The first article of the creed of the frontier is to be game.  Good or bad, the last test of a man is the way he takes his medicine.”
              –William MacLeod Raine (Crooked Trails and Straight)

    “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
              –Ephesians 2:8 (NKJV)
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Stop!  Right now, first thought–what comes to your mind when you think of the Garden of Eden?  Now that may depend on where you live and what you see around you.  Or maybe it is the picture that we have of a lush garden.  What comes to my mind was orchards of various fruits and through them ran several brooks and between the orchards were meadows of soft, velvety grass, the kind you could lie down in to gaze upward.
    Hmmm, now that’s a thought right there.  Were there clouds?  Why would Adam gaze upward?  He didn’t have to look into heaven for God, Himself, would come down and walk with Adam and talk with him.  Did he have dreams?
    A couple of Sundays ago, my pastor mentioned something about Adam that I had really never thought of before.  Adam knew God in a way that we will not know Him until we get to heaven.  I don’t care how many sermons and seminars are given about the concept of a relationship, it will not be completely fulfilled until we walk with Him in that heavenly city.  He had heard His footsteps, he recognized them.  He heard God’s voice (ever wonder what it really sounds like?).  He has a unique and special relationship that was broken because of sin.  After Adam was cast out that relationship was broken.  Never again did he heard God’s footsteps coming to meet him; there is no record of God speaking to Adam again.  How those last words must have haunted him, “For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19, NASB)
    We think of the “Fall” as something negative, and for sure it brought a curse upon man, upon the animals, and upon the earth.  Could man have remained pure–possibly, but we have to remember God’s greater plan.  Because of his sin, Adam now saw a characteristic of God he did not know existed.  He could no longer look upon God, but God provided something else – that the future of mankind could look upon Him.  GRACE!  Without the fall, there could be no bestowment of grace and mercy.  Right at the beginning we see that grace requires blood.  Adam and Eve tried in their vain human way to atone by making sewing fig leaves together to cover themselves.  God knows what is needed and “The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21, NASB)
    One more little thing to ponder.  This grace and mercy was something that heaven had never seen.  I think Satan was appalled when he saw that side of God; it is something that he could never do–offer grace.  Here is something given to man that was not offered to the fallen angels.  For Adam, even in the wondrous beauty of Eden, had not lived where the glory of God was spread forth in all of its magnificence.  Satan and the angels saw God’s glory, therefore, no grace was offered them.  Man is the only recipient of grace.  The words of Julia Johnston’s great hymn should always be on our lips.  “Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is greater than all my sin.”
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  The Alamo falls!

It struck her suddenly and strangely that to know the real truth about anything in life might require infinite experience and understanding.  How could one feel immense gratitude and relief, or the delight of satisfying acute hunger, or the sweet comfort of rest, unless there had been circumstances of extreme contrast?”
              –Zane Grey  (The Call of the Canyon)

    “I am not praying that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.”
              –John 17:15 (HCSB)
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When strife and struggle come what is your reaction?  Problems will inevitably come our way from a myriad of sources.  We do the best we can to cope with them, but it is important to realize that there are some problems that are beyond our ability to help and correct.  Along with that we should also remember that God does not intend that we should fix every problem.  Let’s take a look at our Psalm for the week from the HCSB, 17:9-15.

    9 [Protect me] from the wicked who treat me violently, my deadly enemies who surround me.
   10 They have become hardened; their mouths speak arrogantly.
   11 They advance against me; now they surround me.  They are determined to throw me to the ground.
   12 They are like a lion eager to tear, like a young lion lurking in ambush.
   13 Rise up, Lord! Confront him; bring him down.  With Your sword, save me from the wicked.
   14 With Your hand, Lord, save me from men, from men of the world whose portion is in this life:  You fill their bellies with what You have in store; their sons are satisfied, and they leave their surplus to their children.
   15 But I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence.

    For sure you understand that even though the Lord is with us day by day in every situation of life, doesn’t mean that we are immune to the cares, pestilences, and wickedness of the world.  We walk daily in a world of darkness and must face the evils that lurk there, and those that might attack.  God is still with us!  He is not removed from this world;  He is not a deistic ideal off somewhere, but is right with us in this world of treachery.
    Another thing you can be sure of is that the enemy of your soul–the devil, will try to surround the believer.  He seeks to ambush, not only with physical harm, temptation to the lust of the eyes and flesh, but he will also bring false ideologies to you.  People will say try this and try that; here is the answer.  Do not listen to his lies.  John Howard puts it this way, “Every refuge but Christ is a refuge of lies.  My soul, stay thou upon the Rock.”
    We must be a realist about life.  Don’t get on the pendulum of being a pessimist or optimist, but look at life in truth through the lens of God’s Word.  To do that we must be saturated with God and His Word.  We must be able to face our problems and when they get so large they overwhelm us we run to the Rock.  
    Life is full of tension and pressure, but there is that one thing that will come to us all–death.  Paul, in the case of the believer, calls it slumber or sleep.  When we fall asleep and wake up on the other side in glory we will for sure be “satisfied with Your presence.”  Nothing more will matter.  Someone put it this way.  “When I awake on the other side of death, I shall be saturated with You forever!”  What a thought!

              “What others value, I resign,
               Lord, ’tis enough that thou art mine.
               I shall behold thy blessed face
               And stand complete in righteousness.”
                        –Isaac Watts
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This Day in the Texas Revolution:  Sam Houston is appointed commander of all Texas forces.  Santa Anna holds a council of war with his generals.

He had loved the smell of lonely campfires, the crisp feeling of awakening on a frosty morning.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Heller With A Gun)

    “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
              –Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
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Some of you reading this will surely remember the words to a once popular song.

         “Have you ever been lonely;
          Have you ever been blue?”

Most everyone, sometime or other, has found themselves in that situation.  Perhaps you are there now; or you might be in the near future.  Loneliness is a strage phenonmenon.  A person can be quite lonely amongst friends and family, in a crowd or at work.  There is a type of physical loneliness, but there is a loneliness that is also brought on by an attitude, by the mind.  One can be lonely if there are of a mind-set and everyone else there does not think the same way.  Loneliness knows no bounds.
    It is important when we find ourselves in this situation that God understands loneliness.  He understood the feelings of Joseph when his brothers hated him, threw him in a pit, and later sold him into slavery.  Joseph was a lonely boy.  God understood the loneliness that Moses felt leading a rebellious nation through the deserts.  It has been said that “it is lonely at the top.”  That’s one reason Paul exhorts us to pray for our leaders.  The President, whomever it may be, will have to sit in his office and even in the midst of advisors, he can be a lonely man for all rests on his shoulders.
    God understand loneliness.  He told Moses that “My presence will go with you.”  Then the day came, Moses was to pass on and the mantle of leadership was to fall on Joshua.  Perhaps the sense of loneliness was beginning to creep over Joshua.  The Lord told him, “I will never fail you or forsake you.”
    Read the psalms of David and in them you’ll find where he felt lonely a time or two.  I came across the writing and prayer of Army Chaplain Bernard Windmiller.  I would tell you to get in a quiet place–get alone–and contemplate what he says.

         “You can never move beyond the influence of God’s presence.  The psalmist asked, ‘Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?  Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?’  There is never a place where God is not!  You cannot escape loneliness, but neither can you escape God’s presence.  You are never alone!
          Prayer:  Ever-present God, grant me the peace of your presence.  When I walk through the valleys, do not permit the shadows of the heights to lull me in my loneliness, but inspire me to walk through the valleys with this assurance, ‘thou art with me.’ Amen.”
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  February 29–Sam Houston arrives at Washington on the Brazos. 
March 1–The Convention of 1836; elected delegates convene at Washington on the Brazos.  Gonzales volunteers enter the Alamo at 1:00 am.

Time has a way of going on…  It takes away the old things we been used to.  We can’t hold them forever.”
              –Elmer Kelton  (Barbed Wire)

    “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings…”
              –Hebrews 13:8-9 (HCSB)
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Life does not give us any guarantees and it continues on.  With it comes changes, just as seasons bring changes to nature around it, so does life.  Life also brings changes that are brought on by many.  As man continues to bow to the technological, altar changes will continue to take place.  Now, don’t get me wrong, some of these changes are good, some of them will lead a person down the road to perdition.  Some changes we can’t avoid.  I looked in the mirror the other day and that once, ahem, beautiful face of mine has some furrows in it, and my goodness that moustache even shows some gray.  Hmmm, might be best if I avoid a mirror in the future.
    However, no matter what comes, no matter what season of life, no matter what new thing that man concocts one thing for sure is that Jesus never changes and His Word is forever.  Read the following note written by a captive Union prisoner in a warehouse in Richmond during the Civil War.

         Many around the room are reading the Book of God, recalling a Mother’s tender teaching or a father’s revered example in a bygone lapse of years.  Others are pacing up and down in silent thoughts; whilst all respect the sacred day and its sacred, solemn duties.  As the hours pass on, quiet conversation and warm intercommunion of sympathies and future friendship occupy our little band until the evening meal.  At seven o’clock we assemble for divine worship…  Silently and reverently, we listen to God’s holy Word from the lips of our estimable chaplain, Rev. John W. Mines of Bath, Main [who says], “We want you to place your souls in the hand of the Almighty God…”
         The evening closes quietly; and as the officer of the day commands, “Lights out!”  We retire to our straw beds, fully trusting in our God, that he will soon restore us to our beloved ones. (Terry Tuley, Battlefields & Blessings)

No matter the circumstances, such as these men held as prisoners, they have the Word of God to turn to.  In their depression and melancholy they have the Word to lift their spirits.  There is hope, maybe not in deliverance from their captivity, but in the power of His might.
    The voices around may entice us to capitulate.  Then you can be released from the horrible prison you find yourself in.  Compromise is the answer.  No!  Hold tight to the truth, the one thing that will never, ever change.  When you hear people say they have another truth, or say that truth is only what you feel, then reach out and grasp tighter to the never-changing hand of Jesus.
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Today in the Texas Revolution:  Juan Seguin and his relief forces encounter the Goliad advance while waiting on Cibolo Creek.  Seguin is informed that Fannin was en route to relieve the Alamo defenders and should only be about two days away.