Spring Road Trip Delights

It is good to get away from home. A driving trip to Kansas City, not looked upon as an exciting event, has sights for the eyes to feast upon, if one has eyes to see.

The Kansas countryside displays trees dressed in their spring fancy. There is something so alive in the intense green of early spring leaves, unlike the deeper green that comes in the heat of summer. This bright green is an assault to the senses. I miss the Midwest offerings of spring; it comes so very late in the semi-arid region of Colorado.

In the Midwest each season arrives with intensity.

Spring offers bright green trees, tulips, daffodils, lilacs and fragrances drifting through windows thrown open, driving out the staleness from a house closed up tight against the cold of winter.

Summer is warm sun, beaches, flowers growing everywhere, and fruits and vegetables growing on the vines and stalks. The smell of fresh mown grass, the prickle of the cut grass stuck to your sweat covered skin.

The autumns in the Midwest are a riot of colors on the trees and ground. Maple leaves, as big as plates, the color of the sun, hanging on the branches and littering the ground. The reds, oranges, yellows and browns of the leaves raked in a huge pile ready to experience the giggles of children who leap into the mound with joy. The air has a distinct smell of decaying leaves and plants, but it is a good smell, earthy, a fragrance whispering, “what is happening in this death will be life giving in the spring.”

Winter is harsh, dropping in like a parachute refusing to be rolled up for months. The air so cold it hurts your lungs with each breath, snow piled on top of snow, some beautifully white but most caked with the dirt splashed from passing vehicles.

Intense, full on seasons, no sliding from one season to another, you know when you have entered a new one.

This morning Kansas offered up thunder, lightning and rain, a gift I received with a smile. I love the sound of thunder, a beautiful, rumbling percussion. Each entrance and exit is different, the duration long or short.

God is so gracious, giving us delights for all our senses, imagine the world in black and white with no fragrances or textures. He created us with five senses to experience all of His glorious creation, are we using them or blindly lock stepping through each day unaware of His gift.

Photo:Morguefile

Final Lesson from the Wedding at Cana

Part four
This is our final lesson for this scripture.

1 The next day Jesus’ mother was a guest at a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother spoke to him about the problem. “They have no more wine,” she told him.
4 “How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked. “My time has not yet come.”
5 But his mother told the servants, “do whatever he tells you.”
6 Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes and held twenty to thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled to the brim, 8 he said, “Dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So they followed his instructions.
9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “Usually a host serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone is full and doesn’t care, he brings out the less expensive wines. But you have kept the best until now!” John 2:1-10 New Living Translation

Verses 9-10

What Scripture tells us:
The obedient servants brought the water, now turned into wine by Jesus, to the
master of ceremonies and he was surprised that this wine was better than the wine
served at the beginning of the celebration.

What we would do:
Either we would be disobedient and not even bring the water to the master of
ceremonies, or we would be apologizing all over the place for bringing him a
dipper of water. We would put the blame, for doing something so foolish, where it
belongs, on that Jesus person. Our mouths would have dropped open when the
master of ceremonies declared this the best wine ever. Then we would have
pranced around proudly, thinking we had something to do with the miracle.

What Jesus did:
Jesus gave instructions to the servants and when the dipper of liquid was brought
to the master of ceremonies it was no longer water it was now the finest wine, a
wine so good that the master of ceremonies questioned the bridegroom.

What God wants us to learn from this:
When He gives us instructions, and we follow them, no matter how silly, foolish,
or impossible they seem, the results will be the BEST.

In my humanness I have ideas of the best way God can take care of my difficulties, I plan it all out in my mind. I am so glad He doesn’t listen to my strategies, I would continually be short changing myself. His ways are higher than my ways.

Has God given you instructions or led you in a direction that seemed to be the worst thing you could do? Have you followed those instructions and seen that He knows best?

When the awesome answer comes remember who to give thanks to.

Part Three: More Lessons from the Wedding at Cana

Part three

6 Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes and held twenty to thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled to the brim, 8 he said, “Dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So they followed his instructions.
John 2:1-10 New Living Translation

Verses 6-8

What Scripture tells us:
The servants were given some strange instructions by Jesus but they followed them. They were told to take a dipper of the water to the Master of Ceremonies.

What we would do:
We would have grumbled about the hot, sweaty job of filling the waterpots. Who
is this Jesus guy who is giving us instructions. Weren’t we supposed to get
our instructions from the Master of Ceremonies. After finishing the long task of
filling all six of those pots we would have thought we were done and turned to
walk away, but before we could, this Jesus tells us to take a dipper of water to the
Master of Ceremonies. What? That is even dumber than filling the jars. The M of
C is going to look at us like we are crazy. He’ll be asking us why we are bringing
him a dipper of water? This Jesus person must be crazy, I’m not participating in
his antics.

What the servants did:
The servants did as they were instructed: “Do whatever he tells you,” Mary had
said. Jesus said: “Fill the jars with water,” “Dip some out and take it to the master
of ceremonies.” I don’t see them questioning, complaining or being fearful to
follow all of the directions given by Jesus.

What God wants us to learn from this:
Follow His instructions, even when they sound foolish. He knows what He is
doing.


How are you at following directions? God uses other people to bring the answers to our prayers, are we willing to listen to what they are telling us even if it doesn’t seem logical? Testing is hard on us. God is looking to see if we will trust Him even when we don’t understand the direction He is giving us. He sees the whole picture, we only see in part. It is not easy following Christ and at times it can seem to be painful.

Image: Morguefile

MORE LESSONS FROM THE WEDDING AT CANA

Part two of Lessons from the Wedding at Cana
Story from John 2:1-10

4 “How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked. “My time has not yet come.”
5 But his mother told the servants, “do whatever he tells you.”

Verses 4-5

What Scripture tells us:
     It looks like Jesus is not going to do anything about the problem.

What we would do:
     When we don’t get our prayers answered right away or in the way we
     think they should be answered we loose our faith in God and His
     promises. We turn away from Him and think, and say, that prayer (our request for God to fix our
     problem) doesn’t work.

What Mary did:
     Mary told the servants to “Do whatever he tells you.” She prepared them to receive instructions from
     Jesus. She knew who Jesus was.

What God wants us to learn from this:
     Trust God for the timing and the way He will answer your prayers. Be prepared to receive instruction.


How do you react when it doesn’t seem that God is hearing your prayers? Do you continue believing and listening for His voice? There may be instructions coming before your answer arrives.

Image: Yahoo Images

LESSONS FROM THE WEDDING OF CANA

In reading from the book of John, God showed me lessons He wanted us to learn from the story of the wedding Jesus attended with His mother and His disciples. I will be dividing this up into several posts to keep it from becoming toooo long. I want you to get all of it.

Part one

1 The next day Jesus’ mother was a guest at a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother spoke to him about the problem. “They have no more wine,” she told him.
4 “How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked. “My time has not yet come.”
5 But his mother told the servants, “do whatever he tells you.”
6 Six stone waterpots were standing there; they were used for Jewish ceremonial purposes and held twenty to thirty gallons each. 7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled to the brim,8 he said, “Dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So they followed his instructions.
9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 10 “Usually a host serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone is full and doesn’t care, he brings out the less expensive wines. But you have kept the best until now!” John 2:1-10 New Living Translation

Verses 1-3

What Scripture tells us:
     Mary saw a problem; they had run out of wine.

What we would do:
     Like all women we would want to fix it. Now if we were a typical woman we would have gone to
     our friends, our mother and then our rabbi to tell them all about the problem. When we got around to
     telling Jesus we would have given him a list of suggestions for the best way to fix the problem.

What Mary did:
     Mary went straight to the one she knew could, and would, do something, she went to Jesus. She knew
     who He was. She didn’t know how He would fix the problem and she didn’t give Him a list of
     suggestions, she left the solution up to Him because she knew He could handle it.

What God wants us to learn from this:
     He wants us to follow Mary’s example. He wants us to bring our problems to Him, directly to Him,
     do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just come straight to Him. Then He wants us to trust Him that He
     knows the best way to solve the problem.


How are you doing with the first part of this lesson? Do you take your problems directly to Jesus or is He your last resort? I hope that you know Him like Mary knew Him and trust Him like she trusted Him.

Image: MorgueFile

Life Lesson from an Ordinary Woman

Author Kathy Eberly has published a book titled Extraordinary Life Lessons from Ordinary Christian Women. I have not read the book, but the idea of honoring those women who had impacted her life got me thinking about women in my life.


Fresh out of High School I began job searching. I needed something close to home, without a car I had to be able to walk there. The small town I lived in had a limited selection.

I applied at several places looking for office work to put my typing and bookkeeping classes to use but no one would hire me without experience. That always stumped me, how can you get experience without someone taking a chance on you. I finally resorted to applying to a small department store. They hired me, as a sales clerk. Happy for a job I threw myself into it totally.

A male manager and two women ran the business office of the store. Both of these women where older and one was having health issues so retirement looked good to her. Elvira Smith, went to the store manager and told him she wanted me to have the office position. She then talked with me. I hesitated because I had only been there three months; surely someone else working there longer would want the position. She assured me I was the one she wanted working with her. The manager did not have her confidence. He agreed to give me a trial period to see how I would do, not guaranteeing me the job. My mentor knew the quickest way for him to see I could do the job, and for me to prove to myself I could do it, was to take a vacation. After two weeks of training Miss Smith took off for a week, I ran the office on my own. Her excellent training helped me pass my trial by fire.

Because of her faith in me I went on to computer night school and left the store to take a position with opportunity and a much higher salary. Because they couldn’t find anyone right away to replace me I worked at the store on Saturdays so Miss Smith wouldn’t be working six days a week. They also gave me a big raise for a one day work week. Miss Smith shook her head and told the manager, “Maybe if you paid her well when she worked full time she would have stayed.” She always rooted for me.

Forty Five years ago I needed someone in my life who believed in me, especially since I didn’t believe in myself. I know my future success grew from one woman who said, “I know you can do it.” I have tried to follow the example she gave me by encouraging women wherever God has taken me.

Is there someone in your life you would like to thank for believing you had what it takes?