A Saturday Bike and Train Ride

My dear husband loves to go places and biking is one of his interests to do.  On one of his excursions with the school students he discovered this bike and ride the rail.

The first train stop is in Akron and so we made plans to go and invited some of our dear friends to go along.

It was A+ excursion and one that will most likely be repeated.  So, if you like to bike, let us know, for we will go again. :)

listening and feeling the vibrations of the train

Who Is Jesus??

Who Is Jesus??

Who is Jesus to you today??

We've heard many times before

Jesus is to be your Rock to the core.

He is to be your everything

Your security and the main thing.

So we come to Him for healing

for strength and grace and pleading.

To intercede on our behalf

and guide us with His rod and staff.

What happens when our day is done

and the sickness still remains?

What happens to our hearts

when our longings remain unmet?

What happens to my faith

when I pray and pray and the request remains the same?

What happens to my heart

when dreams come crashing down?

Who is Jesus?

Is He only a Healer?

Is He only a Miracle worker?

Do I come to Him to see the loaves and fishes multiplied?

the sick healed?  the lame walking?

Who is Jesus?

Yes, Jesus is the Healer.  He is a Miracle worker.

But Jesus is so much more.

He wants to show me Him.

He wants me to know Him as Sustainer.

as Life.  as Strength for the hard that remains.

He is Messiah.  Redeemer.  Saviour.

He is Lover.  Friend at all times.

He is Truth. Life. and the Way.

He wants us to see Him and to know Him.

To search Him with our hearts

as the wise men did many years ago.

Yes, life has it's hard, but in the hard

we are to find Him as our all in all.

We are to seek Him.

The hard is meant to draw us to His embrace.

Our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.

 Our hearts are lonely until they find Him as a Friend.

Our hearts have aching spots that are meant to draw us to His arms of embrace.

If we come to Him for healing, alone,

we may be left disappointed.

If we come to Him for prayers to be answered,

our faith may be left to flounder.

But if we come to Him, wanting Him

wanting to know, we will find Him.

We will not be left destitute.

Who is Jesus to you today??

Some call Him prophet.  

Some call Him a good man.

Some say He is a miracle worker.

But who do you say He is??

                                                  

Sometimes we look down the track of life and we cannot see where it goes.  Our dreams crashed. Our friendships are awry.  Sickness is hounding our bodies.  

Brokenness.

It seems to prevail.

But Jesus' Greater Truth is... BROKENNESS DOES NOT PREVAIL!

JESUS DOES. 

I believe Jesus wants to ask us a question as He did to His disciples many years ago and we have it recorded in John 9:20... "But who do YOU say that I am?"

Is Jesus enough for you?  simply Jesus.

Is He still good when His track looks different than what we thought it would?

Is His plan still perfect when we can't see very far down this track we're on?

To my friends, near and far, young and older,  whose life's track have taken hard turns, Jesus wants you to find Him.  To know and see that He is more than Healer and Prayer Answerer. 

He wants relationship.  He wants to be enjoyed and loved for Who He is and not what He does.

Many you find and know Him today.

One day the train will come.  One day it will make sense.  One day...

Until then, let's keep our hand in the hand of Jesus, He will Guide us safely.

God's Invitation

Jesus invites us to come to Him.
He wants to offer Himself to us.

Come unto Me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest... Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:28-29

In the storm, in the busyness of duties that call us, in the joys,  He invites us to COME...

Come...
to find rest.  To quiet our hearts.

Come...
to find perspective.

Come...
to be reminded of whose you are... His Beloved.

Come...
Simply to be loved.  He loves you.

Come...
to weep and cry about the burdens and the storm that overwhelms your soul.

Come...
for whatever need you may have...

Come...

Peace, As the World Gives or As Jesus Gives?

Peace.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (nor let it be fearful) John 14:27

Peace of God which passeth all understanding...  Philippians 4:7

Peace.
What is peace, anyway?

Is it when all the house is put in order, clean and toys put away?
Is it when the children are playing nicely and getting along with each other?
Is it when relationships are connecting and we get each other?
Is it when someone sees a need and meets it, we feel peace?
Is it when we are getting our things done in a timely manner?

But what if that is not what is reality?
What if all feels chaotic and stormy?
The children call for me, ONE MORE TIME.
The boys fight.  One tattles on another.
The phone rings, there's another meal to make...
I get mad...
Peace??

What does Jesus mean when He says "Peace, I leave with you, not as the world giveth?" or a Peace of Mine which passes understanding?

That doesn't give me the picture that all is going smoothly and in order.

So, my question is, what does peace really mean in the eyes of Jesus.

Jesus often said as He was with the disciples, "Peace, be still."  The storm was raging, the air boistrous, people were afraid and when Jesus was present, He commanded peace.

I remember one morning as I was filling in for a teacher at school, we were singing and the teacher leading the songs led a song taken from John 14 - Peace I leave with you... not as the world giveth, give I you..; and I, being right smack dab in the middle of a painful and disappointing relationship struggle was struck with that phrase - not as the world giveth, give I you...

PEACE.

Mr. Webster defines peace as -1) freedom from disagreement or quarrels, harmony, serenity, law and order 2) freedom from wars, a treat or an agreement to end a war, make one's peace, reconciliation, end hostilities, settle arguments 3) peace of mind - calm, quiet 4) hold one's peace, silence.

Looking at this definition -points 1&3; would seem like yes, it's when the house is all in order and relationships are connecting that we have peace. (I will look at #2 in another post)
The world's peace is where all is in order and I have it all under control. It's a peace where life feels good.

But Jesus tells us He is giving a peace that is different.
In John 16:33 He tells us "In the world there is conflict; but IN ME there is peace."

In Jesus!  Did you get that?!  In Jesus there is peace. HE IS PEACE.

When we know WHOSE we are (right in the middle of the storm or battle) we can have peace, because we HAVE JESUS!

Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose MIND is STAYED ON THEE, because he TRUSTED IN THEE."

Matthew 14:22-32
When Peter said, "Lord, if it's You, let me walk on the water"...  As long as he was focused on Jesus, right in the middle of the storm, HE WALKED.   The minute he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm, he began to sink.
When we focus on Jesus, the storm takes a back seat, and we are confident in Him.

That's Jesus' peace.  Jesus is giving us Himself.  He is Peace.

We take our pain, our storm, our disappointments and failures to Jesus; laying them at His feet and fixing our eyes on Him.  He brings perspective and calm to our hearts as we trust Him and choose to believe His heart is good intended towards us.  He gives us, HIMSELF.

He, Who is strong enough.
He, Who is big enough.
He, Who loves us much.
He.  Himself.  His grace.  His strength.  Himself.

That is a peace which passes ALL understanding.
- Peter walking on stormy waters.
- Rest in the spirit, while a relationship continues to hurt.
- Forgiveness to the one who has hurt us.
- Calmness and perspective in the middle of busyness.

Because we know who we are in Him.
  Do you know who you are in Jesus?

Jesus defines us with His Love.
In Him we are loved, accepted and belong!  And when that grips our hearts, we can 'walk' on the stormy waters of rejection, chaos, brokenness.  THEY DO NOT NEED TO DEFINE US!
GOD DOES!!!
Having said that, I am not saying it doesn't hurt or that we glibly go along in life; I'm saying that pain should not define us, it should be a stepping stone to Jesus. A gateway to sitting at His feet and learning more of Him.

Sometimes we feel more like the disciples in Mark 4:38-39 ...
As the disciples were rowing, Jesus was sleeping and a storm came up.  The waves were high and filling the boat with water.  The disciples panicked and Jesus continued to sleep.  Finally, they could take it no longer and woke Jesus up shouting,  Master, Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?

Jesus awoke, stood up and rebuked the wind, "Peace, be still."  The wind stopped and there was a great calm.

Then Jesus turns to the disciples  and asks them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

With Jesus in the boat, He would've taken care of the disciples, it just wasn't looking like they wanted it to.

I believe Jesus wanted them to trust Him, to ride the storm with peace in their heart, because Peace was with them.  They forgot that.  Or maybe they didn't understand Jesus yet...  because it says the disciples were terrified, "Who is this Man?  even the wind and waves obey Him"

We have this story to remind us to ride with Jesus, trusting that He will save us in His way.  Trusting that He does notice our storm, even though it may feel like He is sleeping (Psalm 121:3-4 says He never slumbers nor sleep)

The Peace of Jesus often doesn't look like we want it to ...
but may our storm cause us to ask Him to show us His Greater Truth and shed His Light of Truth on our pain or battle.

The peace of Jesus is not a calm life; but a life who Jesus calms in the midst of storm and battle. - Judith Lapp

The Stream and Life

I love to hear the rushing and gurgling of water as it ripples over the rocks of a stream.
In the springtime the streams are swollen with water and life is starting to show forth out of the brown earth around.
In the summer, rains swell the stream with water, brimming and flowing, pulsing with current.

There are two streams, one I see is clear and sparkling, making music over the rocks and around the logs.

Another stream is muddy with water rushing onward, flowing over any obstacle that may be in its path, making music.

Music.  Both streams.

Isn't that sometimes life?  Our stream may be flowing - clear and musical.  Life may make sense and we sing.  It's easy to sing a song of praise and say God is good.

But sometimes, and it seems more times than not, our stream is muddy and life doesn't make sense.  Life's perplexities and questions remain unclear and muddled.  Our prayers seem to go unheeded.  Relationships are muddied and hard.  Jobs may not go as planned.

Can we still choose song?  Can we still choose praise?  Can we still say God is good?

I am reading a book by Jennifer Rothschild - God is Just Not Fair.  Wow.  She says some powerful truths and speaks from her personal journey of becoming blind as a teenager and grapples with the hard questions, bringing them before her Heavenly Father.
Go to jenniferrothschild.com or better yet, purchase a copy of her book, so you can digest and re-digest the truths she shares.
Her life's story is a musical.  Her life's story is hard.

What do we do when our stream is muddied??

We can either flow onward, choosing to stay alive or become a pool, dammed by the rocks and most likely become stagnant and hard.

Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual.  Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him?  - Oswald Chambers

Like waters in the muddy stream, we can still make music as we flow onward; unless we get stuck in corner and become stagnant waters.
Hard is not wasted when we learn to bring our hard to God, our Heavenly Father.

Song comes when we choose to trust the Hand and Heart of our Father.  It's not a song we force to sing or melody that we labour to produce; but it FLOWS... ever onward and only because we choose to go forward with our Father.  He produces the song through His grace and love and redemption of our hearts.

Habakkuk 3:17-18  "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice IN THE LORD, I will be joyful IN GOD MY SAVIOUR."

In the stream, the song is loudest and most musical when there are rocks or waterfalls...
It's peaceful and tranquil when there are no obstacles...

We need both in life...   moments where we can sit and hearts take a deep breath... calming, rejuvinating... restoring...
and the rocks and mud, they keep us humble, dependent; reminding us of our need of God as we move with Him.

And it seems, in those hard moments, when we choose to stay with God, trusting His heart is good towards us; our song is the truest.
It's melody purest when we believe His Greater Truth in the muddied waters of life.

Let God make your life His musical masterpiece; turning beauty and song out of the joy and sorrow of your story.