For Reasons. Some Unknown

Today, I will pack up the rest of the house to move 5 hours away to a foreign familiar land. The place where I grew up and lived over half of my life. The last couple months of this transition I have taken to heart Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”  

I turned off the news, I quit reading several blogs and am terribly behind on many, I pray more and go out of my way to really connect with relational starving people.  I had asked God for some type of sign that I really should move back home and begrudgingly put the house up for sale. 48 hours later it was sold. It’s hard to do 2 out of 3 on that one but I wanted another sign..”God would you go ahead of us and help us to follow?” was our household prayer.

On one of my moving expeditions with a huge trailor, a rainbow double was beside the truck for an hour. I stopped at a side road and took this picture. Iroically, when we had moved with the company I worked for almost 7 years ago, a rainbow was arched over the building I would call my work place. I guess we have had several rainbows (literally) in our decision making life (God to angels” if you want Gary to make up his mind. Put out a rainbow).

“Ok Lord, you got this..um, why isn’t the road paved??” (God to angels “you should not have had that old road graded…it’s too nice).

I resonated deeply with G.W’s post. It’s very much worth the read. https://collinsgw.com/2020/06/20/amazed-a-haiku/

I suspect life will change a lot as I haven’t seen around the next corner of life. 

Neither have you

Jesus has gone ahead. Lets follow. He summons.

Always Amazed

I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to take spring pictures, knowing the best time is when I can. When I will. When I do. Like all important things.

You never have that problem I’m sure. It’s just me??

This morning I walked out the front door with the camera and started taking pictures of whatever seems to tickle my fancy and seems poised for the occasion. 

I was reminded how absolutely amazing life is. The beauty of living things has such a stark contrast to what is dead. 

Take a preview by clicking on any picture, all taken within 100 feet of our house. Most were in the lawn which my wife mows. Kind of. She mows between all the flower patches as she can’t seem to just mow the whole lawn…Yes, your imagination of lawn mower trails through the tall grass are somewhat correct.

 
From the Chickadee gathering nest material, the blades of grass moving with a breeze,  to the flowers I didn’t identify, the yard was alive. Amazing how I just take this all for granted and it’s right outside the house.

Did you notice all the dead stuff?      I didn’t either.

This is an illustration of eternity you know. When someone or something dies they are gone and the signs they ever lived begin to fade away. 

I found a very symbolic picture of death, old growth and new growth. It’s always challenging to me when I see the new growth on the ends of trees especially. It makes me ask “am I growing?” Mentally, physically, socially and spiritually, “am I growing?”

The old spruce cone is dead, decaying. Seeds inside still. See this years new growth? soft, silky while the old growth is stiff and prickly. “Am I alive?  growing?”

 Consider what Jesus said about life and death:  And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12

This is why it’s important to know Jesus. Don’t wait for the best time to believe and be a follower of Jesus. To be alive and not dead is everything. I took all these pictures today and I am amazed. Again.

By the way, my wife will let me mow the grass in a month or so and it will look like a well manicured lawn again…The flowers will grow back (that’s what I tell her).

I Noticed

I saw it coming out of the wind and rain. A sign. An opening in the clouds appeared.

A ray. Slim, tentative, gathering other rays. to speak through the opening. Speak to me?

Just a word for the dark, rainy, windy, angry day. Just a word for the good, bad, sometimes great, beautiful, gloomy, nearing the end game of life.

Just a word gathering past the finale coming from the sun. Just a word coming from the Son. God cares. He really does you know. When you notice, you can feel it inside. It’s bone deep and heart felt.

HOPE

Picture taken as the storm seemed to be abating this afternoon by GaryFultz

Big storm, small Rays, big sun (Son)

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed 2Corinthians 4:7-9

 Sometimes we need the storm to notice the Son. May your clouds part, if only for a small a ray of hope. Remember where those rays come from!

The Many Faces of Spring

Spring came, and went, came again, April fooled the birds with rain, snow, melting, and now it’s winter again. All four seasons in a few days. Click on the slide show to see The Faces of spring in our own back yard.

   The Faces of Life 

Change, the constant of life. Sudden change, the story of our lives. The birds seem to roll with change. Flocks of robins were on the green grass this morning but now the snow is beak high if they stand on each others backs. Now they are eating last years sumac berries out of the trees. They are singing in the blowing snow storm.

It’s fitting in our times that spring was interrupted by a massive storm. So much of our lives have been interrupted by the Covid storm. We can sing in our house.

One thing not interrupted or changed was Easter (I mean what Easter really is). Jesus Christ didn’t stay dead. He is alive. His resurrection power lives in those who trust and follow Him every day.  I find myself a little stunned at changes but not afraid.

Today this little woodpecker hit one of our windows while I was taking pictures out the window. He would have died in this prickly bush. Totally captured. His worst nightmare, a human, grabbed him, held him and thought of how much more Christ did for me as I set him free to recover (he did after a couple hours)

I hope you know how to rest in Christ and are willing , ready and able to help rescue those caught in the turmoil of our times. Hey we are alive, because He lives.  A lot can happen in three days!!! ironically springs melting face will come in about three days again….Don’t be as fickle as spring with Jesus…OK?

Did you notice how many ways the wind blows in the one sunset picture?  ya, don’t be like that!

 

The Call

A simple sunset. Predictable. On time. I digress. But, when I stepped outside the house this evening, there was an unmistakable  Call to Worship

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2

Gary

Sometimes

Lately God has been speaking. I think I am listening. Am I listening? Sometimes he even highlights the clouds outside my window to get my attention. I’m really not ready to write yet, so I will listen more

Photo taken tonight. First sunset visible from our house in 2020 

Lets listen to God more than sometimes in 2020

Gary

Wander into Winter Wonder

The snow quit. Winds died. Morning came after freezing fog. All was frosted. Highlights rolled in with the coming sun. Skating to work on the roads might be the best option in freezing temperatures. Look at this mornings artwork from God’s perspective. life’s deadliest winter storms will end. Only God can make beauty of it.

 

The cold snows of life, a prelude to beauty

 

Our vision is limited. All we can see is snow

The sun is coming, the son is coming

We may be frozen solid but God begins to warm our hearts

Only God can warm our cold hearts and make beauty of life’s winters.

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
 Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)

Gary

Pictures taken this Monday morning after the storm  

 

From The Woods

I’ve been in the woods and quite absent from the internet. I’m noticeably different (self diagnosis). Seemingly random thoughts tug on my mind while winters crystals defy the sun. The winter sun’s angle allows the snow to direct any radiant heat back into outer space. The sun has gone south for the winter. It’s below freezing.

I wonder about the winter seasons in my life, when the Son seems ineffective in my life. My life’s edges are frosty and cold to those around me. I am indifferent. Maybe I should get closer to the Son??

A beautiful little pond, frozen in the woods. I’m sorry for all the brush in the way, it just grows up and multiplies. Before you know it the brush gets mighty thick, thorny and impassable in ones soul. Life is like that you know. Sometimes our beauty is hidden or terribly neglected. Cute little sprouts take over one’s life. Sometimes our prayer should be “Lord please brush out my life, I place it in your care”. It may hurt.

Somehow, when we think we are just a branch with one ole dried up leaf hanging on in the cold, God brings forth buds. They are there. It may be dormant in the cold but packed with nutrition for lives looking for browse. I’ve watched deer and grouse eat these like candy.  Like the pain of thawing out one’s frozen fingers, Thawing a heart is really tough. I know.

So I let go of the last dried up frozen leaf. Let my trophies go. It hurts.

  I Let the new creation bud. I Let those who may browse. I Let go and face the Son.

I Face the Sun and the woods glows in it’s light. Every frozen crystal reflects it’s Glory.

I encourage you to let the Son come into your life and take complete control. Even in your seasons of coldest winter you can glow in His radiance. I know. I’m quite different (God’s diagnosis).

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I shall meet again with my God in the morning as I do every morning. Winter in one’s soul is just a season. Sometimes in life’s coldest moments God lays his hand on our heart. I know.

Gary

 

Shaky Faith

It’s raining said the farmer as he spit into the wind…(An old saying on the farm). Yes, it’s a perception saying.

I took the above picture in the wind on my regular camera settings for still shots. Not very clear is it? In fact I spent part of the afternoon taking high speed pictures and captured some excellent mediocre shots. My subject matter was all over the place, often in the same picture.

I think they all moved slightly

This brings me to some questions we must all ask ourselves if we claim to be people of faith. “Does the subject of your faith change? When you feel like your faith is on shaky ground is it because your faith is really on your circumstances? recent events? other people? your faith community? The cataclysmic event that just happened in your life? I took a picture of a rock in our yard. It doesn’t move in the wind. Awhile back I wrote on it but that’s another time (The rocks cry out one of my first blogs way back).

Here is the deal. When others see us, watch us and take a look at our faith. what people see is a blurred confusing image if the subject of our faith is not Jesus Christ. He is our Rock and our salvation. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith and put to the side everything that gets in the way Hebrews 12:2 

When Our Faith is all on Jesus, others can still see Jesus through our storm. 

I put together some pictures taken in high winds from this afternoon. They may not be perfect but each one was in a protected niche from most of the wind. God is our shelter, rock, provide, protector,and I could go on…You get the picture. (Click for slide show)

 

I imagine God shelters us in ways we do not even see or understand. Consider a few lines from the old hymn “He hideth My Soul”

A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord
A wonderful Saviour to me
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
Where rivers of pleasure I see

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land
He hideth my life in the depths of his love
And covers me there with his hand (repeat)
 

A wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord
He taketh my burden a-way
He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved
He giveth me strength as my day 

One more thought: I put my camera on a tripod for getting clear pictures whenever I can. People who watch our lives to see if Jesus is real (and they do) often have enough things shaking their world as it is. Hey, who among us sees clearly? Let’s not present a moving target of faith for shaky people trying to get the picture.

When Our Faith is all on Jesus, others can still see Jesus through their storm. 

Gary

Check out the video of the haven of rest quartet G.W posted in the comments section. “He Hideth My Soul”

When We See. Really See

 

Let me ramble a bit about some wilderness wanderings with my family last week. The sites and sounds were awesome! So much of our trip is a parallel to a life with God, pictures and all. Let’s talk about what we see. really see.

Most of us have our wilderness wanderings of the soul as well. One is in the seeing beyond ourselves.

3 otter swam by in the wee hours of daylight. It seems they were created to fish and play

Let’s face it. Most of our seeing is positioning ourselves to see. Awareness is another ingredient to seeing. Capturing a photo is another step in seeing. Framing that photo is then important to explain what we saw. Maybe, God shows off sometimes. Just for us?? He loves us you know. Maybe we see (really see) that and know that He is God, Creator of all things. He has framed our world, all the molecules in the universe and beyond. He has framed you.

The rain stopped, the sun came out and set as night came. See the wolf? The sun prevails.

Our Grand daughters senior dream vacation (A wilderness canoe trip). She will outfish most.  

It’s entirely possible to have a dream vacation and only have an adventure, see a nice sunset, catch some fish, do some exploring and that’s about it if it works out.

There’s a better way. What if we position ourselves to see God’s handiwork in marvelous ways? What if we don’t? What if we spend some alone time with God expressing our wonder at the sights and sounds?

Early one morning I waited until I could see through the fog. kind of.

What do you see? Is life just rambling in the fog between storms? Are you positioned to see God’s handiwork all around? How about in your life? God is in the business of opening our eyes you know. I only know about this because He has done it in my life and coutless others throughout time. Like the man born blind and healed by Jesus in the Bible, he knows. He sees John 9:25
He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. There is one thing I do know: I was blind, but now I see!”

I strongly reccomend some wilderness wanderings. Find someplace to have a long chat with your creator. Check out going to the BWCAW sometime. Watch out for bear! (really).

Gary