BLOOD TRAIL: 2012

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Call you blessed

To: The person who pulled out today and blocked the road in front of a fully loaded 35000 GVWR delivery truck

Consider yourself very blessed. In spite of the grievous error you committed The God of all creation has decided to allow you to live at least a little while longer. Many factors had to be in place for you to survive today.

1. The truck driver was alert.

2. The truck driver had recently completed training and passed the strict certification standards for a major international corporation.

3. The truck driver is also an experienced motorcyclist who prides himself in staying out of dangerous situations.

4. The truck driver was able to maneuver the truck around your sorry self without damage to you, your car, your passengers, his equipment, himself or his passenger.

5. God, in His infinite mercy, made it a point today to make sure that these and a multitude of other factors were in place so you would , perhaps, live long enough to read this letter and make sure you are right with Him.

The passenger in the truck had a few choice descriptive adjectives which he hurled your way. (The truck driver happened to agree with all of them but the one about your pedigree. I don’t know you personally so I can’t confirm or deny whether you do or do not have canine lineage.)

At least three families were spared the grief such an event would have caused. We looked your way through our mirrors as you drove away apparently oblivious to the disaster that almost occurred. If our vehicles had met at that moment there would have been an accounting for the difference between the masses of our vehicles. The laws of physics state that for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Your little car just doesn’t have the mass necessary to make up the difference. The same thing applies to our daily lives. We go through life every day in full view of a righteous, holy and just God. One day He is going to require an accounting for all the sins you have committed in your life. Every stray word, every thoughtless action, each time you have lied or looked with lust at another person…… You see, we are all guilty of sinning against an infinite and holy God. The Good News is He made a provision for you and me to avoid an eternity in Hell. (Yes, it’s a real place) He himself became the sacrifice for our sins. God the Father sent Jesus who is God the Son to take our punishment. Through His death, burial and resurrection our sins may be washed away if we will turn away from our sins and trust Jesus for our salvation. I hope you are able to do this.

The truck driver is a born again Christian who has repented and trusted Christ for his salvation. As a result he has chosen not to condemn you for your actions but to pray for you. You will now be placed on THE LIST. Our Sunday school class has a list of folks for whom we are praying for their salvation. I don’t know your name so I’ll just have to choose one for you when I put you on THE LIST. The people on THE LIST are prayed for daily by folks from our church and our CMA chapter. I’m not sure if I should call you Bill or George or Sue or Larry or Moe or Curly. I think I’ll leave it up to our Sunday school class to choose your name. For now I’m just going to call you blessed.

Sincerely,

The Truck Driver

Pray for our president

I believe in the power of prayer to the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, who raised His Son Jesus from the dead, who sent the Holy Spirit to live in the lives of those who have repented of their sins and trusted Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation. The bible states that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much[1]. It also states that that righteousness is given to those who have repented and trusted Christ[2]. In contrast the bible states that the prayers of the unrighteous are an abomination to Him[3] and he will not hear them[4]. With that in mind I am calling on those of you who have recognized Christ as the only Lord and Master[5] and received forgiveness through repentance and faith in Jesus to pray the following prayer daily throughout the current term of President Obama.

Our most holy and precious heavenly Father,

I come in humility toward you. I recognize that you and you only are the Creator of all things. Only you are worthy to be called Lord and Master. I pray that you will forgive my sins and shortcomings so that my prayers will be more acceptable to you. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to you and that my actions will not be a hindrance to unbelievers.

Father, I cannot know the true heart condition of another person. Only you know the condition of the souls of others. Your holy scripture states that we are to pray for those in authority over us. In obedience to that command I offer up a prayer for the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. Father, he lives in a situation where he is subject to many strong influences. I can only imagine what they may be. Even though he is our president he is still only a man who is subject to all the same pressures and desires as any man. I pray that he has or will come to a place of repentance and trust in Jesus Christ. I pray that you will break down any barriers in his life that hinder him from hearing and responding to the Gospel. I pray that the Holy Spirit will strive mightily with his spirit. I pray that you will bring him to the point in his life where he can hear and listen and respond positively to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Amen

[1] James 5:16

[2] Romans 4:22-25, Rom 5:17 - 19

[3] Proverbs 15:8 , Pro 28:

[4] John 9:31, Isa 59:1 -2

[5] John 3:18

Monday, August 13, 2012

Nate's Perspective

It’s funny how kids can make you think about things in new ways. My five year old grandson Nate recently lost his Grandma Massey. My wife Valerie and I went to the viewing to pay our respects and help any way we could. When we got to the funeral home we visited with the family and friends that we knew, met some of their family we hadn’t seen before and generally made the rounds. When we finished I headed back to the lounge to where the rest of the kids were. Nate happened to be back there by himself playing a video game on his dad’s phone. He looked up and said, “Hi Papaw.” I said, “Hi Nate, how ya doin’?” He said, “OK” and went back to his video game. I took a seat just to be there and keep him company. After a short time he looked up from his game and asked, “Papaw what are you doin’ here in heaben?” I said,” Nate I’m not in heaven. We’re at the funeral home not heaven.” … “Oh”, he answered, and went back to his video game. His Mom and Dad had explained to him that Grandma Massey had passed away and now she was going away to live with Jesus in Heaven. I guess he processed that information the same way that most five year olds do. Since grandma Massey was in the next room this must be heaven. Five year olds have an amazing capacity to retain information for future reference they just don’t have the background to sort that info.

You know, we adults are much the same as five year olds when it comes to processing information. If we’re not given the background on a situation we can come to incorrect or incomplete conclusions. Too many times the Gospel is given to the lost without the background necessary to come to the correct conclusion. Much of the time they are told that all they have to do is say a simple prayer or just keep the two greatest commandments. The benefit of “accepting Christ” is explained as a matter of life enhancement and heaven after that. No mention is made of God’s absolute holiness or our absolute sinfulness. No mention is made of repentance and a changed life, or the alternative, hell. If they are mentioned it’s only in general, vague terms that don’t carry the weight or information needed to understand the gravity of their plight. Folks, we gotta start laying out the whole truth to the lost. Their hearts need to be awakened to the fact we are vile sinners in God’s eyes and in need of a savior. How do we do that? We can change the “Modern Message” back to the “Old Truth”. What we tell them needs to have the hard edge of truth. No more sugar coating. Until we are willing to break their hearts with our words they will not be able to arrive at the right conclusion.

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BLOOD TRAIL

Hunting is a great pastime activity. In today’s world, with a few exceptions hunting isn't among the skill sets necessary to acquire our food and clothing. We are accustomed to 40 hour work weeks and the availability of less labor intensive hunting areas such as Walmart, Krogers and Sears. It’s much easier to work a job and then spend your money at a department store than to invest many hours studying, patterning, hunting, killing and preparing wild game for a few pounds of meat ,a hide and a set of horns. To those who don’t hunt it may look like a huge waste of time. Those of us who hunt know the benefit of the activity. It’s outdoors, usually solitary, relaxing, and requires preparation, diligence and discipline. (Kinda like a job) For those of us who hunt the rewards of relaxation and enjoyment outweigh, for the most part, all the hard work involved. One of the most important skills you can learn is blood trailing. In the daylight it is a relatively straightforward task after you find the first drop of blood. Each drop tells us something new. It can tell us weather the animal is moving or standing, If it’s moving which direction and how fast. It can tell us weather we should pursue quickly or allow it to rest. At times we can tell where the animal is wounded. There is certainly a good amount of satisfaction in the work, but probably the most rewarding part of the hunt is the stories we can tell. The things you notice while hunting, a bird you haven’t seen before, the antics of a squirrel or a fawn, the moment of the kill and the labor of retrieving your harvest.

My last hunt involved some blood trailing in the dark. As is common, my shot at a buck came just before sunset. I didn't like the placement of the shot so I waited until I thought he had gone out of earshot and hastily looked for the first blood sign I could find and marked it. I left it and went home to have a little supper and to get adequate lighting to follow the trail. When I came back I was able to quickly find the white tissue paper I had tied on a limb above the first drop of blood. Four hours and five hundred yards later I was privileged to retrieve the animal I had harvested.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details of a four hour tracking job but I do want to point out some interesting parallels to our Christian walk.

* Its important to pursue as quickly as possible. We must follow the trail with diligence unless we loose our harvest to other predators or scavengers. (2 Peter 1:10)

* What we see in the woods at night is completely different from what we are used to seeing during the day. The subtle yellows, greens and browns we see during the day becomes nearly monochromatic at night.

* The human eye is naturally drawn to the color red.

* At night there are different types of light, close in as from a gas lantern or a campfire, focused light as from a flashlight and the bluish white light of the moon on a really clear night. (Mat 5:14-16)

* Sometimes you will find yourself searching for the next drop of blood on your hands and knees.

* As you turn leaves over looking for the slightest trace of blood you may see a spot of red on the middle of a leaf. When you inspect more closely you discover it is a false drop. Maple leaves and others naturally have spots of red. I call them false drops. After a while you learn to recognize the difference between the real blood and the false trail randomly spread by the wind. (1 John 4:1)

* The real thing has the shine of authenticity. The more you see the real thing it becomes easier to recognize.

* Sometimes the trail is hidden by the forces of nature, rain, wind or animals. Even our own big feet can obliterate a blood trail. (Mark 4:4)

* At times you will loose the trail. At that point go back to the last drop of blood you found and begin searching in widening circles until you pick up the trail again.( Acts 17:27)

* Each step on the trail brings us closer to our harvest. (Philippians 3:14)

* Sometimes we need to go back to where we began and start the trailing process again from the beginning. We must ask ourselves questions about the important details. Was my shot really on the mark? Did I miss completely? Was the blood trail I was on actually real or was I fooled by the vagaries of nature? Once we assess where things truly stand we can either continue on the trail or begin the hunt again. (2 Cor. 13:2)