Season 6 Epiosode 160 All around us is suffering and pain; we feel it – we see it – we experience it. But we should not allow ourselves to be made blind by it when all around us is also caring, and hope, and faith, and love…and God. God will never abandon you in all the suffering and pain – He will lift you. He will bolster you, He will call out to you, and He will shine a light in the darkness. Do not be made blind to what God gives you by the problems of pain.

Season 6 Episode 159 - The Conversation It all really is a conversation with God that he started with us at the moment life began for us. I say it all the time, “You will find God exactly where you look for him.” That is why it is so important to ask yourself daily in all situations: the good and the bad – where am I finding God in this? That really does provide the same answer as “Here I am,” when you start your daily search for Him.

To my mother’s disappointment, I never had a taste for okra. She was born and raised in the south and her family loved it, fried okra, okra gumbo, stewed okra; it seems that it was a staple for them. So when mom married a fella from southern Indiana and moved here with him to raise a family I'm sure she looked forward to many meals around the Scarlett table with okra as a part of it. My grandmother’s maiden name was Carrencegie and I’ve been told that I did not get the Carrencegie okra gene; that is the taste for this (in my opinion) vile little vegetable. So, I spent my entire life trying it if I had to and rejecting it back to those with iron clad stomachs and a penchant for slimy foods.

Podcast #157 All of us cook, I think, in part to feed our daily hunger, but just as important and perhaps more so, we cook and eat to feed our spirits, to keep us all in the same orbit of life. As the generations turn, as our family expands, the table and its simple pleasures – never just the food- but the food and the talk, the food and the laughter, the tears, the jokes, the memories, the hopes – still hold us in place, well anchored in a safe harbor. There may very well be another depression or endless other troubles, big or small, lying in wait for us. But rather than freezing in fear about what may come, we try our best to live and enjoy the lives we’ve been served forth.

Podcast #156 “People who don’t fish think that fishing is lazy or boring, but it is the complete opposite. There are 100 little decisions to be made; variables to be considered and you’re never quite sure what made the difference. Did I cast too high, too far to the left? Did I reel it in too slow or too fast? Is the lure too shiny or too dull? Should I stay here, or should I go over there? And you know it’s not luck, but you do not know by how much."

...I sat there witnessing a moment in time, a moment that looked much differently a year ago when my mother-in-laws health was very different. She celebrated this Mother’s Day meal with us in this wonderful place due to the heaviness of this life and we celebrated with her due to the promise of this life to love – always.

Throughout all of history, we really do have a terrible track record of disagreeing. Some might think that we could eliminate that by simply all agreeing together on everything that comes about, but that would be an rather dull and honestly an unsuccessful civilization. Disagreement is really a good thing – no scratch that – disagreement is a great thing! Disagreement fosters conversation and encourages growth. It breeds revelation and more than anything, if done rationally, can strengthen relationships. Disagreement can be spirited and lively, it is often best when fueled by passion and it can be enduring.

When someone is not present to keep the sheep in check, to repair the fences, and tend the flock, and the sheep are left to their own accord, they will move beyond the safety and familiarity of the fenced-in pastures and sometimes encounter danger; or find themselves separated from the herd; or even perish as a product of their own innocent wanderings.

Episode #152 The elephant at the circus has a chain around one of its legs that is attached to a stake in the ground next to it. I don’t know if this has ever crossed your mind when you’ve seen something like this, but why doesn’t this mighty elephant who we know can crush cars and uproot trees pull the stake from the ground and move about freely. Does that make any sense that one of the strongest and most majestic creatures on the planet can be held by a single chain and a tiny stake? Listen to find out why...

It is so easy to do – to get caught up in the things of this world. It happens to all of us; we all do it. We are all perfectly imperfect in our pursuit of God and our attempts to live our life for Him, but He knows that. He knows that we will stumble and fall and He knows more than anything that we will always find a way to muck it up.

Episode 150! Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? I have seen those who fold in these experiences, and I see others who lean into them, not alone, but strengthened in their resolve to recognize Christ in all occasions – the ordinary and the extraordinary. I have seen it before in my lifetime when it appears that someone or some folks are dealt more than they can handle, and it breaks our hearts for our Christian brethren.

These rules - these basics, were necessary. I could hold a guitar at nine years old and make a lot of noise on it, but I didn’t hold it the right way and the noise was certainly not music. There were some necessary things to learn. An instrument can be intimidating if you’ve only watched someone play it and never tried it yourself, and it can be especially intimidating if you tried it and like all of us the first time picking something up, the noise you make is awful. It is part of the process, a part of learning the rules and finding out how a beautiful sound is made.

The overhead door to the garage was up early in the afternoon and for some reason, it had never happened before, but a cardinal flew in the open door and up into the rafters where she was trapped. Not trapped like one might expect by being stuck or caught up in something, but trapped in the broad open spaces of the rafters where she flew around in a panic trying to find her way out...

Discernment is not a simple question resolved with a simple answer. Many times the answer comes in the journey that you are on with God walking with you. That control we keep for ourselves; it was never yours – it always has belonged to God, but He offers it to you through your free will. Your discernment, your “calling to consider, brothers and sisters,” starts now.

Cowboy logic is mostly pretty solid logic. It is simple and to the point. It is easy to understand and difficult to argue. It is "the basics" and something we can all stand to get back to. Simple and basic can sometimes open the door to new opportunities and many worthwhile contributions. We all have so very much to offer, and our contributions can be great. Weigh your options and consider who might be looking at you as a role model. You really never know who might hang on your every word. Here's a Lesson from Yellowstone.

Jesus is the only bridge between us and our eternal happiness, He’s the only way to know what it means to fully be human, He’s the only way to know how much we are loved by God, and how to live fully in love. If you know all this, how can you keep it to yourself?

Podcast #144 We are created as fine steel, suitable to a sword of combat, but not until we are tempered and tried and not until we are heated in the fire – the trials and tribulations of this life that strengthen us. Do not fear the fire that strengthens you.

No matter who you are, you will be challenged in and about your faith at some point in your life. Sometimes many times. Sometimes constantly. How do you and how will you respond when your faith is challenged?

Love can do all things: it can strengthen and inspire, and break hearts and ease pain, it can heal wounds and it can lead the Son of Man to a cross to willingly die for we sinners of this world and ultimately defeat death itself. All for love.

The colt; the never-saddled donkey that was tied and waiting was worthy. It was worthy because Jesus said so. He requested it. He sent for it. And it fulfilled a mighty purpose.