Tag: Christian living

  • Out of the Blue – When the unexpected happens

    merlin in crabapple tree

    The robin was suddenly smacked with a bolt out of the blue. A  merlin (a type of small falcon) dropped, seemingly out of nowhere, and knocked it out of the air. They both hit the ground with a thud in front of me, and there was a brief flurry of feathers.

    The strike must have been a little off target as the robin flew away while the merlin flew up into the nearby crabapple tree. It sat there for a few moments, looking a little stunned.

    Score: Robins: one, Merlins: nil. This time.

    Sometimes, life can be like that. We are cruising along, living life as usual, when some major problem hits us out of the blue. There is no warning at all, at least none that we noticed.

    It can come as a job loss, an illness, a marital breakdown, a death in the family, an economic collapse, or any of ten thousand or more different scenarios. Whatever the problem, it leaves us shaken and stunned.

    We wonder what happened. We wonder where God is in the midst of it all. We wonder how, or even if, we will survive.

    We begin to realize that we aren’t as much in control as we had imagined. In truth, there is very little that we do control. We’re not the center of the universe, and not everything falls under our purview. 

    That’s actually a good realization to have, even if we came to it the hard way.

    Jesus spoke on that subject.

    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-31

    Remember when times of testing come (and they will), God is in control. He knew about it before it happened, even if it seems out of the blue to you. 

    We can trust Him, no matter what we face. The outcome might seem uncertain to us, but the one who holds the stars in His hands has our backs.

    Even when circumstances are hard, God is good.

    To paraphrase a Bobby McFerrin song,

    Here’s a little song I wrote

    You might want to sing it note for note

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus.

    In every life we have some trouble

    When you worry you make it double

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus

    Don’t worry, trust Jesus.

    Until next time, no matter what comes your way, remember that God is there for you.

    Kevin

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  • A Fish Story – Jonah gets angry

    Brook trout

    As we strolled around the lake, several trout began feeding on  the surface. Most appeared to be relatively small, but one was obviously much larger than the others. I cannot say exactly how big he was, without it becoming another kind of fish story altogether, but it was a good-sized trout.

    As I walked and thought about the “big” fish, my mind wandered to the story of Jonah and the great fish. I have been rereading it of late, and it has been in the back of my mind. It is worthwhile taking the time to reread it, especially if you have not done so in a while. 

    Some say Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but the Hebrew text only refers to a ‘great fish,’ so it may have been a whale or a large fish. Several species of fish are possible Jonah swallowers, including the jewfish (a form of Mediterranean sea bass) and several shark species.

    Whatever it was, it swallowed Jonah. What happened next is unusual to say the least. Either Jonah lived inside the fish for three days (or some portion thereof in keeping with the Hebrew rendering of days) or he died inside the fish and was resurrected. Either way involved the miraculous hand of God.

    Upon being freed, Jonah went to Nineveh, warned the people of God’s anger, and then watched them repent. Jonah was angry at God for sparing his enemies. At the end of the book, we see Jonah sitting in the sun, claiming he would rather die than see Nineveh saved.

    But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

    And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

    Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plantand made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 

    But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

    But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” 

    And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 

    And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” Jonah 4:1-11 NIV

    Those last few verses have been reverberating around in my mind for days. How typical they are of our attitudes. God provides in ways that we cannot understand, and we take it for granted. 

    We are more concerned about our own comfort than about the thousands of souls that are around us that need saving. When a particularly “vile sinner” gets saved, we often are resentful and suspicious. We want mercy for ourselves but vengeance on evildoers.

    I know that not all of us have every one of those attitudes at all times, but they are there in varying degrees. Our hearts are really not very nice.

    Fortunately for us, God is far more loving and patient. He is that way, even with His children, and we should know better.

    Until next time, examine your heart. Do you have the heart of Christ or the heart of Jonah? If it is the latter, it is time for some repentance.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    Check these out

    Why everyone know the truth even if they deny it

    Read the Word

    A fish tail – lessons in humility