Leaning

I’d like to introduce you to “The leaning tree.”  This tree is huge.  When you look at him, he seems to be leaning towards the side and as your eyes follow his trunk, you see the top reaching for the sky. 

I wonder why he’s shaped the way he is?  There are several possibilities.  Maybe, when he was just a sapling he was in a spot that provided no shelter from the wind.  He may not have been able to remain straight and tall with the wind blowing constantly from one direction. 

Or, possibly he didn’t sprout in good rich soil.  It’s hard to hang on when all you encounter is rock. 

Or he may have been pushed down by another tree.

Or he may have had to grow sideways to find the sun in an area where other trees were blocking it out.

But with the creator’s help he survived.  He’s been growing in this spot among a forest of others for maybe 70 to 100 years.  But I believe that God planned for him to be just what and where he is, because that tree has something to teach – something  the creator wants me to know.  Let’s think about lessons from the tree.

Lesson number one - There will be wind and sometimes it hurts. 

The wind likely blew this tree so hard that he couldn’t stand up under it.  God’s word tells us that, in our growing, there will be trials like the wind that will push us down, but with God’s help we can still grow. 

Job 21:18 (NIV)

How often are they like straw before the wind, . . .

Matthew 7:25 (NIV)

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house . . . .

We’ll finish that scripture later. 

Psalm 34:19 (NIV)

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord 

delivers him from them all;

Yes, there will be troubles and trials and wind in our lives – but remember the tree survived and so can we.  The scripture says that “The Lord delivers him from them all.”  We can count on that.

And to finish the verse about the house on the rock – the rains came, the winds blew but the house stood firm - because it was built on trust in God.  We will have winds blowing us about, but they don’t need to blow us down – and they won’t, when we depend on our God.

The next lesson is

·       There will be rocks in the way.

My big old tree grows in an area where rock is abundant.  When we built our house here, we had to blast in order to dig the basement foundation.  When I want to plant flowers I have to haul in top soil – consequently we don’t have a very big flower garden.

The scripture tells us that building a house on a rock is a good thing, but it’s very difficult to grow something when the ground is rocky.  Remember the parable of the sower.  The farmer sowed his seeds and some fell on rocky ground and couldn't reach the moisture.    

God tells the tree and He tells us not to be discouraged when all we find is rock.  He says he will never forsake us.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

The tree doesn’t move around like we do, but God will direct our paths and keep us from being discouraged when it’s hard to reach good soil.

I think this may be a lesson that we all need to learn – there are rocks in the way of our happiness – of our growth.  There always will be, because we live in a rocky land.  Our world is full of obstacles, and just like the tree, we need to continue to reach around them in order to find the truth of God’s love and his plans for us.

Those rocks could be our background, our financial situations, our health or maybe just day to day problems. 

How do we find the water of life in this rocky land? 

Well, we continue to search.  The tendrils on the roots of the tree continue to probe and reach into tiny cracks in the rock, until finally they find the soil. 

They find the way to nourishment by continuing.  At this stage in our lives we sometimes feel that we’re too tired – too old – too anything to learn something (remember the silly thing about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks? – well they are wrong!)  Because God is not old – He’s eternal – but He’s not old.  God is not tired – He’s done everything we could imagine – but He’s not tired.  God is the one who will give us strength and direct our paths as we probe and reach into the cracks of our lives to learn and to grow.

There’s a great song that tells us -  God will make a way, where there seems to be no way.  Do you know it?

Psalm 48:14 (NIV)

For this God. is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.

Ephesians 3:17 (TLB)

And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love;  and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is;

Just like the tree we need to drink in the richness of His love and nourishment, and yes, just like the tree we need to find the sun.

That’s lesson number three – reach up to find the sun.

The Son of God is vital to our growing.  He is unchanging.  Every good thing comes from Him. 

James 1:17 (NIV)

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Without the sun, trees cannot grow.  Like the soil, the sun is necessary for growth.  I picture God the Father as the soil – that which we are planted in – that which we draw nourishment from – that which sustains us – that which we come from. 

And the sun reminds me that without the Son of God, we would be in darkness, because there is no way we could reach the perfection that is called for - by a Holy God.  Without the Son to pay the price of our salvation, we would be dead in sin. 

The Bible equates the sun with brightness, goodness and life.   In the book of Revelation we read that Christ’s face was like the sun.

Revelation 1:16 (NIV)

. . . . . His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Jesus tells us that He is the light of the world – the ultimate sun. 

John 8:12 (NIV)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

If trees could talk,

what would they tell

of struggles in their striving?

If trees could talk, then would you hear

your own tales of surviving?

As they explain what pain and want

they felt through sunless years,

would you feel empathy for them

cause you’ve spent time in tears?

And would you hear of God’s provision,

sunshine, soil, and power?

And would you hear of how He’d been

their strength in each dark hour?

Would you

 in them

 see things to learn

about the Father’s ways?

Would you see God through tales of wind

and rocks

and sunny days?

Like the trees, we will have wind and rocks and struggles, and like the trees – with His help, we’ll be able to reach and grow and stay.

The Solid Rock

When we say the word “Rock” what do you think of? A huge rock – skipping rocks as a child – a rock in your shoe - pebbles? How about one of the strongest rocks – granite?  It can hold 19,000 pounds per square inch.  Or maybe you think of a sedimentary rock that crumbles easily. 

I think sometimes about a place at our house that I call “coffee table rock.”  It’s a rocky point on the upper portion of our land that overlooks the canyon below and from which I can see peaks and mountains.  I like to sit there in the summer with a cup of coffee and just look at God’s beautiful paintings and think of Him on the rock He created. 

Today we’re going to talk about another rock.

One of the names the Hebrew Old Testament uses to describe God is “Adonai Tsuri.” Which means The Lord, My Rock.

There are many scriptures describing God as “My Rock.”  Let’s look at a few of them.

Psalm 144:1-2 starts out by saying

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock  . . . .” and then it goes on to describe God.  “He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge . . .”

Psalm 62:7

David says, “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty Rock, my refuge.”

2 Samuel 22:32 

For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?

It goes on to say

“The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!

There are more.

Psalm 19:14

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer?

King David spoke of God in the last words we read from him in the Bible.  He said in

2 Samuel 23:3 
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness and the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise . . .

All his life David viewed God as His Rock.  When you think about God, do you think about Him as a Rock?

I looked in the dictionary and these are some of the definitions I found under the word “Rock.”

·       Foundation

·       Support

·       Refuge

·       Solid 

What better word to represent God’s permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness than “MY ROCK.”  

When we pray to the Lord our Rock, we are praying to the God who can always be counted on.  His purposes and plans remain firm throughout history. 

The New Testament in 1 Cor 10, identifies Jesus as the spiritual Rock that accompanied the Israelites during their long journey through the desert. 

Much of the time we only think of Jesus being with us after He was born in Bethlehem as a man.  That is so far from the truth.  He is God Eternal.  He was, and is, and is to come.  He was with man from the beginning.  We also read that He is the cornerstone of God’s church, even though He was rejected by man.

The Bible is full of instances where rocks are used – not only as a metaphor, but physically. 

Rocks provided safety, shelter and shade in the wilderness and were used to construct alters, temples, houses and city walls.  Heaps of stones were also used to commemorate important events in Israel’s history.  God’s commandments, given to Moses, were etched on stone so that all generations would learn his law. 

The word “Rock” epitomizes God’s enduring faithfulness. 

There is an interesting account of a woman in the Old Testament named Hannah who referred to God as her Rock. 

In 1 Samuel we find that Hannah was a god-fearing Jewish woman who could not have children.  She prayed continually and sacrificed to God asking Him to give her a child.  

The Bible tells us that she went up to the “house of the Lord” and was praying silently for a child.  She promised God that, if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to God for all the days of his life.

Eli who was the priest at that time was there.  He saw her lips moving, but no words came out.  He thought she was drunk and confronted her. 

She said that wasn’t the case.  We read that “She told him ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. . . . . I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’

Eli answered ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’”

She went back home and before long Hannah gave birth to a son.  She named him Samuel. 

^“After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, and brought the boy to Eli, the priest, and she said to him, ‘I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.  I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord. .. for his whole life.’”

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn (or strength) is lifted high. . . .

 “There is no one holy like the Lord;
    there is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God."

God was Hannah’s Rock.  He was her support, her refuge, her foundation.  He was firm and solid.  He was to be depended on.

Her son, Samuel grew up to become an important prophet of God.  He served God – His mother’s Rock - all the days of his life.

Matthew 7 talks about a Rock as well.  Remember the parable of the wise and foolish builders?  Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount and at the end of it, He said

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the Rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the Rock.” 

Do you remember what happened to the foolish man who built on the sand?  Yes, as the little song says, “the house on the sand went – splat!”  The strong foundation is God.  The person who builds his life on God will always be able to trust his foundation.

Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

God is solid – a Rock we can depend on not to crumble – no matter what the weight we’ve put on it.  

God is that solid rock, not the sedimentary rock that’s made from a whole bunch of little pieces, ready to fall apart when a weight is put on it.

God is a Rock that can hold us, even when we are so feeble we can’t hold ourselves.  We are sheltered by God and have no need to fear tomorrow.  

God is there when the tears flow from our eyes.  He’s our strength in trials.  Remember – we can count on His strength – our Rock.

God is also there for us.  He’s our shelter when the winds of worry blow and threaten to knock us over – when we’ve lost our balance – when we feel the feet beneath us may give way – He is there - our solid, enduring foundation, never moving, never changing Rock.  If we rest in His strength we will never have to worry.

Like David said, "The Lord is my Rock"(Psalm 18:2)

Here’s a little poem I wrote to help me remember that truth. 

God is

A solid Rock to stand upon when feeble strength has fled

a shelter safe within the storm

where fears are quieted.

When my tears are shed from loneliness

or trials come my way,

my God is here - The Solid Rock

on which I trust, today.

When winds of strife and worry blow

I won’t feel insecure.

The Rock I stand on will not move.

My footing will be sure.

If only we rest on our God and trust Him in the storm

He'll be our Rock to stand upon, our shelter, safe and warm.

Diane Gruchow 2014

Scripture references from New International 
Version (NIV) unless otherwise specified.

Smile Makers

What makes you smile?

I wrote this little verse to commemorate 

national smile day, which according to my 

own personal calendar is today.

It's all in the way we look at it.  

                            

                             Sunshine and rain can bring smiles to our lives.

It’s our choice.

As the rings on a tree tell of rain and of drought

Do my wrinkles display what my life’s been about?

Do Laugh lines tell tales of how often I smiled?

It’s my choice.

Or maybe I find when I look in the mirror

My mother and grandmother’s faces appear.

Recently we attended the funeral for a very special man.  His name was Al Hamilton.  Al was an amazingly happy person.  I don't think he had much in the way of worldly goods.  I don’t know if he even owned a home, but most everything that was given to him, he gave away.

He worked as a missionary in Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Kenya, the Sudan and many other locations overseas. 

Al touched many ministries and people in his life.  He was director of Missions Services International.  He founded Pioneer Bible Translators, Outreach International, which is a ministry that recruits people to work in the unreached areas of the world.  Al founded Youth Educational Services, providing short term missions opportunities for students who want to serve in other countries.   He also served as a minister in several churches in the US and inspired, taught, mentored, discipled, and led many people to “proclaim Christ to the nations” – which was always his focus.

But with all of the things he accomplished in his life – Al would smile and say, remember Phil 2:13, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  He wanted to bring pleasure to the Almighty God, and I believe he did.

There was such joy in the face of Al Hamilton, and he has passed that trait on to the many people who were close to him.  He taught us to give and he taught us to laugh.  I talked to a young man at the funeral who told me about the advice Al gave him on raising his son.  He said that Al told him, “Teach that little one to laugh, the world will teach him all he needs to know about frowning.”

Al would always bring a smile to the faces of children – and the faces of anyone willing to “lighten up” a bit.  He was an amazing worker for God and an amazingly happy person.

Let’s talk about being that happy person.  What makes us grow laugh lines on the “ear” side of our eyes, instead of that frown line between our eyes?

Let’s talk a few ingredients that, I believe will grow smiles for us, like they did for our friend. I’ll call them wrinkle removers.

Knowledge, Friendship, Love, Security, and Peace

There is a secret place that all of those things can be found.  Well it’s not so secret – they are displayed to us in the Bible.  They come from the heart of God.

Let’s see if we can find them.

KNOWLEDGE – does that make us smile?

Proverbs – written partially by Solomon, who asked God for knowledge and wisdom tells us the following:

Proverbs 2:10

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. 

Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul – knowledge of God will make you smile.

And then in 2 Corinthians 4:6  we read about knowledge of our most awesome God.  Paul calls that knowledge, light!

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

What could give us more joy and happiness than knowing God?

Our next wrinkle remover is

FRIENDSHIP – generally friendships make us smile.

It’s something to give away, and something that we receive.  Job tells us of his intimate friendship with God. 

Job 29:4

Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

Job had been blessed by his friendship with God, and that friendship gave him the freedom even to question and complain to God.  That kind of closeness is rare even in friendships on earth.

In John 15:15, Jesus is talking to His disciples, and He tells them, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.” 

If we are His disciples, His followers, Jesus calls us friends as well.

Let’s think about what James says about Abraham.  James 2:23

“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.

Because he believed God, God called him “friend.”

The third wrinkle removing ingredient is

LOVE – of course that makes us happy.

There are so many wonderful scriptures about the love of God.  Think about what God told Moses that He (God) was like.

Exodus 34:6 tells us

(GOD) passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,

God says He abounds in love for man.

---

John says that God’s love is lavished on us as well. 

1 John 3:1

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 John 4:10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The fourth ingredient would be

SECURITY – did you ever think of how pleasant security is?

 

We can smile because we’re secure in God.  I love this verse – it’s the only one I’ll use here because it’s so powerful.

Psalm 112:6-8

Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
    they will be remembered forever.
They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.

And the last smile-maker is PEACE.

It’s hard to smile if we don’t have peace.

John 14:27

We read that Jesus told his disciples – and he tells us. “

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

And then finally,

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

So what can put a smile on your face, like it did for our friend, Al? 

Knowledge – knowing God.

Friendship – the friendship of our savior. 

Love – the love of God

Security – feeling secure in the arms of our God

And

Peace – the perfect peace we have because we know about the friendship, love and security that comes from God, our father, and His Son, the Prince of Peace.

From Diane

All scripture references from the NIV of the Bible

The Road to Calvary

Easter is coming – that glorious day, the day we celebrate Christ’s

resurrection.  

But today I’d like to talk about the time before that day.  This was the time of confusion, pain, suffering and sadness. 

Like so many times in our lives, before joy, there is pain.  And sometimes, before joy, there is a decision that must be made and a stand that must be taken. 

This is the way it was for Jesus. 

The steps that led Jesus, the Messiah, to Calvary began in the dawn of time when a beautiful angel decided he wanted to be God.  That angel, Lucifer, was so puffed up with pride that he no longer deserved to be in God’s presence.  He took others with him and a war began – the war between good and evil, between God and Satan. 

That fallen star, Lucifer, convinced God’s children, His perfect creation, to sin.  Just as Lucifer took other angels with him when he left God, so he took Adam and Eve with him into the darkness of sin. 

But God loved His children and designed a way to bring them back into the light.  That way was the road to Calvary - the dark, sad road that would, at last, lead to everlasting light – to salvation – to eternity.

This week we remember the final steps that Jesus took on that pitiful road.  We remember His entry into Jerusalem – Palm branches strewn on the road – people singing at the top of their lungs of the Messiah that they believed Jesus to be. 

Luke 19:37 tells us,

“ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

. . . As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 

Jesus felt sadness and deep sorrow for the city that was known as the “City of God,” sorrow for the people who expected a military king to rescue them from the clutches of Herod, instead of a heavenly King who would rescue them from the clutches of Satan.

During that week Jesus would gather His disciples together for the Passover meal and at that gathering He would give them instructions on how to love, not only each other, but all of the children of His Father. And Jesus would wash their feet to show them an example of what a servant should be like. 

Jesus would give them a supper to help them always remember what He was going to do for them very soon.  We celebrate that supper even today – it is what Christians call, “The Lord’s Supper.” 

And after the meal was over, Jesus and His disciples walked to a garden.   

This would be a garden of prayer and the garden of sorrow.  In that place the disciples would struggle with Satan.  Jesus asked them to watch and pray with Him, but Satan wanted them to sleep.  The evil one didn’t want them to see their suffering Savior.  Satan won that struggle and the disciples slept while Jesus sweat drops of blood, knowing what was in store for Him.  He prayed earnestly to His Father for Himself, for those disciples and for each one of us.

John records the words of Jesus, Jesus was praying for His disciples and He said to His Father,

“I pray for those you have given me.  They are yours.  I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world.  I’m coming to you, Holy Father, so please protect them by the power of your name.  . . My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. . .”

Then Jesus goes on to say,

       “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. . . .  Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Think of that - He was suffering, knowing what was going to happen to Him, and He loved us so much that He took that time to pray to His Father for you and for me.

Then Jesus rose, woke His disciples, and went to the place that He knew He would meet the minion of Satan – Judas, who would betray Him. 

The most amazing thing happened there – We read about it in Matthew 28

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived.

With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. . . .   Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

Then the men in the crowd stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said,  . . .  “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

 . . . Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”   At that point all the disciples deserted him and fled.

And now on His road to Calvary.  Jesus would be tried - unfairly.  He would suffer great physical agony.  He would suffer the agony of separation from His Father, and He would die on that cross. 

Fortunately that was not the end of the story.  In a way, it was only the beginning.    

My words cannot express the suffering of our Savior, so I won’t try.  But my words can try to express the gratitude that I feel that He was willing to suffer for our sake, for yours and for mine. 

I tried to put my poet’s mind on what Jesus might have written about that road – the road to Calvary, and I wrote;

The night that Satan thought he had me,

the night he’d planned his victory,

the night his servant Judas kissed me,

began the road to Calvary.

Rough arms came, reached out, and seized me.

My dear friend drew his sword to fight.

“Put back your sword,” I said to Peter,

“It has to be this way tonight.”

Oh don't you think I could withstand them

without your help if I should try.

Oh don't you know ten thousand angels would be at hand

with just a cry.

And then I asked of those who seized me,

Why did you come with clubs and swords

while every day I sat among you

teaching in the temple courts?

And on those days did you arrest me?

No, now you come in evening’s hour.

For Satan's way is always darkness

and you -  by hating, give him power

Oh don't you think I could withstand you

at any time if I should try.

Oh don't you know ten thousand angels would be at hand

with just a cry.

But lead me on the way to Calvary.

We'll take the road together now.

I'll walk along - no need to drag me

for I won't use my heavenly power.

Oh I could call ten thousand angels

if I wanted to be free.

But my love for you will keep me silent,

until I die upon that tree.

My love for you is what will hold me

upon that cursed redemption tree.

Diane

All quotes from the New International 

Version of the Bible.  Poem by Diane 

Gruchow © 1997

A Senior Sings

This is Morris Ballinger and Mark Nikkel. Morris wrote the song. Beautiful - from the heart.