Category: Purpose

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Walking in Circles

A person hiking along a forked trail in a green forest near a lake

It is true that people lost in the woods or in a desert will walk in a circular pattern, particularly counterclockwise. There have been many research studies that have proved this phenomenon.

To walk in a straight trajectory, land navigators will fix their sight on an unmovable object such as a tree or some other landmark. Even those who use a compass will align their compass reading on a landmark in the distance to set their course of direction. Once they arrive at the first landmark, they will sight another landmark with their compass bearing and continue their journey repeating the process to arrive at their destination.

In life, many people walk in circles. They are aimless in their journey and like a ball in a pinball machine, they just bounce from one point to the next. They have no bearing of direction. They have not chosen a landmark or a standard. Then after many failures of lostness they will proclaim they are just unlucky when they are actually lost.

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Good Intentions

Man leaning down to shake hands with a homeless man sitting against a wall on a city sidewalk.

All genuine, good intentions are honorable. However, not every good intention is effective. Some good intentions never get beyond the intention, nothing gets done. Good intentions do not always lead to good results. We need to look a little deeper concerning our intentions.

Emotions is often the driver for our good intentions. When we do something motivated by good intentions, it makes us feel good. We all like doing something that is worthwhile and helpful. But our intentions can cause us to act without much thought about the outcome. Many of us want to help others, but we are often driven by emotions rather than logic, reason, and even God’s perfect will.

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Old Men and Their Junk

Rustic woodworking shop with various hand tools hanging on the wall and a workbench with jars and wood shavings

Old men love their stuff. It is gold to them but to others it is rust and dust. Coffee cans and peanut butter jars filled with assorted nuts, bolts, screws, and nails. A tube of hardened super glue he feels has another drop.

In the corner of his shed are several bird’s nests of bailing twine for when the world may end. On the shelf is a Dollar General yellar bag filled with strips of old Hanes t-shirts that are his go-to grease rags. There’s a row of nails with greasy baseball caps that a vagabond wouldn’t dare to wear.

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Fill Up the Vessels

Multiple large antique ceramic jars arranged on a stone floor inside a rustic cellar with stone walls and wooden shelves

There is a great story of provision found in the Old Testament (2 Kings 4:1-7). A woman’s husband had died. He was in the group of prophets led by the Prophet Elisha. The woman had no time to grieve over the death of her husband because he had a debt that was due. She had no money. The creditor was coming to take her two sons as slaves for the payment of the debt. The ancients lived in a very cruel and unforgiving world.

Her situation was very severe. Her husband had died. Her sons were going to be taken as slaves. She was left with no support and no family. A widow during that time with no son was destined for a life of abject poverty.

She went to Elisha for help. “So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil” (2 Kings 4:2 NKJV).

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Mother, the Heart of the Family

Family of four sitting on couch reading a book and playing with blocks

Someone said that the father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart of the family. In the beginning of Genesis, God made the man first and then made the woman from the man. God took a rib from Adam and made the woman named Eve. The rib is the skeletal protection of the heart and lungs which are some of the most vital organs of the human body.

Genesis 2:22-23 NKJV
(22) Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
(23) And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

Children naturally have a different relationship with their mother than their father. It is not supposed to be the same. God made the man and woman (father and mother) different because they needed to be a difference. Each have their own role to play. It doesn’t make one better than the other, it just means that one is better than the other at certain things and vice-versa.

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Pattern of Living

Man and child holding hands walking on a dirt path surrounded by autumn foliage

Sometimes, we hear people say, “Do as I say but don’t do as I do.” This quote is morphed from a warning of Jesus to His followers about the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matt. 23:3 NKJV).

We all have patterns of living. The habitual lifestyle of good or bad actions creates a pattern by which we are known. Others observe us subconsciously and purposefully. Those around us know us by our patterns. We are generally known by our lifestyle. It is not that people are judging us; they are only taking note of their observations.

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Tension: Strengthening by Two Forces

I have been thinking about the concept of tension for a few weeks. In the physical world, you need two opposing forces to have tension. Think of limp rope that is tied securely on one end to an object. It will remain limp until the other end is attached to another object and the slack pulled from the rope. In society and everyday life, people dislike tension in their lives. We gravitate to one side while despising the other end.

We grow stronger by having some tension in our lives. There is no need to look for trouble/tension because it has a way of finding us. We need to see the opportunity of becoming stronger when trouble comes.

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Jesus on the Cross

This week is Holy Week when we remember and declare Jesus Christ’s trial, crucifixion and resurrection. As we approach Good Friday and His crucifixion, I wanted to share the first chapter in my book, Journey of the Messiah — The Awakening. It describes not only the horror of the cross imagined from His perspective but also the ramification of His redemption to a lost world. Note: The book is written in the first person of Jesus, as if He is telling the story. It is from the author’s perspective and imagination.

Chapter 1: To the Cross, from the Cross

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).

From the beginning, I knew My life as the Son of Man would come to this torturous end. It was the redemptive plan of God for man, before man was to be. This knowledge did not make My pain any less but added grief to My agony. The weight of the sinful guilt for man is a knife to My soul as the nails are to My flesh. I hang between heaven and earth, bridging the gap for all time and for all who come by faith to drink My blood and eat My flesh.

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