In February the pine and oak trees suddenly burst out in fuzzy yellow green tufts of pollen that fell like snow on the ground and the sidewalk, covering our car in a thin layer of windblown chartreuse powder and stuffing up Keith’s nose like cotton.  In March the needles and leaves finished falling and the new ones almost instantly budded out in their customary spring green color.  The pollen dried and began falling in earnest, turning the new green grass brown under its carpeting.  Every time I finished working outside, I brushed my shoulders off before heading inside.
              I thought I was in good shape, but in the middle of the night my hand ran over my pillow and I felt it—several large grains of something, and as the sleep fog lifted I realized what it was—tufts of pollen.  On my pillow?  How in the world…?  And then I knew.  It had fallen into my hair, and my hair with all its corkscrews had trapped it like a net.  The only way it was coming out was with a comb—or rubbing it on a pillow, I guess.  The next morning I cleaned out my hair, brushed off the pillow and sheet, and swept the floor.  Then I walked around the house and discovered more on the floors of every room.  So I swept them all.  But that only fixed the problem that morning.  In the afternoon, I had to check my hair all over again.
              It’s easy to think you can be in the world and not be contaminated by it.  Yet every day you bring home those same contaminants if you are not careful to remove them.  They will not easily brush off.  They will not stop falling just because it’s you they might fall on.  And if you leave them, perhaps thinking you will get them out later, or that they will fall out on their own where they won’t hurt anyone, they will affect every part of your life before you know it.  Your language changes, your dress changes, your interests change, and finally, your attitudes change, and suddenly you are not the person you thought you were.
              I have learned to brush myself off every day while the pollen is falling, to run my fingers through my hair and untangle the ones that are trapped.  I check my shoes and the creases in my jeans.  And I do it whether I have been outside all morning or just a few minutes.  Contamination can happen in a flash.
              Be sure to check yourself this evening before you hurt not just yourself, but the ones you love. 
 
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.  Jas 1:27
 
Dene Ward

When I was younger and looked at house plans, I used to see small rooms called “mud rooms” on the blueprints.  I never really understood them until I lived two years in Illinois.  In Florida the ground never freezes.  It is wet with the dew most mornings and dries before noon.  Up north the ground must thaw out every spring, and just like that frozen container of homemade tomato sauce on my kitchen counter, it stays wet until it does.  Day after day I wiped up mud and scraped off boots.  Now I really understood mud rooms and wished for one.  At least all the guests were aware of the problem as well and left their shoes at the door without having to be asked.
            That reminds me of the symbolism involved in Ex 3:5:  Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.  While I cherish the confidence to approach God as a loving Father, while I am thrilled to see our young people revel in that closeness, I worry that we have forgotten what awe and reverence really mean, that we do not understand the requirements of holiness.  Our lives have gotten so casual we cannot even comprehend the difference between the sacred and the profane—it has nothing to do with four letter words.  It means we give our service to God—every day, not just on Sundays--special care, special preparation, and special effort, not just some haphazard, slapdash, last minute, half-hearted stab at it.  It means there is a part of me that is afraid not to take off my muddy shoes before I enter into God’s presence.  And that fear is not a watered down variety called simply “respect.”  Even in a vision, the prophet Isaiah was so awestruck by God’s presence that he exclaimed, Woe is me for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips who dwells in the midst of a people of unclean lips and I have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts Isa 6:5.
             The same book that proclaims that we can come in boldness (Heb 4:16), states that we should approach with reverence and awe because Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28,29).  Paul also says in 1 Cor 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord...  It is this sort of fear that will motivate me to holy living when my will power weakens, and love and gratitude are not quite enough to do the job.   
             Don’t ever forget to take off those muddy shoes before coming before the Creator of the Universe.
 
For great is Jehovah and greatly to be praised:
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But Jehovah made the heavens.
Honor and majesty are before him:
Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe unto Jehovah, you kindred of the peoples,
Ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength.
Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory due to his name:
Bring an offering and come into his courts.
Oh worship Jehovah in holy array:
Tremble before him all the earth.  Psalm 96:4-9
 
Dene Ward

HMS Invincible set sail on March 16, 1801 with 590 men, and ordnance, ammunition, and supplies for the Baltic Fleet and Admiral Nelson as they prepared for the Battle of Copenhagen.  For Captain John Rennie this was his first command, and he was accompanied by Rear Admiral Thomas Totty.  The Norfolk coast was always known as dangerous, mainly because of the Haisbro Sand, located 9 miles off the coast at Happisburgh, and the North Sea itself notorious as a treacherous body of water.  True to its reputation, a strong tide threw the ship off course and about 2:30 pm she struck a shoal just east of the Haisbro Sand. 
              The crew worked all night trying to save the ship.  The masts were struck and pumps were worked manually.  A fishing boat named Nancy came to help.  Admiral Totty boarded her with a few crew members, evidently the youngest, but at daybreak on March 17, the Invincible sank.  A few were picked up in the lifeboats, but out of 590, 400 died in the sea, including Captain Rennie.  For days the bodies washed up on shore.  They were picked up by the wagonload and buried in a mass grave next to the local church.
              Long ago, the ancient Christian church was symbolized by a boat, a refuge for Christians from the storms of life, even though that actual metaphor is nowhere to be found.  Still, it makes a valid point.  Where should we go but to the Lord and our brethren when the storm strikes, and who should we expect help from but the Lord by means of his spiritual body?  You can also make some excellent points on the fact that the symbol was a working boat, where a crew worked together as a team, each doing his own part, not a cruise ship where the passengers come to be fed, served, and entertained!
              The scriptures themselves use that metaphor rarely.  Even the text you might think of among the first, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering, Heb 2:10, is not about a ship's captain as later translations make apparent.  The word simply means "leader," one blazing the way, according to Vine's and Robertson's Word Pictures.
              But the metaphor is there if you look for it.  Here is an obvious one:  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, (Heb 6:19). 
              But others are simply allusions, and these allusions are apt to our historical entry for the day—shipwreck.  …until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Eph 4:13-14)
              "Tossed to and fro" means to be agitated.  "Carried about" means to be whirled as if not anchored.  When we are immature in our faith, when we have not worked to grow and become spiritually strong, we are ripe for the picking by the Devil.  Any stress in our lives can wreck our ship.
              But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (Jas 1:6)  In this verse it is the water itself that is tossed, but it only takes a moment to extrapolate what that sort of water would do to a boat.  When our faith is not solid, when it wavers with doubt, our ship is likely to sink.
              And that leads us to the most obvious one:  This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, (1Tim 1:18-19).  That is not just a nautical fender-bender.  The word there, according to Robertson means to break a ship to pieces.  When you throw overboard your fidelity to the cause and your conscience, the whole thing is bashed to smithereens on the rocks, the shoals, and the waves.  You are done for.  If it makes us think just for a second before we give in to even one little temptation, maybe we can avoid the crash and keep our souls intact.
              This world is just like the Haisbro Sand and the North Sea—treacherous.  Don't be one of those poor drowned souls stacked in a wagon and tossed into a mass grave.  Use your anchor, grow your faith, and keep your conscience pure.
 
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23)
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is part 2 of the continuing series on Proverbs by Lucas Ward.

In the previous lessons we have learned that the pursuit of wisdom is important and ranks with all the Christian virtues as something a Christian should be looking to grow.  After all, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” Prov. 4:7.  Of course, James tells us to pray for wisdom (1:5) and Solomon continues to urge us to seek it out:  “Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.” Prov. 4:5.  So, I should be actively seeking wisdom.  Ok, but how?  How do I gain in wisdom?  Let's see what Proverbs says about this.
[A word of warning, most of these Proverbs posts are very scripture heavy as I allow Solomon to teach us.  I add just enough to tie the passages together and make them real for our modern lives.]

Prov. 10:8  “The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”
Prov. 10:14  “The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.”
Prov. 18:15  “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”
From these it seems that one basic characteristic of the wise is that they are willing to listen and learn from others.  They seek out new knowledge and store it up. 

Prov. 19:20  “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”
A wise man is willing to listen and learn and here we are instructed to listen and accept instruction in order to be wise.  If I want to be wise I must be willing to listen to the teachings of those wiser than I, but I can't listen blankly.  This isn't daydreaming in class, but time spent thinking about the advice and instruction I've received. 

Prov. 2:1-5  "My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."
 
Look at how Solomon describes the search for wisdom.  Receive, treasure up, make ear attentive, inclining heart, call out, raise voice, seek and search.  This is effort.  This is work.  This is dedication to achieving a goal.  Solomon continues his urgings:
Prov. 4:13  “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” 
Prov. 22:17  “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge”
Prov. 23:12  “Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.”
 
Don't just idly listen; keep hold of the instruction and don't let go.  Then, apply your heart to knowledge and instruction.  That word "apply" was a very old Hebrew word that had come to mean a lot of different things. Originally it just meant "go" or "come".  Every other meaning it subsequently acquired was action oriented.  So, when I apply my heart to teaching, I'm taking action with my heart regarding that teaching.  I'm changing myself to better fit the teaching and thereby acquire wisdom. 
 
Of course, this isn't always pleasant.  One of the greatest challenges to accepting the instruction of others is the notion that "I can figure it out by myself!"  I want to be self-sufficient and don't want to rely on anyone else.  Solomon makes quick work of that idea:
Prov. 14:12  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” 
Prov. 16:25  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” 
Prov. 28:26  “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
Notice that 14:12 and 16:25 are word for word copies.  Solomon (or rather the Holy Spirit through Solomon) thought that idea was so important he repeated it verbatim later in his book.  If I try to figure everything out for myself, I'll wind up dead.  Trusting in my own ideas proves me a fool.  Instead I should walk in wisdom, or the instruction I've been gathering.  This idea of needing others to help us learn and grow is found in the New Testament especially in Titus as the older women are told to teach the younger.  In Galatians 6 we are taught to help instruct those who have fallen away back in to the light.  No matter how gentle we are, some will always refuse to listen.  These are fools and will come to a bad end:
Prov. 15:12  “A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.” 
Prov. 9:7  “Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.”
Prov. 13:18  “Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.”
Prov. 15:5  “A fool despises his father's instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.”
Prov. 29:1  “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.” 
 
Even the instruction of the wise is sometimes a bit painful:
Prov. 10:17  “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.”
The instruction heeded is also referred to as reproof.  To be reproved is to be chided, to be told you are wrong.  This is never fun, but the wise one listens and grows while the fool rejects it.
Prov. 12:1  “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”
Prov. 15:31  "The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.  Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence."
Prov. 27:6  “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
Again and again, listening to reproof and loving discipline are part of growing wisdom.  The wise also knows that a true friend will wound you to make you better while your enemy flatters you enormously. 

So, I need to be willing to listen to instruction even when it hurts.  I need to think about, to apply myself to that teaching.  What other practical advice does Solomon give for obtaining wisdom?
First, choose your companions with care:
Prov. 14:7  “Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.” 
Prov. 13:20  “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
Sometimes foolish people are fun to hang out with, but you will never learn much from them.  If you want to become wise, seek out those who are wise and spend as much time as possible with them. 
 
Second, and finally, seek out counselors:
Prov. 11:14  “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Prov. 15:22  “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Prov. 20:18  “Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.”
Prov. 24:6  “for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.”
Solomon, in preparing his son to be king, speaks of war, but the principle holds to any activity.  Do you want to start teaching Bible classes?  Find someone who has done it and discuss it with them.   Are you a new parent, unsure of what to do?  Look around and find several successful parents and get their advice.  Do you want to start a new business?  Write a novel?  Further your education?  Find counselors who know about those things and talk to them.  This wisdom isn't just related to our spiritual lives, but will help us be successful in all aspects of our lives.  But for it to work, we have to be willing to listen.
 
Prov. 4:10-13  "Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many.  I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness.  When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.  Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life." 
 
Lucas Ward

Medicine has come a long way since ancient times and it hasn’t stopped progressing.  As a patient who has a rare disease, I have had my share of experimental surgeries and procedures, and endured experimental medicines and equipment.  Sometimes it’s just plain scary, but when it works, it’s amazing.  I can still see, several years after I was expected to lose my vision.  It may not be great vision, and the after effects of all these procedures and medications may not be pleasant, but let me tell you, any vision is better than no vision, and you will put up with a lot to have it.
            Blood is one area where knowledge is still blossoming.  But just think of this.  Transfusions were not common until the turn of the twentieth century, and even then it had to be a live donor for an immediate transfusion.  It went on that way for nearly four decades.  Finally, Dr Bernard Fantus at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago performed several experiments and determined that human blood, under refrigeration, could last up to ten days.  Still not long, but enough for him to start the first blood bank on March 15, 1937.  Imagine the lives that were suddenly saved.  It must have seemed like a miracle.
            Medicine has progressed even further.  My little bit of research tells me that at 1-6 degrees Centigrade, blood can now be kept up to 42 days, and that some of it can be frozen for up to ten years.  I wonder if Dr Fantus had any idea what he had put into motion.
            But sooner or later that blood does become stale.  It is no longer usable to save lives.  And if there is a sudden loss of power that cannot be maintained with a generator or other power source, all of it will spoil almost immediately. 
            Imagine a blood that never loses its potency, that never becomes stale, that will always save. 
            For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb 9:24-26.
            Jesus does not have to offer himself “repeatedly.”  He does not have to keep a fresh supply of blood handy.  The saving power of his blood lasts forever.  And what exactly does it do?
            It makes propitiation, Rom 3:23.
            It justifies, Rom 5:9.
            It brings us “near,” Eph 2:13.
            It purifies our consciences and makes us able to serve God, Heb 9:14. 
            It forgives, Heb 9:23.
            It cleanses us from sin, 1 John 1:7.
            Now understand this—it isn’t the fact that Jesus cut his finger one day and bled a little.  Blood in the Bible has always represented a death.  The blood that saves us is the death he willingly died on our behalf, because only a sacrificial death can atone for sin (Lev 17:11).  And we don’t have to worry about “types” and “factors.”  His blood will cleanse us from “all sin,” 1 John 1:7.
            Nowadays people want nothing to do with another person’s blood.  Everyone wears gloves.  But to gain the benefits of Christ’s blood you have to “touch” it.  How do you contact that blood?  You simply “die” with Christ.  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life, Rom 6:3,4. 
            And that blood bank still works for us.  It keeps right on forgiving as needed, as we repent and continue to walk in him for the rest of our lives.         
            Only once--that’s all he had to suffer.  Our trips to the blood bank will likely be more than once, but may they become less and less often as we grow in grace and faith and love.  It will be there when we need it, but let’s not squander a precious gift, nor take it for granted. 
 
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him, Heb 9:27,28.
 
Dene Ward        

Long ago and far away I remember someone saying, immediately after a sermon on the subject, “Attitude shmattitude.  I am sick and tired of hearing about attitude.” 
            I thought to myself, “And you, sir, certainly have a bad one.”
            Hanging by one of the magnets on my refrigerator is a quote by Charles Swindoll that ends, “…We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”
            My neighbor recently returned from a trip to Alaska, a trip she and her husband have wanted to make for a long time.  They flew to Anchorage, then rented an RV and traveled the state for two and half weeks.  As they were returning the RV, ready to fly back home, she fell in the parking lot, face down.  It was a nasty fall.  The ER doctor put 14 stitches in her face.  Five of her front teeth were knocked out, and she is still, after two months, receiving the dental repair work for that, already totaling $10,000.  She needed a doctor’s note before the airline would allow her on the plane to fly home.  She was in a wheelchair, of course, and the other passengers were staring out of the corners of their eyes—being too polite to stare straight on.  (We’ve all done it.)  Her husband finally told everyone she had had a run-in with a grizzly bear, and she looked so bad someone actually believed it.
            You know what she said after she told me about it?  “It’s okay.  It was the last day not the first, so our trip wasn’t ruined.  I can’t eat very well, so I’ve lost about 20 pounds.  I can’t chew on my nails, and for the first time in my life I have nice looking nails.  And I fell so flat I’m lucky I didn’t break my nose as well.”
            She put me to shame.  She had come up with four blessings in her mishap, when I wonder if I would have been doing anything but moaning. 
            As Christians our attitudes do make the difference.  The way we handle adversity should make people ask us, “How can you do that?  What is your secret?” 
            Those early Christians knew the secret.  They rejoiced “that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor” Acts 5:41; took “pleasure” in all their sufferings “for Christ’s sake” 2 Cor 12:10; “received the word in much affliction with joy” 1 Thes 1:6; and “took joyfully the spoiling of their possessions” Heb 10: 34.  How?  They had their priorities straight, and that kept their attitudes straight.  They truly believed a better place awaits us. 
            That is what faith requires: for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek after him, Heb 11:6.  Sometimes I think we focus so much on the first part of that, that we miss the second part.  If I want this world and its “stuff” so badly, then maybe I don’t really believe there is a reward waiting for me.  If I do not have the attitude of Paul that “to die is gain,” then my faith is an empty shell.  Why in the world do I bother?
            Attitude, shmattitude.  Don’t get sick and tired of hearing about it.  It can help you make it successfully to the end, which is really only a beginning that will never end.
 
But call to remembrance the former days in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly becoming partakers with them that were so used.  For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one, Heb 10:32-34.
 
Dene Ward

“Who can deny Robert Gundry’s assertion that the evangelical enterprise has become worldly, that materialism grips the church, that pleasure-seeking dominates us, that evangelicals watch sensuality and violence like everyone else, that immodesty is de jure, that voyeurism and pornography and sexual laxity and divorce are on the rise, and that we, like Lot, could find that Sodom has been born anew in our own homes. God help us if while decrying sin, we are sprinting headlong after it. We must lay this to heart: A worldly church cannot and will not reach the world. The church must be distinct from the world to reach the world.  We must set ourselves apart to God if we hope to reach the world.”
Hughes, R. Kent. Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life. Crossway. Kindle Edition.

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. " (1Pet 4:3-6).

We just returned from a birthday party—a double birthday party, which meant twice as many guests, twice as many cakes, and twice as many gifts.  It also meant twice as much time unwrapping the gifts. 

That last part did not bother Silas at all, but it seemed to bother Judah a little.  He started playing with one gift and then was handed yet another to unwrap.  So he had to stop playing and unwrap.  Once it was done, he started playing again, sometimes even went back to the first one he had unwrapped, but then he would be handed another.  You could almost see his little brain forming the thought, “There is such a thing as too many gifts.” 

The next morning even Silas had trouble with the number of gifts.  I sat and watched him go from one to the other, back and forth.  I wondered if he wasn’t finally realizing, you can only play with one toy at a time.

Have you ever read Proverbs 31 then slumped your shoulders in defeat and thought, “I can’t possibly be that woman?”  Take heart.  God does not expect you to have every gift this woman has, nor to play with them all at once.  Just think for a minute:  what does he tell those Corinthians in chapter 12?  Some of you have this gift; some of you have that one.  Some of you have yet another.  Don’t try to be what you are not—just use what I give you the best you can (the Ward version).

Cooking I can handle, most of the time.  Bookkeeping I have down pat.  But the only things I can do with a needle and thread are sew on a button, take up a hem, and mend a seam.  I can’t darn, quilt, crochet or knit.  I have made clothes and worn them, but I consigned them to an early death as soon as I had replacements.  I have finally learned to master the pressure canner instead of cringing in fear, but I couldn’t decorate one wall much less a whole house—I have no eye for it.

Do you see the point?  The Proverbs 31 woman is the ideal.  God lists it all, and it gives us some sense of duties in the home.  What it doesn’t do is command us to be some sort of Jill-of-all-Trades Renaissance Woman.  It just says, this is where the center and purpose of your life and everything you accomplish in it must be—your family.  Be the best cook or the best seamstress or the best gardener or the best organizer or the best comforter or the best home businesswoman—or maybe two or three of those--whatever present God has given you to unwrap.  Do that, and you have “done what you could.”
 
For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness, Rom 12:4-8.
 
Dene Ward

Stock markets began after the discovery of the New World, when countries began trading with each other.  In order to expand their businesses, the owners needed to call in investors so that they had a larger amount of money to use for growth.  These investors were given "shares" of the company.  The first company to issue paper shares was the Dutch East India Co in 1602.
              The practice grew and eventually reached England.  In 1773 in a London coffeehouse, a group of stock traders met and changed their name to the "stock exchange," and thus the London Stock Exchange was born.  This spread to the American colonies and the first American stock exchange began in Philadelphia.
              Today, Wall Street is synonymous with the stock exchange.  On May 17, 1792, the market on Wall Street opened with 24 supply brokers.  On March 8, 1817, they changed the name to the New York Stock and Exchange Board and the NYSE we know today began. 
              One of the rules of success in the stock market is patience.  Quick returns are great, but also dangerous.  If you want a stable investment, you plan for the long haul.  Most people with stock portfolios have a good mix of the risky and the safe.  If you want a consistent income, you go with the safe and plan to wait awhile.
              This blog is a long term investment.  It debuted August 2, 2012.  But even before that, I began writing devotionals that I sent to a small email list three times a week.  That first list contained 32 names.  Many times I have thought about quitting, especially when I looked at a blank screen and could not think of a thing to write, but knew I had to if this thing is going to stay alive.  “Why?” I think, especially since I rarely get feedback and sometimes wonder if anyone else cares whether I bruise my brain for a couple dozen hours a week anyway.
              My average pageview day runs 300-400, with an occasional spike of 2000+.  I have now passed over a million pageviews total.  But look back where I started—32 names.  It has taken many years of hard work, truly a long term investment.  I would never have made it this far if I had given up.
              Life is made up of long term investments.  Education, marriage, children, career, mortgages, as well as stock portfolios, and many other things take years to show any profit, any growth, any benefit.  In spite of our instant gratification society, most of us know this about life:  some things are worth the time and trouble and the long, long wait, and many of us manage to avoid quitting.
              Why do we forget that in our spiritual lives?  We become Christians and expect overnight that our problems will disappear, that our temptations will cease, and that our faith will move mountains.  Then reality sets in and instead of working on it, we give up.  We go to an older, knowledgeable Christian and ask for help in learning to study, but after two or maybe three weeks of making the time to meet and finding the time to do the studies he assigns, we quit.  It’s too tedious and we are too busy.  We thought there was some get-wise-quick formula.  It’s just the Bible after all, not rocket science.
              It’s perfectly normal to have bouts of discouragement.  David did:  How long O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  Psalm 13:1.  Asaph did:  All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.  73:13. I’ve tried and tried and gotten nothing for it!  Why bother?  And then they remind us to look ahead, because it is a long term problem with a long term solution.  In just a little while the wicked will be no more…you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me into glory.  Psalm 37:10; 73:24.  Sometimes the wait seems long, especially when we are suffering, but faith will be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him 37:7.
              And if you are floundering a little, wondering perhaps if you will ever make it, if your faith will ever be strong, if you will ever be able to overcome temptation on a regular basis, give yourself a break.  This doesn’t happen overnight.  Are you better than you were last year?  Did you overcome TODAY?  That’s progress.  Keep working at it.  No one expects to lose 100 pounds in a week.  Some of us have way more than that to lose spiritually. 
              The reward is worth the waiting.  It is worth the struggle.  It is even worth the tedium of learning those difficult names and the exercise involved in buffeting our bodies.  But you won’t get there if you give up, if you say, “This is boring,” or “I’m too busy,” or “I can’t do it.” 
              I have many new friends because of something I started a long time ago during a difficult time of life.  I cannot imagine being without them now.  I certainly don’t want to be without the Lord.
 
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised, Heb 10:36.
 
Dene Ward
 

Our last two dogs are the only purebreds we have ever had—Australian cattle dogs.  Not Australian shepherds—different breed altogether—but cattle dogs, often called heelers.  As is usually the case with purebreds, they had a few health issues that ordinary dogs (mutts) do not have.  Chloe, for example, has rampant allergies.
              At least twice a year for a good three months at the time, she wakens in the morning with a stuffy, runny nose.  I have already written about how disgusting it can be to see what looks like two strands of spaghetti hanging out of a dog's nose.  She has learned to "wipe" her nose every morning on the grass, but that only gets rid of the worst of it and before long she looks like a toddler with a bad cold—a wet, shiny spot under her nose that she can even blow bubbles in. 
              Because of that, her sense of smell is not so hot.  We throw treats for her in the morning and often have to get up and help her find them.  Even those loud-smelling things that look like bacon strips are difficult for her to sniff up.  I have seen her step right over a snake when all of our other dogs have smelled them a good five feet away and either gone into a point or a crouch, ready to save their masters from the big, bad boogie-creature.  But not Chloe.  Whoever heard of a dog with no sense of smell?
              And whoever heard of a Christian who has no sense of right?  Whoever heard of someone who claims to be a child of God but does not understand purity and holiness in his life?
              As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  (1Pet 1:14-16)  Peter seems to expect that we will want to emulate our Father, just as small children like to wear their daddy's shoes and put on his hats, only in this case we emulate His holiness.
              Paul lists in 2 Corinthians 6 the promises we have as children of God and finishes it up with a great motivational passage:  Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.  "Let's cleanse ourselves," he says, as if it is something we should all want to do.  (2Cor 7:1)  We are ungrateful children when we do not grow in our holiness and purity.
              And then, of course, Peter gives us the ultimate in motivation in these words:  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! (2Pet 3:11-12)  If the positive won't work, the glorious promise of His welcoming us as His children (2 Cor 6:17, 18), perhaps the fear of punishment will do the trick!
              I have heard people say that we need to learn how to be holy and pure and righteous.  Really?  Just ask your neighbors what a Christian should and should not do, how they should talk and dress, what sort of entertainment they ought not to participate in.  Seems that even the godless know more than some of my brothers and sisters.  If nothing else, look at the godly people who sit around you on Sunday morning.  What do those women wear?  How do those men talk?  Do they stop at the bar for a drink after work?  Do they watch smut on TV?  It is not that hard to figure out what is and is not holy and pure behavior.
              Whoever heard of a Christian who doesn't live a life of purity and holiness?  Whoever heard of a child of God with no sense of right?  Chloe can't help having no sense of smell.  We don't have her excuse.
 
For My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good. (Jer 4:22)
 
Dene Ward