I have a friend who lives in Nome, Alaska, and he often posts pictures and quips about bears on Facebook. Figured I would write a little something about them as well. I think I wrote from this a couple of years ago, but it is a means to ponder. The basic point in #5 was made by Ilan Shamir.

Advice from a Bear
1) Live Large–dare to dream, dare to explore. Living large does not mean living beyond your means. Probably one of the least used areas of exploration today is in the realm of books. Another great way to live large is to spend time with God; He might even help you enlarge yourself by sending you to the wilderness.
2) Climb Beyond Your Limitations–bears are great climbers; part of that is due to their strength, but another part is due to their tenacity. Yes there are natural limitations, but most of the time we are the person who brings the limitations to our lives.
3) When Life get Hairy, Grin and Bear It–sometimes things don’t go our way. There are disappointments in life. Perhaps one of the great weaknesses in the church today is not recognizing the hand of God working in our lives. Do you sing in your prison cell? Ponder that one.
4) Eat Well–enjoy a piece of bacon once in a while; or better yet a piece of pie.
5) Live with the Seasons–this is a hard one to do, for many do not want to move on. There are atrocities walking around out there. We’ve seen them. Women in their 50s, having had kids, and they try to act like their daughters or some bimbo starlet that comes along. Guys are no better. They do not want to grow up; they continue to prance around in their Peter Pan costumes. There is a season for everything–recognize it, and live with it.
6) Take a Good Long Nap–this is not to escape life or the seasons, but to better prepare you for what is to come. The Lord wants to give rest so we can have added strength. Wake up–refreshed.
7) Look After Your Honey!–have fun with your sweet-thing. Life is better going through it with two. Dare to protect your spouse and your family.
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Without getting political; I’m sure getting tired of the pompous, pious, self-righteous folk on Facebook. Listen, and this is no prophecy, but if Clinton is elected there will be an end to the America that we know. People say “I can’t vote for Trump”. We have had many presidents who were not necessarily godly men. And if you want to talk about language, few could beat Truman. Remember, it will be the place where you will have to live.
Just sayin’…
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“May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.”
–John 17:21 (HCSB)

“If you are going through a solitary way, read John 17, it will explain exactly why you are where you are–Jesus has prayed that you may be one with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or have you some other end for your life? Since you became a disciple you cannot be as independent as you used to be.
The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God, and this is revealed in John 17…. God is not concerned about our plans; He does not say–Do you want to go through this bereavement; this upset? He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, nobler men and women; or they are making us more captious and fault-finding, more insistent upon our own way.”

Ouch, these words from Oswald Chambers hurt.

Ira Paine

“It’s a fact that you’re gettin’ older
Man don’t it seem like the winters are colder
You get tired so easy and you can’t stand the heat.
That’s just the ol’ cowboy blues
When you wear out your first pair of house shoes
It don’t get as much done and work ain’t as much fun
As it used to be… .”      –Dan Roberts

Call it the end of the year slump; call it the effect of breathing in too much of the aroma of red ink; call it just plain tiredness, but the old gray matter is not generating too many thoughtful thoughts. What is the old saying? The get up and go has gotten up got. Maybe it’s just me getting along in the years. I remember when I was just as fresh as the end of the year as I was in the beginning, in fact, I would be gearing up for the next year.
I look at some folk around and say to myself, “Goodness – the things they can do for their age!”. Then I look at others and say, goodness they are in bad shape for their age. Perhaps the thing to do is to try and maintain, and continue to strive to get better. I know there are things I can no longer do, and definitely things I would no longer even try to do. However, I’m not totally ready for my rockin’ chair (at least permanently). There are times when I sit, but I do try and at least ponder in those times.
In the Scriptures I read about those in their “ripe old age” and wonder if that means they are getting a little aromatic. Maybe it means they are wrinkled like prunes. Being ripe could also mean, not worth eating, or being around; folks who are just kind of soft and squishy.
One thing that is good–God doesn’t age. He doesn’t get older, even though He might be called the “Ancient of Days.” He is the same; He is constant. In fact He promises that He will be with me in my old age, just like He was in my youth. Perhaps even more so, because I am able to take the time and recognize Him more. When that day comes and I am confined to my rockin’ chair, I know He is there to carry me to and fro. In fact, He promises that, “I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.” (Isaiah 46:4, HCSB)
So perhaps, between now and the end of the year, I might come up with a few thoughts that will get you to pondering. Perhaps there might still be some kind of inspiration or even maybe some agitation to your gizzard. (I can usually watch the news, especially the politics if I need some added bile and gall to my system.)

Ira Paine

“I had a million questions to ask God; but when I met Him, they all fled my mind; and it didn’t seem to matter.”      –Christopher Morley

“Prayer is–an expression of mankind’s unity and relationship of love with God; an expression of mankind’s affirmation of and participation in God’s purposes for the earth.”      –Dr. Myles Monroe

Just to let you know the thoughts today are not all my own. I have often pondered the Lord’s Prayer, and I have heard numerous sermons on it, and read books and commentaries about it. Many of the ideas and illustrations are from “A Slice of Infinity: Praying for Bread” written by Jill Carattini.
One thing that has appalled me over the years is the “blab it and grab it” phenomenon. Some of it is close to the truth, but much of it is completely bizarre. Too often we want to interpret scripture to follow our own ideas rather than the context in which the Holy Spirit had it written. We take things out of context or we don’t even bother to look at the context.
Look at the words of Jesus, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Disciples of a rabbi “would learn to pray as their teacher prayed, and from then on, when a disciple’s prayer was heard, it would sound like that of his teacher’s prayers, bearing his own mark and posture before God.” (Carattini) So when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are saying that we are His disciple and that we are praying with the voice of Jesus.
This is not the time to go into the concept of what is prayer. True prayer, however, is not about self, but about the Lord. How many times have you prayed and nothing happened? When that does happen we either give a cliché, or we say that God doesn’t really answer our prayers. James gives a little insight when he says that we often pray amiss. I can remember at times, once or twice, when I was playing ball and I prayed for the Lord to help me get a hit. I cannot remember if it ever happened, but it really was a silly prayer. The pitcher was probably praying, don’t let him get a hit.
Carattini brings out the fact that the prayer of our daily bread is foundational to life. It is a literal need to survive. We don’t pray for filet mignon and caviar but for the sustenance of life. This is a prayer for God’s care and His provision. Carattini, in her article, gives the words of Martin Luther, “[prayer for daily bread is the plea for] everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” It is not just something we eat, but it is far more than that. It is prayer for things that are needed.
Prayer is not a lackadaisical piece of rhetoric. It should come from the soul of man, from his very being. Carattini writes in closing. “In difficult days, in plentiful days, the invitation of Christian prayer is the invitation of the Spirit to join a cry united to Christ’s–‘Give us this day our daily bread’–which is placed in the hands of one who called himself the bread of life and carried to the Father who prepares a table for the life to the world.”

Ira Paine

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.”      –Matthew 6:10-11 (NKJV)

Guess the topic should be Mother’s Day, or at least the day-after. Not any organized thoughts, just some jumbled ones that floated through my mind. First of all, I was asked what gifts I give on Mother’s Day to my wife. I was asked if I gave her flowers, and I said “No”, and they were surprised. I normally don’t give Annie gifts on Mother’s Day and you’ll need to ask her why, and it’s not because she is not my mother.
However, on the other hand there is so much more than giving her gifts on Mother’s Day. I should save the following for a Saturday Coffee Perc, but thought it should be thrown in here. I might even use it for today’s “Echo”.

“It had become a place I could not leave alone, nor my quiet talks with her, nor the good coffee in the candlelight.”
–Louis L’Amour

In fact last night, we sat, had coffee, but it wasn’t in the candlelight, just the lamplight. I cannot leave this place alone, for it is the Mother who makes a home. Dad provides the necessities and the protection, but it is the Mother who makes it a home by nurturing it. The warmth comes from her. She has the responsibility of being the one primarily responsible for personality development. She is the one who prepares their breakfast and then sends the children off to school, and prays for them while they are there. She is the one who is at home, waiting for them, and she probably has made cookies or pie, or something for them so they can have a snack when they come home.
One other thought along this line is from one of my devotions last week. It was about the wife of noble character. She is the husband’s crown. She seeks her husband’s honor, not her own. In that she is showing her children how to honor others. The wife of noble character is diligent and not sloppy in household administration. She is a good steward and that includes the nurturing of her children. A wife of noble character also has above all else and interest in the things of God.
Another thought flitted through my gray matter. I found out a few years ago that I actually came from a dysfunctional family. I didn’t know it at the time, but all the experts and the books say that I’m a messed up person because of the way I was raised. It caught my attention and I sat down, with a cup of coffee, and pondered it some. Not much, for I looked at my upbringing and said those so-called experts didn’t know what they were talking about. I have written it here before, but I really had three moms. I had my Mom, my Grandma, and my Aunt Bern. I had three distinct and important people taking time to nurture me. I know my Mom, regretted my staying at Grandma’s, especially in her last years, but she didn’t understand the plan of God. If that situation had not occurred it is very doubtful that I would be a Christian today. So I was fortunate in that and also that I had three moms to love me.
Three moms, a loving wife of noble character, and two daughters that are now following their mother with their example in raising their children. What more could a guy ask for?

Ira Paine

“A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.”      –Proverbs 12:4