None of the following is original, but it is entertaining and useful. Enjoy.

“One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it
to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred – Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries – Most never happens.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.”

From your friends in Wytheville, Virginia; R & M STABLES!

The topic of tonight’s Kairos was taken from Genesis 24 where Abraham grieved the loss of his wife Sarah. It was a good reminder of the importance of allowing space in ourselves and others for grieving loss.

Some of the takeaways are:

1. It’s important not to rush through any of the seasons of life, even the unpleasant ones. Allow winter, the season of loss, to have its work instead of hurrying through it.
2. The only way to navigate the grieving process is to grieve. Don’t try to minimize the loss or wish it away.
3. Don’t apologize for your tears of grief. The Bible is full of many people, including Jesus, who were not ashamed to weep.
4. There is no time limit to grief and loss. The point is not to “get over it,” but to find healing and a new normal.
5. Part of the healing process involves talking about the loss. Don’t avoid the subject but also don’t try to fix the person in the grieving process.
6. Don’t wait until it’s too late to appreciate the people in your life. Let them know face to face what they mean to you.

One of the best books I’ve ever read about this kind of loss is C. S. Lewis’ A Grief Observed. It’s one of the most painfully honest, vulnerable, raw, and true books about grieving after Lewis lost his wife Joy to cancer.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do for someone is to be there. Job’s friends were at their best when they sat in silence with Job in his sorrow. More than any words, your presence is what matters most.

Even on Monday, you can bank on every single one of God’s promises.

Even on Monday, you can be sure that the God who was for you yesterday is for you today.

Even on Monday, you can live in the freedom of the fully forgiven and set free.

Even on Monday, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.

Even on Monday, the worst day ever is still only 24 hours long.

Even on Monday, the stedfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to and end, and they are still new every morning.

Even on Monday, God loves you infinitely and unconditionally.

Yes, even on Monday.

Gatlinburg 2019 is now in the past. It exists for me only in my memory and in the photos I took while I was there.

I’m thankful for the chance to go, and I’m thankful to be back home in my own bed.

Did I get to do absolutely everything on my imaginary wish list for this trip? Close, but not quite. But then again, there’s always the next time, God willing.

It’s always a nice change of pace to get away from the normal routine for a day or two, sort of like hitting the reset button or doing a reboot.

It is true that you never fully appreciate the moments in your life until they become memories. I’m glad I have a few new memories to cherish in the days to come.

“Abraham, at this point, has reached the place where he is in touch with the very nature of God. He now understands the reality of God. 
My goal is God himself . . .
At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.
It is through the discipline of obedience that I get to the place where Abraham was and I see who God is. God will never be real to me until I come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ. Then I will know and can boldly proclaim, ‘In all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee'” Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest).

Who says you can’t go back?

Not me. Especially after I’ve been staying at the Glenstone Lodge in Gatlinburg. It’s where the family and I stayed back in the day, i. e. the early 80’s. It feels vaguely familiar, like a half-remembered dream, but apparently they’ve done some remodeling in the last 35 or so years.

Gatlinburg as a whole is like a time machine for me, because so much of it is the same. I can feel 10 years old again for the short time I’m here. Too bad the prices aren’t what they were in 1982.

If I could see old pictures, I’m sure I’d recognize the place a lot more. It seems a lot smaller than I remember as a kid, but maybe that’s because I’m older and bigger now.

Let the adventures continue.

I can’t think of a single thing to add to what Mr. Buechner said, so here it is:

“The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. 

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. 

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. 

And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world” (Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat).

“The work of salvation means that in your real life things are dramatically changed. You no longer look at things in the same way. Your desires are new and the old things have lost their power to attract you. If you are born again, the Spirit of God makes the change very evident in your real life and thought. It is this complete and amazing change that is the very evidence that you are saved” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

I believe that none of us are saved by works. It is grace through faith alone that saves us. But I also believe that saving faith always manifests itself by fruit and works. The works are the proof of that saving faith.

Hopefully, you and I are being transformed day by day into the likeness of Jesus and less like the insecure, anxious, and selfish people we used to be before we met Jesus.

If my life shows no evidence of the indwelling Spirit of God and my actions never change day after day and I keep chasing after the old sinful ways (with no desire to do any differently), you have a right to question my salvation. There should be a change at some point, no matter how small or gradual.

I’m thankful that God who began this good work in me will see it through. I’m thankful I can’t go back to the old man I used to be — even if I wanted to go back — because the old man is dead and gone.

May our lives be the testimony that attracts others to want to know this God who can save and change anybody anywhere at any time.

I can 1) breathe and 2) murmur my thanks, so I think this qualifies as a mighty good day.

I can also 1) grumble and complain with the best of them and 2) focus on what I’m lacking instead of what I have, so I forget how blessed I am and diminish the day.

It’s a daily discipline, a choice that I must make every morning because my default setting is comparison and entitlement. As you and I both know, comparison is the thief of joy and entitlement makes us blind to our blessings.

That’s why God’s expressed will for us in Christ Jesus is in everything give thanks. Not FOR everything but IN everything, because God works IN everything FOR our good.

This is me preaching to myself, reminding myself of what I already know but have forgotten. Gratitude is still the best way to live.

“God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

Instead of me asking God to work in me, maybe I need to stop and look at what He’s already doing in and around me. Perhaps I need to look for what God is doing in my midst and join Him instead of asking Him to sanctify and bless my own plans.

In nearly every circumstance, we’re tempted to try and help God out instead of trusting unconditionally. The trusting part is always more difficult than the doing.

Starting tomorrow, maybe you and I need a little more trust and a little less trying, a little more faith and a lot less fretting. That’s a good place to start.