Thoughts and Reflections

 We all have our own lives. For me, it has caused a stop in my posting anything for a long time. Many events have happened since I was last on here. I never forgot that I had this "blog". thank you to those who have read many of my past postings. Once again, I have something for your reading enjoyment. I may not be great at having the scriptures at hand to back my words, but I know they are scripturally sound. Combative Desires   The battle continues to rage in my mind A reprieve from this fight I cannot find Take stands for what I perceive to be true Have plenty of scripture for strength to endue But my mind I find is still on the proverbial fence The desires I have are not wrong and very intense   Examples around me seem to show a different story Lives I see being lived to give God the glory Taking a path that to me seems contrary To the truth of His word not being wary   I strive to seek guidance from a higher power And still no assurance in this present hour I ha...

Prov. 16:9 A mans heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps. We can often plan out our day, week, month, year, or life. We set long term goals and dreams and either head in those directions or continue to plan to achieve the outcome. There is nothing wrong with the setting of goals. However, we must not "write them in stone". How often have the ideas and plans you have set have gone awry? The life events that has been handed you, end up derailing your dreams and ambitions? It can become something that emotionally brings you down to the point of depression. You can end up loosing your temper and becoming angry at people or situations that have interrupted or brought to an end your desires. How foolish we are to think that we are in control. God allows us breath. God keeps our hearts beating. God gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Oh we can plan. We can have hopes and dreams. But please remember that they are at the mercies of God...

Teen Camp 2019 @ Twin Bears Alaska. This is a place of "holy ground" for me. A place of many memories now both bitter and sweet. A place that has been used often in my life to bring about a time of God communicating with me through many of the messages. As tradition would have it, we once again hiked the Angel Rocks trail. As the years have passed, I must admit that the hike has become more of a challenge. Some would look at it and decide to stay behind and wait for the teens and "younger adults" to come back. Whether a glutton for punishment or a hard head that will not accept the passing of time, I once again headed out. Many young adults and teens sprinted off in order to be the first to reach the top. As I walked along the trail, most of the time alone, God started to pour some spiritual applications about the trail into my mind. In our spiritual walk with God, we are all heading in a direction to become more Christ-like. Just like the trail, it becomes mor...

For reference of my thoughts about the situations we find ourselves in, you can look here: Acts 27:9-44  and  Matthew 28:23-27   It has been a long time since I posted anything and for those who were following this, I apologize. Our lives all take twists and turns. Sometimes things happen that we do not see coming or expect. This may be due to our "blindness" to what we are doing or because of others falling prey to a world that is working hard to destroy. Other times, God is working in our lives to make us more like Him and to do nothing more than trust Him (like we could do anything else?). In Acts, Paul is sailing to a destination that God had planned for him. During the travels, he is warned of a sever, life threatening situation. His words of warning are ignored and they sail on. Due to this they fall into a storm that is greater than they can handle. They are in a life threatening situation that they are battling against to the best of their ability. The...

It is another cool and crisp winter day As I go out to warm our “modern sleigh” In preparation for what we have planned This day is surely going to be grand For my love and I are going to sneak away In order to gather the finishing touches for the holiday. As we head down the lane, it begins to snow Softening the light and bringing a romantic glow The light glistens and gleams off of the hoar frost laden trees Reminiscent of a horse drawn sleigh painted winter scene   Stealing a glance at the love by my side My joy for this day is greatly magnified. We spend the day going from store to store Without you as my companion, it would be such a chore We pause for a moment and stop for a warming treat Conversation is light and as our eyes do meet Once again, trapped by thy gaze so tender and sweet. A pile of parcels accompany us on the way home The day is ending; there is no more time to roam I turn...

At some point in life, you have to learn to forgive those who have hurt you ( Eph. 4:32 ). Whether they are family, friends, co-workers, class mates or church family... it does not matter. We all make mistakes and cause hurt and pain to those that we love. How often do we end up holding onto a bitterness toward another and not even realize we are doing so? What does bitterness come from? Hurt feelings? Yeah, sure your feelings have been hurt, but a root could be built upon pride in some regards. We get hurt by the actions or words of others and say nothing. Why? Because we falsely believe that they should already know what they have done. Really? Is that how we are meant to go through life? Are we really to expect everyone to read our thoughts and just know that they wronged us or hurt us?   I am not speaking of anyone else or placing accusations on anyone. I am speaking of myself in a lot of ways. Being part of the human race and knowing that scripture states that no tempta...

I really do not know what to title this post. Honestly, this may be a continued work in progress. But then I am a work in progress... we all are. This is just a start of something. What will it become? Where will it go? What will the final outcome be? I do not have the answers right now. Maybe this will be all that comes from this... We shall see. There is a rage that is building inside me At a time when I should be keeping my mind on thee Why does my flesh battle me so? Away this rage I am wanting to throw Anger at the state of life I find myself in Mind is returning to the pain I have within A focus on self always causes me such trouble Allow God to work, force myself to be humble Lord, I cry out to you for salvation from my flesh Mind, will and emotion does the wicked one want to possess The battle seems contained to this mortal realm But the spiritual matters are what are at the helm The wicked one wants to see me brought low “Another deterred from ...

I started writing this just for some fun. However, I am working at looking for the spiritual applications of my many a wandering thought. This one was not to hard to do. We all have our own opinion of ourselves. Some are heady and think themselves better than others. Some go the other route and think themselves worthless and of less importance than those around them. All I can say is that in God's eyes you are priceless. He has a great plan for you. Think yourself better than others? He will work at getting you to humble yourself and submit to His will for you. Think you are worthless, He will work in your life to help you see that you have a great value. We must not pride ourselves in any way. All we have is because of God and His working in our life. A Symbol of Love This space is so dark and confining To be released from this prison I am pining I begin to formulate a daring plan Building strength to escape has already began I plant my feet and push with all...

The blows come hard, oft, and fierce Through my soul they do easily pierce I begin to recoil away from the blows Pain from the strikes continually grows I begin to respond and plan my own hits but in my heart this action does not fit Why do they come from a source so dear? What is the reason to attempt to cause fear? The buffeting continues but in my mind I pause Is there not truly a just reason or cause? I think of my Lord and what He wants to do I remember my Saviour said He would see me through He said that He wanted to work in my life This work was guaranteed to bring my flesh much strife In love this work was going to be done Oft for me it would not be much fun The reason of course is to remove the layers of corruption My recoiling from this heat would cause an interruption I remember the love of the one who allowed this event Do I have a right for my anger to vent? I see the truth and choose to humble myself Reach for His Word sitt...

So I have been contemplating a verse in scripture recently. Well, to be honest i have thought about it before, but never to the extent i did this past week. In Job 23:10 it says: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold My thoughts were this: Lord, why did you say through Job that we would come forth as gold? I look at the trials in life as pressures. When I think of it this way, I think of diamonds. They are created through the application of a great deal of pressure and are also of a great value. As I contemplated on this opinion of mine, I was "presented" with this reasoning. Well, lets look at a diamond. Yes it is of great value and it is created through a great deal of pressure. a lot of outside force is needed to compress it and create the gem. It is then put through a time of forming where the jeweler cuts away those parts that are not quite good enough to remain. The value is then determined by the c...

The other night my daughter was coloring some pictures. She came to me and asked for some "empty pages". In other words, some blank pages. I was then to close my eyes and not peek as she drew me a picture. I said I would not look and went about doing what I was doing. After a while I came back into the living room to find her very upset and wadding up her picture. She had "ruined" it and was not happy with it at all. There was the beginning of tears and some anger towards herself over the whole thing. My mind instantly went to the thoughts of scripture. Such as  James 4:11 and Proverbs 18:21 . I knew that her mind was going the wrong way and I wanted to correct it. I took the picture and looked at it. I saw another "work of art" from my 5 year old. I saw the time and effort she put into it. I saw a picture of herself and her dad. I began to gush over how great the picture was and how much I liked it. She pointed out the "crooked smile". That...

Super Bowl Sunday!!! Actually, I normally would be excited to watch the game and all, but this year I was not concerned at all with the events of this yearly tradition. Dare I say, this yearly act of worship towards an idol in many lives. Yeah, I say idol because how many skipped out on church just to watch the "Big Game"? How many chose to view an event that within a few hours, days, or month's will have no effect on the outcome of their life? How many looked to the immediate pleasure of the flesh over the eternal ramifications of their choices? But I digress from what I wanted to post about today... For month's now, my youngest daughter has been resistant to going to her Sunday school class or even junior church. I for one have been showing frustration with this from time to time, but have "given in" and allowed her to stay with me. It has been a learning process for the both of us. Sunday morning was an example from the Lord that I may have never se...

I have been thinking about Lot from the Old Testament quite a bit recently. He was wise to follow after Abraham in leaving the life style and maybe even beliefs of his family. He chose to follow after a man who God called out to be the Father of a great nation. Lot also, believed in God and followed after Him, even though he was not chosen to be used as Abraham was. Did this cause Lot to decide to turn back? Of course not. We can read in scripture that a decision Lot made "vexed his righteous soul" ( 2 Peter 2:6-8 ). He was saved, from my understanding of what Peter wrote... but what of his family? There was strife that came between the men of Abraham and the men of Lot because of their great amount of wealth ( Genesis 13:6-12 ). Lot made a choice that enticed his flesh. He saw a land that was rich and plentiful for his flocks and herds. He also saw cities that appealed to his desires. He made the choice to pitch his tent toward Sodom. This decision (maybe unbeknownst to hi...

How often has this phrase passed over my lips as I stand looking at a situation I am not keen on dealing with. How often have we in some way or another said this phrase with the intended interpretation being, I would not have made that decision? Over the past few days, this thought has been on my mind. Looking for a reason that this has been on my mind, brought me to a verse.    Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD. We have no control over the things that come into our lives. We make decisions on where we will go to college, who we marry, where we work, what car we drive, where we go to church, or what we will have for our next meal. All with the impression that everything will work out according to "our plan". How many times do we see things falling apart and think "If only I had known, I would not have..." or maybe look at the success of others and wonder why we are not getting the same blessings. As ...

How often do we read Romans 8:28  and wonder how in the world the experiences we are going through could possibly be for any good? Too often we are looking at God and asking Him to answer a prayer to our specific desire. This desire according to Gods word does appear to be in line with His desires. We do not look at the big picture or see the other things that God is changing in our lives during this trial. In my previous post I talked about two possible paths in life that I have to choose from. I mentioned that my heart was leaning towards the one I believed was right. I still believe that there is nothing wrong with that path. However, As I mentioned in a "meeting" recently. I am standing at the beginning of this fork in the road and the light around me guiding my steps is not moving. I believe that this is the biggest frustration. The standing and not moving. But that is where God has me. Others in my life who are involved in the trial or are close to it are continuing...

You know, it would be a lot easier to post to this page if I had quick access and it would read my mind. Often I have ideas of what to write and well.... never get to it. Oh well, here is to hoping the posts I do make are interesting and maybe even helpful. Life is full of choices. Some are easy and do not really matter in the grand scheme of things. Others can be life changing... or so we think. The decision to stop and splurge for a cup of coffee might not seem "life changing", but who knows what that split second decision kept you from. A lot of times we never see the full outcome of that decision. Yeah, we can point to the cup of coffee and say that it is the outcome... but is that truly the only outcome? Why did you get the desire to stop? What prompted you to make a decision? The example I gave is not very deep. Often I make a quick decision to stop for coffee. Other times I just find myself heading in that direction. These are decisions that I have "control o...

There was a man in our church who would often ask you “Who is in charge of your life anyways?” There are time where hearing this was not encouraging at all, but you know what? I am glad he asked that question. Often I was looking for sympathy for my “hard life” that I was going through. Wanting to have a pity party and looking for others to invite. If it were not for that question, yeah I probably would have succeeded and not have been any better for it. There is not a single person out there that can say every dream they have had for their lives have come true. Sure, we can lie to ourselves and say it has been perfect. Sure, we can blame others for the problems that have arisen and say it is because of them that out “perfect life” did not come true. Too many times, we are living in our fantasy world cultivated by movies, books, and web page snap shots. Seeing the “perfect life” or perfect family or couple and allow it to cause us to become unhappy with our life. What a shame th...

April 2017... Time sure does fly. I knew I had not posted in some time, but to be honest... I was not sure I would ever post again. Life... we all are living one and none of us are controlling it at all. Sure, we wake up every day and go through the routine. But what happens when "life" has an unexpected event happen? That is when you truly see how much control you really have. It is at this point that you learn that all you have control of is your reactions to it and that is just barely. For some, even our emotions are "out of control". I stand here today and can tell you... There are times that only God has gotten me this far. A couple years ago, I was hit with a storm that has done nothing but destroy. It has gone on now for some time. Every time I think that it is beginning to "lift", the clouds get darker and the raging storm around me beats against me some more. Any man facing what trials I have gone through would probably quit. I know because, I...

Psalm 32: 7 Thou art my hiding place ; thou shalt preserve me from trouble ; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.   Maybe it is my personal failing in trusting God, Maybe its weak faith, or maybe I just do not listen to His quiet promptings to pay attention to his Word. Any way you look at it I do not receive words of wisdom often. Does this mean I quit looking? Does this mean I give up? No, of course not. This is one area in my life that I want to continue to grow and learn. That is why when I came across this part of scripture, my mind began to wonder. What does this mean? Sure, I know what preserving means. You can, dry, or prepare food for long term storage. It has been set aside for a later date when the season of the food is no longer here, but you want to enjoy it still. What I was not putting together was God preserving me, so I grabbed my dictionary and looked it up. Sure enough, my definition was there. But then I discovered more… ...