It appears that we have come to at least a temporary end to a four year
drought here in western central Florida. Most folks assume that in our
subtropical climate, we must have oodles of water. Well, sadly not the case.
When we moved here more than 26 years ago, nearly every afternoon we’d have
thunder, lightning, and rain during our rainy season. Not so for the past
few years.
Just 60 miles north of us, Tampa has been getting rain at the rate of
three inches per hour. Homes and roads have flooded. Yep, lots and lots of
rain.
This resumption of rain for us has been quite a blessing. With a net of
9,000 people PER DAY moving to Florida, all our resources are pretty
strained. Water is one of those essentials that has disappeared at an
alarming rate both in our ponds and lakes and in our underground limestone
natural storage units.
Now I’m going to share a problem with you that’s not at all peculiar to
Florida. Anywhere there’s rain, folks have a problem with umbrellas. I’m
sure the man who invented these rather awkward devices thought he’d solved a
major problem for man and womankind. Wrong!
Oh, sure, once you get past the tricky opening procedure (often while
getting wet) and avoid opening them in the house (just in case you’re a tad
superstitious), you’re still faced with the fact that most often, the
umbrella is NOT where you need it. If you’re away from home, the umbrella is
at home. If you’re in your house, the umbrella is in the car. OR, your um
brella is at the doctor’s office, at church, at a friend’s home, etc.
I carry a huge umbrella in Tonka 02. It’s practically useless because
for short excursions from my truck, I get wetter getting the thing out and
trying to "inflate" it than if I just go ahead and dodge the raindrops.
When these thoughts congealed in my brain, I immediately thought about
how many of us face these same issues in our spiritual lives. Some of us
view God as a benevolent entity whom we’ve never seen and accept by faith.
We often see His provisions for us (the fruit and gifts of the Spirit) as
kinda off at a distance and sometimes not readily available.
The scriptures picture God’s ideal for us: He tells us to "put on the
whole armor of God" (Eph 6). God wants us to WEAR the whole armor of God as
if God’s helps are an inseparable part of us. He doesn’t want us leaving
pieces of the armor "in the car or at the store". Everywhere we go, we can
and should go with God and His provisions. It’s not like a cloak we pick up
when it happens to be handy or when we’re a bit panicky about getting through
some difficult situation.
I’m sure you will see many more applications to this truth. Please let
me hear from you. Just hit my name in the lower corner. I’ll get back to
you.
"GRADUALLY"... 
- Neat stuff you got there. (a young man in NM)
- My prayers are going out for your Mama. They are also going out for your
ministry. I don't respond much, but your messages are a blessing, and
"right on".
- Just read your article about the frog and the discussion on our acceptance
of the horrific things that go on today. Yes, years ago we became very vocal
about these things. We made it known that so much of this is unacceptable.
However, today is another story. One is almost reticent about speaking out
because one never knows if there is someone behind you waiting to "blow you
away." It is such a frightening world today
.
Oh, how I wish my grandchildren could have experienced life in the years
that I was growing up. As children, we had many more chores. We had much
more family time. We could play out on the street without our parents being
worried about us. Yes, this is a very different world we live in and a lot
more is presented to us visually. We feel we cannot do anything about it
other than change the channel if it is on TV or walk away from it if it is
live. But it is difficult to be vocal
- I just now finished reading your last Inside Out piece. Your piece hits
home in so many arenas. We have become so desensitized to the ways of
society that not much bothers people any more. Our language, music,
voyeurism, etc. The list goes on and on. Movies, personal behavior.
- I had heard the frog story a long time ago, but it still hits home.
Without a lot of details, several years ago, I made some major mistakes all
because of a slow process of slacking up on Bible reading, prayer and missed
a couple of weeks of church due to work. I am so thankful for a forgiving
GOD, family and pastor.
We all need to stop every once in awhile and check the temperature of our
own "life pot". Sometimes we need a change of temperature to keep ourselves
out of the boiling pit of HELL.
- What a thought stimulating article this week!! There are so many
applications that one doesn't know what to say, other than yes, we do get
desensitized in many walks of our life. My diagnosis of hypoglycemia comes
to mind right away. I noticed I'd get headaches when I hadn't eaten in a
long time, but once I ate something, I no longer thought about it. This had
been going on for a few years. (Yeah it takes some of us longer than
others.) Unfortunately, it became a real problem when I started feeling
like passing out, throwing up and sleeping all the time. That's when I
realized that I needed help! Now that I know what's wrong, I do recognize
that
I'd started "packing" energy bars in my purse more frequently, and eating a
bit more - so underneath it all, yes, I must have known that something was
wrong, but I did a very good job of ignoring it from the outside. Maybe
we've been told to adapt so often, that we just don't always see that's
there's good and bad adapting. I'm sure we do the same in our walk with God.
We go along, think we're adapting to our paths twists and turns and actually
feel good about some of the changes we've made, but by the time we're totally
lost, we have to yell for help. Once it arrives, we can't believe we missed
those oh, so obvious turns! Seems we
forget that we don't know it all and can't do it all . I guess we need these
kinds of reminders to help us ponder through our walks and seek the guidance
we so need. Thanks for that reminder.
