I Love Our God

I love our God.  I love the variety, diversity, individuality and creativity with which He has made everything including us.  I am told that no two snowflakes are exactly alike.  I’m not sure about that but I am pretty certain that no two people are exactly alike.  I love that.  And I love that even though we all have different temperaments, likes and dislikes, hobbies and habits, that God loves us just as we are.  So much so that He determined to save us in the most unspeakable way from our sinful plight. 

If you do not know this love from God, love that is strong enough that He chose to die, If you do not know this love then leave this story and go read “Closer to Jesus”; Look over to your right, see the link there under the heading “A Cross Roads”.  Check it out; You can always come back.

As I was saying. I love our God.  He says that we men are responsible to teach our children to love God too.  Regarding God’s statutes I am supposed to and you are supposed to “teach them diligently unto thy children, thou and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  I work hard at this but I often drop the ball that’s why this story means so much to me.

My son and I were recently with a group of men and their sons at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Topsham, Maine for a father/son overnighter.  We had been meeting with these dear folks monthly for nearly a year.  We were planning to spend the night in a roughed out clearing in the woods, a place where one of their church men had ‘given’ to the group so that we can make a camp meeting place.  Because of incoming torrential rains in the forecast we spent the night in the church instead.  We had pizza, father and son time, played ping-pong, and watched a movie I had never seen before. “Sergeant York” We both liked the movie very much.  Thank you Dan O. for sharing that.

For the night I slept on some couch cushions in the foyer of their church.  My son slept on the cushionless couch.  I liked that spot because not far from us, over the entry to their sanctuary was a sign that read “Prepare to Worship” and what I liked about that was I was aware of the sign above the door that you see as you leave the sanctuary that reads “PREPARED to serve” If we worship God rightly in our churches we then are amply prepared to serve God and others in the world.

In the morning after a small breakfast, a little fellowship, and some father/son time we left Cornerstone to drive to the camp site.  Now when I said it is a roughed out clearing in the woods I had no idea how rough.  There were fallen branches and trees everywhere.  Left over from logging work from years past.  I’m not sure even where we would have slept had it not rained.  Matt B., one of the dads, cleared a spot and started a fire.  The rest of us commenced to clearing land.  We got much done.  It was fun and it went quickly.  It is going to make a beautiful camp site where we will have many times of fellowship and father/son relationship builder opportunities.

While we were working I slipped away from the group to get alone with the Lord.  I walked down over the hill I was setting a site on, down a short ways into the wood to a nearby stream, and found a nice seat-like rock next to a small waterfall where I could go to pray.  I sat there and prayed for quite some time. It was a very needful break.

Later I saw one of the men pull his son aside.  I’m not sure why but I thought, “I need to pull my boy aside and talk with him.”  I said, “Come here buddy.”  He looked up curiously. “Come with me.”  We walked and talked. I took him to that spot by the stream.  I told him, “If when we are here, and you can’t find me, this is where I’ll be”  “I’ll be here, thinking, praying, and reading.”

After a while of quietly listening to the water rush over the falls he said “Dad, can I pray, I’d like to pray.”  I said, “Sure, Go ahead buddy.”  And then he prayed a very grown-up prayer.  I was impressed, I was proud.

As we left that spot and quietly walked together back to where the men were working my boy said, “Dad.” Then there was a long pause. He said “I love our God.”  And my heart leaped in my chest for joy.  I was over-joyed.  Then I calmly said, “That’s good buddy.  That makes your dad happy.”  I wanted to shout for joy but I contained myself.  What an awesome God we serve!

If we take time to spend with our sons father’s, and with our daughters, some of the love that we have for God is going to ‘rub off’.

“He must increase, WE must decrease!”

I love our God!

She Has Three Arms

If you have read "There's a bigANTin the toilet" then you are familiar with little Autumn. She is so cute.

Her mother posted on facebook this conversation:

Autumn: "mommy can u pray for everything in the whole world,"

Mom: "yes autumn,"

Autumn: "mommy can you pray for Jesus to give us 3 arms so we can do three things at a time,"

Mom: "No you can do that,"

Autumn: "no mommy serouse that way we can do 3 things at once!"


I responded with...


"Tell Autumn Uncie Carl woke up late last night and began praying for the whole world, started with our church, then area churches, then New England churches, then churches throughout the U.S., then Missionaries and pastors throughout the world. Was praying for the many souls they were trying to reach too. The devil was pestering me so I wanted to hit him where it hurts. :) Tell her she has three arms... the two she can see... and prayer... that's the arm of the Lord."


I prayed for many by name, others by geography, I was thinking of Jesus' prayer in John 17 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; " I pleaded and begged our LORD for help in this battle we are waging.  It seems the enemy has turned up the heat.


I'm praying for you!


"He must increase, WE must decrease!"

Will you join us in prayer for N.E., for pastors,
for our other seed planters and those who water,
and for souls to be saved in New England.

Pray for God's bountiful increase here!

Sorry, sorry, sorry, ........ sorry.

There are some parts of the English language that if they get used too frequently or haphazardly that they tend to lose their significance.  Two of those parts is the phrase, “I love you.” And the word, ‘sorry’.

When someone says ‘I love you’ haphazardly than the recipient is left wondering if what was meant is the charitable love of 1 Cor. 13 which is the love of Christ, or do they simply mean I really appreciate you a lot; I like you.  Or is it the kind of love the publicans had who were saying you’re one of us therefore ‘I love you’.  Usually it’s obvious when it is the charitable kind of love because their actions have already demonstrated it before hand.

Now, in my home, we are trying to get our children to stop saying ‘sorry’ upon every word of correction or conflict.  Frequently it’s repeated four or five times in succession apparently for emphasis.  We are now requiring them to reserve the “I’m sorry” phrase for when they have clearly disobeyed or done something hurtful or spiteful to one another.  They then are required to say “I’m sorry for ‘whatever they did’, it was wrong, please forgive me.”

This is new to them so when we speak to them and they say, “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” Pause “Sorry.” and we then remind them that they did it again, the first thing they say is “sorry.” J  When we give them simple instruction or mild correction we are trying to get them to simply acknowledge what we said, say “yes mom” or “yes dad” and then say something like “I will try.”; But not “Sorry.”

We want “I’m sorry” to be reserved for when there is sin involved; the sin of disobedience or the sin of mistreating others.  It’s no different with our God.  He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us.  God said, “I have loved you with and everlasting love” in the book of Jeremiah. This is His love toward those who are the whosoever’s that chose to respond to His overtures toward them.  He doesn’t want to hear the haphazard “I’m sorry” of an unrepentant heart.  God wants to hear us say to Him and will accept the genuine “I’m sorry Jesus I sinned against You, I’m sorry You had to die for me, thank You for doing that for me, I know I didn’t deserve Your love but I’m so glad You love me. I love You Jesus. AMEN.”

In that is the beginning of a beautiful relationship with Him where He continually increases in significance in our lives and our own selfish endeavors decrease.

“He must increase, and WE must decrease!”

Out of the Mouths of Babes

 

            We had just gone through, well actually were going through a very difficult situation.  While some of us saw a “light at the end of the tunnel” still others saw no hope at all.  One morning on the Lord’s Day there was a spiritual breakthrough, many victories seemed to be claimed, the light of God's glory shone brightly into our hearts; there was joy and there were tears.

            As we left church that day, spanning the sky across the street was a beautifully full, vivid, double-rainbow that seemed to jump out at us.  Many people were commenting and pointing. 

It was a wonderfully uplifting sight. 

But not nearly as uplifting as what came out of Autumn’s mouth.  She was with us in the car.  (This is the Autumn mentioned in my “There’s abigANT in the toilet” post.) 

As we pulled out of the parking lot commenting about the rainbow but not inclined to believe in signs; we were speaking about its beauty and vividness.  That’s when Autumn spoke up and said rather matter-of-factly, “God is telling us that everything’s gonna be alright.”



"And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." Genesis 9:17



"Out of the mouths of babes, Thou LORD hast perfected praise." (Matt. 21:16)
 Just as the believing Israelites praised Jesus for His wonderful works; And just as children so easily praise Him for His wonderful works in creation.  As it is written, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the ‘skies’ shows His handiwork.”  So too we need to recognize His handiwork and praise Him for the wonderful confirmations of His love and promises toward us...

 “He must increase, and WE must decrease!”

“God is telling us that everything’s gonna be alright.”

~ you can share this story using any of the links below if you wish ~

Like Father, Like Son

            Yesterday my boy had his friend Joseph from church over to spend a day and a night at our home.  While they were doing some target shooting in the backyard with the bow and arrows Joseph overshot the target and the arrow was lost.  The boys looked everywhere for the arrow scanning with their eyes back and forth over the overgrown lawn.  They didn’t see it anywhere.

            That’s when my son remembered the happenings at the apple orchard explained in the Blog post entitled, “Does He Really Care? Really?”  He decided to pray and intended to repeat my simple prayer. “LORD, you know exactly where it is. Could You please help me find it.”  According to him he prayed, “LORD, you know exactly where it is. Could You please help me…” Huh? He stopped mid-sentence and as he looked down into the tall grass he noticed the arrow’s bright feathers just barely peeking through the blades at his feet.

            I for one believe it happened just as he said.  All you have to do is read the aforementioned post to understand why I believe it.  He was ecstatic as he shared his story and I was thrilled that he is learning to trust God for the simple things so early in life.

            I have no doubt that in his life. Jesus will be magnified, and he (my son) will be growing increasingly and powerfully humble.  “He must increase, and WE must decrease!”

Pray Without Seizing

                We were heading up to the Rangeley Lakes Region here in Maine for a few days of R & R earlier this week and on the drive north the subject of prayer came up.  I don’t remember how it came up, but my nine year old daughter took the occasion to inform us that her devotional in the morning was all about that.  She said that she learned we are supposed to “pray without seizing.” To which she was astonished when we all had a good and hearty bout of laughter.

                She ordinarily is a very proficient reader but we explained to her that the word she pronounced “seizing” is actually pronounced “ceasing”.  We are supposed to pray without stopping.  We, in our minds, in our thought life, can enjoy constant unbroken heavenward dialogue.  We lovingly praise the Lord, petition for others, pray about our needs, and “yes” we do it without “seizing”.  Without grabbing, without clutching our fist, without confiscating what we think we want.  We pray saying, “LORD if you would be pleased with it, I’d like to go and do this or that.” And “LORD if it be your will I would like…”

                We bring our requests to God, we have not because we ask not, but we have to be careful not to ask amiss and pray selfishly, share your heart with the LORD, leave the answer up to Him.

“He must increase, WE must decrease.” By the way, He will and does answer.  Sometimes He answers in very clear, profound, and specific ways.  But if you’re going to expect specific answers you’ll need to get specific with your requests.

There'sabigANT in the toilet

While a very dear friend of ours was out of state for a while her 4 year old daughter, Autumn, was spending the week at our home.  One hot mid-afternoon we were all out in the pool cooling off and having some fun when Autumn decided she had to go 'pee' so I instructed her to go inside and use the toilet.

I completely forgot about her and after some time went by (maybe 10 minutes) I had a strange feeling that something wasn't right.  Then it occurred to me.  Autumn, Oh my dear, I forgot Autumn.  I got out of the pool and ran into the house dripping wet. I could hear Autumn crying, and it kind of echoed through the house. "Autumn, Autumn, where are you!" I was really worried.  Her voice led me into the bathroom where she was sitting on the pot.

"Autumn,  what is it?" I said. Through her sobbing she said what sounded like, "There'sabigANT in the toilet!, Waaaaaa, Sob, Sob." She looked terrified. I didn't do anything right away. I was ready with a lecture. "Its just a bug, it wont hurt you, quit crying it will be okay, etc.,etc." Then I repeated what I thought she said, "There's a big ant in the toilet??"

She said, "Nooooooo, I'm slipping in the toilet!".... then I realized.  She thought she was going down the drain, no wonder she looked terrified... I quickly pulled her up off the seat and placed her on the floor. " I'm so sorry Autumn. Are you alright?" , "Get dressed, lets go outside where it's warm."  The air conditioning was running and she was shaking.

I was ready to give her a four point sermon when all she wanted was help out of her trouble.  I am learning to be "swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath" as the Word says but we are so prone to jump to conclusions, speak on first impulse, or assume we understand without qualifying the situation.

"God help me to be swift to hear, help me to have compassion; to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with You. I want You to increase in my life, I want self to decrease."

The following day, 

when it was time for Autumn to do her business again,

I said "Don't fall in." 

She replied, "No, Uncie Carl, It's only when I'm slippery." 

Made me think, we need to make sure we're not 'slippery',

and when we are we need to be willing to accept the 4 point sermon.

"He Must increase, WE must decrease!"