Category Archives: Life Lessons

Life Lessons

The Storms of Life (continued)

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        Sometimes when we are faced with several choices to make with quite monumental results, we hesitate and think things through, weighing up the possible results carefully. Then we make our decision in the light of our research. This is especially true for those who believe that God can and will direct their paths.

    Take the time that the disciples  crossed the vast lake at the command of the Lord Jesus, and ran into one of the worst storms they had ever experienced. They were experienced fishermen who could read the weather signs and knew how to handle these sudden storms that whipped up the lake surface into a frenzy. Jesus knew all this, and He knew a storm was coming up that would test them to the maximum.  They hadn’t made a mistake that brought this upon them, they were there for a purpose.

     Remember this….Jesus Christ knows the storm we are in at any given time. He could have stopped the storm coming to the disciples, but He wanted to show them His power. We don’t encounter these storms because we have made a mistake, we have to go through them to learn more about Him. He knows the storm that I may be in right now, but He wants me to go through it so He can show me His power and refine the dross out of my life and strengthen the faith I have in Him.

The Lord speaks to us in these three ways …. In the storm….He comes to us through the storm, walking on the water…”I will never leave you”, He says. (Read Matthew 14: 22-26) Through the storm… He reminds us that He is there with us…”don’t be afraid”, He says, “trust Me”. (Read Mark 4: 35-39) The storm within you….often when these storms come, they attack us from the inside. We get in a turmoil because of circumstances beyond our control, and wonder where we are going to turn next. A man named Nicodemus was like this, and he went to Jesus to ask for help. It seems that he was a man in turmoil, not knowing which way to turn. But Jesus went straight to the root of his problem, and told him he needed to have a whole new way of life, and how to get it….we read about this in John chapter three.

Don’t be afraid of being afraid….storms always have an end. There will be a period of calm when it is over and then another one may come but because we have proved our Lord’s help with the first one, we have confidence within the next one. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

We cannot build the house during the storm, we must have it built before it comes! Remember….He is the Lord of all our storms.      Transitions in life come to all of us, and how will we handle them?  Will we go through them kicking and wrestling as it were, or will we just trust  God to work things out? Transitions are never peaceful, they are a time of turmoil. Take the birth of a child….a time of labour for the mother and time of turmoil for the child leaving the womb to enter this world.      So many things in our lives are a transition….a new baby brings a whole new way of life to a couple; a move to a new area is a period of turmoil until settled in; children reaching the teenage years bring a transition for both themselves and their parents.     Then again there is the transition into the empty nest syndrome and finally into retirement. But that is not the end….what about the transition into the retirement village and then the rest home? What about the transition of the loss of a spouse? It seems that the whole of life is a series of transitions. We need the Lord’s help in each of these transitions in life. Nothing remains static…change is the essence of life. Let’s make sure that we approach each of these transitions with the peace of God in our heart and mind. Let’s remember the verse in the  Bible that says….    Be anxious about nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Life Lessons

The Storms of Life.

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        We have been trying to track down where the different boats (launches and yachts) that we have owned over the years, are now. This brought back many memories, not the least the very first trip up the coast from where we had bought it, to our home port. At this time we knew very little about sailing, so it was a great learning curve for us. Not only that, but that very first trip brought us a whole range of different types of weather that could ever be found on the sea!

    Leaving port early on the morning of that first trip, we found the whole area blanketed in a heavy fog. Horrors, what were we to do? But we had someone with us who could read a chart, and he was able to guide us through the fog from buoy to buoy marking the channel. This made me think of how we all need a chart to guide us through the intricacies of life. There is no-one apart from Jesus Christ who can do this for us. The main thing is that we have to trust his leading, even when we can’t see the reasons why.     Finally the fog lifted, and we could see where we were after all…..we were right on course after all. Our guide had made no mistakes, and in the same way we can have complete confidence in our Heavenly Guide to keep us in the right way. We had a great sail the rest of the afternoon with a gentle breeze to the island where there was safe harbour to spend the night.  

     After this time of plain and pleasant sailing, we settled down for the night very pleased with our trip thus far.  The next morning however, was a different story. The wind had gone around and was coming right in from the sea with lowering skies, and the weather looked decidedly ominous. We had no option but to carry on, as the crew wanted to get back to work the following day.       It wasn’t long after we set off, that the wind began to rise, and continued to do so until it was reaching almost gale force. After battling this for a couple of hours, our guide said, “This is the last chance we have of getting some shelter before having about three hours of open sea to cross…..what do you think?“     The yacht gave a sudden lurch just then, and fell down a particularly steep wave, deciding us to make for shelter. In the storms of life, we find that things will get almost out of hand before we decide to take the shelter that God offers us. The sudden peace that such a course gives is past understanding! To hear the wind still howling in the trees on the headland while we sat in peace and quiet behind it, was wonderful! So it is as we take a course in life to escape the full force of the wind of trials and troubles to shelter in the promises of God. We can still hear the wind howling above us, but we remain untouched.

    One thing about storms, is that they never last for ever! So on this trip, after a couple of hours, the front passed over, and the wind went around with the sea dropping enough to  enable  us to carry on with our voyage. There was still a strong wind blowing, but it was a kind wind to send us on our way, not a vicious one set on hindering our trip.     This is what we will find during life….after the storms that beset us, there will come a time of relative peace. What we have learned through the storm, helps us to appreciate this wind that takes us along with a good speed, and to make the most of it.    We may wonder what the purpose of this rough weather was, but it may not be for ourselves, as it all goes to make for  experiences that we can encourage others by. Platitudes may not be much help to others, but the experiences that we have been through speak volumes to others in need.

     Darkness began to fall by the time we reached the harbour we were aiming for. But the buoys here were well lit, marking the channel as we made our way to the mooring. Once again, the chart had it all well marked, and we made our way up the channel with full confidence. So as we follow the words in the Bible daily, we don’t need to be groping our way through our life hoping for the best. We just need to remember to profit by the storms we experience, and to encourage others in their walk as well. No one can argue with a real life experience!

Life Lessons

Curiosity Killed the Cat!

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    I grew up in a small country community where everyone knew everyone else’s business, and what they couldn’t find out, they made it up instead! So I always like to find out the whys and wheres when something unusual is seen.

    This time, we had made our usual summer trek north to our holiday area, and what should we see as we came around the bend in the road by the big local river, but a house sitting on the edge of the river bank among the mangrove trees. Not only one house, but behind it was a second house! There was no real road  in to these houses, and they looked as though they had been dumped there from the river itself. Visiting friends a couple of days later, I saw a newspaper clipping about these two houses which solved the problem of how they had got there. They had been shipped on a barge from the big city over  two hundred miles south, and a description of the voyage north was given beside the picture. Their final destination was a few miles further up the river where they were going to be transported by truck the final few miles. So that solved the puzzle of the houses sitting in the mangroves on the edge of the river!

    It seems strange to me, that something like this makes the news, when really it is no-one else’s business but the people who bought them, while the more important things of life that concern every single person are completely ignored. It’s obvious that these houses will be eventually lived in somewhere, but no-one is really concerned with where their soul is going to live for eternity. We make all sorts of preparations for a big trip we may be going to take overseas, but pay very little attention to the most lasting trip of all which every person is going to take eventually. Surely this is the most important thing to be curious about, and the most important trip to prepare for!

Life Lessons

Lessons to Learn

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    There are many lessons we can learn as we go through life. No more so than in the garden! I like gardening and as I  tie and snip at the different plants, I think how much these things must hurt that plant. But it is all for their own good!

     The tomato plants tend grow rather rampantly if left on their own. But they must be staked, and then tied up to that stake so they won’t fall over and get untidy. Not only that, but there are extra shoots growing that need to be taken off regularly. The plant is firmly rooted in the ground before it can grow and that reminds me how that each one of us needs to be firmly “rooted” in our Lord Jesus Christ before we can yield the sort of fruit that He is looking for in our lives.

     Then again I grow a variety of rose that, if left to itself, will grow very rampantly all over the ground. So much so, that it is called a “Carpet Rose”. They send up long shoots from the ground, and I always cut these off and then tie the plant to a stake, and pick off any side shoots. If there is another strong looking shoot coming off the main stalk, then that gets tied in an upright position onto the stake as well. The plant probably doesn’t like being tied firmly like this, but it adjusts, and in time grows into a nicely shaped bush that shows off its flowers to best advantage. Not only that, but it is forced to look up, and ultimately to grow up!

    So it is with us….as troubles come into our lives, we are forced to look up to the Master Gardener, Who is growing us as He pleases. The plant may not like where it is put, but it has no option, it must stay there, and flower where it is. There are times when we don’t like where we are, or our position in life, but as we remember that God is over all, we can learn to be satisfied and give Him thanks. This is like the tomatoes growing on the vine, or the rose flowering tied to the stake.

     As we look around, we see those who are less fortunate than ourselves…..one lady I know is very short sighted and there is nothing that can be done to improve her eyesight. There have been many times when she thinks “Why me?” Another friend has had sudden hearing loss, and again might well be thinking, “Why me?” But these things are sent to grow us into being the sort of person God wants us to be….thankful in all things for the blessings we DO have. May we each one find that this is so.

Life Lessons

Do You Ever Feel Like this?

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    We were travelling once in a strange area, and decided to take a train ride that was advertised as being a scenic one. So we went on board, and there was one other passenger, a Japanese tourist with a large camera strung around his neck. It was a while before the train started off…it was an old steam train, and of course had to get the steam up before it could move off. No-one else turned up to go for the ride, so at last it began to huff and puff and then to finally move off.    We waited to see what was around the first corner, but it was only more of the same sort of scenery. Another two or three minutes of this chugging along, and then it stopped. In the middle of nowhere, just like that. Then we heard a clanking and fresh chugging, but the train was going back the same way that we had come! Was this all that we were going to get for our money?

   The other passenger hadn’t even got his camera out of its case, let alone taken any pictures! With a great swooshing sound, the steam was let out of the engine as it came to a stop at the platform. The driver came along, and said that the trip was over. We could hardly believe our ears! Just that little bit? The Japanese passenger got out, and we followed him along to the road. “I tink we been had,” he was saying, more or less to himself. And then again, “I tink we been had!!”   Well, we felt like that too, in fact we KNEW that we had been “had”!

     There are many times in life when we feel we have been shortchanged, and let down. But you know there is one time when we are never let down or been “had”, and that is when we take God at His Word. He will ALWAYS keep His Word….what He says He will do, He WILL do! And if we are His followers, that is how we should be too…we must always stick to what we say, so that others will know that they can trust what we say. In this world where there is so much fake news, we hardly know what to take notice of and what to discard as nonsense.

    That is another lesson for us to learn…always make sure that what bit of information you are going to pass on is based on FACT, and not just hearsay or  idle gossip. If we do this, then others will know that they can always trust what we say.

Life Lessons

Don’t Leave it Too Late!

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    We’ve been concerned about a new friend who has been coming along to church recently, with his wife who is a devout Christian. He doesn’t appear to be anti the messages he is hearing from the pulpit, but neither is he altogether accepting of them. Perhaps you know some folk who are like that.

      He says he just cannot see how God is, Who He is!  He says he will do something about it one day, but we wonder if he really wants to! After all, God has said in His Word, “Those who seek Me SHALL find Me”.

    It reminds me of another man we knew many years ago. He had been going to the
Sunday evening services where the gospel was preached clearly every Sunday night. But after a period of time, he started to make excuses, and eventually stopped going altogether. But the Lord had not quite finished with him. One night he had a vivid dream that troubled him greatly. He went to his uncle who knew him well, and said, “You know Unc, I had a dream the other night. I dreamt that I was in an open place, and that God was in Heaven above me. Then I saw a great big black curtain come down between me and Him, and I know now that I couldn’t come to Him even if I wanted to”. What a tragic state of affairs! He had been convicted so many times, and kept putting off doing anything  about God’s invitation, until now he had passed the point of no return. Shortly after that, he passed away with his daughter by his side. Her comment was, “I never want to see another person die….the expression on Dad’s face as he went, was terrible!”

     We have the case in the Bible of the story of Moses telling the king of Egypt  to let the people of Israel leave the land. At first we read that the king “hardened his heart” and refused to let the people go, but after a few times of this request being made, then we read that the Lord “hardened his heart”. So it was in the case of this man we knew….he had put off the strivings of God with him for so long, that then it had no effect on him. He knew it too, and that dream just confirmed it to him.

     So we continue to pray for our new friend, that he will not do the same thing until it is too late, and he has no desire to come to church any more. So it is with those who may read this post…..if there is something you need to put right or some confession of sin that needs to be done, do NOT put it off. The desire to do so may leave you, and you will be the worse off for it in the long run!

Life Lessons

What do you See?

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     As we approach the new year later this week, let us think on this little story….

A  professor once set  his students an exam. He handed the papers all out upside down, and then told them to turn the page over. They found it was just a blank piece of paper with a large black dot in the middle of it. He told them to have a good look at it, and then write down what they were seeing.

   Without exception, they all wrote about the black spot, where it was on the page and the effect it had on the paper. The professor then told them that not one had commented on the whiteness of the paper or the size of it in comparison to the black spot, and then pointed out the moral of the story….how much we concentrate on the wrong things around us instead of on the good things we see.

   That reminded me that I’m like that too, and it ought not to be !

  So whenever things annoy or grate on you in this New Year, just remember to overlook the black spot in  the middle of the page and focus on the white size of the paper!! As we look around at others, there are always those who are worse off than we are….perhaps in health,  in family problems, or in losing a dear friend. Let us each one be thankful for the blessings we have and not see the “black spot” on our page!!

Life Lessons

How do we View the Baby in the Manger?

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Our speaker at church this week continued on with the theme of Christmas.  He pointed out how Christmas is all about Christ. Unfortunately, this seems to make people feel uncomfortable, and they have covered up the real meaning with commercialism, the getting and giving of presents and family time. While these things are all good, they tend to blur what the season is all about.

People can cope with Jesus, the baby in the manger, and with Jesus the Healer and Teacher. When it comes to Jesus on the cross, they agree that yes, it was a historical fact, but as for the Resurrection and the ascension to Heaven, they tend to pass that off as being a bit fanciful. As for the mere idea that Jesus Christ is still alive and about to return to earth to mete out judgement on all the evil that has been done over the ages, this idea is totally out of their realm and is refused out of hand.

   Stop and think about it for a minute…. if this is not correct, there is nothing to lose, but if it IS correct and no preparations are being done for it, then there is everything to lose.