The Rain Came!

Early Thursday morning, I awoke to an unusual sound these days -- rain! I poured myself a cup of coffee and looked out the window above my kitchen sink and saw a doe with her twins enjoying the weather! I had seen them before, but that morning they had an extra bounce, so to speak, in their step. The fawns would eat for a moment, and then erupt in play, chasing each other and leaping in the air. Their mother would watch them carefully while chewing on a juicy leaf knocked down from the rain. It was one of those little moments that delight the spirit.

The Rain Came

The ground was so dry,
The grass, brown from lack.
Weeks had gone by.
When would the rain come back?

Then it came!
And the ground drank deep
Of the gentle rain,
As if awakened from sleep.

A doe and her fawns
Came, delighted by the shower.
I saw them on my back lawn
In the early morning hour.

The little ones leaped
Among the drops,
While mother kept
Watch with each of their hops.

I smiled at the scene,
Remembering the way
My soul had once been
Like the earth was that day.

But the Reign came down
On my parched, dry heart.
And the joy that I found
Made my soul leap and dart!

Thank God for the rain
And all the little things
That remind us again
Of the Life that He brings!

The Obedience of Faith -- as taught by my dog!

I wrote this silly poem after we had our puppy, Jack, for about 8 months or so. If you've ever been a puppy owner, you'll understand! Thankfully, Jack has come a long way since then, and has learned obedience (mostly). I often wonder if I've come as far!

Jack

My dog, Jack, is quite a hound
Both joy and pain to have around.
Just when he’s tipped the garbage can
He cuddles up and licks my hand.

I tell him, “Come!” when he is out,
And just as I begin to shout
So loud I wake the neighbors up,
He ambles in, that scheming pup!

He nipped my hand the other day
When all I wanted was to play,
But didn’t see his precious bone
He wanted just to be his own!

To think I paid for this abuse!
If I could think of some excuse,
I’d put him up for dog adoption;
Yes, this would be a humane option!

Let someone else with great endurance
(And liability insurance)
Take on this rascal. I give up!
I’ve tried to train and love this pup…

But then I look at him and see
That I’m, in fact, a lot like he.
And God has yet to cast me out
Though often He has had to shout

For me to “Come!” I know I’ve been
Both joy and pain, like Jack, to Him.
So now more patience puppy gets
(perhaps that’s why God gives us pets)!

Entertainment Wasteland

Have you ever been flipping through the channels on your television and thought to yourself, "Man, there's all these shows but nothing but garbage on!" In reality, this thought typically replaces the word "garbage" with a less eloquent term, the likes of which I'm not comfortable including in my blog!

Well, to prove my point, that TV has really gone down the toilet, I was engaged in said channel surfing the other day, and ran across a show being offered by none other than the History Channel called "All About Dung!" I'm not kidding! I thought to myself, "It's finally happened. TV producers have at last figured out that we will watch anything!" After all, if viewers will actually sit through reality shows like "Wife Swap" without organizing open revolt and torch-and-pitchfork-bearing mobs to storm the TV studios, then why not take programming to its inevitable conclusion -- a show about dung!

Have I tempted you? Well, dear reader, just take a look at the show's description as found on the History Channel's website...

Join host Monty Halls as he investigates the historical, medical, scientific and evolutionary importance of poop on an excremental safari guaranteed to fascinate even the most squeamish of viewers. You'll be surprised by the amazing manner in which the world puts dung to use. Discover that through a 14,000-year-old human dung deposit it has been determined that humans inhabited North America 1300 years earlier than previously thought. Climb a 100-foot mountain of bat guano in Borneo that is teeming with insect life. Travel to India and view housewarming rituals using sacred cow dung as good luck. Finally Halls drinks coffee made from poop and investigates, through their large droppings, why mammoths might have disappeared.

WOW! Now that's entertainment!! So, the next time you are surfing the channels and thinking to yourself, "Man, there's nothing but (*bleep*) on TV!" remember, you're right! Why not just accept it? Then poop, I mean POP, yourself some popcorn, and grab a Baby Ruth or some Milk Duds, and sit back and enjoy!

. . .Of course, you could read a book.

Living Water

On our recent "stay-cation" we had lots of things on our to-do list. The week was not designed to be particularly relaxing, rather, an opportunity to get some much needed work done around our home! But, we did promise the kids that we would take one day to just have fun. So, finally on Saturday we headed for Craig's Creek thanks to our generous friends who let us use their cabin as home-base for the day! We spent the day wading, swimming, tubing and fishing in the many ripples and pools. Treasures were found -- an old milk-glass jar lid, green and blue slag from the old iron smelting days, crayfish, minnows, and lots of good skippin' rocks!

As the day came to a close and we made our way from the center of the babbling creek, where the water was clear, to the shore, we had to wade through the murky, still water near the edge. There, bright green algae grew beneath the surface, waving as in slow motion in the shallows, like long green locks of hair. The rocks were slippery and each step sent clouds of orange mud swirling around our toes. "Yuck!" the children cried! They did not like having to cross the still shallows.

I remarked to them, "Which part of the creek do you prefer to play in -- the middle where the water is rushing and moving, or the shallows where the water is still?" Naturally, they said they much preferred the moving water where the fish swam, the small rapids provided tubing and swimming adventures and the algae had no opportunity to grow on the rocks! "The Bible calls that kind of water 'living water' because it's alive and moving!" I said. "Do you remember who called Himself the 'living water?'" I asked. "Jesus!" they replied (to my relief). "Yes!" I said. "When we have Jesus in our hearts, it's like having a bubbling brook in our soul which is powerful, clear, and alive, overflowing with the love of Christ to others!" It was a small teaching moment that I was grateful for, and David said, "That's awesome! You should blog about that!" ;-)

Living water is mentioned a number of times in the Bible. In the Song of Solomon, it says,

"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices- a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon."

We are the bride of Christ, and to Him we are to be as a beautiful garden, producing abundant good things, and like a fountain, alive and pure! But, alas, we are all too often like the prophet Jeremiah described in chapter 2:

"Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. "

In ancient times, cisterns were made, hewed out of rock or from clay, to collect rain water for use when fresh water was unavailable or the rivers dry. Naturally, the water accumulated in these holding bins was not fresh and clean, like water gathered from a running stream. It's stagnant. It's a place where disease could breed in the stillness and heat. Jeremiah says, we forsake God who is the fountain of living water for our souls, and instead we make ourselves spiritual cisterns which hold worthless, inadequate, impure things. And not only that, but our cisterns are broken! We fool ourselves into thinking that we're accumulating knowledge, wisdom, treasure, happiness, etc., but when we go to draw from our self-made cistern, we find nothing there! It's empty! Life apart from Christ is ultimately empty, stagnant, and a breeding ground for sin, despair and death!

In John chapter 4, Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman at the well and tells us that HE is THE source of living water!

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

And in John chapter 7, Jesus says:

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"

What a picture! And the inspiration for the name of our church, "Wellspring!" Why do we waste our time trying to fill our broken cisterns with the things of the world or unbiblical so-called "spirituality," when God has given us the gift of THE ONLY Living Water -- Christ who is pure, life-giving and cannot be contained! I look at the recesses of my heart which I have not brought captive to Christ, and I say like my children wading through the stagnant shallows, "Yuck!" I want to stand in the living water and be cleansed! I can not drink from my cistern -- it's empty! I can not offer a drink from my cistern to others, for even if I could the water would be undrinkable. I want the Living Water to feed me and to then flow out of me, for, like a rushing river, it cannot be held back or hemmed in. When I offer a drink to others, I want it to be from God -- the clean, clear, delicious truth of the Gospel!

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." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and

he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

(Revelation 7:11-17)