Echoes From the Campfire

We’d better thank God we live in a place where words like honesty, decency, and integrity still have meaning, because those words lose all meaning in this system.  Let’s work to keep meaning in those words as long as we can.  Civilization is coming all too fast.”
             –William Wayne Dickson (Sagebrush)

    “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”
             –Philippians 3:13(NKJV)
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These are trying times!  I try to stay away from political scene but sometimes it just sort of jumps out and grabs you, sort of like jumping cholla.  Those barbs get all over you and it seems like it takes a week to get them all out.  An executive order to fund global abortions–how the Holy Spirit must be grieved.  Then Congress is expected to pass the Equality Act.  Doesn’t sound bad with the title, but the act is an abomination.  I don’t know if this grieves the Holy Spirit or if it will provoke Him to action.  Yes, certainly trying times.
    Put that with the trials of the virus, and the recent devastating cold, along with the normal trials that can come upon a family:  suffering, sickness, injury, loss of job, death, and on…  Yes, definitely trying times.  In the midst of it all, I like what Arthur Pink said, “They who are right with God are neither daunted by difficulties nor dismayed by dangers.”
    This world is not going to get any better, therefore, we must get our focus right.  It should not be on the problems, the dangers and difficulties, but upon the Lord.  We do too little reflecting on our heavenly Father and His Word and too much on the world around us.  There is a great old hymn, written back in the 18th-century, by Katharina von Schlege who was a Lutheran involved in the Pietist revival.  Just the title alone gives the soul relief:  “Be Still, My Soul.”  In all of the commotion that comes our way we need for a quiet spirit, for our souls to be still.  Contemplate on the words of this grand hymn.

         Be still, my soul; the Lord is on they side.
         Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
         Leave to thy God to order and provide;
         In ev’ry change He faithful will remain.
         Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
         Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

         Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
         To guide the future as He has the past.
         Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
         All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
         Be still, my soul; they waves and wind still know
         His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

         Be still, my soul; the hour is hast’ning on
         When we shall be forever with the Lord,
         When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
         Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
         Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
         All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

There are several things to reflect upon:
    1)  The Lord is on our side.
    2)  In every change, He faithful will remain.  He changes not.
    3)  The mysteries of the day will one day be bright.
    4)  Don’t fret, God guides the future.
    5)  There is an hour when we will be with the Lord. (Kenneth W. Osbeck)

    The road does sometimes make a person weary.  In those times remember that the Lord is there whenever you take a step; there to guide, to protect, and to strengthen, not only body, but mind, emotions, and soul as well.