Footsteps Have Trod
For the full poem, check it out Here
For my favorite rendition of “Good King Wenceslas” listen to it here by Rend Collective
Silent Night
Illnesses
Bowl of Soup
I love autumn and winter for many reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is that I get to eat soups. Call me strange, but I like soup, although it is not fun to eat when it is 110 degrees outside. Amanda makes some dynamite soups, and I can’t wait for cooler weather to roll in so that the soups can come out. There is an ongoing debate that Amanda and I have with some of our old friends. Is soup a meal?
In a Minute, but Not Yet…
Me on His Mind
Every autumn, something spectacular happens as the weather changes and the shifting sun in the northern hemisphere shortens our daylight hours. Trees stop producing chlorophyll as they prepare to go dormant during the colder winter months. On the surface, it is simply the process of biological systems marching on and charting their course. Yet there is an element that is lost using only biological processes… it is beautiful to behold. Few things are as
enchanting as the leaves of trees changing colors. People will travel vast distances to see the leaves change in the Fall; they say the trees in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are amazing this time of year. And yet, with all of the hullabaloo surrounding the changing of the
trees, there is no consensus in the scientific community for why it is a process that happens, merely that it does.
According to Earth.com and Harvard Forest, there are various reasons why the leaves might change colors. They list it as anything from Leaf Camouflage, Fruit Flag, Leaf Apparency, or Avoiding Camouflage. Still, in my estimation, each of these hypotheses fails to answer the
question of “Why?” Their theories contradict each other. Is it a warning to avoid that tree or to attract animals to their fruit? Take maple trees and their beautiful red leaves, for example: do they change colors to attract insects to their sugary sap (this seems counterproductive for a tree going dormant), or are they warning animals to avoid them (which would harm their ability to scatter seeds.) They state that these could be reasons, but there is no agreement or, in my opinion, a satisfactory justification for the process.
Perhaps I am being anthropocentric, focusing on this from a human perspective, but this process is delightful to the eyes. It seems God has created this unique and fantastic occurrence for us to enjoy. Leaves could turn brown and fall to the ground, yet they change to these gorgeous hues, and we are the delighted beneficiaries. What would the changing of the season be like if we were plunged into drab winter without this display of vibrancy each Fall? It highlights the march of time with one final blaze of glory before the cold, dreary months. And I love it!
When Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra, they shared this observance and discourse with the Hellenized region of modern-day Turkey, stating:
Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, preaching the gospel to you, to turn from these useless things to a living God, who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND EVERYTHING THAT IS IN THEM. 16 In past generations He permitted all the nations to go their ways; 17 yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. (Acts 14:15-17 NASB20).
The crowd is trying to worship Barnabas and Paul for healing a man who was lame from birth. They both used the opportunity to set the narrative straight as they were merely instruments of God. Yet what they say is important for us to note. Essentially, they reason that God, who made everything, also made many of these things purely for our enjoyment. The rains and harvests are to bring us food and fill our hearts with gladness. It is a tenant of our beliefs that God created everything we see with humanity in mind. The thought that God created the entire world and then set humanity as the pinnacle of that creation. The Bible spells this out for us from the beginning. These principles ground us with the notion that God has orchestrated everything from creation to salvation with Me on His Mind.
I Trust You, Use Me
Judges 6:36-40 – “Then Gideon said to God, “If You are going to save Israel through me, as You have spoken, 37 behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will save Israel through me, as You have spoken.” 38 And it was so. When he got up early the next morning and wrung out the fleece, he wrung the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me, so that I may speak only one [more] time; please let me put [You] to the test only one [more] time with the fleece: let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” 40 And God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.”
“I AM with you”
Part of the Process
Trust
Yesterday, in our marriage class, we discovered trust is the basis for any solid relationship. When you are young and infatuated, you will pursue that relationship with an excess of unearned trust. In other words, we interpret that budding relationship through “rose-colored glasses.” That infatuation will last for a while; however, we eventually begin to see our partners for who they are: flawed and human.
That is the interesting thing about relationships. Whether we recognize it or not, we are continually comparing the people in our lives to the standard of whether they will or have betrayed our trust in the past. Suppose someone has continuously let you down. You are more reluctant to believe they won’t betray your confidence in the future. When someone breaks our trust, it may seem insignificant; however, day after day, those minor disappointments add up, and we hesitate to allow others unfettered access to our hearts and lives.
Because we are human, we will fail; that is a given reality: we are not perfect. Therefore, we must augment our failures with repentance and make amends for our mistakes in our relationships. If I told Amanda I would take out the trash and then forget to do this, it would violate the trust she placed in me. To counteract this lapse in character, I need to apologize, and then the next time, I need to follow through on what I say. Although this may be a simple and straightforward example, it is one that we should be aware of. Even the little things add up over time, and we should constantly be willing to bolster the areas where we have fallen short.
This is far different than the relationship that we have with God. In human relationships, we know that it is two flawed people living in association with each other- we operate on the assumption that over time, both of us will fail, and we account for those errors. The Bible presents us with a God demonstrated as a Rock that cannot be moved, and while everything else will crumble around us, including our most intimate of relationships, He never will. Therefore, Jesus gives us these comforting words.
Matthew 7:24-29 – “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 “And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and [yet] it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 “And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and it fell–and its collapse was great.” 28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
There is only One on which we can base our entire lives. Everything else will fail us at some point. People, Possessions, and Power are all untrustworthy. We might try to prop them up as if they have any potential to rescue or save us, but we ultimately know the reality. They will let us down, break our trust, and ruin our lives. However, God never will leave us, not forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5). His word is a Rock that can sustain us even in the harshest storms. God never has failed, and He never will. And therefore, we can build our lives around Him and His Word. We can also say in confidence that we have God we can trust.
Power Move
1 Corinthians 13:11- “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
1 Corinthians 14:20 – “Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.”
1 Corinthians 13:12-13 – “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 14:26 – “What is the outcome then, brothers and sisters? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things are to be done for edification.”
Carry Forever
Now, we have closed-circuit television cameras and the ability to record virtually everything 24/7. Yet, for the majority of human history, we have relied on eyewitness testimony because when a significant event happens, someone who was there will have it etched into their minds forever. If you want to know what happened, you can ask them, and you trust their testimony, especially if additional witnesses can corroborate it.
“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. 10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me–and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.”