Fishing Lures

 

So me and my 5 year old son are fishing.  Of course, I am a fishing expert.  Especially in the company of a 5 year old young boy.  I mean, I have caught hundreds of fish, especially fresh water bass, and have a real good knowledge of how to do it, how to catch them, how to bring them onto shore….the whole deal.  And me and my 5  year old little son have been catching these bass from a lake in our neighborhood….on artificial lures….I want him to get this early in life….how to do it without a cork and live bait.

He has caught some fish….had some success…knows what the bite feels like and knows how to set the hook….but he is just learning and under my close tutelage.  I am showing him the ropes, step by step, technique by technique, special tactic by special tactic….lure by lure.  But…well, he likes his own lure selection…and often it is … well, wrong.  I want to make it right with him and basically tell him he can’t use that lure because it is the wrong one….but he likes it….so I let him.  He has some success….some failure.

It is the classic battle I have with God.  I seem to want to do it my way, to use my techniques, my lures, my way of thinking, my battles instead of just listening to God…..instead of just letting God tell me what to do and I do it,…..instead of just seeing that God has all the fish and I need to do it His way.

I want to try to get my son to do it my way….then  I think about me….how often I don’t just do it God’s way.  A classic battle between faith and works, between flesh and spirit, between trust and unbelief…  Just like I am doing now with the sickness of one of my daughters…and so much of my life..  I want to do it my way.

God help me to do it Your way.   Help me to help those around me to do it your way…    louie

 

You Think You Have Issues?

You have issues?  I know a woman that realized she had issues….Yep…a woman.  It was a bloody mess.  Sort of a sensitive subject.  So what.

There was this woman who had what the KJV says is….and “issue of blood”.  She had it for 12 years.  So, you think you have issues…..this lady had issues.  Her battle is described in scriptures in Matthew and in Luke….but my favorite version is in Mark. 

She had battled this issue for 12 years and Mark says that she spent all she had on many doctors but it did not get better but worse.  You see, …  she battled for many years with this and went every doctor she could afford.  She went to every primary care, every specialist, got multiple opinions, spent all she had…..and then when there was no where else to turn…. she turned to Jesus.  Me too!  Well, I mean that I seem to want to try to figure it out myself before I head toward Jesus.

She had probably seen the large crowds in town before.  She had probably walked right by Jesus while on the way to the doctors….and just dismissed him as a nut case…..because that is what the religious leaders of the day said about him.  She had probably rode by  him on I-95 on the way to Mayo, I-4 to Nemours… when what she needed was right there…..and immenently interruptible. 

Now….do not take me wrong.  I love Mayo, Nemours, Arnold Palmer, Moffitt….all the doctors…. but sometimes you have to get to where  you just have issues enough that you turn to Jesus Christ.  I have been there myself.  I have searched the web on “issues” I have had….and seems like I turn to the Lord…..when I am a bloody mess.

Think you have issues?  I do!  She did!  You do too! 

She was healed…. I have been healed…. you too?

louie

 

Breadcrumbs Are Enough

So, this woman is desperate….  she gets out of her comfort zone, out of her people, out of her church, out of her upbringing, out of her way of life and she begins to beg….   I mean, she is a Greek, she is educated, she is proper, she is not from the area,…..  she is used to getting it because of who she is…..  Maybe it is her color, maybe her race, maybe her social status, maybe her place in life, her pedigree.   But her daughter is sick and she hears about a healer.    The scriptures do not say it… but I do….  that she has tried everything (like another woman in the record…her next).  The last post shows that she was desperate. 

So now she goes to Jesus.  To the feet of Jesus.  Under the table.  Check this out.  She went to the floor.  She wanted the Bread of Life.  She went to the source…..and found that Jesus said that what he had…healing power….salvation….was for the people of Israel first…not her yet!  She was ok with it  because she had a revelation about Jesus Christ…the Bread of Life.  She had a revelation that whatever Jesus gave her was enough.  That revelation was this…….what is in the bread….is in the crumbs too. 

This woman knew that crumbs were enough.  She knew that what was in the bread….was in the crumbs.  She knew that if she only got a crumb…. that the crumb was enough. 

You need something from Jesus Christ?  Son or daughter, husband or wife, a sickness, money or a job..a house?  Get on the floor, do not depend on what you can do and ask God in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  What is in the bread is in the crumbs….it is enough.

louie

 

It Could Get Worse

 

I have been having a tough time with 2 of my daughters…the older one I went through it about 10 years ago…you know what I am talking about if you have kids….it is the rebellious stage.  For any of you that know me…I love being a dad.  I just love it.  Now, I have 3 outstanding girls and 1 boy.  Daddying is one of the best things in the world.  But, being a dad is a tough job. 

Now, I have had folks try to kill me,…at least 3 different times specifically…I have been in a couple of bad wrecks…one other time the docs thought I had some sort of leukemia… but I got out of it…but it just seems like this stage with my girls is a hard time. 

James was a brother of Jesus.  James 1:2 says to count it all or consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.  Now, I have a hard time with this.  I just can not seem to count it joy or even to consider it joy…but then I think about my children and  how much joy they give me.  My wife and I just marvel at the fun that they are…we sit around and just laugh at them….then we think about this tough time…..and other tough times.

What you may not know is that both of them…but especially one of them….well, we almost lost.  She got very sick.  It took all the time, all the effort…all the money we had at the time to keep her here…and it almost trashed our marriage…but….we got through…and now…well, we count it joy that they are here.

My wife has to remind me of those very dark times …  especially now when they are such a  challenge… but I do consider it.  … at least in perspective.

You got stuff you are going through?  Think about it for a little.  I suspect you can consider…if you will … that there is joy in it.  Consider it pure joy… it could be worse.

louie