Bills blog stop: The Weekly Walk

Pepe's Great Escape!

Today, while we were foraging for a new food supply for our Love Bird, Pepe, we spied some new environmental enhancements for his cage(er, living habitat). An attachable, edible, beak sharpening branch to enhance his hunting and pecking skills and a beautiful red ring the size of a large swing with a bell hanging from it to accompany his visions of swinging in a tree in the jungle! After fighting the strong currents of traffic on the asphalt river to arrive back at camp, I proceeded to “green up” Pepe’s habitat. Well, as soon as I brought one of these strange new objects in through the door, he was having none of this! With wings of steel, he squeezed through as space so small I couldn’t see it without my glasses and off he went into the wild blue(uh, wondrous air spaces) in our house! Sooo… armed with nothing but a couple of soft towels and a non threatening, wooden back scratcher, we set out on a find and capture expedition that should have aired on “Wild Kingdom”! Through sheer strength and maneuvering on our part, we began to wear down the resolve of our adversary! At one point, I had to hit the switch for the overhead fan with the swift dexterity of a gazelle to extricate the fowl winged beast from his perch without flinging him into the wall! After many attempts to cast our nets(ugh, towels) over our ungrateful friend, I guess he just valued his newly found freedom too much, he finally managed to fly into the side of a cliff(wall) and wedged himself between it and a large bookcase! After great thought about our dilemma, we decided to pull one end away from the wall, then I proceeded into the dark recess with my trusty little belt flash light and towel. Much to my chagrin, the little beggar pushed forward behind the next book case! So with great trepidation, I place the towel next to this opening with one hand, and with the other, proceeded to simulate the tremors of a minor quake to the other case! Low and behold, I saw a small red and green streak flash into the towel and voila, I had him! So I transported him to his home and gently extracted him into his own, familiar environment with the new additions and left him to himself to get used to them. I came back a little later hoping to catch him happily swinging on his new swing only to catch him soundly sleeping away, totally oblivious to his new toys! oh well, so much for the great jungle experience!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

The Weekly Walk

Press On!
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. - Philippians 3:12-15
The number one complaint of people struggling in their marriage is the lack of focus and fervency. Women say things like, "Man, what happened to you? You used to be so thoughtful. Where did that guy go when we got home from the honeymoon?" Men say almost the same thing. "Girl, you could not keep your hands off me when we were dating! Where's all that?"
The very same thing can happen in our relationship with the Lord. I wonder if He would say to any of us, "Those first days were so great. You loved Me, and you loved My Word, and you were so fervent; you wanted to grow. So what happened? Where did that person go?"
If you've known the Lord for a while, you may have set the cruise control and are thinking: I'm happy with my spiritual life where it is. I've got the major stuff in place. Oh, there might be a little tweaking to do over the next few years, but for the most part I can coast into heaven. How tragic! Whoever thinks that needs to get their focus and fervency back. We have not yet begun to plumb the depths of all that is ours in Christ. We must maintain the same passion we had when we first came to Christ.
You may read this and think, "I don't agree. I don't think you have to be spiritually passionate all the time." Well, you're just wrong about that. The further you go in Christ, the more you want to see how much more there is—more of Him, more of His Spirit's power, so much more to be experienced and enjoyed. The fervency to go after that needs to go up with time and maturity, not down.
When Paul wrote Philippians, he had been walking with the Lord for decades. Still, he said, "Not that I . . . am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own" (3:12.) "I haven't arrived," he said. "So I'm going after more! I've got a lot of growth ahead of me in my relationship with Jesus. I'm going after it!"
I know that I haven't arrived, but I'm going to press on! Are you doing that?

Walk In The Word

Dr. James MacDonald