Category: Animals

  • Busy Beaver – another helper

    We need the Holy Spirit

    Beaver

    One summer in my late teens, I worked for an oilfield service  company. I was a grunt laborer and traveled into the field doing whatever necessary and unpleasant work needed to be done.

    For a while, we had a beaver problem. Beavers are one way God uses His animals to mold and shape His creation. Their system of dam building can transform an area incredibly over time.

    This particular beaver had decided to dam a culvert on a small creek, causing the road to flood. I’d get out of the truck, don hip waders, and pull the dam apart. In a day or two, the busy beaver would have it rebuilt. Various crews tore the dam down on multiple occasions.

    The company I worked for even brought someone in to dynamite the dam and the beaver’s lodge. Even that didn’t work. The determined rodent started to rebuild. In the end, they called a trapper in and removed the beaver from the area.

    Sometimes, we can be like that very determined rodent. We slave away at things, only to have them fail. Then we do it all over again and wonder why it doesn’t work.

    Author Rita Brown once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”It’s a profound quote often falsely attributed to Albert Einstein and others.

    We try to live and serve under our own direction and power rather than relying on the leading of the Spirit. It’s a form of insanity.

    Only God’s plans are infallible. Only God’s ways will lead us to the right place. We need the Spirit.

    We were given the Spirit as a helper.

    And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. John 14:16 ESV

    …the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:26 ESV

    Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27 ESV

    But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8 ESV

    All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 1 Corinthians 12:11 ESV

    As believers, we have choices. We can work feverishly but in futility. Or we can trust the Spirit to lead and trust the Lord to produce fruit.

    I pray we are all a little less like that beaver and a lot more like Jesus.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    You might enjoy

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    Small steps, big kingdom. What beavers can tell u about how God grows His church

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  • Beyond Counting

    Muskrats and the state of the church

    muskrat swimming

    Some years back, when I was pastoring “the cowboy church” in  Sherwood Park, Alberta, I was blessed to receive a wonderful birthday gift from my wife. It is a custom-crafted, saddle-bag-style briefcase marked with my brand.

    We had to drive to a community a couple of hours away to pick it up, and that involved driving through an area with numerous pothole lakes and plenty of rough farmland.

    Since my birthday was in November, the little lakes were mostly frozen. The ice wasn’t thick yet, but it was definitely there. If I recall correctly, we saw several mule deer and whitetails. We likely saw some late migrating flocks of ducks and geese, as that would have been typical for the season.

    What I do recall clearly are muskrats. Now, muskrats are not rats at all. They are semi-aquatic mammals more closely related to voles than rats. An adult muskrat weighs about four pounds (a little under 2 kg), about half the size of your average house cat.

    Typically, on that particular roadway, we would see a few muskrats on or in the lakes on the drive down and back. Sometimes we would even see four or five on the same tiny lake, which seemed like a lot.

    On the return trip, I was astounded to see the population on several lakes. There were muskrats, for sure, but in incredible numbers. We were driving, and I couldn’t stop to count them, but I am a pretty fair estimator over small areas. There were several hundred muskrats basking in the sun on each of the lakes.

    That’s more than I would see in a typical year, all in one place. I had read about places up north where the fur trappers could harvest them by the hundreds in a day, way back when the north was being opened, but to see them was breathtaking.

    So, what does all that have to do with the Christian faith walk? Maybe nothing directly, but it does bring to mind a few thoughts.

    Sometimes, we get to thinking that, like the few muskrats I normally see, we are among the few faithful Christians left in the world.

    Elijah, the prophet, felt sorry for himself and complained to the Lord about being the last faithful one in Israel (See 1 Kings 18-19). God let him know in no uncertain terms that he was wrong.

    We can get into Elijah’s mindset at times.

    We get tired and defensive when the world seems to be spiraling out of control. We can start to doubt and whine. We forget the incredible power and presence of God. We begin to repine (to feel discontent and complain … sorry, I heard that word in a hymn recently, so I had to look it up and find a place to use it)

    Now, it is true that only a remnant of humanity will be saved. More will choose the darkness over the light than those who will be faithful. Even the so-called “church” has people who are not believers. It is easy to become discouraged and isolated, particularly if your little corner of the kingdom struggles.

    When we feel that way, we need to stop and remember that we are in God’s presence, and we need to consider His long-range plans.

    These words from the closing book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, through the Apostle John, encourage me.

    After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12 ESV

    There are multitudes of believers from all over the world. I also remember some encouraging words from the book of Hebrews.

    Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

    When you start to doubt and feel discouraged, hold fast. God is still in control. We are united with all the saints (past and present), and victory is ours through Jesus.

    When you are tempted to repine, remember that, like the Lord showed Elijah, He has a much bigger picture than we can see in the moment, and stay the course.

    Until next time,  remember that while battles are still to be fought, the victory is ours.

    Be blessed

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

    Some suggested reading

    Why everyone knows, even if they deny it.

    Moose Lake Ballet

    The gospel – the best news ever