?? About Us
??
One
may wonder what background or experience one needs to write coherently about their
Lord. My wife helped me define my qualifications:
To
still be a child at heart. I love to play, tease, and just enjoy being with
children. Being able to come down to a child’s level and look through their
eyes. Jesus told us we must have a child like faith and trust to be able to
find our Lord, to be able to accept Him, to submit our will to the Lord.
To
be like that old familiar phrase, “dumber than dirt”. Jesus did not choose the
elite Scripture scholars of the day, He fought with their humanistic legal ideals.
Jesus chose as His disciples unlikely men with limited religious backgrounds.
Some were fishermen, a few were zealots fighting Roman occupation, and others
worked at menial vocations, with an unpopular tax collector thrown in. Many
were uneducated, although one had some education and was made treasurer. His
name was Judas. There was another well-educated man Jesus called to be His
apostle. His name was Paul and he was persecuting Christians until Christ
opened Paul’s eyes to the truth. Jesus chose unlikely men so all would know
that it was not man’s intelligence or ability that brought them to the Lord,
but the Holy Spirit opening their minds to the truth of Jesus Christ. No one
has ever said I was the sharpest tack in the box. It is only through the Holy
Spirit that I have met my Savior, that words have been put on my tongue to tell
others about my Lord.
To
have an agricultural background. Many of Christ’s parables were about farming
practices of that day. The basic emotions this occupation gives are not that
much different today. One’s frustrations at watching a favorite animal die
while they are working with all of their might to save it. The joy of saving
that animal which shouldn’t have made it through the night, but somehow lived,
and then watching it grow into a fine animal. Of sadly watching an abundant
crop being ruined by weather or destroyed by pests just before harvest. Yet
being amazed as a shriveled crop suddenly receives a life giving shower that produces
a plentiful harvest. In farming and ranching the odds seem stacked against us.
For it often feels like there are many more losses than joys we encounter. But
despite this one develops a loving orneriness that brings a true farmer, a
devoted rancher out at all hours, in inclement weather, with great risk,
regardless of profit or loss. A loving orneriness that often has us doing
things without the knowledge of even why we are even doing them. Except it is
the right thing to do, the work must be done, harboring the deep seeded hope
that with the Lord’s help there is one more miracle left. Then one must apply
this emotion, this concept to the Lord’s work.
To
be one of the wealthiest men in the world. Not in earthly riches,
but because of a gift that is far more valuable. I have sinned much and deserve
God’s wrath for my disobedience. But out of love Jesus Christ died on the cross
as atonement for my sins. Through my Savior’s grace I became a child of God, an
heir to the unfathomable treasures of Heaven. No one could ever be any richer,
nor acquire more wealth, but all can share in this priceless gift.
To
be a worldly failure. One of the hardest lessons a believer has to learn is not
to be part of this world. We try to gauge our self worth by the successes we
have in the world. Our human nature believes that if we do not attain our goals
in some degree we are a failure. Yet far too often those who we consider the
lucky few, those who reach their worldly goals, find nothing there but
emptiness. Sometimes it takes a failure or emptiness when one attains their
goals, to bring us to Jesus. To shatter our human concept that we can do
everything ourselves, or of expecting God to answer our prayers right now, the
way we want them answered. Or of believing we deserve earthly blessings and
notoriety for the great Christian life we live. For God’s way is not man’s way.
We must accept our Master’s plan for us, bringing all our problems to Him,
while patiently awaiting His answer. This answer may not always be to our
liking. But our Savior will always provide us with the love, the faith to be a
child of God, will give us the ability to accomplish what He would have us do.
This could be anything from being a humble leader of Christ’s flock, to a babe
still in their mother’s womb praising their Lord.
I
try in my own meager way to tell all about the many blessings God has given me,
the many blessings which our Lord wants to give all who will follow their
Master. One of the hardest things in life to do is suppress one’s ego. Only
with the Spirit’s help can we take the focus off of ourselves, allowing the
love of Jesus to shine through our lives to all around us. And it is the
passion in our hearts, not the eloquence of our words, which show our God’s
great love for us, which show our love for our great God.