#GarbageGuru

 We were ankle deep, literally, in leaves every autumn.  Raking and gathering bags and blisters in the process, I would take these bags and branches to the local land fill.  There always were left over ones and fallen apples from the apple trees and so, I began a compost pile. I became a garbage guru.  Compost is wonderful.  It is dirt turned into soil.  Using garbage such as potato peals and apple peals and orange peals and leaves and dirt, everything but meat and fats, time and heat and worms and regular turning will produce rich soil.

This process of using the laws God put into place working garbage into something useful just demonstrates how God can turn our personal garbage into something good.  God has plainly stated that we all are sinners.  We sin because we have a nature that is prone to sin.  This nature is not garbage.  It is worse.  This nature is worse than radio active.  It is deadly and will end us up in damnation.

But, Scripture tells us that Emanuel, God in the flesh, took care of all that radio activity on the cross where all our sins were completely paid for.  Sin is no longer our problem, but the sin nature has to be dealt with personally by each one of us.  God told us the solution in His Word.  "To as many as received Jesus" this means that we believe that Jesus as the God-man took upon himself all sin and paid for it by shedding His own innocent blood and "to them that believe, God gives the authority to become His children."           John 1:12.

As a born again child of God, we still have garbage in our lives.  We can choose to live with that stinky stuff or we can choose to deal with it.  We can place fear and gossip and worry and procrastination and pride and resentment and bitterness and selfishness and sensuality and jealousy and I could go on, into God's compost pile.  God is a garbage genius.  With the heat of God's light in His word and some aerating using prayer, God can make good out of stinky stuff.

He can and does produce good fruit using good soil that has been produced from garbage.  The fruit will replace the garbage and you will see love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.  You can really live with these and others will enjoy living with you, too.

#BringItOn

 A dollar bill was given to each of us with the intention of placing it in an envelope to be put in the offering plate at Sunday School every Sunday.  My father was making sure that we three girls got into the habit of giving.  It really wasn't teaching us how to budget our own resources, but it instilled in me the fact that God expects us to give.

When I found my church home in my new location, I began tithing from my earnings.  Something prompted me to begin rounding up about a year ago.  It was an act of faith, because I didn't have any more resources, but was concerned about the state of our world.

That is when things started happening.  Sometime in April the government sent me, along with many others, a $1200.00 check. Then, I was offered six weeks off work because of the 'plague' and with pay.  I did take advantage of that.  We had a contest at work in May and I won two $25.00 gift cards, winning two contests in a row. Within those two weeks, a friend just handed me a $50.00 gift card to a nail salon. I was being amazed at all this when I remembered God's promise - "Give, and it shall be given to you in good measure, pressed down and running over" - Luke 6:38.

Later in August while I was in Iowa for my grandson's wedding, my son and daughter-in-law presented me with a wonderful and expensive, by my standards, shopping spree.  It just doesn't stop!! You can't out give God.  He will be a debtor to no man, or woman.  He really means it when He says in Malachi 3:10 "Test Me" "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house and TEST Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for a blessing until it overflows."

This is not the kind of testing that is crossing the line of going against God's will, but it is extending faith and showing God that you trust Him and know He will provide, somehow.  It is giving Him the opportunity to bring glory to His Word.  I am having fun at this 'rounding up' and am saying, "Father God, bring it on!"

#PressureCooking101

Even a novice cook can create a great meal using The Pressure Cooker.  Just by following the instructions that come with the cooker, one can make a delicious, nutritious meal.  The principal of pressure cooking allows the heat and steam created inside the pot to force seasonings inside the meat and tenderize it at the same time, ready to serve.  Timing is important.  If you are not watching and the heat increases, the lid can blow off and that can make a mess.

Back in the history of Israel when the people were put in slavery by Egypt, it can be considered that God had put them in a pressure cooker.  He was watching over the 400 years that the pot was on the fire.  Finally, the hearts of the people had been tenderized and they reached out to their God for relief.  That was when Pharaoh was placed in the pressure cooker.  God sent nine plagues to tenderize Pharaoh's heart, but it did not work.  This man hardened his heart with each plague and became more determined to do harm to God's chosen people.  When the tenth plague of the death of the first born was sent that was when the lid blew off and those six million people left the slavery of Egypt and headed for the promised land.

You and I are often put in the pressure cooker.  Each situation is perfectly designed for each believer in order to tenderize us.  While we are busily comparing ourselves to each other and coming out looking pretty good, God knows our hearts and sees that changes need to be made. You can't, by the best intentions and the strongest will power, change your stripes. Even if you could, your standards are not as good as God's.  He has good in mind, yet, we are in the pain of the pressure cooker and cannot see what God sees.  We just want the heat to be lowered and to be taken out of the pot.

We have a choice to make.  We can resist and harden out hearts or we can relent and let God have His way. The God who sees is constantly watching and knows exactly how much heat and how long to keep the pressure on to make you ready to serve. The very act of trusting God in the hard, hot places is what faith is all about. As Job said, "Tho He slay me, yet, will I trust Him."

Are you ready to serve?

#SlightlyRisky

The Blackhawk  was heavy. Not only did it carry a full crew and their equipment, but there was also eight firemen, their equipment, plus shovels and pick axes. They were flying to a mountain in Yellowstone National Park. Three states were engulfed in raging fires and the firemen were to dig trenches to try to halt the blaze. My son was the pilot and this was his first mission as a Pilot-In-Command. He would need all his schooling and training to accomplish this dangerous mission.  The lives on board and the $10,000,000.00 bird that had been entrusted to him was always his primary concern - getting back home safely.

He picked a spot on the top of a mountain and attempted to land.  He was too heavy and there was not enough power to control the rotors.  It was at 12,000 feet where the air is very thin and gusts of wind were coming from different directions.  He had learned to made sure there was an escape route before landing.  He quickly flew down the side of the mountain and gained power and flew around for another approach.  One more attempt and the same problem developed.  The engines were screaming.  Down the side of the mountain he went a second time and all the while he was burning fuel and becoming lighter.  The third attempt was successful and with a big "whew" he told the fire fighters to get out quickly.  When he finished telling me this story he said, "It was risky business, but, boy, did I learn so much on that mission."

Walking by faith is 'risky business' also.  Peter came to my mind later and the episode he had that became risky business.  Jesus had told the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of Lake Galilee and He would come to them later.  They had gone a good distance when the wend became strong and 'contrary'.  Then Jesus came to them walking on the water.  They became terrified, but Peter asked Jesus to ask him to "come to You on the water." Jesus said, "Come."  Peter believed his Lord and got out of the boat and started walking on the water.  The wind and big waves distracted him and he became frightened.  It was risky business, this walking on water and fear dispelled faith and he began to sink.  Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and saved him.  Jesus was Peter's escape route.

A believer's walk of faith can be risky business.  We sense God leading us to do something and we ask for guidance and we get out of our comfort zone and begin moving forward.  Most usually there are obstacles ahead.  Hardly ever is it smooth sailing.  The obstacles can put doubts in our minds, if we are not steadily looking to Jesus and fear can develop, or we can just know that Jesus has our backs and overcome.  He is faithful, no matter the circumstances and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your faith and will provide the way of escape.  If you don't get out of your safe boat you will never know His faithfulness or learn how to overcome.