An Uncertain Sound

I decided to go for a walk in the woods behind my house. After a short walk, I ended up climbing up in the old tree house that is overlooking the creek. It was a beautiful fall afternoon with a gentle south breeze blowing. I started thinking about the varied sounds that I was hearing in the woods. The wind was rustling the leaves on the ground. Acorns were dropping onto the ground every few seconds. Occasionally I would hear the creaking sound of two tree limbs running against each other.


The woods produce a great variety of sounds. These sounds are strange and sometimes disturbing to the untrained ear. Many times, while deer hunting, I would hear what I thought was a deer walking through the woods, only to find out that it was an armadillo rooting around in the leaves. During an ice storm I keep hearing what sounded like gun shots in the woods behind my house. On later investigation I discovered that the noise was coming from trees that were breaking under the weight of their ice laden limbs.

The night time brings even more uncertain and sometimes frightening sounds. The eastern screech owl has a call that sounds just like a woman screaming! When a group of coyotes gather in the woods behind my house and start yelping, it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck! I even had some new neighbors who called 911 when they first heard the coyotes!

My first night in the Amazon jungle was one that I will never forget. I was staying in a thatched roofed bamboo hut that was about 10 foot above the ground on stilts. The hut was directly under some type of fruit tree. All night long I heard the continual sounds of the tree's berries dropping on the hut's thatched roof, rolling down to the edge of the roof, and then after a second or so, the sound of them splattering on the ground. None of the jungle's night creature sounds were familiar to me. I wasn't sure if the sounds were coming from crickets, frogs, birds, or whatever! It seemed like hours had passed by before I finally drifted off to sleep.

In Bible time the sound of the trumpet was used to direct soldiers during a battle. The soldier's ears had to be trained to hear and interpret the sounds of the trumpet. I Corinthians 14:8 says "if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" The watchmen on the walls of the Bible time cities also used a trumpet to warn the people of impending danger.

There is another trumpet sound, talked about in the Bible, that nobody wants to miss! I Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that a trumpet sound will signal the second coming of Christ and that we will all rise to meet Jesus in the air! So don't be too disturbed by the various "uncertain sounds" of the woods but be on guard for that great and last trumpet call of Jesus!

Be On Guard

Members of the animal kingdom are continually on guard for their lives. Most of the members spend their entire existence running for their lives. Take a walk anywhere in the outdoors. As you walk along the path you are continually hearing a rustling in the weeds or a sound of flapping wing in the air, as the small animals scurry to get away from you. Larger animals detect you from a distance and sometimes disappear before you even get close to them. Animals use their various senses to detect the presence of their enemies.

Can you imagine living where you are continually on the run for your life? This is what the animal kingdom is all about. It is survival of the fittest. Almost every creature in the outdoors have some predator that they must continually be on guard against. Small bugs and insects are eaten by bigger insects. Big insects are eaten by small birds and mammals. The small birds and mammals are in turn eaten by raptors and larger mammals such as foxes and coyotes. The foxes and coyotes are continually running from humans. The same cycle occurs in the ocean with the various types and sizes of fish, mammals, and reptiles.

There are only a few species of animals that enjoy life without having to be on guard continually. The lion is considered to be the king of the jungle and one who is not afraid of any other animal but, when the lion gets old he is usually challenged and driven off by a younger and stronger male lion.

Fortunately the various members of the animal kingdom are given unique abilities that aid them in guarding their lives. If you observe a group of deer feeding in the woods, there is always at least one of the deer that is scanning the area for predators while the others are eating. Upon seeing, hearing, or smelling something that is not normal, the deer will stomp their front feet or snort loudly to warn the other deer of the impending danger. Squirrels seem to run about aimlessly but at the first sign of danger they will start barking loudly to warn their fellow species of some danger.

Sometimes there are multiple levels of danger that an animal must deal with. Recently I was walking down a trail in the woods. I spotted a deer coming down the trail from the opposite direction. The deer spotted me at about the same time and turned around and started a hasty retreat; however just before it got out of sight it turned back around and started running directly back toward me. The deer almost ran over me as it ran past me. I was bewildered by the deer's action until I saw a coyote chasing the deer! Evidently the deer felt that I was the lesser of the evils and decided to ignore me as it ran from the coyote!

In most communities of the world, humans do not share the animal kingdom's need to "be on guard continually", to survive. However Christians are taught to be continually on guard against the forces of evil. If you only go to church several time a year and rarely pray to God, you have nothing to worry about. Satan has you just where he likes you to be and will not disturb you at all. For those Christians who are living for God, attending church regularly, and praying to God on a daily basis, you must be on guard against Satan for spiritual survival.

The Bible has many scriptures that warn us to be on guard against the working of Satan. Luke 12:33 warns us to "watch out and be on guard against all kinds of greed" that can destroy our lives. In Acts 20:31 Paul warns us to "be on your guard" against people who will try to distort the truth. Again in I Corinthians 16:13 Paul warns us to "be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong; and do everything in love".

Just as members of the animal kingdom stay on guard and warn their fellow species of impending danger, we as Christians are also instructed to warn our fellow Christians of various dangers. Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3:15 "if anyone does not obey our instructions... warn him as a brother". We need the support of our Christian brothers and sisters. Working together we can defeat the wiles of Satan and live an overcoming life for God!

Rescue From Hopelessness

    Fall has returned to Central Texas! The leaves are starting to fall. Our second cool front of the fall is due this weekend. As I was walking by my pool yesterday, I noticed a slight movement in the water. There were some leaves and debris floating in the water but upon close examination, I discovered a small, inch long, gecko swimming in the water. The gecko was definitely in a hopeless situation with no way out. I grabbed a net and gently lifted him from the water, rescuing him from certain death. He quickly scampered off into the bushes.
    Later in the day I was sitting in my den when I heard a loud thud from the window and then an immediate second thud. I looked out the window and saw that two hummingbirds had evidently flown into the window glass, and were now laying injured on the deck. One was laying motionless on its side.

The other was upside down and would give a spasmodic kick every 3-4 seconds. I expected the second bird to die after a few seconds, but it was still kicking several minutes later. I went outside to see if I could help the injured bird. I gently turned it right side up and to my amazement it seemed to gain its composure. It looked around for a few seconds and the flew off in a slow wobbly flight, to the safety of a nearby tree. I was happy to rescue the small hummingbird from its dire situation. To my surprise the first motionless bird righted itself and also flew away after another five minutes. I felt like I had done my good deed for nature, rescuing both the gecko and the hummingbird.

     There are times in our lives that we encounter the seemingly hopeless or impossible situations, just as the gecko and hummingbird. Fortunately, we have someone we can always call upon. Colossians 1:13 tells us that God rescues us from the dominion of darkness and Proverbs says that God rescues the righteous man from trouble.
    Daniel experienced several seemingly hopeless situations. In the first, the king of Babylon was upset that none of his wise me could tell and interpret the dream that he had, so the king issued a decree to have all his wise me executed, including Daniel. When Daniel hear of the decree he got together with his friends and prayed to God. God heard their prayers, and revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, saving Daniel and all the wise men of Babylon. Some time later, evil people conspired against Daniel to get him thrown into the den of lions, but once again God intervened and kept Daniel from getting eaten by the lions.
     In II Peter 2:9 Peter tells us that the Lord knows how to rescue Godly me from trials, so the next time you are flat on your back and can't get up, or perhaps you have just been thrown in a "den of lions", just remember, there is nothing impossible with our great big God!

A Quick Escape

    Summer has arrived in central Texas! It is hot and really dry!  I was out early this morning at the break of dawn, for my morning walk in the woods, trying to stay ahead of the heat. It was to no avail; within ten minutes I was wet with sweat. I don’t mind the sweat too much but I do not like the biting horse flies that are attracted to my sweat in this very dry weather. I usually walk with a walking stick in one hand and a fly swatter limb in the other hand! Thankfully I usually hear their buzzing and scare them off before they start biting on me. At one point on the trail today, I heard a lot of buzzing and started looking around for the horse flies.  I then decided that it must be flies swarming around something dead on the ground. I started looking around to find the source of the buzzing. As I was walking the sound was getting louder and louder. I finally detected the source of the noise, after looking up in a large oak tree. There was a big hole about ten feet up the side of the tree. There must have been a hundred bees surrounding the hole and they seemed to be very agitated.

  By then I was only a couple of feet away from the tree and they appeared ready to attack!  I quickly took a couple of steps backwards and then turned and took off running, not stopping until I was a long ways away! Having already had several run-ins with bees, I was not going to give them a chance to attack first. A couple of years ago I was clearing out a new trail in the woods when I noticed something buzzing around me. No realizing the danger I kept on hacking at the brush with my machete. Too late, I saw the swarm of bees roaring out of a hole in the ground and swarming around me.  I took off running at full speed and ran for at least a hundred yards, until the buzzing stopped! Then I started pulling the bees off my body. I had been stung multiple times. It was an experience that I did not want to repeat. I found a new route for the trail, giving the bees plenty of space. 

     The Bible contains many scripture where we are instructed to turn away from various situations or temptations; and then there are scriptures that instruct us to flee, or run away quickly, from something of danger or evil! As Christians, we need to pay special attention to the things that the Bible tells us to flee from! These are things that can overwhelm us as quickly as a swarm of bees, if we are not alert!

    In I Corinthians 6:18, Paul tells us to flee fornication or sexual impurity. In I Corinthians 10:14, Paul instructs us to flee from idolatry, or as the Amplified Bible translation put it: flee from “loving or venerating anything more than God”. In I Timothy 6, Paul talks of the “love of money” and tells us again to flee from these things. It’s ok to want to be successful, but some people have such a strong craving for riches that it causes them to lose their Christian faith. So the next time you are faced with one of these temptations, just remember, don’t walk but run in the opposite direction until the “buzzing” stops!

The Spider’s Strength

     I was eating breakfast a couple of mornings ago, when I noticed something crawling on the table, or so I thought. I was sitting at a glass table so I wasn’t exactly sure where the “crawling creature” was. I first thought that the creature was under the table, but finally discovered that I was seeing the reflection of a spider who was building a web just a couple of inches outside the nearby window. Realizing that this was the perfect situation for photographing the spider up close, I got my camera and started snapping pictures. It was fascinating to watch the tiny spider engineer its web. It has already setup the “spokes” for its web and was now laying down the circular spirals. Looking through my zoom lens I could actually see the spider using one of its eight legs to attach the silk thread to each spoke, as it circled the web in smaller and smaller circles. The spider seemed to be working at a feverish pace, and within a couple of minutes had completed the web. The spider was quickly rewarded for its effort when a small bug flew into the web. The spider quickly ran over to the bug, encircled it with more of its silk, and started to feast!

     This morning I went outside to get some birdseed out of a container. I noticed another spider that had build a web connected to the birdseed container. As I walked up the scared spider abandoned his web and made an almost immediate decent to the ground, three foot below. I moved my foot close to where it landed and it made an unbelievable rapid climb, back up its silk thread to its web! With a little prodding, the spider made the descent and ascent trip, several more times. I was amazed at the strength of this little creature!

      I found it really fascinating watching these two spiders perform their awesome feats. The spiders were only about a half inch across, but were very strong for their size. The first spider’s web was almost two foot across, or 50 times bigger than the spider. It is surprising that the spider could contain enough silk thread material in its body to build a complete web that is much larger that its body. Who teaches the spider how to build a web? How can they build such a perfect circular web, in a flat plane, without anyone else helping them? The second spider climbed to a level that was over 150 times it own height in just a second or two! That is equivalent to a man climbing an 80 story building, in a couple of seconds!

     Spiders have amazing mental and physical abilities for their small size. The Bible contains only a couple of references to spiders, but says that they are little but are exceeding wise (Proverbs 30). Sometimes we as humans think that we are so weak and unimportant that we will never accomplish anything. Those that think that way need to take a lesson from the small spider. Despite its small size it is able to accomplish remarkable feats. Proverbs 30 also says that the spider inhabits the kings’ palaces. So, learn a lesson from the small spider and realize that, no mater how small or insignificant you may be, you can still achieve great and awesome feats for God!

Responding to a Crisis

    A couple of years ago, my son and I decided to expand our horizons to the underwater world and we signed up for scuba diving lessons. We took the classes and did our initial dives in near by Lake Travis. I was a bit apprehensive, depending on all this new “gear” for survival, but I made it through the class. For our first real dive, we scheduled a trip to Belize, to visit the world’s second largest barrier reef. Our first dive had an exciting start; with ten foot swells at our launch site. It was a bit difficult, putting on our diving gear, but it was peaceful, once we entered the water. We went down 70-80 feet to an area with beautiful coral formations and large groups of fish.  The underwater videos that people take are great, but they are nothing compared to actually experiencing the underwater in person! My son’s weight belt came loose, but fortunately he was able to quickly retrieve it before it sunk to the bottom.  I think my nervousness combined with my heavy breathing resulted in me being the first to run low on air. I signaled to the dive master that I was down to the 600 pounds of air limit and he instructed me to go back to the surface. I slowly made my way back to the surface, to insure that I didn’t get the “bends”. Once at the surface I was again met by the ten foot swells. Our dive boat was nowhere to be seen!  I could only get a view across the water, once every 8-10 seconds, when I was at the top of a swell. I finally was able to locate our boat which had drifted some distance away. I started a futile effort to swim to the boat. Thankfully the boat spotted me and motored over and picked me up. The others started coming up after a few more minutes, although the rocking boat combined with our exhaustion from the dive resulted in most of us getting sea sick.

     Our dive the next day was to a much calmer area with very small swells, although we were warned that the currents were very strong. The area was beautiful with new fish and coral formations that were totally different from our first dive. We started the dive, swimming with the current and then later turned around and started swimming back, against the strong current. Towards the end the current seemed to get stronger, although it was probably me just getting tired. At times it seemed that I was not making any progress against the strong current!  Once again I was the first to start running out of air. I signaled my dive master that I was down to the 600 pounds of air limit and he motioned me to just continue with the group. After getting down to 400 pounds I was starting to get a bit nervous and again signaled the dive master. He again motioned me to continue with the group.  I was starting to wonder if he was just going to let me run out of air! With the combination of my exhaustion and my fear, I was quickly down to 200 pounds of air! I was really starting to worry now! I again signaled the dive master and was greatly relieved when he motioned to me to take his spare regulator and breathe from his tank, ending my crisis. After getting back on the dive boat I was relating the difficulty of swimming against the current and my son started laughing. When I asked him why he was laughing, he told me that he had gotten tired of swimming against the current and held on to my air tank and let me pull him along! Then I understood why I was having such a difficult time swimming against the current! We later took a night dive and were again met by a totally different collection of fish, including lobsters and squid. The under water beauty of the ocean far outweighed my apprehension and fears. I hope to return their some day.

     God’s timing is rarely aligned with our personal sense of timing. God speaks to us and tells us that he will take care of a crisis situation, but often we get tired of waiting on him, or we think that he is not going to answer our prayers, and we decide to take things into our own hands.

      I Samuel 13 tells the story of Saul getting ready to go to war with the Philistines. The prophet Samuel had told Saul that he would come in seven day to make a sacrifice before they went to war. Saul started doubting that Samuel would show up and finally caved in to the demands of his solders.  He decided to make the sacrifice himself (even though he was forbidden to make a sacrifice). Just as Saul finished the sacrifice, Samuel arrived and reprimanded Saul for taking matters into his own hands and told him that the kingdom would be taken from him, because of his disobedience.  

     Genesis 17 tells the story of Abraham and Sarah, who God promised a son in their old age. They believed in God but decided that God needed a little help and Abraham had a son by Sarah’s handmaid. Only when the hundred year old Sarah had their son Isaac did they realize their mistake. The children of Israel suffered many hardships at the hands of Ishmael’s descendants. Just as Saul and Abraham suffered great loss, after taking things into their own hands, I would have probable suffered also, had I not waited on my dive master or followed his instructions. Remember, when you are faced with a crisis situation, just stay on the course that you know is right, wait on God, and He will help you through the difficult situation!

Enduring the Training!

   There are furry little masked animals in the woods behind my house. These animals are rarely seen during the daytime. I didn’t even know that they inhabited the woods behind my house until I set up a game camera that detects motion and take pictures in the dark. After retrieving the pictures from the camera a couple of times, I was surprised to see several raccoons eating the corn that I put out for the deer. I was even more surprised to see the deer and raccoons eating at the same time! The raccoons are smart animals. When the corn on the ground was all gone they would climb up a tree and lean over and touch the deer feeder mechanism to get it to drop a few more kernels of corn on the ground (see picture below). After discovering how my deer feeder was going empty so quickly, I moved the feeder to a more open area, away from any trees.

   Raccoons typically weigh from 15 to 20 pounds. They are most well known for their habit of washing their food before eating it. Scientists still disagree on why they do this. Raccoons eat a variety of foods including: fish, insects, worms, plants, fruits, and nuts. They are nocturnal, eating mostly at night, and rarely venture out during daylight hours.

   I was out in the woods early one morning, just after daylight, and saw a mother raccoon with a very young raccoon stumbling along trying to keep up with her. I’m sure that they were just ending a long night of hunting and foraging for food, and were really tired and ready to go to sleep. It may have even been the youngster’s first time to go out foraging with its mom! The mom then must have decided that it was time for a climbing lesson. The mom scampered up a slender tree and gave out some grunting sounds; evidently telling its youngster to follow her. The young raccoon was giving out some twittering, bird like, sounds, probably telling its mother that it was ready for bed and didn’t want to go through a climbing lesson. It took a couple of minutes for the young raccoon to laboriously climb up to where it mother was, only to see its mom scamper over to another tree. The youngster wouldn’t move for a few minutes, but finally heeded its mom’s calls and again followed her path, at times slipping and almost falling several times before catching up with her. After ten minutes of this activity they finally ended up high in an oak tree where they curled up together on a limb and went to sleep.

   As I was walking through the woods this morning, I passed by the area where I observed the raccoon climbing lesson. I started thinking about the lesson. The mother could have taken a very easy ground path and then climbed straight up the oak tree to their sleeping place, however she chose to take a very difficult and challenging path for the young raccoon. She was persistent, and patient, in getting her young one through the challenging path, knowing that the training it was receiving was beneficial. In our spiritual life we often go through situations that are uncomfortable and sometimes painful, but Paul tells us in Hebrews 12 that: “you must submit to and endure correction for discipline, God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not train and correct and discipline… for the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful, but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”.

So the next time God takes you through one of life’s difficult training exercises, just remember, keep following God and you will end up resting securely in his arms!

Note: Scripture reference is from the Amplified Bible

Equipped for Work

    One day I walked out on my backyard deck and was surprised to see a large vulture perched on my deck railing. It quickly flew off when it saw me.  I was curious as to why the vulture was in my backyard! After some investigation, I discovered a small dead rat on the ground, evidently killed by the rat bait that I put out. I was surprised that the vulture could locate something as small as the dead rat! I got rid of the dead rat quickly so as to not attract any more vultures.  

 

   Having taken some close-up pictures of the American Black Vulture and the Turkey Vulture, I have always been fascinated by the vulture family. They perform the important task of scavenging the carcasses of dead animals and they are uniquely equipped for the work they do.  The vultures can weigh over five pounds, but with their large wings, they are the best adapted land birds for soaring. Thankfully they do not have vocal cords; I could only imagine how loud a five pound bird could be! They have a keen sense of smell that allows them to pick up the scent of a dead animal from over a mile away. They roost in community groups of over a hundred vultures but go off alone for foraging. The vultures have some strange habits. I have observed the vultures, still at their morning roost, standing with their wings spread out for several minutes at a time. Scientists think that maybe they are allowing the sun to burn off the bacteria from their feathers. I think they are just trying to warm up after a cold night!  Can you imagine what Texas countryside would be like without the vultures eating our “road kill”? Thankfully the vulture has few natural predators and is in no danger of extinction. 

    God went to great lengths to equip the vulture for their life of scavenging. God went to even greater lengths to equip the Christian for living, working, and surviving life on planet Earth!  In Psalms 139, David says that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. The apostle Paul gives us instructions on how to equip ourselves for the Christian life.

In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us that we are given grace and then he tells us that God gave us: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip us to do God’s work. You need to make sure that you are attending a church and receiving the teachings and exhortations from these people.  

In II Timothy 3, Paul tells us that:”All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”  Many people read the Bible every day. Make sure that you read the Bible on a regular basis and God will speak to you through his Word!

In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us to put on God’s armor of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God; so that we may be able to resist evil.

Make sure that you are “fully equipped” by God and you will have a great time living on planet Earth!

Scripture references are from the “New Living Translation” of the Bible

Are You Ready for Change?

    As I was taking my daily walk in the woods this morning I came across numerous fallen trees. Evidently the strong wind of the past few days had taken its toll on the trees. I came across a large limb, over 12 inches in diameter that had fallen on my trail. When falling, it also took down multiple other trees in the area, completely blocking my trail. I would have preferred to remove the trees and kept to my original trail but was forced to change the trail’s original path and go around the massive blockage.

   Having to change the path because of the fallen trees started me thinking about changes in our lives. There is an old saying that “change is inevitable”, or in plain English, it is impossible to avoid change. How we deal with these changes is a reflection of our character. Many people do not like change. Some people fight strongly against the changes that come to their lives. Sometimes these changes are for good and at other times the changes are not good.

   In the Bible, Genesis 12 tells us about a man who went through a lot of changes. After living around family and friends in the same area for 75 years, God told Abram to pack up everything and start moving to a location that God would reveal later. Can you imagine the response from Abram’s family, friends, and his wife, when he announced his plans to move? And if that wasn’t enough change, a few years later God told the 100 year old Abram that his 90 year old wife, Sarah, was going to have a child! The Bible says that Sarah laughed at the unbelievable statement! I’m sure that she has a lot of additional comments that the Bible didn’t record!

   I Samuel 16 records the accounts of another person who experienced a lot of changes in their life. David was just a simple sheep herder until the prophet appeared and anointed him to be king over all of Israel. David was not actually crowned to be king until some time later. Can you imagine David going back to sheep herding, knowing that someday he was going to be king over all of Israel? It must have seemed like a dream. More changes came to David’s life a short time later. David slew the giant, Goliath, and was put over all of Israel’s men of war. David went through a lot more changes, even running for his life, before finally being crowned king of Israel.

    The Bible is full of stories of God’s mighty anointed men and the radical changes they experience in their lives. If you are praying for God’s anointing or a great move of God in your life, then be prepare for change. It will come!

Thorns and Briars

     I love walking in the outdoors, enjoying the natural creations of God. There are so many beautiful plants to behold. Every where I travel around the world, I discover new plants that I have never seen before. One of my favorite places to visit is the Wilhelma Botanical Gardens in Germany, which contain over 6000 species and varieties of plants! I love most of the plant species, however, there is one group that I do not like to run into; it’s the thorns and briers.

     Thorns and briars have been around since the time of Genesis. Because of Adam’s sin, God said that Adam would have to eat of the ground. Genesis 3 also tells us that God cursed the ground and said that it would bring forth “thorns and thistles”. Adam had to deal with them in his time and we are still fighting against them today!

     I recall my dad telling me a story about the briers. He had just received a brand new hunting jacket and was out in the woods deer hunting. He was walking through a really thick area and had snagged his new jacket on a brier. He was carefully working to free his jacket, without damaging it, when he heard a grunt behind him. He turned around just in time to see mother hog charging at him. Knowing the ferocity of a mother hog with little ones, he quickly found a tree to climb, leaving portions of his new jacket on the briar!

     It is almost impossible to get rid of the briars. They spring up all over my backyard. I cut them back to the ground and they keep coming back. I have noticed something unique about the briars. They go through a change sometimes during their early life. When the briars first start growing, they appear to be like many other types of “friendly” vines. The young briars are soft and pliable. Their “stickers” are soft and bend easily. If one didn’t know better they might be tempted to just let the briar vine grow. The young briar is not a threat to anyone, but sometimes during its life it goes through a transformation. The briars stem and stickers become very hard and will snag any clothes that come close to them or scratch any bare skin that touches it, and dead briers becomes even more brittle and painful!

     There are things that Satan brings into our spiritual lives that are similar to the thorns and briars. At first these things seem innocuous and insignificant. We usually notice them in our lives but don’t bother to address them, because they are so small; but as time goes on they can transform into something very dangerous to our spiritual lives. Sometimes these are temptations that we think we can control, but they grow until they are controlling us and cause us to sin. Other times they are just small deceptive things we say, that over time cause us to tell multiple lies.

     In my early career I had a friend at work that started to get involved with a girl, just to “help her out”. I warned him that he should only help from a distance, but he would not listen to me. In the end she became an enormous problem that he could not get rid of. When he finally forced her to move out of his apartment, she returned to throw rocks through his windows and almost got him fired from him job by her hundreds of phone calls to his company. He thought that he could keep the situation under control, but it ended up controlling him!

     So the next time you hear that inner voice telling you that you should not do something, obey God’s voice, do what is right, and you will not be entangled by the thorns and briars of Satan!

No More Weeds!

     We have had rain for the past several days. Weeds are sprouting up everywhere in my back yard, although only a few of my flowers and plant are starting to grow. It doesn’t seem fair that the unattended, uncared for, and disliked weeds will grow in almost anyplace while I struggle to get my plants to grow in my fertilized and well watered soil. I guess God takes better care of the weeds that I do my flowers and plants!

  


PokeSally starting
to grow in my
flowerbed

   







PokeSally is three feet tall
after four weeks! Note the
dormant sago palm in
background!

    
     This morning there was a lull in the precipitation so I decided to go out in the woods and start my “spring trail cleaning”! Because of the consistent rain we received this spring season, I was dreading to go out on the trails. From all the weeds that I had pulled up in my yard, I expected the trails to be almost completely overgrown with weeds. Most of the trails are only 2-3 years old. Every spring I spend several weeks cutting and pulling up weeds, until they finally give up trying to grow on my trails! Today I was pleasantly surprised to see that the trails were almost completely free of weeds! There were a lot of leaves to be raked and the occasional tree limbs that needed trimming, but almost no weeds! I looked around and there were weeds growing everywhere, except on my trails! I decided that I had finally conquered the weeds for good! I guess that after 2-3 years of human and wildlife traffic, the dirt trails had become too packed to allow the weeds to grow. Victory at last! Now, if I could just figure out how to stop the leaves from falling on my trails and how to prevent the tree limbs from growing on my trails!

As I was raking the trails this morning I started thinking about the blog I wrote on “Grooming the Trails” (October 7, 2009), where I compared the trail grooming to talking care of our spiritual lives. Just as I got victory over the weeds and started working on the other things that clutter the trails, we as Christians should be maturing and making progress in our spiritual lives. When we first start out as a Christian there are a lot of little things that we have to address. New Christians sometimes catch themselves using some of their old foul language or dishonest habits, however, after some maturing the new Christian should achieve “victory” over these old habits. If you are not making progress in your Christian life, I recommend that you reexamine your commit to Christ. As a Christian we will never totally get rid of these temptations, but with God’s help it is possible for us to live a Godly and peaceful life! Have a great day!

Where is the Sun?

        The weathermen forecasted cloudy skies for today and they were correct. I woke up this morning, before daylight, and went out on the back deck to observe another sun rise. Daylight was slow in coming, and when it finally came it revealed a heavily overcast sky! I knew the sun was rising above the horizon but could not see it. I could see the light generated by the sun and I could feel the warming effects of the sun, even thought it was not visible. It is hard to fathom the power of the sun. Our morning temperatures can be in the 40’s but the sun can warm up all of Texas to the 80’s in just a couple of hours! That’s a lot of power!

          Our sun is an interesting and fascinating creation! Ancient cultures worshiped the sun as a God. In Greek mythology the sun was personified as the God Helios, who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day.  In the third century BC the Greeks started the theory that the sun was the center of our solar system. By the 1600’s astronomers were able to accurately calculate the distance to the sun and were using a prism to break up the suns rays into many colors. Today scientists have calculated that the amount of the sun’s energy shining on the earth in one hour could supply all the earth’s energy needs for an entire year! Hopefully, some day, we will be able to more fully harness the sun’s energy.

     There are a lot of similarities between the “sun” in the sky and Jesus, the “Son” of God. None of us today have every seen Jesus. There are people that find it hard to believe in a God they have never seen or touched. I am so happy that I live in an environment where I am able to see and feel the affects of my God. I have personally witnessed healings and the supernatural moving of the Holy Spirit. Just as we can believe in the sun that we cannot see, because we feel that affects of the sun; so we also believe in the Son of God because we see and feel his moving in our lives.  If you are not living in an environment where you feel God, I recommend that you visit a “spirit filled” church where you will feel God!

It Never Rains in the Amazon Jungle

    One of my life’s goals was to visit to the Amazon Jungle. I have watched many National Geographic TV specials on the Amazon and wanted to witness its beauty first hand. About ten years ago I decide to take my dream trip to the Amazon. I first started looking for jungle lodges in Brazil. I wanted to find the most remote and biodiverse region available.   I settled on a lodge in Peru that was 90 miles from the nearest city by boat, and that nearest city could only be accessed by air.  I stayed at the Tahuayo Lodge that is adjacent to the 800,000 acre Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Communal Reserve. 

The area was an absolute paradise for nature lovers. The reserve supports 14 species of primates and over 500 species of birds!  It was truly amazing to experience the jungle first hand. I learned so many things that you could never learn from just watching a TV show on the jungle. The primary rain forest trees were almost one hundred feet in height, or as tall as a 10 story building! Only a small amount of light was able to filter through the trees and down to the ground. 

Because of the low light, my photography was limited to several hours before and after the noon time, when the sun was almost directly overhead.  It was not uncommon to hear a group of monkeys coming toward you, hear them directly overhead, and then hear them moving off into the distance, without ever catching a glimpse of them. The thick jungle forest also acted like a great insulator. With Peru located near the equator the days at the lodge were in the mid 90’s but entering the forest was just like walking into an air conditioned room. The temperature under the jungle canopy was 10-15 degrees cooler than in the open areas exposed to the sun! I had the most amazing jungle experience when it started to rain. I was in one of the thick jungle areas. I started to feel a light mist falling through the jungle canopy. After walking for half an hour we arrive at an open area, with no trees overhead, and was shocked to see that it was raining heavily! There was no rain reaching the jungle floor because it was being almost totally absorbed by the jungle canopy!  I was told that the “jungle mist” would continue for several days after a hard rain. 

     Just as the thick jungle canopy provides protection from the heavy rain, so does living in the “kingdom of God” provide a shield for us. In several New Testament scriptures Jesus admonishes us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God”. In the “Lords Prayer” where Jesus gives us an example on how to pray, the first request we are to make is “thy kingdom come”. In Romans 14:17, Paul provides a description for the “kingdom of God”. Paul says: “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost”. In plain English, Paul is saying that the “kingdom of God” is not about getting to eat what we want or do the things we want, but that the “kingdom of God” is about having a peace and joy on our heart!   So, even thought we might not have all the physical things we want in life, and we may be going through tribulations, we can still have the peace and joy that is promised to those who are in his kingdom!

Spring is Here!

     Spring time is my favorite time of the year! It’s warming up quickly here in central Texas. Just two weeks ago the lows were in the 40’s and we were using the heater to warm our house. I always look forward to this time of the year, when we don’t need to run the heater or the air conditioner. This year the weather is heating up quickly and we turned on the air conditioner just a week after turning off the heater!

     I know that spring is here because I found three rat snakes while cleaning out the flower beds in my front yard!  I also got a visit from my son’s pet lizard. He had the lizard for over a year and then let it loose in our front yard.  As I was cleaning the flower bed I looked up and saw the lizard walking up to me. It stood there looking at me as if waiting to be fed. After a few minutes it scampered off into the bushes.

     Fortunately I am between jobs and I am able to spend most of my free time working in my back yard. I have already made several trips to the nursery, buying new plants and flowers. I have raked up over a dozen garbage cans full of leaves and debris. I have put out fertilizer in all my flower beds and started my water sprinklers running again.  I get such enjoyment out of cultivating and watching the plants grow. It is so awesome to see such beautiful creations come from such little seeds and ugly bulbs. I make the rounds in my garden almost every day, grooming and checking on my plants, and looking to see which seeds have sprouted and which old plants are starting to put out new buds.

    As I was making the “rounds” today, checking on my plants, I thought of how God watches over us in a similar manner. I know that God is continually working in people’s lives, trying to convince them to live for him. I believe that God also makes the “rounds” checking on the people that he is dealing with to see if they are responding to him. Luke 15:7 tells us that “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth”.  If you’re not living for God today, I challenge you to give your life to him and create joy in heaven!

LINKS: spring time,God’s creation,

Social Spiders

      Spiders are creatures that we don’t typically get too close to. They are characterized by eight legs, fangs for injecting venom, and up to four pair of eyes! Spiders use hydraulic pressure to control their legs, and this is why the legs of a dead spider curl up. They have two or more pairs of spinnerets for spinning silk for various uses. Most spiders are severely lacking in the social skills area. They typically live alone, are very aggressive, and would just as soon eat another spider as look at it.

     Out of the over 40,000 species of spiders, there are a handful that defy the typical “non-social” stereotype. These “social spiders” live together in communities of up to 50,000 spiders. They work together to build communal webs that can be very large in size. These social spiders are known to catch and consume all sizes of insects and even small birds.

    I was able to see a group of social spiders in action, during a trip to the Amazon. We were motoring slowly down the Blanco River in the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve in Peru. Up ahead I saw something that looked like a cloud, hanging over the trees at the edge of the river. As we got closer, I could see that it was an enormous spider web! The web was as large as the side of a two story house! I was told that this was a spider web built by social spiders. We did not get close enough to see the size of the spiders, and nobody was asking to get any closer!


     Just as God designed the social spiders to depend on each other for survival, he designed people to also depend on each other. In I Corinthians 12 Paul tells us that we are part of the “body of Christ” and explains how it takes all the parts of the body functioning together to make us whole. We are not designed to live alone; we are created to work together in the body of Christ. A social spider taken out of its community web would not last long. Likewise, a person, taken out of their Christian community environment, may have difficulties. We need the encouragement and support of the Christian community. If you are struggling in your Christian walk, check and make sure that you are still in an active Christian community! Keep yourself surrounded by strong Christian friends and you will thrive just as the social spiders I saw in the Amazon!

Invisible Guidance

   The weather in central Texas is warming up. I think spring is just around the corner. I took my Newfoundland dog with me this morning on my walk through the woods. I was enjoying watching the birds and squirrels in the trees. My dog was consumed with a totally different thing. She was running along sniffing at every tree and bush. It was if she was in a different world, or a parallel universe, seeing things that were invisible to me. At times she would leave her “mark” on the side of the trail. Evidently she was using some type of invisible language to communicate with other animals. I had no idea what message was being communicated. 

    Seeing my dog respond to these invisible marks reminded me of how the Holy Spirit can be an invisible guide to help us along life’s highways! While on earth Jesus told us that the Father would send the comforter, or Holy Spirit, to guide us and show us things that are to come. There are multiple examples in the New Testament of the Holy Spirit guiding people.  Acts 10:19 tells us how the Spirit told Peter to go with the men sent by Cornelius. In Acts 8 the Spirit instructed Philip to go and join the Ethiopian man in the chariot.

    Thankfully today the Holy Spirit is still providing guidance for our lives. When I was in college, one of my very close friends was involved in a fatal car accident. It would have been an almost unbearable event, had it not been for the comfort and guidance of the Spirit.  The evening before the accident, when I started driving home from work, I felt the Holy Spirit moving on me to pray. I didn’t know what to pray for but I felt a really strong urging to pray. After driving across town, I decided to stop by my church and continue my praying. I spent several hours in prayer that evening. The next day, just after arriving at work, I received the word that my friend was involved in the accident. I then understood why I felt the need to pray.  God was preparing me for a difficult situation. We are so blessed to have a God, who knows the future, and prepares us to face each new day!

The Hunter or the Hunted?

     My rarest raptor sighting event was extremely brief but turned out to be one of the memorable events in my life. I almost ended up as the prey instead of the observer. It happened many years ago, when I was deer hunting in central Texas. I had climbed into a deer stand about ten feet up in an old oak tree, overlooking a large patch of oats. There was not much activity that afternoon, in the deer community. I had gotten bored waiting on the deer and had drifted off to sleep. I awoke after a while and open my eyes, but remained motionless so as not to scare off any deer that might have walked into my area. While scanning the oat patch below for the elusive deer, I caught a small movement in the sky, at the edge of my peripheral vision. I suddenly realized that it was growing larger and moving toward me at great speed! When I shifted my body and lifted my head to get a better look, I realized that it was a hawk that had detected my eye movement and decided to attack, not realizing my size. My movement was just in time for the hawk to abort his dive, passing a mere three to four feet from my head! The hawk passed close enough for me to feel the wind turbulence it generated. I can only imagine what would have happened if it had successfully completed its dive into my face! I’m sure that I would have been knocked out of the tree and possible broke a bone or two in the fall. I could have been the first fatality from a hawk attack! Thankfully the hawk and I both survived, to hunt again.
     Our spiritual life is often characterized as a battle field, good fighting against evil. There are times when we feel as if we are being attacked by the enemy. In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us to “put on the whole armour of God” and states that: “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. Paul further tells us that to fight in this spiritual battle we need to arm ourselves with truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the word of God. So, make sure that you study the Bible and know how to use these spiritual “weapons”, and when you feel like you are under attack from Satan, just remember Isaiah 49:19: “… when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him”!

Temporary Blindness

     I woke up several times during the night and heard raindrops on my roof. After getting up this morning, I was surprised to look out the window and see that the skies were completely clear! After getting dressed I decided to go out and sit on my back deck, for my morning prayer. As I opened the door I was greeted by a surreal view! It was as if everything has disappeared. My usual view, overlooking a canyon, was totally obscured by a thick fog. I could only see for a few yards. A flock of birds flying over the canyon had to make an abrupt maneuver, as they were about to fly directly into my house.

     Occasionally we encounter the same thick fog while driving. It can appear very quickly. You are driving 65mph down the road at night time when suddenly your visibility goes down to almost zero. You grip the steering wheel and you brake hard, hoping you can slow down before you run into something. It’s as if you were temporarily blinded! You then creep along cautiously at a snail’s pace straining your eyes to see the road or the car in front of you.

     In our spiritual lives we normally get directions from various sources, including the Holy Spirit, the Bible, preachers, and teachers. We seek God’s direction and guidance for decisions we make. We also seek direction from God during times of conflict. Events can occur in an instant that totally overwhelm us. All it takes is a phone call, a doctor’s report, or a text message. Our life can be turned upside down and we don’t know where to turn. We pray and we sometimes don’t get an answer. It’s as if we have run into the fog and we don’t know which way to turn.

     So what do we do when we are overcome by this “spiritual blindness”? The solution is very similar to our “fog” experience. You get a firm grip on God and you don’t let go. Keep up your daily prayer time, even if you feel that your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. Don’t allow anything to stop you from praying. You may need to stop some of the non-important things you are doing and focus on reestablishing your communications with God. Move slowly and cautiously. Give God an opportunity to speak to you. Also, make sure that there is not anything in your life that would keep God from talking to you. I John 2:11 tells us that “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and… does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him”. I Peter 3:7 instructs us men to: “give honour unto the wife… that your prayers be not hindered”. You will usually get your answer in a few days, although sometimes it takes longer. God does not always give us an answer to every question or request we have for him. If after fervently seeking God, you do not get an answer; then proceed cautiously with your gut feeling.

     Just remember, when you are driving down life’s highways and are blinded by the “spiritual fog”, strive to stay on the path. Soon the fog will lift and you will again be able to see the path clearly!