Grace In Crossville? Grace Everywhere!

Guest blog- by Joel Littlefield - Author of Grace In Crossville
I am 30 years old, the father to 3 wonderful children, and blessed to be 11 years married to my beautiful wife, Callie. I'm currently serving as the worship leader and assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel in Crossville, TN.  My passion is to preach and teach Christ to the Church, and show that His glory, His joy, and His will are our primary mission in life as Christians. Since writing is a form of teaching, and can be used to equip the body of Christ unto love and good works, this too has become a passion in my daily walk and growth with God.
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In a world of unknowns and unkept promises, I am thankful for a sure, hopeful, promise keeping, gracious God! I've come to know that this grace is everywhere I go. This does not mean things don't get hard, and often very hard, but the grace of God sufficiently goes with us, strengthening our spirits, and upholding our lives throughout the most treacherous waters.

We read "my grace is sufficient for thee", and we question.  But when we question, do we also cling to Christ? The promise of sufficient, upholding, sustaining grace is directly tied to the power of God, and if we do not cling to Him in the hour of our trial, we will only be left with more questions.  Paul asked three times to be freed from his "thorn in the flesh", thinking that freedom from his hardship was surely the will of God. This was not the case.  Rather, God used life, and everything it had dished up to Paul, including the pain, the beating, and the suffering, to bring him to a place of utter surrender to a sovereign God.

Where do your find yourself today? Are you filled with incomprehensible joy and elation because of the riches of Christ so graciously and freely lavished upon you? Maybe not. Maybe you are riddled with pain from a hard childhood, difficult marriage, or chronic illness. I cannot help you apart from Christ. Nobody can.  Only Christ and His pure Word can heal, restore, rebuild, and refill.  No one but Christ rose from the grave and the grasp of death, so that you might stand victorious over sin and all of its sting. No matter where you live, or what has gotten you there, looking to Jesus for all things will lead you to confidently say "grace is here with me."  Grace for salvation. Grace for obedience. Grace to love others like Christ did. Grace to lead you through life till the day you behold the face of your savior.

These are the things that lead me to write 'Grace In Crossville'.  The name of my town is Crossville, and I am confident that grace is here with me.  When I leave, grace goes with me, for Christ is with me always.  As you read through this 31 day devotional, let the truths of the scriptures aid you in your time of need, uphold you through your greatest joys, and sustain you through your most besetting trials. May you learn to say "your grace, oh lord,  is sufficient for me!"

Precious believer in Christ, where do you live?..........grace is there too.

-Joel littlefield

You can purchase my new devotional 'Grace In Crossville' in Kindle and paperback editions at the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=grace+in+crossville&sprefix=Grace+in+cross%2Cdigital-text%2C270

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Link to Joel's website to read Blog Post: Radiant God

https://graceincrossville.wordpress.com/2014/12/31/radiant-god/

Themes in James

Chapter 1

• Vs 1. James' salutation to the letter's recipients 
• Vss 2-8. Utilizing prayers of faith to survive trials  
• Vss 9-11. Remember, everyone is equal in God’s sight 
• Vss 12-16 No one is perfect. Don’t get into trouble thinking you are 
• Vss 17, 18. God is what you have & all you have. Don’t boast otherwise  
• Vs 19. Watch your mouth  
• Vss 21-25. If you can’t stand to let God wash you, you’re blind to your habitual sins  
• Vss 26-27. Humble yourself. Be not proud—do service to God. Look for those in need and fill whatever their need is

Chapter 2 

• Vss 1-7. Be careful of pride;  the worlds’ social order practices discrimination. Don’t you dare do this in the church, at work, in your home, or anywhere  
• Vss 8-13. All your knowledge has little value as a witness; your conduct will explain your connection to Jesus  
• Vs 14-18. Do not take the Lord’s name in vain. If you name yourself a Christian, it’s going to show in what you do. If it doesn’t, you’re not. You manner, quality, and objective of work will prove you  
• Vss 19-20. Saying the name of Jesus doesn’t make you a Christian. Satan knows who God is and knows the difference between a genuine Christian and a quasi-Christian. Make sure you prove whom you are  
• Vss 21-26. Examples of people proving their faith

Chapter 3 

Green-Eyed envy

• Vss 1-8. Guard your tongue. If you think you can teach, be very careful of your words. God will hold you accountable for every word you speak on His behalf  (I’m accountable for this post)  
• Vss 9-12. Examples of how we can misuse the name of Jesus  
• Vss 13-18. If you’re knowledgeable about the truth, then teach it. It comes from God. Do not boast because you know something. It didn’t originate from you. Give it freely to everyone

Chapter 4 

• Vss 1-3. You idiots! Stop fighting for worthless stuff. Stop fighting for position  
• Vss 4-6. If you’re married to Christ, you’re an adulterer when you covet the worlds’ stuff. God is jealous when you cheat on Him  
• Vss 7-8 Satan has to leave you alone in the presence of your humble faith  
• Vss 11, 12. Idiot! You can’t correctly judge anyone. Stop it  
• Vss 13-16. Don’t leave God out of your plans. Make all your plans with flexibility.  
• Vs 17. Don’t place all your eggs in one basket. You could sin trying to sustain it

Chapter 5 

• Vss 1-6. Behave yourselves. Repent and help others. Give up your pride. Be honest!  
• Vss 7-9. Wait for Jesus, He’s right here  
•  Vss 10,11.  Examples of men who waited in faith, not knowing what was going on  
• Vs12. Be honest in all your promises  
•  Vss 13-16. The church body is there for Christians in all situations and stages of need. Stick together & help one another, especially praying for one another  
•  Vss 17, 18. Example of a Godly man’s prayers  
•  Vss 19-20. Helping a Brother or Sister in Christ with love will benefit everyone in the most beautiful and spiritual ways

A Woman's Giving Hand

  “But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” Matthew 6: 3.

 

  Have you ever done something for someone who wasn’t expecting it, and you did it just for the joy of giving? Offered to do someone's laundry? Look after their children for an hour? Baked cookies for your neighbor?

 In creating man and woman, God gave the male and female of His attributes that He desired in which sex. (male and female created He them" cf Genesis 1:27.) Our emotional personalities are for God's purposes. While God made men to be subtly appreciative, God made woman with the capacity of giving and receiving with more emotion.

 Visually emotional actions are part of woman: love, joy, anger, sympathy, empathy, and motherly. Women utilize their God given specialty as wonderful givers, doers, motivators, counselors, and those who encourage. Women can and should use their emotions for God's glory.

Is there anyone you can help without thinking of any return for your effort?

Is there anyone you really want to help in any way?

Giving to others, or time, treasures or talents can be a subtle or visible ministry to God.

And very simple.

Today, do that deed you've been thinking about. Enjoy God's smile.

I Had To Slowly Acclimatize To Farming

 Me, in the pasture, hugging a heifer named Marshmallow

 

 "And God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind and it was so." genesis 1:24.

God designed cattle and they are exactly what He desired for a meat and milk producing critter. Praise the Lord.

God created me, too, just the way He wanted me to be. Praise the Lord.

But when I came along, these so many years after His original creation, I had no desire for farming. Growing up my farming experiences amounted to rabbits, chickens, and raising worms. At times, even that was too much work for an active tomboy. 

Personally, I was terrified of cows.

So how did I adapt to being a farmer's wife? It started when my mother rented a house from a Dairy Farmer. It just followed that I would gravitate to it. 

I did say I was a tomboy.

I wandered to the farm next door and met my landlord. Because I kept wandering to the farm and doing odd jobs, like spreading hay, fetching tools, raking, and sweeping hay around the floor. It wasn't long until my frequent involvement graduated to assistant milker.

I still wasn't ready to trust the cows up close. Nothing I had done so far had me and cows in close proximity--yet. 

Assistant milker didn’t milk, which meant I didn’t have to do anything with those Holsteins the size of small vehicles, but with brains. A black and white, half ton of power with primitive reasoning. One end has horns, the other powerful legs; it's dangerous coming and going.

Where I began my introduction to dairy farming, there was no automated system on this farm; no pump whisked the milk to the tank. Milk was poured into two 16-quart pails, which had to be immediately taken to the milk tank. That was my job, lugging up to 64 pounds of milk. From production to tank less was than 100 feet. In all that walking up and down the cement floor, I covered over five miles. To dump the pails, I stood on a cement block, while lifting the pail about head high. I lifted up to 32 pounds of milk to dump it into a strainer that drained into the 600-gallon milk tank. Try that without spilling any!

 The more I was there the more my fears abated, until I progressed into managing the whole milking process of washing udders, strapping the machine on, setting the teat cups, stripping, (hand milking the last drop), the 40 to 45 cows. I was now doing the entire three hours of the morning milking alone.

But that wasn't the extent of the jobs I adapted to.

Other chores included feeding, watering, repairs, mending fences, shoveling silage, shoveling you-know-what, treating feet, treating injured cows, inoculating, medicating, castrating, deworming, dehorning, assisting calving, haying. I’ve participated in breeding, chasing, catching, shipping, trailering and leading cows, calves and bulls.

Once in a while, I even drove a piece equipment.

 Buffalo, an Angus/cross bull calf I raised.

Mother rented the house for five years and in those years, I continued to work at the farm. But, there was a consequence none of us realized. Somewhere in those years, the Farmer and I had fallen in love. I went off to other places, but often I returned to the farm and sometimes the Farmer would come to where I was.

It wasn't until both of us came to know Jesus as our Savior did we figure out we needed to be married.

When that happened, God showered blessing on us so much we wondered why we hadn't married sooner.

God made me just the way He wanted me designed. And part of that design had me growing into be on a farm. Praise the Lord.

 

 The Farm Buildings

 The Barn was 150 feet long.

The Blue HARVESTORE Silo is 65 feet tall and 25 feet in diameter.

   

Poor Man's Chocolate Cake

A recipe that supplies the right dish for any occasion is the best recipe.

• *Poor Man's Chocolate Cake

• Dump Cake

• Crazy Cake

• Wacky Cocoa Cake

• Depression Cake

• Eggless Cake

• One Bowl Cake

  (*See recipe below)

I grew up making Poor Man's Chocolate Cake. As time went by, I learned I was making all these others as well. I would exchange favorite recipes with someone and we would laugh because it would be the same cake, only under a different name.


From the mid 60s through the 70s, my family was on the lower end of the economic scale in our town. Father struggled to make ends meet and he slipped into alcohol troubles pretty quickly, which led to more troubles in our family. He always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, doing the wrong things.

But Father was a very good engineer, and machinist, designing gadgets that would enhance our lives, yet they never quite came to fruition. He could draw a 3-D plan of an engine, or a machine, or some mechanism, and do it from several angles and cut-away drawings. I regret that none of his drawings were saved.

We lived without electricity for 11 years of my life  (Age 4 - 15) The power lines stopped a half mile from us on the east side and a mile from us on the west side. We were the only house on this 'power-less' stretch of road and the power company wouldn't connect the lines just for one household. There was no way we could afford to pay to have them put in.


We were poor, and without electricity. We had a hand pump in the kitchen and a convenient little building at the end of the shed. We used kerosine lanterns and lamps. We had battery operated everything; radios, tape players, record players and even a Television.

Father began machining the blades for a windmill, using the IT lab at the High School during Adult Education classes. He didn't need the classes, just the tools. But it never was finished and the huge blades rusted in the shed over the years. He drew the entire structure in detail and those drawings fascinated me.

One convenience Father did rig was a gravity-fed system that brought the oil to the furnace in the basement and the oil/gas stove in the kitchen.

One of the things we children got from living 'off the grid' so to speak was an immense amount of freedom. Mother and Father liked to go dancing, fishing, and out to play card games 83 or cribbage with friends, leaving us kids home for the evening or the night and sometimes the whole weekend. I suppose that would be frowned on today but we children loved it.

Amid our wild, crazy nights of freedom, I learned to cook.

It wasn't so much of a need, for Mother saw we had something to eat; I did it because there were no restrictions against it while we had the run of the house. For a time there were five if us children, then my oldest brother left at age 12 to live with a family near where he worked and my older sister, at age 17, went to live with friends in Massachusetts. That left three of us, my next oldest brother, myself and our little sister. We had a lot of fun. It's great when your best friends are your siblings.

I began simply with eggs, toast, fried potatoes, and all sorts of canned food before age 7. Before my eighth birthday, I was making cookies, cornbread and muffins, biscuits and bread puddings. When

Mother and Father discovered I could cook, the kitchen was available for me any time. Before age 9, I was up to American Chop Suey, potato salad and meatloaf. Fish from the lake nearby our house, I would fry or bake. I made stews and soups, rice and pasta dishes.I learned to bake chicken, turkey, and roasts before age eleven. I was baking pies at age 12.

And somewhere in there, I learned how to make Poor Man's Chocolate Cake. It is still my favorite go-to recipe if an occasion calls for cake. It is a simple recipe, easily enlarged or reduced. It can be layered or single, as cupcakes or minis.

There is another aspect to simple recipes and detailed drawings. God designed intricately for the salvation of everyone and described it to us throughout the entire Bible.We also have the simplicity of it in that Jesus death on the cross and His ressurection is the absolute best recipe for salvation. 

I learned God loves me

My salvation is easily the best recipe.

 "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God" Romans 10:17. (NKJV)

 Jesus crucified once = eternal salvation

 That's a good presentation for eternity.

* Poor Man's Chocolate Cake

Grease an 8 x 8 cake pan. Preheat oven to 350.

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 Tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
2 Tablespoons white or cider vinager
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup water

In medium bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (You may sift dry ingredients but it is not necessary) Add remaining ingredients. It is best if the vinegar is the final addition as it tends to work fast. Mix quickly, beating or whisking until the batter is smooth and creamy. Pour into cake pan and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. I usually cook it between 27 & 28 minutes.

Cool cake and frost with your favorite icing.

Mini cakes with peanut butter frosting