In this part of Florida we have a little bit of winter.  In fact, we have several spells each year with two or three days of gray, wet, cold that seeps into your bones and makes you wonder why anyone would ever nickname this place “The Sunshine State.”

            Then a morning dawns as clear a blue as you could ever imagine and the sun comes out in a blaze you would swear was even brighter than in summer.  The dog’s fur is warm from lying out in the field instead of burrowing under the porch, and you wish you could lie out there with her.  Now you know why it’s called “The Sunshine State,” and you also know no one up north has these respites, certainly not this degree of warmth in the middle of December, January, or February.  They also don’t have bright yellow jessamine cascading from the tops of trees, and camellias treating you to a mid-winter pink blossom that can withstand even a quick morning’s frost.

            Life is like that for Christians.  God never promised a life without trials any more than He promised a year without winter.  We do our neighbors a disservice when we tell them all their problems will go away if they just hand them over to the Lord.  Casting your burdens on him doesn’t mean they won’t affect you any longer—it means you have all the help you need to handle them.  Why would the help be promised if those problems were going to disappear?

            Paul said he served “the Lord with all tears, and humility, and trials” (Acts 20:19).  James tells us to “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds” (1:2).  Peter goes so far as to tell us it is necessary for us to be “grieved by various trials” (1 Pet 1:6) and not to think it “strange” when we are (4:12).

            But God does give us reminders of what is to come, things we might call a taste of Heaven here on earth.  He sends it in a strong, godly marriage with two people working together, laughing together, crying together, and growing together as they help each other toward that final Home.  He gives it in that first lusty cry from your child as he enters the world.  He reminds us of that first place we lost in the spring when the azaleas explode in all their color, when the dogwoods shine through the woods like a beacon, and when the birds sing in a cacophony of trills, tweets, chirps, and twitters as they fly back and forth building their nests.  He shows us what He has in store for us as we gather with our sanctified brothers and sisters and raise our hearts in song and encourage one another with love, with advice, and with edification to sustain us during those times not quite so Heavenly tasting.

            We cannot have Heaven now.  We wouldn’t want to give up this world if we did.  So we have troubles, we have tragedies, we grow old and ache and become aggravatingly forgetful and finally learn to long for our true abode instead of being satisfied with second best.  But God does remind us occasionally of how it will be, a little nudge in the right direction so we will eventually make it Home.
 
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, Col 3:1-2.
 
Dene Ward

The more I study the more I find passages that mirror each other from the Old to the New Testaments.  I sat in a class on the Sermon on the Mount many years ago, and was startled to hear the teacher say that every time Jesus said, “You have heard from old…but I say unto you…” that he was not changing the moral law, he was simply putting it back to rights, the way God had intended it all along.  As he quoted verse after verse in the Law that plainly showed him to be right, I started noticing other parallel passages.

            I have just found another set.

            But seek first His kingdom and all these things [food, clothing, shelter, etc] shall be added unto you, Matt 6:33.

            You have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but none is warm; and he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag filled with holes.  You looked for much and lo it came to little; and when you brought it home, I did blow upon it.  Why? says the Lord of hosts.  Because my house lies in waste while you run every man to his own house, Haggai 1:6,9.

            The first chapter of Haggai is a rebuke from God to those who returned from captivity and, though they had professed a desire to rebuild the temple of God, had neglected it.  Instead they spent their time on their own needs and desires.  The needs were legitimate, but they had lost their sense of priority, and ultimately their trust in God to provide for them.  And so, since they took from God their time and service, He took from them His blessings. 

            “My house comes first,” God was saying.  “If you trust me to take care of you, you will have plenty of time to build it.”

            Four hundred years later Jesus tells us the same thing.  God’s kingdom, His “house” (1 Tim 3:15), is supposed to be the priority in our lives.  The mission of that house is our mission.  He will clothe us, Jesus says.  He will feed us, He will put a roof over our heads as long as we put His house first, (Matt 6:25-34).

            But like the Israelites, we often neglect the kingdom while we pursue our “necessities.”  Perhaps the problem is that we are not satisfied with a “roof;” we want the upscale model in the “right” neighborhood.  We are not satisfied with sustenance; we want to eat out five nights a week.  We are not satisfied with “raiment” as fine as the lilies; we want designer duds.  And so we spend more and more of our time working to pay for those things and the house of God, and its mission, are ignored.  Surely God will understand, we say, and reach for a handy verse just as Satan often did:  “It is written,” we piously comment, “if any will not work, neither let him eat,” 2 Thes 3:10!

            If we neglect God’s house, He will stop sending blessings as surely as He stopped sending them to those materialistic Israelites of old.  “First” means first, not second, not if there is enough time, not if I get the kind I want.  It means we adjust our wants to suit Him, not the other way around.

            What is truly “first” in your life today?
 
Trust in Jehovah and do good; dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Commit your way unto Jehovah; trust also in him and he will bring it to pass. Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.  I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread, Psalm 37:3,5,16,23.   
 
Dene Ward

My son, Lucas has been transferred and he says the attitude of his workers in this new store is remarkably different from those in his old one.  They actually understand the concept of earning a paycheck.  In the old store the workers seemed to think that merely showing up not more than a couple minutes late was sufficient to earn their living.  They could stand in the halls and talk all they wanted as long as they were there doing it between the start and end of their shifts.  Actually “working” was above and beyond and should earn them a hefty raise every six months.
            I am afraid some people who call themselves Christians have the same misunderstanding.  They think their “shift” is Sunday morning from 9 to noon, and all they have to do is sit in a comfortable seat in an air conditioned building and that should be enough to get them to Heaven, in fact, that should “earn” them Heaven.  I mean, what more could God possibly expect than for them to give up a good-sized chunk of their weekends?
            They are so mistaken.  God expects hard work.  Jesus set the example of hard work.  He rose early in the morning (Mark 1:35); he often worked through meals (John 4:31-34); he was always looking to the next village, the next person to save (Mark 1:38,39).  Finally he was able to say, I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given me to do, John 17:4. Do we really think God will expect any less of us?
            Paul tells us we should work heartily [for our masters on earth] as unto the Lord, Col 3:23, which presupposes that we are actually working hard for the Lord, and need to be told to work that hard for our “masters” as well.  Our shift for the Lord begins the day we commit ourselves to Him.  It doesn’t end until we end. 
            Paul reminds us to Give diligence to present yourself approved unto God, 2 Tim 2:15.  Diligence means you keep working even if the work is long, difficult, tedious or unpleasant.  You cannot take a break; you cannot call in sick; you cannot stop for any reason short of death, and still you have not earned your paycheck.  And be glad of that, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, Rom 6:23.  You really don’t want the paycheck you have earned.
           
And exercise thyself unto godliness:  for bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of them that believe. 1 Tim 4:7-10.
 
Dene Ward

For when by reason of time you ought to be teachers, you have need again that one teach you the rudiments…Heb 5:12
Be not many of you teachers, my brethren…James 3:1.
           
            We often shake our heads at people who do their best to make the Bible contradict itself.  If they would only check the context, if they would only approach it with the same fair attitude they want others to have toward them, they could see the truth.  Yet we are no better when it comes to passages we don’t want to deal with.

            I am certain that every time a lesson is taught on speaking to our friends and neighbors about our faith someone has said, “But the Bible says, Be not many of you teachers.  Teaching is not my talent.”

            I think it is fair to say that God does not expect everyone to stand in front of a group and teach.  He gave some to be…teachers…Eph 4:11.  But that does not mean there is not some aspect of teaching He expects of us all; that is the only way to reconcile those passages above, and reconcile them we must.  Otherwise, why bother to believe any of it?

            First, God expects us to help teach ourselves.  Whether or not we learn from the teaching that is available is entirely up to us.  We should be studying outside of the formal setting laid before us by the elders and preachers, spending time on our own meditating on what we have heard, looking things up, making notes in class and out, and sifting through them.  You can’t do that when you miss those Bible studies to begin with.  Whether or not the teacher is a good one makes no difference.  There is more to being a student than sitting there waiting to have the facts pumped in.  A student with the right attitude can learn something regardless the teacher.  Parents, you would do well to remember that the next time your high school age child complains about his Bible class teacher too. 

            God also expects us to reach the point that we can give good advice.  The older training the younger (Titus 2:3-5) is a principle that transcends any time period or culture.  The only excuse we have is dying young!  How many of you are up for that?

            He says we should be able to restore the wayward, Gal 6:1.  Who should do that?  You who are spiritual.  Do you want to claim to be otherwise before your Maker?

            Finally, Peter says we should be ready always to give answer, 1 Pet 3:15.  He doesn’t say we should know the answer to every question anyone might ask, but to give a reason concerning the hope that is in you.  Certainly we should know why we believe what we believe.  If you don’t know why, then how can you be sure your faith is your own and not something simply handed down by tradition?

            And that leads us right back around to where we started.  Are you attending Bible studies?  Are you studying on your own?  Are you asking for help from those who might give good advice and have better knowledge concerning the scriptures?  Are you taking advantage of the training offered in how to study, which tools to use, and which methods are most helpful?  God said, you ought to be teachers.  Are you still in need that someone should teach you the basics?

            This is a serious matter—a Divine “ought”—more simply put, an order straight from God.  Don’t let the fact that you have been a Christian for twenty years or more keep you from asking for help.  If you wait any longer, it will only be worse.  You will be even older and still need again that someone teach you.
 
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction, Prov 1:7.
 
Dene Ward

We recently discovered a new wildflower, a fifteen foot long vine with delicate, featherlike leaves, and bright red tubular blooms with a star-shaped flare.  Keith brought some home from the woods and stuck them in several plastic nursery pots.  Now, several weeks later, they are doing just fine.  When I looked them up and found their name, Cypress Vine, I also discovered that they are often sold as garden annuals under the name Red Morning Glory, but that they proved so hardy they have spread to the wild, including the wild just across my fence.
 
           Hardy indeed when all you have to do is take a cutting, stick it in the dirt, and water it until it roots.  Not every plant is so easy.  Sometimes you must root them in water.  Sometimes you must get a product like Rootone, dipping the ends of the cutting into that powder before you try to root it.  But all transplants have this in common—they deserve special care.  Transplant shock can claim even the strongest of specimens without it.

            The same is true when we convert a sinner to the gospel.  Transplanting him from a world of sin to the rarefied air of the redeemed can be more than his system can handle.  So he needs special care.  Too many times I have seen churches baptize a man then say, “Whew!  Now he’s okay,” and leave him standing in the midst of surroundings so alien to him that he withers and dies almost immediately.  It may not seem alien to us, but we are used to it.  We took root many years ago and now we stand strong and able to endure temptations, trials, and even the mere tedium of life.  Why do we expect a cutting from the world to instantly take root and blossom?  We treat our garden flowers far better than our new brethren.

            Even a cutting described as “hardy” needs daily attention.  I expect my Cypress vines to bloom vigorously this time next year.  But I don’t expect them to suddenly grow to their usual fifteen feet covered with flaming red flowers before then.  Why are we so impatient with our new brothers and sisters in the Lord?  It is worth it to take the time with them, nurturing their growth as we would our own gardens, so that we can bask in their beauty just a little while down the road. 

            Agriculture is hard work.  Jesus talked about laborers in his vineyard, not people simply strolling through, taking the tour so they could have a free wine tasting at the end.  You don’t get to taste his wine when you don’t work to care for his grapes.
 
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." Isa 35:3,4.
 
Dene Ward

And now we head east along the final, the north side of the property.  We used to drive in that way, straight down the drive and across the top of the property to the front door. That was before we had a summer so wet we kept getting stuck halfway up our hubcaps.  Somewhere along that north side is a spring that only appears during wet season and a neighbor had to pull us out of it with his tractor several times before we finally cleared a higher road we could count on that comes to the back door instead of the front.  I keep telling people I would never put my washer and dryer in my foyer, but few seem to get it.

            That wet weather helped us discover another problem.  The property directly north of us drained all over us.  We are on a slight grade, one you hardly notice until a summer downpour comes washing down from the neighboring land.  I will never forget the day I stood at the front door and watched a six inch deep torrent rush under the house, then raced to the opposite windows to see it come churning out.  I knew we were in big trouble.  The summer rains had barely begun and we were also in the middle of hurricane season.  In short order we would be washed away.

            We have a law, at least here in Florida, which says you are responsible for what your property does to neighboring property.  One of the neighbors found out the hard way when they did something on their property that left a neighbor in an undrainable, and undrivable, swamp.  The ones who caused the situation refused to fix it.  “It’s not our problem,” they said. The neighbors who could no longer access their home had to call the sheriff, who sent out deputies to make sure they had the mess they made repaired so their neighbors could once again get in and out of their land.

            The owners of the land just north of us, people who had bought it as an investment and did not live there, knew about that law, too.  All we had to do was make a phone call, and they sent out the equipment to dig a ditch along that north side that led straight to the run on the east where we started this walk, so their land could drain around us instead of through us.  Yes, it was a law, but at least we didn’t have to call the sheriff to get them to act.  In fact, they were quite nice about it and did not leave until they were certain we were satisfied.

            God has a law too.  It goes like this:  ​“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. Mark 9:42.  Paul spent a couple of chapters in both Romans (14) and 1 Corinthians (8) telling us the same thing.  Everything we do has an influence on people who see or hear us, whether we know they see or hear us or not. 

            I’ve heard people say things like, “I can do whatever I want to do.  That’s his/her problem.”  No, it isn’t.  It’s your problem when you want to claim to be a disciple of Jesus but do not follow his example.  We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Rom 15:1-3.

            We influence people for good or ill by what we wear, how we speak, how we react to others, especially the unkindness of others, and any number of other things. God expects us to be aware of how our speech and behavior effects the world, and not only that, to care.

            Wouldn’t it be a shame if they had to call “the Sheriff” on us?
 
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. Rom 14:12-13.
 
Dene Ward

We have reached the northwest corner where the gate opens onto our property and leads guests down a narrow drive, past the wild corner, a shady field, the grapevines, the jasmine, and between two azaleas that stand as sentries to our yard.

            Thirty years ago we didn’t have a gate, or a fence to attach it to.  The titles on the land parcels back here off the highway were not free and clear, except for ours, so our boys grew up wandering over twenty acres in every direction.  They swam in the run and climbed trees in the groves that now stand on other properties.  They hunted and explored, and we cut our Christmas trees from the uninhabited woods around us.

            Then the titles were cleared up and people began buying and moving in.  Suddenly we had to deal with neighboring cows breaking through their fences and wandering our way to find good grass to eat, with pot-bellied pigs rooting in our garden, with donkeys braying loudly outside our windows, and packs of stray dogs terrorizing ours.  So we scraped up the money we had been saving over the years and put in a fence, with the gate at the road we had driven down long before anyone even knew there was a road there.  Now we can protect what is ours from wandering livestock, and the lock on the chain is especially nice during political season.

            The gate is a two-banger.  The larger portion is a standard cow panel, 16 feet wide.  But that isn’t enough space for a tractor pulling a cultivator and sprayer, which an old friend used to plow and treat our garden once a year.  So right next to the larger gate is a smaller one that adds 4 feet and just enough room for the equipment to come through.

            Jesus had some things to say about wide gates and narrow gates.   One thing I have noticed about wider gates.  It isn’t just that more people can get through them.  It’s that they can get through quickly.  Narrow gates stay that way because they are seldom used, and when you see one, the very smallness of it makes you hang back and consider.  Maybe you’ll poke your head through trying to make out what’s down there, but it still takes considerable thought before you will go down a place that not only few go, but they don’t go quickly.

            Wide gates on the other hand?  People go through them in a headlong rush simply because everyone else does.  Someone famous wears a certain color and before two weeks have passed everyone is wearing it.  A celebrity eats at a certain restaurant and the next week there is a line a mile long.  Someone posts a video on facebook and it goes “viral.”  As soon as anything gets approval from a popular source, people can’t get enough fast enough.  It’s a mania, a craze.  Would you look at those words a minute?  No thinking at all involved in those words, unless you classify insanity as a thought process.  Jesus, on the other hand, expects his disciples to be thinkers.

            Star Trek always starts with a prologue ending in these words:  to boldly go where no one has gone before.  Isn’t that what Christianity is supposed to be?  Except for this one, critical, factor:  someone has gone before us.  He tells us that yes, it’s safe, at least in an eternal sense, and yes, you can do it too.  The gate may be narrow and seldom entered, but that is what makes us special, something besides robots in a cookie cutter world. 

            Today take a moment to think before you choose.  A quiet stroll with the Lord in a narrow shady lane may be just what your soul needs. 
 
​“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matt 7:13-14.
 
Dene Ward

About two-thirds of the way across the south side of the property, the path cuts across diagonally to the west side.  This avoids the wooded, tangled corner we have left that way for the wildlife—at least until all the townies moved out.  That corner used to be a habitat for deer, turkeys, quail, foxes, armadillos, and warrens of rabbits, along with a bobcat or two passing through.  The quail and the foxes have disappeared, the rabbits have thinned out—if you can imagine such a thing—and about all we have left are the occasional turkey and deer.  I suppose nothing will ever rid us of the armadillos and possums.

            On the inside of that section where the cut-off turns north to the driveway, stands four live oaks all growing out of the same spot.  I am not certain if it is one huge tree with four large trunks or four smaller trees that have finally grown into one.  Lucas and Nathan called it “the fort.”  Growing up they played in, on, and around it.  You can climb up between the trees on a sort of ledge that hooks them together, and climb my little guys did. 

          The “fort” was not always a fort.  Sometimes it was a castle, sometimes it was a spaceship, sometimes it was a hideout, but it was always a source of imaginative entertainment for little boys who didn’t have a whole lot else except sticks and roots shaped like pistols, rifles, ray guns, phasers, and bazookas—at least to them.

            This past year Silas and Judah finally reached the age that they could enjoy the fort.  Uncle Lucas got them started, showing them how to turn ordinary bark, sticks, and tree knots into weapons, controls, and push buttons.  Now they clamber all over that same clump of giant oak trees, grown even closer together now that they are older, with even more ledges and platforms to stand on and jump off.  It feels good to walk by that old favorite spot of my boys and know that a new generation is enjoying it too.

            This will probably be the last generation of Wards to know the magic of that special spot.  Neither of the boys is in a position to move back to this acreage and we will probably reach a point where we can no longer take care of it before the new generation even grows to adulthood.  We will need the money it brings to buy us a smaller, easier place to live. 

            Think about that the next time you assemble with your brethren.  I don’t mean think about how the next generation will use the building or whether they will understand the sacrifices made to build it, the men who made it their business to watch over the construction, the women who furnished the classrooms and dolled up the restrooms the way men would never even think to.  Think about what goes on in that building.  When all of the older generation is gone, the ones who fought the battles and stood for truth no matter how unpopular it was, will the younger generation even know what that truth is?  Will they understand the thought processes that produced a generation of faithful men and women?     

          Maybe some other family will someday own our land and figure out what that group of live oaks “really” is even with no one to tell them, but somehow I doubt that a generation so used to the here and now of social media and the pizzazz of loud, splashy entertainment that leaves no room for imagination will even have a clue.  Tell them it’s a spaceship and they will likely look at you like you’re nuts.

          Far more important is to be able to tell the next generation of Christians that “this”—whatever this is at the moment—is truth, and have them comprehend its importance.
 
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2Tim 2:1-2
 
Dene Ward

When we hit the corner we turn right along the south fence, just behind the old pigpen.  We haven’t had pigs since the boys left home—it would take the two of us a couple of years to go through a whole pig, but with teen-aged boys we managed easily in just a few months.  Pork chops, ribs, hams, sausage, bacon, bacon, and more bacon.  They grew up pork lovers and are to this day.
Yes, we named our pigs.  We always called the males Hamlet, and the females Baconette, except the year we had two boys and the extra one we named Ribster.  It reminded us from the beginning why we had them, and trust me—by the time a pig is ready for slaughter it isn’t cute any longer.  It is about as disgusting a creature as you can imagine.  Slaughtering it was never a problem.  The boys understood early on that we needed these animals to survive and respected them for it.

          Just across the south fence and past the pigpen stands a live oak grove, a peaceful shady retreat we often wished had been on our property instead of the neighbor’s.  He has built a fire ring surrounded by several chairs, with a wood rack between two trees.  He planned outings with his children and cook-outs with his friends and quiet evenings with his wife.  He planted some Australian cypresses along the fence and now, after nearly ten years, they finally conceal his leafy sanctuary, a sanctuary he rarely visits any longer because his children are grown and living hundreds of miles away with all of his grandchildren.  I doubt he used his beautiful spot more than half a dozen times.  His wife passed unexpectedly several years ago. He has rebuffed friendly overtures and declined invitations to church.  We seldom see him any longer, and there hasn’t been even a lonely fire in the fire ring for three or four years.  So much for great plans.
           
          Chloe and I walk along that line of cypresses, peeking through the limbs sometimes, but usually watching the bottom of the fence line instead.  Up ahead of me as usual, Chloe will occasionally stop and sniff around and when I reach her, sure enough, there is a depression in the ground where something slid under the fence during the night.  Possums, coons, foxes, terrapins, sometimes we come across them during the day, but usually not.  The depressions are well worn and even if we fill up the hole, it will be back with a couple of days, or a new one will show up just a few feet down the fence line.  Interlopers will always find a way, and I can always tell from Chloe’s attention and sniff pattern whether something more dangerous has slunk under or not.

            That’s exactly why God gave us elders, because “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” Acts 20:29.  Peter warns about false teachers who will infiltrate with “destructive heresies” 1 Pet 2:1.  Jesus himself warned about “false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” Matt 7:15.  Let me tell you, sheep are just as stupid as pigs are disgusting.  We are too easily led astray, and once they get us away from our shepherds we are just as easily eaten up.

            Our shepherds have a difficult job.  They deserve our respect.  They spend all hours of the day and night protecting us from things we do not even recognize as dangerous.  Like Chloe, they see potential problems we in our ignorance and inexperience miss and all they get for it is accusations about traditionalism, legalism, and cynicism.  We can make their job easier by spending more time in the word so we can recognize false teaching; more time with our brethren so we can share practical knowledge; and more time in safe places instead of hanging around the fence line in the dark of night where the wolves are waiting.
 
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
 
Dene Ward

Keith has mown a path for me, as safe as a path can be for someone with my eyesight, so I can walk Chloe at least one lap every day with the trekking poles for balance and stability.  Elliptical machines are great for low impact aerobics, but you don’t get any fresh air and the scenery never changes.  With this path I get the best of both.  Let me take you for a stroll this morning, and every morning this week, beginning with the east side.

            When I come out and slip on my walking shoes, Chloe, always waiting expectantly under the porch, bounces out and sits impatiently on the steps, her ears tall and her eyes never leaving me.  “Just a minute,” I tell her, and she seems to have grown to recognize those sounds.  She knows I will indeed be outside shortly, but I wonder if her doggy brain wonders about people having to put on their feet before they come outside?  Sometimes she cannot abide the wait, especially if I have to do more than put on my shoes—like spot Keith as he lifts weights on the other end of the porch—so she gives just a tiny little whine, so anxious she shimmies across the boards on her rear end. 

            As soon as I open the door she is halfway through it.  We cannot go anywhere or do anything until she gets a pat on the head.  Then I say, “Let’s go walk,” and she heads toward the morning sun peeking through the woods, dappling the ground where we walk.  Often she has to stop and wait for me to catch up, but as soon as I round that first corner she is off again, inspecting every mound of dirt, every dew-heavy hanging shrub, every disturbed pile of leaves at the fence bottom.

           Occasionally she will stop and stare through the fence to the property on the other side, heavily wooded, vines snaking up and through the oaks, pines, maples, and wild cherries.  Just over the fence lies the run.  We thought it was a creek when we first moved here, a shallow one but water always sat in the bottom, slowly draining to the south.  Then we went through the drought of the nineties and learned differently.  It’s a run.  Whenever rain comes through, the land on all sides of us for at least a half mile in every direction, runs into that narrow, deep channel and heads for the swamp a mile to the south.  After a typical summer afternoon downpour the water will rush loudly, white water at the bends and at every drop, carrying with it leaves and limbs shed by the overhanging branches. 

          You do not realize how powerful water moving downhill can be until you see the aftermath.  We came out one morning to find the trash can washed up against the south fence, the run itself clear of all debris, and the pigs in the southeastern pigpen a pinky white they hadn’t been since they were born.  Only a small circle in the center of their backs remained black and muddy.  Good thing they managed to find a high spot so they could get their noses up out of the rushing water that had gushed through the fence and cut the southeast corner.  We had no idea the water could rise that high.

          The power of water is a constant theme in the Bible.  We completely misunderstand 1 Pet 3:20,21, especially when we read the newer translations that make water not something that saves, but something to be saved from.  Leave your new version a moment and look at the old ASV translation:   …the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism…  The waters of the flood saved Noah by bringing him and his family safely out of a world of sin, into a new world, one that was washed pure and clean.  Baptism does the same for us.  It saves us from the world of sin we live in, raising us to a new life free from sin—a chance to start over, this time with help from above.  It also washes away the detritus of our old lives, if we let it, if we are willing to let go of the baggage and surrender all to the Lord.

           Water had saved the Israelites in a similar way.  They were “baptized” in the cloud and in the sea, walls of water on the side, a roof of vapor overhead. And then with a whoosh of water, God destroyed their enemies and set them in a new world, one where He and they were to enjoy a covenant relationship, 1 Cor 10:1ff.
         
          Amos uses water to symbolize the power found in justice and righteousness.  Israel thought that multiplying sacrifices and feasts and other religious observances was all that mattered.  God would be pleased, especially if the prescribed rites were even more elaborate than commanded.  Then their lives during the rest of the week wouldn’t count against them.  The prophet told them differently, “Let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,” 5:24.
          That is just a small sample of the passages using water as a symbol.  Spend some time today, as I did on my walk with Chloe, meditating on the simplest drink known to man.
 
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Jehovah, even Jehovah, is my strength and song; and he is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Give thanks unto Jehovah…Isa 12:2-4
 
Dene Ward