SACRIFICE

Being an avid outdoorsman, once we had children I wanted to share everything I loved and knew about it with them. Hunting, fishing, and camping were my top three pastimes in the outdoors. Being a bit of a type A personality, I like things a certain way and make plans to guarantee things happen the way I want. I’m also a slow learner. Those two things combined can create frustration when it comes to young kids.

One of the first outings I took them on was fishing - I had all of the gear ready, including bait, and plenty of snacks. My plan was to fish for crappies, an aggressive, feisty fish, which can be a good size for little kids to catch. After getting both boys set up, I got my fishing line in the water. Immediately after getting my line in the water, one needed more bait and the other one’s line was tangled. After getting them set up again, I was back to fishing. As you can imagine, the previous series of events continued until one was bored and the other had to go the bathroom. So, we packed up our gear and headed back to shore. In my eyes, it was a failure -nobody caught a fish, and I was pretty sure they did not have fun.

On future outings, I would bring just one at a time thinking that would help…but it didn’t. I could see their lack of enthusiasm growing. Eventually, I learned it was my selfish desire wanting them to catch big fish, and me trying to fish at the same time didn’t help the problem either.  

I committed to sacrifice my fishing, focus on smaller, easy to catch fish, and teaching my sons the how to’s. It was an instant success! They were catching fish not much bigger than their tiny hands, but we all had a blast! It was a whirlwind of putting bait on and taking fish off hooks. Many times, we had to head back in because we ran out of bait and snacks…most times with smiles on everyone’s faces!

On a few occasions, we all got what we wanted

From then on, I decided to sacrifice taking part in some of my favorite pastimes and instead focus on their happiness and success. Imagine if you were the Father of the entire world.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

SPRING IS HERE...REALLY???

It was the first day of spring this past week. Honestly, I didn’t really notice because it didn’t feel much like spring. The local weather was overcast with light snow and the high temperature was a mediocre 29 degrees. In fact, as I’m writing this, some of those in the northeastern part of the United States are digging out from a recent doozy of a snow storm. Yuck!

Anyway, the first day of spring didn’t feel like anything special; no song birds were singing, no flowers were pushing their way up through the soil (probably because it’s still frozen and/or covered in snow), and no bunnies were frolicking around in the clover. One good thing about this particular day is there was twelve hours of daylight! After this long winter, twelve hours of daylight felt awesome!

An irritated Robin waiting on spring.

Fun fact, the spring equinox is a time when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, making night and day of approximately equal length all over the earth and occurring on March 20^th. It reminded me of my 34^th birthday; nothing really special about it, just another day of going to work. On the other hand, looking at the long list of warm weather house projects to complete, I guess I appreciated the non-eventful, non-hoopla, mellow first day of spring.

Matthew 11:19 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

A CHANGE IN SCENERY

I feel very blessed to have had a roof over my head my entire life - a place to call home, a place where one feels comfortable, safe, and loved. Whether it was my home while I was growing up or the house my wife and I currently live in, it’s nice to be home, but sometimes it’s nice to get away and enjoy a change of scenery.

My wife and I are celebrating our 25^th wedding anniversary this year, so we decided to check an item off our bucket list and go to Hawaii. After enduring a seemingly endless Midwest winter, it was a perfect time to head to a tropical climate. The eight-hour flight was a bit trying at times, but the excitement of the vacation helped us endure. Once we landed, we were welcomed by the warm, humid Pacific air. It was a refreshing change from the cold, dehydrated air of the Midwest. Over the next few days we took in all the sights and activities we possibly could.

We took several hikes and long drives, enjoying the lush green mountains, crystal blue water, and the array of trees and flowers. I just couldn’t get enough of the beautiful landscape. On the fifth day of our trip, something bizarre, yet typical happened, we got homesick. As much as we enjoyed other people making our bed and straightening up after us everyday, we looked forward to getting back home to family and friends. We spent the final days relaxing and soaking up the sun.

Sure, the eight-hour flight back wasn’t as exciting as the flight there, but it was comforting to know we would soon be home. We were welcomed by snow covered grass, dreary skies and cold, dry air…I instantly missed Hawaii.

John 16:22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

JUST GET TO IT

Have you ever had a project or task due at work that you had no desire or ambition to perform?

Sometimes, one may think about it for days, putting it off until the last minute, and possibly lose sleep because it has consumed their thoughts. This has definitely happened several times to me over the years. I won’t bore you with the details of my job, but I will share an experience that many of you can probably relate to.

There were two significant snowfalls this past weekend in the Midwest. The first one came through and dumped about 4 inches of snow, nothing too outrageous. I got the shovel and snow blower out and took care of business. It actually felt good to get outside and perform some physical labor. Another snowfall was predicted for the next morning…potentially 6-10 more inches of snow. Because it seems like meteorologists just throw darts at a board with a bunch of numbers on it for their predictions, I didn’t lose any sleep. The next morning I woke up at 5am and when I looked out the window, I was disgusted with the meteorologist’s accuracy. There was 8 inches of snow…they got lucky with the dart board again. I went back to bed, however I was wide awake thinking about the snow that needed to be cleared. Many things were planned for the day, but nothing was getting done until the driveway and sidewalks were cleared. I tossed and turned for another 30 minutes before finally deciding to get to work. I stood and stared out the window for a while thinking it will eventually melt, but eventually was probably two months away by the looks of things. Minutes later the snow blower was puttering away clearing the heavy white blanket that covered everything in sight.

Eventually my work was all done, so I took our dog, Ruby, for a walk. It seems Ruby’s main job is to sniff anything and everything. Even though the fresh snow covered everything, she didn’t let that delay her getting right to work.

Romans 7:19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do-this I keep doing.

HUMAN LIMITATIONS

Standing at the base of the tall pine tree,

I stared up through the branches trying to see how far it was to the top. The kids around me challenged, “Just start climbing and see how far you get!” Being about 11 years old, I figured I’d better get moving before someone double dog dared me. Shortly after climbing a few branches, my hands were already sticky from sap. Maybe this will help to keep my grip, I thought to myself. Moving further up the tree, the trunk began to narrow and the branches got thinner. At that point, the wind was very noticeable, causing the tree to sway back and forth. Thanks to the encouragement of my buddies hollering from below, “Don’t be a sissy, keep going,” I pressed on. As I felt a branch crack under my foot from the weight of my body, it suddenly became difficult to weave through the narrowing branches. Figuring I was probably high enough off the ground, I took a quick moment to enjoy the view and began my descent. Upon making it safely back to the ground, I brushed the bark and pine needles from my hair and out of my shirt. Looking up the tree, I felt confident in my conquest.

Just as my ego started to inflate, some smart aleck kid said, “That’s nothing, I’ll show you how to do it.” He jumped up to the first branch and like a chimpanzee, continued to swing from branch to branch. In a matter of seconds, he was most of the way up the tree. I asked one of my buddies if the kid reached as far as I did. “No, he’s about ten feet higher,” he replied. “I never liked that kid,” I huffed under my breath and walked home. I spent the next week trying to wash the sap from my hands. Sometimes, we would like our bodies to be able to do things that are just not possible.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.

MAKE ROOM FOR GROWTH

My wife and I needed to mix things up a bit. Our typical Sunday routine was getting a bit ordinary, so we decided to take a mini road trip. We packed a picnic lunch and immediately after church we headed down the road.

The destination was a small town an hour’s drive away. It was a gorgeous day with the sun shining and a warm breeze…perfect conditions for a road trip. The road was fairly straight as it cut through seemingly infinite farms fields. Eventually, the road started to curve following the banks of a river that led to our planned destination. We pulled into the city park, found a shady spot to sit, and enjoyed our lunch.

After lunch, we took a short hike to the actual destination of our trip - the last old-fashioned covered bridge in the state.

It wasn’t like old paintings of a covered bridge; in fact, it has been well-maintained because cars haven’t been allowed to drive on it for decades.  We walked over it a couple times and started heading back to our car. As we walked down the path, I noticed a cluster of birch trees in their full shedding state. Birch trees are one of the few trees where you can actually see the bark’s shedding process. The old bark needs to shed to allow for the tree to continue to grow, which seemed rather fitting since the purpose of the trip was to shed our ordinary routine and allow for growth.

1 Peter 2:2 Like new born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

THANKFUL IN ALL THINGS?

ENOUGH ALREADY!!! I'm almost positive that I share this thought with most people regarding the miserably cold temperatures that has had a death grip on much of the United States - definitely the upper Midwest. It’s like a constant running nose that causes a person to go through an entire box of Kleenex in a day, or a sore back that makes you realize how much you use your back muscles every minute of the day, even when you’re trying to sleep.

Back to the ugly subzero temperatures, it was getting pretty old trying to avoid it...having to put on multiple layers of clothing just to take out the garbage, or having to let your car run for an eternity so it's somewhat warm enough to sit in. I HAD ENOUGH of sitting around, so I asked my wife if she wanted to go on a hike New Year’s Day to enjoy the great outdoors. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “you know how cold it is, right?” I took that as a yes, so we bundled up and headed out the door.

The destination was a nearby waterfall. I figured the current sub-

A view well worth the cold.

zero temperatures, combined with a waterfall, would create something spectacular…at least it was worth a look. It was reassuring to see we weren’t the only people there, and the view was well worth it. It seemed nothing good could come from such bitter temperatures, but thankfully we didn’t let them win. After a couple minutes though, the sub-zero wind-chill was starting to bite at our faces, so we took a few pictures before our camera froze and headed back to the car, which seemed to run for another eternity before we were warm again.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.