Walking in God's Woods

  On November 30, 2023, I lost both my job and my son in a single moment. From that very moment, I began to pray for God to restore both my family's finances and my family's relationship with Abe. Immediately, I prayed for God to guide me and my family through this difficult period, and I continue to pray for His guidance every day, just like I always have.  As things became more difficult, I questioned whether I was being punished or if I was failing some test. At some point when things didn't seem to be changing, I came to the conclusion that I must be doing something wrong. I cannot even begin to count the number of times that I have asked God to tell me exactly what I need to do to "fix things." Basically, I spent a long time feeling like it was my job to take care of things. I want to clarify that I do believe that I am responsible for doing what God tells me to do or face the consequences of not following God's lead, but I have come to realize that some ...

  These verses have meant so much to me over the past several months that I hardly know how to address them in a logical way that makes sense. I am going to try to make several points here that may not seem connected, so I apologize if this post seems a little scattered. Since the beginning of spring, probably since we created our nature path in March, I have thought a lot about the seasons, both physical and spiritual. In a physical sense, I have thought a lot about the spring rains. One thing that I have thought about has been the connection between rain and the change in seasons. For some reason, we went through a physically dry season through the late spring/early summer, from May through mid-July, and the hotter it became, the more I began wishing for rain. As much as I hate mowing grass, I will admit that I really hate the dry, brown dirt even more. I hadn't really thought much about it before, but I have begun to see that the rain is a blessing from God. Without the rai...

As long as I can remember, I have always loved the Olympic Games, both summer and winter. I know that there have been a number of controversies regarding the 2024 opening ceremony, and as usual, I think the truth of the matter lies somewhere between the voices of the two extremes. This post is not about the opening ceremonies. This post is about the individuals competing in the Games. I am always in awe of the remarkable skills on display by the best athletes from all around the world. Every single individual at the Olympic Games has to go through a number of trials and win a series of competitions to even have the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. Of course, some competitors are more naturally capable than others, some have access to better facilities, and some train harder than others. However, they all have one thing in common: they are all trying their very hardest to win the gold medal. So far, I have watched a variety of Olympic events, from gymnastics to swimming to sailin...

  I first encountered today's verse on one of my walks in late May, and I knew immediately that this verse would be the source of today's post. Today is July 25, 2024--Rayne's 18th birthday. There are so many things that I want to say about and to Rayne that I know I won't be able to express them all in these last two weeks before he moves into his college dorm. I am going to try my best to say the important things here, so this post is dedicated to Rayne. First and foremost, I really had no idea how to be a father in 2006. Like I do with just about everything in life, I started out by reading and gathering as much information as possible. Even on the day he was born, it seemed like he didn't play by the book. Angie and I left for the hospital around 5:00 in the morning because her doctor told us that we needed to come to the hospital immediately when Angie's water broke. Angie had tested positive for Group B strep, and the doctor wanted to make sure to start an...

  On January 1, 2022, our family began a two-year Bible reading plan through our church. The goal was to be able to read the entire Bible over the course of two years. We sit on the couch as a family, and I read a couple of chapters out loud before bed. We have followed the reading plan as much as possible, but of course, changes in our daily schedule, especially late nights or traveling or not having everyone in the house at the same time, have caused us to get off course. Here we are in July 2024, about seven months behind schedule, but as of this writing, we have only 15 chapters of the book of Psalms left to complete. My new goal (which I am confident of accomplishing) is to finish by (or on) Rayne's 18th birthday. It will be very meaningful to me to know that I have read every word of the Bible out loud to my children. Today's verse comes from a recent family reading, and it has a lot of meaning for me. The thing that really comes to mind the most for me is the idea of bei...

  Over the past few months, I have used my daily walks through the physical woods at the back of our property to talk with God and try to listen to what He wants me to hear, and most of the blog posts in this series are developed based on my random Bible readings at the end of those walks. This post (and possibly more) is not based on a physical walk in the woods. To be sure, I am still walking daily in the woods, but I am making more of a point of listening when God speaks to me in other places. This post, and likely more to follow, is based on a new sermon series that Pastor Mike Chandler is working through at Summit Community Church. He has titled this series "Trust the Process," and his goal is to remind us that we have to trust God, even when things don't seem to be working out like we think they should. I am including this link to the first sermon in the series to encourage anyone (myself included) to go watch the entire series in the future. Our family began atten...

  I am not saying this to make myself sound good (as a matter of fact, my intention is quite the opposite), but I have been called smart my whole life. I feel pride when I hear someone refer to me as smart, especially when I hear someone tell another person how smart they think I am. However, the book of Proverbs reminds me that pride goes before a fall. I have also been told many times in my life that I am "too smart for my own good" or that I overcomplicate things. I have also been reminded on many occasions that I can be stubborn and think I know everything. From a personal standpoint, my pride in my intelligence often leads me to thinking that I can solve all my problems on my own. And that is where my downfall happens. Daniel was noted for being a wise young man, and he was rewarded for being able to figure out the king's dream. To me, the most important part of this story is that Daniel was humble in his ability to interpret the dream. He placed all the credit where...

  In my moments of deepest discouragement, I find myself fighting thoughts of being abandoned. I know that God is always with me, and I can't even count the number of times that the Bible reminds me of that. However, the devil has a way of convincing me that this time will be the time that God doesn't remember me. When things aren't going the way I think they should and God doesn't seem to be answering me, and just when I feel like maybe I should give up, I take my morning walk and read this verse. Again I am reminded that God is always faithful, and He will not withdraw his love from me. Today, this verse is a reminder to me with two meanings: (1) God has promised to never leave me nor forsake me, and (2) I make a similar promise to my family. Over the time that we spent with Abe in the past year, one thing I wanted to make sure he understood is that we are committed to loving and caring for him for the rest of our lives. Just because we have not had any communication ...