It was one the most influential conversations in my life. Back in 1972, The Sound of Singing Youth,  our church music group  ( yes, I really was young once) was doing a concert in Montreat N.C. with some of the staff of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team. It was to be my last time with the group before going off to college to prepare for ministry. I was working as a stage hand that night. I remember feeling a lot of confusion about my life at that time with all the changes leaving home not knowing what the next phase of my life would be like.Ethel Waters , former Broadway musical star and movie actress, was there to sing that night. She sang many times at the Billy Graham Crusades around the world. Her most popular song she would sing at those events would be “His Eye is On the Sparrow” which describes how much God really cares for us if God cares for even the sparrow as Jesus said ” The very hairs on your head are numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”- Luke 12:2 (NLT)
 She ended up standing by me back stage. She looked at me and asked  “Is something bothering you?” I shared about my doubts about my future. She share that “Doubt and Discouragement  are two of the biggest weapons that the devil uses to keep us from being  what God wants us to be in life.” She also told me she read Psalm 40 everyday to remember that God is with us no matter what challenges we are faced with in life…”I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.”- Psalm 40:1-3 (NLT)

That simple conversation continued to impact my life. When Ethel passed away my mom, who was a great fan of Ethel,  asked me to plant a magnolia tree at our home .That tree eventually grew taller than the house. One night during a thunderstorm, lightning struck the tree and split it apart. To our amazement, the tree survived. Every time I drove in that drive way I would see that tree and be reminded of that conversation with Ethel  Waters. Now years later, although I live in another house, when I pull into my driveway I see a magnolia tree some friends  gave me. Often times I see it after a tough day of visiting people who sick in the hospitals, or trying to help people through a tragedy or crisis, or trying to help people who are hurting in some other way…I’m reminded of what God taught through that conversation. Now as I did then, I give my doubts and discouragement to God because His Eye is on the Sparrow and I know He watches over You and Me. God loves and cares for you and me, not just because of the magnolia tree but because of what Jesus did for you and me on the cross on Calvary. His love for you and me is greater than any doubt or discouragement we may face or encounter along life’s way.

I took this picture on the coast of North Carolina several years ago, one morning at sunrise. I am amazed how God takes care of the earth He created. This reminds me of the importance to trusting God and thanking Him for each new day. I have learned (and still learning) that everyday,we should hold our expectations loosely and hold God’s guiding hand tightly. He is there to guide us and give us renewed strength as we in trust Him as we go through our day.. Dr. E.M. Bounds, who wrote several classic books on the topic of prayer said: “We must trust God today, and leave tomorrow entirely with Him. The present is ours, the future belongs to God.” Our strength for today also comes from God… I really like this Scripture from the Bible…”Have you not heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall with exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar and rise above.” – ( Isaiah 40: 28-31).

In our instant gratification culture, there is a tendency for us to give up too soon on our faith especially in times of crisis. Yet, we know that peristence and patience are needed for anyone to be successful in most things. Our confidence needs to be placed more in the Lord than in just our present circumstances. If we do this, it will allows us to keep going during the dark times of our lives. 

    How about you today? Is the major focus of your thinking more on the circumstances than on The ONE who is greater than the situations you are facing right now? Today is a new opportunity for you to grow closer to HIm as you trust Him and go on in faith. When you do this, you will find new strength.

    Max Lucado has said this: ” Since I know God’s provision is timely, I can enjoy the present. The key is this….Meet today’s problems with today’s strength. Don’t start tackling tomorrow’s problems until  tomorrow. You do not have tomorrow’s strength yet. You simply have enough for today.” May you and I find new strength today as we trust in The Lord and go on with what we have to do today and trust Him with the rest…if we do this we won’t be doubting in the dark what God has already shown us  in the light….as God renews our strength as we trust in Him…today!

One of the most important things about hiking is simple… take one step at a time. A mountain can look impossible and intimidating to climb from a distance, yet just taking one step at a time gets you to the top. You also need to pace your self, stop and rest when necessary. There are other kinds of mountains we face in life. The Mountains of Fear, Doubt, Discouragement, Difficult Situations, etc…Are you stuck at the bottom of the mountain and paralyzed with worry, not knowing what to do next? Let me encourage you to simply take the next step, one at a time. Don’t be obsessed in your thoughts about how much further you have to go, just take the one step at a time. Jesus said…” Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:31)

Another important thing to remember  is that God is with you each step of the way. I really like what Chuck Smith says about this, “We have a tendency to measure the obstacles before us by our on ability to climb them. And that is reasonable if we are the ones who’ve do the hiking. But that is  the wrong measuring stick if God is the One who is going to handle the mountain for us. Difficulty must be measured by the capacity of the agent handling the task. If God si the One tackling the mountain, the word ‘difficulty’ has no place in the equation. As He said,’Behold, I am The Lord. Is there anything too hard for Me?’ (Jeremiah 32:27). We must learn to look at situations, not in the light of our strength, but in the light of God’s strength.”  Some other encouraging thoughts: 

 “The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” – Habakkuk 3:19

“God arms me with strength, and He makes my way perfect. He makes me surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.” – Psalm 18:32-33 (NLT) 

“God doesn’t promise to eliminate challenges; instead, He promises to give us strength to meet those challenges. If He gave us no rough roads to walk, no mountains to climb, and no battles to fight, we would not grow. He does not leave us alone with our challenges, however. Instead He stands beside us, teaches us, and strengthen us to face them.” – Life Application Bible

Happy Trails…See you at the “Top” of the Mountains…as we take One Step at a Time…

My Mom had an old trunk to keep things in, it was in rough shape, missing handles, and torn in places. I asked her one time, why she kept it. She told me that when she was a child, her dad left and deserted her family. This was during the Great Depression during the 1930’s in the south. Her mom had to put her, her brother and sister in an orphanage to go find a job to provide for them. Their mom came back and got them sometime later. While she was at the orphanage, her few clothes and everything she had was in that trunk.I asked her if was she was bitter about having to go through that difficult time… She said no, I asked why? She replied that while she was in the orphanage, she learned how to share, and get along with others. She said that God used those people skills she learned there in the orphanage to help prepare her for her work in our family’s laundry business years later… What an amazing attitude!

After she passed away, I had a friend repaint the trunk for me. It sits in our (Bear) den. It is an empty trunk but for me, every time I look at it…it is full of wonderful memory treasures from my mom’s life that will always be in my heart, mind, and soul. Things that have blessed and benefited me beyond measure… Such as my mom’s kindness to people, her compassion to help others, showing me that God can use even our hurts to help others, her perpensity to laugh at herself when funny things happened to her through out her life. Some of her favorite sayings were…”you got to widen your horizons” (which means… don’t be afraid to try new things and experiences) and “Don’t look back, you can’t live in the past.”

She taught me these and many other great things by her example. Although she has been gone several years, her impact and influence in my life is as strong as it has ever been. I’m so thankful for my mom sharing these treasures with me.

    Our world today is so much different than just a few generations ago. The world is now a global neighborhood, because of that families don’t always live in the same community as much as they once did in the past. Our world today is also  in a hurry, busy with activity. It is no wonder we now have difficulty in understanding grief when someone passes away today. Previous generations knew how because of the support system of families and close knit communities where they experienced grief together. We now have a culture that is really clueless on how to handle such experiences by themselves, much less how to help others with grief. Let me offer a few suggestions:    1. Being there is more important than what you say to those who have lost a family member or close friend. Don’t let the feelings of awkwardness and not knowing  what to say keep you from reaching out to them. It is supposed to be awkward and we often times don’t know what to say, that is just part of it, go ahead and do some thing to express your love and concern for them. Go by and see them at the funeral visitation or take their family some food, or think of doing something for them that they don’t have time to do during this difficult time. If you are not able to visit them you can make a phone call, card, e-mail or text. Communicate your love and concern for them.

    2. Avoid trite words such as “I know how you feel”, actually you don’t know how “they feel”, even if you have have had a similar experience that doesn’t mean that they feel exactly they way you did because they do not have exactly the same personality, family background, emotional make up as you.. 

    3. Realize everyone grieves differently, respect that. Even in the same family, people will express it differently. Some grieve more in public some others more in private.

     4. Keep in mind , grief is a process. It takes time. If the death was unexpected, the feelings of shock and disbelief will be there. If the death follows a long illness, the grieving process may have already begun during that time. If your friend was a primary caregiver during that time, there may be a sense of loss of identity because for months or maybe years their daily routine and priorities was spent taking care of their loved one and now that they are gone there can be a feeling of loneliness and “not knowing what to do” afterwards. That is why is important to stay in touch after the funeral. It is good to keep in mind that the first year afterwards can be difficult especially around birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.

Other helpful ideas can be found at the website: http://www.griefshare.org

Don’t let looking back, keep you from looking ahead. One of the favorite sayings of our ancestors here in the mountains of Tennessee, is “Make the Least of What Goes… Make the Most of What Comes”…That was an important attitude to survive in the pioneer days that were very difficult for them. They dealt with extreme weather, sickness, and overall difficulty just to live off the land. I so admire their toughness, love for God, Family, and Friends regardless of the hardships they encountered. They lived life simply and made the most of each day and adapted and adjusted to the things they could not control.That is good advice for us today.  Rewinding our hurts in our minds over and over again does not allows us to fully focus on the present and have hope for the future. I am convinced one of the devll’s chief strategies against Christians today is to keep us preoccuppied with our past hurts instead of focusing on God. We would think it dangerous to drive a car and just look in the rearview mirror all the time. Likewise, focusing on the pain in our past is dangerous and can lead to bitterness which always has a negeative effect upon our own attitude and our relationships with others.

Several suggestions would include taking time to pray specifically about those hurts asking God fo His peace, love, and forgiveness. Also, talk with a trusted friend or counselor for additional help. The Bible has incredible encouragement too. Scripture such as:

– “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12 HCSB)

– ” You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and character] is stayed on You, because he committs himself to You, lean on You and hopes confidently in You.” – Isaih 26:3 (AMP)

– “The Lord says “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Do you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in dry land.” – Isaiah 43:18,19 (NCV).

– “This one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 2:13, 14 HCSB)

May we not allow… our hurts from the past keep us from experiencing the joy of the present and hope in the future…

When I was around 12 years old, I went on a camping trip with a bunch of guys from our church. We went to the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area (which actually became a designated wilderness area after we were there). It has been called “The Grand Canyon” of North Carolina. The Cherokee Indians called it “EE-SEE-OH”, which means “River of Many Cliffs”.We camped out of the top of the gorge at a place called Wiseman’s View. The cliffs there,  tower over 1,OOO feet above the river and gorge below.It was a wild camping trip in the wilderness…seeing the famous “Brown Mountain Lights” at night which are weird, wavering lights that rise above and then dwindle and fade away across the other side of the gorge. There was some military training, not far from our campsite, going on that weekend. We took the soldiers some hot dogs, chips and colas, they were so appreciative and gave us some of the their rations and stuff.That was a big deal for me and our group of guys. 

The next morning, we took our long hike down into the gorge and when we got to the bottom, somewhere along the river… the trail ended. We were hungry, but fortunately my mom had packed a bag of Fruit Chewy Candy (Similar to Starburst Candy). I shared them with my friends as we hiked. I was in the lead group and we could see the rim of the gorge high above us where we thought our campsite was located. We went on ahead of the others and just picked our way, up the very steep mountain… slowly going so far, going to the left or right, stopping in front of a big rock or cliff, then  going back down a little ways and then finding another little path that would a little further up the side of the steep gorge. When we finally weaved our way up to the top of the rim of the gorge, where we were exhausted and paused on the top of one of the cliffs to thank the Lord for helping us. After we prayed, we just sat there for awhile until…we saw some baby snakes slithering towards us on the rock. All of sudden, our strength was renewed and we hiked on back to the campsite. 

Later, when everyone else got back to the campsite, our adult leader thanked me for getting the rest of the group back up the mountain. I asked him why…he said him and the rest of the group just followed our little candy wrappers and followed our path out of the gorge. 

You know, I have often thought about that experience. I wasn’t really prepared to what all we encountered in that hike..but we made it by God’s Grace and One step at a Time. I still find myself in situations as an adult, where I feel unprepared and really don’t know what to do next when facing the tall Mountains of Fear, Worry, Doubt, Confusion, and Anxiety…but by trusting in God’s Grace and taking One Step at a time…some how I make it. What mountain are you facing right now?…where you feel there is just “no way” you are going to make it and get over this situation. You and I will, if we will Trust in God and His Guidance and take One Step at a Time…His Grace, Guidance, and Strength is bigger than any Mountain we may face in life. The God who has been with you and helped you with difficult situations in the past, He is the same One who will help you now.

“He is the God who makes me strong, who makes my pathway safe.” – Psalm 18:32

“The Lord God is my Strength. He has made my feet like a deer, and makes me walk on the High Places.” – Habakkuk 3:19 

 

One of my favorite memories of Easter, is at Chimney Rock Park. It is a beautiful place overlooking the mountains and Lake Lure in North Carolina. I was a part of the Sound of Singing Youth ( yes, it was years ago and if you are wondering…I did not sing, I played bass guitar and worked with the road crew) . We were asked to sing at their Easter Sunrise Service. As the group sang several songs, the sun had not fully come into view. My job that day was to raise the cross up slowly during a particular song about Jesus entitled “When I Think of the Cross”. The sun appeared to rise up exactly isync with the music behind the cross as I lifted it up. The amazing part of this was the fact that the singing group and I were facing the other way in order for the audience to see the sunrise behind us. I didn’t know that had happened until after the service, when people came to me, with tears in their eyes and telling me how it was so meaningful for them to see that during the song. As people like to say today…It was a “God Thing”.As amazing as that was…the first Easter was more than Amazing and still is today. Think about all that happened, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, died on a cross for you and me, to forgive us and give us everlasting life. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. I like to think about Heaven on Easter too…just to think there will be no more sickness, suffering or pain, no hardships or difficulties.  Also, there we will be reunited with those friends and loved ones and many other believers that have died and gone on to Heaven before us, what a reunion that will be… and then to see Jesus face to face..Wow, now that is Amazing, all because of what God did for you and me on that very first Easter!  

 

 Do you feel you like the old mountain saying…”between a rock and a hard place”? Regardless of how we got there, there are times we must learn how to survive and thrive in difficult places in spite of the circumstances. I have often observed that there is a strength to be found in struggle…especially if we look at  it from the right perspective and learn how to adapt and adjust in the right way.Have you ever wondered how a plant, bush or tree can grow in a rock? I have seen this many times, while hiking in the mountains. A little soil and seed, colder and warmer weather, freezing and thawing and water, and the plant takes root in the crevices of the rock and begins the process to grow in spite of the difficult environment. Dr. B. Siege has stated that “if you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can’t help but learn.” Here are some things I have learned…

MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT YOU HAVE AND WHERE YOU ARE AT RIGHT NOW. The reality may be there is little you can actually do about your circumstances at the present time. If that is your situation, be encouraged that God is bigger than your circumstances.  Also, remind yourself that He is with you and will help you. I like what Max Lucado wrote in his book “You’ll Get Through This” … “You’ll get through this, it won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naive. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.”

LOOK TO GOD, WHO CREATED YOU TO PROVIDE WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE IT. Plants and trees in the forest have no one else to look to but the Creator who made them, to meet their needs.We are different than the plants and trees, in that we have a choice. Sometimes we seek out bad options to help us to cope and survive which can actually harm us instead of helping us. Why not look to God, who created you and knows you better than anyone else, to help you survive  and thrive in spite of your circumstances? 

Jesus said ” If God gives so much attention the appearance of wildflowers- most of which are never seen- don’t you think That He will attend to you, take pride in you, do what is best for you?” ( Matthew 6: 30). God can do great things in our lives, even in the difficult situations…if we will look to Him. 

 

I want to share with you a message in the sand, that changed my life…Every grain of sand represents how much God cares for you and me… “How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in the number than the sand” (Psalm 139:17-18). Think about that, grains of sand…that’s more than we could ever count. We sometimes need to be reminded of that, especially when our feelings tell us otherwise. In spite our failures, He loves us enough to not only to forgive us but to energize us to be the very best we can be for Him in our daily lives. I knew a lot of information about God but didn’t know Him personally. Then, all of that changed in the summer of 1970 . We had a new Pastor at our church, Dr. Ian Walker, and he spoke about having a personal relationship with God, not just about a religion about God. . I attended a youth camp with our church youth group on the coast of North Carolina. One afternoon, I went by myself for a walk on the beach .I prayed and asked Jesus to become my personal Lord and Savior. I have never regretted that decision I made that day. Through the years, I have been back to that same camp to lead retreats and attend meetings. I always take time to go out on that same beach, just talk to Jesus in prayer and thank Him. I still feel unworthy of His love, grace, and forgiveness …yet I know from His Word it is true. I am still learning more about how much He loves and cares for us.He is my best friend, best counselor, best encourager, I can’t imagine living life without Him. He makes me a better person, spouse, parent and friend for others. He is my motivation, and source of strength each day. Thank you Jesus for loving me and caring for me! Also, since that day, I am  so thankful that I have had the opportunity to tell others about His love and care for them too. Just this past week, I had the honor of introducing Him to a friend of mine who is over 90 years old.

How about you? Do you know Him personally? If not, please talk to a Pastor or a Christian friend. It will be the best decision you will ever make. Maybe you are already a Christian, but somehow you have drifted away and neglected your relationship with Christ. He is just a prayer away, please talk to him today. The Bible teaches us that if we will come near to God He will come closer to us and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is awesome to think that the God who created you and me, and the earth we live in, cares so much for you and me…even more the grains of sand on a beach.