Fw: Morning reflections

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 3:47 PM
Subject: Morning reflections

Our heads can be foggy but our spirits may be most alert in the morning.  Before the distractions of daily life divert us we may be most impressionable to the imprint of the Lord on our hearts and minds.  This morning, as I gazed across the reflected sky of my local pond, it occurred to me that the Lord wants and deserves all of me...not just a part of me.  I tend to think of the Lord when He fits my schedule or when problems bring me to the end of self, but this morning it occurred to me that our Creator has a greater claim than that.  After all, He doesn't care for me 'part' of the time...He doesn't watch over this world when He feels like it.  He is full time about the business of Creation management. 

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I need to find ways of looking up and expressing gratitude more frequently. 

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One day I'll be directly in His presence with no distractions and the self focus that seems to capture me most of the time will evaporate, I believe.  Perhaps it all starts with the senses.  God is Spirit but we are flesh and our spirit needs awakening.  Just as we didn't fashion ourselves, so all that surrounds us was also directly or indirectly formed at the Master's command.  Nature quietly shouts in worship through displays of endless beauty, variety and function. 

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But am I listening and is my appreciation truly returned to Him?

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Romans 1:²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: Answers?

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2016 7:27 AM
Subject: Answers?

This past Sunday was my Mom's birthday.  She's in her 90's and going strong and part of our celebration was to walk around the "Art on the Square" festival in Williamsburg.  I was amazed at the variety of arts and crafts...everything from miniature trees made of wire to Australian didgeridoos (see picture).  Shirley found a small planter to buy that she'd been looking for that resembled a natural stone.  As we visited one booth I heard the resident artist say, "Please let me know if you have any questions."  The unique crafts on display caused us to have questions about technique and materials and the artists were generally eager to help.  But for some reason when she made that statement I pictured another scenario.  Just as we were going from exhibit to exhibit looking over the handiwork of these craftsmen, so we go through life looking for truth...looking for meaning...looking for beauty.  It almost seems that, in a similar way, we are shopping to decide what we will invest our measure of belief in.  What if, instead of the artist offering help to answer questions, a shopper went in to each booth and asked, "Do you have any answers?".  Isn't that what life is like?  We move from booth to booth of experience, knowledge, opinion, culture, religion viewing the work and determining whether we should invest our hearts and minds.

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Frankly, I was most impressed with the Australian didgeridoo and the sales people who demonstrated the sound of this large wind instrument...but not impressed enough to buy one.  But when I went into the Jesus booth back at age 19 I found the One with the answers and now I take Him with me as I enjoy all of the festivals.

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John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

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blessings as you sample the booths and look for answers, 

Rob Smith

Fw: why fear?

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 7:33 AM
Subject: why fear?

John 7:¹² And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, "He is a good man," others said, "No, he is leading the people astray." ¹³ Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

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The passage above captures one of the key challenges of our walk as believers.  Some people are ready to say of Jesus, "He was a good man".  Others are convinced that faith in Jesus leads people astray.  But verse 13 captures the biggest problem.  Fear of others, fear of rejection, fear of being out of step with popular opinion may prevent us from speaking openly of Him.  But what is more important to be open about than the impact Jesus has had on you since you placed your confidence in Him...since you turned from following yourself and following others and following the culture to following the One who created you and then rescued you!

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Who knows....you might be the instrument through whom the Lord would reach others....and, yes, we may face rejection on a personal level.

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But our rejection is nothing compared to the rejection of the Lord.  Perhaps that is why Jesus said in verse 6,  "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here".

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blessings this bright spring morning!

Rob Smith

Fw: sailing on the shore

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 7:30 AM
Subject: sailing on the shore

Awakened by the Master's touch

I go to water's side,

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Unfurl my sail with cotton clouds

His breeze to catch...I fly.

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Sunwashed spring morn

You draw Him close

My Master, Lord and Friend

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Sailing on the lakeshore now

I know He's with me yet

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And his wind carries through the day

My sail to fill...my boat he'll stay

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Together we will find the way

as morning clouds and breezes show

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It is enough to know He's close.

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Psalm 85:¹⁰ Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
    righteousness and peace kiss each other.

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blessings fellow travelers and shore sailors,

Rob Smith

Fw: Lunch daily

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 7:19 AM
Subject: Lunch daily

Over the weekend we had dinner at a local restaurant.  I was struck by a sign they posted out front (picture).  It said "Lunch daily".  I thought to myself..."Of course...lunch daily...that's what I do".  How else could you even think about lunch.  Very few days pass without me having lunch.  It really is a daily event for me.  Without food being consumed daily I wouldn't be on the planet very long.  It's kind of a habit I acquired very early, enjoy daily and have no intentions of stopping!

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We have been reading in the book of John that Jesus described himself as food.  He called himself the bread of life and living water.  He also said that it was necessary to eat his flesh and drink his blood (now that's getting into some serious allegory).  In fact when Jesus gave this last instruction many people stopped following him because they didn't grasp his meaning.  He gave this teaching the day after feeding 5,000 from five loaves of bread and two fish...showing that he was sovereign over things like food and could make food and meet that need directly.  Many followed him across the sea of Galilee to get lunch again and he told them that it was more important to realize their need to believe in Him than to get a free lunch.  In John 6:27 Jesus said, "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you."  When people asked how they could acquire this kind of food Jesus replied in verse 29, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."  He stated further in verse 35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."  Eating is a process of taking something that starts outside of our body and is taken into our body to sustain our natural lives.  Jesus also starts outside of our lives and when we believe and trust in Him we take Him inside and receive lasting life.  Jesus stated in verse 51: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: the humble leaf

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2016 7:42 AM
Subject: the humble leaf

Bright green leaves of spring introduce the season with welcome color after the drabness of winter.  These young leaves are not fully mature and are lighter to allow more light to pass through and assist them to become dark with chlorophyll for the summer season.  It's humbling to consider the complexity of a leaf.  They are actually organs of life for the tree.  They receive and provide nutrients from and to the roots and trunks and generate food, transfer gases, and absorb water.  Like people, they have layers of "skin"... an outer protective layer called the epidermis, a middle layer where the photosynthesis takes place and veins to carry food to and from the leaf to the tree.  The design of the leaf is all about life for the tree.  The leaf is the interface that transforms light into food and releases waste products back to the air.  It takes many many leaves to support a tree and when they have run their course for a season they fall to earth and feed the soil as well.

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The Lord is the author of life.  He transforms light...the light of His truth becomes food to sustain us.  He provides shade for us as well and gives all we need for growth, thirst quenching and the exchange of unhealthy content within our hearts and minds for the clean.  A leaf is both humble and sophisticated, by His design.  We are also humble and yet we were designed with great complexity that we might live and grow to maturity for the season of our days.  The elements of life come together in the leaf and they come together within us as we allow His light to wash over and penetrate within.  We need this direct interface with the Lord to live...just as the tree needs its leaves.

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Proverbs 11:²⁸ Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
    but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: Rain

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 7:15 AM
Subject: Rain

What comes from Heaven to wash the earth?

What feeds the ground, brings plants to birth?

What fills the wells to quench our thirst?

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Look up and see the sky that cries...

Feel the wetness of His kiss...

Rain is yours, the Father's gift

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Job 28:24 ^24,26 For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens...when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: the middle of the story

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2016 7:20 AM
Subject: the middle of the story

Have you ever seen a movie where you felt like you were dropped into the middle of a story?  You follow characters who have a history that even they aren't sure of and as the movie unfolds the rest of the story is filled in to give the characters and you a complete understanding.  It occurred to me that our lives are like that.  We are born, natural creatures, without specific knowledge of Heaven or the Lord who made us and all we see.  It's like we were dropped into the middle of our own movie and need to complete the story. 

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We have been reading the book of John and in the first chapter we see Jesus, who it says in verse 10 "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him."  Jesus came to complete the story...to fill in the beginning and to give context for the rest, including Heaven and the Father.  It also reminds me of the Lord's Prayer where the words are "Thy Kingdom come...".  The Kingdom of Heaven must come to us for us to realize that it is real and that it is the greater reality than the natural realm we are so familiar with.  When Jesus came He was bringing the kingdom to us and He continues to bring the kingdom to us.  I took a picture of the pond where little waves were coming seemingly endlessly as a reminder that God keeps bringing His kingdom to our shore.

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The question is, "Will we believe that He is the King and His kingdom has come to include us...Will we accept His Son and acknowledge that our story is incomplete without him?"

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John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: decorative soap

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2016 7:20 AM
Subject: decorative soap

I have this small conflict whenever I use our small bathroom to wash my hands.  I really prefer using a bar of soap to wash...from habit growing up, but my wife likes to use dispensers of liquid soap.  So I go along with that.  But in our small guest bathroom there is a jar with three balls of perfectly good soap that I'd like to use...but that I'm not supposed to use because it's there as a decoration.  It's perfectly good soap but we need to preserve the round balls with their lovely color for appearance.  It isn't soap that is meant to actually be used.  If it were used to wash the shape would change and the bowl would become gooey and the three balls of soap wouldn't match.

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It occurred to me that we can be like those decorative balls of soap.  We, as believers, have been cleansed and we are equipped to help others wash in the knowledge of the Savior, but we can be content to stay in our bowl, on the edge of the sink and just look pretty.

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We have been washed in something far more precious than soap and our attractiveness will be found as we engage in the process of bringing the cleansing news to others!

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1 John 1:⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: life and renewal

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 9, 2016 7:31 AM
Subject: life and renewal

Spring should be the beginning of the year, in my opinion.  It represents so many beginnings in nature.  Animals give birth to new young, flowers and trees burst with color in blossoms and leaves, warm days last much longer than winter and inspire people to come out of their homes to enjoy the outdoors.  And spring reminds us of the central qualities of our Lord: to Create and to Restore.  His brand lies on and within all we can see around us.  Nothing was made that didn't have its patent in Heaven and its design crafted by Jesus...including ourselves.  This place we know as the world didn't just happen...it was fashioned.  And so were we.  And as spring demonstrates life in both newness and restoration, so we are reminded that our Lord not only gave us life...He is ready to redeem and restore us.  The other day I took this picture at the pond of the sun just painting the tops of the trees...reminding me that the greatest symbol in nature of the Lord's commitment to creation and restoration is the rising of the sun with each day.  He renews his mercy that way...daily.  It is good to remember that the One who loved us enough to make us, loves us enough to restore and renew us..day by day and through all the seasons of life.

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Psalm 103 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: A severe limit

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 5, 2016 7:44 AM
Subject: A severe limit

Have you ever been very close to a problem or issue that you wanted to make a difference in but felt far away...unable to make an impact?  My wife, Shirley, will wake up sometimes with painful migraine headaches.  This past Saturday was one of those.  It has been frustrating to see her in such distress and feel helpless to do anything about it.  She does take medication that kicks in but, even so, the migraines really take it out of her.  I realize when these migraines take place that there is a "severe limit" to what I can and cannot do.  I can only help a little when she wrestles with this discomfort. 

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When we come to this limit it reminds me of standing on the edge of a chasm (like the picture).  I cannot cross even though I am not far away.  When Shirley has a headache, she is right next to me but I cannot cross and fix the problem.  I must go to the Lord for help.  It occurred to me that there are many "severe limits" that show my absolute inability to correct problems that are very close.  My greatest limit is my inability to fix my own separation from the Lord...my own sin.  The Lord knew this chasm existed between people and Himself and He also knew that we could not cross...we could not fix that problem.  So He crossed over to us when He sent His Son and we can trust Him to carry us over the gap to the other side.

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Severe limits can be frustrating, but they can also lead us to the only one who can truly make the difference in all the important issues.  Our limits lead to His bridge.  Because of the cross we can walk across to Him.

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Ephesians 2:¹⁷ He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸ Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

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blessings,

Rob Smith

Fw: more useful with age

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Rob Smith <toanosmith@yahoo.com>
To: Rob Smith <rsmith@mycwa.com>
Sent: Monday, April 4, 2016 7:19 AM
Subject: more useful with age

Some things seem to get more useful with age.  Last week I bought a really old pickup truck.  This truck is older than my youngest adult child...was new when I was half my age.  It originally was blue and somewhere along the way it took on a new coat of green.  It has a little rust and a lot of rattles and has been customized with some dings and scrapes that life has dished out to it.  But the engine runs well and it has a big bed and is still ready for weekend chores and projects.  In some ways it is more useful now than when it was new.  It has all of the practical utility of a new truck with the added benefit that any scratches I might add will just blend in with the ones already there. 

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I thought about us...as we take on some age.  Our appearance begins to reflect a few nicks and scratches.  Our coloring tends to change...we may lose some things (like hair) and gain some things (like pounds) but life's scratches and scrapes have taught us a few lessons as well.  In many ways we, like the old pickup truck, are much more useful with age too.  In my truck there is no radio...instead of "Bluetooth" it has "long in the tooth" or "missing tooth", but it likes to talk to me as I drive along.  I think it enjoys my company.  As you travel into the older years you may find that your body talks to you to with some new creaks and groans...but aren't you grateful for the experiences of life that have proven God's faithfulness and have actually made you even more useful!

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Psalm 71:18

So even to old age and gray hairs,
    O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come.

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blessings,

Rob Smith