Tag Archives: a step onward and upward

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Give me a sign, Lord. Then I’ll…. ooops!

Give me a sign, Lord. Then I'll...oops

Well, here’s your sign laying in the road.  I stopped, backed up, and moved the sign off of the pavement. It started me to thinking.  Did someone hit this sign with their car because they didn’t see it?  Maybe they were going too fast, or texting while driving, or so preoccupied with whatever was happening on their side of the windshield that they didn’t see what was on the other side of the windshield.  Whoa!!!!! What if they had hit a child instead of just the sign?  Would whatever reason they have for this collision be good enough to justify that they hit something or heaven forbid someone?

Signs, signs, everywhere signs (a 70’s rock song).  But do we read the signs?  Stop sign? only if there are other cars. Caution light?…..means hurry up before it turns red.  Yield sign?…… not if I’m havin’ a bad day buddy.   A slow- children at play sign? To someone it must mean plow into it and launch it from the shoulder of the road to the driving lane itself.

Too many of us live our lives the same way that we drive.  We concentrate on just what’s inside the windshield.  You know, me, myself, and I.  We even ask God to give us a sign and help me and what happens?  We plow right through it. Whoa!!!!!

Mark 8:11-12 The Voice   11 they were met by Pharisees—ready with their questions and tests—seeking some sign from heaven that His teaching was from God.

Jesus (sighing with disappointment): 12 Why does this generation ask for a sign before they will believe? ….

Why is Jesus disappointed?  He knows that He has already given us many signs.  He also has given us…… Himself.  Yet, we try to do it without Him, focus on our inward selfish lives, preoccupied with me,myself, and more of me.  Is it any wonder that we don’t see Him?  He’s disappointed also because we plow right through chances and opportunities to “slow down” and just BE His children.  (Do you ever play with God?  After all you are His child.  Just a thought.)

  In your spiritual travels, that slow- children at play sign is there for you.  You are the child that God is trying to protect……. from you yourself.  While “driving” down this “road of life”, we can actually run over ourselves.  We can be our own worst enemy. Focus on being God’s child, not on wanting more signs.  He won’t be disappointed!  Neither will you.         See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher

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Jesus is a chiropractor

chiropractor

This pain has got to stop.  Even though I hide it well, I’m suffering.  Hey, I’ve done all I know to do, something has got to give.  I need help.

The appointment was set, all paperwork filled out, I’ve checked in and now I’m waiting.  That was quick, now I’m in the Doctor’s office. Didn’t even have time to get more nervous and scared. In walks this young man with a beard.  He speaks to me with a gentle voice. He told me his name. (we’ll call him J.C.) Then he asked me what was the problem.  (Time out) Now he asks that question to complete strangers every day, in and out.  But, without a doubt, he seemed to totally be interested in my life and what was going on.  (Okay), I begin telling him about the pain. I also tell him about the stupid stuff I’ve done over the years to cause damage to my body.  Stupid stuff like all the dares and risks we took in our younger days when we think we are invincible.  (I’m being real here and confessing the stupid stuff, so, you be real and admit you’ve been stupid too). You know, the sports activities, lifting loads too heavy for your back and shoulders, neglect, bad posture habits, on and on.  It’s unreal what we do to our body.

He listens.  Something that seems to be missing in this world.  He listens.  Then he says, ” let’s see what we can do about this”.  He lays his hands on me.  What I will always remember is that he immediately touched the muscles in my neck that were hurting.  He used big words that I didn’t understand.  Said I had a something in my whatever muscle.  There was a “subli something or nother ” in my vertebra.  What I’m trying to say is this.  I didn’t understand what he was saying to his assistant who was writing it down, but I knew that he knew more about what was going on inside of me than I did.

Then he looked inside of me.  In this case he used an x-ray.  Told me exactly what was wrong.  Showed me why I had pain in my life.  Then he said, “we can fix this.”  He didn’t say, you’ve done stupid things, or you’ve waited too long, or anything to make me feel unworthy of seeking his help.  He just calmly said, “I can help”.

So now he asks me to lay on the table face down.  He places one hand on my neck, and brings my arm behind my back.  (time out) Now you guys know me,  My involvement with falconry, with wolves and predators, this position that I am now in, is totally a submissive position.  In the wild, you have a claw on your neck and your wing, leg, or arm is pulled behind your back, you are totally in submission.   Why would I submit to this?  Because I trusted J.C..  I didn’t understand, nor did I really know this guy.   But I trusted him.

What happened next is a blur.  I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, kick myself for not doing this sooner, or………..  My neck went ccccccrrkkk.  He realigned me.  He began a physical journey that I am now on.  A journey that doesn’t have pain from the past going along with it.

So, my daily devotion for this day was this (and it can’t be a coincidence).  John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Why had I not gone to see the chiropractor before this?  Well, I didn’t believe in their ways.  You know, the world says that when you have pain that you need a pill, or shot, or surgery, or well, let’s just do all of them.  Then we’ll cover up the problem with numbing medicines.. Does that sound like your life sometimes??  Also I thought that I could handle this on my own.  After all, who better to run my life than me.  A chiropractor?  All he will do is some touchy feely stuff.  Then he will yank on your head.  People will expect me to say I’m Healed!  And he’ll want to keep seeing me.  Honestly though,  I was just scared of him.

Is your spiritual life filled with pain.  Go see J. C. “the chiropractor”, Jesus Christ.  He’ll listen to you.  He’ll look inside of you, and show that He knows more about what’s going on inside of you than what you know.  When you come to the point that you trust Him, he will realign your life.  Don’t expect to understand, or know what words to use.  Just Trust!!  And by the way, J.C.(Jesus Christ), will want to continue to see you.  It’s a good thing.

I thank God for J.C.

See Ya! Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher

 

 

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The Prodigal Son/Dog!

Dudley/wolf

Dudley, our sissy house dog is terribly afraid of thunder..  Just ask our Ole Miss friends, the Parkes.  While we were gone, a large and loud thunderstorm came over our house.  Dudley, I call him “the Big Dud”, went berserk, crazed, wild.  Because he was so scared of the thunder and lightning he decides to leave.  First, he goes upstairs and chews and claws the door trying to get in.  No luck.  He then pushes open the front door, chews a hole in the dogproof wire of our backyard………. He gone!!!

Now when we drive up and see the door open, and then no Dudley, our hearts are in our throats because we know how he gets in a storm.  We call, yell, honk horns, everything.  We call out the cavalry/family.  We are out riding the country roads while it’s still raining.  I get on the 4-wheeler riding the back pastures.  Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Staci and I go to bed but there’s no sleep.  Not for me especially.  I’m mad because I didn’t lock the door behind me when I left earlier in the day.  If only I had locked the door, then he would still be in the house.  I’m fearful because I know what’s in the backyard and woods. (see last weeks blog about the Whompus cat)  Also, I’ll admit to this.  I am sad.  The thought of losing this dog has saddened me.  I’ve always had manly dogs. A Lassie Collie, then a brown Lab, then a bloodhound.  This dog is the only dog we have now.  He is Staci’s pet.  A shih-Tzu…….but he’s my little wolf!

Look it up.  What dog is the most closely related to a wolf.  You would think it would be a Husky, or a German Shepherd.  But the guys at Mission Wolf told us that the Chinese breeds like the Shih-Tzu are closest kin.  Now it makes sense to me.  I’m attached to this little fellow because deep down he is a wolf.  I can relate to that!

At 2 am, it’s unusually quiet. Spooky because it’s so quiet  There’s fog and no wind.  The rain has finally stopped.  I go outside and call.  I can hear sounds from the 4-lane highway a couple of miles away, the trucks and their gears shifting.  What’s so bad is that I can also hear the owls, the coyotes, and all the other predators that roam the nights.  What’s good is that I promise you I hear a little dog howl.  Immediately, I wake Staci (she’s not asleep).  “Get out here and call for Dudley” I’m telling her and rushing her outside.

Staci comes outside and calls for her puppy. She yells, “Come get a treat, let’s go to Mimi’s, want a puppy cup?”  All these phrases are things that get the Big D to respond when he’s at home.  I thought I heard a howl off in the distance.  But nothing.  Staci goes back in, I walk around in the woods for another hour.  Mad, fearful, saddened, now dreading what the outcome of this will be.  Why?  Well, if I did hear a small dog whimpering somewhere in the night, so did all the predators.  As I walk in the woods, the howl of a coyote only a short distance away raises the hair on my back, but at the same time lowers the feelings in my heart.  My dog is gone.  Where oh where can he be?

It’s morning now.  The search party of kinfolks has arrived.  We start asking neighbors, riding the roads, and searching.  We get a call that he was seen over a mile away at a neighbors driveway.  Off we go.  It’s rather comical now, but you would think that we had lost something special.  Well, we have.  Dogs become part of our lives, part of our own being.  If you have never experienced the loyalty and love from a dog, then you must have a cat.  Or either you have a huge hole in your heart that has never experienced a companion with 4 legs.  I feel sorry for you.

The search party spans out over the area.  I get a hunch that maybe the little wolf may be trying to get back home on his own.  He’s a house dog, spoiled, can’t walk on grass ’cause he gets stickers.  There’s no way ……….well, except somehow God gives these creatures a sense of where home is and how to get back.  While everyone is searching this last place he was seen, I begin the mile long trek back towards the house.  Halfway home, in a sandy road bed I see little dog tracks, along with fresh deer, turkey……….. and coyote tracks.  They are fresh, too fresh.  I start running and calling as I go.  A quarter mile from the house I am on top of a large hill.  I let out a holler for my little wolf.  And he answers! boo woo woof.   I take off running.  I’m trying to call the search party on my phone as I run.  “Get home.” I yell, “He’s close to the house”.

As I run to the backyard, I see the prodigal dog.  He’s scared of me.  I guess he’s been through a lot.  Now he won’t even come to me.  I kneel down and wait.  Suddenly he bolts to me whimpering and jumping into my lap.  His whimpering sounds as if he’s crying, the little wolf pup.  The daddy wolf is shedding a tear or two himself.  Why?  Because Dudley has come home.

All the search party celebrates.  We eat Pizza!

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

But this story was about a dog.  He left on his own. He’s done it to himself. Doesn’t matter what caused him to leave.  He may have been scared.  But even if he had been rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave home yourself.  The point is that there was love waiting for him when he returned.

We have a Loving, Living, Heavenly Father who waits with open arms for me and you to return to Him.  Why do we run away when we’ve got it made where we are?  We get scared.  Or maybe we get rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave God yourself.  The point is our Heavenly Father’s love is waiting for your return.  You’ve never experienced His love?  Well, you must have a huge hole in your heart (and soul) that has never had this experience.  I feel sorry for you.  He’s waiting….

See Ya!

dudley