The Boat

During a long drive home from my daughter's today, I had 7 hours to ponder the things I've been learning this week in my Bible study.  Thoughts swirled around in my head as I tried to imagine what it would have been like in the time of Noah.  I mean, how would it be if God told you to do something so outrageous, and told you that He was going to save only you and your family and a bunch of animals and wipe out all of the rest of  the life on earth?  We cannot even stand to think about the horrendous storms, flooding, and lives lost over on the East coast right now, let alone try to fathom such a devastating catastrophe as the great flood in Noah's time. Maybe some think this story is a metaphor, but I believe that every word of it is true.  It seems "easier" to think of it as a metaphor because then it doesn't seem quite so drastic.....some would say, "why would a good God do something like that?"  But when looked at in light of the WHOLE story of God, there are many truths to be found and applied in this absolutely amazing account in the Bible. In fact, this story points to the most essential truth to our faith as Christians.  This story points to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in more ways than I had known before today!

So.....I'm driving along the interstate and I'm thinking about Noah.  What made Noah so different from all of the other people in the world at the time?  Why did God choose to save only him and his family?  And why would God want to do such a drastic thing as the flood?  Genesis 6:5-6 says, the Lord saw how great the wickedness of man on earth had become...and He was grieved and His heart was filled with pain.  It's true, all of the evil in the world must still grieve God.....it's like how we feel when we see our kids making bad choices and the suffering it causes.  Sure, it angers and frustrates us, but mostly, it breaks our heart to see such hope dashed by careless decisions and rebellious acts.  God was greatly grieved.

Genesis 6:7 tells us that God decided to wipe mankind, whom He had created, off the face of the earth....men, animals, reptiles, and birds.  He was grieved that He had made them. Now, I don't think this means that things were beyond God's control, nor do I believe that God had hoped for something better but was unable to achieve it.  I believe He knew exactly what man would choose to do, but it still affected Him deeply.  

But Noah "found favor....he found grace...in the eyes of God". Gen. 6:8
Noah didn't EARN grace;  Noah FOUND grace in the eyes of God.

None of us can earn God's grace, but we all can find it.

Why did Noah find favor in the eyes of God?  Gen. 6:9 says that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.  HE WALKED WITH GOD.
He was in step with the will of God...right?  I mean, when you walk with somebody, you are in step with them, not straying all over the place.  Noah followed God.  He walked so closely with God that He could see grace in the eyes of God.  The only way we can truly see grace in the eyes of God is if we are seeking it, and if we are staying close enough for Him to reveal it to us.  What stands between you and God?  What blocks the view of His FACE of GRACE?  I asked myself those questions as I drove along that long stretch of highway.....and I came up with lots of things.  Things that had mostly to do with selfishness.  MYSELF stands in the way between me and God's face of grace.  Either its selfish wants, or selfish things that I do that is blocking my view of His eyes.  God chose Noah....why has He chosen me?  I am not like Noah in any shape or form. My list of faults is too long to count, and just when I finally have victory over one thing, another thing trips me up.  What makes me different than anyone else? Why does He love ME?

 Isn't it true that we all are unworthy of His grace? What makes this world different from the world back in Noah's time?  I mean, it's still full of evil.

I ponder these questions as I am driving along, and I KNOW the answer..  It is one Word.  THE WORD.  JESUS. I have been saved only because of Jesus. Yes, it's true that we all are unworthy of God's grace. But because of Christ's death on the Cross, I have been saved by His grace. Jesus' death took the place of the death that we all deserve, so that we could be saved. 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God....Ephesians 2:8


Then the thought crosses my mind that the Ark was a housing for the saved.  The Ark separated Noah and his family from all of the rest of the life on earth. They were separated from death because of their faith.  They were literally encased in the protection of God. Being in the Ark is like BEING IN CHRIST!  

God told Noah exactly how to build the Ark.  The dimensions, how to seal it from the water, what supplies to take.....the whole deal.  Down to the last detail.  And Noah did not question God.  He did exactly what God told him to do.  Why?  Because he wanted to be saved?  Probably.  But he did it all because HE TRUSTED GOD.  Noah was saved because he trusted God's promise to save him. Noah had faith. Noah was housed in the boat of protection, even when the flood of disaster wiped out everything on earth, because he belonged to God and he trusted God enough to do what He said. He was faithful to God and God was faithful to him. 

God tells us what to do in order to be saved as well.  It's all written down....every last detail. 

ARE YOU IN THE BOAT? If not, what is stopping you?  The door is still open....it's not too late.  What things are flooding the ground all around you right now?  Financial stress?  Illness?  Broken relationships?  Death? The guilt of sin?  What seems to be drowning you right now?  Are you having trouble keeping your head above water?  If so, will you consider taking that Hand that is reaching out for you?  Come in out of the rain!  Enter in to the eternal safe place in Christ, because He already paid the price for all of the sin on earth so that when we come to Him with all of our junk and admit that we are unworthy of His grace, we can leave our sin at the door.  By faith, we can enter in to His salvation and walk with Him.  The flood waters of difficult circumstances are still going to come, but instead of drowning, those who are in Christ Jesus will be saved.

It's far too late at night to tell you about the rest of the story, but please check back again, because some really cool things happened on the rest of my drive home!  I have more HOPE for you! G'night.....love to you!
Kara

Praise is the beauty of a Christian

“Praise is the beauty of a Christian. What wings are to a bird, what fruit is to the tree, what the rose is to the thorn, that is praise to a child of God.” ~ Spurgeon                        
  
In the topsy-turvy busyness of time, I move from one thing to the next, checking off duties and events like I am banking a stack of accomplishments so that I can prove that I am worth something and have done something with my life.  When the day is done and someone asks, "what did you do today?" I want to have good solid goods to show.  But what really shows?  Does anyone really care as much as I do that I got the laundry done----all 6 loads---and the errands completed and the bills paid and the house cleaned and the family fed?  Sure, all of that is important, but what about it is lasting?  What comes of it all?

When my kids are all home and they start talking about the things they remember most, it always surprises me that it is the little things that meant so much to them.  It was those times when I put everything aside to play with them in their toy room, or when we made Christmas ornaments together, or when I let them make up stories before bed.  They remember the "good stuff".  Those are the things that last.

And what about our connections with others?  Who are the people that make the deepest impressions?  Are they the ones who brag about how much they get done in a day, or about how much they have accomplished in their lives?  To tell you the truth, those people intimidate me and make me feel small.  No, the ones who make the sweetest impressions on me are the ones who actually look you in the eye when you are talking to them.  The ones who value the moment.  The ones who shine with hope and who share the positive side of the maybe not-so-positive circumstances.  The people who, instead of praising themselves or their accomplishments, praise God for the "good stuff" in life.  It's those kind of people that are the most beautiful to me.  

Yes, there has to be a bird beneath the wings, a rooted tree connected to the fruit, and a thorny stem under the rose.....but what matters is the bird taking flight in the sunny blue sky, defying the pull of gravity and soaring freely as God intended it to do.

  What nourishes, is the ripe succulent fruit on the branch that took many days of light and dark to be formed and to grow sweet. 



 And what brings joy to the heart is the velvety petals of a rose, opening wide to the sun in it's own time and space and loveliness.   

Perhaps the only way that we can show true lasting beauty is when we defy the gravity of the burdens of life, and fly freely toward the eternal promises of God.  And maybe the best way to reach out and help others is by sharing the fruits of the Spirit growing stronger as we draw from the roots of God's love? And if we offer a lovely aroma of praise instead of the thorns of anger and frustration, maybe others would take time to stop and smell the scent of the goodness of God?

Oh, how I need to stay near to Beauty Himself, because without God, I'm a wingless bird, on a dead tree full of thorns!  I praise Him for creating us in His image and covering us with His cloak of righteousness so that His beauty can be seen instead!



   

Funky Chicken

FUNKY CHICKENS

OK~~~SO SHE'S NOT PRETTY, but how can you not smile when you see such a thing?! 
                      Maybe that's what it's all about?

I can remember when my husband first suggested we get some chickens.  Let's just say that I wasn't crazy about the idea!  I really wasn't!  So we didn't.  A few years later, as I was pulling into the driveway after a weekend at work in Billings, I saw a strange sight.  My husband was out on a ladder and there was an appendage happening on the back side of the horse shed.  "What?  Could it be that he was building a little storage shed for all of my Rubbermaid tubs full of stuff?  Oh~~maybe he is adding a place for all of those tools in the garage?  The lawn mower?"  All kinds of things ran through my head.  "I rolled down my car window and shouted out, "Hey!  Whatcha doin'?"  The look on his face was nothing but pure glee.  "Park the car!  I've got something to show you!"  Hmmmmmm.  I felt uneasy at this point~~~but that look on his face......

I slowly emerged from the car, not sure what I was in for.  "What are you doing?" ~  He was dancing around like a child  with a big secret that just can't be contained. "Come 'ere! You gotta see this!"

We headed in the direction of the garage, and again, that uneasy feeling came back, and I was thinking, "Oh, I hope he didn't buy a 4-wheeler or something~~~or a motorcycle~~~NOT A MOTORCYCLE!"

We entered the garage, and a funny smell was in the air~~~and a noise~~~WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?  It was like a distant little squeak~~~no wait~~~there were squeak(s)~~~plural!  Over in the corner was a circle of light.
  (Sounds almost heavenly doesn't it?!  A circle of light? )
Under that light was a little pen full of fuzzy little peeps.  OH NO!  NOT CHICKENS!  As I turned, (not in a happy way, I might add) to ask why, what, how~~I suddenly halted my frustration.  Scott was beaming like a proud daddy, gazing down at his little babes.  He looked SO HAPPY! 

He said, "they came in the mail just this morning! There wasn't a single dead one in the bunch!  Isn't it cool that they can mail these things?!"  I was just trying to grasp the fact that he actually had planned this little "surprise" ahead of time without my knowing it~~~let alone the fact that it was SO COOL that they came in the mail!  I just stood there dumbfounded and speechless.  I mean, there were CHICKENS in our garage!  But something deep inside told me to hold back my disdain when I saw Scott's excitement. So~~~~ I just smiled and said,~~"Wow honey, we really got~~~uh~~~chickens~~uh~~~wow~~"

 And from that moment on, I've had to share Scott's affections with his other "girls", because he has taken great joy in raising these funky chickens!  I have chicken stories aplenty!  Enough to write a blog a day for a year, in fact!  But I smile as I tell each one of them.  I smile, because seeing my husband act like a child~~~or a proud daddy~~~or a slightly crazy Redneck~~~well, whatever~~
seeing him like that just makes me all warm inside!

I suppose each of us needs a little something to remind us that some of the simplest of things can bring some of the greatest laughs and release some of the greatest burdens of life.  If I would have known that all it would take is a coop full of hens to make my husband so happy, I would have built the coop and ordered the peeps in the mail my own self!

Hey, did I ever tell you about Farrah?  She was one of our~~~I mean Scott's~~~ hens that actually landed a part in a movie at Northwest College!~~~~~

The Fall

The wind is howling through the small opening in the window like a threatened lion, and the dark gray clouds are quickly moving across the sunless sky with their ominous warning of sudden cold.  Just yesterday I was sitting in the sun on the front porch enjoying brightness of the leaves on the fall-kissed trees.  How can warmth and beauty be interrupted so abrubtly?  It seems wrong somehow.  Shouldn't we have a chance to at least enjoy this spectacular beauty until the leaves fall off?  This is what I don't like about fall! So unpredictable!

               








  I mean, just look at these colors!  The light just seems to glow from within the trees!  They shout, "Hey, Look at Me!"  My husband and I spent Saturday evening fishing....well, he fished and I wandered and wondered! I snapped pictues and I WAS HAPPY surrounded by all that glorious light! Why the cold now?

Isn't that the way life is sometimes?  When things are going good, we notice the beauty around us.  We are awed even by the little things.  We wander and wonder about in a state of bliss.

And then BOOM!!!!  The strong chilling winds of difficult circumstances howl, nearly causing the hair on the back of our neck to stand up.  The dark clouds of doubt or depression come rolling in, and suddenly there is no more blue sky.  The color drains from our sight and things turn to gray. 

And ~~~somehow it all seems so wrong.  Shouldn't we be happy all of the time?  Shouldn't we be sheltered from the hard things if we are trying to do all the right things in life?  I used to think that way~~~~but that was before I knew God, and that was before I understood what GRACE is.

I don't like THE FALL~~~the fall of mankind in the beginning of time.  The moment that sin and darkness entered in, things flip-flopped.  Originally, God created a place of perpetual beauty and peace.  He provided everything that man would need in order to survive.  Everything lived in constant harmony.  Man had a purpose, and that was to tend God's creation and love Him.  There was no conflict, no death, no bloodshed.  Just bliss.  But as soon as the first act of disobedience was committed, it all changed.  Darkness and evil became known~~~the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was eaten, and Evil Became Known.

Before that point, mankind could expect goodness and beauty.  It was a free gift.  They didn't know how good they had it!  But when evil entered in, and man fell away from God, the hard things of life became part of life. No longer could mankind expect perpetual bliss, nor feel deserving of it.  Apart from God, all we can expect is WHAT IS.  And nothing more.

But, in God's GRACE, He had a plan and a way to bring perpetual good.  But not in the way that man expects.  The perpetual good is what comes when we allow Perpetual Light to enter in.  Jesus is the Light of the World.  When we let Him in, there is only external darkness.  Because in Him, there is no darkness

Now, I see things differently.  I realize that if it weren't for Jesus and His death on the Cross, we would never be satisfied.  We would always be searching for things that make us feel good, but nothing would be able to fill that heart-shaped void. There is not one of us that deserves goodness, because we all are human and fall short of the glory of God.  But by His GRACE, He gives good. And even in the dark times of life, He shows us His Light by His Grace. He fills our void. And THAT is the kind of good that WE CAN EXPECT.  How can we not be thankful for that?!