A man can never do the same piece of trail over again.  But he can always turn into the one he ought to be on.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (The Wild Bunch)

    “Go in by the narrow gate. For the wide gate has a broad road which leads to disaster and there are many people going that way. The narrow gate and the hard road lead out into life and only a few are finding it.”
              –Matthew 7:13-14(Phillips)
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    “I’ve lost it, I’ve lost it,” I hear the cry of someone scurrying around, maybe on his hands and knees looking for the place where he can get back on the trail that he was riding.  It was a good trail, comfortable, with relatively few obstacles along the way.  It was a trail free from hostiles and few predators moved along its borders.  Oh, where, oh where is it?
    Perhaps the cry is more like this, “I sure miss that path I was on, this one is so rocky and so steep.”  The way was once in the green meadow with soft grass to walk upon, now the trail has turned rugged and rough.  It strained the body, mind, and soul.
    The issue is that the person became a Christian.  He found the trail found the narrow gate and is walking the Lord’s pathway now.  It is a hard road, but it leads to life and to the eternal city.  Gone is the easy way.  Oh, not that life was necessarily easy, but on the old road his enemy wasn’t Satan and the world.  Now he seems to be attacked one way or another around every bend in the road.  Often he finds himself in a “heap of trouble.”  There are all kinds of obstacles from fallen trees, to rocks, to quicksand.  There are swamps along the way and rugged mountains to traverse over.
    The howl of a wolf may cry, answered in the distance by its mate.  He may be stalked.  There might be the growl of the puma, or the roar of the bear.  He begins to wonder why in the world didn’t he stay on the easy path.  But this is the one that he is supposed to be on.  This is the one where he can lay down at night in spiritual peace.  Rest for his soul, there should be no anguish or anxiety.
    Often he has questioned if he should try and go back or cross over to the easy trail.  He can see from one of the boulders he is sitting on the people across the gorge laughing and seeming to have to good time, a happy time.  Once in a while one will see him and wave at him, beckoning him to come over.  All he has found is struggle, but at the end of each day there is comfort.  He will lay himself down to sleep and remember that he is not alone, that he has a Guide, a Comforter to be with him as he travels.
    He is assured by his Guide, that one day it will be worth it all.  One day he will be in the full presence of the Lord and each blister, each scrap, each scar will be worth the travail.  One day he will fully realize that the stalking of the wolf has ceased and he made it, he was not pulled down and devoured.  One day he will rest from the fighting he has found himself in against the hostile forces of the devil.  One day…but not yet, not now.
    Stay on the straight and narrow.  Don’t seek to go back, for the Lord has warned if he seeks to go back he is not fit for the kingdom of heaven.  Weather through the storms–hunker down if needed.  Use your rod and staff to fight off the wolves, lions, and bears.  Fight the good fight, be alert, be strong, be brave.  Endure hardships that you will be “perfect and complete lacking nothing.” (James 1:4)

Trouble and misery aren’t your very own private garden where you can run away to to feel sorry for yourself.”
              –Douglas Hirt (“The Kid”)

    “Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly.”
              –Ecclesiastes 8:6 (NKJV)
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                      “Whate’vr my fears or foes suggest,
                       You are my hope, my joy, my rest.
                       My heart shall feel your love and raise
                       My cheerful voice to sing your praise.”
                              –Isaac Watts

Have you ever felt that God has abandoned you?  Maybe you think that He doesn’t care or that He doesn’t have time for little ol’ you.  When you read the psalms of David you find that he is very honest in his thinking and emotions.  If you have felt frustration and abandonment, well, so did David.  Look at Psalm 13 (HCSB):

          1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?  How long will You hide Your face from me?
          2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
          3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
          4 Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
          5 But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
          6 I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

    David is really struggling when he pens this psalm.  The RSV states in verse 2, “How long must I bear pain in my soul?”  It is more than just an emotional response, but there is deep anguish.  The NIV puts it this way, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?”  Sometimes there is a real war raging in our minds. Because of that we often magnify the problems we are facing and add a “what if” to everything. Notice, however, there is a progression in this psalm.  This is good to keep in mind.  The first two verses we see David complaining.  That is the place where so many Christians get stuck.  They get in complaining mode and move from it.  David moves quickly from complaining to praying.  Finally, he is brought back to his senses and faith again takes hold for he is trusting and rejoicing.  We need to pray long enough that we come out rejoicing knowing that God is in control.
    Alfred Edersheim said, “Let me be one of the upward and outward lookers, not one of the downward and inward lookers.”  We need to get out of the “woe is me” and get back on track and say “great is the Lord.”  Listen!  Feelings do not always tell us the truth about God.  You may “feel” as if He is not there, but didn’t He promise never to leave or forsake us?  Faith must come into play and is must always answer feelings.  In fact, it should be faith followed by feeling, but we most often put it the other way around.  When we continually complain and look inward to ourselves weakness tends to follow and we lose control of the situation and that produces apprehension and fear.  Look up!  “But I have trusted in Your mercy.”
    F.B. Meyer lists characteristics of “People who dwell in the dust”:
         1)  those who feel forsaken by God,
         2)  those who feel their prayers are going nowhere,
         3)  those who are discouraged with life’s possibilities,
         4)  those who are going through difficult financial or physical stresses,
         5)  those who are stuck in a job or family situation they can’t get out of.
Perhaps it is time for them to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and get back to living the life that God has intended for them.

It is important to listen with all the senses, and to feel.  Awareness is a way of learning, too.  In these days to come you must be alive and aware to everything.  Let the days leave tracks upon your memory.” 
              –Louis L’Amour  (The Californios)

    “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
              –Psalm 37:23 (NLT)
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I get so tired of the “junk” in the world, our nation, in churches.  Why is it so hard to look at a problem and come up with a solution without working on someone’s agenda, especially the devil’s?  The bickering in our government has nothing to do with politics or policy but plain old pettiness.  I guess it has always been that way, and it will until the Lord returns and governs during the Millennium.
    In the midst of all the “junk,” it is imperative that the believer remain true and is not swayed.  Francis de Sales wrote many years ago that, “True devotion must be sought among many counterfeits.”  True devotion is honest, sacrificial love toward God.  It is not something to hype your emotions or something that you conjur up to make you “happy.”  But it is a lifestyle that is automatic and actually part of you.
    It is this devotion that helps get us through the “stupidity of life,” and the turmoils that rack the soul.  People in the world look at the devoted person with strange eyes for they cannot see that inward love that the believer has for God, nor can they understand it.  It is devotion that transforms the difficult things into joy.  Hmmm, if you were to follow someone, or if someone was to follow you for a day, from you actions, words, deeds, etc., would they know that you were devoted to Christ?
    Paul speaks of the devoted life in Colossians (3:17,23) when he says that everything we do should be unto the Lord.  Therefore, true devotion never interferes with earning a living, it makes your work more effective.  If you are truly working for the Lord, then everything you do will be your best effort, and will transfer to the work for your employer.  It is never–just get by, or good enough for government work.  If you are working for the Lord, every job you do will be more enjoyable.  I’ve heard that 85% of the people do not enjoy their work.  That is a shame.
    Sure there are times when we might not enjoy the work or the job given to us.  There are times when we might have to sacrifice what we want for family.  However! Even in those instances or circumstances we should be joyful at work and work at it if for no other reason than the fact that we are actually working for the Lord.  If we truly believe His Word, we should recognize that the steps of the righteous are ordered by Him.  Take that thought to work with you today.  Let the day, the experience leave “tracks upon your memory.”

Every morning starts a new day…  You do wrong, and you’re thrown down hard.  If you are what you called yourself, a quitter, you don’t get up again; but if you are a man you make a new beginning.”
              –William MacLeod Raine  (Sons of the Saddle)

    “Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.”
              –2 Corinthians 4:16 (AMPC)
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How do you see the world around you?  Do you see from the eyes of despair and disillusionment?  Do you look at it with pessimism and discontentment?  Or do look at your circumstances through the lens of Scripture?  I came across the following diary from Mary Bethell, dated January 1, 1862.  The horrendous Civil War was just beginning to show the tremendous loss of life that was to follow with the first major deadly battle at the First Bull Run.  Moving into 1862 things looked bleak.

         “A New Year and a New Covenant January 1, 1862 New Year’s day.  And I will live to see another year, I have had some trials last year, my two sons George and Willie left me for the war.  They joined the army for twelve months, but the Lord has been with them, and gave them excellent health and every comfort, while many poor soldiers have sickened and died, my sons have been spared to enjoy good health. . .the Lord has been very good to me the past year, I have had good health, and all my children and servants have had good health, and I have enjoyed myself at times, had some refreshing seasons for the Lord.  I will praise the Lord for his goodness to me and my family, I will now, on this new years day renew my covenant with God my Saviour.  I give myself to him, and pray that I may spend this year to his honor and glory, and that I may live to be useful and happy!”

    Do things rob you of your joy?  If so, then perhaps you are trying to gather strength from yourself or some other source.  Look at the words of Paul.

         “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
                   –Philippians 4:11-12(NIV)

Paul recognized that joy does not come from circumstances but from the Lord.  In fact, it is one of the fruits of the Spirit.  It is within; it just needs to be cultivated.  “True Christian joy does not come from outward circumstances, but from the peace and contentment we have in him.” (Tuley)  Our strength comes from Him.  From what side of life are you looking at your situations and circumstances?