Corn Maze

I have never been in a corn maze...have always wanted to....maybe this year!  My husband has begun a side job on a local farm that annually does a corn maze.
If you do not know what I am referring to it is when they take a fairly large area of a corn field and cut pathways with-in it....in a maze.  Paticipants walk through figuring out the pattern and trying to get to get out or "home"!  It is like those paper mazes you would follow with a crayon or pencil....only human size!
So where am I going with this??!!
Over a year ago my middle daughter went to this corn maze...with the man who is now her husband.  (This was before they were married.) We were talking about the experience over the weekend and she made a statement that inspired this blog.
"I just took his hand and let him lead."
Did you hear that??!!
I just took His hand and let Him lead!!!
Should be the statement of a Christian walking through the maze of life!
Could it be any simpler than that??
We accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, the boss of our life.  We then should take His hand and follow!
📖For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;    I will help you. Isaiah 41:13
But how many times do we rush ahead...find ourselves down a dead end path?  We get ourselves so turned around we don't know if we will ever find "home".
But His hand is always right there...for us to reach out and take.

📖 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”  Matthew 14:31

Then my daughter went on to say " I would never have found my way with out him."
😳 I could NEVER find my way without Him!
We can travel through this maze of life but without Jesus Christ holding our hand we will NOT get Home!
📖 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

This week seems to go "hand in hand" (pun intended) with last week's Out Of Hand blog and I believe next weeks will spin off from this one in the direction of Home!

No matter what turns you have made, what wrong path you have taken ....reach out your hand to Jesus...He is waiting to take yours and lead you on the only path through this maze!!
📖 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:24

🎵 Please click on the video.  It is a version of Precious Lord, Take My Hand that I liked and made a power point.  Please enjoy! (the song was written by Thomas A. Dorsey. This particular arrangement is done by Carroll Roberson and the pictures are Rachel Ramsdell Photography)

PS there could be a whole other blog on how the statements my daughter made could go a long way in strengthening a marriage!

Out of Hand

Have you heard the saying..."things are out of hand"?
"My schedule is getting out of hand!"   "My diet is getting out of hand!"  "My_____ is out-of -hand!"
We may have heard something like this...or even said it ourselves.....
Got me thinking! (of course)

What if it is "out-of-hand" because maybe it is in the wrong hands??

📖 But I trust in you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hands;
    deliver me from the hands of my enemies,    from those who pursue me. Psalm 31:14-15

Maybe if things seem a bit, or a lot, out of control ...it may be because WE are trying to do the controlling....of things better left to God.

There are things we are told we DO have control of....
Our tongues:
📖 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Psalm 34:13

📖 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body Ephesians 4:25

📖  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Ephesians 4:29-30

This is not an easy task as you can read in James 3:1-12

Our actions and reactions:
📖  “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.  Ephesians 4:26-27

📖 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:37-40

 Read the whole account of the the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25

📖 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:43-45

 We have control of OUR actions, behavior and responses....beyond that we can not control the outcome...the future...even if we THINK we can control others.
📖   For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

📖 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight  Proverbs 3:5-6

📖 In their hearts humans plan their course,but the Lord establishes their steps.  Proverbs 16:9.

📖 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.  

You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,

even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty

They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139

God knows us and every fiber of our being, AND He knows our future!  So instead of feeling like life is "out-of-hand" put it back into the Hands that made it....

📖 Lord, I put my life in your hands.

2 I trust in you, my God,

and I will not be disappointed. Psalm 35:1-2   

AMEN!

🎵Potter's Hand by Hillsong

Humility Is a Verb

This is a topic that I have touched on before (The Lies Others Are Told  -  6/4/2019)
....maybe a bit different, some different scripture.  But I feel strongly that it is what I was to write about this week....

📖  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. Romans 12:3

Humility isn't in saying..."Oh, they are better than me".
"I am not the most beautiful, I am not popular."
"I am no good...worthless"
Even just acknowledging that someone can do better isn't really what humility is.

HUMILITY
It is an attitude of the heart,

That moves with empathy

And is acted out in compassion

Jesus did not behave as if He were better than the people He ministered to, as others did.
Click on the link for the account of
📖 The Woman at the Well  John 4:7-30
Here was a woman, who for several reasons was avoided by those who passed judgement on her...thought they were better....maybe because they were born to a different region, made "better" choices, and other reasons I am sure.
Jesus visits with her, even accepts a drink of water from her.
 Jesus, being willing to step in and "consort" with the "undesirable", was living the example of GRACE.
📖 John 8:2-11 Click to read about the adultress.
This woman obviously had gotten herself into a bad situation, one that was going to cost her her life. Jesus didn't look at what she had done or make the judgement call that she wasn't worth the effort.  He stepped up, over that "line" and went right to her...basically stands in the line of fire and says "stop" this treatment. (Which was, mind you, the consequence of the day)
Jesus was seeking MERCY for the girl.

Jesus took humility to an all new level;

📖 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus;

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11

Jesus DID humility....His empathy for people MOVED Him into close proximity with them and His compassion demanded Him to DO something for them... for us....even to die for us!

Empathy, humility is seen, not heard.
It isn't in what we SAY....it is in what we DO!.
Jesus, who had the authority AND the power to condemn those two women, did NOT....He didn't even judge ...He offered them Himself,  and after their encounter with Him He knew they were changed.(at least that is what I see!)
^📖 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” John 4:7:28-29

📖 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”   “No one, sir,” she said.   “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” John 8:10-11

WE just need to offer ourselves....our help, our time, our grace, our compassion and then they will see Jesus!  In our obedience to Christ...they will see Him!

We need to remember in doing that it does not mean we agree, or even condone their choices ...but we show them compassion, empathy, respect for this individual that God loves, that Christ died for.
📖  For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:9-11
Because HE DID!  He died for everyone of us!

We don't have to like a person's choices, there are people who don't like our choices....
but we have to love them...enough to pray for them.

Because IF we love someone enough to truly pray for them, from the heart out of a Christ-like love, then it is hard to look down on them.  Because we know that Christ doesn't, 

📖 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34

(And I see no better way to end this blog than with the words of Christ Himself!)💗