Hey God, the sun rises in the East! The western sky was really getting dressed up for this day.
I was reminded that God can take anything or anyone at hand to serve his purposes, communicate His truths or just get our attention. He has mine.
He loves us so very much and He seeks us, woos us, whispers on the wind and shouts from the skies. It’s all there in His word and in the hearts of his children who have found Him.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1
I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
It’s the beginning of a new year. Lately God has been speaking to my heart. I think I am listening. Am I listening? Sometimes he even highlights the clouds outside my window to get my attention. I don’t have words to write yet. I lay down my pen, put aside my agenda and my troubles. I will listen more. More than a resolution. A promise.
The snow quit. Winds died. Morning came after freezing fog. All was frosted. Highlights rolled in with the coming sun. Skating to work on the roads might be the best option in freezing temperatures. Look at a cold morning’s artwork from God’s perspective. life’s deadliest winter storms will end. Only God can make beauty of it.
The cold snows of life, a prelude to beauty
Our vision is limited. All we can see is snow
The sun is coming, the son is coming
We may be frozen solid but God begins to warm our hearts
Only God can warm our cold hearts and make beauty of life’s winters.
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)
Gary
Pictures taken this Monday morning after the storm
I’ve been in the woods and quite absent from the internet. I’m noticeably different (self diagnosis). Seemingly random thoughts tug on my mind while winters crystals defy the sun. The winter sun’s angle allows the snow to direct any radiant heat back into outer space. The sunhas gone south for the winter. It’s below freezing.
I wonder about the winter seasons in my life, when the Son seems ineffective in my life. My life’s edges are frosty and cold to those around me. I am indifferent. Maybe I should get closer to the Son??
A beautiful little pond, frozen in the woods. I’m sorry for all the brush in the way, it just grows up and multiplies. Before you know it the brush gets mighty thick, thorny and impassable in ones soul. Life is like that you know. Sometimes our beauty is hidden or terribly neglected. Cute little sprouts take over one’s life. Sometimes our prayer should be “Lord please brush out my life, I place it in your care”. It may hurt.
Somehow, when we think we are just a branch with one ole dried up leaf hanging on in the cold, God brings forth buds.They are there. It may be dormant in the cold but packed with nutrition for lives looking for browse. I’ve watched deer and grouse eat these like candy. Like the pain of thawing out one’s frozen fingers, Thawing a heart is really tough. I know.
So I let go of the last dried up frozen leaf. Let my trophies go. It hurts.
I Let the new creation bud. I Let those who may browse. I Let go and face the Son.
I Face the Sun and the woods glows in it’s light. Every frozen crystal reflects it’s Glory.
I encourage you to let the Son come into your life and take complete control. Even in your seasons of coldest winter you can glow in His radiance. I know. I’m quite different (God’s diagnosis).
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I shall meet again with my God in the morning as I do every morning. Winter in one’s soul is just a season. Sometimes in life’s coldest moments God lays his hand on our heart. I know.
It’s raining said the farmer as he spit into the wind…(An old saying on the farm). Yes, it’s a perception saying.
I took the above picture in the wind on my regular camera settings for still shots. Not very clear is it? In fact I spent part of the afternoon taking high speed pictures and captured some excellent mediocre shots. My subject matter was all over the place, often in the same picture.
I think they all moved slightly
This brings me to some questions we must all ask ourselves if we claim to be people of faith. “Does the subject of your faith change? When you feel like your faith is on shaky ground is it because your faith is really on your circumstances? recent events? other people? your faith community? The cataclysmic event that just happened in your life? I took a picture of a rock in our yard. It doesn’t move in the wind. Awhile back I wrote on it but that’s another time (The rocks cry out one of my first blogs way back).
Here is the deal. When others see us, watch us and take a look at our faith. what people see is a blurred confusing image if the subject of our faith is not Jesus Christ. He is our Rock and our salvation. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith and put to the side everything that gets in the way Hebrews 12:2
When Our Faith is all on Jesus, others can still see Jesus through our storm.
I put together some pictures taken in high winds from this afternoon. They may not be perfect but each one was in a protected niche from most of the wind. God is our shelter, rock, provide, protector,and I could go on…You get the picture. (Click for slide show)
I imagine God shelters us in ways we do not even see or understand. Consider a few lines from the old hymn “He hideth My Soul”
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord A wonderful Saviour to me He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock Where rivers of pleasure I see
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock That shadows a dry, thirsty land He hideth my life in the depths of his love And covers me there with his hand (repeat)
A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord He taketh my burden a-way He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved He giveth me strength as my day
One more thought: I put my camera on a tripod for getting clear pictures whenever I can. People who watch our lives to see if Jesus is real (and they do) often have enough things shaking their world as it is. Hey, who among us sees clearly? Let’s not present a moving target of faith for shaky people trying to get the picture.
When Our Faith is all on Jesus, others can still see Jesus through their storm.
Gary
Check out the video of the haven of rest quartet G.W posted in the comments section. “He Hideth My Soul”
This was a piece of casual conversation with a guy I met recently who claimed to be a christian (I do not know him well but getting there). He is completing rehab treatment and hoping for a job full time soon. Try to get hisperspective…and where I fit in??
Me: say, how are you planning on having different habits when you finally move into a place of your own? Him: what do you mean? Me: do you know what the word “trysting”means? Him: No clue. Me:”Do you have a mentor yet”. Him:”Yes, I think so” (and some fill in on his potential mentor)…
I know, I know. I just kind of dive into peoples lives like this. just read on.
Me: “I hope you get a mentor that can help you read your bible and find a good quiet place to meet with God. He talks to you (mostly through the word) and you talk to him and develop and experience a very close relationship with God. Trysting is a place where two lovers meet. This is in part what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and body. You should have a place you meet with God, just you and God.
Him (excited) : I gotta show you this really cool verse I read yesterday. I told my family all about it and they think I’m nut’s because they are not believers. That’s ok, they are just missing out! (picks up phone, finds it quickly and reads it to me) Jesus said this…
“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:37-38
Him: That’s the coolest verse in the bible. It’s true too!
I walked away with no doubt in my mind that this new believer with tons of life’s baggage had just experienced the same ineffable resurrection power of God in his life that Lazarus did being raised from the dead. He was dead and chained to his drugs and is now experiencing living water in his life and overflowing to those around him.
Do not let anyone tell you that God is not at work in peoples lives today in miraculous and powerful ways.
Gary
PS: please read G.W.’s post on ineffable Power. It’s, well, powerful.
Notice, be alert and unravel little mysteries. When the sun goes down look for the reds, yellows, purples and other miscellaneous colors wafted on the clouds. Look for the highlights. When a small child yells out a command on a solemn occasion. What’s with that? When all 7 teenage boys commit their life to follow Jesus because their Sunday school teacher asks them if they would, find out the whole story. Some stories may be told for a life time. Some a short meaningful wisp. No matter what, the sun always sets.
Wild fires hazed the sky, colored and magnified the setting sun view from our front lawn.
16 year old Alexa was getting baptized a couple weeks ago along with 20+ others as a public announcement to follow Jesus. A solemn occasion. A six year old boy yelled out “Alexa, tell me a joke!” A very funny moment for those who knew little johnny (we will call him) lives in a smart house (can virtual Alexa tell a joke??)
Times are a changing are they not?
A hot summer evening watching colors and rays appear, change and disappear.
I had coffee and an amazing conversation with a friend Sunday afternoon. Somewhere between fishing, family and church stories he mentioned that all seven of his teen boys in Sunday school class had prayed with him to follow Jesus. I pushed him a little to know how that happened. After his normal disclaimer (it was all God and not me) the story of seven boys studying the scriptures about the basics for the past year. Things like redemption, sanctification and their biblical threads on through the ministry and purpose of Jesus death and resurrection. These boys were ready to pray. What a highlight!
Another Sunset from our yard. Every night is different, every sunset unique
Just a thought: Life’s truths are like puzzle pieces still in the box. Sometimes I am the six year old just reacting and unaware of what’s going on. Other times I am like my friend helping those around me (maybe too selectively) put some puzzle pieces together and introduce them to Jesus.
My hope is that on my final sunset, there will be some highlights, even in my wanderings, but highlights non the less.
Dad was known for his basketball coaching for many years. On occasion, he would say or do some unconventional things throughout his life to push people to grow in all areas of their life. Many young men looked up to him, on and off the court. He was “coach.” I, being one of his 7 children, sometimes find myself doing similar things.
After dad’s memorial service…I sent a text to James a fellow basketball player on Friday nights. Basketball evenings were played almost every week in the old clubhouse behind the church. With a lot of help, dad had moved an old barn and converted it into an all-season place to play basketball for three generations of fun. James was my generation. We were “clubhouse kids.”
James, I kind of pulled a fast one on you. I put gobs of thank you cards in the church mail boxs. I saw you did not have a mailbox so I took dads mailbox ID paper out of his box, turned it over and wrote your name on it and put it into a box where your name should be. So… you are now taking dads place at church, and you have a mailbox. I told Pastor what I did as well. Anyway, all you have to do to take dads place is sit each morning with a cup of coffee at home with an open bible for a few words from God. Communicate with God about whatever is on your mind. The Holy Spirit will do the rest…No pressure. You meant a lot to dad so consider this dads last basketball move. Now you have the ball.
Maybe this is not taught in discipleship class but just maybe the spiritual war zone for lives has too many sheathed swords on the Lords side. I’m all for being a little pushy sometimes if that’s what it takes.
And yes, I received the “Thanks a lot Gary…Your dad sure meant a lot to me! James
We were camped for one night on an island on big kekekabic lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. The scenery was beyond what words can ascribe to natures raw beauty. High cliffs and rock areas as large as a small town lined the edges. 100 yards out from the north island side found 180 feet deep of crystal-clear-lake trout fishing water.
The next morning the winds came up as we packed up camp to travel another 7 lakes with portages in-between. The four of us gathered on the island edge to study the fast whitecapped waves between us and the closest shoreline where we planned to go. The stretch of water we needed to cross was in a wind tunnel. We couldn’t see them well so everything looked ok from our island. “I think we can make it” said our young and somewhat experienced canoeist. “It looks doable” said my teen age grandson. We looked at my newly retired neighbor to see what he thought. “I am going with the opinion of the one who has led groups up here over 70 times” said my neighbor looking at me.
Doesn’t look windy at all. Very fast angry deceptive waves out there
I looked at the treetops swaying wildly in the wind and felt the crosswind gusts. we were protected on our side of the island. I have been in this position before and chose wrong. “We have a little less than a mile of wind tunnel that we are crossing by the time we are to the next portage. Each canoe has about a 50% chance of making it without tipping in those waves. Maybe.” I said. “The water is cold enough, so you have about 10 minutes to rescue yourself before your muscles do not work anymore. If one canoe tips the other canoe will want to rescue them. It’s almost impossible to rescue in these waves, then you have 4 people in the water too far from shore to make it. As long as we stay on the island, we have a zero percent chance of tipping. That’s” my opinion ” I said. My Neighbor spoke up, “I’m trusting the experienced opinion”; the young guys nodded yes.
End of a long windy day after high winds and 7 portages.
After a late afternoon meal, the wind died down and the waves were much lower, slower and less angry. The waves were still white-capped when we shoved off. The portage was straight across from us, but the waves were still to big to be side swiped in a canoe. The plan was to go at an angle into the waves until midway across the highest section of waves. When a lull in the wind gusts died down, we would turn the canoe around to angle across the wind tunnel and ride the waves toward the portage.
Even with less wind and smaller waves, we all felt the adrenaline of the rough water and building courage of navigating properly. Thankfully the big waves had turned into big rollers that propelled our canoes forward rather than washing over the end of the canoe. After we made it to the portage, each guy made it known then and later around the fire how grateful we didn’t try to tackle waves three times higher than what canoes could safely handle. “How did you know the waves were so big? They didn’t look big to me. I don’t think I could handle any bigger waves than the smaller ones after the wind died down,” said our better experienced young man. I told him a couple other stories about myself tipping canoes in those kinds of waves and lived to tell.
Nature in the raw is truly ruggedly beautiful. Beyond description. We found a campsite out of the wind. Grateful. God’s handiwork is so awesome and overwhelming that how could we not experience God by experiencing nature? It’s a common misconception voiced around the campfire. Nature settings are like being in God’s 3D art gallery.
God’s clues are so many! One can experience peace in the gurgling brook and the morning sunrise. One’s smallness is real also in the mysterious aura felt around the evening fire as the wolves moan, the frogs croak and a large animal walks in the water. There are (quite sure) a zillion stars out there to be viewed from ones tent site. I love natures clues.
Natures sense of peace is between the storms. God’s peace is in the midst of the storm.
This forest fire died here. It was a big one. I’m glad I was not there as I probably would have “become one with nature”
Visit the wilderness enough and one will experience all that happens in nature. A beautiful sunrise in the east may lure you into the middle of a big lake while the western skies may prepare the storm of the century.I have a hundred stories where “mother” nature does not care about us. But, God cares.
Nature is not tame and from all indications neither is God.
If you want to meet God, in nature or right where you are now, just ask. God will meet us anywhere. He is God and calls the shots. Consider what He has promised in scripture.
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6
“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
There’s so much more if you care to look it up!
I love getting into nature. I still see it as God’s living room (my thing I guess) and I meet him there but only because I have a relationship with my creator. It’s my most important relationship. We talk and I listen as well. There is much to see, hear and understand. Peace comes from God and not nature, but what a great back drop for allowing God to work on this scruffy specimen of a follower of Jesus. What a great place to fellowship and dine, in God’s living room.
Somehow, when we think we are just a branch with one ole dried up leaf hanging on in the cold, God brings forth buds. They are there. It may be dormant in the cold but packed with nutrition for lives looking for browse. I’ve watched deer and grouse eat these like candy. Like the pain of thawing out one’s frozen fingers, Thawing a heart is really tough. I know.
I took a picture of a rock in our yard. It doesn’t move in the wind. Awhile back I wrote on it but that’s another time (
God’s handiwork is so awesome and overwhelming that how could we not experience God by experiencing nature? It’s a common misconception voiced around the campfire. Nature settings are like being in God’s 3D art gallery. 
Gods Ways are...Different 