Fastened

As you already may know, I live on a lake. On this lake there is a dock. Lately, there has been  a tremendous amount of rain.  I mean, its been raining for days!  ( Not normal August weather...)  I customarily look out the window every morning when I first wake up to "check out" the lake. I do this to observe the character of the water or maybe even catch a glorious sunrise over the lake.   Yesterday morning I did the same thing but... there was no dock.  Only a chair.  As a result of the rain, the water had risen and completely covered the dock. 

Good thing that chair is screwed to the dock. I thought. Or else it would have floated away!\

Even with the water running over the dock and coming up around the chair, the chair could not move. 

                                    ~ 

How about when the rains of life pound on us? When temptations, issues, and the difficulties of life just don't seem to let up? Will you be run over and float away?
We need exactly what that chair in the middle of our little lake possesses. 

A dock.  A solid, unmovable foundation. Something on which we can fasten ourselves in the middle of the relentless rains of life, so that we cannot float away.

We need Jesus.

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
 ... The foundation of God stands sure. When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away,
but the those who follow God have a lasting foundation. **

Jesus told a story long ago...
“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 
“But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:47-49)

Will you make Jesus your foundation?


~Written by guest contributor Jade M










* 1 Cor. 3:11; Proverbs 10:25

Don't Look Back

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sometimes gets tempted to think that following Christ isn't really worth it.   I mean, is it really worth the time, effort, and sacrifice? Life appeared easier when I did whatever I wanted, said whatever came to my mind, acted anyway I felt. You know how thoughts can go, if life was only as it used to be... 

Often in life, when things aren't going as we might like, isn't it tempting to look back? Ah, peeking back at the past when things seemed easier...

~

Hungry, tired and wondering what they had gotten themselves into.  Israel was following God who was leading them from being slaves to... where again?

The Tempter comes and whispers,
" Remember how life was before you decided to  follow God? Life was great!  Where do you think you are going anyway? Why trust God and waste time thinking He is going to care for you? Imagine how much easier things would be if you just went back home..."

They fall for the temptation and now long for the life they left behind. They complain, they regret. They become sick and dissatisfied of following God in faith. They cry for what they were used to, earthly sustenance.  Looking back, they lose trust.

~

Satan has extreme pleasure when he can get us to look back to our old ways of living before we knew God. Yes, life may have seemed easier. Satan always wants to make it seem that following God is tedious, sad and worthless compared to his deception that his own ways are bright, happy and easy.  It may even appear this way at first glance. But following God is worth it! He is always beside His followers, giving us real happiness, strength to not fall to temptations, love for Him and for others. There are sometimes challenges, but He is right beside us to give strength. He really does change lives.

Don't look back.


Image from Freefoto.com

Saved

Good morning world.


I tumble out of bed on this beautiful Sunday morning- ready to get started for the day. I greet my family good morning.

And a good morning to our unexpected guest as well... 
Just outside the front door sits a snake underneath the netting of our blueberry bush, (put there to keep critters out)  eating our blueberries for breakfast.

Daddy decides that Mr. Snake's breakfast time is over and he's got to go. It is then I realize that this snake is caught in the netting. I mean he is really stuck. 

My dad, sister and I take to releasing the tangled snake.

Scratched, torn skin, uncomfortable. All just to get to eat the forbidden fruit.
Yet, he was saved by caring hands who untangled him from what he brought upon himself.

trying to get all the netting off

he's not comfortable...

Scratched, torn, in great distress. All because of trespassing and eating forbidden fruit.*

Yet, saved by Christ's loving, caring hands who frees us from entanglement and death.

free!


* Gen 2:9,16-17
Gen. 3:1-6