Lesson Learned

Our daughter called us last night just as it was getting dark because she had a rattle snake in her yard. Peggy and I grabbed a flash light and rode the 4-wheeler to her house. When we arrived, the snake was curled up right on the other side of her fence. I had my shovel in hand, climbed over the fence and as I was trying to kill the snake it started crawling away from me toward her yard, I immediately went into pursuit and rolled my ankle, fell down toward the snake and well, no more snake. As I think of this past week, I have been bucked off my horse and twisted my ankle going after a rattle snake. I’m starting to think there are times when you just need to stay home and meditate. Maybe this is one of those times. Jesus took time to be alone and talk with God. We need to do the same thing; spend time alone with God, talk to Him and meditate on His word. These are the times when we can re-energize ourselves and get prepared for whatever the world has to throw at us. Our bodies and minds can only take so much and when we are tired and weak is when Satan attacks us and we become vulnerable. Allow yourself some time to refresh. Your body needs the physical rest and your mind needs to remember the love of the Lord and focus on His word. Have you heard the expression “sharpen your axe”? A person cutting down a tree has to stop from time to time to sharpen his axe. If he doesn’t, he will never be able to cut the tree down with a dull axe, but by stopping to sharpen his axe the tree comes down easily. Spend time alone with God and “sharpen your axe.”  

Help, I Need Somebody!

Have you ever tried to separate a young animal from its Mother? When we were separating the spring calves from their Mothers, they bawled all day and night for several days. It was like they were saying “Help, I need somebody.” You could put another Mother in with a calf and the calf would still nurse. Yes, it is amazing to see the Mothers able to identify their own young but the truth is a young calf needs to nurse, so any mother/cow with milk will do. The Bible teaches us we need to get off the milk and on to the meat of the Word. To do that, we need someone to help us. People are crying for something, sometimes for anything, looking for nourishment. The problem comes when we receive the help or Spiritual nourishment from the wrong person. There are false teachers among us, trying to deceive us. They may even believe the lie they teach but that doesn’t make it any less of a lie. Sometimes the need to be nourished is so overwhelming we accept anything that comes our way. Don’t forget to compare what someone says with the Scripture. Be aware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Help, I Need Somebody!

Pure Regilion

We were separating the cows from their spring calves yesterday. It’s time to try and put some weight on them for the sale barn. Due of the lack of rain here in West Texas, we don’t have good pasture. In fact we have no pasture, so the calves are not getting the needed nutrition for growth. It’s just like you and I, if we don’t get the needed spiritual food we cannot grow. The younger calves and the older cows are the most vulnerable, because they are not able to take care of themselves. That is exactly why God says in His word, “pure and undefiled religion is this, take care of widows and orphans.” While you and I understand we need spiritual nourishment for our growth, it is up to us to feed on His word. We have no excuse and can blame no one except ourselves. God loves all His children so much He reminds us to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, physically and spiritually. I believe we fall short of this expectation, God expects us to take care of widows and orphans. Do we? If we started a ministry just to take care of widows and orphans, I believe there would be Christians who would oppose the ministry. Saying things like, “That’s not the job of the Church”, “That should be a personal responsibility”. Are you serious? Jesus is Head of the Church and this is what He is telling us to do. Prove me wrong. “Like” this post and let’s see how many people want to help.

Do You Understand The Words Coming Out Of My Mouth

Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

  Even though we read this passage, we still want to understand the “why” of what God tells us to do before we are willing to submit to His will. We read the Bible but we don’t accept it because we don’t understand it.  The best way I can explain it is like this; Peggy and I have been married for 30 years and during that time we have had to learn men and women think differently. Revolutionary I know. Sarcasm aside, we really had to understand there were just some things about the other that we would never understand. Peggy would do something or even think a certain way and I would think, “what in the world?” You see Peggy thinks like a woman, and that is exactly what I wanted, a woman, so why get made at someone for thinking the way she was created to think. The same with Peggy, she wanted to marry a man, so sometimes she says, “I don’t understand why you did that, it must be a guy thing.”

  In the same way, God as our creator thinks on a level we are not capable of, so why do we try? We need to say, while reading the Bible, I don’t understand why but if you want me to, I will. Don’t let people try and keep you from obeying His will by saying to you, “now let me tell you what that means”. Read for yourself the implanted Word which is able to save you soul. God will not lead you astray, but man will.

A Rose By Any Other Name...NOT

I was getting my hair cut the other day after much prompting from my wife. It seems I will never have another hair cut for $3.00. Oh well, the good old days. Anyway, as usual when I’m with someone our conversation heads toward Worship and God. It made me realize just how many people are worshiping in a place where they don’t agree with the teaching of that organization. It’s like calling yourself a Republican or Democrat without knowing and/or agreeing what their platform stands for. For the life of me I don’t understand giving yourself a title and attaching to a theology you don’t agree with, just because your parents went there or you like the people at that location.

The Bible clearly states we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be held accountable for the things we do or don’t do, so why don’t we take where we attach ourselves more seriously? If we agree with what the Bible says about false doctrine and false teachers, than we should be more concerned about what we are saying by where we are going. Make sense?

If a car salesman was trying to sell you a car and he said it can be yours for only $15,000 at $300 a month but when you sign the contract it says $20,000 at $350 per month, did he lie? After all, the car can still be yours and it’s only a little over a dollar a day, what’s the big deal? It is a big deal. It’s not true. He lied to you. You wouldn’t stand for that and you would demand the price be $15,000 and for your payment be at $300, the agreed upon amount.

If anyone teaches anything other than the Gospel of Christ, he is a liar. If you compare what someone teaches and it is different than what the Bible teaches and you still worship there, than you are promoting a lie, so that makes you a false teacher also. Question what your church teaches and believes. Compare it with the scripture and if it is different, RUN don’t walk. You will be held accountable for what you teach.  Share the Good News of Christ. There is no other name under which you can be saved.

Water Water all around

We are fortunate enough to live on a cattle ranch. We love to see the wild life all around us. We have had deer, wild pigs, raccoons even porcupines come into our yard. We never know what we might wake up to see, God’s creations are beautiful. The draw back is our water comes from a well 8 miles from the house and it services all the water tanks for the livestock on its way to us. Yes, we are last. We just spent four days without water while a leak was getting repaired and it made me think of how important water is to us. We need it to sustain life but we also need it for everyday things. It makes our life better. I could go so far as to say it makes me a better person. At least those around me appreciate the fact I now have water. That’s exactly why Jesus said, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” We need Jesus for salvation but we need Him everyday of our lives. He makes us better. Like the water we take for granted until it’s gone, we take Jesus for granted. When you drink from the water of life, you become a different person. People around you notice a difference, they notice you act better, live better, love better and, yes, even smell better.

Everything Is Relative

I really enjoy our Wednesday night worship, coming together with people who love you, care about you and want to study the Bible. I am uplifted and encouraged so much by everyone. I really don’t understand why people choose not to participate.

Last night in our midweek Bible study, Harry Bob read an article with these facts. “If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.”

Are you serious? It seems to me we spend most of our time complaining about what we don’t have instead of giving thanks for what we do have. We should hold our head high, thank God for the blessings we enjoy everyday and for the people in our lives.

Stop attacking the faith of other people and work on strengthening your own. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said there are two commandments; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” It’s time to stop trying to make our selves feel better by putting down or attacking someone else. Every night before we go to bed pray this prayer, “Thank you God for all the blessings I enjoy in this life and forgive me; a sinner.”

law of nature

Rain clouds were all around us this morning, but no rain fell. I could see the clouds and almost smell the rain and no matter how bad I wanted the rain to fall on us it just would not rain. I thought, why can’t the wind just blow the clouds our way? No matter how hard I tried, I could not move the clouds myself. We live in West Texas and are in the middle of the worst drought Texas has seen in 60 years. The rain clouds, it seems, follow the laws of nature. No matter how bad I want it to be otherwise the rain will not fall unless those laws of nature are followed, clouds are formed and the wind blows them over our area. It reminds me of the Gospel of Christ, I can see it and I can want it but unless I follow the Law of Christ I cannot have the benefits of His Gospel. At the same time, I cannot do anything to bring the rain. Not even with my famous or, should I say, infamous rain dance. Just like I cannot do enough to earn my salvation, I cannot work my way to Heaven. What I can do is obey the Gospel Plan of Salvation. When I do, the Law of Christ takes over just like the laws of nature and grace is freely given to me and anyone who obeys Him. I pray not only does the blessing of rain fall on West Texas, but for God’s Grace to fall on everyone.

To Feed Or Not To Feed

As I was feeding the horses this morning, I noticed how when one horse finishes what he is eating he looks for more. He starts looking at the other horses and wants what they have. Horses have an unquenchable desire to be fed. Why can’t we be like that when it comes to Spiritual nourishment?  If our Spiritual food fed our bodies, I’m afraid some of us would be starving. We need to be feed everyday Spiritually. We should develop a thirst for God’s Word just like we do for water.

Have you ever gone without water for a long period of time? Your body can’t survive without it and neither can your Spiritual body survive without the Living Water of Christ. God’s Word provides us with what we need for everyday life. If we would meditate on His Word each day we would find solutions for the problems we are facing. God provides us with everything we need that pertains to life and Godliness. Are you looking for answers to life’s problems in all the wrong places and do you sometimes even try to solve them yourself?

God wants us to have life and have it abundantly so why can’t we understand we need to read His Word and He will guide us through this life. I challenge you to develop a personal relationship with God, read His Word daily and see if your life doesn’t change for the better. Meditate on what God says and see if you don’t have a better attitude. Tell yourself, “I have decided today is going to be a good day.”

Road Signs

I remember driving in California for the first time when I was a young Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton. There were six lanes of traffic, bumper to bumper, and everyone was in a hurry. If I didn't know where I was going, I would miss my exit or end up on a different road all together. It was confusing and frustrating for this country boy. I thought "How in the world can anyone understand this"? As I think about my eternal destination, I realize some people try to make that journey just as confusing as it was driving in California for the first time. People everywhere with signs, "go here", "turn there", "do this", "don't do that". Before long I felt like I had missed my exit. Then I realized God loves me. He wants me to reach my destination, Heaven. So I know He would not design a road so cluttered with conflicting directions that I couldn't understand how to get there. The Plan of Salvation is simple to understand. There is simplicity in Christ. That's great news for this retired Marine. the Book of Acts tells us exactly what we need to do. I'm not saying we will understand everything in the Bible. We learn everyday and grow closer to Him. I'm saying God's Plan of Salvation is easy and clear for all of us to understand. He would not create a road to Heaven that was just for city folks, anyone can easily find the way.