Tuesday, January 21, 2003


The Jar We Live In

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us;”

Our bodies are so fragile. A careless moment while peeling the potatoes and off we go for a band-aide. A wondering thought and your car careens into a tree. A slip on the ice, and the doctor wraps that arm in plaster.
Our earthly lives are not finite, but extremely limited. That is the nature of life on this planet.
Just like a jar made of clay, once dropped, once broken.
I can remember dropping a beaker in chemistry lab one day. It bounced up (an in slow motion, just like the movies!), and my clumsy grab missed. Again, it hit the floor and bounced up, but to no avail, just missing my outstretched hand. The third time, it didn’t bounce at all, but ended it’s life as a beaker there on the laboratory floor (the fore-runner of three strikes you’re out laws?).
Jars of clay, fragile, holding inside all of what we are on this earth. Ligaments, tendons, muscles, organs, cells, tissue, nerves, and blood.
Literally from dust to dust we travel on this planet. The way it was meant to be...
Then God decides to visit us, to be one of us, to be like us. To put on this jar of earthen dirt and walk beside us. To die for us, to remove from us our sins. To give us something beyond the breaking of the earthen vessel.
Read on in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 to verse thirteen:”For we, having the same spirit of faith (according as it is written, "I believed, and therefore I have spoken"); we also believed and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall also raise us up by Jesus, and shall present us with you. (author’s emphasis).
Need I write more? That we will live outside this earthen vessel, that we will be raised up in time? That we will live??
Not biologically, but eternally. Not with corruption, but with incorruption. With life shall we live.
Until that time, see you on my front porch.





Sunday, January 12, 2003

Sunrise, sunset

Upon the ridge top that GOD has so graciously allowled me to
live, I get to see both the sunrise and sunset. You may ask, "so what?" You just have to see it to believe it. I can really see the sunrise or the sunset. Unobstructed views abound, 360 degrees of hill top panorama. Add a little bit of cloud cover and sit back and enjoy the pinks, reds, yellows and be in awe!
I have hear that some people make a big deal of getting up early, seeing the sunrise and making some big production out of the whole situation. You know, the 'religious' experience type of thing.
Well, for those of use who rise before light on a daily basis, seeing the sunrise is nice,but it would be nice to sleep in once in a while...but those sunsets! What a glorious end to the day GOD has given us!
Like the ! at the end of a sentence, the 'ya!' when a child opens their birthday present, the "ahhh", the 'pop-pop, fizz-fizz oh what a relief it is' kinda thing it is.
God says to us, the day is over, I've been with you the whole time, always there, leading you, carrying you, helping you, watching you, protecting you, hearing you, guiding you, and now here is my ! to finish your day.
Did you think to thank HIM for your gift of today?
Next time you see that sunset, think about the ! that
GOD has sent to you...and thank HIM for this day you
had. It will not be by again...

Thursday, January 09, 2003


GARDENERS IN THE FOREST
Come and sit with me under the tall oaks at watch. Here the squirrel comes, scurrying down the tree, acorn in his mouth, doing its job.
Squirrels have a job? Yes, they do. In the great design of things, squirrels are gardeners in the forest. As they hurried about the forest floor, during the fall, burying nuts to eat this winter, they are helping the oak, walnut or other trees reproduce.
The squirrels do not remember where they buried their “stash”, and now that it is winter and they are looking for a meal, they sniff it out with their nose and dig up their dinner. But sometimes they can’t find the nut and it remains buried in the forest floor.
So, in the spring the tree sprouts and up comes a new oak tree! All because a squirrel “forgot” where it buried its food!
Isn’t God like that? No, not like a squirrel, but He forgets as well as forgiving us (Romans 4:7-8; Jeremiah 31:34). Our sins are buried and forgotten and a new creature is born! Just like an acorn becomes the oak tree, we go from hopeless to hopeful, lost to saved!
And, can’t we do the same with others? It is easy to forgive, but harder to forget. Not only with others, but with ourselves. Forget—a nice word to remember! Forgive someone today, and forget what they did, just like the squirrel forgets and most importantly, just like God forgets.

Wednesday, January 01, 2003


Y2K REVISITED

Happy New Year! It is now 2003 and another year has come and gone. Remember another new year’s day, just a short three years ago? When the world waited with baited breath for the millennium to come? Remember all the hype and hoopla about the Y2K bug and how we must buy gold, stock up with groceries, water, generators, even fill up your car before New Year’s Day because the pumps may not work?
It turned out to be just another new year’s day and now it is three years later.
This is a good example of how we cannot control the events of our lives, no matter how hard we try. What tomorrow brings, we will not know, every day really is a new day, full of adventure or sorrow.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it. (Matthew 6:34) “
”Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not much better than they are? “ (Matt 6:26)
We try and try to be in control of our lives. We research what the doctor tells us, purchase daily planners to control our time, read books for success, watch our weight, exercise to lengthen our time span, and the Lord tells us, “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?”(Matt.6:67)
Do we listen to the voice of the Lord telling us to not worry about tomorrow or are we still preparing for “Y2K+3"? The question is, who is in charge of our lives?
This is the day of New Year Resolutions, and the best one to make is to put God back in the pilot seat. Let Him take the wheel and be in control.
Then when you arise in the morning, you can say “whatever the day brings, I know my God is in charge of this day”
Save your generator for those stormy winter nights when the lights go out...