Yearning for a Call

Have you ever been waiting for a phone call or a letter or an email? Have you ever been waiting and yearning for someone to come and talk with you? Maybe you've waited for a call from that special someone or from the doctor. In waiting, maybe you wondered, “do they even like me anymore? What did I say to tick them off? Why don't they call me and talk with me?”

This subject was in my mind tonight and for devotions, I read Amos. Amos is a book with some very strong language, both positive and negative. But, the parts that got me were the parts where God called out for Israel to “Seek the Lord and live... yet you have not returned to me.” There is a deep yearning by God for the love of his people. He wants their (our) hearts to call out to him so bad, it is indescribable. Imagine a Father, looking at his rebellious, sinful, dirty son. The father has outstretched arms and tears in his eyes and he says, “Come to me. My strong arms will love and uphold you. Come to me and live.” A tear slowly rolls down his cheek as the son turns his head to the side, still not willing to give in to the father's love. So often, I am that son.

Spring

By my calender, spring is now here. Today, the weather rose to beautiful clarity and temperatures. With that, my motorcycle made it's exit from the garage making it officially spring in my book. The time has come to put the ice fishing supplies away and enjoy the wind and the smells of the open road.

By no means was it hot today, but with a coat and some gloves, riding was very comfortable. Riding the roads of Minnesota with snow melting in the ditches and flocks of geese cruising overhead calmed me. Not that I was uptight or stressed, but feeling the wind, hearing the engine and singing on the road possess a way of relaxing me. In the cool air, I traveled about 50 miles, more than I planned, but something that felt great.

Upon arriving home, I noticed more signs of spring. Kids played outside, adults walked along the streets and birds chirped in the trees. I love winter, but spring brings great joy as temperatures rise and snow melts. To spring!

Olympics!!!

A little while back, I had the honor of attending the Olympics games in Vancouver, British Columbia. All in all, it was an awesome experience and the only way it could have been better would have been to stay another week. Here's some pictures and a link to some more pictures! Enjoy!

Oh Yeah!

Snow falls lightly outside blanketing everything in a fresh, clean layer. Large flakes flutter slowly towards the earth in a peaceful, quiet manner uncommon to this area of the world. Watching the scene quiets the soul and soothes muscles.
A Root Beer sits next to me, sizzling slightly as my brain slowly covers all the items needed for the trip. Come morning, my Blazer will carry me to the airport where an airplane will take me to Seattle and eventually, the Olympics in Vancouver.
I love the Olympics. They rise above the self glorification seen in the NBA and NFL to a celebration of the human capability, rising on a world stage. There is national pride and yet, even bigger, world pride.
In a few short hours, I will be enjoying the atmosphere of friends and the worlds greatest games!

Ice Fishing

A few pictures from the annual fishing trip... I'll maybe write some "literature" about the trip later...

Setting up to fish

Sunrise 3rd day

Sunrise 2nd day

Nearing sunset 1st day

Perch caught 3rd day

The Ice is upon us!

Today, it was cold... so cold in fact, we decided to take the day off. Yesterday held blizzard-like conditions making it somewhat dicey hanging from rafters, 15-20 feet up in the air with coveralls, snow boots, gloves and a ski mask on. The great thing about this weather is the fact that we are making ice! Ice fishing will be happening quite soon and for those of you who don't know, this is an activity that I look forward to year around!

It was nice to have a little break and have a day to stay warm and get a few things done. Hopefully, this evening will be just as relaxing and constructive as the day has been. Tomorrow, back to work and winter.

In other news, I started reading "The Power of Prayer," by E.M. Bounds. I have never read a book that is so convicting/challenging concerning prayer. It is fabulous!

Fighting Fire With Fire

What is it about fighting fire with fire?

Tonight, I went to a presentation done by a professor from Dordt College. The presentation was entitled, “How Christians Should Regard Islam.” This professor went through some of the history of Islam, through Muhammad’s life and some of his actions as well as some world history which occurred to promote the growth of Islam. The presentation was fascinating! He spoke about points of where Christians and Muslims differ and then, in turn, spoke on ways that Christians should look at and interact with Muslims. In the end, one of his main points was that only by showing the love of Christ and the justice of God the Father towards all of mankind can we begin to bring Muslims to Christ, which I felt, was a great point. No amount of arguing will ever bring anyone to Christianity. Of course, he said this more eloquently than I ever could.

Yet, there were some in the group of observers that were set on making Muslims look like complete evil enemies and that they are using guns to fight “us,” (which the professor also said how our government twists this) then we should fight back as well. They wanted to fight fire with fire. When do we ever fight fire with fire? Sure, sometimes firefighters will burn off a chunk of forest so that a forest fire cannot go past that point, but that is a little different than sending one fire towards another and hoping they go out. Every time I have seen it done, the two fires become one huge fire.

Don’t we fight fire with water? If my memory serves me correctly, firefighters still use water to extinguish fires. The love of Christ, that this professor was talking about, is water; soothing, life-giving water; water that washes away even the dirtiest stains and that cools even the hottest tempers.

How often don’t we fight fire with fire? Someone is shouting at us, so we shout back. They push us, so we push back. They hit us, so we hit back. The scorn us behind our backs, so we scorn them behind theirs. What does it look like to fight fire with water in each of these situations?

The Bible I read says to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” and “when someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other as well.” Does this mean that we sit by and let evil happen? Absolutely not! But, what is the constructive, God honoring way to fight fire with water? Be creative and a great example to follow, Jesus the Christ.