Sometimes The Good Guy Wins

I have recently been reading a book by Peter Freuchen called Men of the Frozen North.


It is a collection of short stories, both true and fiction, about Indians, trappers, and explores of the Arctic. I read one of the stories yesterday and really enjoyed it.

The story was about a Canadian police post. At the post was the commander of the post, his wife, and another member of the police force. The story opens with the barracks burning down. The wife tells her husband that there are some important letters in her room that he must get. He had seen these letters before, she had them the entire time they had been married. She would never tell him what they were about or allow him to read them. Being the good guy he was, he ran into the burning building, risking his life to get the letters. While trying to escape the building, he notices that one of the envelopes has burned enough for him to see that the letter is signed by a gentleman of the name of Marksmann. He successfully brings the letters to hier

Because the barracks have been destroyed, his wife heads south to the city to wait until he can send for her when the station is rebuilt. His partner escorts her to the town. A few days later, he hears the report on the radio that his wife made it to the town and was picked up by a man by the name of Marksmann. He becomes furiours and asks his partner when he returns all about the gentleman. The wife has sent a letter which the husband reads. The letter only says that she wants for him to wait for her but she may be gone a while. Frurious and thinking that his wife has left him for Marksmann, he leaves the post and heads to find the couple. After traveling a few days by dog sled, he comes across a small camp. Walking into the tent, he finds his wife and Marksmann. He demands an explanation and announces his intent to kill Marksmann if his assumption is correct. His wife asks him what is going on and he tells her that he saw the name on the letter and thinks that she is leaving. Marksmann stands up to defuse the situation saying that he is her cousin and that she is an heir to a very large estate. His wife tells him that the letters were the documents proving she was an heir. She tells him that she wanted the letters so bad because she wanted to make sure she got the inheritance to share with him.

Though he ended up with his foot in his mouth, the good guy won in the end.

It reminds me of the times I have put my foot in my mouth. Just a few days ago I was having lunch with a friend. I was lamenting about these trinkets that I kept receiving as gifts. When we were leaving, she said she had a gift for me in her car. I walk over to her car and she has one of these trinkets. Now I really did like the gift and it was different from the ones I kept receiving, but talk about a moment of awkwardness.

Several years ago, a friend of mine and I were hanging out Christmas night and were going to exchange gifts. I was complaining to her about how I had received boxers for Christmas. She was complaining about a pair of sandles. When then exchanged gifts. What did she give me? A pair of boxers. What did I give her? Those sandles but in brown. At least we all lost on that one.

I met a guy a few months ago who was involved in student government at my college. When I found out he was in it, I went into a short lecture about how I thought it was a horrible group that should be disbanded. I then asked him what he did in the student government. Turns out he was the student body president. Opps!

I do a good job of inserting my foot into my mouth. One of these days I am bound to win!

Dreaming of the Future

Eric Van Meter, the director of the Wesley Foundation at Arkansas State University, has an interesting commentary in this weeks UM Reporter.

The article, On Saving The Church, continues the topic I wrote about earlier, the church returning to its first call. Van Meter seems to take a look at the church not from the perspective of criticizing or revising the theology, but instead looking at the application of the ministry of the church. Through the use of stories of his dreams, he looks at how many people feel the need to change the UMC, whether this change would be to return to where we once were or to move into a new direction, and who it is that really needs to change.

His first dream involves being killed by a meteor in Mexico at a baseball game.

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The pressure to save the UMC is internal. It originates in a more or less pure love for the church, something that many young and youngish adults feel.

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Many United Methodist believe that the church is not where it should be. That it is not focused on areas it should be. That it doesn't meet the needs of today's people. This is often expressed by young people in the church. Often times we see with young people in America that the desired correction is often a liberal direction, something I am against and I feel is a corruption of Wesley's teaching. But with some areas, such as the UMC in Africa, the push is for a much more conservative church.

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We want to save our Mother Church from a steep decline into self-absorption and irrelevance.

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This goes right along with what we looked at in the last post, Return to Where you Once Were, that the church has become like our society, individualistic and that has led to it being irrelevant.

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The problem is that it’s hard to convince Mother Church that she needs our help. The problem is that it’s hard to convince Mother Church that she needs our help. After all, haven’t we just adopted Four Areas of Focus that will get us outside of ourselves and into the world? Aren’t we buzzing about faithful practices that will revitalize our congregations? Aren’t we launching a superior quality ad campaign?

Yes, yes and yes. Those things aren’t the problem.

The problem is that while these things give church insiders something to rally around, they’ve had little impact on most folks who populate Sunday morning worship or Wednesday night council meetings.

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The UMC has done a lot of PR work to revitalize the church. The most prominent being Open Mind, Open Hearts, Open Doors. The church has sponsored plenty of seminars for pastors and lay leaders to learn how to evolve their church. But this has not affected the majority of United Methodists, the people that sit in the pews.

Van Meter ends this section with the comment

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It’s like trying to block a meteor with a parasol.

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His second dream involves waking up at night and hearing footsteps outside his kids' room. He sits up and see a robot that shoots him in the head.

He talks about taking his children to church and them learning what the United Methodist church is and why church is important. But he knows that they will value church for reasons different than he, just as he values church for reasons different than his parents.

He raises a very good question.

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Do I try to save the United Methodist Church as I know and love it, in hopes that they’ll learn to love it in time? Do I continue to put decorations in the windows and create new hymnals for United Methodists in the U.S. while the culture as a whole moves further and further away from my church?

Or do I try to clear the lot for my kids? Do I tear down so that they can start building again with their unique vision and gifts? Do I resource them so that they can create a new church that flows naturally from the world they are a part of, even though I know already that I won’t completely understand that world?

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If we are to revitalize the church, are we doing it to hold on to what we are or to allow it to evolve into the future? Do we work to help the church be what we think it should be or look to those who are our future and move in a direction they are longing for and not worry about looking like the Methodists of the past?

Can we do both?

He ends this segment with

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Does wanting to save my church mean that I should fight to keep her young, or let her die and trust in the hope of resurrection?

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His third dream is being a kid who sees a beetle that flips over on its back. He picks up the beetle and sets it back on its feet so that it does not die. He asks

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Am I the boy, and my church the bug? Or is it the other way around?

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Who really needs to be helped?

Return to Where you Once Were

Andrew Thompson has an article in the UM Reporter in his weekly column, Gen-X Rising. This column is called "The Church's First Mission." It can be read here.

The column is a criticism of the current individualistic stance taken by the United Methodist church and encourages it to return to its roots of scriptural holiness.

Thompson begins with a quote from H. Richard Niebuhr about the mainline Protestant view of the coming kingdom of God. "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” This is quite an insult, but makes quite a point about the current stance of the church. As Thompson continues, he looks at how the UMC has moved from proclaiming the gospel to championing social issues. As a result of losing our focus on the gospel, the church is decaying.

The church, according to Thompson, has become a microcosm of society, focused on the individual. When are touchy-feely "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" campaign, we invite all to our church without the risk of being called out. It is good for all people to be welcomed into our churches, Jesus certainly didn't turn anyone away because they were too sinful or not a certain dynamic, but he also didn't leave them as sinners. He preached the good news to them, that the kingdom of God had drawn near and for them to repent of their sins and to follow Him. Now, we just say that the kingdom of God has drawn near, let's try to get our facebook group to 1,000,000 fans. The pastor at a church I use to attend even commented once in a sermon that as United Methodists we don't like to talk about sin and to go across the street to the Baptists if you wanted to hear about sin. We have grasped society's belief that all people have the right to believe what they want and that all are right.

The future of the UM Church has been analyzed by many. The numbers indicate that church population is getting older and smaller. I am not going to go into detail here, so we will just leave it at that. The pastor at the church that I use to attend sort of wrote off the future of the church saying that all organizations come to an end. Others have begun to look out how the United Methodists can control our future. A desire of many has been for the church to once again be a movement. That is how the church was originally founded, a movement within the Anglican church that only became an independent church because of the American Revolution causing the Anglican church to stop sending pastors to America.

Thompson says that in order to return to the movement that Methodism once was, we must return to the examples set forth by Wesley and his scriptual way of salvation. Our first and foremost message must be the gospel, bringing salvation to people. It is amazing the number of times I have attended United Methodist churches and never heard the basic gospel message be taught. Thompson encourages us to take preaching the gospel as seriously as the circuit riders once did who because of their convictions risked their lives traveling across the American frontier to spread the message about sin and salvation. In order to receive the gospel message, that Jesus is our savior, one must acknowledge that they need a savior. We must admit that we are sinful. That means we must actually talk about sin in our church and not just leave it up to the Baptist. Once we have embraced the gospel message and repented of our sins, the holiness of Christ will become evident in our lives. The gospel message is so powerful that it can transform our lives as we move toward perfection in Christ.

Individuals come to God, but it is usually in community, the community of the church. If the United Methodist church desires to continue to be relevant in the future, it must give up its individualistic tendencies and spread scriptural holiness by starting with the gospel.

Wednesday, Hump Day

A while back, a friend of mine showed me this music video that his friend made. I am happy to share it with you.

Country Gospel

A few weeks ago I was listening to the country show Mountain Stage on the radio. One of the guests on the show was Dierks Bentley. He played several songs off of his latest album, released in 2009, Feel That Fire. One of the songs he played was Better Believer




You can read the lyrics here.

What a great song! The song is about a person who, like many of us, only turns to God when things are going bad. When times are good, we tend to lose focus of God and He becomes an afterthought. Realizing the error in this, Bentley says in the chorus

A better believer would look to the skies
And shout "hallelujah" with tears in his eyes
Open his heart and start givin it all away
When I take a hard look at myself
And count my blessings I can't but help
But wonder if there's been some kind of mistake
This life of mine should belong to a better believer

The message is two fold in the song. We fail to look to God when times are good and God has blessed us beyond belief.

First, our failure to look to God when times are good. It seems easier to call on God when times are bad because we are in need of him. However, Paul tells us in 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Paul uses the words always, without ceasing, in everything, instructing us to always remember God and to focus on Him. In Deuteronomy 6, when God is giving commandments to the Israelites, he tells them "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." God wants us to remember Him at all times. He encourages, indeed instructs us to do things so that we are constantly reminded of Him and His words.

But how easy it is to forget Him when times are good! When things are hard, I remember Him constantly because I am in need and calling on Him. But when times are good, it is much harder. Do whatever it takes to remember God daily. If it takes binding his words on your hand and writing them on your door, then so be it.

Second, God has blessed us beyond what we deserve. When I look at my life, I deserve very little. But God has blessed me tremendously. He has provided me a job that I want. I am able to go out and do what I want on a daily basis for fun. I live in the greatest country. I have friends who care about me. I am able to contact a good friend of mine who lives half a world away instantaneously. I am able to complain that I have to spend $0.12/min to talk to her. I lack for nothing and need from no one. I am able to provide for myself and others. I live in safety. What have I done to have this? Surely God meant for so many of these blessings to go to someone else, someone more deserving. Surely he did.

With all I've got to be thankful for
I should be doing so much more
I know

But it's my right!

Today I was reading The Daily Texan, which is the university newspaper for the University of Texas. One article I was reading was headlined Local church accepts members of all sexual orientations, by Roxanna Asgarian. I am not going to look at the main topic of this article, but instead focus on a specific quote in the article. This quote is by Mona West, a Biblical scholar.

“Biblical scholars and translators have traditionally been white, European, heterosexual males, but where are our voices? Each of us has our own authority and right to interpret scripture.”

I disagree with West on her statement. I do not believe that we are granted the right to interpret scripture on our own authority.

In John 16:12-13, Jesus speaks to his disciples saying, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."
We see that it is the Spirit, the very spirit of God that he gives to his people, that gives us our interpretation.

In 1st Corinthians 2: 9-16, Paul writes "However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ."
Once again we see that our understanding of God and indeed life comes by the Spirit of God. We understand and interpret not on our own authority, but on the authority of the Spirit. If I interpret because of my own authority, I interpret as a foolish person because I do not have the understanding of the original author's (God) mind and intent. When we read literature, we interpret based on our understanding. Often times this differs from the author's intent. While sometimes this is not bad, God does not desire that we understand things differently than from his intent. Therefore, he has given us the Spirit which teaches and instructs us. Indeed I can now interpret scripture because I am looking at it not from my perspective but from God's because I am looking at it through the mindset given to me by the Spirit.

Are there various interpretations? Certainly. But only one is worth pursuing when it comes to something as important as God and that is his interpretation.
Are there various applications? Certainly. When Jesus told the apostles to go to throughout all the world making disciples, they went to different places and spread the Gospel of Jesus in various ways. They were all correct. They also had the same interpretation of the words of Jesus. The Spirit, which they received shortly after at Pentecost, provided the interpretation.

The Bible is a collection of revelations, teachings, commands, prophecies, instructions, and stories that have been collected and passed down to us by those who followed God before us. We can be certain that the Bible is accurate to when it was written by because of the reseach by people much more qualified than me. We should look at the Bible by asking the original author, God, what it means.

Kayaking Town Lake

Last friday I went kayaking on Town Lake. I used the same rental place that I used when I went the week before.

My trip took me from the MOPAC bridge to the Tom Mill dam and back. When paddling upstream, there is an island before the dam. I took the left hand route (when facing upsteam) going up and the other side when coming down. I felt that though my route had me go up a narrow route, that it was slightly easier because I wasn't in the main current.

There are several houses that line Town Lake, though they are mainly up on the cliffs. Neat view, but hopefully they have access to the lake.

View looking upstream. The island is around the bend.
This turtle is the only one who stayed on the rock. There were 4 turtles, but the others jumped as I came by.
The Tom Miller Dam. On the other side of the dam is Lake Austin.
On the way back down stream, I saw these swans. I stopped and watched them for awhile. Note the three cygnets.

I am really enjoying kayaking. I've only been out three times now, but really like it. I hope to keep going about once a week.

Still haven't found what I'm looking for

U2 has a song called I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The version posted isn't the one I wanted, but it will suffice. The one I wanted to embed is this one. I believe the song deals with being on a spiritual journey.

I was reminded today of a post I made last October called What is Church. In the post, I wrote about finding a lack of community in churches that I had attended. I recently moved and have begun attending church in a new town. I feel that I still haven't found what I am looking for. Now some of this may be from me not knowing where to look or even spiritual immaturity keeping me from it. Whatever the reason, I still haven't found a church in the place I live with the community I am looking for.

Today I was invited to attend a church next week that may have the community I am looking for. Have I found it? Perhaps I am on the verge, but I am moving again in 7 weeks.

Round Rock Express vs Oklahoma Redhawks

Yesterday I went to the baseball game in Round Rock. The Express, a AAA team for the Houston Astros, were playing the Oklahoma Redhawks, a AAA team for the Texas Rangers. I just got a new camera and took it out to play with and experiment with.


The park itself is nice and has numerous activities for children.
I think this kid was climbing to get a better view.
Some jumper thing they had for kids.

At the game, the people themselves were also interesting to observe.
A kid near us listening to his IPod and wearing a tiny batting helmet.
They also had a competition where kids wearing crab outfits had to pickup balls and put them in a sack. As in all good games, first one done wins.
The girl in white won.

The park is full of half man/half animal/half train conductor creatures. This guy is the mascot.
He also led a parade!

Oh! And there was this baseball game too!
Coaches and umps meeting before the game.

A standup double by the Express means a pitching change.


Express win, highfives all around!

The Times They Are A-Changin'

My granddad is a retired naval officer. He has been retired longer than he served, so it has been many moons. After my commissioning, my dad was asking me about my military ID. The military now uses a card called the CAC, or Common Access Card.



He was asking about the chip located on it and I told him that I can insert it in a slot on the keyboard to access a computer terminal. He then asked my granddad about his card. He responded that his current and former IDs did not have the chip and that in his day they didn't have things like keyboards.

Times they are a-changin'.

Abundant Life

A few posts ago, I ended with "Give it all away, follow Christ, live life abundantly." What does it mean to do this?

First, when Christ mentions giving up all material possessions, I do not think that it means that we are to live a life of squalor. We know that Jesus certainly did. In Luke 9:58, Jesus says "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." We know his ministry was supported by the women who followed him, as recorded in Luke 8:1-3, Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. Furthermore, when the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responds that in addition to following the commands of God, "there is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

I propose an alternative, that it isn't that we are to sell everything, but submit everything to God and follow His will for our lives and our belongings. The young ruler left Christ because he couldn't give up his possessions. He valued them more than a relationship with Christ.

Christ mentioned storing treasures in heaven to the young ruler. This is also talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:19-21 ""Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Jesus seems to be reminding the ruler that his treasure is not in heaven but he is more concerned with his possessions here. Christ seems to be reminding him of one of the 10 commandments, do not covet. He has a selfish desire for his own possessions. His selfishness is greater than the command Christ gives him, to give all of his possessions to the poor.

I see the message not being that our possessions are evil, but we must be willing to use them for God. We see this message echoed elsewhere in the new testament. In 1^st Timothy chapter 6:7-11, Paul writes “Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” Paul doesn’t say that money is evil, but the love of money. The desire to acquire possessions for selfish reasons. Paul says instead of pursuing be successful in life in the terms of money, be successful by being a man of God, one who seeks to live a Godly life.

Jesus gives a similar testimony in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?' or "What will we drink?' or "What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. Paul says if we have clothes and food, we are doing pretty good. Because we are content with what we have, we can strive for better things. The better things are living a life for God. Jesus says to not worry about clothes and food, God will provide, that life is more than these. He says to strive to live for the kingdom of God and give up striving for earthly possessions.

Having earthly possessions isn’t wrong. We need some things to survive. But placing them above our relationship with God is wrong. Jesus says in John 10:10, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. In Christ we do have an abundant life, but that abundant life isn’t abundant of earthly possessions but of righteousness.

Justice versus Justice

This morning, while reading the news on the BBC website, I came across an article Should we Attack Intruders? The question seemed to have been raised by a man in Sudan and was posed to other Africans.

One of the responses was quite interesting.
Wishing I have access to a gun, I can afford it and can pay the license fee, but I am handicapped by the Christian doctrine of "Thou shall not kill" I have had to suffer in response to criminal activities perpetrated in Lagos, I believe the bible so much that killing over material thing which we all definitely leave someday is a hard response to intruders. "He who steals my purse steals nothing, it was mine, now his; and has been a slave to many".
Macaulay, Lagos, Nigeria

In many parts of the US, this is an easy answer, of course! It is your property and you have a right to defend your property. This is argued even from a Christian perspective.

Micah 6:8 reads He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.


What does it mean to act justly? Is carrying out justice acting justly or honoring the life of another, even if they are harming you, acting justly?

Pirates Attempt to Capture French Naval Vessel

French commandos operating from the Frigate Nivose (F-732) captured 11 Somali pirates. The pirates had mistaken the French naval warship for a merchant vessel and began to pursue it. The frigate turned into the sun to avoid identification and let the pirates close in. Commandos operating for a helicopter and outboard boats captured the pirates along with AK47 rifles and RPGs. The helicopter fired warning shots which were not returned by the pirates.

Helicopter intercepting the pirates.

FS Nivose

Captured pirates on board the Nivose.

This makes 24 pirates captured by the Nivose in the past 3 weeks. Way to go Nivose!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8031701.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/05/03/kenya.pirates/
http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2009/05/03/somalie-la-marine-francaise-capture-onze-pirates_1188254_3212.html

Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge

The past two days I have gone out to the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. I went out to do some hiking. Pictures added June 19, 2009.

The NWR is located northwest of Austin near the town of Lago Vista. The refuge has two trails that are open to the public, on in the Warbler Vista area and the other on the Doeskin Ranch. I hiked the Doeskin Ranch on Wednesday and the Warbler Vista on Thursday.

The Doeskin Ranch is on RM 1174. I approached from the north which gives a really neat perspective. The roads wind through the Texas hill country and then all of a sudden you turn and gaze into the Canyonlands with its much steeper and taller hills.


The sign on the highway directs you to the Doeskin Ranch. When you pull in the gate, take a left into the parking lot. From there, follow the asphalt path to the bulletin boards and trail heads. There are about 5 miles of trails available. My route is described below.

Map of trails at Doeskin Ranch

I set out on the Rimrock trail, following the southern branch. The trail follows the Doeskin Branch for a short while before climbing to the rim rock. The elevation gain is a little over 200'. The trail tops out at the top of the ridge and intersects the Shin Oak Trail. Follow the Shin Oak trail to the right and continue until you intersect the Indiangrass trail. This trail drops off this ridge and climbs back up another creek. One thing of interst I noted was a firering I came across. It was along the creek and the trail climbs back up the ridge. The ring was build of rocks, full of ash, had some trash scattered about, and an orange pool raft. The trash was metal and plastic, so it was hard to age. The ranch has been property of the government since 1992, I believe, and this was certainly not a 17 year old firering. The Indiangrass trail rejoins the Shinoak trail onto of the ridge. After exploring the top of the ridge, I backtracked the Shinoak trail back to the Rimrock trail. I continued down the northern route, which follows a drainage off the ridge back to Doeskin Branch.


Upon returning to the trailhead, I followed the Prairie and Ponds trial. It is a short trail that crosses a grassy pasture and glances by a tank. The tank was built by early settlers and usually contains water. I spotted a few turtles in it. The trail is also paved from the trailhead to the tank and has a few pull offs that overlook the Doeskin Branch.


I then finished my tour with the Creek Trail. It is an interpretive trail with a brochure available at the trailhead to guide you. Be sure to begin the trail at the trailhead and not where it ends at Doeskin Branch. The trail talks about the ecology of the area and some of the history. One of the interesting stops involves a cactus growing in a tree. We had this happen on our deer lease near Conception, but that was because we chunked the cactus into the trees when clearing brush. I always found it odd when the cactus would still be alive a couple of years later.


The wildflowers were gorgious throughout the area. It was worth a trip just to see them. The area is predominantly cleared of trees, giving rise to the wildflowers. The birds were plentiful, particularly vultures riding the updrafts on the rimrock. The information at the trailhead stated that hawks pass through the area in the fall, riding the thermals. Monarches also pass through on their annual migration.



The next day I went to the Warbler Vista public use area.

Map of the Warbler Vista public use area.

The Warbler Vista area is just west of Lago Vista on RM1431. You will see a brown sign indicating the road to the "National Wildlife Refuge." Take a right onto the road and follow it to the first parking lot. This is the trailhead.

I made sort of a double headed lollipop loop out of the trails. The only reason for the second loop was to have hiked all the trails in the area. I set out on the Cactus Rock trail. It follows the rimrock of ridge and is appropriatly named as the area has an abundance of cactus. Opposite to the Doeskin Ranch, this trail remains in a mix of cedars and oaks, with very little open areas. The Cactus Rock trail meets up with the Vista Knoll trail. Besure to take the Vista Knoll Trail as the Cactus Rock trail turns and ends at the road. The Vista Knoll trail immediatly intersects the Ridgeline Trail. I would encourage you to follow the Vista Knoll trail first as it is a short 1.2 mile lollipop loop. The trail provides some decent vistas of the area, looking back to Lake Travis.

After returning to the junction of the Vista Knoll trail and the ridgeline trail. Follow the Ridgeline trail to the Sunset Deck. This deck has a few benchs which make for a great napsite. The deck overlooks a drainage that flows to the lake and faces west. I didn't get to watch the sunset as it was cloudy, but there is a parking lot next to the deck, so one could drive to the deck just for sunset. It is a place Max Stalling sings about in Skyview Cabaret.



After my nap, I followed the road back to where the Cactus Rock trail ended. I backtracked the trail back to the trail head.

If you are in Austin, I encourage you to visit this new refuge. If limited on time, visit the Doeskin Ranch. It is a prettier site between the two.

Can we set ourselves up for blessings?

This morning as I was flipping through the radio, I listened briefly to a message about how by living a Godly life, we set ourselves up to receive God's blessing. He equated it to putting ourselves under the funnel of God's blessing. I have heard similar statements in some churches as well, that by living a Godly life, we set ourselves in a position where we can't help but be blessed by God.

Is this a biblical position? Is there evidence that this is true? Thinking about the scriptures, a few things come to mind.

First, Job. Job was a pretty Godly man. If you do not know the story of Job, God and Satan are visiting and God tells Satan how good Job is. Satan tells God that it is just because he is blessed by God. So God challenges Satan to cause Job to curse God by removing his blessings by taking away his possessions.

Job loses everything. His family is killed, his animals are stolen or slaughtered, he loses everything. In response, Job says "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Since Job still had not cursed God, Satan wants to increase the attacks and directly attack Job. God allows it and Job is covered with painful sores. His wife tells him to curse God, but he responds, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

Now some friends of Job come to visit. They do something I think it really neat. They see Job in mourning, sitting in ashes. So they sit with him, saying nothing for seven days. They just mourn with him. They then begin a conversation that lasts for most of the book of Job. His friends are trying to find out why Job is being punished and are certain that it is because he has sinned. When questioned, he couldn't even think of a sin he had committed to cause God's blessing to leave him! Wow! If something bad happened to me and someone said, "it is probably because you sinned," I could easily think of a few dozens things I had done just that day that would pry warrant it!

In Job 40, God speaks to Job saying 6 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: 7 "Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 8 "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 9 Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like his? 10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. 11 Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, 12 look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. 13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. 14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

I would venture to say that by believing we can cause God to bless us, that we on the verge of controlling God's justice and saving ourselves with our own right hand.

God continues through Chapter 40 and all of 41 questioning Job by citing nature and how God controls nature and challenges Job (and indeed us) to be able to control nature. Job responds in Chapter 42 with 1 Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Job recognizes the power of God and his own humanity and though he hasn't sinned, humbles himself before God.

Now Chapter 42 ends with Job being blessed by God, even more than he was before the ordeal began. But the take-away message of the book is not that by being loyal to God we will be blessed. But indeed almost the opposite, that God is God, we are not, and God can do as He wills. He does not answer to us and is over us. The Godly life is not some magical method to receiving riches and fame and glory.

Job's friends take the position that God rewards goodness and punishes wickedness. We see in Job that this is not true.

In Matthew 5, Jesus reminds us of this when He says "[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Jesus tells us this to encourage us to love not only our friends, but also our enemies. Jesus shows us that God does this. Indeed are we not reminded by Paul in Romans 5:8 of this when he writes, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Talk about being blessed when I am not setting myself up for blessing!

Christ tells us what should happen to us if we choose to follow Him. He tells us that the world will hate and despise us because of His name. He tells us to take up our cross daily and follow him. Now we know what happened to Christ when he took up his cross, he was hung on it. He is telling us in a similar form that we are to be willing to give up everything we have for his sake. As it is written in Luke 9:23-24, "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."

I think we can be blessed by living a Godly life, but not in the way most believe blessings to be. Most tend to believe blessings to be materialistic. We are certainly not promised this by Jesus. Instead, we are blessed by God by growing closer to Him in this life and infinitely blessed by our life beyond this life. Indeed are not our blessings named by Jesus in the beatitudes? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

We are called to be holy as God is holy, but not so that we are blessed. To desire to set ourselves up to be blessed by God removes our focus from where it should be. John tells us in 1 John 4:19, "We love because God first loved us."

If you desire to live a life to receive earthly blessings, you can. Jesus acknowledges this with the pharisees who did things to be seen by others and says "they have received their reward in full." But to those who seek to live for God and not for blessings, he says "great is their reward in heaven."

Can you set yourself up for blessing? We can certainly do certain things to cause "good" things to happen, but God can take away. A better life is to set yourself up to live for God. Great is the reward in heaven.

Give It All Away

Gerry Spehar wrote a song called Georgetown. The second verse of the song is

Now I heard there's a man aways up the road
He knows just how to sing and play the guitar.
Sittin’ on the edge of fame and fortune,
Could have made himself a very big star.
Ridding 'round cities in a big Cadillac
Showing all the ladies a smile.
But he took all the money and he gave it right back
Kept his happy heart awhile.

Andrew Thompson wrote a column encouraging us to do a similar thing with our belongs. His column is found in the UM Reporter.

The column talks about how the current economic downturn has gotten the attention of Americans and should remind Christians of the words of Christ. The words as recorded in Matthew 6:19, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal."

Thompson encourages us to deny ourselves and instead to pick up our cross and follow Christ. To do this, we must practice the old disciplines of scripture reading and prayer, and live a life that loves our neighbor. By given up our materialistic desires and carrying our cross daily, we will grow closer to Christ as we continue in sanctification.

Why is it that we must wait until an economic crisis to examine the materialistic lives we live? Christ doesn't tell us to only follow him when times are tough or to live the "good life." He came so that we may live life and live it abundantly, all the time. We live this life by following him. We are reminded of how futile it is to try to live our "good life" when economic downturns come and take away what we work so hard for. But when we live an abundant life in Christ, economic downturns only help to make our life better as be become more dependent on Christ.

Give it all away, follow Christ, live life abundantly.

Turn the Page

Over the past year, I have been turning the page. The last page I was on was about me being a school teacher, a high school science. The book was a Choose Your Own Adventure book. The bottom of the page said "To become Department Chair, turn to page 242. To quit teaching and join the Navy, turn to page 304." In an unusual choice, I turned to page 304. The page has finally been turned. I am now an officer in the United States Navy.