Gumboot or Reboot?

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."  says Jesse Duplantis.


The same actions, the same thinking, the same responses...mean you get the same results.  A track appears.  Walk it long enough, around and around and around, and you'll find yourself in a rut.   Have you ever driven a car into a rut?  Notice how it tends to grab, to hold. Life's ruts are like that.


If you've ever been on a dairy farm, you'll know cow-tracks are always thick with manure, and slippery with urine too!  Smelly.  Gumboots are essential on a dairy farm!


When you're in a rut, you just keep doing the same-old-same-old.  No forward thinking, no planning, no dreaming.  The decision is made for you.   Ruts are familiar paths going to familiar places.  Ruts of fear, disobedience, resentment, anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness will take you back, not forward; down, not up and out.


So what do we do, if our spiritual ground is a bit too familiar?  A bit too slushy underfoot, perhaps?


Choose.


Choose life!  Not death.  Blessings!  Not curses.  


How?


Obedience.  That's it in a nutshell.  Think back to the last thing God told you to do - and then DO IT.  God doesn't just keep issuing random instructions - he wants obedience!   Maybe you can't remember God ever telling you anything!  God doesn't lie - and He says we will hear His voice and obey.  (My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  John 10:27)    So it makes sense that He must be talking to us.  But are we listening?


So, start from scratch.  It's like when your computer freezes.  You don't get anywhere 'til you reboot!  Well, just reboot with God!  If you think you've messed up somewhere, (and we all do that!) just pray something like the prayer below.  He is listening and waiting to come into your heart and help you get out of the ruts, and live a better life.


Lord Jesus, I ask You to come into my life and forgive me of all my sins.  I confess my sins to You today.  I denounce satan and everything to do with him.  I confess Jesus as the Lord of my life.  Thank you for saving me!  I believe with my heart and I confess with my mouth that You rose from the dead.  I am saved.  I pray this to the Father in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.


Gumboot.   Or Reboot.  You get to choose!

Rainbows and Diamonds

Lately God's been speaking to me about Psalm 91. It's weird how something I've read a thousand times will suddenly have a Holy Sunbeam shone on it.


Psalm 91:1 says:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.


It's so easy to just skip that verse mentally, and leap into the meaty protection verses further down.  But this first verse sets the scene.  Don't miss it.   Dwell.   It's more than living under the same roof.   It's living in colour instead of tones of grey. 

Recently our adult son moved back in with us for a season.  We've begun to rediscover his cheeky sense of  humour, his strong opinions, and his gentle heart.  It's meant a reshuffling of our lives, but the reward has been enormous.  Previously forgotten facets of his character now fill the pockets of my heart like diamonds.

The God of heaven and earth invites us to dwell with him!   He wants to leave his scent on your pillow.  Draw close to Him, and He will draw close to you.

The most beautiful rainbows are the brightest, where every different hue shines radiantly, so individual and yet so much a part of the colour beside it.

How bright is your rainbow?

One Smooth Stone

David knelt and chose 5 stones from the river bed.  They were smooth from the constant washing.  The fact that he only took five tell me he had confidence.  I might have filled my pockets - set up camp in the riverbed,even - wanting access to hundreds of stones!  But David chose five.  He knew the power in a well-aimed missile.  He was confident God would bring Goliath down.

Last year I felt challenged by God to use five smooth stones of my own.  I had a goliath situation hurling abuse at me across the river of my faith.  When that happens, you tend to take your eyes off the river and pay attention to the giant.  But David instead looked to the River.   He reached in and took hold of what he knew.  He chose the smooth stones, the ones that had been in the water forever.  And so - even then, it took a few months of procrastination - I armed myself.   I wrapped my fingers around the promises of God.

Those promises God has for us were given for a reason.  Because we'd need them!  But if you own a car and never put fuel in it, then it's not going to go far.   I'd been sitting in a fuel-less car, fuming that the situation was going nowhere.  Duh!  

David chose five, but one smooth stone did the job.

When giants yell and spit, I want to immediately reach into the river that runs through my heart.

What Goliaths are you facing, that need a stone embedded in their forehead?

Things I Learned From the Cat.

It's been incredibly hot n muggy this week.  Well, this is Fiji, right?  It's supposed to be hot?  Fiji actually doesn't get hot too often.  But this week it has.  Combine it with the usual humidity, and we've even been silver-foiling windows to get some respite.  That works fabulously, just in case you're interested! 

Today we drew the curtains across the doorway in the living room to cut the late afternoon glare, but left the door open.  Our two dogs, Honey and Zeba, fierce, man-eating specimens that have workmen trembling, looked miffed as the curtain shut them out. 

In the living room with us sat Rosie, our cat who has recently left kittendom behind.  Rosie has spent the last three months training both dogs to obey her every hiss.  She regularly freezes them into fascinated statues with a cold stare.  She loves it.  So do they.

Zeba was not happy with the curtain and began pacing outside in the sun.  She cast a large shadow on the curtain, twice her normal size, and instantly struck terror into the heart of the cat who immediately manifested into a hissing, spitting puffball of bristling fur.   This interested Zeba enormously, who came closer to the curtain and in turn, enlarged her shadow.

The cat freaked at such outright disobedience.   With a howl of wrath, she leapt at the shadow, caught one claw in the curtain, and then wriggled desperately in embarrassment until she freed herself.

As funny as it was to watch, I know I've acted like Rosie at times.  Reacted badly to a perceived threat, an injustice, or simply, like Rosie, magnified something in my own imagination.  I am more prone to those overreactions when I've stepped out from under Shaddai's shadow; those days I left Jesus sitting on the front fence, while I raced on with my day.    I remember one day, when I sensed Jesus gazing forlornly at me as I drove away.  I reversed, and called out to the fence, "Sorry...C'mon! Get in!"   I don't know what the neighbours thought.  But I do know my day was great!

How does the Lord get YOUR attention?


You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow,
Say this: "GOD, you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right--he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you-- under them you're perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing--not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you.
You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because GOD's your refuge, the High God your very own home,
Evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door.
He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they'll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling.
You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path.
"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says GOD, "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!"  PSALM 91 THE MESSAGE