How is Your Faith?

Like a lot of people I may ask the questions every now an then "Am I putting my faith in the truth?" "Is the Bible really true or is it fiction?" Don't take me wrong I feel the holy spirit in me, but I think it is natural  human instinct for most people to question what they are doing or believing is the correct way, the truth, or the best possible answer.  When these thoughts pop-up in my head I think about Hebrews 11. 

This Chapter gives a summary of instances in the Bible where a person's faith made it so God could continue the human race onto the next instance.   Each of these key points in human history built upon the last and if one person didn't have faith and act on their faith we wouldn't have made it to the next key point.  If Noah didn't build the Arc the human race would have gone extinct and so on and so forth.

If the Bible were fiction you would have to make all these points of faith written in different books by different people harmonize.  I would be quite a coincidence and more than likely a impossibility if the Bible was fiction.  Other historical evidence outside what is written in the Bible points to a lot of Bible to be true.

So when you have doubts read Hebrews 11.  Have faith that Jesus died for you and Biblical history and history proves that the road to Jesus is true.  Full of people who had faith in God's plan too.

Beach Solitude

Chorus of waves lapping water on the sandy shore

My heart sings with them

Wispy dune grass swaying with the wind

My heart sways with them

Bumblebees bouncing from golden flower to golden flower

My heart bounces with them

Seagulls beating their wings and soaring on winds to and fro

My heart soars with them

Leaves on the trees clapping in the gusty breeze

My heart claps with them

Stones on the sandy shore thrashed by the waves

Gliding rhythm up and down the grainy hill

Becoming rounded and smooth as they are washed

My heart is washed and rounded with them

Jagged edges being made smooth

The Beautiful Enfeebled Tree

One foot in front of the other climbing the ridge trail at Ludington State Park again. Definitely one of the best trails in Michigan in my opinion. It is the middle of spring and it is perfect weather, which for me is on the little bit colder side. So I am trotting along on the part of the trail that has the highest elevation. Gazing out through the trees nearest to me to take in the vast view of being able to see over the canopy of trees in the valleys.

Then one smaller tree near the trail to my right catches my eye. It is full of beautiful white blossoms. Flowering trees are one of the best parts of spring. These white blossoming trees are the only one flowering this early in Ludington State Park. Upon closer examination of the small tree I see the trunk of the tree is laying flat near the ground. It looks as when the tree was younger is was totally knocked down by a force. Some other trees would just give up and die if this happened to them. Not this tree. This small tree didn't let getting knock down flat stop it from continuing to grow and become something beautiful in the world and showing what and awesome creator God is for creating it.

God Speaks in a Whisper

I was on the logging trail right and I wasn't planning on stopping, but when I paused to check the map on checkpoint 8 marker pole it was so quiet and It made me think of how noisy regular life is.  How everything in the city life is noisy and therefore we feel we have to be noiser to be heard.  God on the other hand speaks in a still small voice as he did to Elijah.  If we want to hear him we have to be in the quiet.

 

1 Kings 19:11-13 (NKJV)

God’s Revelation to Elijah

11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

 So I decided to sit in a shelter near post marker 8 and enjoy the silence.  In the silence I am able to listen to the Holy Spirit (God) in my heart.

P.S.  I think I'm sitting next to some raccoon scat.

Isaiah 40:31

On May 11, 2018 my wife, son, and I were camping at Ludington State Park.  On this morning as I woke up around 6 a.m. as I usually do, ate a quick breakfast, and headed out onto the ridge trail.  I feel so at home in the woods especially in Ludington.  The trees blend together in a majestic forest of what I call tree awesomeness.  It is in this tree awesomeness I feel closest to God.  It is here in Ludington State Park that God has enabled me to experience coming in close contact with many wild animals that I believe more than likely wouldn't have happened by chance.  This was one of those times.

I was walking on the ridge trail soaking in the spender of it all.  Being so high you can see above the 80 foot trees growing from the bottom of the valley below.  Birds chirping their morning song.  Squirrels scrounging up their breakfasts.  Then I hear the distinct crack of a branch.  I freeze and peer through the trees around me to find out what had broken the branch.  I hear and see powerful charcoal wings thrusting up and down.  Displacing air and producing a swoosh sound with every stroke.  A bald eagle propelling itself into the air.  After it cleared the tree it had been perched upon it straightened it's wings and soared through the sky and over the valley in front of me to a distant tree.  The sound of my heart filled my ears as I gawked in wonder.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31

This verse has full meaning for me now.  This close encounter has shown my the Bald Eagle is a powerful animal.  I understand now why it is at the top of the food chain.  I understand why it is our nation's emblem.

Journal Idea: Review Your Week

Here is a great idea for your journal entries.  Every week you write how well you progressed on what you value in life.   So if you value family you write an honest review on how well you spent time with your family.  If you did well then pat yourself on the back.  If not or you just want to bring that value to the next level then write about what you can do next week to improve that value.  If you make a habit of this week in review and keep acting on what you learn just think on how much that will improve your life and keep you focused on your values.  So give week in review a try.

Drewbie

Procrastination and the Internet

In school I grew up with the computer.  From the baby stages of DOS in elementary to the grown up stages of Windows XP and beyond.  Soon every home had a computer and with that came the internet. Maybe it was the other way around though.  Did the computer become a staple in every home only because of the internet?

The internet is the most captivating piece of technology with endless entertainment and is ever expanding with each passing year.  Today we have this party on a screen available to us anytime and anywhere in our pockets on a number of mobile devices.  Information available to us at any moment of the day.  So this means we have become more productive with all this information available to us, right?  We look up just the information we need or talk/text to just the person we meant to talk/text to and get back to the task we were working on?  Or do we become distracted as soon as the screen lights up?  Check email, play a game(just a few minutes), text back friends who texted you, update the social media status on where your at, I wonder what movies are coming out, what will the weather be like in the coming week?, and of course have to find out what people are complaining about the president this week.  That only took 15 mins right?  Probably more like an hour to an hour and a half.  How many times a day does this happen?  Now you have to throw together something for dinner.  It taking you twice as long or more to finish reading a book.   When did you say you were going to reorganize the basement or garage?

Research shows that 47% of internet use is wasted time.  It serves no real purpose.  So almost half of internet use is preventing people from having productive lives.  At what point does the internet stop being a tool and start becoming an addiction?

I used to be really addicted to the computer and internet.  Right after high school I was introduced to computer games.  They blew me away on how advanced and more complex they were compared to video games.  My brain was hooked.  I saved up around $1500 and bought my first computer.  I played games more and more after my purchase.  College didn't pan out for me and I quit the job I had at a foam factory that was giving me physical problems.  With my new free time my computer/internet addiction grew.  I was living with my parents and I had $20,000 saved up so money wasn't an issue.  My computer became my life obsession.  From when I woke up to when I went to bed(really late) I was on my computer.  For two years this continued until my money started to dwindle.  I had to get a job.  I still played games all the time when I wasn't working.  I wasn't the best worker though.  I couldn't focus well and I would miss bad parts.  One time I even mislabeled a box.  Eventually I figured out I was a computer addict and I cut my computer/internet usage drastically.  My work improved and I felt better physically and mentally.

I still find myself being drawn to the screen.  I play only one game now and this game can only be played a limited amount per day.  I have to limit my screen time to a manageable level for me not to become sucked in again.  Even the rough draft of this blog post I wrote by hand in a notebook.  It is slower to write this way, but I can concentrate better so for me it takes less time this way.

What I want people to take from this post is to be mindful of your screen/internet time.  It's easy to switch into auto pilot mode and lose track of time.  Set a timer if you have to.  Knowing you have a limited amount of time will help keep you more focused on the task you originally turned on the device to accomplish. If you don't you may procrastinate your time away, it may be an hour or maybe two years of your life.  It's time you can't get back.