The Best Rescue Ever

When I was much younger (and perhaps a little foolhardy), my brother and I planned a hunting trip on Kodiak Island. Being young and foolish, we brought very little food, and almost no water. We did stop by Mcdonalds to grab a bag of cheeseburgers which would sustain us for our short trip. We were dropped off on a beautiful mountain lake and excitedly began our hunt. We had one deer down when the weather hit us hard. One of out tents cartwheeled down the mountain, and we had had to hunker down inside the other tent, which was almost blown flat by the wind. In the back of our minds, we knew that no airplane could pick us up in this weather. This continued for 3 days. On the 4th day, we awoke to the sound of air traffic overhead. Every 20 or 30 minutes we would hear a plane cruise by. We were at our wits end, and were very anxiously awaiting our ride home. After about 2 hours of waiting, a small speck in the distance began increasing in size. Closer and closer it came as we scrambled to get our gear together. We were overjoyed, we had been rescued at last. How much joy do we feel when we think about God rescuing us from circumstances that were fare more dire than what I experienced that weekend? Do we raise our hands and shout for joy because we have been delivered? Do we overflow so much with gratitude and love that we proclaim it to our neighbors? Do we even think about it on a daily basis? Do we long to worship Him? Do we long to be with other believers? Do we exhibit any of the fruits of the Spirit? Has he rescued us from a world that we are clawing and scratching to return to, or are we becoming set apart for Him? Is our life such that those around us who are of the world will see that we are rescued, and that they also have access to The Great Rescuer. Lord, help me to appreciate more the work that you did on the cross. Help it to permeate my thought process, and help me to develop the strength to be in the world but not of the world.

How not to be miserable?

Misery is such an easy emotion to be disdainful of. We all know that misery is not a good thing, and that happy people are so much better off. During church today, I was challenged about how the Christian should experience joy. As I reflected upon this throughout the remainder of the day, I reached several important conclusions. In my past, I was really good at finding misery. I might have even pretty good at finding happiness. I was really bad at finding joy. In fact, I am still not that good at finding joy. I, like many beleivers, am often focused on avoiding things that can cause us spiritual misery. While it is good to avoid those things that make us miserable, it often can become our focus. God is certainly pleased when we discontinue things that separate us from Him, but how much more pleased will He be when we have dispatched those demons and begun to focus on building toward His all encompassing joy. This is done through loving his people. This is not always easy, as a very large percentage of His people might be defective. This makes it hard for us who are critical by nature . I have a major weakness in finding joy, as I often look at the compliance checklist of things to do and not to do. When we are truly seeking Christ's joy, we will not need a litmus test to see what is right and what is wrong. We will know because we have His True Joy. How not to be miserable may be the wrong question. How about this- How do we experience God's joy? God is not a God who operates in the negative. Lord, help me to find joy in You and in fellowship with your people.