So. California Seasons

I think Southern California seasons have multiple personality disorder. These pictures were taken a mere week apart and you can see fall, winter, and spring represented in each one!

Misty Morning Meander

"A mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground." Genesis 2:6

Fire and Cloud

"He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night." Psalm 105:39

I'm sure you've heard the classic Sunday School story of God leading the children of Israel through the desert as a cloud during the day and fire at night. It's a wonderful, amazing story, but it's more than just a story. We can learn something about the character of God from this. he is a caring Father. He not only led His people as they walked through the desert, He provided for their comfort as well.

Think about a desert. Hot. Dusty. Dry. Little vegetation. Now, imagine a huge cloud overhead. It would block the sun and provide shade for the people. It would cover them from the harshness of their surroundings.

Have you ever been camping or outdoors and away from city lights on a moonless night? It's really dark and you need a flashlight so you can walk without stumbling into something or getting lost. That's what it was like for the children of Israel, but they didn't have flashlights. They had God in the form of fire. He provided light for them during the night. They probably even traveled at night sometimes because it was cooler and because God was leading and lighting their path with His fire to the promised land.

There's even more to it than that though. The whole Bible is about Jesus, Old Testament and New, and if you let the Spirit open your eyes, you'll see it, for the Holy Spirit always testifies of Jesus.

The fire and the cloud is a beautiful picture of our caring Father, but it is also a foreshadowing of what He would do in the future. The Father sent His Son to be a covering for us. Not as a cloud from the heat of the day, but as a sacrifice to cover our sin with His blood. Jesus is to us the Light of the world, sent to lead man out of darkness and back to God. He will continue leading us our of the wilderness of sin to our promised land, not the territory of Canaan, but life everlasting.

Serendipitous Potentiality

I've had a wonderful morning thus far. Gemma is happily in her classroom learning. I've gleaned some wonderful treasures from the Word of God. My house is clean.

It's a lovely, foggy morning. I've been wanting to take some pictures of an orchard up the street from my home so I hopped in my car, hoping to catch the light just right as there was a little break in the clouds. I must have caught it right, the mist mingling with the bare trees was beautiful. My pant legs and shoes are wet (they're Converse, it doesn't take much to soak them) from walking in the long, wet orchard grass, but it was worth it. The pictures are just hat I was hoping them to be. I may put one up later if I get around to editing.


As I was driving home I noticed a pile of junk in front of some one's home and a sign that said "free". Just look what was in that pile! It's huge, about four feet tall and heavy, but some how I managed to get it in my trunk without hurting myself. Of course, the trunk wouldn't close, but I was less than a mile from my house so it didn't matter. It's really dirty; it must have been sitting outside in the yard for a long time. It's front door is warped and won't open and the wheels on the bottom don't roll, but with some work it will be really nice. I think it's big enough for Barbies. I know a little girl who is going to be very excited and a husband who's going to wonder what I've gotten him into now!

For the birds

"The birds of the heavens have their home; they sing among the branches." Psalm 104:12

In the 'hood

Well, ours any way! Gemma and I took a walk in our neighborhood today. This is what we saw:Sometimes I forget we live in the sticks. Then I hear a donkey braying or horses whinnying and I remember. Civilization is really close though, so it's the best of both worlds.

Old and New

"You take away their breath, they die and return to dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth." Psalm 104:29b-30

The Christian life should be characterized by death and renewal. God will continually be taking away the breath of the old me, the one plagued with a sinful, fleshly nature if I submit to His working in my life. In the place of the old nature, a new one is being created by the Holy Spirit, and that nature is like Jesus'.

Revelation 21:4-5 says:

"...the former things have passed away...Behold, I make all things new..."

The question is: Am I ready to let the old nature die in order to be made new?

And I Quote...

L.M. Montgomery in Anne of the Island:

"(Ruby) had laid up her treasures on earth only; she had lived solely for the little things of life--the things that pass--forgetting the great things that go onward to eternity, bridging the gulf between the two lives and the making of death a mere passing from one dwelling to the other--from twilight to unclouded day...It must not be with her (Anne) as with poor butterfly Ruby. When she came to the end of one life it must not be to face the next with the shrinking terror of something wholly different--something for which accustomed thought and ideal and aspiration had unfitted her. The little things of life, sweet and excellent in their place must not be the things lived for; the highest must be sought and followed; the life of heaven must be begun here on earth."

I've been re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series. I think it's pretty accurate to say that I've read the whole series annually beginning from the time I was about ten years old. The books are really quite worn out and falling apart. They came to me used and they have been very well loved. They are my favorite story books, I like them even more than I like Jane Austin, and I like her a lot.

Anyway, I found this quote in Anne of Green Gables:

"This freckled witch of a girl knew and cared nothing about God's love, since she had never had it translated to her through the medium of human love."

For the past couple of weeks I've been thinking about love, how God loves us and how we need to love others, and I think that's what started the train of thought.

God's love is not abstract, it's tangible. Jesus is God's tangible love. Our love too, is to be tangible to others and not abstract. Real love moves one to action. 1 John 4:9-11 says:

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

The Lord's love for us is like and ever flowing stream and He wants us to be the channels from which His love flows continuously for others. Sometimes though, we dam up the channel from which God's love is suppose to flow through us with insecurities, selfishness, and sin. When that happens, the love doesn't reach its intended recipients.

What is it that we're blocking the river with? Oh, that the dam would burst and the love of God would flow through us, flooding this world full of lost, hurting people, so desperately in needing to experience the this love.

And I Quote...

Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery:

"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

What if...

"Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." Psalm 100:3


All of humanity belongs to God. He made us, we are His, but humanity doesn't live like it belongs to God. As a race we have rejected God and rebelled against Him. The collective attitude is 'Screw God and His rules, I'll do whatever I want.' Though not everyone would admit to that, the way their lives are lived displays it.


1 Corinthians 6 says that "We are not our own...we were bought at a price," but Christians too are guilty of not living as if we belong to God. Our attitude isn't the 'screw you' attitude of the world, but it is a dangerous one none the less. It is an attitude of mediocrity.

We generally try to obey God's Word, but kind of gloss over some of the harder passages such many of the standards set in the beatitudes such as loving our enemies, not storing earthly treasures, trusting God instead of worrying, and judging others. Or how about these first three verses?


As Christians we go to church, teach Sunday School, tithe our ten percent, and pray. We try to be moral, good people. But that is mediocrity. We've been called to something higher than that. We are God's people, His sheep to lead.


Everything we have and are is rightfully His. What if we really let Him lead us? What if we looked at our time and resources as His to use in whatever way He thought best? What if we looked at our entire bank accounts, not just the ten percent we drop in the offering plate, as the Lord's to spend as He sees fit? What if we let Him direct our decisions, even when He seems to be leading in a way that isn't the most logical or wise by worldly standards? What if we went to the church that He directed us too, even if we don't like their style of music or style of teaching? What if we moved to wherever He was leading? What if we really did follow and trust Him like sheep following their shepherd? What if...what if...what if God's people really lived like they were His...?