You can know a man if you follow his trail, if you follow long enough. By his tracks on the land the ways of a man are made plain–his kindness or his cruelty, his ignorance or his cunning, his strength or his weakness.”
–Louis L’Amour (The Key-Lock Man)

“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind.”
–Colossians 2:18 (HCSB)
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My mercy, what in the world is going on? What is this country coming to? I came across an alarming report and statistic the other day. This is scary.

“Another stunning finding in the report: More than 70 percent of today’s youth are not fit to serve in the military due to obesity, or being overweight, criminal records, a drug misuse or educational deficits.”

Imagine! Seventy percent of today’s youth are not fit to serve in the military. There are five reasons, two of which are connected, but I can narrow it down to different reasons. The first is the home. What is not happening there? Where is the father? With runaway fathers and dead-beat dads, no longer there is this situation confronting us.
Closely related to the home being in jeopardy is that of the school. What values are being taught? What type of discipline is allowed? No wonder we are in the process of raising Snowflakes and they need security and safe zones.
Hats off to those that go against the tide of this statistic. There are some stalwart, strong young people out there, but they are in the minority. Folks, we better wake up! Hmmm, makes me wonder who are not fit to serve in the Kingdom of God.
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“Because there is a sovereign God, we have only three choices: We can ignore God, we can fight God, or we can submit to God. To ignore Him is foolish, to fight Him is silly, and to submit to Him is exciting.”
–Stephen Brown

Part of the problem we are seeing is due to the fact that man seeks to be autonomous. It just isn’t true and it won’t happen, no matter how hard he tries. Man is not God, and he will never be God. He will never be autonomous, for he was created and is sustained by God. He may not like it, he may deny it, but that’s still the way it is.
Man, including most Christians, hate the thought of a sovereign God. That is one reason they applauded when Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way.” No! That never happened for God is always in charge. Every life is controlled by a series of various unavoidable events, environments, and hereditary factors. “I was doing it my way, when, oops, Harvey came along.”
In that same mode of thinking, man actually has no rights. Everything is God’s. He gives, He takes away. Man is here today, clamoring for his rights, and tomorrow he is down among the clods.
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This retirement is hard work, so we are going to take a mini-vacation while we are on vacation to the shores of Delaware. So I don’t know when the next Campfire will be written.

He who leaps without sight always buys a bad bargain.”
–Ernest Haycox (Grim Canyon)

“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”
–Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)
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Ever wondered why resumes are wanted by an employer? Resumes are supposed to tell you something of that person’s history, his work and personal ethics, and his character. Oh, I know that some will put forth the shining paper, and that is why you interview them as well. When I was a principal and hiring prospective teachers I would ask two sets of questions. The first, give me your three strengths. My, oh my, they were shining examples of perfections, and they did not hesitate to give me their strengths. Then came the second question, what are your three weaknesses. Most of them had none, or maybe one. I always thought it amazing that they had no weaknesses, and most of the time told them so.
I get tired of people saying that integrity is what you do when there is no one else around. No, that is only part of integrity. Integrity is a vital part of a person’s character and thus it is involved with everything they do. If you want to know who a person is check out where they’ve been and what they’ve done. The words of a song come to my mind.

“If you want to know who we are
Check out where we’ve been.
From the frozen ground at Valley Forge,
To the trails of Ho Chi Mind.”
–unknown

What battles have you fought? What storms have you faced? What was the result after the battle or storm? Those things tell more about you than your hyped-up resume. As a Christian, part of our strength comes from the knowledge of who God is. How much do you trust Him? I found this in some of my old readings. It was written by Air Force Chaplain, Harry B. Ansted.

“Show me the size of your God, and I will show you the size of your man. It is easy to make little gods. In Isaiah’s time they made gods out of wood and stone. Life was cheap; man was expendable.
We make little gods too. Often we think our gods are big and powerful. We see the thrust of power in our military weapons and think this will save us. Sometimes we stand in awe of people of great importance and wonder if we are worth anything at all.
When your God is small like this, then your life is so meaningless that you give yourself to something that eventually destroys you.
The God of Isaiah was big. He was so big that the nations were like a drop from the bucket. When God is big, you become a person of importance. The fear of losing yourself is traded for confidence and faith because you belong. No more need you hang your head in feelings of worthlessness and failure. Therefore, when everything else seems to be crumbling before your eyes, you can have faith in a big God who builds your up rather than tears you down.”

A big part of your strength of character then comes from your view of God. How big a part does He play in your life? How big do you realize He is in comparison to the pettiness of man?

A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one’s life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself.”
–Louis L’Amour  (Bendigo Shafter)

“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”
–1 Chronicles 21:10 (NLT)
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          “Pecos roped through raging cyclone out of nowhere
           He saddled it and straddled it with ease
           While that cyclone bucked and flitted
           Pecos rolled a smoke and lit it
           And he tamed that ordinary wind down to a breeze.”
                    –Daniel Eliot

José is still hanging around, but Harvey and Irma are a memory and the cleanup and restoration is in process.  I read and heard several comments, especially concerning Irma about casting “her” into the Gulf in the name of Jesus.  People were trying to bind the hurricane.  Now, I’m not against prayer, and storms often bring out prayers from folk who haven’t prayed in years.  However, we have to be careful.  
First of all, God set natural laws throughout His universe.  With these natural laws storms often happen.  They run their course through nature.  Most of the time God does not step in and thwart His own natural laws.  When He does, that is called a miracle.  Because of that we also need to be careful about saying this storm is God’s judgment.  That is not to say that God does not used storms in judgment, but most of the time they come to get our attention.
A third thing that comes to my mind about those who would “bind”; they can be a hindrance to the Kingdom of God.  What happens if they are binding and rebuking and the storm doesn’t “buke”?  If there is a new, immature convert, what might he think when the storm was not cast back into the Gulf?  God is weak; God doesn’t care; maybe even to go so far as to say, there is no God.  One more thing about “binding the storm.”  The Holy Spirit will put it in your heart, it won’t be just a magical incantation.  
Fourth, why do you want the storm to dissipate?  Often those who want to bind do so for selfish reasons.  By binding and sending it someplace else, they may be sending it upon another group of people.  Then what?  More often than not it is “I bind”.  Who do they think they are?  God?  Interesting how these awesome storms of power are referred to as an “act of God.”
One more little thought along these lines.  A few years back, where I was working, there were some problems occurring.  The main supervisor said we need to rebuke Satan as he is trying to hinder the work.  We too often give Satan too much credit.  I went to this individual and said, “Do you ever think that the consequences are arising because of our bad decisions?”  Oh, my mercy, that surely wasn’t acceptable.  Then I took it one step further, “Perhaps we are being chastised by God and it isn’t Satan at all.”  Well, that wasn’t received any better.
So unless you’re as good a roper as Pecos Bill, make your prayers for protection, for wisdom, for strength.  Look at what God is doing in the midst of the storm; what He is trying to build in your character.
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     “Blessing is fruit out of all relation to what we are, results that are not just the working of cause and effect.  Blessing comes when God works wholly beyond our reckoning, for his Name’s sake.”
               –Watchman Nee

All blessings that we receive are ultimately for the glory of God.  That is perhaps why we sometimes do not recognize when something is a blessing.  We can call them “blessings in disguise.”  We pray for things, usually selfishly, and when God answers we can get upset that He didn’t answer the way we wanted Him to.
Most definitely God blesses us because we are His children.  May I ask this question?  Why do you discipline your children?  Is it out of hatred or out of love?  If it is out of love then the discipline is a blessing.  When God blesses us with discipline why then do we get angry, bitter, mad, dejected, etc.”  His blessings is to bring Him glory.
One more aspect is that we do not always understand the means and ways of His working.  Some may seem strange to us, but if we truly trust Him and recognize that He is in charge, then they will ultimately be a blessing to us.  That is one of the reasons Paul says, “Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!”