There was no way to justify coming through the mountains just to see something of beauty.  But some of the things we do just don’t need justifying.”
              –Lou Bradshaw  (Teton)

    “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
              –Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)
———————-
There are some things that a person just has to see simply because they are there.  Many times through our travels we have gone to see God’s beautiful creation.  It was for that time in our lives and in our travels that God allowed us to see something beautiful.
    Many times up in the high country I have thought of the majesty and awesomeness of God.  Trying to think of Him and His ways are beyond comprehension, humbling, and yet at the same time they give excitement to the soul.  His ways are definitely above ours.
———————-
    We should be thankful that we live in this country and in this time.  Sure we have problems, but I have been reading of the hatred that was between Catholics and Protestants.  Some vile things took place to persecute either one group or the other.  We should pray all the more for Christians who live in countries where they are persecuted.  Being a Christian in some countries automatically makes that person a target.
    Here is a story, from Robert J. Morgan, about another of those unsung heroes.  Men who followed and obeyed God’s Word no matter the consequences.  It is an important message of grace.  How much grace will God give us?  Whatever amount we need!
         “Michael Sattler, born in Germany around 1490, became a Benedictine monk.  As he studied Paul’s letters, he grew dissatisfied, left the monastery, married, and became a Lutheran.  Sometime later he became convinced of believer’s baptism and became an Anabaptist of growing renown whose ministry attracted both converts and enemies.
         Sattler, his wife, and a handful of associates were arrested in the mid-1520s and imprisoned in the tower of Binsdorf, where he wrote a letter to his flock:  ‘The brethren have doubtless informed you that some of us are in prison.  Numerous accusations were preferred against us by our adversaries; at one time they threatened us with the gallows; at another with fire and sword.  In this extremity, I surrendered myself entirely to the Lord’s will, and prepared myself, together with all brethren and wife, to die for his testimony’s sake.’
         On May 20, 1527 his torture, a prelude to execution, began at city center where his tongue was sliced.  Chunks of flesh were torn from his body with red-hot tongs, and he was forged to a cart.  On the way to the stake execution the tongs were applied five times again.  Still able to speak, the unshakable Sattler prayed for his persecutors.  After being bound to a ladder with ropes and pushed into the fire, he admonished the people, the judges, and the mayor to repent and be converted.  ‘Almighty, eternal God,’ he prayed, ‘Thou art the way and the truth:  because I have not been shown to be in error, I will with they help to this day testify to the truth and seal it with my blood.’  As soon as the ropes on his wrists were burned, Sattler raised the two forefingers of his hand giving the promised signal to his brothers that a martyr’s death was bearable.  Then the assembled crowd heard coming from his seared lips, ‘Father, I commend my spirit into Thy hands.’
         Sattler’s wife was executed by drowning eight days later.
    It reminds me of the verse in Hebrews 11:38, “The world did not deserve these good people.”
——————–
Ponder This:  It is decided that the “kid” who killed the people in Santa Fe is not “old enough” to understand right and wrong therefore, he cannot be executed.  However, the same people will say that we should listen to the “kids” (same age) who think they can interpret the Constitution.  Hmmmm…

 

He had the look of a man resigned to follow this trail down the years, as long as he should live.”
              –Alan Lemay  (The Searchers)

    “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
              –1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)
————————-
Friend, you better figure out what trail you plan to follow in life.  There is one that leads to destruction and eternal damnation and another that will take you to the throne of God.  One is easier to travel than the other, but the end of the trail is definitely different.
    Focus every effort of your life and resign yourself to follow the trail that leads to life everlasting.  The way may be tough and rugged at times, but you can make it.  Endure it to the end.
————————-
    I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much hatred or the idiocy of some of our so-called leaders.  Someone tell me how they can condemn the words of the President when he referred to the members of that terrible gang “animals” and say that this same gang has Christ within them?  What is going on?  
    I will say that mankind is made in the image of God, but to have Christ living within them is another thing.  That requires a person to accept Jesus as the Son of God and declare Him Lord.  It requires obedience to His Word.  Do these people that commit this artrocities as gangmembers obey God’s Word?  
    There is a problem when people begin to call good evil, and evil good.  Not only is there danger to their eternal soul, but if they are in positions of influence they can endanger large segments of society and drag them down as well.

          “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.”
                 –2 Peter 2:12-14

    Then we had that terrible shooting in Santa Fe last week.  I’ve read that it was the fault of the President (hmmm, remember when Obama said that everything bad that happened was the fault of George Bush?).  Just a couple of thoughts on this.  How was the kid raised, where were the parents, how involved were they in his life, was the Word of God being poured into his life?  This are the questions that need to be answered.  The first blame lies with the father, if there is one in the home, followed by the mother.  I saw this so much when I was involved in education.
    However, God gave man a wonderful, powerful gift.  That gift is the ability to make choices.  Even if the person is raised in a godly home, with God-fearing parents who are actively involved in the person’s life, they still have to make choices themselves.  Putting the blame totally on the parents, or society, is wrong for choices mean that there are consequences.  The issue is not putting the blame on the parents, or on the President, or on the gun.  The issue is the evil that resides in the human heart.

Because a custom is old is no reason for junking it…  Men have found it the best way to go, and to deviate too far is to ask for trouble.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Where the Long Grass Blows)

    “You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.”
              –1 Corinthians 10:21 (NLT)
———————-
Have you ever tried to make sense of the world?  It’s harder now than ever before.  When there are problems, issues, and dilemmas, people want to put a quick fix–a Band-Aid–on it instead of going deeper to the root problem.  Then some will ask, “Why does God allow this to happen?” or “Where was God, if there is a God?”  First, God gave man free will, choice, to do what he desires.  Man does this, want to do this because he thinks he is autonomous.  Second, where was God when tragedy struck?  He was there.
    People don’t really want to think.  They react, often because they have their special agenda, but they truly do not want to think, and especially if it has anything to do with Christ.  Get this!  One of Satan’s most potent weapons is “laundered reality.”  This is seen almost everyday anymore.  People tell us how and what to think so we don’t have to face the reality of thinking on our own.  This is most often seen with the politicians and the media.  An example would be after the President makes a speech, the media will chime in and tell us, “This is what he said.”  There, you don’t have to analyze the speech yourself, the media will do it for you.  Don’t take the time to think.  Satan does not always try to get people to think bad things, but to get them not to think at all.  
    People out there, the world, and, in fact, most Christians do not understand the true nature of Christianity, they do not take the time to study and think about the nature of God.  They, the world, tell us what to think, and try to convince us that our “Christian” way of thinking is wrong.  The great evangelist Charles Finney said, “Before you are able to convince me of error, you must first demonstrate you understand what I say.”
    The vast majority of people do not take the time to think, instead they make an emotional response rather than an intellectual reaction.  It is a major issue today for people find it difficult to separate truth from those who proclaim truth.  People base their decisions on what they “feel,” and often this is when they “feel” that God has given them a “bad deal.”  We should not make decisions based on an emotional reaction.
    Man wants to be autonomous but when tragedy strikes they want to blame God rather than themselves.  If man is autonomous, then he is at fault, not God.  However, they miss some of the most important aspects of life.  If there is no God, as many of them say, then life has no meaning.  Meaningless becomes the lot of man.  Everything about the fallen nature desires to live apart from God and ignore His sovereignty over life.  No, life has meaning, because there is a God.  Recognize that He is in charge and we will never be able to fathom Him.

         “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.'”
                   –Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)