Gracious God
Invocations Spoken at the Fountain Hills Rotary Club
by
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Gracious God Three things in life that, once gone, never come back are time, words, and opportunity. Three things in life that are most valuable are love, self-confidence, and friends. Three things in life that make for a great person are hard work, sincerity, and commitment. Three things in life that can destroy a person are booze, pride and anger. Four things in a Rotarian’s life that once in place make a life valuable and great are knowing truth, being fair, and spreading goodwill that should be beneficial to all. Bless this hour we shall share together. Bless the food that has been prepared for our bodies so we can continue to do Rotary in our world. Gracious God To every creature you give a face. Many expressions come from every face. The face is yours; the expressions are ours. We smile, we frown, we laugh, and we cry. We see when we choose to open our eyes. We hear unless we turn a deaf ear. We speak unless we close our mouth. The three little monkeys taught me to see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil. Lord, I am not a monkey – I am not a Rotarian either when I see evil, hear evil and speak evil. I am a Rotarian when I lend a hand, sow a seed of love, and show my best face. I thank you for the will to express the face given me.
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About the Book
Gracious God is a collection of inspirational and heart-felt invocations offered by Pastor James Ulrikson. Every week, Pastor Ulrikson offers words of prayer at the Fountain Hills Rotary Club, and hopes this book reminds people that true blessings are not found in what we have, but in how we can serve others.
About the Author
I was born to a share cropper in 1925, when you depended upon a Gracious God for your daily living. Next to that farm was a grade school that taught me everything I needed to know. Those were depression years when depending on a Gracious God was necessary. Los Angeles promised me a bigger piece of the pie in 1954, and it kept its promise. My children received college degrees and I started back to school at 35, and in 10 years the Lutheran Church ordained me for service. I was sent back to the Dakotas for four years (1971-75) and it taught me again that there is a Gracious God that makes so much wheat it can feed the world if you deliver it. The Church moved me to New Mexico – Pueblo Country – where people existed for hundreds of years on a garden down by the river. I called it “Paradise on an acre”. In Fountain Hills, Arizona, a developer was turning a ranch into a community. He needed a church with a Pastor. And Service Clubs. I was invited as the second member to Fountain Hills Rotary Club. It was here I put all the pieces of life together. There are people in this world that are still share-cropping land they cannot afford, and in need of schools for their children they can not afford, and water wells for their gardens, so they may raise gardens, sell more then they need for themselves and with the extra money they can build schools and plant more gardens. As clergy, the club invited me to pray the invocations. Each week I read from The Rotarian, or from my library, a line of Motivation or Celebration that might speak to someone other then me. Then came the request for copies from members when they shared my insight with theirs. So I took this box of 1,000 notes and hired a friend, Marge Smith, to type them and save them onto a CD. Then Told Elwood said “Lets make a book.” And here we are. For those who are called upon to pray an invocation, I welcome you to use mine and add your insight. Always remember, there is a Gracious God wanting us to connect with someone in need – someone with a dream that needs some help making it into a reality. Service above self was a great idea by our good friend Paul Harris.