a controlled burn

The readership of this blog has risen dramatically during the last two weeks. There is a reason for everything.

8/10/11 Wednesday
There has been lots of change in the last day or two. Change is generally good. Cherie’s job didn’t work out and she made the decision to end it. For one thing, the job was more physically demanding than she expected, and caused her lots of pain. Adding to that was the way the company nickeled and dimed it’s employees, not paying for all the miles driven and demanding they spend lots of personal time creating reports when not on the clock. There were other issues as well but all in all it was a good decision to quit. Cherie said it was like a world of weight being lifted from her shoulders. This frees her up to work with me on the marriage seminars. Could be God putting us together for this ministry. I think so. We will go to Houston together for another marriage seminar as part of the training.

We finally had a chance to do that controlled burn. I thought the pile of wood and brush would burn three of four hours but in thirty minutes it was gone, just a pile of ashes with hot coals that would take a day to burn out. With that went a haven for the rabbits that have caused so much damage. One ran out of the pile as it burned. Despite that rabbits still attacked the cantaloupe, and for the first time ate some of the watermelon vine that they had not touched prior to this. I think the reason they ate the watermelon is that all the cantaloupe has been destroyed, with the exception of the Tuscan variety. That is doing well and we are now harvesting cantaloupe from it. With this drought we have the only green vegetation for miles so I’m sure that, desperate for food, rabbits are traveling to the farm. We’ve seen other signs of the devastation this drought and heat are causing. There was a young dove that showed up where our white dove has been getting fed by us. It was clearly in bad shape and two days later died despite having food and water.

Now that the school has ended, (Though we have yet to take the final exam) we were able to once again visit the widow. When I saw the tomato plants we planted for her I realized just how long we had neglected visiting her. Need to be more diligent about that. I spent a couple of hours pruning and guiding the tomato plants up strings. The are now taller than I am, but had been growing on the ground, having long ago topped the four foot tall tomato cages I had put in. I pruned away about half of each plant so they should be healthier for that and make lots of tomatoes.

The heat was…well, hot. The widow has air conditioning, something we aren’t yet blessed to have, so that helped. I would work out in the heat for a short time and run back in for water and to bask in the cool air. Kind of didn’t want to come home to our hot house after that, but our hot house is home. Several have said they could get us a small window unit but it seems that something gets in the way every time.
Duke is fitting in well. What a beautiful dog he is. Now that he is getting fed and loved there is a noticeable improvement in his coat. He is happier now, more secure, and enjoys running and playing. Just like Buddy, Duke can be in the way as he strives to get pets and hugs from me while I work with the garden. How like our relationship with God this is.

The Ministerial Alliance meeting was yesterday. It is always good to get together with fellow servants of the Lord. Fellowship is such a vital part of our faith that Jesus and the writers of the scriptures, both old and new testaments, all talked about it. When it came time for us to break up into small prayer groups, where we discussed and prayed for each others needs, my only request was for the welfare of the church that had rejected me. This surprised the pastors when they learned of it. I didn’t go into detail, just said there was great need. They complimented me on my concern and lack of bitterness regarding that. “I’m not bitter or angry, just have an immense sadness for I know the Lord’s heart, and He is pained too” I explained.

Another pastor we know commented on the reaction he had received from other churches and ministries regarding the fact that he had gathered all who desired to watch the “Response” prayer event that Governor Perry had initiated in Houston, via live streaming video. He was surprised at the nastiness of the emails other ministers, representatives of Jesus, had sent him. Just set him back. I spoke up and told him “Get used to it. For in these last days there will be great persecution and a lot of it will be coming from those who call themselves Christians”. We just talked to another brother in Christ a couple of days ago who had also been kicked out of a church, and it was an amazingly similar story to mine. Lots of control and self righteousness involved, along with using things like the gift of prophesy to say “Thus says the Lord” when it was just using God to justify and manipulate, in addition to protecting their power and authority in the little kingdom they had built for themselves. My heart breaks when I hear these things, for I know the end of those involved will not be good, unless they repent and submit to God, instead of being masters over their flocks, become servants of all.

We had a controlled burn at the farm, but so many things that happen here are mirrors of what will, and sometimes is, happening in the world. There are no accidents in my life, and sometimes it is a wonder to watch, then understand events. Simple things like a white dove showing up and deciding to take up residence, unafraid of the dogs. The dogs, especially Rascal, spend their days chasing birds. There are barn swallows in the same veranda area the dove stays that Rascal chases and jumps in an attempt to reach, yet for some reason he doesn’t even attempt to get the dove that is sitting calmly five feet away. So we nurture this creature, this anomaly of nature, as it has a damaged foot. Biblically a white dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. Now God’s Holy Spirit can in no way become damaged in itself, but our relationship with it certainly can. What I see around the nation is a gross misuse and misrepresentation of the Holy Spirit. It has become a tool in the hands of others to not only manipulate others but to manipulate God too. On top of that there are many who flaunt their “gifts” like a badge of authority, and use it to impress others with their “spirituality” and place themselves on pedestals, saying “Look at me. Come to me! I’ve got an in with God you don’t!” And in that they follow the footsteps of Lucifer, the most beautiful of God’s angels, wise and talented, the song leader of heaven, who in his pride corrupted and brought down one third of all the angels in heaven. It is a dangerous thing, to think to highly of yourself, to forget that Jesus, the son of God, bowed down and washed His disciples feet, saying “As I have done so should you do also”. It is the last who will be first in the kingdom of heaven, and the first will be last.

Malachi 3:1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;

There is a controlled burn coming, a refining where the evil in our hearts will be made known, for all to see. Some will repent and return to the Lord they first loved, not the one who has taken first place in their hearts. For many that false god they worship, the one who has replaced the true Lord, is themselves. Humility is false, designed to impress others, and the ones they fool are themselves, thinking they are holy when they are not, believing a lie that will kill them, rushing headlong down a path to destruction, singing and happy, confident in their cause, taking many others down that path with them, gaining comfort from the crowd, seeing it as verification their way is truth, when it is a lie. Willfully blind to the truth in front of them, unwilling to listen when they are warned, their pride clouding out all truth. Destroyers of those who do not conform and agree, judges with evil motives, for in your judgment you make others less and place you on top, thinking in your heart “I’m better than they are” when the Lord loves the least the most. The fire is a warning, a torment with the hope of redemption, the Lord’s last call. Please take heed. Please open your eyes and see.

Wow! Where did that come from? You must be the judge of that.