I Want My Dull Life Back!

What has happened in your life thelast few weeks? It’s OK. You can tell me. Seriously, my email is tosergeant@gmail.com. The flip side is you have to listen to what happened to me the last fewweeks! And, just so this won’t be allabout me, I will tell you what happened to the Gano’s first.

Their son Spencer was burningbrush. He used gasoline to start thefire and got more than he bargained for. He personally caught on fire. From the photos Ray posted on facebook itlooks like it was a wonderful blessing that he was wearing a t-shirt. That protected him to some extent. He was burned pretty badly. He had to be taken to a burn unit. And of course, while I have a LOT of sympathyfor Spencer, as a parent I may have more sympathy for his parents Ray andTrayce. I think it may actuallyphysically hurt parents more than kids when a kid gets hurt.

In my life I have a bit of good newsmixed with bad. A doctor has a clue tomy extreme fatigue – and it isn’t something you die from. You just have fatigue. I was so tired I couldn’t even get on theplane for a planned visit to my mom. Ilost my money for the ticket and mom is still bawling. My doctor says he may be able to help me alot – so there is a silver lining there.

THEN my son and husband were ready fortheir week at deer camp. They had set uptheir tent a few days earlier. They andmany other people do that every year. Well, this year someone went through and stole everything! So we had to replace a lot of expensive stuffon a minute’s notice.

Then I didn’t get to go because I amsupposed to be spending all my time resting. It isn’t that hard to lay down most of the time, but it is boring.

THEN, setting up the tent and cots mydaughter Raina had the tip of one finger crushed into smithereens. The Surgeon says he cannot help; and that sheshould expect extreme pain for around six months minimum. I think she needs a second opinion.

THEN, someone broke into the pickuptruck in the driveway last night and stole her new camera, a Zen, a back packfilled with hunting paraphernalia, a new set of Leopold binoculars, and othermiscellaneous items.

All these things going on here, and Iam thinking, ‘I am supposed to be at my mom’s right now eating my birthdaycake. It is a special cake that only mygrandmother and mother can bake. Well, Icould probably do it, but it takes a lot of work to make that sort of cake. It is called a Prune Cake – which mom alsomakes the complimenting prune frosting. (I don’t like prunes, and the name sounds awful but the cake isgood. I will get you the recipe if youwant it.) Instead I am sitting on mycouch, where I have been for weeks, (except for the 3 days I went to my sisterin laws house and laid on her couch), and thinking, ‘Wow! This is a lot to happen so closetogether.’

In categorizing my disasters, I haveto be honest, the only thing that really matters is my daughter’s finger. Shehas been in extreme pain ever since it happened. It is big mess. On a personal note, my doctor has a plan toimprove my health, so that is good. Thishas been an overwhelming few वीक्स.

So, thieves, accidents, and illnesshave all had an unusually high impact on our lives lately. And you know what that makes me? Homesick. That’s right. I want mymama! I also want my daddy, who is inheaven. In fact, I want everything thatis heaven. In heaven we know there willbe no thieves, and nothing will be eaten by moths or rats when you store it fora while. It will be a wonderful place. Heaven will never be dull. There will be no trauma in heaven. Who wouldn’t want to go there?

The current situation is the world hasa lot of problems, bad people, and hard times. We are stuck on this planet as long as we breathe air, or until the Kingof kings decides it is time for that great supernatural evacuation we call theRapture.

So, what are we supposed to do whilewe are here? How are we supposed to copewith disaster weeks in our lives? Whatare we supposed to do when disaster month, or even disaster year happens tous? There are disasters from which wecan never recover. I will never recoverfrom the death of my sister. I havelearned to sort of deal with it and cope with it. But, life has never been the same withouther, and it will never be the same. Don’tdo it, but if you sat down to make list of all the traumatic events in yourlife, I am guessing it would not be a short or trivial list. You would have plenty to say. What is more important than the list is howyou react to the difficulties that you personally face.

I believe there are two importantthings you have to do when there is even a small problem in your life.

First you have to actually admit thereis a problem. Being ‘tuff’ enough to keep going doesn’t include beingdelusional enough to convince yourself there wasn’t really a problem to beginwith, or that you pushed your way through the problem without any personalstress. Even small problems do requiretime to mentally recoup and come up with a plan of how you are going to facethe future. The best way to ‘rest yourbrain’ and unwind is through light reading of the Bible. Just pick a few chapters and read them overand over every morning and evening for a few weeks. Right now, I personally am using the firstfive chapters of Luke. It becomes like avisit with a dear friend by the time you have done that for a few days. I just finished reading the last 5 chaptersof the book of Psalms. I was stuck on that for nearly a month. Every chapter begins and ends with ‘praise theLord’. It is pretty clear. I learned that praise of the Lord is acommandment, a joy, and even a weapon. That is just my suggestion. Youmay have a better way to unwind, but this is a good and productive way tounwind for me.

Second, while you are in the mode of‘taking to the Lord’ you need to consider if there are any ways you can ‘tweak’your walk with the Lord. You may realize that more thankfulness and praise arein order. These two things are theattitude changers that will pull you toward the future instead of letting youspend an overly lengthy amount of time dwelling on whatever has happened to yourecently, or even what has happened long ago. From the vantage point ofthankfulness and praise to our God, you will likely get a twinge of sorrow forthe unsaved of the world. You will belooking forward to heaven and start thinking about the people you will see thereand how much you will enjoy seeing them again, and all the things you will dotogether for eternity. Then the faces ofthose you know won’t be in heaven start to creep into the pleasant thoughts ofheaven. You realize there will be gapsin your family and friends. Then youthink about where they will be. Theywill be in that eternal place of separation from all the good things ofGod. They will be in hell. It matters not what false god they followedhere on earth. They all lead to a placethat is separate from God Almighty. Itis a place of eternal torment.

When your evangelical zeal begins togrow, you will know that whatever trial you have just faced, be it great orsmall, that your trouble has begun to work for good. It is working for your good and for the goodof the lost.

In America today we are seeing stormson the horizon coming toward us quickly. Our first thoughts are usually regarding the safety of our families andourselves. Next we think of friends, Wewant to help those in danger. Whether itbe financial problems, personal loss, or even persecution of specificideologies, we would like to help. Mostly we would like to help if it costs us little to nothing. On a grander scale, we may even be willing tohelp if it costs us a little more money, but less personal effort. Honestly, just do what seems good at themoment. If you can help someone, youbetter do it.

Honestly, I believe the events of ourpersonal lives, as well as social and political trends at least partly designedto encourage Christians to evangelism. Evangelism is for our good as well. Can you imagine a better treasure to lay up safely in heaven than thesouls of the lost? Christ placed suchvalue on those separated from Him that He died so they would have theopportunity to choose life with Him in heaven. By His example we know that the lost won to Christ are treasures.

Honestly, I am not the most successfulof one on one soul winners For onething, I just am not around many people. I find that instead of a soul-winning event, I much more often have achance to make a right comment, or answer a question. That is usually as far as it goes. I have learned that you can’t push it. I sometimes have good luck by asking leadingquestions. In the United States, mostpeople have heard the Gospel and rejected it off hand. They are hard to even get to the meetingtable, much less convince to join the party. Their lack of response doesn’t give us an excuse not to try.

I believe the best success nationallyfor Christians to impact the world for Christ is for the individual Christianto begin to act a Christian. Forget themega church, church growth, and pay attention to your own actions. If you love the Lord, then keep Hiscommandments. They are not that hard to understand. Do the things Christ says to do. Treat others the way you want to betreated. There is no magic in the wordsof human beings. Just because someonesays, ‘I will keep the commandments. Ilove God. I will show Him I love Him bymy actions,’ doesn’t mean they have suddenly become a fine example of Christianbehavior. They have to actually DO theythings they say they are going to do. (Iam appalled at the number of people who say they are going to do something,then don’t do it, and then never even realize it didn’t get done.)

Remember that national evangelicalsuccess begins with the individual, then the family, then the churches, andthen the nation.

So, live like you are aChristiअ n. God doesn’t need you to lie,cheat, or steal, to accomplish His will in your life. He needs you to rely on Him for real comfortand help.

Be ready to speak a word or answer aquestion about Jesus Christ at every opportunity.

If you get someone who is reallyinterested in salvation, be ready to tell them what is required of them to besaved.

Recognize separation from God becauseHe is perfect and we are not.
Perfection cannot allow imperfectioninto heaven.
Don’t compare yourself to the goodnessof some good people you know, but to the utter perfection of God.

Turn from the life you now lead andput your faith in Christ.

You salvation is not based on works,but the proof of your salvation is based on your actions.

Live according to Bible teachings.

Tell others that Jesus Christ is the wayinto heaven.

No matter what is going on in thelives of Christians, there are certain guidelines by which they are tolive. One of those guidelines is tonever miss an opportunity to tell the world that Jesus Christ is the way, thetruth, and the life. Tell them that noone gets to God the Father except through Jesus Christ the Son.

One of the most interesting thingsthat has happened to me in recent years is to begin selling Siberian ForestCats. It is somewhat overwhelming thenumber of people we have met through the cats, and through our web site. Many are lost. Soon there will be a page on our web sitecalled ‘My Pet died. Did it go toheaven?’ We have quite a few hits to ourweb page, and a lot of people are looking for another pet because a well-lovedpet has died. We are telling them tofirst make sure where they are going when they die – because they want to makecertain that they and their pets wind up in the same place. Then we are telling them how to besaved. What an opportunity!

Wherever you are, whatever you do,there is opportunity to live like you take God’s instructions seriously. There are people who will notice how youact. Sometimes you will have anopportunity to speak out about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Don’t missthat opportunity to tell someone about Jesus.

The World that Perished v the Generation that Survives

The Worlds that Perished  - The Generations that Survived

A generation is usually defined as a group of people born in the same time frame.  For the purpose of this article, I am looking at ‘generation’ as a group with shared beliefs, interests, and attitudes.  People of all the ages belong to one of the two generations.

 One generation belongs to a group that shares the belief that God Almighty is the creator of all things and the One who deserves worship.  Through Him the individual believer can inherit eternal life.

 The other generation shares its rejection of the God of the Bible.  They have many creeds, but the core belief of all of them is rejection of God.  Some may pay Him lip service, but their hearts do not really worship Him.

 Thousands of years ago, there was an unknown man who belonged to the generation who follows God.  The Bible hadn’t been written, and Moses hadn’t even been born when this man lived.  His name was Abraham.  He received a promise from God Himself that He would make of that man a great nation. Through Abraham’s grandson Jacob the people we now know as the Jews began.  Through many years and a number of generations, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob eventually were led to and lived in what became known as the Kingdom of Israel.  It began with a generation of people who believed God’s promises, crossed over Jordan, and possessed the land.  The nation of Israel began with the Jews who crossed over Jordan with Joshua.

 The book of Joshua tells us what happened then.  Here is a quote from Joshua 2:7-10 that pretty much sums up a cycle of worship that has been played out over and over in the history of mankind.

 Joshua 2:7-10

⁷And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

¹⁰And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

There was a generation, specifically a generation of leaders, that served God.  That generation gradually passed away. 

 There were probably many people left at this time who loved the Lord, taught their children to love the Lord, and faithfully served God.  But, the LEADERS became corrupt.  They ignored God and did not give Him credit for the blessings of freedom and prosperity in their own land.  Like today, there were probably many people who wanted to change what was happening to their country.  They wanted to turn people to God.  But, they were helpless to do it. 

 All the people suffered.  All the people suffered for the leader’s lack of faithfulness to God.  Even those who were doing right had their lives turned upside down by the wickedness of others.

 Israel was governed by a theocracy, with priests who were supposed to be fine examples of how the people were supposed to live.  Instead, the priests grew increasingly corrupt.  In 1 Samuel we are given the history of the fall of the priesthood.

 One day Eli, the high priest, heard a woman praying.  Because her prayer was so intense, Eli supposed she was drunk.  How sad that Eli didn’t know the difference between sincere prayer and drunkenness.  God heard Hannah’s prayer, and gave her a child who was the prophet Samuel.  What a blessing to Israel this man was!  The leadership of Israel had rejected God’s authority to tell them how to live.  So, God raised up a new leader who was willing to teach the people the truths of God and encourage them to live within the boundaries set by God.

 During Samuel’s life time, the people rebelled farther, demanding a king to rule over them instead of a priest.  First Saul was made king.  He overstepped his boundary as king, and attempted to place himself in both the role of king and priest.  Then David was appointed king by God.  And, David loved the Lord, but the people did not turn to God with their whole hearts. 

After David, God spared the nation of Israel through the lifetime of David’s son Solomon, but then the kingdom crumbled.  From all those thousands of years ago until still today, the children of Israel have lived on.   The world of safety and prosperity that was given to them when the people crossed over Jordan was flitted away.  Their world perished.  It will not be resurrected in its full glory until God Himself raises it up.  We can see the beginning of God’s handiwork today, as the nation of Israel does exist. 

 So, the world which God gave the Israelites when they first went over Jordan perished, first in actions of the people, and eventually physically.  I don’t know exactly how idols replaced the living God, but it was through rebellion against the rules God had given them.  Idols do not require anything from the people who worship them.  God almighty requires that people turn from sin and follow Him.   By whatever means, idol worship crept in.  The priests liked a god who couldn’t convict them of sin, or tell them what to do.  The people followed the leadership of the priests as well.

 Within the nation of Israel, there resided two separate generations.  You could say there were people of two mindsets.  One follows the God of the Bible, and the other generation or mindset rejects Him.

 There were those who followed the Lord.  Like David they were imperfect in keeping all the commandments all of the time.  Never-the-less, God Almighty was the one they worshipped.

 There were also those who rejected Christ.  They might pay God lip service, but like most of the leaders today, they either don’t know what God requires of them, or they flatly don’t care. 

 Eventually, the world that was Israel perished. While the Jews remained as a distinct people, their way of life in the promised land perished.

 The two generations of that age lived on, and are still with us today.  No, those generations are not here in the flesh.  But, they are here in the spirit. There are those who love Almighty God and work to do the things that please Him.  There are those that are in rebellion against God, and do not care whether they please Him or not.  Basically, they want God to step back and hand the world over to them.  They are sure they can do a better job of ruling than God does.

 From the time of Joshua to now, there have been other worlds that came and went.  There have been times of peace and prosperity that people enjoyed. Sometimes it has been an entire nation, sometimes just communities within a nation, and sometimes families within a community and nation.  There have been worlds that stable and good.  The blessings of God Almighty to the United States are immeasurable.  Communities and families have been blessed.  My family is from generations of the sweet world of the Southern United States. For the most part, the family was not wealthy. ‘Dirt poor’ would be a more accurate description.  But what the family and the community had was a conviction that the Bible was true, a spirit of kindness, a duty to be polite as much as possible, and to treat others the way they wanted to be treated.  Even in material hardship, that world was a good place.  As the older generations have died out, it has drifted more toward the things of the world instead of the things of God. 

 The backbone of the stable nation, one that is living within the boundaries set by God, is the individual who is following the instructions of God with his or her whole heart.  The backbone is strengthened when individuals join together to build families.  Families make up nations.  As the family is weakened and even redefined entirely, the nation is weakened and eventually redefined entirely.  This is true no matter what the time frame in which a person or family lives.  It was true in ancient Israel.  It is true today.

 Eventually, God Himself will set up a kingdom that will not perish.  The generation of those who reject God will not be in that kingdom. 

 In the meantime, Christians live in a world that is perishing.  Society is ‘changing’ according the news media.  Actually, society is rotting.  There are still two generations that remain.

 The first is the generation of vipers, those who follow after the things that are not from God.  Christ spoke of this generation.

Matthew 3:7 says, ‘But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’

Matthew 12:34 says, ‘O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’

Matthew 23:33 says, ‘Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?’

Then there is the generation of the righteous.  This generation is not righteous by its own righteousness, but rather through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Here are a few verses to encourage those who follow Jesus Christ.

 Psalm 14:5 says, ‘There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.’     

Psalm 24:6 says, ‘This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.’

Psalm 112:2 says, ‘His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.’

 The children of God and the children of this world live in the same space.  The evil that is done affects each of us.  The stupidity that passes for wisdom by most of the current world leaders affects us all.  I always think of the prophet Daniel and the three Hebrew brothers and how they were affected by the leadership of Israel.  It got them carried away from their own lands and made into slaves in a pagan nation.

 None of us can know what disasters the mistakes of the current world leaders will bring to the world and to the individual. Turbulent times are ahead, and Christians must go through them along with the rest of the world.

 Being a Christian does not guarantee peace and safety. 

It guarantees us help in time of trouble.

It guarantees us that God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Christians undoubtedly have God Himself to help them face the future and go through whatever happens. 

 The best way to impact the future for the better is to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is no other way that will get results both now and in the future. 

 There is a world that is coming that will never perish.

Only the generation of the righteous will live.

 Look forward to that perfect world that is coming.  Follow the instructions in the Bible for living in this world.  Occupy until our King comes. 

What is the Most Important Tool to Prepare for the Future

THE FIRST BEST PREPPER TOOL

He was definitely a stranger in a strange land.  He was God on earth in the body of Jesus Christ.

He was locked into a specific body, time, and place.  He could have set Himself free, but He chose to stay and carry out His plan, His duty, and to be obedient to God His Father.

In this strange land, He lived in a nation occupied by Rome.  The government was hostile to Him and to all His people.

His adversary was the devil himself.

It was the devil who attacked Him in the wilderness.

At His disposal were legions of angels, not to mention His own power, a power so great it spoke the world into existence.

Jesus had prepared Himself for that day.  His weapon of choice was the Word of God. 

 Now it obviously was not fair that Jesus was tempted at all. 

He was prayerful.

He was humble.
He was obedient.
He was not in a place of obvious temptation.  He was in the desert.
He heart and mind were steadfastly set on doing His duty.
He was actually utterly perfect.

You could say Christ had His eye on the prize, His nose to the grindstone, His jaw set like a rock, or that He was single-mindedly doing what He was supposed to be doing.  All this is true.  He was doing everything right, but yet He faced temptation from the most dreadful of adversaries.  He faced the devil himself.

Jesus faced the devil with the same weapon that you and I have.  Jesus faced the devil with the written word of God.  That’s it.  To the devil’s temptations Christ replied by quoting what had been written down by men moved by the Spirit of God. 

What has been written down for us in the Bible is always for our good.

It is written to teach us.
It is written to comfort us.
It is written for our defense.
 It is written to people of all ages and sizes.
It is written to people of all economic stations.
It is written to people of all nations.
It is written to people of all social standings.
It is written to all skin colors.
It is written to people who are weak and to people who are strong.
It is written to people of all beliefs.  (It is written to convert those heading down the path to destruction, but it is written to all people.)
It is written to tell us the truth.
It is written for our defense.

 Seeing as this was the weapon of choice for Jesus Christ against such a powerful adversary, it is silly for Christians to choose any other weapon when facing such a foe.  Now if you are being charged by a grizzly bear and happen to have a 306 rifle in your hands, it is very likely that the rifle should be your weapon of choice.  There is a call for common sense here.  If you are being charged by a grizzly bear it would be a good idea to cry, ‘God help me!’ while you are aiming.  But, go ahead and shoot.

 Unfortunately, it might be easier to face a charging bear than to face the more subtle things that you face every day. 

 As a man, Jesus had nothing with which to face His foe. 

He didn’t have an earthly army, servants, personal possessions, political friends, friends in high society, or a computer on which to begin a petition to limit the devil’s power and influence. 

I was taught growing up, and have found it to be true, that you really only own one thing.  That is your attitude.  Your attitude is what you make of it.  It can be good or bad.  The more you know the word of God and the more you practice it, the better your attitude will be.  The more you know scripture, the easier it will be to quote scripture when you are tempted.  You will not face the devil face to face.  It will be more of a battle for your thoughts.  The first practice you will get at quoting scripture will be to the evil or rebellious thoughts in your own mind.

In past articles we have covered:

Self-definition
Self-discipline
Self- reliance

 Knowing who you are is essential in preparing for the future.

 Preparing physically for potential difficulties, disasters, hard time, and even persecution is a very good thing.  You don’t want to be trapped in your home wishing you had bottled water, toilet paper, and a Twinkie.  You also don’t want to be wishing you had more than a rock and pocket knife to take down that rabbit that occasionally passes under the bushes near your driveway.  A nice fat rabbit would make a meal for a hungry family

 So, do be prepared materially as much as is possible and reasonable.  It isn’t a good idea to actually go hungry today in order to have food for a potential disaster in the future.  You can cut back on your how much you spend on groceries today in order to spend a little on a food stash for the future.  (I personally think putting in a fish pond in your basement is a little extreme – given the possibility of growing mold as well as fish.  But do what you think is best.) 

 However, no matter what the future brings, there will be a lot of ‘down time’.

You will be alone, waiting, trying to rest, trying to get a moments peace, trying to figure out how to ‘tweek your plan’, wondering how to better prepare for the future, or possibly even sitting in prison for exercising your faith.  That is the battle for which you must prepare.  Because Jesus Christ Himself used the word of God to answer temptation, we can be sure that is the best way to fight temptations our selves.

 Probably the most dangerous and destructive temptation the individual faces is doubt.

The best way to fight doubt is through knowing and quoting scripture.  I know I already said this, but everyone needs to have some scriptures memorized so they can quote them to themselves.  The second best thing to do is learn Hymns based on scripture. 

Are you doubting the power of knowing God’s word?  Psalm 149:6 says, ‘May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,’

The praise of God IS a double-edged sword.  It was a powerful sword that cut through the chains of Paul and Silas when they were beaten half to death and then chained in the deepest darkest dungeon of the ogre’s jail.  I don’t think they were singing Amazing Grace because it hadn’t been written yet.  They were probably singing Psalms or some of the prayers of the Old Testament.  (Read Acts, Chapter 16.)  They couldn’t have sung what they didn’t know. 

Preparing for the future is difficult because no one knows exactly what the future will be specifically.  We should all use common sense and do the best we can with our current situations.  This varies person to person and family to family.  At best, try to have a few weeks food on hand. 

The thing everyone will face is a mental assault from the devil and his followers. 

The leading weapons used against you will be worry and doubt. 

The weapon with which we can defeat these terrible foes is the same weapon that Jesus used.  Use the scripture.

Use it to encourage yourself.

Use it to encourage and teach others.

Just like any soldier going into battle, you need to be very familiar with your weapons.  You need to know what is in the Bible. 

 Barbara Henderson

 Ps.  In this article I mentioned eating a rabbit.

I never ate a rabbit, but you can buy them in grocery stores in the frozen food section.  If you were ever actually hunting for your food, you would have to consider eating a rabbit if it was available.

I thought it a good idea to cover rabbit fever in case you ever wind up hunting wild rabbits or even growing rabbits as a food source.  Tularemia, or rabbit fever, is a very real and dangerous disease.  It is carried to the rabbits in the usual way – through bugs like ticks.  It is transferred to people through the body fluids of an infected rabbit.  This might happen when skinning the rabbit.  The blood of the rabbit might touch a scratch on the skin of the person butchering the rabbit.   Before you decide not to ever eat a rabbit, you need to remember that wherever there are ticks, fleas, flies, mites, and other insects, there will be bug borne illnesses.  You do need to be aware of them, and take precautions as much as possible. 

Tularemia info http://health.utah.gov/epi/fact_sheets/tularem.html