{"id":366,"date":"2011-01-02T16:28:57","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T16:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ultimatejoy.wordpress.com\/?p=366"},"modified":"2015-07-02T15:23:43","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T22:23:43","slug":"building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/?p=366","title":{"rendered":"Building…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dreams, Friendships and Memories.\u00a0 That was the theme of the 2011 Rose Bowl Parade.\u00a0 Every year, the tradition in my house is watching the parade.\u00a0 We love to \u201cooh\u201d and \u201caah\u201d at the beautiful floats and wonder where the creative energy to craft such masterpieces springs from.\u00a0 We marvel that all the floats are created out of flowers and natural materials.\u00a0 One year, during a trip to California, we saw the floats in person.\u00a0 While they looked smaller than on television, nothing could detract from their stunning splendor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This year\u2019s theme, though, made a greater impact on me than the floats.\u00a0 Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that exactly what Christ is calling us to do?\u00a0 He certainly placed the utmost importance on friendships.\u00a0 He did ministry in a group of twelve, and reached out to outcasts such as the woman at the well and Mary Magdalene.\u00a0 Life in Christ is lived on a higher plane because of His overflowing forgiveness, love and guidance.\u00a0 We follow Him not because of a dusty theology, but because of His lavish relationship with us.<\/p>\n

And what about dreams?\u00a0 Christ knows we have aspirations and wants to help us achieve them. While He isn\u2019t a magical genie ready to answer every wish, John 10:10 says, \u201cI have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.\u201d The life He gives right now is richer and fuller.\u00a0 It is eternal, yet it begins immediately.\u00a0 He gives us God-sized dreams and then walks alongside us giving us the strength to achieve them.<\/p>\n

Memories are probably the easiest.\u00a0 In the Old Testament, altars were built in remembrance of God\u2019s covenant with His people.\u00a0 Noah built one after the flood had subsided.\u00a0 Abraham built an altar after Isaac was spared.\u00a0 An altar was built in the temple.\u00a0 In the New Testament, when Jesus broke the bread and drank the wine with His disciples the night before He died, He asked that we \u201cDo this in remembrance of me.\u201d (Luke 22:19) \u00a0In all the uncertainties of today, Christ asks us to hold steadfastly onto one very special memory \u2013 the one of Him.<\/p>\n

The floats at the Rose Parade will be withered and dying (or dead) in a few days.\u00a0 Just like the floats, our days on earth are also numbered.\u00a0 We must make the most of the time we have hear. There are many uncertainties in our world but what matters most will never change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. \u00a0(Hebrews 13:8)\u00a0 Because of this, I know how I am going to spend 2011.\u00a0 Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories safe in the arms of Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dreams, Friendships and Memories.\u00a0 That was the theme of the 2011 Rose Bowl Parade.\u00a0 Every year, the tradition in my house is watching the parade.\u00a0 We love to \u201cooh\u201d and \u201caah\u201d at the beautiful floats and wonder where the creative energy to craft such masterpieces springs from.\u00a0 We marvel that all the floats are created […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[6,45,11,13,48,19,24,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1247,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}