Arguing with the Fence Post

Don't Argue with the Fence Post!

When I was growing up, and still at home with my parents I loved the stories my dad could tell. He surely had a colorful life. He had grown up in the "depression years" and knew how hard it was for many people to feed their families back in that day and hour!
But for sure, he had a story to tell about the things that one might take for granted. He loved showing young boys how to build a fence, how to rope a steer and how to drive a semi tractor trailer. Still he had a love of horses and for laughter. Our kitchen was the gathering for those times of laughter. Especially in the summer, our dad would bring home some of our cousins who would either be at the feed store or the chicken farm. These young boys would dress in their denim jeans like Levi's, wear those cowboy boots and have a hat that matched.
They would gather around the table, although too antsy to sit, but close enough to hear the stories my dad could tell. I was reminded of this verse from the Bible.
Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

In this we are reminded it is a good thing to laugh. It works like a medicine. It seemed that we spent many hours laughing at the things that make one forget the gray areas of life. It was not about strife or criticizing others but generally how my dad would get into stuff and have to "figure the way out" of that thing.
For some folks though it is hard for them to laugh about some of the things they have done in their lives. For many they want others to remember them for their "good only" and not some of the mistakes they have made in their lifetime. I certainly would not desire to speak on some of the goofy things I did, but I can say drugs was never a part of my life. I was told early on in my life that my parents would know if I did "something stupid" and then I would answer for it and not sit down for a week. I believed them!
But all people can and do make mistakes at sometime or another in their life and never desire others to know of the "stupid is as stupid does" kind of thing.
Still others like notoriety. They like being right and was thinking of Balaam today and the donkey speaking to him. Now Balaam was a prophet and he ignored God's will, so God opened the mouth of his donkey to rebuke him. Still, within the enormity of this supernatural element of a talking animal, it was Balaam who began to argue with a dumb beast. (Numbers 22:25-30)

It was one hot day I believe in the summer of"68 and my dad was building fence. He had added some livestock, and was having our cousins help him build a stronger fence.  Now when my dad built a fence, the cedar posts for the corners was put into cement and was expected to be there for many years.

Now of this one specific day, one  of the young fellows was not agreeing with the work ethic. For my dad, integrity was important as was the quality of work to be done. Every "man" was expected to do his fair share of work if being paid for doing it!

The other variable was of teamwork and somehow one member was not up to the job or work to be done! So yes, a story came out about it. Yet, all of us at some time did not like the work that had to be done, but someone has to do it. YOU can find that out when you and your husband have given birth to a baby and when it is time to change "the baby's diaper".
One such day I remember being at work. It was like the beginning of a new year. People were excited, talking fast about their new year resolutions and losing more weight to gain more muscle mass. Anyway, this young boy decided to be "sick" in the very middle of the room where we had about 20+ kids playing. With rain outside and some high wind, it was not good to take the kids out of doors. Still the room had to be cleared and some of the adults moved as fast as they could to get some of the younger kids away from "the sick" on the floor!
Many of the "kids" were moved to another area of the main office.
Left standing there were two of us adults. YOU guessed it...we cleaned it all up and sprayed the carpet and sprayed the air then we sprayed our clothes.....Yikes!

Yes, some people have their ideas about work and that work ethic includes: integrity, teamwork, but it also includes quality and discipline for that job. But when our dedication to the job is beyond ourselves, then we can do for others. For we should not be like Balaam who argued with a donkey nor we would or should we be arguing with a fence post or arguing with an animal.

Today, I can look back and hear some of my "dad's tales" and remember he had some mistakes in his life, but he learned from them and made people his priority. We too can see things that should be done but will require some discipline rather than just thinking of that "paycheck" but it is about people's lives and helping them be better too! In allowing laughter, we can see the mistake and avoid it.

I long for the laughter to fill our house as it filled my parent's home those summer days. I long to see people filled with the Holy Spirit and to know that God has a place for them when they receive His Son. For within our existence, we learn many things, but family and laughter is key. To do anything less is sin! Without laughter we stagnate the atmosphere. If we abide in doom and gloom we will fall victim to our own abilities and our own way of doing much like Balaam did!


For each of us face hundreds of choices and decisions daily. Fortunately most of them are not life-altering.

Should I go with veggies for all my meals only today or "all week"?  Should I get the ultra-whitening toothpaste or the kind of vitamin that restores brain cells? Oh yeah, I need to lose about five pounds of weight!

But just as surely  as the new year begins, many of us face difficult and life-changing decisions. I’m so grateful for God’s incredible promise in Psalms 32:8:I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

As my father taught us to laugh, our Father God teaches and guides us for his own glory. Our Father desires to lead our lives of maximum effectiveness and fruitfulness for His glory. He desires to display his goodness, kindness, mercy, and transforming power through us. God wants to counsel us more than we want His counsel.

He shows us the way to go because He is a loving Father. 

Let's not argue with God our Father about anything. Let's just do what He asks us to do. My father asked that we obeyed His instructions and when it was time to leave home, we knew a job was a good thing, being married to the right person was a good thing as well and laughter would add zest to our lives.

Laughter is a good medicine for us everyday. Let us find that merry heart in God, obey His commands and expect laughter to invade our homes. Truly the joy of the Lord is our Strength: The spirit of rejoicing, joy and laughter is our heritage. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty….an emancipation from bondage………… Maintaining that walk as the son is by the Holy Spirit and it is by our remaining in the joy of the Lord who is our strength! Amen

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The Wonder of God & His Instruction

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In Order With God: Being Established

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A Moment, A Mist in Time

How do we define a life, who was so valuable to the kingdom of God? If I could put it down on paper, write it in honor of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it would be glorifying to the One Who created such a fine lady.
Today, I write in remembrance of a dear friend who departed to be with the Lord on February 10, 2015.  I will call her "Jude"..........and she impacted many lives with her love for the Lord and His goodness. She had a contagious laugh that would cause others to join in and laugh as well. Just ask my daughter about that laugh.  On her serious side, Jude was as quiet as a mouse in hearing the Lord speak His next direction to her!
I dedicate this to the memory of her today!

I knew her through serving with her. For these almost two full decades, we have had a relationship. Although since she and her husband had moved from the Seattle area in 2004, we remained in contact with calls, visits and even dinner out! We came to know her in 1997. Spent time assisting her in Bible studies with other women. I gleaned a great deal about being the "lady" God desires us to be. She served in Women's Ministry, led Bible studies, led Prayer Ministry and of late, had a ministry for missionaries. I remember that she with her husband cleaned bathrooms for two years and never complained. A lot of information and knowledge of a gracious, serving lady came to me and I put it down as the memories have come. Yes, it was seven years we lived close by to one another. They had moved to be closer to her mother for awhile.
 In all this, she was a friend to many, loved to pray and loved to tell others of how God brought her through many trials and tribulations. She would glow with the Presence of God and seemed to be effervescent with a freshness of a cool breeze on a hot day!  It was always her goal to be mindful of God, an instrument to glorify Him much like David did.
She loved to drive "little sport cars" and if she knew not what to cook for dinner, she would throw some onions in a  skillet and just saute' till she could figure something out. She wanted her husband to come home and find her busy preparing for his trip home from a busy day at work!
Yes, she was always looking out for others indeed!
It was her delight to feed you even if you had just had a meal. She certainly looked out for the needs of the many whether in the "hug" ministry or ministering to a broken heart in prayer!
We could be in a crowd of people, and find something that could make us laugh, like talking about those "June Bugs" being we were from the South. Yes, she spent some time there when a child and together, we had much we could cover about the "good ole' south"!

Her beauty was a moral beauty. She stood out from the crowd and had the "graces" of a true lady.
She was rich in the things of God, and gloried in Him, as praise continued to flow from her mouth.
Today, I believe she stands with Jesus and giving glory to Him even still. I know her to be laughing with joy in expressible and full of His glory. Yes, a contagious laugh I am certain is still heard throughout the kingdom.

My question is this: " what will people remember about us?"

Would people be reminded of some wisdom God had us to speak to them or could they possibly remember a truth that God allowed us to speak to others about God, that made them smile and weep at the same time? For I genuinely do both right now!
Will our lives continue to speak truth of God the Father and declare His goodness when we have left this world?
 I am in awe of someone who can live fully for God and be thankful. For whatever Jude's plight, she always came through like a "trooper" and clung to promise of life through Jesus, the Lord and Savior!  That is what I desire for me and my family. I desire for many people to know God as I do and what I saw demonstrated in and through a woman totally committed to God!

There are people we can read about and study in the Bible and know how they came through great trials and tribulations. We can learn and glean so much from lives lived totally for God!

We can certainly remember some of the "ladies" of the Bible.  Let's see, Miriam was devoted to God and to ministry. She was faithful, disciplined and a leader. Deborah, was remarkable as the prophetess, a wife of Lappidoth, and a judge. She was also known as " a mother in Israel". She was devoted to God and she obeyed His instruction. She was known for her wisdom that came from a humble path of service to God and to man.  In Ruth's life we have found out that God never changes, is always on the scene, in circumstances, through people and yes, showing up in some major events in our lives!  She came through some tough times of loss and suffering. But she responded by giving her heart to not only Naomi's God but she served others.

Now Hannah, what a lady indeed, and how easy to keep her mouth closed when her husband had another woman living with them. Yikes, someone would have been exiting that house, if it were mine! Even though bullied, Hannah had a fellowship with God that showed she was a woman of strength and courage to believe God for the best in any situation! In these cases, prayer was always on the forefront of any matter or situation going on at the time!

As men and women of God, do we look to God for our answers and trust He is for us? Do we see that our faith in the One True God brings out a beauty in us that others will see and know?

And then I think of Elizabeth, the righteous and the obedient. Though childless, her barrenness was something that could cause her and her husband to be thrown out of the church. She had strength where many would have discouragement and disappointment. Her days  were filled with an expectancy that God answers. The Lord brought them the word, “ He will also be before Him in the spirit of Elijah”…(.Luke 1:15,17)

Even as Zacharias prayed and got the answer.........it was his questioning in unbelief that shut his mouth till the baby John came forth into this world and make a difference for the kingdom of God. Elizabeth displayed her praise and thankfulness toward a loving God and she experienced the miraculous, did she not?

Our lives are for but a moment.....a mist in time.......James 4:14............14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  NKJV

So in comparison to a vapor like shaking a fizzy cola, do we see our time is so short here on this earth?

If we are but for a moment in time.........then shake this vessel Lord and make me like a cola that fizzes and that YOU can shake me up..........cause me to move......that I may speak, to pray with an earnest heart,  glorify God, and serve my fellowman to make the mark You intended me to do in this moment of time.

 It was said that James M. Black, in 1893, a Methodist Sunday School teacher in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was calling roll one day for a youth meeting. One of the youths did not show up. Her name was Bessie, the daughter of a drunkard. He was disappointed to find no song or anything about the roll call up yonder.......(with Bessie on his mind).....he in effect said, "well, I trust when the roll is called up yonder, she (Bessie) will be there.."

The "inner voice" seemed to say, "why don't you write one?" But he dismissed the thought. When he arrived at the gate on his way home. the same thought came so strongly that tears filled his eyes. He went to the piano and began the effortless task of writing the song.............of course we know it to be the song that was sung in the Academy award winning movie, Sergeant York (1941).  

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,

And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;

When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,

And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

This Mr. James Black certainly heeded God the Holy Spirit and wrote what he felt for all the Bessie's in the world. He sat down and wrote a song about what was his heart and the Father's heart!

I am looking forward to the day I can stand with my friend, Jude, and meet all the ladies of the Bible, for they truly are the example of the way to walk to see God's face, and experience His love everyday of our lives!   I have a music box that has this quote on the face of it.......On the face of the lid..................there is this orchid opening up.....and the verse goes like this: "Special People...Touch our Hearts and leave their Fingerprints there FOREVER....
Jude certainly touched my heart.............!

Father, today, I thank You for all the Jude's, the Elizabeth's, the Ruth's, and the Hannah's, who by example, showed us that we can benefit from knowing Your truth and wisdom. Today, I pray that any who read this, man or woman alike, would benefit from knowing that God has something special planned for us. YOU Father planned for us from the foundation of the world. We sometimes may not like the ending, but surely You God do not make mistakes, and You keep us from the enemy. It is You Who knows our frame and Father, our eyes are on You, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  If we are but for a moment in time.........then shake these vessels Lord and make us like a cola that fizzes and that YOU can shake us up...........to move................shake us up.........to be that effervescence... SO....that we willingly will speak, will be willing to pray, to glorify God no matter what, and serve our fellowman to make the mark You intended us to do in this moment of time.

For there are many, Father, who make an impact in other people's lives, but may we be those who will sound different and look different. May they know us to be the son's and the daughter's of the Most High God. Like our friend Jude, may we show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers, and fear God. ( 1 Peter 2:17)

Lord God, I pray for us to speak with the wisdom of God and give revelation of Your word that dispels the darkness.

Like Jesus, may we be those who will lead and teach others. Father activate the gifts in us and use it for Your glory. Help us to mentor those who could use it and embrace it. Just like the lamp that needs to be plugged in to light the living room, who might we need to connect with today for Your glory? Cause us to be the those who will lead and cause others to succeed in Jesus' name. May we be those people who will cause others to come to know our God our Father and to bring to YOU, a smile to Your face. Amen.

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