Toll Roads & Trees

Life in God’s Garden

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.  And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:8-9

I drive 5 days a week on a toll road.  So if you are like me and drive 30 or so miles a day twice a day, you have plenty of time to observe what’s on the toll road.  All summer long I have watched road crews planting.  I am not talking about a few trees here and there.  Every day there would be 10 to 20 flats of potting soil stacked in rows along the side of the road.  So if I had to calculate how many large bags of potting soil were on a flat I would say it was probably 24 stacked 6 deep and there would be 10 to 20 in a row lined along the side of the road.  So if you take 24 bags times 10 you have 240 bags of potting soil per section of highway.  Bet you didn’t think you would get a math lesson this early in the morning.

Anyway, I started thinking about the plants that were stacked on the side of the road.  Instead of taking you through the math again, I will just say that there were literally hundreds of various types of plants stacked along the side of the road waiting to be planted.  There were sage bushes, various types of long grasses, cedar trees, flowering bushes and any number of plants that I didn’t even recognize. 

I don’t really understand this concept.  If I am driving down the freeway to and from work, I really don’t care that there are beautiful flowering plants in the medians.  It would be different if I was going to have a picnic or something in the median, but I really don’t need beautiful medians.  I would have preferred they transplanted the trees that were already there instead of ripping them out with a bulldozer.  I would much rather see a reduction in the amount of the tolls that I am paying each month, instead the tolls went up in July.  I am thinking this is to pay for the plants and trees they are planting on the side of the road plus all the great potting soil. 

I really appreciate the sign at the end of the toll road that I drive on that reads “Thank You for Driving the NTTA”.   Really it should read “Thank you for helping us plant beautiful landscaping for 30 miles.” 

We live in a wasteful society.  When our city built a new Super Target where the old one used to be, they literally came in and took a bulldozer and demolished every tree in the parking lot.  These were not small trees since they had been there for years. So they bulldozed all the trees and replaced them with you guessed it, “new trees”.  Now instead of me going to target and parking under the shade of a large tree in 105 degree temperatures, I can park next to a short bush that will take 10 more years to grow into a tree that offers shade. 

God created a perfect balance for us to inhabit earth and we are making a real mess of what He gave us. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created everything on earth and I don’t always appreciate Your majesty through the very things you created.  Help me to live as a tree bearing fruit that is worthy of You.  I praise Your Name above all others.  

Scripture: John Preaches to the People

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Luke 3:7-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Gifts

Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for your benefit.  Rick Warren

Looking back on my life I wish I knew then what I know now.  If I had really studied about spiritual gifts I would have done a lot of things differently in my past.  God has a plan for each of us but sometimes we derail ourselves so to speak.  By that I mean we are either influenced by someone around us to become something God never called us to be or we bulldoze ahead because our motivation is money or fame or whatever else catches our attention.  The thing is I know I can learn to be anything I want to be adequately or less than adequately.  The question I have to ask myself is “What has God given me the gifts to be?”

A good analogy of this would be if I decided to be a doctor.  I could go to school and study hard and pass all the exams but if my spiritual gift has not called me to be a doctor I will be mediocre at best.  You probably wouldn’t want me to operate on you.  Some people say they have a passion for a certain type of work.  I think what they may not realize is that the very thing they have passion for is most likely one of their spiritual gifts. 

Sadly enough, in today’s society, more education dollars are spent on teaching young people the pursuit of occupations that pay more than the pursuit of what God has called them to be.  Let me give you an example.  For many years I worked in accounting.  There were parts of it that I liked, but the majority of it I didn’t enjoy.  So for 15 years or so I worked at doing what I didn’t really enjoy.  This is not to say that you should work only for the purpose of enjoyment but I do think that when you are doing what God has called you to do, joy becomes a by-product of your work. 

Several years ago I took several tests to help me determine my spiritual gifts.  I took the same test again this week and my spiritual gifts have not changed. If I want to live up to God’s plan for my life, my focus should be on the gifts He gave me.  I wish more schools placed more emphasis on spiritual gifts instead of worldly gifts.  I think we would have fewer job changes because we would be using the talents that God gave us instead of the ones we pursue that are of this world.  . 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You blessed me with spiritual gifts when I was born.  Unfortunately it took me many years to see and understand what those gifts are and how to use them.  I pray that You will help me to utilize the gifts You gave me to influence those around me for Your purposes.  I was slow in finding and understanding them, but I want to use them to the best of my ability for Your glory.   

Scripture:  For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.  For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one  another.   Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;  he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.  Romans 12:3-8

The Gift

For the believer in Jesus, every trial of suffering is an opportunity to grow in the faith, to grow in our relationship with the Lord, and to see Him work in our lives in a uniquely personal way that demonstrates His compassion, His comfort, His tender mercies, His loving kindnesses, His grace, and His endless love. Only God knows what each of us needs to experience and learn in order to be "conformed to the image of his Son".  T.A. McMahon

Such was God's original love for man that He was willing to stoop to any sacrifice to save him; and the gift of a Saviour was the mere expression of that love.  Albert Barnes

Have you ever received a gift that just blew you away?  It’s that special gift that exceeds all your expectations.  I am blessed to have received in my lifetime gifts that simply reached out and grabbed my heart.  These are the gifts that made you break down because they were so special. 

I received one such gift this week.  I have a cousin who lives in Michigan and this week I received a box in the mail.  My cousin and I had talked about a month ago and she told me she had been working on a gift for me for about a year and she told me that I couldn’t laugh when I saw it because it was as imperfect as she is. 

I couldn’t imagine what it could be so when I received this box with her return address on it I thought, “This is it.  The gift made specifically for me that was imperfect.”  I couldn’t wait to open it.  I read all the signs on the box that told me how to open the package. 

As I lifted the flaps of the box and removed the tissue I sat back in awe and tears ran down my face.  Enclosed in the box was the most beautiful afghan I have ever seen.  The card enclosed told me what the colors of the afghan mean.  I am going to give you an excerpt from the card.  “It is my first attempt.  It has so many flaws, some loops are bigger than others, the sides are a little un-even, but every loop was done with 100% love.  It’s done representing you and me.  The purples are for you- as it is your favorite color and the greens are for me.  I hope I add just a little color to your Life!  I know you have mine!  Words can’t express how much you mean to me.” 

Throughout my life I have been loved.  This is not the first gift of love I have received in my lifetime.  There is the cross-stitched picture I received from my sister that hangs over my fireplace.  This is not your sampler cross-stitch.  It is probably 3’ x 4’ and every stitch was done with love.  I have the scarf my Mom crocheted for me while I was going through chemo treatments.  Then there is the silver cross my sister gave me after I was diagnosed with cancer.  I could go on and on about special gifts but the most important part about each one is they were given with love.  This is the kind of love that reaches in and grabs your heart and won’t let go. 

There are times when I can’t even comprehend this kind of love.  There is one other gift that I received that reaches in and grabs my heart.  Jesus died on the cross so that I may live.  That is the gift of a lifetime and it’s not just a gift to me.  It is a gift to each of us if we choose to accept it.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for surrounding me with individuals who love me.  It has shown me over the years glimpses of You.  You gave Your Son to die on the cross for my sin so that I can have eternal life.  There are no words that can express that kind of love.  I praise You for the sacrifice that cost another’s life but saved mine.   

Scripture:  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.  And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.  Romans 5:12-19

Lying When the Truth Would Sound Better

Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behavior will be transformed.  Charles Stanley

I was listening to the news this morning and they were talking about the baseball players who were suspended for using steroids.  It made me think of lying.  I have committed the sin of lying in my lifetime.  Lying has become a disease of epidemic proportions.  It is going to kill more people than any other disease known to man.

Where do we learn to lie?  It has to be a learned thing because we aren’t born knowing how to lie.  I think we learn to lie from a lot of sources.  We learn from our parents, friends, spouses and peers.  We also learn it from society.  Society is the best place to learn how to lie. 

Children learn from watching others.  What do they see on a daily basis?  The sports figures they admire lie about the drugs they take to enhance their performance on the field, actors and actresses lie about driving drunk, crashing their car or any number of things. 

But lies are not limited to famous people.  They exist in our families, friends, acquaintances and peers.  This started me thinking about why I lied in the past.  The one thing that struck me was not that God knew I was lying and I knew He knew, but that I knew there would be consequences and the fear of punishment.  My fear of the punishment was often worse than the lie I told.  When my fear of earthly punishment overshadowed my fear of God, I was in trouble. 

Why is it that way?  When we determine that we are more afraid of someone on earth doling out the punishment than we are of God’s punishment, we need to rethink the situation.  How do we handle a child that lies when the truth would sound better? 

I thought about the story in the Bible about one of the greatest lies ever told and how Jesus handled that lie. When Jesus told Peter he would deny knowing Him three times, Peter was offended and told Jesus he would follow Him even to death.  So not only did Peter lie about not denying Jesus but he did deny knowing Jesus, not once but three times. 

Jesus later in John 17:9-19 interceded on the disciples’ behalf and prayed for them.  Isn’t that how we should handle those who lie in this life.  Jesus used love as punishment.  How ironic is that?  How amazing to love someone enough that when they lied you would forgive them and pray for them.  Notice that Jesus didn’t condone Peter’s behavior he just spoke truth. I think too many times we humans retaliate in kind to those who lie to us instead of loving them. In reality we all commit the same sin as Peter did when we lie. We deny knowing God every time lies pass our lips.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, one day we will all stand before You with the lies of a lifetime on our hearts.  I have lied when the truth would have sounded better but I want to remove the sin of lying from my heart.  The only way I can do that is to look at myself honestly and truthfully and repent.  Thank You for giving me a way back to You.    

Scripture:  And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”  But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”  Luke 22:31-34

 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.  I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. John 17:9-19

Green Acres

So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart nor peace for the mind. But when we receive all that enters our lives as from His hand, then, no matter what may be our circumstances or surroundings--whether in a hovel or prison-dungeon, or at a martyr's stake--we shall be enabled to say, " The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places" (Ps. 16:6). But that is the language of faith, not of sight nor of sense.   A.W. Pink

Those of you who are not the ripe old age of me might not have ever heard of this show but it was one I loved to watch as a kid.  Green Acres was a show about a big city attorney named Oliver and his Hungarian wife Lisa.  Oliver was originally a Manhattan attorney who decided to trade the big city life for the rural countryside.  It portrayed the lives of city folk moving to the country as greenhorns. Lisa hated the country and wanted the big city life back, but she actually fit in better than Oliver because of her quirkiness. 

There were episodes about Oliver arguing with the phone company about moving his phone inside the house.  It was installed on a telephone pole and you had to climb the pole to answer the phone.  There was Mr. Haney the salesman who sold the ramshackle “Haney Farm” to the gullible Oliver. 

Oliver and Lisa had elderly neighbors who never had children so they adopted a pig named Arnold Ziffel as their son who understood English, went to the local school and loved westerns.  Oliver seemed to be the only one who understood that Arnold was livestock and not a person. Arnold would sometimes show up at Oliver and Lisa’s house to watch TV. 

I was thinking about this long ago show and it actually made me long for the country life.  We grew up in the country where riding horses was the norm.  We rode in the evenings as kids.  Dad would get home from work and we would saddle all the horses and all six of us would ride for several hours.  It was amazing how much you could see riding around the neighborhoods.  We actually caught up with neighbors along the way because they would be out in their yards so we would stop to talk and catch up.  We also had great family time.  You had plenty of time to talk with no traffic noise or exhaust fumes and no one was ever in a hurry to get anywhere.

When I look back I long for those days.  I live and work in the big city now and there are more motorcycles than horses and fewer kids riding bicycles and more playing video games. 

If I had it to do over I would spend more time with God than I did back then.  It is wonderful to reflect back on those long ago times but I realize now that I didn’t appreciate God’s creation as much as I do now.  There were many years that I wasted in not seeing God in everything around me.  Think of how much I missed by not tuning into Him. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I miss those long ago days of carefree summers and where life was much simpler.  Now I am always in a hurry all the time because there isn’t enough time in the day to get to everything.  Help me to slow down in this fast paced environment and appreciate Your creation.  I can find You anywhere but I need to slow down so I won’t miss a detail.   

Scripture:  Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.  The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.  My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places, though hail comes down on the forest, and the city is brought low in humiliation.  Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.  Isaiah 32:16-20

Chair Snafu

Life is a journey, not a home; a road, not a city of habitation; and the enjoyments and blessings we have are but little inns on the roadside of life, where we may be refreshed for a moment, that we may with new strength press on to the end - to the rest that remaineth for the people of God.  Horatius Bonar

Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.  J.I. Packer

I had a chair snafu this week at work.  In other words, an out of control situation with my desk chair.  I have one of those chairs that has a lever that raises and lowers the chair.  I started to notice this week that when I would get to the office and sit down my knees would be above the seat of my chair.  I thought the cleaning people might be lowering my chair so the arms would fit under the desk.  

One of my bosses was in town this week and he normally will come into my office and sit in a chair across from my desk and dictate letters to me.  My computer screen is in the middle of my desk and the chair is directly across from my screen so I can normally make eye contact with him when he is dictating to me. 

I started to notice that I would gradually get lower and lower until I couldn’t see him over my monitor.  It wasn’t like all of a sudden I was dropped to the floor.  It was just a gradual lowering.  I just kept hoping that my boss wouldn’t notice.  When I first began to notice it I thought I just hadn’t locked the chair in place.  There used to be a skit many years ago on a show called Laugh-In where Lily Tomlin played a little girl sitting in this huge rocking chair.  I felt exactly like that sitting in my chair, except I felt like a giant sitting in a too small chair.  When my chair is lowered my knees are above my waist and I have to reach up to touch my desk.  I felt like my chair was a periscope slowly being lowered into the ocean.   

So all week I fiddled with my chair and tightened all the knobs under it to no avail.  I would sit down and it would gradually lower toward the floor. I ran scenarios through my head about how I could shore up my chair to keep it from lowering itself.  It did this all week until yesterday.  All of a sudden it just stopped. 

I started thinking as usual about what God might be trying to teach me.  When your eyes and ears are always open to hear His voice you start thinking like that all the time.  Everything that happens in your day becomes a focus for what I call “God Mindedness”. So maybe it could be that I am putting myself above God in some area of my life so maybe I need to look into that.  Maybe I am not depending on God enough and he is trying to get me to focus my attention on Him.  I still don’t think I know the answer but it made me focus my attention back on Him. 

If you think about it, God doesn’t make it easy to figure Him out.  Why is that?  Maybe because we are fickle and if it was too easy we would become bored and move away from Him.  He also doesn’t always give us the answer because the search for the answer is the most important part of the journey.  Sometimes the search reveals the hidden treasure of wisdom that He intended all along.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, as my chair went up and down this week my thoughts turned to You.  It has been a gradual process, but over the past few years my focus seems to stay more and more on You and what you are trying to teach me in my daily life. You are with me wherever I go and all I have to do is turn to You to be in Your presence.

Scripture: Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:7-9 

Wile E. Coyote

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'  Billy Graham

A Christian life is an unending engagement on the battlefield.  Watchman Nee

I see the strangest things when I am driving to work.  I don’t know if it is the early hour or what but this morning I was in Plano on a three lane road and a coyote ran across the road in front of my car. This started me thinking about the old Looney Toons carton Wile E. Coyote. 

My dog is named after the infamous Wile E Coyote cartoon.  When he was a puppy my brother wanted to put ACME stickers on his kennel because he was always into stuff and not in a good way.  This morning he woke me up at 2:00am barking.   As his cartoon counterpart always was hungry I figured that was his problem but I didn’t feed him because then he would wake me up at 2:00am every morning thereafter.   

When I saw the coyote it started me thinking about the premise behind the cartoon.  The coyote was always hungry and the roadrunner was always fast.  The coyote would think up all kinds of ways to catch the roadrunner.  He would order stuff from the Acme Corporation that was supposed to give him the advantage over the roadrunner.  He had dehydrated boulders, jet powered roller skates and earthquake pills to name a few. 

The writer of the series, Chuck Jones, in his book “Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist” claimed that the artists behind the Road Runner and Wile E. cartoons used simple but strict rules:

1.    Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going “beep,beep.”

2.    Only the Coyote’s own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products can harm him except occasionally trains or trucks.

3.    Coyote could stop anytime—if he were not a fanatic. ("A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim." — George Santayana.)

4.    Road Runner must stay on the road—for no other reason than that he’s a roadrunner. 

5.    Whenever possible make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.

6.    Coyote always more humiliated than harmed by his failures

7.    The audience’s sympathy must remain with the Coyote.

When I thought of the rules listed above, it made me think of our lives as Christians and our sin.  If you put it in the Christian perspective we are not to harm another.  Most of the time it is our own ineptitude that causes us to fail in our Christian life, it is not always someone else’s fault.  We have the freedom to stop sinning at any time but sometimes we become fanatics (i.e. we forget our aim in life).  Then there is the road.  We have a path that we should be on but we get off the road.  I like to think of Satan as gravity.  He is continually pulling us down when God is trying to lift us up.  When we are humiliated by our failures, we are not harmed, most often it just helps us get our God perspective back.  If we apply the audience’s sympathy to our Christian life, that very sympathy should be used with others who have sinned.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me to see You in everything.  You provide the tools I need to live the Christian life.  Please give me the wisdom to use them to the best of my ability.  You are my Redeemer Whom I love beyond measure.  
 
Scripture:  I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law.  You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.  Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God!  Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.  Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually.  You reject all those who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is falsehood.  You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies.  My flesh trembles for fear of You, and I am afraid of Your judgments.  Psalm 119:114-120