All in Faith/Trust

The Impact of Fear

In the picture above, Duke and I are on our daily walk. Normally Duke walks by my side. However, notice his leash is tight, and he has a cowardly position. Every morning when we walk by this certain home, Duke shifts to the center of the street, getting as far away from the house as possible. Something happened near this home that scared Duke. Out of fear, Duke has left my side.

Rescued from Emptiness

Duke, our labrador retriever, seldom retrieves a ball in our yard. However, the first time we took Duke to our land, he quickly found the pond and plunged in. Don threw a stick into the water. Duke immediately swam to the stick and brought it back. Duke retrieved the stick again and again and again. With his webbed feet, he is designed to swim and retrieve. He naturally does what he’s created to do.

Listen and Live Freely

Recently on a trip from the country into the city, I drove by a dense forest. It looked beautiful from a distance. But as I looked closely, I could see most of the trees were covered in thick vines that had climbed to the tree-tops, blocking the light from reaching them. This was not a healthy forest.

Seek Heaven

When I was young, I thought the Colorado mountains were so beautiful that as a child I asked my mom, “Are we in heaven?”

 What if… we really could just drive into heaven?

 What if… it could be that easy to get there?

Interludes

In the big picture it seems to me we are in the greatest interlude of all, from Eden to Eternity. God’s intent was not that we’d so quickly be tossed out of paradise to spend our days in disarray. But we chose to sin, so we are in limbo as have been God’s people from Adam down through Abraham to Moses to Daniel till Jesus. Ah, but this one will end in the perfect peace of eternity future.

Mat-Carrying, Roof-Raising Friends

It didn’t take long for Jesus’ ministry to take off following His forty days of temptation in the desert (4:1-13). Luke is peppered with brief snapshots of Him teaching, healing, connecting with the people: the news about (Jesus) spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of all their sicknesses (5:15).

An Aroma that Impacts

We believers are to be the fragrance of Christ in this world. As you and I are filled with the Spirit, His fragrance flows through our words and actions. Is the fragrance of Christ permeating the world through you? Are you so filled with the Spirit of Christ, that His fragrance can’t help but flow from you?  

The Greater Wealth

Think of your favorite scene that brings you contentment. It brings peace, no more want. It is the thought that if I could just live here… life would be good! Is it a home with a beautiful view of a landscape of lush rolling green fields? Or a beachside view? Or maybe a home with a view of a mountain range?

Owl Eyes

What a lovely May day it was. As I gazed out my back window, mesmerized by the deep blues of the hydrangeas and the emerging pinks and reds of the roses, a couple of horn-rimmed eyeballs caught my attention. What in the world was an owl doing in my pecan?

Sauntering

As I longed to be out on the mountain trails this summer, the following quote by John Muir, writer and naturalist, caught my eye:

“People ought to saunter in the mountains, not hike! …people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre, to the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.”

God's Enabling Call

God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, a voice of truth to a nation who desperately needed to listen to God. God’s call to Jeremiah was clear. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).

Created with Purpose

The hot pan holders I made serve the purpose of keeping hands from burning when picking up something hot. Ephesians 2:10 tells us God made us for a purpose. Every human being has a God-given purpose. He made us with meaning and a reason to be here.

So, what are we to do with this information?