Only The Hungry Get Fed

My mom lives out in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. A while back she asked me to install an automatic deer feeder to attract the deer to her backyard. I told her that she didn't need a deer feeder, and just bought her a sack of corn. I told her to start putting out a little corn in her backyard every couple of days. Sure enough, the next time I went to visit her, she was proud to show me the deer that started coming to eat the corn she put out.

This past weekend I was out at mom's, visiting for a couple of days. Getting up early in the morning I decided to go out in her backyard to meditate. I was only there for a few minutes when the deer started to appear. The deer somehow appeared to communicate with other deer in the area, because in a short time there were over a dozen deer walking around me wanting to be fed. I did not feed them anything, and within a few minutes all of them had left, except for one lone doe. This doe was very persistent and kept walking around and staring at me. I later found out that she was the mother of twins! I guess that was why she was so hungry. I finally gave in to her persistence and got her some corn. When I went out the next morning to meditate, even more deer appeared. I got a small amount of corn in a bucket and sat down on a lounge chair in the yard. The deer all surrounded me but would not get any close than a couple of yards, except for, you guess who, the mother of the twins! I could tell her apart from the others because she had a small cut in her ear. She came right up to me and started eating out of my bucket. After a few minutes she was eating out of my hand! When the corn ran out she came up to me and was nudging me on the arm with her nose, trying to get more corn!

While meditating in my mom's back yard I started thinking about the many verses in the Bible that talk about those who hunger and thirst after spiritual things. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus say's that "blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled". Just as the persistent, hungry, mother deer of the twins was the only one that got fed, so only those who hunger after God will receive anything from God! God will not force his blessings upon anyone. Most of the deer I was observing in my mom's backyard were too afraid, or just not hungry enough to come up close and eat. I was there offering a bucket of corn to the ones that would come up to me. I believe that God views us in a similar manner. God has all his blessings and rewards and is just looking for those who hunger or thirst drives them close to him. God is willing to give his blessings to anyone who will get close to him.

God saw that the Old Testament laws were difficult to follow. God decided to put the "law" into our hearts (Heb 8:10). While Jesus was on earth he promised that the Father would send the "comforter" or the Holy Ghost to guide us (John 16); and be the "law" in our hearts. In John 7:37-39 Jesus said: "“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him". Some people question if they have to receive the Holy Spirit. We should not question if we have to received the Holy Spirit because in John 7:37-39 Jesus said that the "Spirit" would be given to everyone believing in him!

So the next time you experience that spiritual hunger or thirst (or loneliness, sadness, sorrow), go boldly to God, let him know that you are in need, and he will "feed" you from limitless storehouse of blessings!



Scripture references are from the New Living Translation

Don't Step on the Alligator

I am a native "Texan" and love to visit the great outdoors in Texas. Fortunately, I live in a state that has over 130 parks spread across the great state. I recently made a visit to the Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas. The park is a diverse combination of wetlands, marshes, lakes, prairies, and live oak forests. I took over 700 photographs during my visit! This park is a nature preserve with over 300 species of birds and animals, and is home to over 1000 American alligators! I don't recommend taking your pets with you to this park. This is not a park for the squeamish. I was only five or ten minutes into my hike when I spotted what looked like a couple of logs on the side of the trail. As I got closer I could see that it was actually a couple of alligators lounging at the edge of the trail.

I quickly realized that I should have read the warning sign at the start of the trail. Fortunately I had taken a picture of the sign. I quickly went back through the pictures on my digital camera and read the "rules of engagement" for alligators! The rules stated that you need to stay at least 30 feet from any alligator, or risk getting attacked! Great advice, but it's kind of difficult to stay 30 foot away from the alligator that is at the edge of a 6 foot wide trail, with a swamp on one side and a lake on the other side! I looked around for a big stick but there were none to be found (I'm sure that all the sticks had already been picked up by other cautious hikers)! I took a deep breath and started walking slowly, on the opposite side of the trail. I wanted to stay as far away from the alligators as I could, however I didn't want to get too close to the marsh on the other side of the trail. The alligators remained motionless although their eyes were open and seemed to follow me as I quietly walked by. These two alligators were only the first of hundreds of alligators that I saw during my three hour hike. It was like one of the kids puzzles where you try to see if you can spot all the animals in a photo. You could stop at almost any place on the trail and pick out six or seven alligators sunning on the bank or camouflaged by the green algae floating in the water.

I almost stepped on the biggest alligator that I saw during my hike. I was walking quietly trying to get closer to a Snowy Egret. The egret kept moving along the edge of a slough searching for its next meal. Occasionally I would glance at the ground to see where I was walking. I guess I was focused too intently on getting a picture of the Egret, because the next time I looked down at the ground I realized that I had walked within a couple feet of the biggest alligator I had seen that day! I immediately froze as my eyes met his. He was staring at me, probably just daring me to take another step. I slowly backed up and out of his "personal space". I decided that I needed to maintain a more frequent monitoring of the big picture if I was to exit the park safely!

In life's journey we sometime have too narrow of a focus. We only seeing the trials and problems at hand. We fail to keep the "big picture" of life in focus, just as I was too focused on getting a picture of the Snowy Egret and failed to see the alligator in my path. It's our human nature to dwell on the negative things. It's also easy to get overwhelmed by these negative thoughts.

The prophet Elisha's servant was very disturbed one morning when he woke up and saw that their city was surrounded by the Syrian horseman and chariots. The servant was so focused on the Syrian army that he did not see God's horses and chariots of fire on the mountains behind the Syrians. It wasn't until Elisha prayed for him, that he was able to see the "big picture", including God's army.

So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by life's trials and problems, just take a time out and try to look at the big picture. Think about where God has brought you from and where he has promised to take you too.

In Philippians 4:8 Paul admonishes us to think upon things that are: "true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. He further tells us that when we think of these thing, that the God of peace will be with you!