Direction

The Pathway to the Barn

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

Thy word is lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

When I was a teenager I lived for a few years on a farm in Southern Missouri. Each of us had our own chores and mine was to milk the cow. It would have been far easier to run across the road to the milk barn when it was light out, but in order to be ready to leave for work on time, I needed to get out of my nice warm bed and get started by 4:45. If the moon was full, it wasn’t hard to see and I could easily pick my way up the familiar path. But on dark moonless mornings, though I knew the way by heart, I needed the beam from my flashlight to find where to place my feet for each step.

Now fifty years later, I am still getting up long before daybreak but the pathway of 2021 feels far darker than any of those walks to the barn. Our own family’s issues, the ever changing national health crisis along with my own personal struggles loom on the horizon feeling like the shadows of a massive mountain range. Fears and doubts, decisions and demands lie waiting to be confronted, decided and met full on. But there is hope because God has given us a promise that He will light the path. We may not see well enough to run ahead, but His word will show us the way to take the next step. Then, even more amazingly He adds the even greater promise that He will not only light our path but that He will walk with us on it ,step by step, all the way to the barn.

God bless you each of you and Happy New Year. May you find the next step that He has reserved for you in this year that lies ahead!

Free Advice for Snapping Turtles

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Matthew 7:6 NIV

I glanced out the side window of my car and noticed a cute little turtle slowly plodding across the road on the other side. At first I simply sped by but then the guilt of leaving undone the small good deed of helping him get safely home outweighed my brief inconvenience so I turned around and headed back. By the time I spotted him he was well out in the lane of traffic so I gingerly reached to pick up the little guy when it became immediately apparent that A) He didn’t want my help and B) My small friend was a snapping turtle!

Trying to help someone by giving free advice is a bit like trying to help my turtle buddy. Though the turtle needed my help he neither believed or appreciated it. So what can we do when we see danger ahead for a child a parent or a friend? Helping reaches beyond explaining the right or wrong of the situation to the desire of the recipient to listen. Here are a couple of ideas I learned in two minutes with a snapping turtle.

  1. Let go! I figured this out in the split second between his lunging for my finger and my dropping him quicker than a hot potato! Getting close to the situation doesn’t always get results. Sometimes people need to be loved from a distance. Just because we feel better with our version of helping doesn’t mean it will be effective.
  2. Don’t Give Up – Just because I dropped Mr. Turtle didn’t mean I ran away. In the same way getting out of the “Hot Zone” of the emotions of a hurting person puts us in a place just far enough away to help in a better way. For the turtle that meant I could safely nudge him with my foot. to the other side of the road.
  3. Don’t Be Offended – When I finished my Good Samaritan task and glanced back there was the turtle angrily facing me ready to take a bite if I came closer. He wasn’t about to say thank you! In that same way, successful intervention doesn’t guarantee gratitude. I think of when our son and future daughter-in-law were first engaged. They became convinced that they should marry immediately in spite of being in their freshman year of college. They were also both astonished and frustrated that both sets of their parents insisted that they wait at least a year. What seemed obviously for their best to us as parents was not appreciated for a long time. (I think after 23 years they might agree now!)
  4. God Knows – Though my turtle never said thanks another driver passing by noticed and smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Though it would be great getting approval from those we’ve struggled to help; sometimes the only thumbs up we will get is from God. If He says it’s been a job well done that is more enough!

The Last Puzzle Piece

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  Acts 20:24 ESV

Over the first few weeks of our lockdown my wife and I spent several days putting together a 500 piece puzzle. It was one of the hardest  we had ever done because of the weird shapes of the pieces. Finally after 6 days it seemed as if we we were about to complete it when we sadly realized that it was missing 2 pieces! Looking back I can laugh but it reminds me that my life also has some missing pieces – like the answers to questions “Am I doing what God wants me to do?” and “What am I doing about that today?”

For each of us the answers are as different as the parts of our puzzle. Paul’s great way of answering that question for himself was rooted in his both faith and his determination to accomplish what God had called for him to do. Paul chose to leave behind his privileged life and no matter the cost take the journey God had chosen for him. The key to Paul’s clear thinking was that no one’s opinion mattered except the Lord’s. Now of course very few of us are called to leadership like Paul was, but all of us are shaped by God for our own moment in history. Our most important conversation today must be with Him. The good news for all of us is that He has promised to show us the way and how to fit the final pieces into our own life’s puzzle!

assorted puzzle game

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com