How To Eat A Pecan

     Have you ever wondered how a little squirrel can crack open a tough pecan or hickory nut shell? During my college years I inherited a “pet” squirrel and spent many hours observing his mischievous actions. The squirrel could run around my body so fast that I could not catch him. He loved to crawl up the sleeve of my sweater and go to sleep there. He loved to taste everything with his sharp teeth. I have observed him go up to an aluminum frame of the window and take a “bite” out of the frame! Until I had the pet squirrel I assumed that squirrels just put a nut in their mouth and cracked it; not so! Observing my pet I learned that they hold a nut and scratch on it with their teeth for 20 – 30 seconds, until they scratch a small hole in the nut. Then they chip away at the hole until it’s big enough for them to get to the meat.

     Some of our challenges in life are like the squirrel trying to eat the pecan. These challenges are not overcome in a single day or with a single prayer. It takes some consistent work and patience to overcome these types of challenges. The Bible says that some things come only by fasting and praying. I had a big challenge one time and prayed about it. God spoke to me and told me that he was going to take care of the problem. I assumed that it would be over in a couple of weeks; not so. God answered my prayer in a great way, although it was over a year before he answered. God’s time is usually quite different from what we think it should be, but he always knows what’s best for us; so when the big challenges come, just keep on praying and watch God move the mountains for you!

Sunrise

     Do you ever have a difficult time waking up in the morning? Do your dread facing the new day? Do you wake up needing a little extra inspiration to get you through the day? Inspiration is available from many sources if you will just put forth a little extra effort.

                             Even a gorilla needs inspiration sometimes

     Some get their inspiration through their eyes, watching talented people perform. Have you ever watched a famous artist paint a picture? They start with a clean canvas. Their first brush strokes don’t appear to make any sense but gradually shapes and colors are added and a masterpiece starts to emerge from the canvas. Details are added by the artist until the images appears ready to jump off the canvas!

     Others get their inspiration through their ears, listening to musical sounds. Have you ever listened to a symphony led by a world renowned conductor? There is silence in the auditorium. As if by magic the slight movement of the conductor’s baton initiates a tiny sound. Other soft sounding instruments join in the harmony. The drums start to beat. The loud sounding instruments join in; and finally they all give out their sounds in an almost deafening crescendo!

     Can you imagine the inspiration from experiencing both of these events at the same time? The inspiration is a close as your doorstep and occurs almost every day! To experience this inspiration just go out your door a half hour before sunrise, find a comfortable seat, and watch a never before seen masterpiece emerge in the sky and listen to a new unique symphony of nature! I have experienced this marvelous inspiration many times and wished that I could put into words what I experienced. Well, today’s sunrise was hidden by storm clouds, but while praying I felt the inspiration to write down and share with you what I have experience so may times.
     Everything is dark with only a possible slight shadow at the horizon, separating earth and sky. Not a sound emerges while all nature is still asleep. Then Gods takes out his paint brush and starts another masterpiece. A slight glint of light slowly appears just above the horizon. Everything below the horizon is still pitch dark. The glint of light starts to expand and grow. As the light starts to creep over the horizon, dark shadows start to take on shapes of trees and hills. The silence is broken by a single chirp from a small hungry bird. Streaks of light start to appear over the horizon and scream across the sky, momentarily displaying beauty that will never be seen or experienced again. As if on queue from the Great conductor, other birds of various tones and melodies join in the symphony of nature. The vague shapes start to take on color and details as the Great artist continues to paint his brushstrokes across the earth. It all builds up to a crescendo as the sun explodes above the horizon and all of natures musicians sound out their loudest notes! Another inspiring sunrise to carry me through the day!

    I don’t feel that I had the wisdom or words to adequately describe the majestic sunrise, but I challenge you to experience it for yourself. The next time you feel like you need a little extra inspiration for the day, just step outside early and watch a new masterpiece unfold!

Alone in the Woods

    After a big steak lunch today, I decided that I had to get outside and get some exercise and fresh air. It was a very cold, dreary, and heavily overcast day. It looked like it could start raining any minute. It was so overcast that at 4pm it looked like it was already starting to get dark. Not surprisingly, I did not see any other people on the trails. The wind was calm and there was an almost eerie silence in

the woods. The birds were very quite. I only heard a couple of chirps, once or twice. The only wildlife I saw was a brief glimpse of a rabbit as it ran off in the underbrush. I can almost always find some kind of bird, animal, or bug to watch; but it was as if all life had ceased. I sat down on a fallen tree for fifteen minutes and still saw nothing! After an hour I finally gave up on spotting any wildlife and came back to the house.

      Back in the warmth of the house I started thinking about my eventless walk in the woods. Our spiritual walk sometimes parallels my lonely walk in the woods today. There are times in our spiritual life when we don’t see or hear any evidence of God’s work in our lives. We pray and don’t get an answer. We wonder if God is still aware that we are alive. The holiday season can be a particularly lonely time. We can feel as if we are all alone, as I did in the woods today. Actually I knew that there were numerous quantities of birds and wildlife in the woods, even though I did not hear or see any of them. That is the way it is with God. We go through times when we do not see or feel God working in our lives, but we need to remind ourselves that God is always with us regardless of what we feel or experience. If you experience times of loneliness during this holiday season, just remember, God is with you and will never leave you!

Hiding From our Problems

   There is a friendly lizard that hangs out in my backyard in a large cedar tree. He blends in perfectly with the bark on the cedar tree. On almost any afternoon I can go by the tree and spot him somewhere on or around the tree, looking for his next meal. You may ask “what is a friendly lizard”? Well, most of the lizards that I see run off as soon as I get near them, but for some reason this particular lizard does not seem to be afraid of me. I have photographed him several times, from a distance of only a couple of feet! He seems to enjoy getting his picture taken!

      As the weather turned colder this fall, I started seeing him in the early mornings, hiding under the bark of the cedar tree. Although his head was hidden under the bark, the rest of his body was fully exposed. I’m sure that he felt secure, not realizing that most of his body was totally exposed to any predators that might fly by. I was hoping that he wasn’t going to try to hibernate, with his head covered by the cedar bark. Fortunately, just before our first hard freeze, he disappeared, hopefully in a much more secure place.
At times we humans get overwhelmed and take the ostrich approach and try to “hide our heads in the sand”, or “under the bark” as in the lizards case. Sometimes we are hiding from the things we know we need to do and other times we are hiding from God. Hiding from, ignoring, or procrastinating about issues in our lives never makes things better. The quicker we address the issues in our lives, the better off we are. Trying to ignore or hide from God is a totally futile effort. In Jeremiah 23:24 the Lord asks: “can any man hide himself in the secret places that I shall not see him?” and then tells is that the Lord fills the heaven and earth.
      Sometimes our hidings or procrastinations can bring disastrous results. Jonah did not want to follow God’s directions and ended up in the belly of the whale! In the end, Jonah finally obeyed God’s directions. We will all be much better off if we do not hide from our problems. Its time to face reality and pull our heads out of the sand and out from under the cedar tree bark! In Psalms 27:5 David tells us that: “For in the time of trouble he (God) shall hide me in his pavilion”. The only hiding we need to do is allowing God to hide us and take care of us!

A Short Life on Planet Earth

    A couple of days ago I stepped out my front door and saw some mushrooms that had just started to sprout up on my front lawn. My first reaction was to get rid of them lest they spoil my immaculately manicured lawn. Instead, intrigued by the suddenness of their appearance, I grabbed my camera and shot a few pictures of them.

   The next morning I went back to check on them and was surprised to see that the mushrooms had already opened up their umbrellas and were fully matured.

   By that afternoon the mushrooms were already shrinking up and starting to die.
  

    The next day they were totally shriveled up and had crumpled to the ground.






    Many types of mushrooms have a very short life span. They can literally grow up overnight, reach full maturity by mid-day, and then shrivel up and die by late afternoon on a hot day!

    People have varied feelings on how long our lives last. Young people tend to think that life passes by very slowly, and can hardly wait until they grow up and are able to do the things that adults do. As we get older life seems to pass by in a blur with each year passing by quicker that the last.

    In the Bible James talks about our brief period of life on Earth. James 4:14 asks “For what is your life?” and then James says life “is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”. I guess if we compare our life on Earth to the eternity we plan on spending in Heaven, it would be very insignificant indeed. In light of our short life on Earth, James further admonishes us, in verse 15: “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”

    I think James is trying to get across the message that life is too short to make big mistakes. Recovering from a bad career choice or picking the wrong wife or husband, can take years. We should seek the Lord’s will in everything we do. We don’t always get an answer from God when we pray; but at least we give him a chance to speak to us, in case we are about to make a wrong decision. The Lord’s Prayer also admonishes us to pray “thy will be done”. Pray, seek God’s will, and follow God’s plan and enjoy life on planet Earth!

An Earth Quake in Texas

    At the first sign of light this morning I walked out in the woods behind our house, and quietly climbed up in the old tree house. Our tree house is high up in an Oak tree that is leaning over a small creek. It was a beautiful morning. The wind was absolutely calm and everything was quite. I was straining my ears and eyes listening and looking for any wildlife moving in the woods. All of a sudden I felt a slight tremor in the tree. I figured that it was the wind starting to blow. Then I felt a much strong shaking of the tree. I knew someone must be climbing up the tree to join me, but looked over the edge and saw no one. I had never experienced an earth quake in Central Texas, but figured that this must be the first one. Then I felt the shaking again, and saw the source of the shaking. The tree I was in had a very long limb stretching over the creek. The squirrels used the limb as a freeway for crossing over the creek without having to swim. A small squirrel had jumped on the very end of the limb, causing the whole tree to shake! Each step he took caused the entire tree to shake again. I was awed that such a small lightweight creature could shake a huge tree! The squirrel continued his travel passing within inches of my feet with only a passing glance at me.

    Sitting in the tree, while trying to recover from the “earth quake”, I started thinking about how such a very small squirrel could cause the huge Oak tree to shake. This reminded me of what a tremendous impact we as Christians can make in our world, when we have God on our side! Paul and Silas actually prayed down an earth quake” after being put in jail! In Luke 1:37 we read: “with God nothing shall be impossible”. James 5:17 tells us that “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months”! Dream big and pray and you may be surprised to see what happens!

Watch Where You Make Your Trails

Some of the Texas countryside can be very dense and difficult to navigate. Tall grass and underbrush can also hide the numerous poisonous snakes that inhabit Texas. Thankfully most of the countryside is crisscrossed with many trails. These trails are typically made by herds of cows, or other types of livestock, as they move through the woods traveling from grazing areas to watering places and to sleeping areas. The cows typically follow the same trails, day after day, and spend a lot of time walking single file, leaving well-worn and deep-rutted trails. The cow’s large bodies trample down the under brush and shrubs, leaving a nice wide trail. Wildlife of all types follow these trails to get through the thick woods. Hunters, bikers, and hikers also use these trails. All the animals have the same excuse for using the existing trails; they all prefer to take the easy route that has already been cleared by others!

In the city parks and greenbelts, there are no cows to make the trails. The deer make small trails but quite often these trails are very narrow and are sometime blocked by low hanging limbs that only a deer could crawl under. I have noticed that the deer and other wildlife quickly start using the trails that I clear in the woods behind my house. It is rewarding to see one of my newly cleared trails full of animal tracks, only a day or two after I cleared the trail!

Just as the animals do, we humans tend to take the well worn paths. We are also creatures of habit. We tend to follow the “habits” or easy paths that others have cleared. When my son started his student driving I was shocked to hear the comments coming out of his mouth when someone rudely pulled out in front of him. I quickly recognized his “look at that crazy nut!” phrase as one that I had used! Hearing my son pick up my angry phrases caused me to rethink what I was saying. Realizing that our children and other Christians pickup our habits and follow our paths should make us more careful to insure that we follow good paths and be a good example for our fellow Christians. Romans 14:21 admonishes us not to do things that could cause our brothers to stumble. Live your life as best as you can, because you never know who is watching you and following in your footsteps

Small Things

Another unique and magical phenomenon is taking place in nature. One of earth’s smallest creatures is on the move again. The Monarch butterflies are nearing the end of their fall migration. For the past few weeks they have been traveling through the central Texas area, on their way to Mexico. Just a couple of days ago I watched a monarch feeding on the flowers in my back yard. After a couple of minutes it started spiraling upwards, above my house and then above the trees, catching the north wind and headed south again toward its winter feeding grounds.

The Monarch is a really amazing creature! They appear small and fragile but are really tough little creatures! Their migration started in the northern United States and Canada during August. They will travel over 2000 miles, to their destination in central Mexico, arriving in October. These small creatures fly between 50 and a 100 miles a day in their migration to Mexico. How do they know when to start their migration; how do they know where to go, and how do they know when they have reached their destination? These are questions that only God knows and scientists are still trying to figure out!

Sometimes we Christians think that we are so small and insignificant that we will never accomplish anything big, for the Kingdom of God. Being small does not relegate us to a life of mediocrity! The Bible is full of examples of “small” things accomplishing big tasks. James 3:4 tells us about the small rudder that turns the large ships! The Israelites were a small people compared to the giants in the promise land; but with Gods help they are able to conquer all the giants of the land. The young seemingly insignificant shepherd boy David was the only Israelite that was brave enough to fight the giant Goliath. In Matthew 17 Jesus tell us that “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed… nothing shall be impossible unto you”. So, even if you feel that you are small and unimportant, think big, and see what God can accomplish in your life!

Staying Alert!

I love the outdoors and God has blessed me with a house that backs up to a wooded area. I usually take a walk in the woods every morning. I have cleared a lot of trails in the woods, and usually keep them raked of rustling leaves so I can walk silently and observe all the creatures that God has created. If you spend any time in the outdoors, you have probably heard the animals making all types of noises. Almost all types of animals have some way of communicating with each other. As I was walking in the woods this morning, I detected an angry chattering from a squirrel. The closer I got, the more squirrels joined in the fussing. They were clearly very disturbed by something. Sometimes you hear two squirrels chasing each other and barking, but this was clearly more than two squirrels and they were very upset. I slowed my walk and quietly continued down the winding trail. I paused as I stepped around a corner, and saw what the squirrels were upset about. Sitting in the middle of the trail, and staring up at a bunch of squirrels was a very disgusted fox! Fortunately for the squirrels, at least one of them was alert and saw the hungry fox before he could pounce on one of them. By the time I arrived every animal within 100 yards was alerted to the hungry fox. All the squirrels lived to eat again the next day! The fox went off hungry, his plans for a tasty meal spoiled by an alert squirrel!

  The Bible talks about the “little foxes that spoil the vines.” Foxes are one of the smaller predators in the outdoors, but they can still cause a lot of havoc. Just as the small foxes cause havoc for the wildlife, there are many small things that can spoil the “vines of our lives.” We need to be alert and vigilant for the “foxes” that come after us. Evil temptations can overtake us if we are not careful. In I Thessalonians 5 Paul talks about the “end times” and warns us to “watch and be sober”.

At times our fellow Christians get so busy that they may not see or hear the “fox” coming. As Christians we need to also watch out for our fellow Christians, just as the first squirrel that spied the fox and warned the other squirrels. Ezekiel 33 talks about the “watchman” whose job is to warn the people of danger and reminds the watchman that he will be held accountable if he see “danger” and fails to warn the people. Live for God and stay alert to the dangers in your spiritual life!

Time for a Rest!

When I got up this past Saturday morning it was a cool 43 degrees; the coolest morning yet for this fall season. I had just put a new set of tires on the old mountain bike so I decided to try them out! I had not been riding on the trails since spring, so I was somewhat out of shape. I was almost immediately rewarded for my early rising efforts by the sight of a really nice white tail buck. I stopped when I first saw him and watched him walking through the woods until he went out of sight. In spite of the numerous hills, I made it to mile three before I took my first rest stop. So far I had managed to keep the bike up on two wheels without any mishaps but I was exhausted! It was still in the 40’s and even though I was dressed in some cutoff jeans and a short sleeve shirt, I was almost totally wet with perspiration. When several joggers passed by, I was surprised that they did not ask me if I needed help! After about five minutes I seemed to revive and started up the path again. I only made it about another half a mile before I stumbled to another rest stop. This time it took about ten minutes before I felt revived and was able to continue the ride back to my house. The last one hundred yards was an eight story climb out of the canyon up to my house. By the time I reached the top I was barely able to stand. I had to take another ten minute rest to get up enough energy to wash the mud and dirt off of the bike and me. I was totally exhausted but felt really good after my workout!

Even the squirrels need a rest once in a while!

Just as our physical body gets tired and weary and needs to rest, so does our spiritual body or soul. The Bible gives many examples of things that cause our soul to become weary and tired. Sin in our lives can really take away our spiritual strength quickly. In Psalms 38 David says “neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin”. In Hebrews 12, Paul instructs us to lay aside the “weights” in our lives. These “weights” are not necessarily sins, but are things that can “weight us down” or hinder our spiritual life, such as hobbies that take up a lot of our time! Proverbs 29:9 says that “If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest”. Have you ever noticed how drained you feel after a long argument with someone? Sometimes we even get weary doing the good things, as Paul talks about in Galatians 6 and admonished us to: “not be weary in well doing”.

So we understand that our soul gets weary and tired, but how do we give our soul the rest it needs to restore its strength? The famous 23rd Psalm talks of the Shepherd “restoring” our soul. Webster defines “restore” as renewing, rebuilding, or to put back into a former state. God will restore our soul if we allow him to be our shepherd and obey his word. If we have sinned or disobeyed God’s word we need to remember 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us”. Hebrews 12 talks about “laying aside” or getting rid of the “weights” that restrict our spiritual life. Sometimes we need to rearrange our schedules so that we have time for church attendance and our personal prayer time. In Matthew 11 Jesus says “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. We can get closer to Jesus by spending more time in prayer. Jesus can help us and make our spiritual burden easier to bare. This prayer, or communication with God, strengthens our soul, as David learned in Psalm 138 “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul”. Finally, Isaiah chapter 40 says that “they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength”. Sometime when we are doing everything right and still get weary, we need to just wait upon the Lord and watch him work in our lives!

Patience in the Garden

The Zilker Botanical Garden of Austin, Texas is one of my favorite places to enjoy nature. The garden includes seven very different habitats displaying an array of exotic plants. The garden is always full of people enjoying time in the great outdoors. I have made many trips to the garden with my family. It is one of our favorite places for family photographs. I have also spent a lot of time at the garden, alone with my camera photographing the beautiful array of plants and animals.


I have noticed some things in the garden that most people probably never see. In the Japanese garden area there are several ponds which are inhabited by some shy creatures. The typical visitor to the park passes by the ponds and never notices these creatures. With the slightest movement or sound these creatures become motionless, blending in with their surrounding area. After the visitor has left the area, these creatures pick up where they left off and continue their busy routine.

Recently I was editing some video of these creatures when my wife looked over my shoulder and asked where I had filmed the video. She was shocked to find out that it was at Zilker Garden! The shy creatures were water snakes ranging up to three or four feet in length!

If you would like to see the snakes in the garden follow these simple instructions. The next time you visit the Japanese pond area, find a comfortable spot and sit down patiently and motionless for 5-10 minutes. You will see the pond come alive with the busy water snakes!

Patience is the key to seeing the shy water snakes at Zilker Botanical Garden. Patience is also a virtue that can help us in our Christian walk. I was surprised to find out that the word “patience” is mentioned over thirty times in the New Testament alone. So many times we get impatient with God and take things into our own hands, instead of waiting on God. We need to learn patience.

Quite often we are impatient in our prayer time, just saying a quick prayer and then running off to our next appointment or falling asleep. I challenge you to be more patient in your prayer time. Say your prayers and then wait on God, just as one has to wait patiently to see the snakes at the garden. There are times when God would like to speak to you during your prayer time, but you just say a quick prayer and leave. Try leaving 5-10 minutes after your prayer and tell God that you are waiting just to see if he would like to speak to you! You may be surprise to hear what God has to say to you!

Attacked by a Lion

     The majestic lion is the tallest cat of the feline family with a shoulder height reaching four feet. The lion can weigh up to 800 pounds, and can attain speeds of 40mph, for short bursts! They are a formidable foe without fear of any other animal in the jungle. When a lion roars, it strikes fear in the heart of every animal in range of its roar. One doesn’t realize the enormous size of the lion unless you see one up close.

     Several years ago I was standing with a group of people who were observing and photographing a large male lion. He appeared to be quite old and feeble while walking back and forth in front of us. I decided to get down on my knees to get an eye-level photograph of him as he was passing by. The lion may have been old but he was not at all feeble! He instantly reacted as I bent down, lunging at me from fifteen foot away! I didn’t have time for any reaction. The only thing that saved me was the three-inch-thick glass wall between me and the lion. The event took place at the Tokyo Zoo. In spite of the glass wall, this was the most terrifying couple of seconds in my life! Evidently the lion saw me as a wounded or sick prey. He fell back from the glass wall after his foiled "attack" and continued his pacing around his cage, but from then on kept his eyes on me... I guess waiting for me to fall again! I wanted to try to get him to attack again and get someone to film it for me, but decided that I didn't want to test the glass wall against a 600 pound lion again!

    Several lessons can be learned from this exciting event. The attack reminds us that we should always be alert for an attack from Satan and highlights that the spiritual “wall” surrounding us is critical for our survival.

    The Bible talks about the devil walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. My lion attack happened in less than a second, not giving me any time to react. Many of today’s spiritual attacks against a Christian also come quickly and without warning, such as a car wreck or a heart attack. We need to be ready in season or out of season, for whatever life my present us. We need to stay prayed up! We need to store up prayers in Heaven so when the time of strife or emergencies occurs, we can just stand on our past prayers.

    The spiritual “wall” is a very key part of our Christian life. In Ephesians 6:11, Paul admonishes us to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Keeping this wall in proper order is a continual and on-going effort. In the same chapter Paul also encourages us to “pray at all times… be on the alert.” It’s our daily prayers, our fastings, and reading of the Word that helps us keep the “wall” in perfect order and protects us from the lion attacks!

Landmarks

    I received a lot of lessons from my dad while hunting in the great outdoors. When I was younger we didn't have all the modern GPS navigation aids. More than once, while in the outdoors, I found myself walking in circles and ending up where I started. This behavior causes quite a disturbing feeling. Dad taught me to navigate by using existing landmarks, pointing out various unique trees and terrain along the trail. Seeing one of these landmarks was a reassuring feeing when I was uncertain if I was still going the right direction. One particular area we hunted in was a very large and heavily wooded area, with no fences and few unique landmarks. Fortunately, this area was close to a road with an old wooden bridge. Cars traveling over this bridge made a distinctive noise. My dad taught me this simple lesson for navigating back home when lost in this area: "Just stop and wait until you hear a car going over the old wooden bridge, then turn until the bridge is on your left and walk straight forward." I sometimes had to wait a while for the next car to cross over the bridge, but the technique worked every time!

    To successfully navigate through our complex spiritual existence, we need to set up or identify some “landmarks” in our lives. Seeing these familiar landmarks assures us that we are still on the correct spiritual path. The Bible points out many of these “landmarks” that we should have established in our lives, such as daily prayer, fasting, witnessing, and regular reading of the Word. Losing sight of one of these “landmarks” helps us realize that we are straying off our spiritual path and need to take action to get back on track. One personal “landmark” that I set in my life at an early age was regarding church attendance. If I started questioning in my mind whether or not I should go to church, that was an immediate sign to me that I was backsliding and needed some immediate attention to get back on track.

    If we don’t have enough of the spiritual landmarks in our lives, we can get lost and not know what path to take to get back on track. Even when we have the landmarks, we can still stray off the path and get lost. It is usually frightening and disturbing when we come to the realization that we have a problem in our life, and we have no idea what to do to fix the problem. When this happens while driving a car, we usually stop the car, get out and ask someone where we are and how to get to our destination. When this happens on the spiritual side, we need to pause and go to someone for direction, or go directly to God for help. In Matthew 17:16 the disciples could not heal a certain man. They then came to Jesus and asked why, and Jesus told them that some challenges take much prayer and fasting to see success. Make sure you setup and follow the landmarks in your life, to keep you on the correct path!

Working Together in the Forest

   There is unbelievable array of more than 350,000 different types of living plants in our world today. They include trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, and come in shapes and sizes that are hard to imagine. A dozen flowers from the wolffia plant would just fit on the head of a pin! This small wolffia plant is 7 trillion time lighter than the massive sequoia tree!

The tallest known redwood tree reaches the height of a 37 story building at 379 feet! Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth having been clocked at 48” (four foot) of growth in a 24 hour period! In areas of poor soil there are plants that derive most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming insects.

The strangler fig tree starts to grow in the crevices of other trees, grow their roots downward, and then strangle their host tree as they grow up toward the sunlight! I never cease to be amazed when I consider God’s amazing creation!

  I was walking in the woods today and saw a strange tree that I could not identify. The leaves did not seem to match the tree structure. As I got closer I realized that it was an old dead cedar tree that was covered with a grape vine and its large leaves. Later I started thinking about how the different plants in the forest work together to protect and support one another. The grape vine I saw was not strong enough to support its own weigh and depended on the large tree to provide support.

   In my walk today I also passed by an area where several tall trees had fallen, leaving a big opening in the middle of a heavily wooded area. In these heavily wooded areas the trees grow very tall trying to reach the sunlight. Some of these tall trees are very week and only stand because they are supported by the closeness of the other tall trees. When one of the tall trees dies and falls, it tends to cause several of the surround trees to fall also.

   Just as God designed the plants of the forest to work together and support each other so has he crafted the “body of Christ” to support all of its members. Just as there is a great diversity in the plant life, so are there also all types of people that make up the body of Christ. The Bible talks about the “body of Christ” in I Corinthians 12: (New Living Translation)

       12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So
       it is with the body of Christ….22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest
      and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as
      less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect
      those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require
      this special care… 27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part
      of it.

   We need to realize that there are all types of people in the “body of Christ” and learn to accept those in the body who have different ministries than our own. We need to identify where we fit in the “body of Christ” and provide support for the rest of the body. When we all work together as one body there is great harmony in the forest of our lives!

Grooming the Trails

    Several miles of trails meander through the woods behind my house. I like to keep the trails clean so I can creep along them quietly and observe the wildlife. Dead branches and leaves are continually falling. I have appointed my self as keeper of the trails. I spend time raking the trails and trimming back the ever-growing braches and vines. Keeping the trails clean is a continual process, year 'round. The spring and summer require continual trimming of the new growth to keep it from taking over the trail. The fall and winter require removal of dead tree limbs and branches, after every cold front. Sometimes I spend several hours raking the trails, only to see them covered again the next day by wind-blown leaves. The occasional thunderstorm can fell complete trees and sometimes requires rerouting the trails. During one recent winter ice storm (yes, we do have the occasional ice storm in Texas!) I kept hearing what sounded like gun shots in the woods. I later realized that it was large trees and tree limbs that were cracking and breaking under the heavy weight of the ice. After the several-days-long ice storm, the woods resembled a war zone with dozens of fallen trees and limbs. It took several hours of work to get the trails back to normal!

    I have noticed that within several months, the woods can completely take over a trail. Just today I took an old trail that I had not used in three or four months. I was surprised to see that the trail was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding woods. Leaves and branches almost totally covered the trail and grass and weeds were starting to grow along the trail.

   Guarding and keeping our soul is very similar to the effort it takes to keep the trails clean and groomed. Our souls require regular and constant attention. If we do not regularly cleanse our souls, sin has a way of quickly appearing and taking up residence. Sometimes sin crashes down on us like a tree falling during a sudden, violent thunderstorm, doing its damage quickly. These big sins are obvious and leave no doubt that we need take action to get rid of them. Other times, sin slowly creeps in like the tiny weeds that appear in the trail. At first these sins are small and almost unnoticeable. We may see issues in our lives that appear so small and insignificant. Given time, even these seemingly insignificant issues can grow to be major thorns in our lives, if we do not address them. Sometimes we only cut back the "weeds" in our lives and soon they grow right back as they were. When we see these little weeds in our lives, we need to quickly pull them up, roots and all. In life sometimes we just address the symptoms of a problem, but what we really need to do is get to the “root” of the problem and eliminate it. Make sure you keep you soul clean and groomed and you will enjoy many happy days in your life!