Who are Your prayer Warriors?

Below is a note from my wonderful wife to the many people who were petitiioning the Lord for His blessing and Favor yesterday.  You have seen the power of prayer in sickness and other areas, but when you see the Lord working in business and daily life, you get excited to rely on Him more, tell others of the Lord being a daily part of your life, and sharing that God is showing His Favor EVERY day.   If I were doing things, "My Way" the results would not be the same.  So where are your prayer warriors? Are you being open with them so they know how to petition the Lord?  Transparency is the key.  Both with the Lord and others so the Lord can bless your life.

Friends and family,

Thanks SO MUCH for your prayers for Gary this afternoon.  In his words, the meeting with the Wal-Mart buyer went “interestingly well” and that the buyer was “very receptive”.  Here’s a brief summary of how the meeting went.  Each point below is a big “God-thing”:

• The buyer likes the product and even said that he has been looking for something like this and thinks that it would sell quite well when placed in the aisle with the storage tubs and totes.
• The buyer would like to place a good-sized quantity of product in 500 stores to start (this would be 500 of his stores which have the best sales of storage totes which our product is ideal for).
• If that “test” goes well he would like to place product in all stores by the end of the year (the after-Christmas emphasis on storage products).
  He agreed to the revised pricing that Gary presented.
• Interesting to note that this is the same buyer that just a couple of months ago totally blew Gary off.  I guess God was still in the process of pulling all the details and players together!

I won’t bore you with the details of everything that has to happen now in order for there to be an official and binding purchase order, but I will ask you to pray that everything falls into place both to secure the purchase order and for us to fill it.  We have good people working with us, but it’s quite a tap-dance putting all the pieces of this deal together.

Now for your prayer assignment for tomorrow (smile):  Gary is on his way to Little Rock as he has a meeting tomorrow morning (Thursday) with the CEO and others of Century Ladders.  They are interested in possibly distributing our Attic Trac product.  This will be an interesting meeting as they have pursued us since Gary first made contact with them.  Please pray that it becomes clear where God is leading and that His wisdom is clear in any deals or decisions to be made. 

Thanks again.  You guys are the best!
Lynnette

 

The Devil's Music

During my drive yesterday to Wal-Mart headquarters, I was radio channel surfing and came across a station called Grace Broadcasting.  The song playing was called, "The Dark Side of Grace".  It was about people who had yet to discover the grace of the Father in Heaven as they were living on the "Dark Side of Grace".  When the announcer came on he said that the station was a Country Christian station.

Most country songs over the years have been about drinking, cussing, sleeping with someone else's wife, and the list goes on.  My parents called this  this "The Devil's Music". 

I listened to every song until I was out of range and then thought about the music of my youth.   I grew up during the Beatles, acid rock, and heavy metal era of music.  Being in a band singing vocals made it hard to take when people called our music, "The Devil's Music". 

Then came Larry Norman, the father of Christian Rock music and gave us the introduction to our contemporary Christian music of today. Listen to a few of his songs and you will see how we have developed over the years to our contemporaneity Christian music of today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWh8-FPelHU&feature=related

So hearing Christian Country music is taking some music that may be distasteful to some and making a praise to the Lord.   Never underestimate what can happen when someone says your music is "The Devil's Music" because it is just an opportunity to take the beat of the music and give praise to the Lord.

p.s. our band played ol' time rock and roll on Saturday and the entire band was in church on Sunday, singing the hymns but knowing there was a new music style coming.  Thanks Larry Norman!

Stop - Look - Listen

Matthew 6: 25-33   “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. . . Look at the birds of the air. . . See the lilies of the field. . .  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

          It was early morning as I walked into the meadow.  The sky was still a purple haze with the night sounds of crickets and pond frogs all around.  Walking along I thought,  “Finding just the right spot is always so difficult in the early morning.  Will I sit on an anthill?  There are snakes around the creek and everybody knows my philosophy on snakes: ‘The best snake is a dead snake.’  And those blasted mosquitoes!  I would have thought that they had had enough for the night and would be back in their nests.  Ah, here’s a nice spot to sit.”

          I continue on, “OK, Lord, I’m ready for You to pour Your spirit out on me.”  The sun is about to rise, which causes me to think.  “When I get to the office I need to rework my to do list, check for new orders, think about what I will eat for breakfast, and remember who I need to call this morning. Hmm, I wonder what time my favorite show is on tonight?  Did my wife get the flea medicine for the dogs?  How am I going to get that purchase order?  What has happened at the Tellico Plains events over the weekend?”  

And the list goes on.

          Well, by now the sun has risen and I realize that time is slipping by, so I take a moment and thank God for a beautiful sunrise, and then I’m off to the day’s activities.

          Has this ever happened to you?  You plan to get away just to spend some time with God.  You go outside, or to some remote location, just to listen to His voice, only to realize later that it did not happen as you planned.  

          That morning, I had gone out to get close to God, watch a wonderful sunrise, and just absorb His majesty.  Instead, I found that I had only prepared my agenda for the day, which, by the way, did not include the Lord.

          So, when I want to get close to God and listen to Him, I have to make a conscious effort to clear my mind of the distractions.  Here’s how I’ve learned to do it:

Stop – I slow down my mind from worry, anticipation, or coming events.   

Look – The world is such a beautiful creation.  I see the ants working so hard to carry food or the squirrels preparing a nest for their young and the winter weather.  Matthew 6: 25-34 takes on a much greater meaning after I have looked around at the activities of the birds, flowers, and animals.  But that only comes by looking and paying attention.

Listen – God does not always speak in a roar, even though we see His power in the storms and tornadoes.  His voice can be found in the whisper of the morning breeze, the gentle rain on maple leaves, or in the bird that calls out from the woodlands.

          The point is that my attitude in drawing closer to God is my responsibility.  He never hides Himself and can be found anytime and in any place.  The problem ends up being how can I make some quiet time to wash my mind of worry and trouble to just be WITH God.

          This week, make the effort to Stop, Look, and Listen for God.   

You may discover more of what he has in store for your life.

Being Fruitful

Matthew 9:36 -37  Seeing the people, Jesus felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Where is our compassion today? We have all become so hardened to life. The video/computer games being played on computers and televisions plus the “real time” views of war and murders are so realistic that the site of blood and death just seem to be fascinations of excitement for our own pleasure.

Our agenda is often clouded, not only by the lack of compassion for others but also for a goal that we have selfishly set for ourselves. As a young boy, I was taught that “Men don’t cry”. If you were punished by the “hand of authority” (spanking), you were given a short period of time to cry. Then the famous words, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about” would ring through the air.

Later in life, as hurts would come I learned to choke them inside and not shed a tear. As emotional pains developed, I became hardened to my own feelings. From 1974 to 1987, I never shed a tear for anything. It was just bottled up. JD Hughes, a Cincinnati radio DJ, became a friend of mine and assured me that Jesus had compassion for the hurting and that I needed to turn my life over to the one who had compassion for me.

For 17 years I had been in a position of Christian leadership, but had missed the passion of showing a real Jesus to others. With that conversation the flood gates of my heart opened wide, and thanks to this man, I refuse to ever close them again. It was then that I realized that real men do cry and are not afraid to show compassion for others. I learned that there is real freedom in just giving up our pent-up emotions. Later a pastor talked about “giving our lives away”. I had done that for years, but for all the wrong reasons. I worked hard to impress others with the talents the Lord had given. But I had held back.  In following new leadership at a new church, I have been inspired to share the love of the Father for everyone I meet as part of my Personal Growth Plan.

Now I realize that I was giving to others in order to get back something. The American Way, right? 

I discovered that loving people just for the sake of compassion gives new life to serving the Lord. In the original Greek language of the New Testament, the word “harvest” is actually interpreted as “karpos “, which means “fruit”. When we give our lives away to the Lord’s service, we experience the “sweet fruit” of leading someone who may be hurting to the freedom that the Lord offers.

At times we may experience the “sour grapes” of someone in leadership hurting our feelings, but we must realize that a worship service is not about “Us”! It’s about taking the walls down and having compassion on others with the desire to see them get a relationship with the creator of the universe. Only when you have an attitude adjustment can you enjoy being fruitful and helping others who are lost or hurting.

Give your life away to the Lord’s service. There are limitless opportunities.

Look around!

Enjoy being fruitful!

God's Handwork This Week

Earlier this week I was at a restaurant with some friends for dinner.  Since I have a hard time hearing along with the crowd noise and being be a distance from others,  I was given me some insights that I would normally have missed.

Looking out the window to my right, I saw a spider dangling in mid-air and yet darting from side to side and from top to bottom.  Soon I became visually engaged in this frantic activity.  It was about an hour before dark and the spider was in non-stop motion.  So after a few more minutes of starring I got up close to the window and could see a magnificent web that was being spun.

It had eight perfect sides and was about two feet in diameter.  The spider had made the outer areas by going around and around the outside, still keeping the perfect octagon, while working it's way to the center.  Then the spider went from the center to the outside to lock the web together.  An aerospace engineer could not have done better.

Upon further examination each space between the strands was an accurate 1/2 inch apart.   Wow, how did a simple spider learn to make such a perfect trap for insects?

Later I stopped and thought how the Lord in His creation gave the insects and animals the tools for survival and yet the Lord's artistic finger also gave them a science and beauty that we take for granted as we knock down the sticky webs.

Think!  If the Lord has placed such value on something as small as a spider, then what has He placed in You?  You are His Masterpiece with so much more value yet all He wants is a relationship with you.  Something the spider can never know.

This weekend, look around for the little things where you can see God's handwork.    It could be a in little bug where there is a lesson for you to learn.

God's Standards

When I first became a student of the Old Testament, I read how God killed a man who touched the Ark of the Covenant as he tried to stop it from falling to the ground.  Imagine that, a man simply wanting to help out and what does God do but kill him.  Later I noticed that when the nation of Israel conquered some land, the Lord told them to kill every man, woman, child, and animal from the area.  Another time God killed everyone except Noah and his family in the great flood. And what about Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that God leveled with fire from the heavens.

Wow, what a strict God!  Or so I thought, until a teacher at school had me look at God’s plan from a different perspective.  “You see” he said, “the plan for our salvation began in the Garden of Eden.  God loved us so much that all of history was a part of His plan for His people to attain forgiveness.” 

I questioned, “But, why did God have to kill all those people?  Didn’t He love them too?”

The wise professor responded, “Of course he loved them, but they chose to turn away from God, to serve Satan, and they suffered the consequences for their actions. Originally the plan for God’s people to deal with sin was through sacrifices and offerings of animals of pure bloodlines”  He explained further,  “Jesus was to be the ultimate sacrifice and therefore, had to be a descendant from the pure bloodline of Abraham to guarantee God’s promise.  God’s requirement for keeping the bloodline pure meant that the followers of Satan could not intermarry with God’s chosen people, Israel.”

It was then that I realized that God’s standard for life was based on His love for us.  Everything commanded by the Lord was to protect the promise of our salvation. 

In Zechariah, God tells us that His standard for life is that of love.  We should respect His power and realize that there are consequences to our actions. We must understand that it is not His anger with us that result in our consequences, but a reminder of His ultimate love.

While we are seeking a relationship with the Lord, we need to know that Jesus reflected His Father’s standards.  His law is love and His gospel is peace.

So, if it wasn’t for such a perfect plan that began in the Garden of Eden, we would all be in trouble today. 

That’s just another reason to praise God!

Are You Blessed?

In Psalms 40 verse 5 it says the world's a huge stockpile of God-wonders and God-thoughts.

This past weekend we helped operate a rest stop for almost 400 bicyclists from 29 states who rode in the Cherohala Challenge.  Our rest stop was at the highest point on the ride, being 5390 feet.  We began with a beautiful clear day but cool but as the day progressed the clouds began to build and it was a thrill to watch the clouds literally roll up the side of the mountain and engulf us.  Watching the clouds form just demonstrated a God-wonder.

Then during the weekend it was great to sit outside from a quiet rain and just realized how blessed we all are.  Many of the riders are pure athletes, who just to ride the mountains on a bicycle,  have the strength and drive to tackle such a feat.

Driving up to the location to set up the rest stop, I encountered a red fox who slowly crossed the road in front of me, and then a few miles further saw my first grouse in East Tennessee.  With each turn I was looking for what I might see next.  I got tot the top of the mountain and got out and just listened.  I heard nothing as the quietness of the morning engulfed me.

Thoughts of how the Lord has blessed  my coming, my going, and even my standing still.  Once some time ago I sat down and began writing my blessings and could not write them fast enough.  Sure, I could have taken another piece of paper and written down all the rotten stuff that has happened in my life but I saw where the blessings were not things I had done to be blessed but things that the Lord had done for me. 

So this morning go somewhere with a piece of paper and begin writing down your blessings.  Look for God-wonders all around you and then begin to write.  God-thoughts will flood your mind to really show you how blessed you are. 

Take a deep breath of the morning air.  There, now you have already experienced two blessings.  Having air to breath and the lungs to bring in the air. 

Now go work on your list. 

A Letter to POP - Twelve Years later

          As I sit here this morning and think about getting this day started, my mind wonders back to the year 2000. First and foremost, is that I Love You and appreciate all you had done for me. I can still see you in the hospital and then recall getting the call from the hospital, like it was yesterday. I still can not believe that they wanted to run experimental tests on you, knowing it would not make you well. I knew that I had to give you the respect you deserved. Your nurse was so important in helping you. Her call to me caused me to react immediately and the doctor was surprised when I showed up in his office and demanded for your release.

            But I could see the relief on your face as we moved to the assisted living facility and knew we were doing the right thing.  Mike and the people at the church played such an important part in preparing you to me Jesus.  The communion in your room was a highlight for the evening.  I now realize that the closure of every little thing that happened was as if God had the whole thing laid out perfectly.

            Funny when you think about it, but little did I know that when I walked to the store to get you a root beer on Thursday evening, that it would be the last thing you drank.  In a way I wish it could have been a root beer float, cause I know how you liked them.  Ed’s stopping by to ask if you wanted to go fishing was great.  Little did he know that you had been fishing for the Lord all those years and you were about to get the biggest catch ever.

            During the next year, I saw another person die and watched the struggle and violence of leaving this world.  I am so thankful that your passing was in such peace.  Lynnette and I were not certain of how it was going to take place, but we thank the Lord so much that we were able to be near you as you left this world.  As we walked down the hallway and looked into the rooms, we saw so many people alone and with no hope.  Thank you for teaching Christian principles with hope, family, and grace.

            Did you know that angels were there?  Of course you did, but before they came to minister to you, your evening nurse was named Angel.  She came to see you just before you went to sleep.  Checked all your vital signs and gave you some pain medicine.  Then a girl name Angelica came and gave you a bath.  Coincidence?  I don’t believe so.  But the best part was about 9:15 p.m. when the feeling on the room became different.  A calm peace and sweetness entered the room and I knew that we were not alone.  It was then that I knew everything was going to be OK and told Lynnette that fact. 

For years previous, I felt that it would be hard to let go of you.  Lynnette and her spirit of love was just the right thing that I needed.  Her advice and encouragement during your illness was vital to helping with the closure.  Do you remember me singing to you about 10:30?  It was not my best voice, but there was never more heart felt love in the songs than when I sang them to you.  Our last prayer together and encouraging you to look for Jesus are things I will always remember.  Recall how I wanted you to look for Grandma and Grandpa Balser and Grandma and Grandpa Canter?  I’ll bet they have been praising God for so many years now that when they met you and embraced you, it was just like they left you yesterday.  Humm.. .   I guess it was yesterday for them.

            As you can see, I am into writing my thoughts more now.  It helps me to reflect and improve my own life.  I know all my mistakes as well as you do now, but the grace shown by the Lord in Jesus sometimes just makes me want to sing such praise and appreciate my family so much more.

            In going through some reading this last weekend, I realized that the most important thing a man can leave when he dies is to know that his children love the Lord.  In that way he is successful and it far over rides all the money and possessions we can amass.  My son will be 40 years old this year and I look at this with mixed emotions for all my children.   Pop, I love my children and grandchildren so much and pray often that they hold that personal relationship with Jesus high on their lists of priorities.  In doing that, my failures in this life will seem small in comparison to the excitement of being in heaven to greet them someday.  You were so successful, because your children do love the Lord!

            I don’t know when the Lord is ready to call it quits for me on earth, but I am excited to first look for Jesus, who died for me.  That allows me to be guilty for my sins, plead the blood of Jesus as the giver of grace and mercy, and then look for you and everyone else I’ve known. 

            I am heart sad for those people who do not take the opportunity to connect to their parents who are alive.  No matter what has taken place, the Lord gave us parents, step parents, or loving guardians to help us mature into the people we are today.   Accept lifestyles we like and reject what we don't.  But love the person for who they are.  Their parents.   I wish they would connect and tell them they love them instead of holding hurt feelings.   

            Well, I need to get busy this morning, so tell everyone I said, “Hi”.  And again, “I Love You” for being a great father.

Your son,

Gary

P.S.  When was the last time you connected with your parents, living or deceased?  Maybe a letter to them is in order!

Is Age a State of Mind?

This morning I am in a perplexing situation.  I read Acts 2:17 and it says "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams".

Yet the visions keep coming. Prior to a meeting in Atlanta this week, our sales representative asked, "What else new do you have on the horizon?"  I immediately rolled three new ideas that I have been developing in my mind.   His partner said, "So when will you hang it up and relax.  You should retire, and enjoy life and do nothing.  I know I will someday." 

My response was that I will never quit creating, working, and doing with what the Lord has blessed me with.  Trying to be politically nice, his response was that I would not have too many more years until I am old.

Which reminded me of a good friend here in town who is 87 years young.  He just finished building and stocking his second museum and is in the planning stages for a third one by next year.  Even though his body has slowed over the past five years, his mind is as sharp as any 25 year old around.  As I admire this man, he comments that a few aches and pains can tell you you are old or you can believe that you have to work more because your time is limited here on earth.

I know that age is a state of mind.  If you tell yourself you are old, then you will be old.  So often, I see friends retire and kick back to a little golf, reading, sitting on the porch, and doing very little.  Sadly, within a few years they are gone from this earth and did not get to really enjoy their time on earth.

Even though I am working daily at two jobs, I keep thinking of tomorrow.  Visions of what can be for the people here in Tellico Plains and dreams of what new product or service will make it to the marketplace.

In the end, we all will age.  Whether it is graceful or kicking and screaming, it will happen.  So are you dreaming dreams of how to serve and stay mentally and physically active?  Do you have visions of helping others while here on earth.

By not acting your age you will help the memories or your life here and give you a legacy that many people try to buy their way to remembrances.  But that's for another day!

So this weekend, go out and quit acting your age.  Make the state of your mind to be young again!

Walking Away from the First "NO"

While waiting for a meeting at Home Depot headquarters, a young stranger in the lobby asked a very interesting question.  He said, "How far in advance to you plan for new ideas and developments?"  That was a different question, then he went on to say, "Why do you keep fighting when you have been told 'No" so many times?  When do you give up?"

You know, I had never thought of it because, to me, one "No" is not the end of the movie.  One of our products has struggled to get running hard in the marketplace. We had been told "No" so many times.  Then while at a meeting at Lowe's, the seasoned merchandiser asked, "Why are you here to see me?"  You have been told ,"No" three times and yet you come back to the same category. You need to not be in the Storage Aisle but in Attic Ladders.  It is a perfect match."  Now that was a five hundred mile trip with zero placement results but I praised the Lord and figured He had a better plan.  I just had to listen.

Since taking his advise, things have begun to move much faster and the opportunities are growing because we made a move in categories. 

If we had stopped after the first or even second "No" then we would have missed the opportunity to see our dream grow. 

So how many times have you stopped at the first "No"?  Now that does not mean you never soul search, evaluate, get help from a mentor, or seek divine wisdom but inside you do all these steps and then see where the idea can be developed.  But here's the adder.

At first we think we had the vision and the dream  and we were given enough talent to make it happen.  For me after so many "No's",  I began heavily looking for the Lord's Favor and stopped relying on my training, experience, and wisdom.  No matter what that seemed to look like from my daily personal time with the Lord. 

Previously I had only asked for Him to connect me with the right person to move the product forward.  So you can understand my disappointment when the merchandiser at Lowe's made his first statement.  I had a flash, "God, why are you abandoning me?" 

But he had not abandoned me and now the doors are opening because I am still learning to trust every move as being guided by the Lord.

What about you today? Are you beating your head against the wall to see a dream come true?  It is when we get a new frame of mind that you will see results that bless our lives. 

How's your faith to move forward?

A Simple Head Cold

2 Corinthians 12: 7-9 . . . But to keep me from getting puffed up, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from getting proud.  Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.

Summer colds seem to always hit us at the wrong time.  Everyone tells us to take this medicine or that herb to get rid of a cold.  What I have discovered was that it takes seven days to begin feeling better with drugs, or it usually takes me seven days to get well no matter what I ingest.

Fighting a cold  gave me time to think of the afflictions that Paul encountered during his ministry and missionary journeys.  During some study of God's Word, I found several theories of Paul’s afflictions.

In today’s verse, Paul’s thorn in the flesh is described as "an angel of Satan":

1.   Possibly a demon actually inflicted bodily pain upon the apostle.

2.   The fact Paul asked God to remove it three times, , tells us how painful and debilitating these encounters must have been.

3.   That this affliction was periodic rather than continual is obvious, since Paul could not have functioned if it were a constant thing.

4.   Conclusion: Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was a disabling, periodic and extremely painful ordeal inflicted by a demon directly.

Another study presents the afflictions as being physical: 

1.   From the time of meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, it is believed that Paul had poor eyesight a severe form of ophthalmia (i.e. eye disease. This view is based on Paul's comments in Gal.4:15).

2.   A form of epilepsy. Recurrent malarial fever (Sir Wm. Ramsay this affliction is quite debilitating and is accompanied by a peculiar headache which is 'like a red hot bar thrust through the forehead'. Sir William Ramsay says Paul contacted this disease during his first missionary journey while in Perga in Pamphylia [Act.13:13].

3.   Another author [W. M. Alexander] believes Paul's malady may be more specifically identified as Malta fever, which is accompanied by severe pain, nocturnal delirium, unsightly eruptions, and loss of hair).

Dr. Tony Evans noted that the afflictions we experience here on earth are just preparations for the desire to get to heaven and never experience afflictions again.

Thinking about all that Paul encountered by living through his afflictions and still built a close relationship with the Lord, means we all can actually thank the Lord for our aches, pains and sicknesses.

Since finishing this study my colds are nothing to complain about and I thank the Lord that my afflictions are so minor.

Maybe we all can thank the Lord when we get sick.  Maybe it’s just a wake up call?

Forgetting the AP

Psalms 36:10 “Oh Lord, continue your loving kindness to those who know you. And your righteousness to the seeker’s heart.”

Have you ever forgotten something? 

Of course, we all have.

Once a pastor friend came to church early in order to complete final preparations for the service. His wife and three children came just before church started in a separate car. Afterward, one son told his mom that he’d ride to a baptism, which was at some people’s home, with his Dad after church was over. Mom reminded Dad of his responsibility and he promised to get his son to the people’s home.

Naturally, the pastor was detained after church and so the son went out on the playground. When the pastor realized that he might be late for the baptism, he jumped in his car and left. The pastor walked in and sat down next to his wife. She asked, “Where’s Christopher?” He ran to the car and headed back to the church.

When he arrived, his son was sitting on the front steps patiently waiting for his father to come back.

During the good times in our lives we act as if we don’t really need the Lord. Our time with Him becomes so relaxed that we may even forget to pray. Successes in business or in our personal lives are accepted as coming from us, and many times thanking God is not even in the equation.  We simply forget.

So why is it that when we have problems, we tend to remember a relationship with Him?   We know the Lord is there all the time, but treat Him like a phone Application. If we are not looking for something the application just lays quietly on our phone.   When we need help, we tap on the application and there is our answer.  

How do you expect the Lord to bless your life and give you his favor when the relationship is only one way.  He asks for a relationship with you every day.  But you tend to make it on your terms and try to control the application.  So why should the Lord ever bless you in a one way relationship?  

It’s because He loves us and shows His kindness by helping us in the good times and the bad.  

He forgets our ugly past but never forgets us when we need Him.  It is in one on one relationship where we can fully appreciate the God application. 

He NEVER forgets.