Aren't the Olympics just amazing? GO USA! GO HERMOSA BEACH GOLD MEDALISTS!

By Joy A. Kennelly

I'm watching the Olympics Closing Night Ceremonies and it's just breathtakingly beautiful. I'm loving the flashbacks on all the great Olympic moments for the athletes too. Aren't you?

I'm so proud to be an American and so proud of all the amazing Olympic athletes who have competed with honor, valor and strength.

Really makes you re-evaluate your personal life and see if you're living up to your own standard of living doesn't it? It's so cool Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are from here in Hermosa Beach. We're all so proud of them!

They even changed the sign on Pier & PCH in their honor and normally that sign is way out-of-date for weeks at a time! Just goes to show you how proud our city is of our athletes! Hard to believe these same Olympic volleyball athletes including Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers will soon be playing in our local Manhattan Beach AVP's. Simply amazing.

Sorry, I'm not normally starstruck, but there's just something about the Olympics that makes me so proud and teary eyed over the athletes. It's so cool to see the world literally come together for these days as one. Makes me believe in peace on earth, doesn't it you?

Maybe that's why today's message from Pastor Jim Mackinga of Bay Cities Community Church on Integrity struck such a chord today. The thing that really hit home was when he said, "People won't buy what we profess in public, if we don't live it out in private." OY! Made me re-evaluate certain things I've been doing and saying for sure!

Since I always promise to share my notes and it's mindless to copy, I'm going to do it while I watch the closing night ceremonies. Just know, Jim's messages are filled with anecdotes, information, stats, humor and loving care that you really only experience if you hear him.

What was interesting to feel today since I was so late is the remorse I had for missing any of the service. It was then I realized this part of my week is much more important than staying out late on Saturday with new people I don't know or don't necessarily care about at the grand opening of Zen Lounge.

I'd rather enjoy time with good friends I care about and who care about me which is how I feel about people at my church. I also feel that way about certain people I hung out with last night at The Shore. Aren't they a great group of ladies?

Then, there's always my singing minstrel neighbor who always welcomes all of us home with a song and a smile. Recognize Mr. Blue Eyes?

Okay, enough of that - here's the message! Go Kenya! I lived there in '77 and have a soft spot for that country. One of my dreams has always been to go back. One day...

May God bless the reading of His Word. Enjoy!

Integrity in What We Say & Do

"James - Practical Christian Living"

How to Live with Integrity

James 5:12:

   ¹²And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.

1. Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep.

James 5:12:

   ¹² But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else.

Matthew 5:33-36:

Empty Promises

  ^{33 -37}"And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

Matthew 12:33:

   ³³"If you grow a healthy tree, you'll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you'll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree.

Matthew 12:34-35:

   ^{34 -37}"You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation."

2. Fill Your Voice, Heart and Life with Integrity

James 5:12b

let your yes be [a simple] yes, and your no be [a simple] no

Ephesians 4:25:

   ²⁵Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Matthew 5:37:

 

³⁷"But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil. 

James 1:26:

   ²⁶If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. (Man, the Bible doesn't mince words does it?)

3. Know the Price if You're Wrong Here

James 5:12

so that you may not sin and fall under condemnation.

Exodus 20:7:
⁷You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

John 8:43-44:
⁴³Why do you misunderstand what I say? It is because you are unable to hear what I am saying. [You cannot bear to listen to My message; your ears are shut to My teaching.]

    ⁴⁴You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.

Galatians 6:7-8:
⁷Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked ^[a]by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and ^[b]that only is what he will reap.

    ⁸For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Heavy words, but just know God meant them in love and so do I.

Oh, and if you want to see pix from the weekend - check out my Elite Singles by The Shore site here: http://singles.meetup.com/2461/

Okay, that's all for now. I'm tired and have another busy week ahead.

Happy Sunday everyone!