Jesus for her and her friends. She latched on to Jesus and His Love and Saving Grace.

It was more than a passing fad. She lived it in every part of her life. College looked like an impossibility financially for her. So at the end of her junior year of high school, she joined the Iowa National Guard; spent six months in training, with a break between, before she was deployed to Afghanistan - serving there for a year!

Her military service help to sponsor her college quest at Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque. Any spare time, she invested in others:  Bible studies, support of younger gals in their youth groups, volunteering or working at summer church camps, and just talking to others about her excitement in being one of His Kids!

When her college posted on Wednesday that she had been killed, they also posted her words of what Jesus meant to her. Plus they posted a Bible verse that tells what Bailey and all of us are possessors of what it means to have Him in our lives:

"And now, dear brothers (and sisters!), I want you to know what happens to a Christian

when he (she) dies so that when it happens,

you will not be full of sorrow,

as those are who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and then came back to life again,

we can also believe that when Jesus returns,

God will bring back with Him all the Christians who have died."

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13: 14 LAB

**

Anyone but me think things are sometimes crazy? If everything is good in our own worlds, we know others who their world isn't what they'd like. Or something in  our nation or some other country is askew!

As Karen's Korner readers know, our Marys & Marthas (M & Ms), an ecumenical group locally, sends cards of encouragement and thanks to police departments across the U.S. who have had an officer shot or killed in the line of duty.

We had a mid-month meeting in January and do not have another one until Tuesday, February 19. So far I have the names of five police departments and one sheriff's department who have lost a fellow officer!

Crazy!

Here is Sarah Young's "Jesus Calling:  Enjoying Peace in His Presence" from yesterday:

"Come to Me and rest. I am all about you, to bless and restore. Breathe Me in with each breath. The way just ahead of you is very steep. Slow down and cling tightly to My hand. I am teaching you a difficult lesson, learned only by hardship.

"Lift up empty hands of faith to receive My precious Presence. Light, Life, Joy, and Peace flow freely through this gift. When your focus turns away from Me, you grasp for other things. You drop the glowing gift of My Presence as you reach for lifeless ashes. Return to Me; regain My Presence."

~ Taken from Matthew 1:28 - 29; 1 Timothy 2:8

**

"But He knows every detail of what is happening to me,

and when He has examined me,

He will pronounce me completely innocent---

as pure as solid gold!"

~ Job 23:10 LAB

*

Bible Commentary:  (Job was responding to Elphaz who was saying Job's troubles were of his own causing) "We are always likely to have hidden sin in our lives; sin we don't even know about especially when God's standards are so high and our performance so imperfect. If we are true believers, all of our sins are forgiven because of what Christ did on the cross in our behalf. The Bible also teaches that even if our mind should condemn us, God is greater than our mind. His forgiveness and cleansing are sufficient; they overrule our mind's nagging doubts. The Holy Spirit in us is our proof that we are innocent in God's eyes even though we may FEEL guilty. If we, like Job, are truly seeking God, we can stand up to the accusations of others as well as our own nagging doubts. If God has forgiven and accepted us, we are forgiven indeed."

*****

Taken from 'Portals of Prayer' and its January - March edition. The February portion was contributed by Rev. Andrew T. Yeager of Garrett, Indiana.

Here was an entry from the first part of February, in part:

"Satan is our accuser, bringing our sin into the heavenly courtroom for a guilty verdict. The good news is that we also have an advocate, a defense attorney in heaven freely appointed for us---the Lord Jesus. He is our great High Priest, who ascended into heaven to sit at God's right hand and plead our case before God.

"When Jesus pleads for us, He doesn't bring our good works as evidence for our acquittal. Even our best works are filthy rags. When Jesus pleads our case before God, He pleads His own precious blood, the blood that paid for our sins and reconciled us to the Father. Through faith in Jesus saving blood, God's heavenly verdict over us is 'not guilty'. God declares us righteous and justified, and Satan has nothing left with which to accuse us."

"Jesus, thank You for being my advocate before the Father. Amen."

***

Everything Will Be New

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away."

~ Revelation 21:1 NIV

"Plant earth is, at the very least, thousands of years old. Some think it may be millions or billions of years old. And it is showing signs of age. It is getting frayed and worn out. It is being polluted, gouged, stripped, burned, and poisoned, and much of the damage has been willfully and selfishly inflicted by man. But some of the scars are simply due to the wear and tear of age. It was not created to last forever!

"In contrast, our heavenly home is going to be brand-new. Not just restored, but created fresh.

"What scars of sin or stains of guilt do you bear in your life?........In your emotions? In your personality? In your relationships? In your memories? Like planet earth, do you feel abused and gouged and worn out and burned by other people? One day there will be no more scars. Everything--including your heart, mind, emotions, psyche, and memories, past, present, and future-----will be made new."

~ By Anne Graham Lotz

***

(Jesus said:)

"And note this:

some who are despised now will be greatly honored then,

and some who are highly thought of now will be

least important then."

~ Luke 13:30 LAB

*

Bible Commentary:  "There will be many surprises in God's Kingdom. Some who are despised now will be greatly honored then; some influential people here will be left outside the gates. Many 'great' people on this earth (in God's eyes) are virtually ignored by the rest of the world. What matters to God is not one's earthly popularity, status, wealth, heritage, or power, but one's commitment to Christ. How do our values match what the Bible tells us to value? We need to make sure our values match what the Bible tells us to value. Are we making sure we put God in first place so we will join the people from all over the world who will take their places in the Kingdom of Heaven?"

Heavenly Father, help us to see ourselves and others as you see us and them. We aren't going to do that well on our own. Like everything else in our lives, we need Your help. Thank You for being our kind, caring, and loving Heavenly Father. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

A handful of sayings from the vertical margins of the February-March edition of OUR IOWA magazine:

"Enthusiasm is infectious, and so is the lack of it."

*

"Worrying won't stop the bad stuff from happening.

It just stops you from enjoying the good."

*

"Perhaps the straight and narrow path would be wider

if more people used it."

*

"There are three kinds of people in the word:

the wills,

the won'ts,

and the can'ts."

*

"The future is no more uncertain than the present."

~ Walt Whitman

*

"Make new friends but keep the old ones;

one is silver and the other's gold."

*

"Food tastes better

when you eat it with your family."

****

This is the last installment from Joyce Meyer and her list of "Who You Are In Christ Jesus".

We are a lot of things, which God and the Bible tries to tell us. So what do we believe? What the Creator of Universe says about us? Or what we tell ourselves? Or what the world tries to tell us?

Who Your Are In Christ Jesus

* "I have been brought out of the darkness and gloom of Satan's kingdom, and into the Kingdom of Jesus."  ~ Colossians 1:13

* "I am the head and not the tail; I always have the upper hand."  ~ Deuteronomy 28:13

* I have been chosen by God himself. I am a priest of the King; holy and pure. I am God's very own."  ~ 1 Peter 2:9

* "I am His elect, full of mercy, kindness, humility, and self-control."  ~ Colossians 3:12

* "I have a new life; not one passed on from my parents. It is a life which will last forever, for it comes from Christ, who is God's ever-living Messenger to me; and all humankind."   ~ ! Peter 1:23

***

Today is our daughter Jamie's birthday. Happy birthday, Jamie!

Something written by Max Lucado and appropriate for parents with kids (and grandkids!) of any age:

Entrust Your Kids to Christ

"Fear turns some parents into paranoid prison guards who monitor every minute, check the background of every friend. A family with no breathing room suffocates a child. On the other hand, fear can also create permissive parents. Fearing that their child will feel too confined or fences in, they are high on hugs and low on discipline. They don't realize that appropriate discipline is an expression of love.

"Permissive parents. Paranoid parents. How can we avoid the extremes? We pray. Jesus' big message to moms and dads? Bring your children to me. Pray that your children have a profound sense of place in this world and a heavenly place in the next. Parents, we can trust our kids to Christ."

Dear Heavenly Father, we all thank You that You are our Heavenly Father. And Father to our children and our grandchildren. We give each one to You today. Remind us that You love each of them......and us, more than we can ever imagine. Thank You that You make a place for each one in this world......and for the Kingdom that is coming. Thank You for the plans You have for all of us! In Jesus' Name Who makes the impossible, possible! Amen.

The book of Psalms has 150 chapters. The last five (146 - 150) are all praises. Not very long chapters. Here is the Bible commentary on them collectively; all from the Life Application Bible:

"These last five psalms overflow with praise. Each begins with 'hallelujah' or 'praise God'. They show us why and how to praise God. What does praise do?

1) Praise takes our minds off our problems and shortcomings, and focuses them on God;

2) Praise takes us from individual meditation to corporate worship;

3) Praise causes us to consider and appreciate God's character;

4) Praise takes our perspective from the earthly to the heavenly."

*

I am including the first verse or two from each of those Psalms:

#146 - "Praise the Lord! Yes, really praise Him! I will praise Him as long as I live, yes, even with my dying breath."

#147 - "Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises! How delightful, how right!"

#148 - "Praise the Lord, O heavens! Praise Him from the skies!"

# 149 - "Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Sing Him a new song! Sing His praises, all His people."

#150 - "Hallelujah! Yes, praise the Lord! Praise Him in His Temple, and in the heavens He made with mighty power."

***