Ezekiel 37:1-10 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.5 Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.” COMMENTS: Ezekiel’s vision is a dramatic picture showing how DEAD Israel was and only hope of restoration. It is also a reminder to us just how mortal we are and how precious Christ’s gift of eternal life is. The only option is death and eternal judgment without Him and gift He offers to everyone, yet only accepted by a few. Why is that? Those who have heard and rejected have many reasons, but all are foolish and tragic. Some are due to prejustice from poor examples lived out in others claiming to be Christian. For others they fear or dread giving up a sinful or selfish or self indulgent life style so think they can put decision off awhile and enjoy their lifestyle awhile longer. For others they fear such a significant and permanent commitment not realizing they would simply be getting closer to their creator and only beginning a journey of fellowship with Him. For others it is because they feel they need to clean themselves up some first. But Christ tells us to come to Him as we are and don’t wait. He specializes in cleaning up the messiest lives. Besides, we can’t clean up our lives enough ourselves.
There are many more reasons but all deprive individual blessing and treasure and benefit beyond their comprehension both on earth and in heaven. Christ so wants to partner with us by asking us to simply show others the difference He can make by letting Him transform us to be more like Him. He also asked us to be willing and ready to tell the reason for our joy and hope. If we do both, then we open the door for Him to do His part both in us and in those we witness to. I have failed miserably at this so many times failing to respond to opportunities by allowing distractions and other excuses talk me out of sharing Christ’s love and Gospel message. The few times I did respond I have never regretted but I regret many I missed.
Well, yesterday was a day of wishing I had a do-over but praise God for His protection and helping Hand. Arlene and I were burning some brush and thought we were careful and burnt a little at a time in our yard but still ended up burning down our garage and nearly burning our duplex apartment building next to it. A spark ignited the wood frame at ground level and quickly ignited the vinyl siding and went up the inside plywood. I was able to get my riding mower and trailer out but nothing else. A antique car that a friend was storing in garage was destroyed along with tools and other items. By time fire department arrived garage was engulfed and was starting to intrude in enclosed porch in duplex. Some damage was done to outside of porch and outside stairway to upstairs apartment but nothing more and both apartment renters were able to go back into their apartment. AND NO ONE WAS HURT!!! Fortunately insurance is in force on structures and on car destroyed and one renters car in driveway that encountered some damage from fire.
Sure, I would like to redo yesterday but experience reminds me not to cling to things tightly and just how fragile and precious life is. I took a big risk getting my mower out. Another miracle was sparks went over firetrucks onto a old cemetery across the street and ignited a bush but did not harm firetruck. God’s protective hand was indeed on us and those who came and put out our fire. We are so grateful to them but even more to God who protected them and renters and us yesterday as well as every day.
Sure we have learned from yesterday’s mistakes but am sure we will make more, as will you. Most we get away with without consequences. Many times I have burned much larger brush without consequence, but yesterday God intended to teach us more. I dare say I will think twice and choose another way of getting rid of brush next time. But the concerns and support of neighbors and friends started pouring in yesterday afternoon and evening and am sure will continue to do so. That means so much too. But again, we don’t see this as a tragedy but a gentle reminder to draw closer to Him and follow His council and instruction more closely . With His help we intend to do so and pray by sharing this experience, we will encourage you to as well. “Our old history ends with the cross; our new history beings with the resurrection.”
Watchman Nee
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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