Still Here!

Hi Folks,

Thought I would put up SOMETHING at least to show I haven't completely wandered away.  I've had a bit of a rough time this winter (duh!).  I have been working most of the time, but when I get home I'm pretty much done, done, done.  After a chain of three docs and two outpatient hospital visits, we seem to a have a pretty good lock on the likely cause.

I have a bit of surgery in my future, likely next month, and hopefully will be on the upswing after that.  De and planned a cruise vacation almost a year ago and, with the help of some "temporary fix" meds and a few activity changes, we will be able to enjoy our vacation before my surgery.  In the mean time, I hope I can start sharing a bit of the spring homestead plans as time and energy allow.  I also hope to start making some blog visits and see how you all are getting along.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

In the Gap!

I'm a little late with this one, but I still think its a good thought so here it comes, late and all...

Here we are in the gap between two celebrations:  Our celebration of Christ’s Birth and start of a new ‘Calendar Year’.  Most of us are hoping to finally close the gap between the start and end of the ham or turkey, and hoping the gap between the start and the end of the pie will hold out a just a couple more days.  Most of us are in the gap between finishing the business of 2015 and starting the business of 2016.  Often times we have a gap in our daily routines that is replaced by different routine:  Meet the family here, get this clean before the folks come tomorrow, drop of the kids for a party there, go, run, smile.  But the gap doesn’t last forever.  In a few days the gap will close and will be behind us.  We all get to start a New Year.

But also during the gap we also usually get a few rare moments to reflection and think back over the year, and often we don’t like everything we see.  There are always good things and memories we’ll treasure forever, but often time we see other gaps. 

• We see the gap in the time we should have spent with our family instead of at work.
• We see the gap in our patience we’ve shown with our children or parents.
• We see the gap in our character where we chose not to do what we know was right or judged someone wrongly.
• We see the gap in the time we know we need to be spending in prayer.
• We the gap between the times we could have shown God’s love and when we just walked away.

We see the gap between who we have chosen to be and who God intended us to be, and this gap won’t go away in few days on its own.  Oh, I can work on my patience and reallocate my time but nothing I can do will ever close the gap between who I am and who God intended for me to be.  That gap is there because of sin.  It’s ugly, it’s shameful, it’s in my life and it’s in yours.  That sin also creates a gap between God and ourselves.   Because of that sin, we live in the gap.

Paul expressed it well in the 7^th chapter of Romans:

¹⁸For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.  …

²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (NIV)

During this season we should take the time to celebrate the answer to Paul’s and our question.

1 Pet 3: ¹⁸For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, (NIV)

Romans 5:⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(NIV)

God loves us so much that he sent His Son to die to close the gap created by sin.  The same love that led to the Baby in the Manger we celebrate at Christmas, drove the Man to the cross to purchase the new beginning we all crave all New Years. Christ love has filled in the gap.

Happy New Year to All!

Col. 1:9-12

Mark

Ol' George Got it Right!

Who do you love?  We all gotta take time to answer the question.

Ol' George got it right!  At least the question: The answer - Not so much....  "Who do you love?" is the question, and I should probably be a bit reticent in stating I know the one asking is a somewhat rowdy 1980's rock-and-roller (now a bit 'long in the teeth', I imagine) named George Thorogood.

The question came up while reading my Bible during my morning quiet time.  I was reading in I John chapter 2 where John is exhorting his readers: "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (v15 - NIV)  The thing that immediately popped into my mind was the voice of a day job co-worker saying "I love Christmas!!".  As I was pondering this the question came up, sadly in ol' George's gravelly voice with the appropriate guitar riff grinding away in the background, "Who do you love?"  (George fades out, but the questions keep coming.)  Do you love Christmas or do you love Christ?  Or do you even connect the two?

It can be so easy to let 'Christmas' mask out 'Christ'.  So often when I hear people say they 'love Christmas' the context refers the much romanticized hustle and bustle of shopping for gifts with the old carols playing in the background, all the colorful trappings of trees, Santa and snowmen, the TV Christmas specials, the huge gala gatherings with family and friends, and the growing anticipation of a noisy Christmas morning: A season of celebration that starts, for some, as soon as the Halloween decorations are back in the box.  And at least in the most of the US, nobody finds 'I love Christmas!!" the least bit awkward or more than a tiny bit odd.

On the other hand, try saying "I love Christ!!" in the same conversation.   For most of the same  population - Awkward!!  Without getting off on a rant of why this is so or how we got there, I want to encourage anyone kind enough to take the time to read this far to pause and ask yourself the question:  "Who do you love?"  We have to pick, and according to the passage I quote a above (along with many others) you can't pick both.  You can't pursue both Christ and 'all the good life the world has to offer' at the same time.  We have to be able to separate in our own minds the Christmas of Jesus our Lord and Savior's earthly birth from the Xmas of shopping, parties, Santa, and year-end-sales.

Once we separate Christmas from Xmas we can each make our own choices on where we go from there.  I know that not everyone will agree with me on this, but I think gift giving is great, holiday gathers are fun and family gatherings are wonderful, and decorations and 'holiday spirit' are fine too, as long as the context is right.  Do you do these things as part of celebration of Christ's birth, or do you do these things because it makes you a part of what those around you are doing?  What are you celebrating?  Who do you love?

Just stopping long enough to ask the question with help 'reset' most everyone who has come to this blog, and that's what I'm encouraging you to do.  Just pause now again during this busy season, take a breath, look at everything around you, and ask yourself - "Who do you love?"

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

The Blessings and the Blesser

Here at Hoosier Country Christian / Hoosier Country Home we have so much for which we are thankful.  We will celebrate the day like most, I suppose, sharing the day and a meal with family and friends.  There will be brothers, sisters, in-laws, in-laws to be, friends, children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, grandnieces and grandnephews.  Our family Thanksgiving gatherings have always been a place where those among us who have no family near can come and be welcomed, and we have been richly blessed with their company.  There will be talk of family, Church, community, and world goings on.  There will be games, noise, running indoors, shooing outdoors, and lots of laughter.  And there will be prayer.  One more way in which we are blessed is that we have an extended family that not only counts our blessings, but recognizes our most cherished blessings come in proportion to our relationship to the One who blesses.
 

And thus God has always intended it to be.   Before His chosen people would enter the Promised Land, God instructed them of the connection there would be between the blessings He would send and their relationship to Him. 
 

^{Dt.8:6 (NIV)} Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 
 

Many generations, and a virgin birth, a cross, and an empty tomb later, the Apostle Paul reiterated the connection and plainly set into words what a right relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord looks like, and how is it reflected in our relationship with those around us. 
 

Col:3:12 (NIV) Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
  

So today and every day enjoy that with which you have been blessed.  Count your blessings, thank the One who blesses, and strive to live today and every day like you are truly are grateful for all of it.  We are blessed! 
 

Col. 1:9-12,
  

Mark

 

As White as Snow

This week the Hoosier Country Homestead underwent a bit of a transformation.  It went from looking like this (early in the month to be completely honest) ...

... to looking like this!

Over just a few hours on Saturday the landscape was changed from browns with a just a touch of green to pure white.

What do you don't see in the 'before' picture are weedy garden beds that need to be cleaned out, some garden plots that really should have been tilled, some trash wood that needs to moved to the burn pit and burned, the list goes on.  With the covering of snow, about 8" worth, none of that shows.  It's not that the things that aren't right were never there: They are and will be there waiting for me when the snow melts or when I choose to dig them out.  But with the covering of snow they cannot be seen and to those who don't go digging, the 'wrongs' can't be enumerated. 

The first big covering of snow of the year (before I get tired of plowing and shoveling it) always brings to mind music and lyrics we sing as part of our worship.  The two that come to mind are the hymn "Whiter than Snow" written by James L. Nicholson in 1872, and the more contemporary 'White as Snow" written by Leon Olguin in 1990.  I know there are many others based on the same texts, but these are the two that come to my mind.  There are two primary passages relating to being made white as snow that are familiar to many Christians: Psalms 51:7 and Isaiah 1:18.  I'm going to focus on the latter and will include some additional verses just for context.  Here God is speaking to His people through a vision given to Isaiah.  He is pleading with the people, already feeling the weight of His discipline, to turn from their evil and turn back to Him.


Isaiah 51 (NASB)

18“Come now, and let us reason together,”
            Says the LORD,
            “Though your sins are as scarlet,
            They will be as white as snow;
            Though they are red like crimson,
            They will be like wool.
      19“If you consent and obey,
            You will eat the best of the land;
      20“But if you refuse and rebel,
            You will be devoured by the sword.”
            Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

This same offer of covering of sins applies today.  Our sins are covered and we are made pure as the white snow by the blood of Jesus to all who accept Him as Lord and Savior.  It's not like my weedy life was never there, it's not as if I will never struggle with things that need to be tilled out of my life or never have to deal with 'trash' that needs to picked out and burned, but I can rest assured that when God looks at me, no matter what things are done and undone underneath, He sees purity.

But not a purity of my own doing.  Just as I had nothing to do with the 8 inches of snow that covered my homestead, I can do nothing to cover my own sin.  And just as I can never enough work enough around the homestead to make it so perfect there are no 'wrongs' to cover, I can never 'work' my way into purity.  It is Jesus who makes me pure, and I get that way through Him alone.  And just like the clean, fresh cover of snow on the homestead, there is a quiet and wonderful peace in that.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

A Thing Restored

I spent some time today completing a task that I had not gotten around to for quite awhile.  Last summer a severe hailstorm came through our area and everyone in a swath a couple miles wide and several miles long got new roofing on everything on the property.  When my mother had the old farm shop roof replaced she did not have the roofing crew reinstall the weather vane my Dad had put up almost two decades before.  For 15 or so years before he died this vane had faithfully performed its purpose of pointing into the wind.  She gave it to me for me to put on my barn.

This old plastic weather vane is not an antique, not in good shape, and on its own has no real value. Parts had been broken and repairs made in a fashion typical of a man who grew up during the Great Depression.  A portion of the broken mast had been repaired with a hose clamp and section of hose recovered from who-knows-what.  The broken base had simply had another nail added in a place that was not intended to have one.  Through all this the vane had stood its ground on the shop roof and reliably pointed into the wind for many years.  It had been my Dad's, and now it is mine.  It is valuable now not because of what it is, but because of whose it was.

After some pondering and looking around my little barn I found an old license plate, a scrap of rubber matting, and a handful of nuts and bolts.  I then set out making repairs.  In a fashion that demonstrates that the 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree', I drilled some holes in the base, bolted the base to a properly formed discarded license plate through the rubber mat, and nailed the whole thing to the roof.  There it stands, tall and straight once again, pointing true for all who take the time to look.

There are a lot a parallels to me in that old weather vane.

Like that old broken vane, I have no lasting value on my own.  I am starting to 'show my age', I am broken, I am dirty, and left to myself in that state I can't do that which I am created to do.  I know with certainty, however, that I will not be counted as a worthless thing and be cast away.

Rom. 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

I am loved - cherished - by my Father in Heaven.  I am precious because I am His.  In spite of my brokenness, what I cannot do, what I have or have not done, or how little worth the rest of the world sees in me.  He is my Heavenly Father and He loves me no matter my condition.



I did not leave Dad's old weather vane broken and sitting on a bench in the barn.  Like that old vane,  because God loves me, He will not leave me in a damaged condition either.
 

I Pet.5:10 (NIV) After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Because I have given myself to Him, He will restore me.  He will make me whole and useful again.   My broken things will be made new and my dirty things will be made clean.  I will, once again, be fit to do that which I have created to do.



And like that vane, what I was created to do is a pretty simple thing.  That weather vane was created to point.  Specifically, it was created to point into the wind.  It does not make the wind, it does not choose the direction from which the wind will blow nor how hard or gentle will be the breeze.  I was created to point to Jesus.  Not to be Jesus, or determine how He will interact with His creation, nor choose how easy or difficult will be the times.  I am simply created to point toward Him, and in His love He has restored me and equipped me to that purpose.

 Matt. 28:18 (NIV) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Whenever I see that old weather vane on my barn, I will remember my Dad and the legacy of Godliness he left for me.  And I will remember my Heavenly Father and His saving grace that restored me to His purpose.

Thanks, Mom.  Once again, I am blessed.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

What will you choose?

I was home from the day job for a week of vacation two weeks ago.  As I ventured out early Wednesday I was blessed with the most perfect morning.  The sun was steadily making its way up into a clear blue sky.  It was cool, crisp and still.  The only things to be heard were the chickens, wild birds, and the cattle in the pasture just to the north.  As I walked quietly around the property, not wanting to disturb the almost sacred peace, I snapped a few pictures.  Below is one I knew I would be sharing.

Like most photographs, the image captures the scene but not the moment. There were a hundred childhood memories to be explored as I looked out over the fields and fences I had worked from my earliest memories on.  There was a feeling of continuity:  My father had once stood on this land right where I was, as had my grandfather, and many others before him.  There was a feeling of humility:  Like my father and grandfather, and all those others I was now entrusted with the stewardship of this small bit of land for a season. There was a connection to God as I stood and considered the re-creation of a new day.  I was blessed, I had a whole lot to be thankful for, and I knew it.  In that moment, God spoke to me from dozens of passages from His Word.  In that moment I was bathed in His Goodness.  In that moment I chose to accept the blessing that God had prepared for me that morning.

But it could have been different. I could have chosen differently.   It was a beautiful morning, but it was down-right chilly.  And no matter how nice it was right then, I knew I was going to spend a good part of the day cramming my 5' 10" now-less-than-lean-and-mean frame into a bathroom vanity cabinet to change a corroded drain and faucet.  The lush and pristine pasture at my feet?  That's a portion of my back yard that, through a series of minor misfortunes, had never been mowed all summer.  Not once.  Some of those trees off to the left are in the fence line and really should be taken down.  One more thing in an endless series of tasks that didn't get done last year and won't get done this year.  Had I chosen, at that moment, to focus on negatives I would have missed the simple, yet amazing, moment that was placed there for me to experience.
 
Ecc. 5:18 (NIV) Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. 19Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. 20 He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

I was able to choose rightly at that moment because seeing the gift for what it was, was in itself, a gift from God.  As I chose to take that moment to listen, to "Be still and know that He is God",  He chose to honor that moment with a gift: "Gladness of heart".

Every one of us encounters moments like these.  Perhaps not everyday, but perhaps also more often than we realize.  I encourage you stop and grasp them as they come along, and to cherish the blessing He will provide as you take the time to be still and honor Him.

I am blessed...  and so are you,

Col. 1:9-12

Mark