Month: November 2010

Categories
Daily Post

Moth and Rust

Over the past few weeks I have been closing down my square foot garden for the winter – well actually, I still have some tomato plants that will make it a few more weeks, and then I will have closed down the garden for the winter.  While I have been doing that I have been thinking about bigger and better gardens in the spring.

In the meantime next door, men have been tearing down my neighbors deck and removing his pool.  Their vehicles have been driving over the space where his garden once bloomed.  My neighbor is now a old man, and cannot maintain those projects any longer.

It’s has been a little sobering to consider my plans for expansion while watching it’s ultimate end state going on right before my eyes.  It’s not that it makes it appear futile, because I know my neighbor has had several great years of enjoyment and value from that deck and from his garden, but it does place a little perspective on things.

This weekend one of my friends received a message that his grandmother had passed.  He had mentioned how just a few years ago he was commenting on how lucky he was to have all four of his grandparents still living, and with her passing they are all gone.

It’s the circle of life, I suppose, but it sure is sobering to witness!  Let’s not let that drop us into an ‘all is vanity’ cry.  Let us use that understanding to motivate and focus us on those things of utmost importance.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 (New International Version)

Categories
Daily Post

Run Run Run

When I was a younger man boy, I had several of my running goals and this verse of my wall in my bedroom.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (New International Version)

It was a reminder to me to physically train and to run everyday. It is still one of my favorite verses and it continues to remind me to train physically and spiritually everyday, not like someone out of a nice little jog, or someone with no purpose, but to win the prize.

While I was doing some research yesterday for another subject I stumbled upon this video by Biblical Historian and Holy Lands Tour Guide Ray Vander Laan. You may have seen some of his on location bible studies, which are usually quite informative and inspirational. In this clip he references this verse while standing in an ancient Olympic stadium. Take a listen to this ‘locker room speech’:

I remember my father talking about Cross Country runners who would give so much to the race that they would be on hands and knees barfing after the race. They gave it all ( or they ate the wrong thing before the race). Regardless, they push themselves has hard as they could to win.

Give it your all for your Lord today. Don’t crawl, don’t walk, Run. Don’t hold back, don’t leave it out there, run for the King!

Categories
Daily Post

Routine and Words

I am way out of my routine today and a little behind schedule.  Having no great stories about mysterious taxi rides, or no deep motivational thoughts this morning, I will reach into some other writers heads and pull out some nice simple thoughts about words:

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. Proverbs 16:24 ESV

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 ESV

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11 ESV

Enjoy Friday and keep your words sweet.

Categories
Daily Post

Thank You Veterans Day

I started this post with ‘Happy Veterans Day’, but that just didn’t seem like the appropriate words, so I changed it to Thank You Veterans Day.  And with that a big huge shout out to all the veterans out there.  Thank you for your service and for you participation in helping to keep us free.

Make sure you take a moment today to consider whatever you are doing, whether it be work, or watching a game, or surfing the internet, or shopping or eating what ever you want for lunch and think about how great that freedom is.  Then remember to thank the veterans who have fought against forces that would want to take those freedoms away.  And then remember to use those freedoms for good!

And the same with your spiritual life.

Thanks veterans!

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13 (New International Version)

Categories
Daily Post

Some Trust in Chariots

Last night I had probably the most unsettling trip to the airport I have ever had. After dinner, my coworker and I heading back to the hotel to get our bags and then we were off to a hotel closer to the airport to prepare for this morning’s early flight. The hotel staff retrieved our bags and hailed us a limo instead of a taxi. However, this was not your typical black town car; this was a brown suburban that appeared to have a few too many miles on it. My friend even asked” Is it legal?” – as in is it a legal taxi? The front license plate was a Livery plate so we climbed in. Now I must saw that this guy really just looked like a buddy of the two door man, but who could tell and the price was right.
So we buckled in and off we went. Since the driver was African – like Somalian or something like that, and since I read too make spy novels and watch too many shows like that, I was feeling like maybe my destination was not the airport. It appears we were taking a circuitous route to the airport; however, it is Boston – the city where you never go the same way twice.
Then as we sat at a traffic light, the driver turned on the engine and leaned over the steering wheel. Immediately my co worker and I sort of drew up a little – “what in the world?”. We waiting until the light turned and he started the car back up and then did a strange uturn. Now it was getting even odder, but I noticed he was heading through one of Boston’s tunnels out to the airport. As we approached the end of the tunnel, the car started slowing down and lurching. At first I thought maybe we was trying to change lanes and had slowed down to allow the other cars past, but then we both realized, the car was not in ‘good health’! My co worker asked if everything was ok, and the reply from the driver was that he had gotten bad gas, when in fact he had no gas.
For the next few miles we sputtered and spitted and nervously looked for a spot to exit the vehicle and walk to the hotel, but  we finally cruised into the lane in the front of the hotel – safe and sound.  (And I was glad I was really not in one of those TV shows or books I read! – although even when I got out, I was still looking for the man who would put the black hood over my head!)
So with that little story, I am reminded of an old Acappella song. So here is a little Psalm to encourage you. Keep your trust in Him.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7 (New International Version)