Scarlet Robe Creations

  This is a true saying. I want you to give special emphasis to these matters, so that those who believe in God may be concerned with giving their time to doing good deeds, which are good and useful for everyone.  But avoid stupid arguments, long lists of ancestors, quarrels, and fights about the Law. They are useless and worthless.  Give at least two warnings to those who cause divisions, and then have nothing more to do with them.  You know that such people are corrupt, and their sins prove that they are wrong. Titus 3:8-11 Warnings, twice to those who divide the intention of the Word. Do not break down the law of love with arguments and quarrels. Corruption and sin are ever present. Give yourself to unity. Bring together what has been separated, as the Lord brought the fisherman to the tax collector. Warnings, twice and you have made the effort. Nurture the wheat and have nothing to do with the weeds. copyright 2017 - Don...

Worry not. Sometimes I need to listen to the gentle voice, speaking to me, calming every tension in my soul. You are so much more than the birds or the flowers growing wild in the fields. Why worry about clothing, the bread on your table, the money in your accounts? I read these words and know that I stumble. I hear quotes and sonnets meant to remind and comfort me. Still I give way to anxiety and unease. Tomorrow will have enough worries of its own. Do not add them to the concerns of the day present. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author From the Collection;  The Sermon

Command me to come on the water. One step before the other, without sinking. Strengthen my faith, that the undertows do not pull me under. Lord, bid me the courage to see beyond the storms, to ignore the dark clouds building against the horizon. And yet, if after all Your words have been spent on me, still stretch out Your hand to pull me up when I am of little faith. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

He will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches, tear off a tender shoot and plant it high on a lofty mountain. It shall put forth branches and bear good fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell beneath it. Every winged thing will rest in the shade its boughs and all the trees of the field shall know. That the Lord will bring low the high tree. That the Lord will lift high the low tree. That the Lord will wither the green tree and make the withered tree bloom copyright 2012 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

He has been broken, left to be adopted by others. Sing out with gratitude, crumbs from the table of the children have been offered to the dogs.   Gentiles, those of the rebel tribes who never stood in the temple. The unworthy sinners who have hidden themselves from God.   How can this be? Hands raised in the air by the pious are ignored by the One Most Holy.   The prostitutes gather, the tax collectors and those with unpayable debts. They cry out  asking forgiveness and they are heard.   He has been broken and is adopted by others, not those who felt a right to claim Him, but the sinners who knew they had no right. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Who among us believes he is unblemished? Who among us justifies our transgressions? Who among us wears a mask to hide their imperfections? Who among us tastes hate and not love? Who among us is proud of the scriptures we know? Who among us has followed the broad path when the narrow seemed difficult? If we identify with one affliction, we possess all, covered in stains of sin and scars we see as ugly. We hate, we judge, we seek revenge. We are proud peacocks, Pharisees in the midst, standing at the entrance to the narrow road, where the incline is steep and the terrain is rocky, struggling daily to take one more step in the journey. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

I trespass, stepping over a line drawn in the sand. Some prophets of this day have spread their ideals like wind through the grains and the boundaries are less clear. Do I seek excuses, stepping barefoot into sand I should never feel? Is the experience worth the loss? I trespass into a world seemingly pleasant and then, I long for the simplicity I once held tightly in my heart. Father in heaven, be kind to me when I return, a wanderer, a prodigal. Hold not my debts against me and help my heart to forgive all that scars its flesh. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

You fill the furrows of the field with water      so that their ridges overflow. You soften them with rain showers;      their sprouts you have blessed. Psalm 65:10 (ISV) You drench the earth that life might spring forth from its soil. You fill the furrows and quench the thirst of a land once dry. You till the ground so it might be receptive to Your nourishment. You bless all that comes forth from the pastures of love. copyright 2017 - Donald P James Jr https://www.amazon.com/stores/Donald-P.-James-Jr./author

Jean-François Millet - The Sower He set out into the fields, a man with a singular purpose, to sow good seed onto the soil. His garden is well prepared, but it is bordered by weeds and the birds of the air are hungry. His clothing is of no status. His gait is hindered by tired limbs and arthritic feet. His life is to plant, to offer his gift to the course of existence, to nourish those who would spring upright from the dirt. With a gentle motion of his hand the seed takes flight into the breeze, scattering like dust. Is the soil of his field receptive, or have briars and weeds rooted in the depths of the ground? Will some of his offering land on hard stone, where there is no dirt to hold it in place? Will some land where the briars have domain, to be corrupted in infancy, before the roots have gained strength? Will some land where the soil has been tended, where life will come to blossom and fruit will be multiplied to feed the hungry? copyrig...

One came in his robes, proud of himself and the status he held. He sang praises in the open courtyard.   One would say he was a faithful servant.   He smiled when his title was shared as such. There were beggars. There were those covered with the sores of disease. He steered clear of the harlot and her tattered children. He is the most pious man ever seen.   His garments speak of his devout faith.   His public deeds show his love of fellow man. Look, he drops silver coins in the lap of the poor man. And the diseased one? They would stain him from his religious duties… and the prostitute is an abomination in the city streets. Where are the others who care for the stricken? Why do they not boast? Why do they not embrace those wearing public disdain? They do not beat their chests in places of worship. They do not lift their arms in praise, so others will witness. Their offerings are humble. They do not seek the ...