“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” Luke 10:19

It’s not like we didn’t know there was a possibility of running across one, or that they were even there. After all we aren’t stupid! So when 7 of the family went for a hike along a predetermined route, we were, for the most part, cautious. Sticking to the trail, we followed the signs and arrows through the woods. It was my grandson, the last one in the line, who shouted out…STOP!!!! And there it was! Right in the middle of the trail!

Looking at the picture…do YOU see it? Because WE didn’t. In fact, 6 of us had already walked over it or trampled to the side of it! IT being a coiled up yellow rattlesnake! But something was strange! It wasn’t moving or rattling. It was just lying there as if in a coma! I poked it with my walking stick to see if it was dead. It wasn’t. But I found no sign as to why it just laid there. So I thanked God and we continued the hike.

Katie and I ran into, almost literally, a VERY fat thick BLACK rattlesnake that same week. And HE was chattering. He saw us from a few feet away and, true to form, rattled. We gazed at each other for some time before he had enough and slithered away! It was beautiful…for a rattlesnake! And it did EVERYTHING it was created to do. It warned and rattled…and ultimately submitted to our presence.

I am not afraid of Rattlesnakes. The Bible verse today gives me some information that I can put into my Faith bag and use on my journey here. I am not stupid! And because of my Savior, Jesus Christ, I am not afraid either.

There are some crazy people out there that take this Bible verse out of context, grabbing and playing with poisonous snakes to prove something that Jesus NEVER intended this verse to mean. The verse is an illustration and the snakes and scorpions represent demonic evil in the world. Wise believers don’t tempt or play with evil. But wisdom comes with time and effort, and ALL mature believers carry scars reminding us of the times we grabbed, instead of tread around evil.

I belong to Jesus Christ. I am His and He is mine. I am special to Him. Because of that, I take ‘walking BY FAITH’ quite literally! I try not to play with things that have the potential to hurt me. But I don’t avoid walking as His representative in this evil world, fearful at every turn at what COULD happen. I trust Him to give me wisdom and walk with me. If He and I run into a snake of some kind along life’s journey…it’s the snake that has the problem!

Do YOU walk in fear seeing nothing but danger… or do you walk by Faith WITH the Savior!

“Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” Job 12:12

I own 2 Queen Palm Trees…though not by choice. They came with the house when I bought it over 30 years ago, and they were tall even then. The responsibility to care for something I did not choose came along with the house that I did! So…being a responsible homeowner, I considered it part of my duty to keep the tree trimmed. I am now questioning that assumption.

Palm trees are messy. When the seed pods start to bust out and bloom, they drop yellow crud on the ground and draw honey bees. But as the process matures, each phase becomes more messy. Ultimately, if left alone, the palm tree looks like it is growing spears, then orange seeds drop to the ground where they begin fermenting and turn to stink. I don’t like stink!

Because they are over 40 feet tall and I only have a 30 foot ladder, Katie asked me to please be careful. She loves me! Over the years I have tried hiring people to trim the trees for me, but their price and unreliability always led me to just do it myself. Yesterday I asked my friend and neighbor to give me a hand because he had offered. We trade help back and forth that way! As I hung from the top of the ladder, and while reaching up with an electric chainsaw as high as I could, I suddenly had an epiphany! “WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING???”

It may have been external factors that provided the wisdom. With the temperature about 180 degrees and the humidity equivalent to being submerged in a swimming pool, I looked down from my perch and experienced a moment of clarity! Maybe I was prepped for wisdom by the letter I received from the Social Security Administration the day before. It said that I was now a qualified recipient!

Like my neighbor and me, ‘older’ and ‘wiser’ are pals. And like the trees that came with my house, one just comes along with the other. And sometimes it’s a shock! I can remember things that I used to do that now make me cringe with, ‘I can’t believe I did that…and LIVED!’ But according to the Bible, that is the way it’s SUPPOSED to be!

I am called by God to READ HIS WORD, GROW UP in wisdom and then PASS IT ON as I grow. It is a convenient way for people to learn without falling first. Some learn faster and easier than others. But not me! Being stubborn, I’ve learned most things the hard way! Bible reading often confirms what I was too dumb to learn or believe in the first place. A process I don’t recommend!

I’m starting to believe that the wisest thing I can do now, is to cut the trees down! Now where’d I put that chainsaw?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

When on vacation, and depending upon weather conditions, there are times we have a lot of time to kill. We call it vacation because we NORMALLY kill time by working. But even at rest, we are driven to find SOMETHING to do to fill up the hours. Staring at the walls or sleeping has its limitations. I discovered that one of the greatest time killers of history is called a jigsaw puzzle!

Now jigsaw puzzles are an acquired taste. As a kid I remember watching my parents pour over strange cutout pieces, trying to fit them together to match a picture on a box. Even then I thought the process was the dumbest idea on earth! That is until I grew up and found myself, on a rainy day, with time to kill.

To set the record straight, I personally NEVER START a Jigsaw Puzzle. Katie has that drive. When the rain comes and stays for a while, I’ll look for her, only to find her upstairs at our cabin, pouring over pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. KNOWING it is a waste of time, I will delay my joining her until I’m nearly out of my mind. But alas… the call of boredom can only be resisted for so long.

We own a HUGE collection of puzzles in boxes upstairs at our cabin. With puzzles that vary in numbers of pieces and pictures, NO ONE should remain bored for long. Just grab and go! But this year Katie showed me a sophisticated level of boredom that I have not seen before. Instead of grabbing a puzzle that’s there, she went SHOPPING for NEW one!!!! “WHY?” I asked! Her answer? “I don’t really like the pictures on those boxes!” Bored, and now baffled, I just stood and watched her enter the puzzle department at Good Will! Funny huh???

What is this infatuation we humans have with ‘NEW?” I knew someone that went to great lengths to restore an antique piece of furniture, only to get rid of it a year later because they were tired of it! The Bible even has an opinion about the subject. NEW things replace OLD things because OLD things no longer satisfy us! If things break down, fail or fall down in satisfaction, only NEW will do!

There are MANY times I find myself tired of my old self. I don’t like where I am, what I’m doing or the fun level of my old self. Like everyone else, when I hit that stage, I become vulnerable to decisions that do NOT always present themselves with a good outcome. But thank God I have a choice to go ‘NEW’ with Jesus Christ. Turning the picture box over to Him, HE can create a new one out of the old. And he’s really good at it!   I’m just glad my wife hasn’t traded ME in!

“I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Romans 7:25

Being a saint and perfect Son of God can be VERY tiring! Have you noticed? I’ve heard it takes special material and a LOT of pressure, accompanied with time of course, to make a diamond. Pig poo??? Not so much! What?? You don’t like my reference? Well, my little cupcake, Let’s take a stroll!

While on vacation in the mountains my wife applauded my peace and serenity. She admitted, when I was that state of rest, that she had been worried about me before we left! She said I was so stressed out and mean, that she wasn’t sure she wanted to go to the mountains with this ogre! Now that we were there and the AHHHH factor had settled in… it turned out I was a pretty nice guy after all! She liked the nice guy. She even said, “I didn’t like you before we left! WHEW!!!!!! HARSH!!!!

I am a crazy man on the road. Being goal oriented and driven, I drive that way. In the mountains, where traffic is extremely limited, winding narrow roads don’t ALLOW for speed. And since death over a cliff isn’t my preferred method of dying, I can handle the occasional sight seer in front of me. Besides…wrecking a RENTAL car carries EXPENSIVE consequences! But now… I am home!

The very first time Katie and I rode together since back from vacation, she YELLED at me! Now it’s not like ‘I’ can yell. But I know her yell well! “HEY…STOP IT! Where’d MY MAN go?” Catching a look at myself in the rear-view mirror as I looked at the psycho woman I had just passed, I saw a tinge of green in my face. Like David Banner in ‘The Hulk,’ the ogre was coming back with a roar!

Paul was Psycho too! And YOU KNOW EXACTLY what that term means. Because it applies to YOU as well! Maybe not when behind a wheel. But YOU know! The term that sophisticated Christians use is ‘Agathokakological.’ And yes, please feel free to use it as you apply it to yourself…you sicko you! The term means what we all ARE…”that which consists of both good and evil!”

I have noticed that the road construction on U.S. 41, in places 6 plus lanes wide, are STILL under construction. And psyco people who drive SLOW… in the passing lane… by themselves… WEARING A MASK… have not left the area. Unfortunately…neither has the Ogre within me. But I am working on it with the help of the Holy Spirit… (SURE I am!).

I am SO grateful that Romans 7:25 STARTS with the promise of hope for me BEFORE it goes on to describe my state of agathokakologicalness! It says, ‘Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” And THAT is PRECISELY the method of turning pig poo into a diamond. Or a cupcake!

Are you familiar with the process?

Being led to guide us into the true purpose for which we were placed, I assigned that we all look through the Epistles to find out how the Patriarchs, (Paul, Peter, John etc.) prayed.  To discover the hows and whys, in an effort to find out just how WE should pray.  This miraculous undertaking has been filled with spiritual road pointers, so that there is NO DOUBT as to what God has in mind.  I just was led to this article that I simply must share.  May YOU find it enlightening as I did.  

Pray Until You Pray

A Simple Way to Begin Each Day  an article by Jonathan Parnell Pastor, Minneapolis, Minnesota

You begin every day with prayer, one way or another.

In his book The Common Rule, Justin Earley explains that unless we create new habits of gospel prayers in the morning, we’ll start the day with some kind of “prayer” we’ve borrowed from the world. Whether it’s anxiety-ridden regret or self-sufficient resolve, something fills our minds as soon as we awake, directing us to look beyond ourselves, or at least deeper within. And here’s the thing: unless we intend for our prayers to accord with truth, they won’t.

What would it mean to start the day differently — to pray according to truth? It would mean, for starters, that we don’t merely look beyond ourselves (and certainly not within), but to God alone. That sounds simple enough: start every day praying to God according to truth. We soon realize, however, that praying truth as a daily habit can feel complicated.

For one, regularly praying truth means we say many of the same words again and again. We address God in the same ways, declaring the same realities. We don’t say them in vain repetition, but we do repeat them. For example, God is truly our Father in heaven every time we pray, and so we say it — if not every time, at least repeatedly.

And unless we’re only asking God for various things, our praying will involve adoring God for his attributes (which never change) and thanking him for his gifts (which are constant), and this also means repetition. But in repeating the same truths, what if we slip into a kind of wooden formalism? What if we end up just going through the motions?

One Problem After Another

This is a danger. Habits, by definition, become second nature to us; we do them almost involuntarily, without needing to work up our wills. But if that’s where praying truth takes us, does that mean our prayers are insincere (or less sincere)? Have we just dug ourselves into a deeper hole? To remedy the first problem of not praying daily according to truth, have we now spun off a second problem of wooden formalism?

While wooden formalism is indeed possible, we also should consider the alternative danger of banking on creativity and spontaneity to carry our prayer life. How creative and spontaneous do we suppose we should be? Do we imagine that our praying to God should follow the same patterns of our dialogue with friends? Are we to approach him with no agenda, whether his or our own? Perhaps we assume we should pray as we’re guided by whatever seems to come up during our time together, as if we were sitting across from a trusted confidant, cup of coffee in hand.

As romantic and authentic as this idea might seem, the problem with this type of creative praying — at least for many of us — is its impracticality. It makes one especially vulnerable to what D.A. Carson calls “mental drift,” which makes sense given one obvious difference between God and your coffee friend: God is invisible (1 Timothy 1:17). It’s not easy to carry on a conversation with an invisible person. It takes locking in our minds and hearts with unusual energy, which tends to wane. One reason crises improve our prayer lives is that they focus us, at least for a season.

Mental Drift

Carson describes what he means by “mental drift” in his book Praying with Paul, and it’s safe to say the experience resonates with all of us. He gives the following example:

Dear Lord, I thank you for the opportunity of coming into your presence by the merits of Jesus. It is a wonderful blessing to call you Father. . . . I wonder where I left my car keys? [No, no! Back to business.] Heavenly Father, I began by asking that you watch over my family — not just in the physical sphere, but in the moral and spiritual dimensions of our lives. . . . Boy, last Sunday’s sermon was sure bad. I wonder if I’ll get that report written on time? [No, no!] Father, give real fruitfulness to that missionary couple we support, whatever their name is. . . . Oh, my! I had almost forgotten I promised to fix my son’s bike today. . . . (2)

At risk in this experience is that we become so discouraged, maybe even cynical, that we give up praying altogether. We are so bad at it that trying feels like a waste of time.

But if we understand that prayerlessness is the greatest danger, then a wandering mind or mindless repetitions suddenly become more normal, part of our humanness in this age. It’s redeemed humanness in that we’re praying, but humanness still in that praying is a struggle.

Repeating True Prayers Habitually

Carson addresses these and other ailments with several lessons on prayer, including, first, that we should plan to pray; and second, that we should adopt practical ways to impede mental drift during those appointments. Among these practical ways he mentions vocalizing our prayers, praying over Scripture, and journaling our prayers. Following the same line of thought, I would add repeating true prayers habitually. In other words, pray the same truths at the same points every day.

This method applies both pieces of Carson’s advice: it makes prayer a regular practice, and it keeps our prayers on track. By repeating true prayers habitually, we kill a few birds with one stone: we’ve eliminated prayerlessness, we’ve mitigated the possibility of mental drift, and inasmuch as these repeated prayers are indeed true, we’ve directed our prayers according to truth, which was our problem from the start.

The final piece, and the one impossible to script, is how we keep these prayers real. For that, we need the ongoing grace of God. At the same time, it’s worth noting that repeating certain sayings every day doesn’t necessarily make them insincere. For example, I say the exact same things to my wife and children every single day, even multiple times a day, and I’ve never not meant it, even if sometimes I might say it with more zest than at other times. Zesty praying is a worthwhile hope — and may God grant it! — but our first goal should be starting the day with genuine prayer that accords with truth. Now how does that look?

Starting Every Day

Every day, at the earliest possible moment — before you check your phone or your mind starts preparing for what’s ahead, but after you’re mentally aware enough to think — consider reciting a simple prayer full of truth.

In The Common Rule, Earley provides this example: “Spirit, I was made for your presence. May this day be one I spend with you in all that I do. Amen.” Another example is a four-part petition taken from Psalm 51, or perhaps one from Psalm 143, or many other such examples found in The Book of Common Prayer. If our prayer lives accompany a life of Bible reading, then we have fresh opportunities each day to stumble into another pathway for prayer. Listening to God is one of the greatest preparations for speaking to God.

If possible, consider making this simple prayer habit a mile-marker throughout your day, with different prayers repeated at morning, noon, and bedtime. But start with the morning, since it marks what many call a “keystone habit.” The idea there, popularized by Charles Duhigg’s best-selling The Power of Habit, is that not all habits are equal. Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction. Duhigg writes, “The habits that matter most are the ones that, when they start to shift, dislodge and remake other patterns” (101). Repeating true prayers, every morning, can have that effect.

Learn to Pray by Praying

To be sure, this is not the only praying we do, but it is the praying we’re sure to do. Often, it can become a jump-start to longer, more conversant prayers — as the Puritans liked to put it, we “pray until we pray.” Carson reminds us of this Puritan persistence, which means we should pray “long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality” (18).

Indeed, would that God would make that our habit! If it already is, then disregard all that’s been said here. But if that goal is still ahead, fellow redeemed humans, repeating true prayers habitually, every morning, might be your best next step.

The late J.I. Packer puts this all in context, as quoted by Carson:

There is no recipe for prayer that can work for us like a handyman’s do-it-yourself manual or a cookery book, where the claim is that if you follow the instructions you can’t go wrong. Praying is not like carpentry or cookery; it is the active exercise of a personal relationship, a kind of friendship, with the living God and his Son Jesus Christ, and the way it goes is more under divine control than under ours. . . . As in other close relationships, so in prayer: you have to find out by trial and error what is right for you, and you learn to pray by praying. (19)

Jonathan Parnell (@jonathanparnell) is the lead pastor of Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife, Melissa, and their eight children. He is the author of Mercy for Today: A Daily Prayer from Psalm 51. 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

While I live in Florida (by choice), I have a family cabin (by grateful blessing) up in the Allegheny mountains. The flat terrain of home gives way to gorgeous vistas, foliage and the challenges that come by walking an incline. Along with the sights come trials and hardships of walking mountains since, no matter the destination, it is either up…or down. This makes every destination either work at worst, or a hike at best.

My father bought this slice of heaven almost fifty years ago, and it rests, almost at the base, of a mountain. Coming out the front door, out view is a mountain across the valley. Going out the back of the property is to go UP! One of the first things that I wanted to do when he bought it was to walk to the top of the mountain…just to see what was there! It is NOT a goal that very many adults have, because walking a mountain takes some skill.

Going up, one finds, is harder than it looks. These mountains don’t have shear cliffs and drops offs like you might see in the Rockies, so a hike is quite possible. When coupled with sweat, good boots and a walking stick, it can be done. I think the last time I walked the back yard it took about 45 minutes to get to the top. Getting up was less than HALF the adventure. It is coming DOWN that presents the bigger challenge!

Because these mountains are covered with trees of all types and sizes, the entire place is covered in dead leaves. This makes the going a little more tenuous since underneath, there are rocks, holes and decaying matter that God is turning into more dirt. When it rains or snows, it only makes the slopes more slippery. Grabbing onto tree saplings and pulling yourself up is one way. Making a walking stick to help pull oneself up is smart. Though coming DOWN with a stick CAN prove dangerous!

It’s easy to see that animals who live there have a different way of going up a mountain. Deer trails don’t got up and down, they traverse the mountain, gently crisscrossing as they ascend upward. This makes the trip to the top longer, but much less difficult. Me being me, I usually don’t think things through like that because, as they say, “the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.” I just can’t seem to get it it my head that taking a longer course can actually get me there in better shape! Something God knows much better than me.

The Bible verse today is actually one of my all time favorites. NOT because it started out that way. But because, over the long tenuous course of my life, I have LEARNED…the HARD way…that God does not lie! Me means EVERY WORD He says. But I, knowing as much as I did, and having tried to take the shortcut so many times, carry lifetime scars both inside and out. Eventually the rebel inside just gave up and started paying attention. Imagine my shock when what He said…proved true!

Coming DOWN a mountain, like coming off of a trial, fall or crisis, can be difficult. I learned to actually RUN down mountains as a kid. The trick is to go down HEELS FIRST, digging into the dirt as you go. I found that if I started to slide, I could actually use my momentum to my advantage. Coming DOWN is faster than going up! But falls are more common.

Life is a mountain. Falls, hardships and pain are inevitable. But God! He SAID that He would have me, IF I would put HIM FIRST. Deer Christian… the question is…do YOU?

Fire

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.'” Hebrews 12:28-29

My lovely wife loves fire! One of the greatest highlights for her, when we visit ‘The Cabin’, is to sit around the fireplace in the evening. Which isn’t a surprise. Most people do! The cool mountain air becomes much more cozy when sitting in front of a warm fire. The light and sounds coming off of a well built fire only add to the ambiance. But first, someone has to BUILD a fire! That someone…is me!

Now before I get started, I don’t want to sound like I am an expert woodsman. Though I HAVE had LOTS of practice and have cut more than my share of wood! I learned how to build fires as a Boy Scout, then taught it through the years as a scout leader. But having ‘The Cabin’ forces me to put the ‘walk’ in my ‘talk.’ It doesn’t matter how much I KNOW if I can’t, or don’t, choose to apply it! ‘The Cabin’ is my proving ground.

A fire is nothing more than the rapid oxidation of a material in a chemical process called combustion. This process releases heat, light and other products in the form of ash, gas etc. Now almost no one knows this…though any kid with a match can replicate it well enough. But BUILDING a fire is NOT as easy as it seems. Without proper methods, materials and skill, I have watched MANY a person try! I CAN say, without doubt or braggery, that if you want a fire…I’m your guy! Which means ‘I’m’ the one that usually has to do the WORK involved in creating the ambiance! Which also means, I’m the one that usually smells the most like smoke!

There are tools that I have at ‘The Cabin’ that I DON’T have at home. Saw’s, splitters, wedges and mauls are needed to cut, trim, split and chop trees into actual fuel for a fire. There are things to know in order to do all of this, but nothing compares to the amount of energy and work needed to actually DO it! But I have to admit…I like it!

It’s actually enjoyable cutting big logs, splitting them down to size and then stacking them! Katie encouraged our joining a gym last year and honestly, I don’t really care for it. When I’m exerting energy necessary for a fire, at least I can SEE something from my sweat. It gives my efforts a point! A tangible goal or reason to actually do it!

There are different kinds of trees in the forest, and knowing them is important. Some, like pine, are called softwood. Others, like oak, ash and maple, are called hardwood. I have a saying up there that ‘softwood is for lookin’, and hardwood is for cookin’! The comment, “nice fire,” usually comes after seeing several big chunks of softwood are ablaze and brightening up the area. Hardwood burns hotter but isn’t as pretty at night. When it’s cold, the women like when I use both kinds so that the fire burns hot AND bright as well.

The process of fire takes a lot of effort and time. After cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking and drying, one needs to know HOW to actually BUILD a fire. And there are several types…tepee, box and lean-to fires just to name a few. It takes tinder, kindling, sticks and logs to eventually get the fire to the comfort level my wife likes. And just because it may have rained during the day is NO excuse to NOT have a fire at night! So learning to build a fire in wet and adverse conditions is a must. And yes.. I have stories!

God is a consuming fire! That is what the Bible verse says, so it MUST MEAN something! And it does. Ask anyone who has lost their home to a fire and they will tell you how devastating fire can be. Fire has no tolerance for anything less than itself. If something CAN be consumed, it WILL be. And unless the fire is stopped or put out, it will continue to burn and rage until there is no fuel left. And that is EXACTLY HOW GOD operates!

My flesh is consumable. Born in sin, I have NO HOPE of EVER becoming anything more than what I am. A sinner! And since God CANNOT tolerate ANYTHING LESS than Himself, something has to happen OUTSIDE of myself to make me tolerable to Him. And THAT something, is His Son, Jesus Christ. HE is ‘The One’ who takes my life, burns it to the ground and rebirths me into His image. It’s a LOT of work on His part. But He likes it! After all the years of being the object of His affection and the recipient of his light and warming love…so do I!

I have found that when I go to ‘The Cabin’ I am drawn to the woodpile, the fire place and the tools. I look forward to spending the time and energy it takes to make something lovely out of something dead and lifeless. It is no accident that I get the same results when I approach God each morning with His Word in my hands. As I voluntarily yield myself to the Master’s consuming fire, I am changed. Neither of us regret the process. And if I smell like His smoke and look brighter because of the process…well… isn’t that the point!

Are YOU on fire? If so, how hot and bright ARE you?

Cabin Chronicles

Somewhere, up in the mountains is a place we call, “The Cabin.” Which is a funny name for a building that USED to be a Church! And while I’ve been going up to those mountains all of my life, I only acquired this slice of Heaven back in 1974. My grandfather had a cabin north of us where I learned to walk and where I spent a great part of my childhood summers. Since God blessed us with our own, we have the joy of going to ‘The Cabin’ every summer to get away, rejuvenate and relax. It is the PERFECT place to spend time with Jesus. The following are just some of the blessings.

Mountain Spring

“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Jesus John 4:14

People look at me funny when I tell them we don’t have running water up there! It’s like they can’t figure how someone could even LIVE without it! But we manage just fine. There’s a creek below in the valley for baths and, yes…it gets COLD! But we have a saying at the cabin, “It feels good once you get in!” Like with much of life…AND with a life of following, Jesus, it’s the initial ‘getting IN’ that’s the only problem!

Since we don’t have running water, we don’t have a bathroom toilet either! For that, we have our very own ‘Outhouse!’ And a fine one it is! When it comes to drinking and cooking water, we have what many of the small town folk still rely on, by choice! Simply called, ‘The Spring,’ it is a pipe that was stuck in the mountainside, and from which flows what WE think is the cleanest, coldest water in the world. Other than the pipe, it isn’t much different than the method folks used to get water back in Jesus day!

When we need water, we gather up our old milk jugs we have used in previous years, thread a rope through about 20 of them, and head to the spring. Like most things, there is a method to ‘getting water’. After removing the cap, we rinse out the jug, then blow HARD into it to make sure there’s no leak. We then rinse it out, fill and cap it, and take it back to the Cabin, where we let it set until the temperature drops and the condensation disappears off the jug. We have a special shelf inside to store them when they are dry. These last few years, as our family has grown, my daughter Cori added 5 gallon water jugs AND a battery operated dispenser! I guess we’re modernizing… but SLOWLY and in Cabin style!!

Back in Jesus day, it was the woman’s job to fetch water from the town well. There was no real STANDARD size for how big their water pots were. But at 8 pounds per gallon, plus the weight of the clay jar, it COULDN’T have been more than 1 or 2 gallons. I can’t imagine trying to fill up a 25 to 30 gallon water crock inside the house! That would be a LOT of walking and carrying! And SOOOO many little trips would need to be made to keep a family supplied. With CONSERVATION ALWAYS on the mind!

EVERYONE likes to ‘go get water’ when we first get to the cabin. The kids like it the best! But after a while, getting water becomes more like WORK than an adventure. Necessity becomes the motivation, and to the responsible family member with love at the center of every action, it really isn’t WORK as much as it is SERVICE! Which is why Jesus talked about and used water for MANY illustrations.

By the time I manage to GET to the cabin in the summer, I am PARCHED! Thirsty to get away, have a break and get renewed. But even though we have the ‘BEST’ water in the world up there, it isn’t water that I crave. It is HIM! I make a living at making Jesus available to others. But I STILL need to drink from His well myself. As I sat there this year, I was struck by the awesomeness of my life with Jesus Christ for well over 50 years. After ‘drinking a living’ from ‘His well supplied’ life, I can honestly say that He has NEVER lied to me. His Life is STILL the ONLY REAL thirst quencher for my soul. The ONLY thing that satisfies me.

What about YOU? What truly satisfies YOUR thirsty soul? 

We are His hands and feet and heart.  As you go through your day, I pray that YOUR eyes, feet and heart are submitted to Jesus.  Then go do what He asks.

Lord, Spare Our Land – How Revival Begins in America

Article by Greg Morse Staff writer, desiringGod.org

As I walked into the coffee shop, I thought I had wandered into a painting. Vibrant blues, and greens, and yellows, and oranges were displayed all over the store. Tie-dye shirts on every employee, banners strewn overhead. Why the celebration? Before I had time to ask, I saw the back of one of the rainbow-colored shirts: “PRIDE.”

The rainbow, the sign of God’s covenant to Noah, promising never again to drown the world of sinful men with a flood, the drawn bow pointed up at the heavens, now used as a mascot for sexual deviance. Though our nation champions Sodom’s sins, we have not learned from Sodom’s censure (2 Peter 2:6). We receive advertisements for sins that bar millions from the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9–10), as we order our morning coffee.

Of course, homosexual sin is just one of the many abominations to which our nation lends colorful support. Heterosexual sins of fornication, adultery, and pornography saturate our television shows, movies, and the magazines lining our checkout lines. Half-naked women whisper from billboards driving to work. Shower scenes come unbidden in commercials and pop-up ads. The indoctrination of transgenderism confuses and abuses many children.

While our societies are flooded with proud corruption, Christians sometimes wonder what can be done.

We need to confront the darkness surrounding us, but along with cultural engagement — above cultural engagement even — stands the need for us to define and cultivate the purity of the church. In this we can learn a hidden secret from the intercession of Abraham for Sodom and Gomorrah: Fire fell on Sodom not only because of the thousands of brazenly wicked people, but because there were not even ten righteous among them.

When God Counts to Ten

The story is well-known in the church. God discloses his decision to destroy the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham because God plans to make him into a mighty nation that would bless other nations. He would command his household and the next generation to walk in righteousness and justice — a righteousness these two wicked cities had not known (Genesis 18:18–19).

After hearing of the judgment that would fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asks the Lord, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? (Genesis 18:23–24)

God agrees not to destroy the cities if there were fifty.

Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? (Genesis 18:27–28)

God agrees not to destroy the cities if there were 45.

With reverence, Abraham moves from 45 to 40 to 30 to 20 to just 10. God receives the mediation: “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it” (Genesis 18:32). He was willing to spare an entire, unholy city from destruction for the sake of just ten people.

Spared for the Sake of One

But ten were not found.

And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. (Genesis 19:27–28)

Abraham climbs the mount expectantly. Had God spared the city? He looked and saw it ablaze.

Indeed, we know of only one definitively: Lot, the nephew for whom Abraham had pled. Had Lot perished in the fire of the wicked? Had Abraham’s intercession been for nothing?

No, Genesis tells us in great detail how God saved Lot. Angels went to the city and commanded him to flee with those of his house. And even when he lingered, they physically grabbed him and his family by the hand and “brought him out” for “the compassion of the Lord was upon him” (Genesis 19:16 NASB). His story is a lasting example, reminding us that even while unholy cities go down in flames and sin, “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9).

For Lot’s sake, a small town was also spared. Zoar (i.e. “little”) is the place where Lot is permitted to flee for refuge from God’s wrath. Abraham’s intercession had not failed; the righteous was not swept away with the wicked, as the text makes clear:

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. (Genesis 19:29)

Cities fell for lack of ten who followed the Lord, but the righteous man was spared, along with his little town, because of the intercession of a faithful mediator.

Where God Begins

Revival of a nation, should God be pleased to grant it, begins in the church.

As we take thoughts captive to obey Christ, we must not forget to obey him ourselves. How easy it becomes to hate other men’s sins more than our own; a nation’s drift more than the church’s. For the past two thousand years, it has been the “time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). And if God sees fit to begin at the household of God, so should we. Is this not the focus of all our New Testament letters?

Our gaze should turn first within, on the vitality of Christ’s church, and this can and will be a blessing for a nation. Our God has, in history, spared nations — or at least Zoars — for the sake of his righteous few.

What Might God Do Now?

Isn’t it amazing that God orchestrates his world, including the rise and fall of nations, with such a consideration for his people?

The Christian church, even when abused or ignored, is the backbone of any land. God rules the world in consideration of their good (even when their “good” includes refining fires of persecution, 1 Peter 1:6–7). His curses and blessings, his ways and his mysterious acts of providence, all serve his own glory and the eternal benefit of his people — neither impeding the other.

Yet we can feel so small, so insignificant, so powerless. Perhaps we believe ourselves a dutiful afterthought of a God busily lording the world. We can look at the celebrities, the wealthy, the elite, and think that they hold all the influence.

But while great men in expensive suits make great speeches about important decisions, the Monarch of mankind bends his ear to little children. He who holds the hearts of kings in his hand (Proverbs 21:1) considers how all decisions will affect them.

Should we not rightfully believe that the command center of this world, the place where real influence is wrought, is in the secret place of faithful Christian living? Even evil Queen Mary knew this when she confessed, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

If God spared the lives of many for a few, if the heroic efforts of individual men, through faith, “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (Hebrews 11:33–34) — what might a praying, loving, waiting, expecting church do in a nation like ours?

Greg Morse is a staff writer for desiringGod.org and graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Abigail, live in St. Paul with their son and daughter.