We have a family of muscovie ducks that are attracted to our pond.  I am not particularly fond of them because of the mess they make in my back yard but they are a part of nature and I tolerate them most of the time.  There is another pond in our neighborhood probably a block away.  The other day I was watching 3 muscovie ducks waddling their way from our yard to the other pond.  It was surprising to me that they preferred to walk that block when they were fully equipped to fly the distance in no time.  Perhaps muscovie ducks are not much in a hurry.  Perhaps they like the scenery.  I have no idea why they walk when they can fly.

God has some encouraging words to His children as we make our weary way through this world.  Our walk gets tiring as we struggle with temptations, trials and obstacles to our faith.  The prophet Isaiah tells us that we do not have to slog through our journey, walking in our own strength.  He informs us in Isaiah 40:29, 31: “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.  But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint”.  God promises if we look to Him, if we wait upon Him, He will help us to soar above our difficulties.  We are not consigned to trudge through relying on our own power and wits.  We can soar high above through the strength that God promises by His Spirit.

What weary walk are you slogging through today?  What difficult problem are you trying to deal with in your own strength?  His Word gives us all the wisdom we seek and His Spirit gives us all the power we need.  We may not be an eagle or even a muscovie duck, but the same question applies to our spiritual lives.  Why walk when we can fly?

It is inevitable.  I seem to always get one of those shopping carts that have a defective wheel.  It makes the whole time of pushing it through the store a little bit more difficult.  It also has a tendency to veer off to one direction. Then there are those carts that go thump, thump all through the store.  Have you been stuck with one of those wounded shopping carts lately?  I never have asked but I wonder if they have a special guy whose job it is to fix up the wounded carts?  Perhaps they even have a shop that is dedicated to repairing to useful service those carts that need some attention.

As I was thinking about this the Lord brought to mind one of the duties of His church.  We are called to help those fellow believers who also are wounded.  In this special shop called the church we are to “love one another fervently” (1Peter 1:22).  We are instructed to be involved in restoring those who have been overtaken in a fault, but we must consider ourselves lest we also be tempted (Gal. 6:1).  We are to bear one another’s burdens, encourage those who struggle, and to be there to lift up those who have fallen.  There are those who get so frustrated with the wounded cart believers that they advocate to just put them aside and forget about them.  But our Lord Jesus taught us what God thinks about those wounded carts.  He told us the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  In each of these situations a special effort was made to restore what was lost to a place of usefulness.

How are we doing in our own shopping cart repair shop?  Are we abandoning those who do not perform up to acceptable standards or are we doing everything we can to get them up and running again?  We must remember that we do have a special guy in our shop that is an expert at fixing the broken, and the wounded, His name is Jesus. Bring the wounded carts to Him.

This morning I am feeling a little nostalgic as I watched the last of my six children walk across the stage to receive her high school diploma last night.  I am proud of her accomplishment and prayerful for the Lord to continue to direct her into the future He has planned for her.  Graduations are a way we celebrate the closing of one chapter in our lives and the opening of a new one.  As I reflect on this event I would like to share a few thoughts from a precious passage of scripture.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 gives us some wonderful direction for our lives as we think about moving into a new phase of our lives.  These verses tell us: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.   I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile”.

Three precious assurances can be found in these verses.  The first one is: God has wonderful plans for us.  He loves us so much and only desires the best for each one of His children.  We need to pursue His plans for our lives instead of our own.  The second assurance tell us that God is near us when we call out to Him.  He doesn’t just set us down on the path and say to us now do your best and I’ll see you when your journey is over.  He is just a prayer away and is eager for us to come to Him daily for wisdom, forgiveness and direction.  The third promise He gives brings so much hope.  He tells Israel and all of His children that He stands ready to bring us back home when we have wandered away.

For all the graduates: seek God’s direction on your journey through life.  

Sitting in my office I am hearing sounds of heavy machinery outside my window.  I go outside to see what is going on and discover that various equipment is gathered across the canal.  They are busily engaged in constructing a walking and bike path as part of the city’s Punta Gorda Pathways plan.  Many people would consider the noise distracting.  I for one love the sound of construction.  It indicates to me progress is being made.  The echoes of the backhoe shout that changes are coming, changes for the better.

When it comes to change, God is always in the construction business in our lives.  He loves to pull down, to dig up, to lay foundations and to build positive changes in us.  We may not like the destruction of our old ways of life and we may cringe that some of our comfort zones are being removed.  But if we are ever going to grow we need to allow God to bring in his heavy machinery.  The Bible describes God’s construction crew in 2 Cor. 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. Col. 2:7 says that we are to be: “Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving”.  Perhaps the Lord needs to uproot some deep seated bitterness in our hearts.  Maybe we need to start building a bridge to our neighbors who are unchurched.  It could be that a fresh coat of paint needs to be applied to our shabby attitudes.

How resistant are you to change?  Maybe you like the way you are and the construction sounds irritate you.  But I can’t help but think that the Lord of Heaven has some wonderful building plans He wants to initiate in our lives.  Go ahead and sign the building permit and let God work His wonderful changes in you.  May those construction sounds be like the sweet music of God doing His work.

Various organizations have attempted to summarize the monetary value of the work of a mother in the home. For the 13th straight year Salary.com surveyed more than 6,000 moms to find their top 10 most time-consuming jobs in the home. Some of the jobs were facility manager, laundry worker, janitor, day care teacher, cook and housekeeper. They also mentioned the jobs of psychologist and van driver. They then estimated how much time mothers spent on their "mom jobs". Stay at home moms spent 94 hours, while working moms spent 58 hours per week. Working moms are estimated to deserve $67,435 and stay at home moms would earn $113,586 a year according to the website Salary.com. I can just imagine the mothers out there turning in their time card to their husbands.

Actually the Bible talks about the value of a godly wife and mother in Proverbs 31:10. It says: “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies”. So how can we ever hope to reward those wives and mothers who mean so much to us? Do we start printing out the checks or start filling a bag with precious gems to give them? That may be impossible but they certainly deserve it. However, Proverbs 31 does tell us a very important reward that we can give to them. Verse 28 says: “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her”. How often do we rise up and bless our mother? Do we call her and let her know that she is important to us? Do we do things for her and show our love for her more than once a year? Do we bless her by spending a little time with her or giving her an unexpected gift? Men, do we regularly bless and praise our wives? Do we let them know how much we appreciate all they do for us and how their worth to us is truly above rubies?

Mother’s Day is upon us. Let’s be sure to reward our wives and mothers with the
praise they so deserve. If we would be able to pay our mothers, most of the ones I know would probably spend the money on their kids or their grandkids anyway.

You put it off as long as you can but ultimately you are faced with the consequences of your own clutter and can’t ignore it any longer.  Perhaps your spouse has been bringing it up or it may be you can no longer ignore the eyesore you have created.  You then make the decision that it is time to clean out the garage.  Sorting through all of the accumulated junk is no small task.  You have to rearrange and store things of value but you may also start pitching many things that might be usable   What is the priority?  What is the fact that determines what goes and what stays?  Perhaps it may be the question: “Is there room for the car?”

Sometimes we allow our lives to resemble an episode of hoarders.  He have simply accumulated too much junk.  We get our schedule cluttered with too many activities, we get our heart burdened down with too many worries, and we get our desires distracted with too many material pursuits.  Just as the garage was made for the car our heart was made to be occupied with Christ.  He deserves the priority and the pre-eminence in our lives.  Perhaps it is difficult to see Him amidst all the junk we have brought in.  Maybe it’s time to clean out the garage and make room for the Savior to be more visible.  The Bible tells us in Colossians 1:18: “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence”.  Are we careful to make time and space for prayer and study of His Word?  Do we make worship in the house of the Lord a priority in our week?  Do we ensure that the lifestyle He models is seen clearly displayed in our actions?

Just as our garages need periodic cleaning so does our hearts.  We need to rid our lives of anything that clutters the place that our Lord deserves.  Make a careful inspection inside your own life.  Is there room for Jesus?

When my sons were little I got them a train set for Christmas.  We set up the track on a big table in our basement.  The boys could hardly wait until the project was completed to get their train running around the track.  It was great fun for them and I have to admit I enjoyed it also; watching the train circle its way through our little train town.  Nothing goes smoothly for long, however.  Our beloved train began developing the nasty habit of becoming disconnected from the engine.  I think something was wrong with the hitch that allowed it to become separated when it rounded a turn.
            
Becoming disconnected is not just a problem for toy trains; it is also a serious problem that followers of Christ need to beware of.  Our lifestyle should follow closely our belief system.  Our doctrine and our practice should be coupled together.  As the cars on a train track are connected to the engine so should our day to day living be connected to the truth of God.  Yet we can allow ourselves to become disconnected at times.
            
Jonah was disconnected.  In chapter 3 Jonah went through the city of Nineveh and preached to the people. He had the right message; he had the right belief system.  He believed in the love of God and also the justice of God.  In chapter 3 he had the right words but in chapter 4 he had the wrong attitude.  He was angry, pouting, discouraged and blamed God.  Jonah had a disconnect between his belief system and his attitude.
            
God wants us to not only believe right but to also behave right.  One of the reasons that many are turned off to the message of Christ is that they know too many disconnected Christians.  A disconnected Christian is one who is careless with his words, carnal in his walk, and selfish in his attitude.  Our God expects us to live a life of honesty, holiness, compassion, kindness, integrity and Christlikeness.
            
I think that after a while of trying to fix our train, I finally boxed it up and put it on the shelf.  Will God have to put us on the shelf?  He desires to repair the separation.  He wants our faith and our practice to maintain that strong link. Have we become disconnected? 

If you haven’t noticed it before, Florida is a huge melting pot.  When I first made my move to the Sunshine State, I was surprised at the scarcity of a southern accent here in the Deep South. This is explained because people from all over the country and even from various foreign countries have made Florida their place of residence.  They don’t have a southern accent because they speak with the accents they grew up with.  I love to hear people talk and then try to guess where they are from just based on how they pronounce certain words.  Whether we can hear it or not all of us have some kind of an accent.  Our speech and mannerisms are shaped by the area we grew up in.

We who belong to Christ need to have a certain accent also?  We need to be shaped and molded by our constant fellowship with Him.  Phil. 2:5 says: “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus”.  Our thinking, our attitudes, our behavior, and even our speech needs to take on that certain accent of Christ.  People should be able to tell that we live real close to Jesus just by listening to us or watching us for awhile.  In the book of Acts we are told that even the enemies of Christians could tell a difference in them.   Acts 4:13-14 says: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus”.  They had taken on the accent of Christ.

Perhaps you grew up in the Midwest, or spent your childhood on the East Coast.  You might be from the Deep South and address everyone as y’all.  However, those who are followers of Jesus need to speak with the accent of Christ. The echoes of His love, His kindness, His grace, and His holiness need to be heard from us.  I wonder if some of us need to do a little work on our accent. 

I haven’t seen very many robins while living here in southwest Florida.  However, the other day I drove by a thicket where a whole flock of robins were feeding.  These robins were eating the berries from the Brazilian Pepper trees.  I noticed that the robins I saw that day seemed a bit skinnier than the ones I was accustomed to seeing when I lived up north.  Perhaps the earthworms that they feast on when they are in their northern environment have more calories than the berries in Florida.  I have also noticed that the Florida squirrels and deer are a bit smaller than their northern counterparts.  I am told that it all has to do with their diets.

When it comes to our spiritual lives some Christians are a bit on the skinny side. They are anemic and weak when it comes to their walk with the Lord.  They do not have that robust health and spiritual strength that the Lord has called all of us to.  Just guessing here, but perhaps their spiritual skinniness is due to their diet.  How about us?  Are we feasting on the rich nutrition that comes from the Word of God?  Are we reading the Bible daily and applying its truth to our lives?  Are we careful to spend quality time with the Lord in prayer?  Do we occupy ourselves with gathering with the flock to receive instruction, love, and encouragement?  Are we getting enough exercise by serving the Lord?  The book of James challenges us to receive with meekness the implanted word.  Peter tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord.  The psalmist says “your Words were found and I ate them and your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart”.

When those skinny Florida robins hit the ground up north they begin feasting on those fat earthworms.  That is what they are made to do.  Have you been feeling a little skinny in your spiritual life lately?  Perhaps it is time to do some feasting on the Word of God.  That is what God’s people are made to do.

After the resurrection of the Lord, the disciples were still not sure what they were supposed to be doing so seven of them decided to go fishing.  They ended up catching nothing after spending all night fishing on the Sea of Galilee.  On the shore they spied a man who asked them how they were doing.  He then suggested that they cast their net on the right side of the boat if they wanted to catch some fish.  The net immediately was filled with fish.  The disciples then knew that the man was Jesus.  He told his followers to bring some of the fish and they had a wonderful breakfast with Jesus on the shore.
            
From this biblical shore lunch we can learn some valuable lessons from our Resurrected Lord.  We can learn a lesson about fruitfulness.  The disciples had fished all night, trying as skilled fishermen to catch something, but had failed.  Jesus gave them a command and when they obeyed it they immediately were fruitful.  We must be careful to follow his orders, his words, and his example if we ever expect to catch anything.
            
Another lesson Jesus teaches us from that meal on the shore is a lesson on fellowship.  The disciples may have enjoyed each other’s company, on the boat, but something was missing.  When they sat down with the Savior, their fellowship took on a special significance.  The sweetness of that meal on the shore was not to be found in the taste of the bread and fish but in the tender presence of the Lord with them.  O how we need to be in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. How empty and meaningless our lives become when we leave him out.
            
Finally a lesson on forgiveness can be learned from our Lord’s words to Peter after that shore lunch.  Peter was asked three times if he loved Jesus.  Those three statements affirming his love to Jesus corresponded to the three times he denied his Lord.  What a tender, compassionate Savior we have who reaches out in our sinfulness and offers us forgiveness and a second chance to serve Him.
            
What a wonderful meal the disciples enjoyed with Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  More than the taste of bread and fish they tasted the fruitfulness, fellowship, and forgiveness that their Lord served them on that morning.  Shall we join them?