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

 

Horse and Buggy

Some trust in chariots and some horses, but we  trust in the name of the Lord our God.  Psalm 20:7

Pharaoh in Egypt had plenty of chariots and horses.  These chariots and horses represented power, wealth and empire.  They represented slavery to the nation of Israel.  Moses, in the book of Exodus, was leading the people out of Egypt, out of slavery, out of bondage.  Pharaoh was after them.  They came to the Red Sea.  It was a disaster for the chariots of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh trusted in his might, his strength, his power….his empire.  Pharaoh’s army trusted in him….a powerful man, but a man none the less.  Moses trusted in the name of the Lord.  I am not saying that if you do it your way,…with your chariots and horses…that you will end up like the Egyptians, underwater, ruined, beaten and defeated…..dead.  What I am saying is that if you trust in the name of the Lord, you can end up like the people of Israel…..walking but safe. 

We are doing some of this sort of thing on Wednesday nights 7pm at TLC, 1835 Taylor Road, Port Orange.  Come on by for an hour and join us.  For more information, email tlc@thelivingcornerstone.com

louie @ lmercer6@cfl.rr.com

 

Fringe Benefits

Most of us want fringe benefits.  Health care, insurance, retirement, 401k, bonuses, use of company vehicle, company cell phone, good working hours, good office location,  the corner office!!  Fringe benefits…

Some fringe benefits come with money attached, some with status.  You don’t have to look very far today to see that much of this is going away in today’s economy.  Fringe benefits that we usually take for granted are being questioned.  I saw today in the paper that pension benefits are being suspended.  Fringe benefits,….they can’t be taken for granted or can they?

Psalm 68:19 says that God daily loads us with benefits.  He loads us up…..daily with benefits.  During good times and during a recession.  During business hours and after hours.  I have searched this scripture and do not find it being suspended.   You see, God is the fringe benefit king.  He has benefits beyond physical boundaries. 

God wants to load you today with benefits.  You need some?  Me too.  Soak on God’s word today…..He is waiting to load you with benefits.  He wants to load you with benefits today.

louie@ lmercer6@cfl.rr.com