Boulders

Three years after building our house, we are still working on getting our yard in!! I had an irrigation company working on putting some more sprinklers in this past week, and he ran into some rather large rocks as he was trying to cut in the lines. Several of these rocks were big enough that he had to stop and remove them with larger equipment.

Just as these boulders caused me grief in working on my yard, the bible warns us of "boulders" in our lives. 1 Peter 2:8 says "They stumble because they do not listen to God's word or obey it".

What are the "boulders" in your life? What causes you to stumble? Seek God's guidance, and He will help you remove those boulders from your life. Psalm 119:165 says "Those who love your law have great peace and do not stumble".

I look forward to the transformation of the yard as the grass gets planted, the retaining walls go up, and the patio gets built. I also look forward to the transfomation God promises as I study His word, pray and look for His guidance in my life. I know that those boulders in my life that are too heavy for me to lift can easily be removed with God's power and strength.

De Colores

The Difference

In one of my earlier blogs on habits, I touched on the importance of a consistent prayer life. I found the following poem quite a few years ago, and had forgotten about it until I was going through some things in my bible this morning. Oh how true this poem is!! Read it and enjoy.

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day;
I have so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier became each task.
"Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered "You didn't ask."

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.
I wondered why God didn't show me. He said "But you didn't seek."

I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock."

I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.

May you start each day with prayer and ask God to show you His will and blessings for you. Try it, it works!!

De Colores

Rain

I'm keeping it simple today. When you read this, pray for rain!! I know God supplies us with what we need and everything is provided in His time, but I also believe that God wants us to ask for the desires of our heart. Exercise your faith. Tell your friends and family to join in, and let's bombard the gates of heaven with our request!!!

Corn rows

I was talking to one of my farmer customers today, and it brought back a lot of memories of my days growing up on the family farm. One of the things I never could master was the art of making straight rows when planting corn or milo. My dad and brother could make rows that were as straight as an arrow, but mine meandered all over the place. Needless to say, I wasn't asked to run the planter very often!

The secret to making a straight row was to keep your eye straight ahead to the other end of the field, and not get distracted by looking around at what was going on behind or beside you. You would pick out a land mark at the far end of the field and focus on it until you reached the end. As long as you stayed focused on it, your rows were straight, but if you took your eye off of it for a length of time, you would get off course, and the row would end up crooked. Only by again looking ahead could the rows get straightened out.

What a great lesson for us in life!! If we keep our lives focused on God, we are assured that He will make our paths straight. But when we lose focus, we meander around and can make a mess of our lives. When Jesus called Peter out of his boat to walk to Him on the water, Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus, AND HE WALKED ON WATER! But, when Peter took his eyes off Jesus and saw the water and waves, he became afraid and started sinking.

Hebrews 12:13 says "Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong." Life is hard, and it is easy to take our eyes off of Jesus. But, we must remember that it is only by faith and trusting in Him that we can keep our paths "straight".

Keep focused on Jesus!!

Habits

I have been taking our 13 year old son Brian to Manhattan to get some pitching lessons the past couple of months. One of the first things the instructor did was to evaluate Brian's pitching motion. At the end of the first lesson, the instructor told Brian that he could easily add 10 mph to his pitching speed, just by changing his mechanics. Unfortunately, this meant that he would have to teach his body to forget all the things he had learned over the past 13 years, and develop a new "habit" of pitching with a different motion. He said the only way to train his mind and body to do this was to do certain exercises and drills over and over again. Eventually, the new mechanics will take over and replace the old ones. Hopefully, Brian will reap the results of his new mechanics and have a fastball in the 80 to 85 mph range. Not bad for a 13 year old!!

I have been told that a habit, either good or bad, takes about 30 days to develop. Likewise, it takes about 30 days to break a habit. We all are creatures of habit, doing things over and over until they are forged in our minds. Oftentimes, we don't even realize some of the things we are doing!!

1 Corinthians 9: 27 says "I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should...." By being consistent in our prayer life, by studying God's Word daily, by always being aware of opportunities for God's service, we develop habits that make us more effective Christians. Let's look at our habits in our lives and decide if we need to change any of them, or maybe even add new ones that will make us better people!!

Be My Valentine

Today is Vaentines Day, that wonderful day when we attempt to convey to our sweetie how much we love and cherish them. Yes, it is a wonderful day, full of love and romance. But, too often, the pursuit of romance with our mate is limited to this one day, and the rest of the year is "the same old same old".

A truly successful romantic relationship requires a constant effort of "wooing" and "romancing" our spouse or mate. The art of romance unfortunately, seems to be fast becoming a lost art. If we truly want to have a strong relationship, we need to learn that we have to pursue that relationship daily. After all, isn't one of our deepest desires to feel like we are special in our mate's eyes?

God is wanting to enter into a special relationship with us on a daily basis. He doesn't just want to show us how much He loves us just once a year, He gives us His love daily. He constantly pursues us. He constantly woos us. He wants us to be His Valentine. He wants us to feel like we are special to Him, BECAUSE WE ARE!! Are you ready to accept His love every day, and likewise show it to others?

Happy Valentines Day!!

Build It (and they will come?)

Our church (Aulne Methodist) is considering a substantial building project. We're looking at adding on a new fellowship hall and kitchen facility. These items have been needed for a long time. The architect has done a great job, and the plan is a good plan.

I am struggling with questions that keep coming back to me time and time again. How does this project enhance our ability to serve and praise God? Are we wanting to do this for our convenience? Is there a better use of our funds? Is God more pleased to see a church give it's money to mission projects, or does He smile when He sees us taking care of His house? Are we being good stewards by potentially putting the church in debt and obligating future generations?

A good arguement can be made that if you enhance your church via improvements to the facility, it sends a signal to the surrounding community, as well as people who don't attend regularly that the church is making a long term committment. It is a well documented fact that building projects alone can and often do have a fringe benefit of increased attendance. The "build it and they will come" adage definitely has merit. Increased attendance hopefully brings increased giving, not only to help pay for the cost of the improvments, but also to help fund missions and other vhurch supported evangelism projects.

I know there are other areas within our church walls that need addressed (Sunday School class rooms, updated and increased sanctuary space, ect), but with the high cost of construction, it is just unreasonable to expect our little rural church congregation to "bite off more than we can chew". The arguement can be made that the fellowship hall project can be the springboard and foundation for future improvements that can address these other issues/needs.

Pray for our church that we make the right decisions. All we want to do is praise Him and be His servants in all we do. After all, we are His hands and feet. Will making improvements to his house make us better servants? We will find out!!

De Colores

Bluebird of Happiness

Not too long ago, my son Brian and I set up a couple of bluebird houses in our back yard. If you are not familiar with these, they are bird houses that are set up with certain exact dimensions (size of interior, access hole size, etc.) that somehow make them attractive and practical only for bluebirds. These birds have the most beautiful blue colored feathers on their backs, and a rust colored chest and throat. Their songs are amazing to listen to. I came home from work at lunch yesterday, and was surprised to see a couple of pairs of blue birds looking them over! I have not really seen any all winter, and almost magically, here they are! Hopefully they will choose these houses as their homes for this spring, nest and have their own little blue bird families that we can enjoy.

Just another example of God's amazing creation!!

Psalm 65:13 (New Life Version) The grasslands are covered with birds. They call out for joy and sing.

De Colores

One On One

I was channel surfing last night and stopped to listen to a preacher on the Trinity Channel (he was actually very engaging). He had a message that I will remember for a very long time. He was relating the scene in the Upper Room when Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. All the disciples but Thomas were there to see him. As you know, Thomas did not believe them when they told him they had seen Jesus. Here's the part that I will always remember...Jesus made the effort to come back and personally minister to Thomas!! He had already suffered and died to save mankind, He had come back "through the door" several times to reveal Himself, but He recognized Thomas' need and took the time to show him "One On One" that He had indeed risen and was there for him.

How many times do we think that God is too busy to worry about our little trials and worries. The scriptures are full of stories of God meeting individual's needs. Yes, God also did things that were far reaching and affected many, but I'm pretty sure you'll find more instances where He went "One On One" to heal, comfort, correct and love His people. As He did in the scriptures, He'll do for us today!! All He asks is that we seek a personal relationship with Him.

Oh how He loves you and me!!

De Colores

Running Shoes

In an effort to keep my middle age body from taking on the proportions of a beach ball, I took up running a few months ago. Grudgingly, I would put on my sweats and running shoes and head out on the streets of Marion to try and will myself to make it a block or two before my lungs started screaming for mercy and air. If I was lucky, I would log a few miles a week and call it good. Something kind of strange started occurring however, about a month ago. I actually started enjoying it!! Yes, my lungs still yelled at me for putting them through the agony of breathing so hard, but I started noticing that they actually waited until I had covered more than just a couple of blocks. Blocks turned to miles, and I started to enjoy the "runner's high" that I had heard about. Now, if I don't get out almost daily, I find myself missing that time when I can enjoy the solitude of my run.

My spiritual health and Christian "walk" with God is much the same way. I used to be satisfied with a prayer or two once in a while. A daily devotional time did not seem that important. I have since come to realize how important it is to exercise regularly my spiritual life. Oh sure, I'll admit it; I started out dragging myself out of bed in the morning, and getting my devotional out to read it. Gradually over time however, I found myself looking forward to reading, praying and having that solitude time with God each morning. Now, if I miss that time for some reason or another, I don't feel right the rest of the day.

As important as it is for me to maintain my physical health through exercise, God has taught me that it is just as important to stay spiritually healthy through daily devotionas and prayer. I think of Paul's writing where he says in II Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Some day, I'll get to put on my eternal running shoes and run the streets of gold in heaven. Until then, I plan on keeping physically fit by continuing my running, and keeping spiritually fit by exercising my faith regularly. De Colores

Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing

I am venturing into the blogging world with my maiden blog. I hope this finds anyone who might read it to be blessed by God in 2006. There has been much to celebrate in 2005, and God is truly Good! My theme for 2006 is "Keep the main thing the main thing". If I keep my eyes and heart focused on the Lord, I know He will take care of me.

My heart goes out to the Bowers family in the loss of their son Stephen. My prayer is that God will open His arms wide and envelope the entire family as they struggle to try and make sense of this tragedy.

I look forward this year to playing baseball with my son, going on dates with my wife, working in my yard, helping with another Emmaus Walk, and seeing what God has in store for me.

God is Good, All the Time!!