Category: Our Thoughts

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Brrr! A Weekend of Freezing Rain and NO Power!

Vinyard Avenue was looking like Iceland for a few days, with most neighborhoods without power. Thankfully, we had a generator that made the crisis more bearable. Our neighbors came for firewood a couple of times for their fireplace. We used ours, until we got the generator operating. There were many trees with broken limbs. Power lines were down, and many transformers required replacement. When the sun finally came out, the ice coatings on the branches and power lines started falling, sounding like someone was throwing the china around. Our situation in Oregon wasn’t nearly as serious as those in other states, especially Texas, where my sister and brother-in-law are trying to “snowbird” near San Antonio in 8 degree weather. Unheard of, and they want a refund.

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Are You Tired of Looking at the News?

Please note: This post is from our old blog and was written around 2008. I believe it is still relevant TODAY, amidst all the crisis we are undergoing this month with the COVID-19 Flu shutdown.

The other day when I was doing my meditations, I had an interesting idea come to mind.  My assignment for the day was Hebrews 11:1.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. “

On the word substance, my margin referenced Romans 8: 24, which says, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?”  After that reference was listed II Corinthians 4:18 which says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 

I will confess to needing breaks from looking at the news, but I am trying to understand where our culture is going or perhaps gone, and trying to understand how 93 million people can be unemployed and function on their own personal economy, much less what that implies for the national economy.  [Remember this was written in 2008.] Actually, it appears hopeless. We often look to this life for some measure of security or evidence of stability, and it does look hopeless. Our world is in one big mess. Totally depressing. 

Then I realized my error.  I am looking at the wrong things.  In fact, the LOOKING was the problem.  You know the sarcastic expression:  “Move along now, nothing to see here.”  Well it is true, if you are walking by faith…there is NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

I had been caught in the trap old as the garden of Eden:  “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, …”  you know the rest of the story.  Eve ate the forbidden fruit and convinced Adam to eat it, and their eyes were opened.  They began to see things they were never intended to see, and lost their fellowship with God. As believers and part of the body of Christ, we have plenty to be busy about, but looking around at hopeless stuff is not one of them.  Christ is the head of the body, and if we are to be looking, we need to look through his eyes. Our faith can not be seen.  There is no evidence for it here in this life.  We must keep our hope in eternal unseen things, and trust God. If we could SEE what we hope in, what need would there be for hope? 

There really is nothing to see here as stated in Hebrews 11:3: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which were seen were not made of things which do appear.”    This is the brick wall science runs into by explaining origins of life from the things which we see.  As the word of God began life, it will also continue it eternally for better or for worse depending on your relationship with Jesus Christ the Creator. [ My comment today: I believe it is necessary to stay informed of current events, but your rarely get any real true reporting. Just nuggets of fact here and there. I have found that when what I see around me is disturbing my peace, I use my eyes to read the scriptures, which refocuses my understanding, settles my mind, and helps me to get a better perspective of my purpose to be here, and God’s purpose for this world. Hope this helps you as well. ]

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My Eternal Day

My eternal life in Christ began on a Thursday night in May of 1976. The Spirit of God was very merciful to me, though I was living in darkness. In fact darkness was a good way to describe my life at that time. It seems I never could figure things out. I lived only for myself. I knew my family loved me. I had a Grandma that would always try to get me to go to church when she could. But everything in my life was Marvin first.

A year earlier, my grandma took me to see the Thief In The Night movie. It scared me at the time and I decided I needed to ask the Lord to come in my heart. After all I didn’t want to get my head cut off. But then next school day came around, back with my old friends, back in my old environment and back to serving myself again. I soon forgot about that movie. But one that that stuck with me was my guilt. I knew I was a sinner.

One day as I was walking my mother home from work I began to unload on her say. “Mom it seems like there’s always a cloud over me.” I think she knew what I was getting at and she said “Marvin I don’t have the answers for you but you can find them in the Bible.” So found an old bible my dad gave my mother many years earlier and began reading a little here and a little there. I think I mostly looked at the pictures though. It didn’t really make much sense to me, but then nothing made much sense to me at that time. But the Spirit of God was heavy on me and I knew I needed Jesus. I knew enough about the scriptures to know that Jesus was the only way I was going to get my sins taken care of. However I also knew the last time I tried that. It didn’t last more than the next school day. It was a Thursday night and I only had one more school day of the week. So I asked the Lord if he would forgive me of my sins and I also asked if he would help me to be a Christian Just One Day. I figured, if I can make it though that last school day with Christ then I can have the whole weekend to be with him. At that moment the lights came on. I knew I was a sinner and I was talking to a holy God. I was so sorry for my sin. I quickly located the beer bottle I hid in my Granddad’s camper. I got rid of all my rock music albums. I told the Lord I was sorry and I really wanted to be a Christian. There was nothing in my old life I wanted to keep more than him.

Than the next day came. The old friends were no where to be found, and I wasn’t looking for them either. I was walking with Jesus. The following Sunday I went with my Grandma to Church and I listed to every message. I started reading more of that huge Bible I found. The following summer my Aunt Marylin took me to “Basic Youth Conflicts” seminar by Bill Gathered. During that time he encouraged us to make a commitment to read the Bible daily for at least 5 minutes a day. I have kept that promise to this day. It turned out my mother was right when she told me “You’ll find the answers in the Bible”

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians 4:6

The day I received Jesus Christ as my savior is the same day I am living now. It’s an Eternal Day with God that will never end.

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Proverbs 4:18