Wet Noodle

I think this will be my biggest stretch in analogies yet ....but again....my brain works in mysterious ways!

I was boiling pasta the other day....got distracted and the result was not a very good one.
and it got me thinking ..isn't that like sin?

We have rules/directions when we cook.  It is the same in our Christian life, but our directions are found in the bible.  The bible gives us what we need to know about sin.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:7-8

 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18

Sin can seem okay...."I got this"..."It is only a little" "a short time"  "just once" etc etc....but then we can get distracted while in the middle of the sin.
The longer we remain in sin...the less effective we will be.  We won't be serving the purpose we were designed for!
The pasta didn't even look the shape it was supposed to be when I put it in, it began to fall apart, it was unable to hold it's integrity.
The longer we remain in sin...thinking it isn't doing any damage....the more it causes changes, in how we look or act to those around us.  We lose our effectiveness, our ability to serve others.

 I can strain and run cold water over the limp noodles  and they will suffice, but they definitely would have  much better if  I had paid closer attention to the directions and not gotten distracted in the first place.

But unlike the pasta we have redemption!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
1 Corinthians 5:17

We can be made new and whole.  Ready to serve our purpose!

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
 as far as the east is from the west,    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

 But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away.   1 John 1:7

So if you feel "boiled" beyond usefulness, beyond redemption, take heart! There is hope!

No matter how long we have been "stuck in the boiling water", stuck in our sin...we just need to call out to Him, the One who can save us, forgive us, redeem us and restore us!

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
 who satisfies your desires with good things    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.    Psalm 103:1-5

AMEN!

Labor Day

I started this on actual Labor Day (sorry it took me 2 days to finish!).  I thought I would look at a few of the things about labor in scripture.

It doesn't sound like there was much "labor" before sin entered the garden/world....and then part of their/our consequence of that sin was to labor and till the soil and for women to labor in child birth.
To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.”

 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
    through painful toil you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.
 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.
 By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are    and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:16-19

From that point on sin was here and we ALL were to labor!


BUT remember we were also called to set forth the Lord's day to be holy...to rest from that labor!
Even God did!
 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3

 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  Exodus 20:10-11

As we go into the new testament I see labor a bit differently....we are called to "work out our salvation"  it reads; faith without "works"  meaning action, is pointless, dead.  We must DO something!
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,  for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17

To me that sort of labor should not get old....should not make us weary....working out our salvation...putting action to our faith...working for the LORD!
 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10

 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16 (HCSV)

NOW THAT IS Labor Day!!!  Each day working, doing what we do, to bring glory to the Lord!!


 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

AMEN!!

Do Something. Matthew West

What's In A Song

In June one of my blogs was in reference to a song; Good Good Father. [Good Good Father  words by Pat Barrett and Tony Brown]
I heard that song sung by our pastor a week ago at Bible Camp...and I have found myself listening  to it every day..at least once, by Chris Tomlin or Casting Crowns.  It is a good song... But not sure why I have been so drawn to it of late.
I want to share with you a couple of the things, truths if you will, that have jumped out and grabbed me while listening this week.

"You're a Good Good Father, it's who You are....who You are."
It IS who He is.  He IS goodness.  There is no evil or bad in Him.  Everything good and perfect comes from Him who is...good and perfect.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11


 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14

It is just WHO. HE. IS!

"I am loved by You. It's who I am ...who I am."
Now make sure you notice it isn't "and I am in love with You...it's who I am."
We are LOVED by God....regardless of whether or not we deserve it or even if we love Him back.  We are LOVED by Him.....and that is who we are whether we like it or choose it...we were created by Him and LOVED by Him and it IS who we are!
No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:27

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

 We love because he first loved us  1 John 4:19

The next thing that struck me was 

"You are perfect in all of Your ways......to us."
It is US that need His perfection.

He is perfection, but to those in the heavenly realms....the Holy Spirit, His Son Jesus...who are also perfect....His perfection doesn't need to be "proven or shown"   He doesn't need to "show" His perfection in heaven, because it IS perfection.  Because we are not perfect we NEED His perfection to redeem us!  To US He is perfect in ALL of his ways!

It just comes down to believing and trusting He is Good, and Loving and Perfect!

I pray that you have acknowledged His Goodness,  Perfection and Love for you!!

 You can click here and listen
Good Good Father  by Casting Crowns   Or go to YouTube and find your favorite version!

The Cross

My intention wasn't to have the last several devotions be connected...but that seems to be how God has been showing me things.  Bridge Work sort of followed the Road Signs.  And today's is about the Cross...which is basically how I left it with Bridge Work! 

In my reading today a question was asked "when you hear the word 'cross' what does it mean to you?" "To you, is the meaning of the cross ...historical?...religious?...personal?"
At the end of the reading it wanted me to complete a sentence "For me the cross of Christ means..
[Do You Believe? 40-day Devotional by Robert Noland]

So of  course the song that I included in my last blog by Point of Grace plays in my head!  "There's a cross to bridge the great divide!"

The CROSS that Christ died on was more than an instrument of execution...as they were in history.

It is more than a scene of Christ dying on the cross depicted in all forms of artwork.

Or at least I hope it is more than these things to you. 

For me the Cross is personal.  Yes, it is historical, because it was God's design to save us from sin...to have His only Son die upon that cross.

BUT if it just stays historical fact, which isn't disputed by too many historians, then personally, spiritually we miss the point of the Cross of Christ!

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Also, if it remains a religious symbol. There is the image of Christ suffering on the cross....hanging by His hands and feet. OR an empty cross, which symbolizes the risen Savior...One who was not defeated by death, or the cross!  Something that hangs in our churches or around our necks or off our ears or tattooed on our bodies, but has no personal meaning...again we have missed the point.

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. Acts 10:39-40

I pray that the historical and religious meaning of the cross are extremely personal to you today, that the message of the cross is not foolishness to you, but it defines who you are!

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians 1:15-23

My answer?

"For me the cross of Christ means...

that moment when Christ took MY sins, saw MY face and died...for ME. 

Photo by Rachel Ramsdell

Bridge Work

I was traveling around our country side the other day with my daughter.  We had to travel through several small and not so small towns. And of course there was road construction and also several areas where there was "bridge work" going on....which made me grin 😁 ..."there should be a set of dentures on the sign!" (get it...BRIDGE work!" 😂) okay, okay
After that brief, silly thought came a post script to my Road Signs blog 2 weeks ago.
Rather than it being a pain, an inconvenience, an irritation, we should be grateful!  Without the repair work the under pinning and support of that bridge could be in disrepair in a short time.
And bridge construction is necessary to cross a divide, to close the gap so that we can reach the other side and our destination.
AND as it is with us!
The only bridge that can cross the chasm of sin that gapes between  God and us is Jesus Christ!

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

 The Lord said in the book of Ezekiel that He could find no one....at that time to stand before Him in the gap.
“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. Ezekiel 22:30

But He sent Christ to do that for us! 
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:5-6
Can I get an AMEN!

All it takes is our first step in asking for Christ to come into our life, forgive our sins and bridge that gap! and unlike the bridge work around here....it will be done in the blink of an eye!  Your sins will be covered and the chasm between you and God no longer present!  Amazing!
BUT just as actual bridges ...ours need to be tended to and not just periodically....daily!
We must spend time with the "Project Engineer"  the designer of our bridge.  We must maintain its structural integrity.  The "blueprints are right in God's Word! 


The chorus to a song by Point of Grace just keeps running through my head...and sums up what I am trying to say;

There's a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the father, cost his son
His life
His love is deep, his love is wide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide

click on this link to listen to the whole song!

The Great Divide. Point of Grace


My prayer is that you have taken that step and asked Christ to bridge that gap, and that chasm of sin is covered, forgiven....and that you are doing "bridge work" daily!!

God is in the Discouragement

We all have discouraging times, don't we?
In this world you will have trouble. a section of John 16:33

Times that dont go as we have planned, when things don't go our way.  Not major tragedies, but smaller things that just make us angry, grumpy, discontent.

I want to tell you a little story, about someone who went through just that.
He had planned a hike, no small hiking trip..
It took a year to plan; schedules, food, how they would divide up the 133 miles into 8 doable days. All the gear they would need, but make sure they could actually carry it.  Dates were set...vacation time taken, rides and food drops arranged.
He had even worked at strengthening his back, as that had been causing him pain and issues, but back was doing well!
The time had arrived and the hike began!
And within a couple hours something was wrong...his hip was causing him so much pain he could barely lift a leg to step over anything on the trail.  They realized they had been dropped at (want they believed) to be the wrong starting point...so instead of  7 miles to the first lean-to...it was going to be over 11.  By 530pm, after just over 7 miles they got to a point on the trail where a sign said 5 more miles to the lean-to...there was also a sign that said "Road 1.5 miles". He knew he could not make it, couldn't take another step, not in the pain he was in...his fellow hikers agreed. And even with no lean-to they made camp for the night.
In the morning after discussing the possibility of the other 2 continuing on and just Kevin heading out, they all agreed that all of them would be done.  They felt they really needed to lighten packs and were concerned at their current weight they might not have been able to finish either.
So out to the road and to find a house.  There was one home, the resident was home and let his phone be used.  He left immediately after the call was made, he had been heading out.  If they had been 5 minutes longer, he would not have been home for the phone to be used.  Remember there is no cell service where they were, actually so much over growth that the GPS satellite  tracker wouldn't even send out signals. Kevin's brother in-law was reached....he usually is out on a bike ride in areas where there is no cell service, but didn't feel up to riding that morning....so was home to get the call to come pick them up.  He was about an hour and a half away.  Once he got there and they had loaded up and driven far enough to get phone service I was called.  I wasn't working and the plans I had were flexible enough that several hours later I was able to meet them half way in Keene to retrieve Kevin and bring him home!
Now I don't know if I wrote this in such a way as for you to see..... a MAJOR disappointment, but I see God's hand at every turn!  And so do they!  IF they had been dropped off at the location they wanted they would have made it in to the 1st lean-to....then have to decide to do 7 miles back out....or continue on, neither of which Kevin's hip was up to.  That the gentleman was home for them to call.
That his brother-in-law was home and able to come right away.
AND the orthopedic got Kevin in Monday and told him tendonitis and gave him a cortisone shot....so that by the time he has to work Sunday he should be okay!


 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

In this world we are going to be discouraged, BUT Christ himself said "TAKE HEART!"  He is there in it!

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

My prayer is that you find strength in HIM today....no matter what discouragement or obstacles are in your way!

Traffic signs

I am going to talk about road signs....but these are our own...personal signs....ones that may not be leading us anywhere good or productive or anywhere near God!

STOP ....you stop right where you are. You want to live your life how you want....won't let go of things that are detrimental and contrary to God's purpose and will.  So you STOP, unwilling to move ahead.

U TURN - you head in the right direction....but something keeps turning you around ...back to where you started. Old habits, old sins, Satan himself whispering lies that keep you from staying in the right direction.

YEILD....you move ahead cautiously....not sure if you should step forward or not. You get nowhere fast.

NO TURN ON RED:  God gives us clear warnings of how to live our lives and how NOT to live our lives and yet we turn and go down that path anyway.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  Matthew 7:13-14


Those are OUR signs...
GOD gives us clear ones. We need to follow His for our journey to be in the right direction and His are pretty simple to understand....

LOVE....the LORD you God with all your heart soul mind and strength

LOVE ...your neighbor as yourself

LOVE one another

The greatest of these is LOVE

One sign covers all our directions!

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matthew 22:34-40

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. John 14:2

 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Sometimes we need to pull off to the rest area....but it is not a detour or a stop...it is just a rest, so that we can regroup and focus on the creator of our "road map".
I find it interesting NY state has"Text Stop" areas now....so we can safely pause our travels and communicate, because things are so urgent it can't wait until we get there?! (A bit of sarcasm there)
But in our spiritual walk things may be just that urgent and we don't want to continue in the direction we are headed without time with God!  Pull off and communicate with God... before you go any further in the destructive direction you might be headed. Figure out the direction He wants you to go and then recalculate your route.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  Matthew 16:24

His signs are usually very clear IF you want to see them. And sometimes His trip will include rough road, stormy weather, even fog and poor visibility.  BUT if we spend time with Him, study His "Road Map" (the bible) and communicate in prayer we will see His "road signs" clearly and have confidence, faith we are headed in the right direction!

If we LOVE God with all our being we will desire His direction.
If we LOVE all those around us before ourselves we will be serving God in our best capacity.
and we will be "cruisin'!'

Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. John 12:26

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27

He speaks to each of us...."COME FOLLOW ME."
I pray you are looking for His "road signs" today! 

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
AMEN!