Mind the Rocks

“And, ‘A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’  They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.”  1 Peter 2:8

I think we can all agree on one proven fact about hitting your toe on a rock:  IT HURTS!  I have yet to hit my toe on any object and think to myself, “Hmm, I just hit that with my toe.  Oh well.”  NOT HARDLY!!!  It’s more of seeing stars, feeling a splitting pain in your entire foot, not to mention resisting the sudden urge to blurt out profanity.  You wind up with a throbbing feeling and convinced that every little bone it that toe has been shattered.

Here’s a good example of having extreme lack of finesse.  How many of you have attempted to walk through a room in your house, at night, without the lights on?  Did a certain piece of furniture manage to find your very sensitive toe?  Anyone that hasn’t had that experience just hasn’t lived!  Why did it happen?  Because, you walked through the house in total darkness!  Why do you think?

Tripping over something isn’t any better.  First, you have the afore mentioned experience of excruciating pain in your toe or foot, added to whatever bumps, scrapes, or bruises that occur when you fall to the ground.  Amidst the pain, we look around and see if anyone witnessed our sincere lack of grace.  It’s the sort of feeling that makes you want to crawl back in bed, throw the covers over your head, and pretend the day never happened.  Anyone have those days?  Who am I kidding?  Of course, you have!  We all have!  

As one that loves to venture into unsteady terrain, it is IMPERRATIVE for me to pay attention to the terrain and to ensure that I am walking properly.  If I’m dragging my feet, I’m going to be eating the ground, there’s just no way around it.  While I love to look around while I am trekking up hills, down steep slopes, or navigating through a very rocky path; I give much of my attention to the ground.  I would rather view it while I am still on my feet, instead of seeing it from a distance of two inches, after falling on my face.

These two cases teach us one important lesson:  PAY ATTENTION!  The words of Peter, along with other writers in the New Testament, clearly tells us that if we are walking in the light, seeing where we are going and paying attention to the path we are walking, then we will not stumble.  (See John 11:9, 2 Peter 1:10, Romans 9:32-33) Does this mean that we will never stumble?  No.  We will still have those moments in our lives when we figuratively stump our toe or go crashing to the ground.  Afterwards, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, bandage the wounds, and continue on.  We become more focused on our surroundings and the trips and stumbles become fewer and fewer.  

May you go through today minding the rocks that lie in the path before you.  😊

Vigilance Vs. Fish

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  James 1:2-4

I caught my first rainbow trout, last weekend.  (By the way, the picture is not me.  Just a photo I found online showing the fish in more detail than the photos my wife and I took.) It was only one but, there was a definite feeling of fulfillment inside of me.  Let me explain.  Having grown up and venturing the various lakes of Texas, my fishing knowledge revolved around two species: bass and catfish.  If you were to look at the arsenal inside my tackle box, you’d see various soft and hard lures, meant for these two types of marine life.  Moving to Colorado, where trout is the top catch, what I had would not work.

My wife and I took off for a day of fishing.  I did my homework on some of the preferred live baits (since we would be fishing in a reservoir that ONLY allowed live bait), purchased what was needed, and headed out.  Now, the area that we went to consisted of three different reservoirs in the high elevation of the Pikes Peak Tollway.  The first reservoir we went to produced no fish.  Even after several hours, neither of us experienced even a bite on our lines.  Even though it was very peaceful, in spite of several others also out fishing, we still wanted to catch a little action on the lines that we had cast into the water.  After about four hours, we decided to go up the road to one of the other reservoirs. 

We set out to a spot on this body of water.  As we walked along the bank, we passed a couple of guys and inquired how the fishing was.  They replied that they had only caught two fish and that they had been out there for several hours.  Still determined to enjoy our time, my wife and I set up on a nice spot, baited our hooks, and cast out into the waters.  Within minutes, I had a bite!  While reeling in my line, I could tell that the fish wasn’t very large but, it was still putting up a little resistance.  Several seconds later, I had landed my first trout!  A beautiful rainbow trout.  Not long after, my wife also caught one…then a second one!  As much as this bit of action stirred me up, it would be the last of the catch that we would see, that day.

What is a successful day?  Yes!  It was a beautiful day to spend outdoors with my wife.  Guys, let’s face it.  How often do you come along a lovely woman that is willing to spend a day out fishing with you AND enjoy it?  That made the day a blessing in itself.  The added blessing was, after a lot of patience and vigilance, I received a catch.  It was only one trout but, I had caught it, nonetheless.  That experience became my first lesson into the world of trout fishing.  I am on the rode to learning about this new species, which will become my “bread and butter” living in a state where there are rivers and streams brimming with this species of fish.

Fishing offers one of the greatest biblical lessons, in my opinion: vigilance.  The act of remaining in one place for a long period of time, remaining alert and attentive to your surroundings.  When it comes to the art of fishing, vigilance is the difference between catching a fish and mindlessly letting one get away.  While I set out with the mindset of bringing in a full bag, I will not be discouraged if I made a worthy attempt and was not able to catch my limit.  Life doesn’t always allow those opportunities.  Most times, we need to stay in that one spot, give it due time, before moving on.  Leaving that one position, or situation too soon may cause a missed opportunity.  Staying around for too long, you may miss a definite opportunity elsewhere. 

How do you know whether to move or not?  Through time, patience, alertness, and understanding.  It won’t happen overnight.  It won’t happen in a few days.  It will be a while before I will be learned enough to be considered an intermediate, or expert trout angler.  I am enjoying the training and knowledge that comes with bettering oneself in a particular field, or situation. 

God gives us these abilities so that we may hone our talents.  Most importantly, to hone being the best, attentive Christians that we can be.  The learning does not end.  God calls us to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).  This type of fishing means learning how to catch a variety of “species” of mankind.  We catch one but, those methods don’t work for another.  We must continue to keep our senses in tune to our surroundings, pay close attention to everything, and try different methods if we hope to be successful anglers for God.

Tear Down to Build Up

"See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."  Jeremiah 1:10

My backyard looks like a terrible Greek tragedy!  Rock piles!  Clumps of dug up earth!  Uneven ground!  It’s less than pretty.  My wife and I have a plan: WE WANT MORE GRASS GROWING!!  To do that, all the rocks must go.  The concrete walkway (which is also uneven) has to be dug up and hauled out.  The ground needs to be tilled up for fresh soil to mix in.  Then, laying down new sod.  There’s a LOT of work to be done.  Every day, the yard looks just a little worse.  Ground zero!  However, this step is vital.  We cannot create the vision that we have until we tear down what is already there.

Why must one tear down before they can build?  Think about it.  Can you build a new house over an existing house?  Of course not.  Can you build a beautiful deck over an old, rotting one?  Not without having a poor looking result.  Can you install new parts to your car and still keep the old pieces intact?  It just doesn’t work that way.  Let’s go one step further:  Can you be born into the life of your Savior, without dying first to the sinful life?  Futile.

If the old remains, it could ruin the new.  I could find shortcuts to creating a beautiful yard.  Let’s face it, it won’t last.  I will have trouble properly maintaining it.  It will create more problems down the road.  I want to create it once, then enjoy it.  If anything, making additions, as we see fit, will be easier to do.  Should it be any different on how we create our lives?

I would love to say that once you commit yourself to Christ and our immersed into the waters of baptism, then you are in great shape.  I think my fellow Christians know that isn’t true.  Many start out strong.  However, instead of clearing away their old lives, they attempt to build new pieces to what is already there.  The foundation isn’t solid and won’t support the new life.  We should ensure that we have totally torn down our old lives, making sure that we have removed every board and nail that we previously used to construct our daily lives.  We need to be able to begin again with an empty plot, so to speak.  Only then, can we start fresh.  A new beginning to a new life. 

While our yard may not look like we want, now; we do look forward to what it will become, with proper time, planning, and care.  

Climbing the Correct Mountain

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”  Hebrews 12:22-24

If any book could be titled Out with The Old, In with The New, Hebrews would be fitting to this topic.  Do you know of someone that lives by the “Old Laws”, the Mosaic Laws of the Ten Commandments and nothing more?  Have you heard people exclaim that Christianity only requires them to be “good people”, without guidelines to determine what God deems as a good heart?  It is a broken record upon my ears.  A song that I have heard more than once.  While Jesus did not come to take away the ten simple rules that God presented to Moses on Mount Sinai, He did come to incorporate those into a new covenant. 

Within the modern church if today, I hear explanations of why they incorporate various aspects into their time of worship, or way of overseeing the congregation.  Those explanations were valid, until Jesus came to bring a new order to things.  A new way to view Christianity.  A new church, with a new way of handling things.  The “new kid” in town brought about an entirely new promise to everyone.  Yet, several of the churches just didn’t get it.  The apostle Paul, wrote to these newly established churches, warning them of the dangers of continuing to follow the mindset of the Old Law.  It didn’t work anymore.  Paul referred to the Old Law as a curse (Galatians 3:13), saying that if it had worked, God would have stuck with that alone to save us (Gal. 3:21).  Faith would not have been needed (Romans 4:14).  Christ came to abolish the old ways (Ephesians 2:15).

Mount Zion is the mountain that we should be directing our energies into climbing.  Mount Sinai had its day.  The practices of the Old Testament are no longer valid compared to the New Covenant of the Christ.  Why would we want to settle for anything less?  Those ten rules, given to Moses, are laws of morality.  However alone, they cannot nor will not save us.  Grace from Jesus’s selfless sacrifice gives us that opportunity.  It gives us a chance to live with a loving, giving heart.  A heart that is a home to our Father.  A heart that enables us to be willing to share the beauty of every blessing that God grants us, passing on our relationship with Him to others.  Following a few simple rules is easy, choosing a path of how to make every single choice pleasing to our Creator, takes more effort.

One mountain has a shorter path to its summit.  The other will take one’s lifetime to reach the summit.  Only one of these is the goal of a grand inheritance. 

Which mountain are you climbing?