This week I received some very sad news!!

A dear friend of mine, Janet, whom I met on Flickr, had been tragically killed in a car accident on January 11. She is also a friend of mine on here. http://www.mychurch.org/naturesbest

We had become very close and would often chat online and share our hearts. We had SO much in common.

So to get this news, was a horrible shock. But as I've begun to process it, I am able to praise the Lord that she is partying with Him and the saints and the angels up in Heaven.

It's just not fair that she's been up there for four weeks and we didn't know.

Anyhow, I got to think about Janet, and how she was into plants and the nursery and growing things. It reminded me of these words of Jesus...

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. "The man (woman) who loves his/her life will lose it, while the man (woman) who hates his/her life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:24-25, NIV)

Death is a part of life. In our daily lives we are both living and dying. We are either living for ourselves and dying to God, or we are dying to self and living to God. If we do the later, it is like that seeds falling to the ground and being buried. But then the life of God, the person God meant us to be, shoots from that old dead seed. God is glorified through our lives. We become fruitful and many are blessed.

And then we all die in the end... this old physical body part of us. But still the same principle applies. As it does with our daily dying, so it is when our life here on earth ends. If we are God's, as Janet was and is, He is glorified in our death, and He receives us into His glory, and we party forever with Him!! WOW!! What a celebration!!

But that's not all!! I see with Janet that she was planting those daily seeds for many years. She is up in heaven, but down here, all those seeds of kindness are germinating. Some of that is evident in the lives of people she contacted online.

So let us not give up dying to our self and our own ways. But let us forget ourselves, and plant those seeds of kindness daily. We may see some of the fruit of our work while we live on earth, but a lot of seed will not germinate and the harvest won't happen until we get to heaven. Then God will show us the lives we've touched.

Remember these words of Paul:

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

"The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." (Galatians 6:7-10, NIV)

Thank the Lord for this blessed saint, Janet!!

To see some of her beautiful photography, go here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturesbest/
And to read how many lives she's touched and blessed, go here... http://www.flickr.com/groups/tribute-to-janet/

I'VE GOT IT!! I'VE GOT IT!!

Well at least it makes sense to me!!

This "Highway" and "Narrow Way" thing!!!

I found it here in the first sentence...

This is MY interpretation:

Go through the TOLL GATES!! Jesus has opened them!! He has paid the toll!!

(As I was writing this, I got sidetracked right here!! A friend's daughter was having her baby... in the early stages of labour!! But it helped me see something NEW... These gates remind me of the birth of a baby. The gate is really narrow and constricted, eh? But then, after the birth, there's a brand new, WIDE world!! Sort of along the lines I've been thinking about. Anyhow, I'll continue with what I was saying...)

However, we can't get on this Highway without going through the gate. We can only go through Jesus, who said, "I am THE gate (or door)!!" He is the only way.

As the only way onto this highway of life is through the birth gate, so the only way onto that Kingdom Highway is through the re-birth gate. We MUST be born again!!! (This latest events was prompting new thoughts here as I wrote.)

Jesus also said:

"Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it.
"But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straight and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it." (Mat 7:13-14, Amp)

(WOW!! How like birth that is!!?)

It is the way of the Cross!!!

Because it is narrow, we cannot take a load. We need to stop at the weigh station and unload. This road does not take heavy traffic. We can't take our junk with us, but need to leave it at the Cross.

Anyhow, that's the start of my thoughts!! More later!!

BTW, the baby was a GIRL!!!

Isaiah 35:8-10 NKJ
A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

I've been looking at this text for a couple of weeks now, but have struggled to get any thoughts down. Not that I didn't have any, but rather that I had conflicting ones.

And what it was, was this verse talking about God's way being a Highway, where it is smooth and straight and level, and one in Matthew, where Jesus says,

"Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it. But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it." Matthew 7:13-14 Amp

These verses seem to contradict.

Anyhow, I have discovered some answers, which I will share a bit later. In the meantime, you might have some suggestions to this dilemma!?

And, I don't know about you, but of the two, in my life experience, I've had more of the second one.

On Sunday nights at church, we've been studying Paul's letter to the Romans, and last night was the final run. We finally came to the end after months of wonderful study.

I LOVE ROMANS!!!!

Anyhow, as we were reading chapter 15, something struck me. Paul had so longed to see the Roman believers, who had come to faith through the message that went by Paul's followers. How he dearly would love to meet them face to face. But for some reason, he'd been hindered.

But now, he feels his job is finished where he is and that it is time for him to be able to see them. So he writes down what he plans to do in the not so distant future...

But for the time being, he had some practical things to attend to in Jerusalem...

... and THEN he could see them...

Now, if you know anything about Paul's story, none of his plans to visit Rome in this way, ever came about... well not in the way HE thought. God had another plan, which ended up through MUCH hardship.

Paul ended up being arrested in Jerusalem, and made a prisoner. He then ended up going to Rome, but not as a free man, but as a Roman prisoner. And his crime? Sharing the gospel of Jesus! And his final years were ones of real testing and persecution.

So what does that tell us? His plans were GOOD and very GODLY. Why didn't God allow them to happen? Why all this trouble? Did Paul do the wrong thing by making those plans? I would say not!

But this does tell me something about our own plan making. It is NOT wrong to plan ahead. However, if we do look at our own plans, no matter how good and virtuous they may be, as the ultimate, and expect God to fulfill them, we will end up greatly disappoint, and maybe even devastated.

It is good to have godly desires. But desiring a thing, doesn't mean it will happen. Just look at King David. He so longed to build a temple for God, but God said NO!! That was not what God had called him to do. David's task was to win battles and conquer the enemies. The building would come after the victory had been won, when God's people were living in peace. So, as we know, King Solomon was appointed to build a temple for God... and how magnificent it was!!

So we shouldn't be discouraged when our desires don't come about, and God takes us on a different route. Let's remember that HE knows the end from the beginning, and HE knows what He is doing!!!

HIS WAYS ARE BEST!!!!

 5:8 Lead me, O Jehovah, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; Make thy way straight before my face.

Psalms 5:8 ASV

31:7 For thus saith Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. 31:8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, `and' with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall they return hither. 31:9 They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.

Jeremiah 31:7-9 ASV

42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: `now' will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together. 42:15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. 42:16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them. 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods.

Isaiah 42:14-17 ASV

Psalm 5:8, NKJ
Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies;
Make Your way straight before my face.

Jeremiah 31:7-9, NLT
Now this is what the Lord says:
“Sing with joy for Israel.
Shout for the greatest of nations!
Shout out with praise and joy:
‘Save your people, O Lord,
the remnant of Israel!’
For I will bring them from the north
and from the distant corners of the earth.
I will not forget the blind and lame,
the expectant mothers and women in labor.
A great company will return!
Tears of joy will stream down their faces,
and I will lead them home with great care.
They will walk beside quiet streams
and on smooth paths where they will not stumble.
For I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my oldest child.

Jer 31:9, NKJ
They shall come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble.

Isaiah 42:14-17, NKJ

“I have held My peace a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now I will cry like a woman in labor,
I will pant and gasp at once.
I will lay waste the mountains and hills,
And dry up all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers coastlands,
And I will dry up the pools.
I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;
I will lead them in paths they have not known.
I will make darkness light before them,
And crooked places straight.
These things I will do for them,
And not forsake them.
They shall be turned back,
They shall be greatly ashamed,
Who trust in carved images,
Who say to the molded images,
‘You are our gods.’

The NLT puts it this way...

"The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall."

But I've found something else in the NT....

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." (Heb 12:1, NLT)

So, what is it that makes the sinners stumble. They definitely can't blame the road. But YES!! It is their SIN!! Sin is a weight around our feet that hinders our progress, and makes us fall flat on our face.

But the Lord has made a straight way for us so that we CAN run that race. God has done HIS bit for us. The course has been set. So, just like an athlete preparing for his marathon, all we have to do is to make sure we are ready and fit for our race.