Running to Tarshish

Jonah 1:3

But Jonah ran away from the LORD

And headed to Tarshish.

The voice in my head sounds something like this…..

There is no way…..

God couldn’t be telling me…..

Are you kidding me…. Really God… You want me to…..

And off I go to Tarshish.

I wonder what it is…..

What it is I might have heard from Jesus….

But instead, turned away……

And headed off to my Tarshish...

My place……… of escape.

I even wonder if maybe……..

Maybe I have become so accustomed to running…..

That I scarcely hear from Jesus at all.

He starts….. I run……

He begins with a word…..

Immediately I turn a different direction.

Reason, logic, busyness, food, lust, work..…….

Anything to drown the voice of God.

Guys,

He is calling us.

He’s calling us to join Him.

He’s calling us to participate......

He’s calling us to participate in the Life…….

He will bring to Nineveh.

Can we stop being afraid of what He might say?

Wait….

What’s that I hear….

Could it be……

Nahhhhh…..

Oh….. look at what time it is…….

Man…… I’d better get going……So much to do……

I wonder what the weather will be like today…..

I hope it doesn’t storm.

Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit,

Give us the courage to hear from You.

Give us the faith to follow You……

Even to our Nineveh.

Amen

Now Don't Settle for the Back of a Scrap

As my friend Todd came into the room he grabbed some paper from a stack by the door. The stack was a set of questionairres from the day before at a Men's Conference we were attending together. I asked him if he had not gotten the info the previous night and he said- "Oh yes-but I need some paper to take notes on for the coming session- The back of one of the leftover sheets will do nicely." Funny thing was, as he opened his pad to begin the session- Some fresh unused paper- Paper he had missed in the shuffle of other papers was right there.

Somehow he had missed it-

but what he needed-

It was right there all along!

That's the way it is with me and God sometimes-

I get busy and I miss Him.

I get worried and I don't see Him.

Life goes crazy and I look right past Him.

My friend was ready to settle for the back of a scrap-

Yet fresh clean paper was right there all the time-

Available.

When will I reach a point in my life that I see God-

All the time-

Available.

When will I stop settling for my own make shift answers-

And simply go to Him-

Ask Him for help.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him;

For he that cometh to God must believe He exists,

And He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Father rise up in my mind and heart all the time-

So that I will seek You-

So that I will put my trust in you

as my first line of thought.

Help me to never miss the reality that You are here with me-

All the time-

Available.

Amen

The Jet Ski Saga- Rebecca's Version

At Last- My Daughter Rebecca has joined me on a Blog Post!

I am so proud of her!

Now read on for Rebecca's story of how a Jet Ski ends up in a place no Jet Ski should end up.

It was a warm, sunny day and we were at my aunt and uncle’s house on Lake Oconee. Most of the day had been spent eating, riding on the boat, tubing, or just tethering floats to the dock and chilling out. Somewhere along the way, my dad got it in his head that he wanted to ride the jet ski and, as fate would have it, the jet ski happened to be in working order (finally).

Unfortunately, it was a racing jet ski that happened to be in working order.

You can just see what kind of fun this is leading to, right? You have no idea. On your standard family jet ski, you’d need to try incredibly hard to flip the thing. You will not go down without an effort. On a racing jet ski- The mechanics definitely favor speed over stability. Also, handling is virtually non-existent at low speeds – This will be important in a moment. Another somewhat random though important piece of information-

I’m very nearly blind without my glasses.

Moving on…...... Dad rode the jet ski without a hitch. It looked like fun! I wanted to give it a go and no one seemed to have a problem with it. Just one thing-

My Dad and Uncle Bill insisted that I leave my glasses with them-

Just in case I flipped-

I wouldn’t lose them in the water.

That was the first sign of trouble – As previously stated-

I can’t see-

And jet skis go very fast.

So, glasses off- Unable to see more than large, blurry shapes past about a foot- I was off. For some reason everybody kept yelling something about “Faster or you’ll flip” So.............

“I was off”

looked a little like something out of a 007 movie.

It was awesome!

That is until I realized I couldn’t see much-

Except the rapidly approaching shoreline…

and a dock…

Which happened to be about head height.

Not so awesome anymore.

Quick experimenting told me that reduced speed did indeed equal reduced handling- Anyway- In my hurry to avoid being beheaded by a dock- I somehow ended up roughly fifty yards up a very wooded hill. Right about now someone's inevitably asking, "Why didn’t she just cut the engine?" Well I did, my helpful genius friends- But you don’t go from very fast to absolute standstill the second the engine cuts.

The time it took me to make it back to zero

Left me staring in horror as first stumps,

Then full-fledged trees flew past me-

Until finally I hit one.

It hurt.

I couldn’t breathe- Everything was spinning- I had hit my ribs and my cheekbone hard on impact- I have fifty yards of distance and a life vest to thank for neither being broken. I stumbled down to the water and yelled for help….... And yelled some more. The people whose dock I’d almost been splattered across proved unhelpful. Eventually, I did see saw a boat in the cove. I thought I heard my dad and uncle- So I started yelling again. It was them. I can honestly say I’ve never been so relieved to see either of them. Now- back to Charles

Nehemiah 9:31 But in Your great mercy

You did not put an end to them or abandon them,

for You are a Gracious and Merciful God.

Father in Heaven, You have indeed been merciful to me and my family in so many ways. Move our hearts and minds to continually remember Your Great Love and Mercy towards us and those we love.

Thank You Jesus.

Amen

My Beloved

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Today marks mine and Julie's 31st Anniversary and I thought maybe another attempt at poetry might be in order. Please bear with me, but this one is for my wife!

My Beloved

My beloved comes near

Smiling wistfully

Beautiful smiles

Smiles that drive away

All that I could ever fear

Oh Father in Heaven,

What is this You have done

To give me such a gift

The gift of my beloved one

My beloved , I am captured

Captured by your eyes

Eyes so deep and brown

I am lost in wonder and surprise

Oh Father in Heaven,

What is this You have done

To give me such a gift

The gift of my beloved one.

Mark 10:7-9 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother

and be united to his wife,

and the two will become one flesh.'

So they are no longer two, but one.

Therefore what God has joined together,

let man not separate."

All Praise, Honor and Glory be to the One who has joined me to Julie.

Amen

What are you afraid of? (Part2)

The fears that isolate. The fears that cripple. The fears that steal Life. I thought maybe that little excerpt from the last blog could use some elaboration. I am afraid of rejection. I am afraid of embarassment. I am afraid of being exposed as a weakling. I am afraid of being exposed as inadequate. I am afraid of failure and disgrace. I am afraid of letting God down. Now these are the biggies- These are the ones the enemy uses to cut to the heart. I thought maybe just taking a minute to list some words God has given might be helpful to us all as we deal with some of these and other fears and lies the enemy uses against us.

Psalm 87:6-7 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples; This one was born in Zion (born again). And as I make music I will sing, All my fountains (Life) are in You my God.

Psalm 89:33 God has said, "I will not take my Love from you, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness"

Psalm 91:14 "Because you love Me says the Lord, I will rescue you; I will protect you , for you acknowleges My Name."

John 15:9 Jesus said,"As the Father has Loved Me, so have I Loved you. Now abide in My Love."

Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,

neither present nor future, nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all Creation will be able to seperate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Hebrews 13:5b-6 God has said,"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So that I may boldly say," The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid."

In the end I think overcoming these kinds of fears comes down to trusting God's Love for us and His Goodness towards us.

More and more- little by little-

I am finding my identity and worth in realizing the Truth-

I am His-

His child-

A child of the Great King.

Still......... it is a slow process.

Father God seal to my heart the truth-I am Yours.

Holy Spirit help me feel it every day-

from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

Lord Jesus, Thank You for making all this Life possible.

Amen