He Maketh No Mistake

   Yesterday we sent out our first prayer letter since we retired in January. We didn't get a lot of replies back, but one of the people who did reply was Wade Wadsworth. Wade and April are missionaries working in nursing homes sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They sent us a poem by a man by the name of A.M. Overton, written in 1932. Mr. Overton was  a pastor in Mississippi and his wife was expecting their 4th child. Complications set in and both his wife and new born child died. During the funeral service the pastor noticed that Mr. Overton was writing something down on paper. Later he asked him about it. It was this poem, called "He Maketh No Mistake".

My Father's way may twist and turn
My heart may throb and ache,
But in my soul I'm glad to know,
He maketh no mistake.

My cherished plans may go astray,
My hopes may fade away,
But still I'll trust my Lord to lead,
For He doth know the way.

Tho' night be dark and it may seem
That day will never break,
I'll pin my faith, my all, in Him,
He maketh no mistake.

There's so much now I cannot see,
My eyesight's far too dim,
But come what may,
I'll simply trust and leave it all to Him.

For by and by the mist will lift,
And plain it all He'll make,
Through all the way, tho dark to me,
He made not one mistake. 
   (A.M. Overton, 1932)

The poem speaks for itself. In these dark and confusing times - God makes no mistakes! The virus and all it's implications and complications are in God's hands.

Under His Wings

     It was quite an amazing day for photography. I went to Rice Lake to deliver a wood frame for a dear lady and her husband. On the way to the delivery site, I took a side trip on Lakeside Road to see if there was any new born goslings that I could take pictures of. They are so cute when they are young and following their parents around the park. That is when I saw what you see in the picture above. In all my years of shooting geese, I have NEVER seen babies under their parents wings like this. As far as I can see there was at least 5 goslings under her wings. What an amazing and exciting sight. What do they do when there are 20 - 30 goslings? That would really be a sight!!!
   The verse I thought of was Psalms 91:4: "He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings you shall trust..." 
    I can think of several reasons these babies would seek shelter under their mother's wings.
1. Security and safety. She is guarding and protecting them from any enemies that might come by - including humans.
2. Warmth. It was a little chilly and misty this morning and what better place to be than under a warm, waterproof shelter.
3. Bonding with mother. Even geese need to bond with their young. This way they know who they can trust and run to in a hurry, if needed. 
   These are the same reasons that God wants us to find shelter under His wings: Security and Safety; Warmth of His love; and Bonding with God our Father. When we go through difficult times, run to our Heavenly Father and seek shelter under His wings. He is always there for us and ready to bond!!!

God's Protection

One of the things you learn very quickly growing up on a farm is that when a cow gives birth to a baby calf it usually is in an open field. But if she wants her privacy and wants to protect her newborn she will have the baby in the dense woods. On several occasions it would be my job to find the mother and baby and bring them back to the barn. Usually after you find them and when the calf is cleaned up by the mother, you could just pick up the calf and walk back to the barn with mama following close behind.
  Two Stories - both true:
#1: We knew that a cow had given birth in the woods, but we just did not know where. I started to look for the baby and mother, but I could not find it anywhere. In frustration I yelled out "Where are you?" Just then I heard a blackbird or some other kind of birds say "Over here, Over Here!" I followed the sound and sure enough there was the mother and baby, safe and sound.

   #2: Once in a great while the baby calf will be stillborn. My dad, Steve and myself searched for the cow and calf and finally found them in the woods. Now the job was to get the mother back to the barn. But that was not so easy. The mother was very protective of her newborn, even though it was dead. We could not get near enough to get the calf. The mother began to charge us, throwing us to the ground and rolling us with her head for several feet. She rolled me at least once and then went after Steve. Now it was dad's turn to be protective. He stood between us and the cow and the cow rolled him several times. All I know is that dad was willing to step in between us and the cow and protect us. That was genuine love in action. To this day I do not remember how we eventually got the cow and dead calf back to the farm. I think dad may have hooked a chain on it and dragged it back to the barn with the tractor and the mother followed.

   What a comfort and encouragement to know that our Father, God will protect us and surround us with His love. With a Father's love He watches over us and keeps us safe day by day. When I think of my dad stepping in between us and the angry cow, that is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. He took our punishment so we could have everlasting life.  
                          THAT IS LOVE IN ACTION!!!

Toby

    Yesterday I shared about what our family was like over 60 years ago when we were kids. My mom always wanted to have a baby girl, but God instead blessed her with 8 boys. Five of those boys are still alive today. There was another family member that was very special to all of us. He was our family dog, Toby. I don't know when or under what circumstances my dad got Toby. He was just always there.
   Toby was half collie and half another type of dog. (Steve probably knows.) There could not be a better farm dog for small boys to play with. He was as gentle as can be and loved to be around us. In fact when we were very small we took turns riding on Toby's back. He didn't mind. The only time Toby turned on me and bit me was my fault. You never fire a cap gun about an inch from a dog's ear and not expect to be bit. I learned my lesson very quickly.
   Toby was a great cattle dog. He would go with us when we had to bring the cows in for milking. His job was to help herd and keep in line the cattle, which he did faithfully.
   We would come home from school and Toby was there to welcome us. One day we came home and Toby was not there. Mom and dad told us that Toby had passed away. I am still not sure just what happened, but all I knew is that Toby was gone. For some reason that simply did not bother us. We never shed a tear, just went about business as usual.
   Dad tried to replace Toby with several other dogs, one at a time, but none of them could take his place. If I remember right, one of them was an Alaskan Husky that was big and strong. Too strong for a 10 year old boy to control. He didn't last long. If you want to know more about Toby you will have to ask my brother Steve. He is a little older than I am and can recall some of these things better.

    Hebrews 13:5 tells us of someone who will never, never, never leave us and will always be there for us. That of course is God. We don't have to worry about coming home and someone telling us that God has left us. Especially today when we go through these trying times, it is important to realize and KNOW that God will always be there for us. Mom and Dad and even our dog may forsake us - Gut God will always be there!

Mother's Love

    My brothers and I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota. Times were hard and we were relatively poor. (Although we did not know it at the time). I like to tell people that we were so poor that we could not afford shoes in the summer time, so we would go bare footed all summer. (Which was true).
   Even though we did not have much money, mom always made sure we were fed. She knew how to stretch food to feed our family. She would mix pieces of bread with fried potatoes, which we actually enjoyed. We ate a lot of potatoes, mashed with butter and cream.
   Mom made the best of the garden foods: potatoes, peas, green beans, onions, corn on the cob, etc...  We spent hours and days pulling weeds in the garden and could not wait until the harvest was ready. Much of it never reached the dinner table as we ate as much as we could right from the garden. Simply brush off the dirt and chomp away.
   She canned everything she could, fruits and vegetables. Every fall we would head for the woods with buckets to gather black berries and raspberries. We would make a day of it. What ever we did not eat on the spot, we took home, usually several pails full. Then would come the pies, jellies, and above all berries on ice cream.
   She also loved to bake bread, although I never figured out why she even tried. Our goal was to never let warm bread from the oven get cold. She made the best caramel roles in the world, which again very seldom made it to the supper table. There was something about walking into the house with the smell of fresh baked bread. To us it was like saying "sickem" to a dog.
   When ever she made a pie or cake for a meal, we had an unspoken pact that there would not be any left overs for the next meal. We would finish the whole cake in one meal. That was just common sense. One of the best treats was when mom would take left over pie crust, put sugar and cinnamon on it and bake it in the oven.
   I will admit that she always over baked meat in the oven. We had a lot of roast beef that was charred on the edges, but WELL DONE!!!  
   Milk was fresh milk from the cow with the cream skimmed off. The cream would go on the morning cereal. Every morning dad would have a bowl of Corn Flakes. To this day I will not eat Corn Flakes.
   Today's Verse is from Philippians 4:19, which says that God will provide our needs according to His riches in glory. If my mom could take little of nothing and provide for us, think what God can do with all the riches of glory at His disposal. This is not just food, clothing and water. His riches include His grace, strength, salvation and much more.

Sandbox Theology

Years ago someone came up with a question that does not have an answer:                                      "If God can do anything, can He create a rock that is too big for Him to pick up?" Whoever thought up this questions has way too much time on his hands.

   Sandbox Theology:
    A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail and a shiny red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. He struggled and pushed  and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (Small boy - large rock). When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he could not roll it up and over the little wall. 
   He kept trying, He pushed, shoved, pried but every time he made any progress the rock fell back into the sandbox. The rock fell on his small hand and hurt his chubby fingers. He burst into tears of frustration. 
   All this time the boy's father watched from the living room window. Just the moment when the boy burst into tears, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he said, "Son, why didn't you use all thew strength that you had available?"
  Defeated, the boy sobbed, "But I did, daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!"
"No, son," said the father. "You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me."
With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox. 

   This Sandbox Theology does not need a lot of explaining. We have all done it. Try, try, try in our own strength, just to find out that it is impossible in our own strength. We sometimes forget that God is watching us with loving, caring eyes and His strength is much greater that our own, so why not ask for His help. Don't wait until you burst into tears to cry out for help.  
                                 DO IT NOW!!!

Lessons from a moth

^{John 16:33}

 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

 A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth and took it home so he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. One day a small opening appeared. The man sat and watched the moth for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. To the man it appeared as if the moth had gotten as far as it could in breaking out of the cocoon and was stuck.
   Out of kindness the man decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon so that the moth could get out. Soon the moth emerged, but it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the moth, expecting that in time the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would simultaneously contract to its roper size. 
   Neither happened. In fact that little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body ans shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. The man in his kindness and haste did not understand that the restricting cocoon and struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings so that the moth would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. 

Before Jesus died on the cross, He told Hid disciples that after He was gone they would face many trials and persecutions. They would have lots of troubles in their life. The hard times would not be easy, but necessary for them to grow and for the Word of God to be spread around the world. He told them, Yes you will have troubles, BUT I will be with you and help you face these troubles. He would never leave them nor forsake them. Like the Emperor Moth they needed the struggle in order to be strong in the Lord.

A Lesson from the Boll Weevil

 
   The Boll Weevil Honored in Alabama December 11, 1919
Can you imagine erecting a monument honoring an insect? Well, that's exactly what the people of Enterprise, Alabama, did on December 11, 1919, when they built a monument to the boll weevil, a tiny insect pest that devastated their cotton fields and forced farmers to pursue mixed farming and manufacturing. 
    The boll weevil is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters (shorter than the average length of the nail on your pinky finger). It's called the boll weevil because it destroys the cotton boll, the seed pod that contains the cotton. The parasite entered the United States via Mexico in the 1890s, and reached southeastern Alabama in 1915. Today it is still the most destructive cotton pest in North America.
The boll weevil forced farmers to switch to growing different crops, such as peanuts, which not only returned vital nutrients to soils depleted by cotton cultivation, but also was a successful cash crop for local farmers. Some farmers stubbornly refused to plant anything but cotton and they suffered for it, sometimes losing their farms. 
By mid-1921, the boll weevil had entered South Carolina. The tiny pest played a big part in the economic troubles of Southern farmers during the 1920s, and particularly during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As late as 1939, Farm Security Administration photographer Marion Post Wolcott, on assignment in Wake County, North Carolina, noted the damage that the insect caused. Why do you think the people in Alabama built a monument to this pest? One reason is because it forced residents to end their dependence on cotton and to pursue the farming of other crops as well as manufacturing.     (Story from AmericaLibrary.gov)

      Psalms 46:10 "Be Still and KNOW That I Am God!!!". 
   The story of the Boll Weevil teaches us that God can take even all the bad things in our life and turn them into something positive for His glory. It is the perfect story for today and all we are going through because of a little deadly virus, called Corona. Corona may be strong and even deadly, but GOD IS BIGGER. We have a choice. We can allow social distancing and this virus make us afraid and control our lives. Or we can give it to the Lord and let Him use it to make us stronger in Him. Already we have seen some valuable and positive things happen because of this virus has come into our lives. Churches have been forced to think outside the box ad come up with innovative ways of doing "church". People are tuning into these services that would not normally even go to church. Many are coming to Christ and Christians are growing in their faith.  
               God has a plan - and He is still God!

Peacemakers

 Matthew 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers,  For they shall be called sons of God.


 One of the Jewish greetings is the word, "Shalom" which means "Peace". It is a basic greeting asking for harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used to mean both hello and goodbye. 
   <sup>Jesus in this next Bee-atitude tells us that "Blessed are the peacemakers". It is much more than just a greeting, like "Hello". It is a lifestyle, part of who we are. So are you a Peacemaker" or a "Troublemaker?" It always bothers me when I am at odds with someone or they are at odds with me. I find it hard to be at peace within my own life until the matter is taken care of, one way or another. 
It does not mean that we al;ways agree with others, but we are at peace, with them. We can disagree and yet love one another. Over the years there have been people that we don't agree with and yet we put aside our differences and love each other for Christ's sake. 
  Being a "Peacemaker" has more to do with MY attitude and My Actions than the other persons attitude and actions. 
a. How do I respond when some is upset with me?
b. Do I always have to have my own way all the time? 
c. Am I willing to sacrifice what I may want to be a blessing to the other person? 
e. Am I willing to go the extra mile to help someone and to show them the love of Christ? 
f. Do I always have to get the last word in? 
g. Can others see that I am a child of God by my attitude and actions? 

                                SHALOM!!!</sup>

Start Seeing God!

Matthew 5:8 
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

   WOW!!! Pure in heart? Is that really possible? Completely pure from impurities, dirt, rust, bugs. A totally honest and pure heart with absolute pure motives. A heart that is 99 9/10% pure and clean. Even the cleanest glass of water has some impurities in it. How can any of us have a heart that is totally free from guilt and sin?  
  Remember this is "upside down" teaching.  Jesus is talking about a "Pure Heart". It is not enough to clean up our life on the outside. A clean heart begins with cleaning up the inside - Our Heart, which is the real you, your emotions, feelings, attitudes, thoughts - who you really are. Jesus gave the example of cleaning up a cup to drink out of. It is not enough to just clean the outside of the cup and leave the inside dirty or filthy. 
   There is only one person who can clean us up on the inside - and that is Jesus. If we know Christ as our Savior, He begins to change our lives and we begin to see things in a different light. Our lives begin to change, grow and mature into the image of Christ.  
    When Christ begins to change our lives, we begin to see things differently. We begin to see God in our life and in the lives of others. We begin to see God in every aspect of our lives. We begin to see things in a whole new light. I remember when I trusted Christ as my Savior, over 50 years ago and it was like a light came on and I saw the world totally different. My whole life had changed from fear and worry to trust and peace in Christ. Not only that but I had a new Friend that I could share everything with and rely on.  
  Trust Christ as your Savior and START SEEING GOD!!!

Mercy Me!

 
Matthew 5:7  Blessed are the merciful,  For they shall obtain mercy.

 When Linda and I lived in Michigan, I pastored a small church that eventually closed it's doors. That was one of the hardest things that we have gone through. We looked at it like the death of a loved one, with the church being the "loved one." It took a long time to go through the process of grieving. The amazing part of this was that God used that to help us help others who were going through similar situations in their life. 
   That is what "MERCY" is all about. It is the process of putting ourselves in the shoes of others and showing love and compassion toward them. We identify in one way or another with what they are going through. This does not mean that we always "understand", but we care. When someone is grieving, we should never say that "we understand what you are going through. We may have a similar problem, but we really don't understand totally what they are going through. 
The great thing is that God does understand and He cares. Jesus not only had compassion on others who were hurting. He was "MOVED with compassion". He put compassion into action, especially by dying on the Cross for our sins. Now that is love and that is mercy! 
   The promise and blessing is that if we show mercy toward others we shall obtain mercy. God is there to comfort and encourage us and show us mercy. He showed us mercy by dying for our sins and forgiving us, when we deserved the worse.

Hunger Games

    

 Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

A few years ago on a hot and dry day I found a Nature Trail that I had never been in before. It started out great, but then it kept on going and going and I was getting thirstier by the minute. Stupid me, I failed to take anything along to drink. I couldn't wait to get back to the car, but there was nothing there to drink either. When I finally found a place to get something to drink, it tasted better than anything I had ever drank. The more you are thirsty or hungry, the more you appreciate food and water when you get it.
   The 4th Bee-Attitude Jesus talks to His disciples about being hungry and thirsty after righteousness. The word "Hungry" talks about extreme hunger or thirst to the place it hurts. To be famished with intense desire. You crave it with all your life. You got to have it or you will die or at least pass out. Jesus tells His disciples that if we want to be "BLESSED" we need to have this kind of desire for righteousness.This is the desire to do what is right and just. We want to do that which is acceptable to God and His Word. We desire to do the right thing!
   #1: We want to see "righteousness" in others and the world around us. Does it really hurt you to see people not honoring God and living for Him? How do you feel about family or friends that are not living for the Lord or maybe they do not know Jesus as their Savior.
   #2: Righteousness in my own life. Do you have a real desire and thirst to be like Jesus in all you do? Do you really want to so the right thing before God?
    Jesus promises us that if we have that kind of hunger for righteousness - WE WILL BE FILLED!!! or satisfied, We will have all we want or desire. We will be filled to overflowing.
    It starts by knowing Jesus as your Savior. In Christ we have all that we need!