Roughing it Through Purity 906

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of comfy beach furniture in the foreground of palm trees, blue skies, and the blue water of the Caribbean Sea comes to us from a friend who is roughing it for a bit while on a December vacation at the Westin Cozumel in San de de Miguel de Cozumel, Mexico. Looking at this scene, I can almost feel the warm Caribbean breeze coming off the water and can imagine the smell of coconuts or pineapple from suntan oil or a virgin piña colada. But to paraphrase— but to paraphrase a line from the rapper Ice-T from the intro of his song Body Count, stuff ain't like that. It's real messed up. Yep, it's Monday and the 5th day of December in upstate New York where I live. And while I am going to delight over the fact that there is no snow in the forecast in my neck of the woods, I'm not on vacation in the Caribbean, so it's back to work. And I can only expect to be enjoying the brisk air of the great outdoors with a current temperature of 22 degrees and an expected high of 44 degrees and sunny skies. But seriously, the joy of the Lord is my strength, and because of him, I can simultaneously have joy for my friend in the Caribbean— not envy— and actually find joy on Monday morning for the relative goodness of my forecast, because I know it could always be worse. For December in New York, I'll take it. I am well rested this Monday morning after a weekend with my wife at our countryside home, and I'm filled with joy and anticipation of my own Christmas vacation that is only a couple of weeks away. So to remind all of, all of you of a couple of the letters of our joy finding acronym, GAMES, uh, M.t. Clark found joy this morning in 3— well, and 4 out of the 5 Letters of Games. 1. G. Gratitude for right now. I'm feeling good physically, emotionally, and spiritually at this present moment while writing. Thank you very much. Uh, 2. Anticipation. Looking forward to the temperature rising today and that vacation in a couple weeks. Uh, M. Memories. Reflecting on good things in the past, like my past weekend with my wife in the country. Uh, for experience, well, that's when you do something that gives you joy. I have joy in writing and recording this journal/blog, this/podcast entry. And then the S is singing, and I will spare you that, I guess, but I will probably do that on the drive to work. No wonder why my life is filled with joy. But as I stated, while anyone can work games to get joy out of their experience of life. When you have a relationship with the Lord through faith in Jesus Christ, you have the joy of the Lord and the peace that goes beyond all understanding, because you know you are forgiven, you are loved, and you're gonna live forever, gonna live forever. Okay, and we got the singing out of the way too. And speaking of getting things out of the way, I know What about those times in life when people, things, or circumstances are rough and it's difficult to find joy? When stuff ain't like that, when they're real messed up, when people, places, or things are blocking your goals? Well, James 1:2-5 tells us, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. And for, uh, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you, and he will not rebuke you for asking. The joys of trials, of course, can only be experienced when you go through them with God. When you ask him to give you strength and wisdom, he will help you either to overcome or to endure them. And sometimes it's a little bit of both. On Saturday, my wife, stepdaughter, and I faced the negative circumstances of a rainy day blocking our goal to enjoy some time doing some holiday-themed outdoor activities. But when that negative circumstance faced us, I recalled the indoor holiday splendor of Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, and suddenly we were on a road trip. And was pleasantly surprised to watch my wife and stepdaughter, who are quote-unquote not into candles, have their minds changed by the quality scents that they discovered at Yankee Candle Village. Afterwards, we stopped at Friendly's and overindulged with food and ice cream. So although we faced the negative circumstances of a rainy day, we discovered something spontaneous that salvaged the day. But, but as the darkness fell, we were ready to get home to relax. Unfortunately, however, we weren't done with facing obstacles to our goals. With lots of 'that was fun, but I just want to go home now' dancing in our heads, we began our return trip, getting on Massachusetts 112, where we discovered a tree in the middle, uh, middle of the road blocking our way. I don't know if you are familiar with traveling through Massachusetts and Vermont, in the Green Mountain area of New England, but it probably won't surprise you that there are a whole— there are not, not a whole lot of options for alternate routes. But when we saw that we couldn't go forward, my wife did the best she— that she could to navigate using my phone to find us a way around the blocked road. So we backed— backtracked away and started taking side roads that quickly turned into winding dirt roads. But the GPS eventually self-corrected and announced it— that it had found a way. So we followed it, re-emerged on Massachusetts 112, hoping we were past the obstacle we encountered. But the first road sign I saw was very familiar, and the next one confirmed to me that we were going right back to where we started. So with no confidence that we would find a way around the tree. I drove towards it hoping that someone had called the county or state to remove it, but it hadn't been that long and cars were lined up on either side of the tree. Unbelievably, I just started responding by putting on a headlamp and I, I keep in my car and leaving the car, walking up the hill to go help. As I walked up, uh, the, the person in the car ahead of me said, if they need help moving things, let me know. Okay, I thought, focusing on the massive trees that had fallen in the road. I was, uh, I was a member of the line crew for a few years and did pole break callouts at night, so I guess this wasn't my first rodeo with picking up the broken things before. And as I walked up to the scene, decided to take off my glasses as I wasn't going to I wasn't going to be doing any reading, and I didn't think it would fill the men I encountered with confidence when Jerry Lewis or Porn Poindexter showed up to help. Uh, when I got on the scene, one man was standing watching as another man was struggling to pull his chainsaw out of the huge tree in which it was stuck. In fact, there were two chainsaws stuck in the tree. The second chainsaw guy had apparently left to go get chains or a bigger saw or something, leaving a bystander to watch the other chainsaw guy to struggle. I just started to do what I could to get stuff out of my way, so I just started grabbing tree limbs and broken off sections of trees and throwing them into the darkness on the side of the road. The bystander immediately got the, the idea to do the same. So while chainsaw guy was playing tug of war with the tree to get his saw free, we were able to clear a quarter of the road on the left side. Another guy showed up stating he had the truck and a chain that could be used to pull the tree and left to go get it and bring it up. While Truck Guy was gone, other men showed up to clear branches, and thank God Chainsaw Guy got his saw loose and revved it up and used better tactics to make Big Tree into smaller pieces. Uh, Truck Guy showed up, and even though we didn't end up using his truck or chain, it was a good thing that he had. Chainsaw Guy was making good progress, but there was a huge branch of the tree still overhead, and he wasn't— he wasn't thinking clearly. While the other men were just standing around or were clearing branches, I and Truck Guy voiced our concerns that Chainsaw Guy was about to risk injury by not thinking and just cutting. Luckily, he listened to Truck Guy's suggestion to cut it from the other side. Because he was planning to cut by reaching up, something you shouldn't do. So he got safely out of his own way, and with a decisive cut, the overhead tree-like branch came safely crashing down. Chainsaw guy just had to do one more cut, and I and one of the first guys on the scene who had helped me move a few other sections of, of tree prior to this were able to lift it up lift up the last piece and clear the road. Throughout, I just kept working and throwing everything into the project, clearing everything from many trees to twigs off the road and encouraging the other men with a "That's it, brother!" or "Way to go!" where appropriate. With the road cleared, we all celebrated for a second, and then we were off to our vehicles. An impromptu band of brothers had got 'er done with never introducing ourselves or knowing where we were from. As I ran back to my car, Truck Guy gave me a hearty "Good job!" and other motorists shouted their thanks. I was pumped by the adrenaline of the moment and just very satisfied with my efforts. And by the fact that we could get out of there. So in life, you may run into obstacles that you can get around. We avoided a rainy day by finding something indoors to do. But even though we tried to get around that tree, there was no way to go through it— no way to go but to go through it. To go through it. And that's life. We face life head-on and we use our wisdom and abilities to deal with the— to deal with it the best we can. I know that this story sounds like a great tale of men overcoming the elements. I wouldn't beat— I won't beat my chest and say we did it, um, because I know the one who was really in charge, and I know that he was with us Nobody got hurt. Believe me, people could have. While Truck Guy didn't get to use his truck or chain, God put him there to speak wisdom into the situation. While I was saying, yo brother, watch your back, Truck Guy's experience and direction gave Chainsaw Guy a moment to think and to be safe. As Chainsaw Guy took his instructions and the other men just stood around at a distance, Truck Guy and I looked each at other and smiled and shook our heads, knowing that we just might have been instrumental in saving Chainsaw Guy embarrassment or injury. So while some people may doubt that God had anything to do with this situation, I point out, I point out our safety and success were, were all under his watch, and he was instrumental in bringing all these men together to do good for others. So I know it's Monday and we may have to rough it for a bit, for real, but let's remember, uh, that all we can do is all we can do. And no matter what we face, when we are— when we are— when we keep walking and talking with God, we can endure or overcome whatever obstacles we face in life, and we can do it with joy. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are Hebrews 6:10-12, and they say, for God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for others, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts. In order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. Today's verses encourages us to— because it points out the fact that God knows and he will not forget how hard we work and how we love and care for others. Often in life, we can feel that nobody appreciates what we do, how hard we work, or how much we do to take care of others. Those feelings of not being appreciated can make us feel like we're being taken for granted and because— and cause us to become depressed. But today's verses tell us that God sees what we do. That He will not forget our efforts to work and love others, and that we should continue to keep doing what we are doing because He sees it and will reward us. We will inherit the promises of God because of our faith and endurance. So have faith, endure all things on your plate, and keep working and keep loving others because it is the right thing to do. According to God, and because we can trust that God won't forget it and will lead us to good things in his kingdom forever and always. As always, uh, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we start sharing from the, uh, the section The Church of Jesus Christ and Discipleship with chapter, quote unquote, chapter 9, um, Baptism. And so if you want to read what Paul has to say about the sacrament of baptism— or, well, Paul— well, if you want to see what Diedrich Bonhoeffer has to say about the sacrament of baptism and and probably some Bible verses thrown in there too. Go to mtforchrist.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. Well, it is Monday, and as much as, you know, it's going to be relatively chilly and, you know, there's work, uh, I'm still— I still have joy. I had a good weekend and, uh, you know, good experiences and, and safely made it home, uh, to go to work again today. So, you know, if nothing else, these are blessings that every one of us can count in our lives. No matter how bad it is, it could always be worse, and God is with us. So with those two things, we can find joy. Remember what is good right now, remember what was good in the past, look forward to something good that you can do, something good that is coming in the future, and, you know, not for nothing, we can you know, manipulate our experience to have some joy. You know, oh, I'm going to do something that gives me joy later. Um, and we can sing. So, you know, it's, it's the Christmas season. Uh, if you like Christmas carols, now is your time. You can sing. Um, you know, if you don't sing praise and worship music, I would say let's start to get in that habit because it really opens up your heart, mind, and and will and emotions to love the Lord your God. And, uh, that can really help in your maturation project— maturation process as we keep walking and talking with God. As always, you know, I encourage people to follow the path of Christian discipleship because we didn't know it, but God gave us everything we need for life and godliness through faith in Jesus Christ. He's given us the victory, and we just have to live it authentically and not be selfish and, uh, you know, sinful, you know. So turn from the things of this world and the sinful ways of our past. Turn towards God's ways and discover that it is a wonderful life, and we can experience that every day to some extent, no matter what we face. And so it is my prayer for everyone today. Uh, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we pray for everyone who might be listening or reading this message, Lord, that you would bless them, remind them how wonderful their life actually is, and that if it isn't so great or there's obstacles there, that you'll be with them to help them overcome them or endure them, or to do both until, you know, you do— they do overcome them or they accept them. I don't know, uh, you know. So Lord, help them in, in whatever they're facing. We pray for you to come alongside their prayer request, and we pray for you to come alongside us today as we walk through life. As always, we pray for you to go before us, set things up, keep us safe, open our eyes to the good things you want us to see, and lead our paths to do the good things you would have us do. Um, Lord, that's all we want to do because we've received the free gift of salvation and life everlasting through you. So what we want to do is represent you best here on the earth, to be the best father, mother, kid, whatever, worker, whatever we can do to represent, uh, you here on Earth. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.