I will be taking a break until January 6.  I hope you have a wonderful couple of weeks with family and friends.  We will be alone but I hope that means I will have time to replenish my files.  If you find yourself with time, the archives are available all the way back to 2012, or you can concentrate on one of the categories.  Whichever, please enjoy, and if you travel, stay safe. 

"See" you in a couple of weeks!

Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
I grew up with an axe in my hands. Granddad had an old one that he let us boys use. I recall being 6 or 7 and trying to split pieces of wood, sometimes in competition with visiting cousins. [Can you imagine today's parents allowing children to have a pocketknife, much less play with an axe—no phones, no ambulances, no supervision. Perhaps I should do this on raising a nation of wimps and how that attitude creeps into the church.] In the Ozarks of NW Arkansas, we used double-bitted axes: one side kept sharp for cutting limbs or small trees and the other for any time the axe might hit the ground which was rocky. Woe be unto him who struck the ground with the sharp side. No one had a powered wood splitter or even a splitting maul. Wood was split by learning where to hit and then being able to hit that spot however many times it took.
 
By the time we bought our 5 acres in North Florida, I had a 12 pound all steel splitting maul. I borrowed a chain-saw for the financially lean first years. Sometimes, we had pieces that did not split with one blow. Both boys can tell of times I put 6 or 8 full roundhouse swings within ¼ inch. Eventually, I learned that one need not always go through the middle and large pieces are more easily "cornered" off the edges until they are smaller.
 
Peter warned, "But like as he who called you is holy, be yourselves also holy in all manner of living; because it is written, You shall be holy; for I am holy. And if you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: " (1Pet 1:15-17).  Now, this means real fear of the kind Jesus said to not fear those who can kill us, but to fear HIM who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. (Mt 10:28).
 
Motivated by such fear, we first need to learn to aim for holiness as I learned to aim an axe to hit a spot so well that I could split kindling not much larger than 1" by 1" (Often done when Dene and I camped to make fires that quickly burned to coals for grilling over). Next, we must consistently work at being holy. When we heated with wood, I only occasionally "missed the mark," but as I've aged I have gotten out of practice. The remedy is to swing again and hit the mark. Holiness comes from everyday living, not just going to church.
 
Unless I misread Peter, you go check it out, unholy living makes it a lie to pray, "Our Father……" Certainly, we need to ask forgiveness but then we must correct our lives to be holy.
 
By de-emphasizing the Bible's teaching on fear and the call for absolute holiness, we have often raised a church full of wimps who expect to gain holiness with one swing of the axe on Sundays.
 
"Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2Cor 7:1).
"Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. " (Heb 12:14).
 
Keith Ward

[Charlene Warren is an old friend who just recently lost her husband Rick.  She posted these words on Facebook a few months afterward and I was astounded at her wonderful attitude.  I will always try to remember this perspective should I someday become a widow.  I hope it will also help the widows out there who are struggling.  I am publishing this with Charlene's permission.]

I remember when Leslie [her oldest daughter] first left for college. There were things those of us still at home wanted to participate in, and I would think, "Oh, but Leslie isn't here to do that with us, we should wait." Then, I learned about all of the new friends she was making, and activities she was participating in daily, and at night as well. So then I realized she was busy and having the time of her life at Florida College, and I just started letting our lives go ahead and do things without her being here. It felt weird at first, but we did it.

This morning I remembered about that. Rick is having the best time of his life now, and we can go ahead and do things without him here, and whatever we do would only pale in comparison. When we sing at church, and it sounds "the best this side of Heaven" I think how magnificent the singing is that he is participating in, in Heaven. No more cancer, no pain, and he can get around like everyone else does in Heaven. I see new construction going on that he would have taken notice of, and think to tell him, and then I am reminded that this stuff on earth no longer would be interesting to him at all. How blessed he is to know now what Heaven truly is like, and to hug the neck of Jesus.

Lord come quickly!!!
Charlene Warren

Today's post is by Joanne Beckley in which she shares an essay by Lucy Green.

Whether it is a broken doll, lost good health, or the loss of a husband, we all must suffer great disappointments as we walk through this life here on earth. But I think for every married woman, it must be the loss of her husband that is her biggest challenge.
 
God knows this and has filled his Word with how we are to care for our widows and how the widow is to face her loss. Notice the numerous commands and admonitions: Deuteronomy 24:17-22; 25:5-10; Matthew 15:3; Eph 6:1; 1 Tim 5:4,14
 
But I want to shift this lesson away from our own responsibilities toward widows and focus on the widow herself. Whether married or unmarried, we all face the reality of living alone, now or in the future. But for the married, the death of a spouse carries additional pain and it is this pain that must be accepted and worked through.
 
Since I have yet to face this possible pain, I want to refer you to a short article by Lucy Greene. I came across it a number of years ago and thought it wise to file it away for the very real possibility that I too might find myself in her shoes. As you read this, you may even now be in her shoes. Hopefully this article can help you. I pray it is so.
 
“I became a widow twenty-two months ago. I say twenty-two months just like I did when my babies were little. You never have a twenty five month old, but up until that two year mark you count time in terms of months. Unlike having babies grow with those busy days passing quickly, these months have been an eternity.
 
I never wanted to be a widow, nor the pioneer widow of my peer group, but here I am. Even so, what I am learning and experiencing will smooth the way for those who come after me, though no individual journey is the same.
 
I want to grow older gracefully, but there’s been nothing graceful about the stages of grief that I’ve experienced. Some days I’ve felt at the mercy of unplanned and unexpected waves of emotion that come out of the blue and zap me at the most inconvenient moments. Sometimes it’s even been hard to pray. Somewhere on my journey, I was surprised to realize that I was indeed living in the past and missing the blessings of the present. Intellectually, I knew that was not a good way to live, but I hadn’t recognized it for what it was. My friend observed that I wasn’t letting go, and I thought about that deeply and seriously.
 
Treasuring the past and it’s memories, being thankful for our past blessings and relationships is right and important, but longing for what we no longer can have instead of looking for the joy and opportunities of TODAY is an exercise in futility, and does interfere with our aging gracefully. I am realizing that acceptance of one’s circumstance in life is a quality one must learn as we grow older. It puts us in a better frame of mind for facing so many of the less desirable outcomes of aging.
 
So many things are beyond our control and not the way that we had pictured them. Aging of our bodies, changing financial circumstances, passing of friends and relatives, changes in living arrangements--- to name a few. If we can accept physical appearance, aches and pains, poor health as we age and know that “though our outward man perish, the inward man is being renewed day by day,” (2 Corinthians 4:16) we can be serene when we look in the mirror or try to get up out of a chair. Dependence on God and trusting Him with the future is the key to acceptance. Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatever state he found himself (Philippians 4:11.)
 
Acceptance brings contentment. Contentment is defined as “an uncomplaining acceptance of one’s lot.” You might not like what’s happened to you, but accepting that situation says, “This is the way it is. It’s going to be OK. God will take care of me. I can live with this.” Hebrews 13:5 says, “Be content with such things as you have for he said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee’.” In 1Timothy 6:6 we are told that godliness with contentment is great gain. May we adopt that thought as our goal as we strive to age gracefully."  Lucy Greene
 
Although I am not a widow, I can appreciate her pain, and her needs. I can be there for her, if she so desires. But where I may fail in my attempts, she will always have her Lord, her defender and friend.
 
Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds by His name YAH, And rejoice before Him. 5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
 
The widow is not alone. She can accept her lot in life and find contentment in her Lord, facing forward with each new day.

Joanne Beckley

Twice already I have come close to being a widow, once at 42 and again at 48, and both times I said to myself, I’ll never gripe about picking up his socks again.  The very idea of being alone, especially that young, was terrifying.  At six and a half years his junior, statistics say it will happen, but I’m grateful for every day I have.  There’s something to be said for a good scare!

Those scares have also made me take more notice of widows than I did before.  Too often, those of us with families get too caught up in our own whirlwinds to care for these women as we ought.  In our culture, widows do not always need financial assistance—with insurance, pensions, and social security, many widows are not always indigent as they were in ancient times—but most widows in the world are still not so materially blessed. Beyond that, widows often need physical care because the majority of them are elderly.  And every widow needs the emotional and spiritual assistance we take for granted because we still have our husbands.  They may need trips to their various doctors, or, if they still drive, assistance with car care.  Often they need someone to take them shopping—which, as long as they can, is far superior to picking things up for them because it gets them out of the house and gives them a change in their routines.  But more, they need company.  They no longer have that one to whom we turn to share ideas, to get daily problems off our chest, to enjoy the beauty of a sunset or the thrill of a storm in the wee hours.  Widows are lonely in a way most of us will never understand until it happens to us.

Be aware:  God has a special place in his heart for the widow.  In fact, "widows and orphans" came to be a figure for all of those who are needy in one way or the other.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (Jas 1:27).  Do you really think that if you only took care of widows and orphans and left the rest of the needy in need that your religion would be considered "pure and undefiled?"  Of course not.  They are a figure for the whole.  And get a load of these verses!

You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this (Deut 24:17-18).

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!  (Isa 10:1-2).

You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless (Exod 22:21-24).

I could go on and on for pages.  Maybe it is time to ask ourselves if we are neglecting those very people God made sure would be cared for in the Law, and today under the law of Christ.  (Yes, there is such a thing, Gal 6:2).  My next two posts come from women who have been there.  Perhaps they will make us all more aware of our duty to all those in need, whether they look that way or not--strong people have a way of hiding their feelings.  Being too busy is never an excuse for ignoring the will of God.  And I also hope that they will help those widows among us who are struggling to cope.  Two of your sisters are willing to bare their souls to help you.
 
Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts (Mal 3:5).
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
John 3:22-24  "After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside. He spent some time there with them and began baptizing.  John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized, since John had not yet been thrown into prison."
         After His interview with Nicodemus, Jesus took His disciples and went out into the Judean countryside to preach the good news.  John was also preaching, at Aenon.  Most modern maps try to place this, but all indicate that they aren't sure exactly where it was.  The only consensus seems to be that it was NOT in Judea.  So, John and Jesus were not together when they taught.
 
John 3:25-26  "Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.  And they came to John and said to him, 'Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.'"
         At first glance it seems odd that John never tells us exactly what the dispute was and how or why it so affected the Baptizer's disciples.  Upon consideration, however, one wonders if it isn't very clear.  They argued about purification, or washing, and then complained to John that everyone was going after Jesus' baptism -- instead of John's.  The argument seems to have been about the relative worth of each baptism.  John's disciples were left shaken and upset; outraged for John and confused in themselves.  Everyone was following Jesus and John was being forgotten.

John 3:27-30  "John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.  You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’  The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.  He must increase, but I must decrease.” 
         John's response is a marvel of humility and faith in God.  In saying that we can't receive anything unless it is given from heaven, John is calming his disciples by reminding them that this is all according to God's plan.  He reminds them that he has said all along that someone greater was coming and now there is someone greater here.  This is not a cause for alarm, but rejoicing which leads to his next statement.  In this micro-parable John paints a familiar scene:  a wedding.  None of the groomsmen are jealous of the bride, instead they are just happy for the groom.  John was not the leading man in the drama of his life.  After his short role was over he wasn't even able to share the spotlight, but John was happy to play his role for the glory of another.  "He must increase, but I must decrease."  Surely this is self-sacrificing service.

         God's plan for us is not guaranteed to bring us fame and recognition here on earth.  Maybe the best way for us to serve is by helping to care for the ill and needy:  making phone calls, sending cards, preparing meals, doing chores for those who can't for themselves and just sitting and talking to those whose illnesses have left them shut in, alternately weeping or rejoicing with them.  None of this is as showy as preaching or leading the singing, but it is often more important and impactful in making our churches into familes. 

Matt. 11:11  "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist."
         Elijah and Elisha raised the dead, preached to kings, commanded the weather, and stopped armies cold.  Daniel saw visions of centuries of future history and the coming kingdom.  Isaiah saw God on His throne and His Messiah coming.  Great as all these men were, as showy as their service was, none were greater than John, who in his humble service proclaimed the Lord's message and then quietly stepped out of the spotlight. 
         Am I willing to submerge my life -- my plans, dreams, hopes -- into quiet, unnoticed service to God?  Are you?
 
John 3:31  "He who comes from above is above all."
 
Lucas Ward

The older I get, the more I appreciate the quiet men in the pews, the ones who seldom speak up, whose opinions are usually kept to themselves or to just the one or two who make it a point to speak with them more than the customary, “How are you today?”
          We, who suppose that we “judge righteous judgment,” are, like the Pharisees, just as bad as anyone else about the things we claim to detest, in this case, judging.  If a brother seldom speaks in Bible class, he didn’t study his lesson, right?  Or his heart isn’t in his worship.  If I stop at another congregation when I am out of town and the singing isn’t loud, and the prayers have a lot of common phrases in them, and the preaching isn’t dynamic, then they are the worst excuse for a church I’ve ever seen.  So much for “righteous judgment.”
            The more I study the scriptures, the more I see quiet people living lives that would be considered normal in their day and time.  I don’t mean they would not have been different in their words and actions than the godless pagan they might live next to—I mean great deeds and feats of faith and bravery were not their claim to fame.  They simply lived to and with their God every day, making choices based upon their belief in Him, talking about His promises in casual conversation, assuming as a given that their hope was not baseless.
            When was the last time any one of us had to choose between death and serving God?  I know some places where that may be the case, but no one in this country has faced that trial, and I am the first to thank God for that and pray that it continue.  Does that make me a sorry excuse for a Christian?  Maybe that’s why so many think they must raise a ruckus about everything—they have to show their “faith” in some sort of blatant manner, instead of being satisfied—and grateful—that they can live a life of steady devotion day after day after routine day.  Sometimes that quiet steadiness takes a lot more strength, and certainly more endurance, than one quick flash in the pan act of courage.
            So here’s to the ordinary Christian.  He loves his wife “as his own body,” serves her faithfully, even when the years have diminished her outward beauty and increased her outward girth. 
            He trains his children, not just about God, but about being a man.  He teaches them how to work, how to play, and how to survive in an unfriendly world.  He shows them patience and mercy, the traits His Heavenly Father showed him.
            He works for his employer “as unto the Lord,” giving the boss no need to worry about his stealing either the business’s supplies or time--a day’s work for a day’s pay, and the willingness to throw in some unremunerated extra time and effort simply because it’s needed.
            He sees to the good of his neighbors, offering a helping hand, the loan of equipment, the gift of sharing good things that have come his way.  He shows them the Lord he serves in the way he treats them.
            He handles the trials of life, not as if they make him special and deserving, but as if they happen to all, knowing he deserves even worse for his part in the sin that contaminated the world.  He never allows them to affect his faith in God or his desire to serve that God.  He simply keeps on going, like that famous bunny.
            And so he may not talk a lot.  He may not jump up and down and raise his hands high in the air.  He may not be caught shedding a tear during a song or a prayer.  But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t mean every word of what he sings or prays, or have deep feelings of love and gratitude, and shame on anyone who judges otherwise.  Jacob worshipped, leaning on his staff, we are told in Heb 11:21.  What?  No hallelujahs?  I wonder how some today might have judged that.
            In fact, a whole church full of such men might not rise to the ideal for some who need outward show to “get anything out of” the worship.  What makes them think they are better than another who can motivate himself with his own quiet, inward thoughts?  Isn’t it a good thing, that Someone Else is doing the judging? 
            As to that “ordinary Christian,” he isn’t really very ordinary at all.
 
…for man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart, 1 Sam 16:7.
 
Dene Ward
 

In a study of faith I did, I found this passage:  I made supplication for you that your faith fail not…Luke 22:32.  I looked up “fail” and found this Greek word, ekleipo. 
            I’ll have to admit—I saw nothing at first.  Finally I looked up other uses of the word and found, just a page over in my Bible, Luke 23:45:  the sun’s light failing.  The context was the crucifixion when, according to the verse just above that one, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.    
            “Aha!” my feeble brain said, “an eclipse,”--ekleipo.  The light of the sun failed because something overshadowed it.  Now how do I use that in my study of faith “failing?”
            Twenty years ago I woke up with what I thought was an earache.  I called the doctor and he prescribed an antibiotic.  The next morning some of the ache was gone, but enough remained for me to discover the true source of the pain—it was a tooth.  I had developed an abscess and the pain had simply radiated to my ear, but the medication at least knocked it back to its original source. This time I called the dentist and left a message.  It was late on a Friday afternoon and I needed to see someone before the weekend. 
            By that time, nearly 48 hours into this, I was moaning on the couch, totally unable to function.  I hadn’t even thought about dinner, much less started cooking it, even though I expected Keith home within the hour.  I hadn’t finished putting the clean sheets on the bed, or washed any dishes all day long.  I hadn’t accomplished any bookkeeping, or filled out the forms that were soon due for my students to enter State Contest.  Nothing mattered but that aching tooth and the sore lump now swelling on my jaw line.
            A few minutes later the phone rang, and I eagerly snatched it up, expecting a dental assistant.  It was an ex-Little League coach of my sons’.  Keith had suffered something resembling a seizure while riding his bike the thirteen miles home from work, and was lying right in front of his house, in the middle of the rural highway. 
            “The ambulance just arrived,” he said.  “I think if you hurry, you can be here before it leaves.”
            What do you think I did?  Lie back down and moan some more?  I was out of that house in a flash and did indeed beat the ambulance’s departure for the hospital.  I sat in that hospital for five days. 
            You can think your faith is important to you.  You can think you would never let anything “eclipse” it.  You can be positive that you are strong enough to handle the most intense trial or the most powerful temptation.  You can be absolutely wrong.
            I have seen men who stood for the faith against the ridicule of false teachers commit adultery.  I have seen women who diligently withstood the long trial of caring for a sick mate become bitter against everyone who ever tried to help them, and ultimately against God himself.  I have seen families who were called “pillars of the church” leave that very group when one of their own fell and was chastised. 
            Look to that passage I found:  I made supplication for you that your faith fail not.  Jesus was speaking to Peter, who subsequently declared, “I am ready to go both to prison and to death,” but not many hours later, denied the Lord when those very things confronted him.  He was not prepared, and his faith was eclipsed by fear.
            Just as surely as my worry over my husband’s health totally eclipsed a very real and intense pain in my physical body, just as certainly as fear eclipsed the faith of a man like Peter, the events of life can eclipse your faith, causing it to fail.  Carnal emotions can overshadow you—lust, bitterness, resentment, hurt feelings among them.  It’s up to us to keep those things in their proper place, to allow nothing to detract from our faith in a God who promises that none of those things really matter because of the spiritual nature of the life to come.  It is, in fact, up to us to be spiritually minded, instead of carnally minded, to put the physical in the shade and let the light of the Truth shine on the spiritual.
            With a spiritual mind-set, nothing can eclipse your faith.  Your faith should, in fact, eclipse everything else.
 
 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. For you died, and your life is hid with Christ in God, Colossians 3:1-3.                                                                                           
 
Dene Ward

     At the rented house on the shore over in Gulf Breeze, Florida, we enjoyed sitting by the bay watching the pelicans on the pilings nearby.  One morning our son called out, "Mom bring the binoculars!"  So I dutifully brought those glasses that I keep handy even more than ever these days, and stepped out onto the stone patio lining the bank.  "Look out by the pelicans in the water," he urged.
     I did as directed, watching the half dozen pelicans that had left their manmade perches and dropped into the water.  It was obvious what they were doing.  The water around them roiled with activity beneath the surface and the birds constantly poked their whole heads under, coming up with fish after fish.  Then suddenly I saw what he wanted me to see—fins!  A small pod of dolphins had joined the fray, surfacing here and there for a breath, eating alongside the pelicans. 
     I wondered about that.  Here they were right beside one another, in fact, the pelicans often swam between and around the surfacing fins.  One set of eaters was avian and the other mammalian.  One set was considerably larger.  One could descend several feet and the other only float.  Yet they never got in one another's way, never fought over a fish, and never even swam away in fright.  They got along and everyone ate their fill.
     Even these days, when so many seem to think we have finally been enlightened, we have trouble doing those things.  Sometimes it's race, sometimes it's nationality, sometimes it's even which part of the country you hail from.   Sometimes it's how much money you make and which neighborhood you live in.  To our shame, sometimes it's politics.  Yet we have so much more in common than a pelican and a dolphin.  One has fins, the other wings.  If they were humans, my experience tells me that would be enough to fight about.  What is wrong with us?
     Here is what matters:  We are all sinners depending upon the grace of God.  We all rely upon a God who emptied Himself and became a Jewish man, a carpenter, blue collar at best, who died on our behalf.  We are all saved because He rose from the dead and offered us a way to do the same.
      Some of us are pelicans and some are dolphins, but it really doesn't matter which is which.  Let's all just get along, eat our fill when we assemble, and help one another along the way, because none of us is better than the other in any form or fashion.

For you are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for you all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise (Gal 3:26-29).

Dene Ward

It’s another summer morning in Florida.  Nine o’clock, 78 degrees, yet before you have taken ten steps outside your skin begins to prickle in that way it does just before a sweat breaks out, and your hair begins to wilt or kink, depending upon its natural state of curl or uncurl.  The trees are dripping so that it sounds like rain on the metal carport roofing, and the hazy air is thick enough with humidity to drown you if you breathe too quickly.  The damp ground smells loamy, and in places a little sour.  A film of perspiration has already formed over your lips and your shirt feels like it came out of the dryer five minutes too soon. 
            If you stay out longer than a few minutes, the only word that truly describes how you feel is “nasty.”  Sweaty, greasy, grimy, sandy, and swarming with gnats and yellow flies.  As uncomfortable as it is, I still try to get all my yard work done then, before the temperature rises to match the humidity and the sub-tropical sun beats on you as mercilessly as an Egyptian taskmaster.  I spray the underside of my garden hat brim with Off and don my work out clothes.  No need messing up something else with gray grime that will never come out once you have soaked them in the righteous sweat of labor, for dripping with it you will be.
            This morning I spent the time in the raised bed around the trellises.  With a wetter summer than we have had in years, the weeds grow more thickly than the grass and flowers.  I weed one bed, and the next week it looks like I haven’t touched it in a month.  So I went around pulling out grass sprigs, dollarweed, castor beans, and half a dozen oak trees.
            You read that right—oak trees.  I am not Mrs. Paul Bunyan—none of those discarded oak trees were over 6 inches tall.  Some of them even had the acorn still attached to the roots when I pulled it out of the ground.  It was easy.  One quick rip and up they came.  Pulling up trees is simple when you get them at six inches.  Even waiting till they are a foot tall makes a significant difference in how difficult it is to uproot them.
            Yet isn’t that what we do in our lives?  We wait till the soap scum is flaky gray and a quarter inch thick before we get out the scrub brush, when a two minute wipe each week would save us twenty minutes of elbow grease every month.  We wait till the fat rolls over our waistbands, when losing five pounds every six months would save us the agony of an 800 calorie a day diet for a year to lose thirty.  We wait till our lives are falling apart, when realigning ourselves a quarter inch every day would have kept the Devil at bay.
            Isn’t it time to wise up a little?  Isn’t it time to do a little work to save the pain that results from neglect? 
            Have a conversation with God every day, throughout the day, while you wash those dishes or walk the dog or trim the hedges.  When something serious arises and you really need the help, you won’t have to wonder if He’ll be there for you or if He gave up on you long ago.  (He does do that, you know, give up on people, Jer 11:11; 14:12; Ezek 8:18; Mic 3:4; Zech 7:13, etc.).
            Start reading your Bible now, a little every day, adding some serious and diligent study as you go along, learning some good study techniques from those who know them and want so badly to share.  Then when your neighbor asks you a question, you just might be able to answer him, instead of standing there like a fool, red with embarrassment.
            Begin working on those problems you have, the ones that nag you day after day.  Make a plan and begin to weed the sin out of your life like a six inch oak tree.  If it becomes the behemoth that stands over your house, you will never get rid of it, but the Devil will be more than happy to take advantage of the shade.
 
…looking carefully lest there be any man that fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby the many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15.
 
Dene Ward