Inspirations from the Funny Farm

Psalm 139:13-18 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand–when I awake, I am still with you.

After working in the medical field for 30 years, I have no doubt that I was created by the supremacy of God. I have studied the human body at the cellular level. I’ve learned how intricately designed the human body is. There is absolutely no way that human beings were developed by happen chance, by a big bang, or whatever other theory may try to explain creation. There is just no way! Each and every part of the human body has a specific function, and the parts work together like the finest symphonic orchestra. When one part stops working, another part will try to compensate. If it can’t compensate, the body sends out red flags alerting the brain that something is wrong, and then medical attention is sought. We did not just evolve into human beings by happen chance. We were created in the image of our Creator.

In Psalm 139, the psalmist is praising God for creating him. He acknowledges that God created him and formed him within his mother’s womb, and that God had already ordained all the days of his life even before he was born. Then he praises God for having precious thoughts about him. He says he can not even count the number of thoughts that God has for him because the number of thoughts would outnumber the grains of sand.

Isn’t that incredible? God knit each of us together in our mother’s womb, He ordained our days before we were born, and He thinks about us all the time. The same Creator that formed the earth, the heavens, the oceans, and the mountains looked around and decided that the world needed you and needed me, and He created us. Not only did He create us, He never loses focus on us. He loves and cares for us so much that we are always in His thoughts.

Have you ever tried to sit on the beach and count the individual grains of sand? It would be impossible! But we are so precious to God that the sum of His thoughts for us are greater than the number of grains of sand! Whoa! God must really care about us! Yes, He does!

You were fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Father. You were created for a purpose. Dwell on these things when life gets hard, when you want to give up, or you feel like you are losing hope. Hang on tight to the hand of your heavenly Father. He loves you so much!

Colossians 4:5-6 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

I Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

My husband and I enjoy winding down at the end of the day with a good movie. Sometimes I can stay awake for the whole movie, but a lot of the time, I fall asleep. One night after a super busy day on the farm, I watched part of a movie that came on at 10:00. Jeff had been in the hay field all morning while I chased and caught bugs with my grandson and then made some cucumber mint jam. We picked 4 bushels of purple hull peas as evening approached, and quite honestly, although I wanted to watch the movie, I couldn’t hold my eyes open. I asked Jeff to save it on DVR. Maybe we’ll watch it another night.

It was a cute movie, but what caught my attention was the idea of “churching”. There was a young lady who moved in with her ex-mother-in-law after the death of her ex-father-in-law. She was supposed to be helping the woman pack up, but she also wanted to help her through her grieving. The mother-in-law was very involved in her church, but the young lady had never been to church in her life. While packing, she found a Bible. It was Sunday morning so she suggested to the mother-in-law that they go “churching”, and off they went.

As I said, I couldn’t stay awake for it all, but here are a couple of my take aways. First of all, I saw church through the eyes of someone who had never been to church before. She was rough around the edges, and she didn’t know “how things worked.” She stood up in the middle of the sermon and asked questions, and got the pastor flustered. She was told, “we don’t really ask questions during the sermon.” The second time she went, she stood up before the sermon began and said she was just going to ask her questions up front so as not to interrupt. She asked if this religion was the right religion and if so why were there so many other religions and what made this one the right one. The pastor chuckled as he informed her that she sure did ask easy questions. He seemed to recognize her desire for knowledge about Christ. The second thing I noticed was the way her “churching” upset the church. You see, there was a snooty old church lady who called a committee meeting after the second church visit. She complained about the young women’s disruptive behavior, demanded that the pastor do something about it, and even had the audacity to tell him what to preach the next Sunday.

As an adult who has been in church my entire life, I find it hard to put myself in the shoes of someone who has never had the blessing of being raised with a family of believers. As such, it is easy for us “church people” to look down our noses at the non-churched when they show up and don’t act like us. We turn into the snooty old church lady with a bad attitude. I don’t think we mean to. I think we just haven’t put ourselves in their shoes.

We are called to be wise in the way that treat outsiders with conversations full of grace and seasoned with salt. We are called to love like Jesus loves, and we are called to share the gospel with everyone…not just people who are like us. Church is not the building. It is the body of believers. So I challenge you to go “churching” today. Share the love of Christ with everyone you come in contact with…especially those who are a little rough around the edges!

Today’s word is an excerpt from my most recently released book “Inspirations from the Funny Farm.” The book includes a variety of true life stories and experiences from the farm as well as some family traditions and memories. I felt that today was a good day to share this. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

So many things have changed over the years. I think one thing that has changed that has made the biggest impact on our country is family structure. Everything about family structure has changed. Couples are divorcing in record number. Kids are being raised by single moms, single dads, and even same sex couples. Many kids today don’t recognize great parenting because they have never experienced it. I know that divorce happens, and I am not looking down on anyone that has been through a divorce. My parents divorced when I was 11 years old, and my first marriage ended in divorce. But I am one of the fortunate children of divorced parents. My daddy is an awesome Christian father, and he took his charge as daddy very seriously.

My daddy had all daughters. I was the tomboy of the bunch, and I loved doing all the things tomboys did. I have so many fond memories of my childhood that include my daddy. He was strict, but we knew that his strictness evolved from the love and concern he had for his children. He brought us to church the very first Sunday after we were born and pretty much every time the doors were open after that. We knew that Christ was important to him, and this knowledge and his faithfulness helped to build the foundation for us as we learned the ways of the Lord.
Daddy worked as a policeman when we were kids. I loved to spend time with him and thought of him as my own personal superhero. Daddy let me ride along with him in the patrol car many a night. Poplarville, MS, is a very small town, and there wasn’t a great deal of crime going on back then. He always kept things interesting though. We shot turtles off the city sewer treatment pond. We shined a spotlight at the streetlights to make them go dark. We spent many hours just sitting at the courthouse in the Sheriff’s office. I watched my daddy as he handled tough scenarios with grace and ease. Yes, he was and still is my hero.

After my parents divorced, Daddy was sad for a long while. Yet, he never waivered from being the strong Christian daddy that we knew him to be. Mama was a fighter. I loved her dearly, but facts are facts. She loved to pick fights with Daddy. The one thing that stands out most about my Daddy is that he never once fought back. He never spoke ill of my mother to us. He never argued with her in front of us. He always turned the other cheek and carried on. Though he had been through the fire, his character was never singed. This, my friends, is the kind of daddy that our society is sorely lacking. I praise God every day that he saw fit to make this wonderful man my daddy.

Jeff and I are both fortunate in this area. Jeff also has a wonderful father, and I am so lucky because he is now my father-in-law. We call Jeff’s dad Paw Paw JB. Jeff has told me some truly awesome stories of his childhood, and I know that he feels as blessed to have him for a dad as I do to have my own daddy. The first time I met Paw Paw JB, Jeff had warned me that Paw Paw probably wouldn’t like me. Yep, he actually told me that. He quickly followed that statement with, “but he’s gonna love you once he gets to know you. I promise.” Naturally, I was scared to death to meet him after that introduction. Jeff had invited me to go with his family to see the Christmas lights at Cassidy Park in Bogalusa. We stopped off at his parent’s house to pick up his mom, Nanny. Paw Paw had just come back home, and I quickly introduced myself to him. I stuck out my right hand to shake his hand. He had a bucket of worms in one hand. He kind of mumbled a hello and turned away. He did not shake my hand. I must admit, I was terrified of that man. Thankfully, that changed very quickly. As we got to know one another, I grew to love Paw Paw. He slowly let down that tough outer shell, and we got to know each other quite well.

For the first few years of our marriage, Jeff worked overseas a month at a time. Paw Paw would stop by on Saturday mornings and check in on me and our place. I would fix him a cup of coffee, and he slowly began to talk to me. He told me many stories from his youth. We discussed politics in depth, the problems of the world, and we developed a mutual respect for one another. He is 82 years old now, and he can still out work most people half his age. He has been a wonderful father to my husband through the years, and he is now a great grandfather.

Jeff and I have been truly blessed with great dads, and we know it. One of us is the product of divorce and the other is not. Two different men, two different pasts, two different career paths, but very much similar in the ways that they chose to lead their families. The difference between our dads and some other dads is that these men had strong Christian upbringings, and both became Christians themselves. They take their job as daddy very seriously. They love their family, children and grandchildren with their whole hearts, and they lead by example teaching those coming up behind them how to live a good life. We are very fortunate indeed. I realize that some of you may not have had the same good fortune to have dads like our dads but take heart. You have a Father who is even greater than the wonderful dads that we have. Our Father in heaven loves us more than we can even comprehend, and He wants a relationship with us. He doesn’t just want a Sunday morning relationship. He wants us to know Him as Daddy, Abba, Father. He knows our innermost thoughts and needs, and He desires that we come to Him for everything: the good, the bad, and the ugly. He desires a close relationship with his children. Just imagine seeing your daddy once a week for an hour or two and then not talking to him or seeing him or thinking about him for another week at which time you decided to give him another hour or two of your time. What kind of relationship would that be? Definitely not a very good one. But that is the type of relationship so many professing to be Christians have with Christ. They have a Sunday morning service relationship and that is it. Can you really know Christ that way? The answer is no. However, when we talk to Christ in the morning when we arise, before meals, all throughout the day, and then again before we slumber each night, we develop a strong relationship with our Father. We begin to know Him and rely on Him and seek Him. Then we truly become His children. We cannot do it all on our own, but with Him, we can do all things!

“I can do all things through Christ strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
“A father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:13
“Start children off in the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it. Psalm 22:6

“You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble, and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:78

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

Matthew 4:4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

Jeremiah 15:16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

We have had so many bottle baby critters through the years. We have bottle fed wild baby deer, skunks, possums, raccoons, squirrels, and flying squirrels. We have also bottle fed calves, goats, sheep, coatimundi, lemur, and a kangaroo. When we bottle feed the critters they become very social animals, and they love interacting with humans. This is one commonality between all the critter species!

When we first get the hungry babies, we know we have to feed them. They have to continue getting nourishing milk so that they can survive, stay healthy, and gain strength. However, they are just babies, and they don’t realize that this kinky headed woman with a plastic nipple is trying to feed and nourish them. I’ll admit, the first few days are usually a struggle. After they finally learn to latch on to the bottle, it seems that they can’t get enough milk. They start eating well, and their appetites are voracious.

As Christians, we need to crave the word of God like these babies crave milk. We need to eat the word of God like the prophet Jeremiah. We need the word for survival. The word of God provides healing, strength, wisdom, and life. Just as physical food nourishes our physical bodies, the word of God nourishes our spiritual body. We need it to survive and grow.
Now, sometimes we think that we don’t have time for studying God’s word. We go to church on Sunday so that’s probably giving us enough spiritual nutrition to keep us going, right? Wrong! We make time to eat 3 hot meals a day for our physical health, but we seem to think we can get by on 1 or 2 snacks a week for our spiritual health.

God wants us to be in His word daily, but He doesn’t expect you to read it all day and all night every day. However, He does expect you to make time for Him daily though. We make time to eat, right? No matter how busy we get, when our stomachs start growling, we put some food in our bellies. Our spiritual body and mind crave a continual feeding of the word, and we should study the word every day to satisfy that need as well.

God knows we’re busy. He knows everything that’s going on in our lives, but He wants us to know Him better, to have a closer walk with Him, to feel His presence all day every day. One way to do this is by setting aside a special time each day to read the Bible. We may not understand all the words. We don’t need to study a new language. We don’t have to be a Bible scholar. We only need to read, soak in the words, reflect on them, and listen to what God has to say.

It may be hard to get into the habit at first. Getting those bottle babies to take the bottle the first couple of days is always a challenge, but just like they learn to latch on and crave the bottle, once we get into the habit of studying the Bible, we will develop voracious appetites for God’s Word. Start out slow and go. Go feed on the Word!!

(The image attached is a picture of Bucky, an axis deer. He isn’t a bottle baby anymore, but anytime there is a bottle baby in the barn Bucky gets a sip of the bottle.)

I Kings 18:26-39 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”

I love the example that Elijah gave us in this scripture exhibiting the true power of God. When we read through the book of Kings we see king after king who “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” Ahab was no exception. In fact, the scripture says that King Ahab did more evil than any of the kings before him. He must have been a pretty rotten scoundrel. God caused a drought that had lasted 3 years. Ahab was seeking the prophet Elijah will ill intent. Elijah showed up, and called all of the people together for a test. He told Ahab we’ll set up alters and all 450 of your prophets can call on your god, and me, one lone prophet, will call on my God, and we will see who the true God is. So they set up their alters, and King Ahab’s men called on Baal, their god, from morning to evening. They did not get a response. I chuckle a little when I read Elijah’s taunting words. He told them that maybe their god was asleep. Maybe they needed to shout louder and wake him up, or perhaps he was busy, or traveling, or in deep thought. So they shouted louder. But still no answer.

Then Elijah got his turn. He prepared the alter, then he poured water all over the alter…lots of water…enough for it to puddle up under the alter. Then he quietly called out to God. God sent fire down from heaven with so much force and heat that it burned the entire altar, the stones, the dust, and even licked up all of the water! The people witnessed the power of the one true God once more, and they turned to Him. And after a 3 year drought, rain came. It’s almost like the rain came down to gently wash and clean up that terrible place.

The people of Israel saw God work first hand on many occasions, but they persistently turned to false gods. We aren’t the biblical time Israealites, but we are just as guilty. We see the power of God on a daily basis, but we worship earthly idols. Perhaps not with intention, as the Israealites did, but we are guilty nonetheless. We focus our minds and energy and waste soooooo much time on TV, computers, cell phones, whatever it may be. We worry about the dollar, our house, and our vehicles. We want this or that. We think if only I could get this _ (fill in the blank), we would be happy, when actually what we are truly craving and in need of is a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior! He is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present. He doesn’t sleep, vacation, get too busy for us, and we are always on His mind. He is all we really need. The one true God is still here. The same God Elijah called on is the same God I talk to every day. You don’t have to shout or scream to get His attention. You must simply call out His name! He is the one true God!

Psalm 34:1-4 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 63:3-4 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

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

Do you ever just want to turn everything off…the news, the TV, the radio? Ugghh! That old saying, “No news is good news” has a whole lot of weight to it recently! I’m so very tired of all of the bad news that I keep hearing. There is so much evil going on in this world right now that it’s hard to see the good. It makes me want to run away to a desert island somewhere and just get away from it all…but then there’s God. No matter what is going on in this crazy world, I know that God is right here with me, seeing me through every challenge, and guiding my way so there is no need to run away. I only need to run…to Him!

I think we all create a perfect picture in our minds of how our lives are supposed to look, and when things happen that change the look of our lives, we may briefly forget that God is still right there with us. We can’t lose hope though. We can praise God through the storm because we have faith that His plan is always so much better than our plan!

David is a great example. He was the golden child anointed to be the next king. In his youth, he slayed the giant Goliath. He led multiple successful military campaigns, and he even married the daughter of King Saul. He must have had a beautiful picture in his mind of how his life would be. He served the Lord faithfully except for that one little hiccup with Bathsheba. Yet even with the almost perfect life, David found himself running from Saul, who wanted to kill him, for about 10 years and later running from his own son. But what did David do? He praised God. He knew that God would see him through whatever sticky situation that came his way, so he simply praised God. Take some time to read through the Psalms. David journaled his life in song and poetry in the Psalms. He cried out to God in anguish, but He never stopped praising Him!

We have to realize that God’s destiny for our lives doesn’t change because of our circumstances. The picture perfect life we have in our mind’s eye doesn’t even come close to the perfect plan that God has in store for us.

Although our lives look nothing like we pictured them at the moment, we can still praise God and rejoice in Him and His promises. He has big plans in store for us, and I’m willing to bet that it’s a picture perfect plan!

John 3:16-17 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Normally, my morning devotions are written as an encouragement to myself with hopes of encouraging others, but today’s word is a little different. I recognized a trait in myself a couple of years ago. I realized that I was a bit of a narrow minded christian. Yep, I admit it. My narrow mindedness revolved around the fact that I had been brought up in church my whole life, and I just assumed that everyone I knew had that same good fortune. I was wrong. When I began to ask people where they attended church, I was overwhelmed by the number of responses I received from people telling me that they didn’t really go to church. It blew me away and broke my heart. As christians, we walk around with the absolute best news in the world, and we forget to share it with others. In case by chance you are reading this and you don’t know Christ, please keep reading. This one is for you!

We Mississippi Baptist refer to accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior as getting “saved”. I can remember a few years ago when joyfully discussing a co-workers child getting saved when a Catholic co-worker asked what we meant by the term “getting saved”. Narrow minded me thought everyone knew what that meant. It became apparent to me that even from church to church our “christianese” is different. See how narrow minded I was? At any rate, I explained what getting saved means, and I would like to try to do that today. It’s important so please stick with me.

God created the heavens and the earth. If you read Genesis 1:26, you will see the plural pronoun “our” when God said let us make man in our image. This shows us the trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit’s presence at the time of the creation of earth and everything on it. There was a plan for you and I from the very beginning. Flip over to Matthew, and you can read about the birth of the Messiah. God sent His Son, Jesus to earth to be born as man, fully God and fully man, for a purpose. The purpose was for you and I to have a personal relationship with the Father and enjoy eternity with Him in heaven. You see, Jesus was crucified on a cross. He was crucified for the sins of mankind. He was completely sinless and perfect in every way. He had never so much as told a little white lie. Yet, He suffered a horrible agonizing death on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven. Three days later, He arose from the dead. The grave could not contain Him. Death could not win. He ascended to heaven but promises to return, and between you and me, that time looks like it is drawing near! When He ascended, He left with us a comforter, the Holy Spirit, and when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit resides within us to comfort us, lead us in the right direction, let us know when we are doing wrong, and helps to keep us on the right path.

I know this may sound like some big crazy sci-fi story. Who in the world would die for sinners? Who would selflessly die for murderers, thieves, liars, and even for me? Who would suffer an agonizing painful death so that I may live eternally? His name is Jesus. He is God in the flesh, and He loves you so much that He did all of this just for you! Why would He do that? Because He loves you! When we die, our souls will have a final destination: heaven or hell. With Jesus, your final address will be heaven. Without Him, it will be hell.
How do you get Jesus? How do you get saved? It doesn’t cost even one red cent! All you have to do is admit you are a sinner. We all are sinners. Read Romans 3:23, Roman’s 6:23, and I John 1:9. Believe that He died on the cross for your sins and was resurrected from the dead. Read John 3:16. And finally confess and choose Christ. Confess and allow Jesus to be in charge of your life. Read Romans 10:9 and Romans 10:13.

People ask me all the time how I always keep a smile on my face or why I always seem happy even when things aren’tgoing well. Happiness comes and goes, but the joy of knowing Jesus as my personal Savior continues through all of the goodness and badness life throws at me because I know that He is mine and I am His! Read Roman’s 15:13. Why don’t you get to know Him today?

Psalm 103:17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.

Ephesians 4:2-3 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Family has always been of great importance to me. Our ways are probably considered old fashioned, but we still gather together as one big family for Sunday lunches after church. We have our grown kids over for supper at least once a week, and we sit down as a family for our evening meal every day. This gives us opportunities to love on our kids, hear what is going on in their lives, and share what is going on in ours. I value this time with family. It is more precious that diamonds!

God created humans with the family unit in mind. He designed it so that we would have parents and grandparents to impart their wisdom upon us, children for us to love and teach and guide, siblings to enjoy times of togetherness and joy, heartaches and heart breaks, and spouses to share in all of life’s ups and downs. He knew when He created us that family situations sometimes will get messy, and He provided a means for guidance and wisdom for any and every situation we may encounter. We have His Word to stand on and to guide us, the Holy Spirit within us, and God is ready to protect and bless our families through any and every situation we may encounter.

My greatest desire and constant prayer as a parent is for all of my children to follow Christ, to desire a closeness with Him, and follow the path that He designed specifically for them. I am so thankful for the many family blessings that God has bestowed on me. I am especially thankful for each and every member of my family. Family is so important to Christ, and I am so thankful for the family God gave me! Praying for your families today!

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Last month, I awoke with a little soreness in my lower back. Before it was all said and done, I had a back ache that lasted several weeks. I hadn’t done anything to cause the pain, but when you’re in your 50s, aches and pains just show up out of nowhere! I took a hot showers, and my sweet husband rubbed me down with Aspercreme with Lidocaine. I highly recommend this stuff. Keep it on hand. You won’t regret it! Today, the back pain is completely gone.

I started thinking about that back pain and that it felt like I was carrying a monkey on my back all day long. (Of course, I would relate it to an animal. Lol) But then, I started thinking about old Satan and how he sneaks in when we least expect it and jumps on our back. We then seem to try to carry the weight of the whole world around, and we slowly get bogged down and consumed by the weight of it all.

Everything around us seems to be going well, and then all of a sudden that old devil is riding on our back. He seeks to destroy everything good, and he always seems to show up when things are at their best. You want to know why? The devil can not stand to see us walking with Christ. He can’t stand to see us working for God, serving God, and doing well. If that old devil is trying to take a piggyback ride on your back, I can guarantee you that you are doing something right! If you aren’t living for Christ, he doesn’t give a two hoots about what you’re doing so he’ll leave you alone. But if you are feeling the attack, rest easy my friend, you are working for Christ, and Christ has already defeated that old devil! Scripture tells us that we will be persecuted if we are living a godly life. We can expect it, and knowledge is power.

When we know a storm is coming, we prepare. Well, my friend, spiritual warfare is here, and it’s time to prepare for battle! So how do I get the devil off my back? Aspercreme, as good as it is, will not help this problem. Nope! We have to bring in the big guns. The very first thing to do is pray. Call out to Christ. He has already defeated the devil, and He will deliver you from the evil one too. Get in the Word. Read all of the promises made to you by God, and trust in these. Lean on the promises of God. Memorize and quote that scripture. Use the sword of God to defend yourself. And while you are wielding that sword around, don’t forget to put on the full armor of God. He will protect His kids!

Just remember, it is not who you are that wins the battle, but “whose” you are! Keep fighting the evil one. God’s already decided who gets to win the battle!

Psalm 95:1-5 Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.

I’m sitting here in the Dallas Fortworth Airport trying to get home. Our layover flight has been delayed, and we likely won’t make it home until 3:00 am. I have found myself with a few hours of idle time, and I confess that I don’t idle well. I am trying to return home after eight days of vacation after all, so I’m kind of in a hurry to get back home to the family and the critters. However, there is nothing I can do but wait…and praise God…and tell you good folks about the wonderful vacation we are returning home from.

My husband, Jeff, planned this vacation, booked it, and handled all of the details. All I had to do was pack and go. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’ll admit that I was a bit leary, but as always everything turned out even better than expected. He booked an eight day vacation in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Oh, I’ve seen the Tetons first hand before and was very happy to return. The part I wasn’t sure about was the middle 4 days and 3 nights of the trip. Those days would be spent on a wagon train in the mountains, camping in cowboy tents….without the comforts of electricity….or running water. This country girl can adapt, but I must admit that I have a great fondness for electricity and hot showers!

Although I wasn’t sure what to expect, the moment that we landed at the Jackson Hole Airport, I knew that this would be a vacation of a lifetime. How? It was simple. I was greeted by the majesty of the Grand Tetons upon landing, and I saw, once again, with my very own eyes the absolute majesty of our Lord and Savior. The splendor and detail of His creation took my breath away. I just knew that everything would be alright.

We spent a couple of days in the town of Jackson Hole, WY, and on the third day, a bus picked us up and drove my husband and I and 34 other strangers up into the mountains to a very remote place. We were given a brief overview, served lunch, and then we either rode horseback or rode in covered wagons to our campsite. Once we arrived, we set up our tents and began to get busy getting to know the crew and the other campers. Each day, we rode horses, enjoyed visiting with new found friends, learned to throw knives and tomahawks and learned to rope a steer, and each night we slept under the stars. We also learned to share an outhouse with about 50 people. The cook served delicious hot meals three times a day cooked over an open fire and in Dutch ovens. After a good nights sleep each night, we awoke each morning to hot cowboy coffee and a hot breakfast. We would then break down our tents, pack up camp, and travel by horse or by wagon to the next camp.

My description probably doesn’t sound terribly exciting, but I must confess that this was truly one of my most memorable vacations ever. It was definitely different than any we have taken before, but it was not a bad kind of different. On the trail, we prayed openly before every meal inviting God into our camp and asking his blessings on our trip as well as praising Him for His goodness and glory. We went up on that mountain with 34 strangers and about 10 wranglers who were also strangers, but in four short days, we made friendships that will last a lifetime. We had no cell phones or internet distractions. There were no electronic devices. We had the mountain, the wagons, the horses, and the people. We communicated with one another. We shared our life stories, and we listened. We were taken back to a different time when people actually communicated with one another, worked together, prayed together, and laughed together. Most importantly, we saw and experienced the great majesty of our Lord. We were surrounded by unexplainable beauty.

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Sometimes, we need to slow down and get away from the chaos of everyday life so that we can remind ourselves of the greatness of our God. We tend to get so overwhelmed with all of the white noise that roars in our ears daily, and it becomes difficult to recognize God’s majesty. You don’t have to go up on a mountain, my friend, but I do pray that you take some time to look for God in all things each day. He is in the glorious morning sunrises and the late evening sunsets. He is in the laughter of a baby, the colorful fluttering wings of a butterfly, and in all of the vibrant flowers we see each day. For it is our great God that created all of these things. His majesty is on the mountains for sure, but it can also be found in the valleys. You don’t have to take a vacation to find Him. He is right here, right now, waiting for you to enjoy His presence. Let us sing praises and shout joyfully to the Lord of our salvation.