Some Assembly Required

It arrived on Sunday, our new recumbent exercise bike. We knew that there was some assembly but we were hoping for easy. We had read reviews that ran from 1 hour to 4 or 5 for putting it together. I was hoping to be in the one hour category but knowing Clarence has vision issues and I am not mechanically inclined, we would be satisfied with somewhere in the middle. 

 

Monday morning we opened the box. They packed a lot of stuff in that box and the way it was packed was precise. We started at 11:00 and finished about 1:45. We took a lot of pictures as we unpacked it with hopes that if something didn't work we would be able to pack it all back in the box for a return. Doubtful that we could get it back together right but the pictures would help if we had to try. That in itself took some time so let's knock off about half an hour for picture taking. I also had to take a couple "I need to walk away from this" breaks, maybe another 15 to 30 minutes. That being said our assembly probably took a couple hours. Not bad.

 

Step 1, adding the leg supports, gave us trouble with the screws not lining up right - count on step 1 to go bad. Once we got beyond step 1 it went really well . . . 

. . . until we reached hooking up the tension wires. That's one step that we had to walk away from. The instructions up to that point were great, but when we reached the trickiest part, the area that could make the bike work or not work, they got a bit skimpy. The drawing that was supposed to show us what to do was small even with a magnifying glass. I finally found instructions on the computer and was able to enlarge the tiny detail, providing us with the info that we needed. 

As it turns out I had tried to do exactly what I was supposed to do, but didn't have the brute strength to make it happen. Before we went back to our assembly we prayed about it. Our prayer kindly suggested that maybe God himself, or a couple a His angels, would like to add a helping hand and a bit of strength. I tried again and while explaining to Clarence what I was trying to do suddenly the thing slipped together!!! Definitely answered prayer.

It looks really nice but it isn't gym quality. The computer is . . . well, more like a cheap watch, and it isn't a "smooth" ride if you increase the tension beyond 2 or 3, but the bike is going to work for a couple older people who just want some exercise without having to go to the gym. We knew up front the fact that it came from a country other than USA, combined with the price we paid, meant it wasn't going to be perfect, but we don't need the "computer" to ride it and tension 1-3 are enough to get a fairly good workout. We're hoping it will last at least a few years.

Have you ever prayed asking God to step in to help you with something like hooking up the tension wires? We often think God doesn't care about stuff like that, but remember He's more than God, He's our Father and He delights in our coming to Him no matter the reason. I have the feeling that He smiled when we stopped to ask for His help, and when we said thank you maybe He added a gentle laugh. We encourage you to go Him with your challenges - big or small. Share your joys and sorrows. Stop once in awhile just to say "God, I Love You!". Go ahead and give it a try, make Him smile.

Why didn't God just start over?

This morning's message was out of Ephesians 6:14a "Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth".

Among many great points (our pastor seldom holds to the rule of three), he talked about the truth of who we are in God's eyes. I am not defined by how I feel about myself, or what I think about myself. The truth of who I am is how God feels about me and what He thinks of me. The truth is that God loves me, and He thinks of me as being important enough that He sent His Son Jesus to die for me so that I could be His forever. When I understand that truth, I better understand that I can trust God with my whole being, I am more likely to get into His Word because I want to know Him better and be more like Him, and I am better equipped for Him to use me in the spiritual battle that furthers His kingdom.

OK, confession time. Sometimes my mind wanders to odd places while I am supposed to be listening to the message. Where did it go today? Well, it went to that age old question of "When Adam and Eve sinned, why didn't God just destroy them and start over? Wouldn't this world be a better place if a different man and woman made a better choice?"  My wandering mind might have stumbled across the answer to that question this morning, and here's what I'm thinking:

When Adam and Eve sinned, God didn't destroy them and start over because I am a descendant of Adam and Eve, and God already loved me too much to stop the process that was going to bring me into being.

That idea is going to be on my mind this week. I hope you will think about it too, because if it is true of me it is also true of you.

What's Hiding in the Bag?

One of our local stores provides paper bags in the freezer department and I used one for my ice cream the other day. In the past, the bags have been nice and strong but they have gotten rather thin in recent months. As I was checking out with my purchases, the cashier lifted the bag and a section tore out, which got us talking about the bags. I mentioned that they really didn't serve their purpose as far as keeping things cold, but they did mange to hide my ice cream so everyone would see only the good things I was purchasing and think I was making healthy choices rather than buying junk food. 

A few minutes later I heard a voice to the side saying "She's getting ice cream isn't she?" I turned to see a friend from church and her little granddaughter gazing into the bag the cashier had placed in the bottom portion of my cart. I had to laugh as I commented that the bag didn't even work for hiding my ice cream.

That event got me to thinking. Just as I was trying to hide the junk food, I sometimes try to hide the sin in my life. I don't want my family and friends to know that I mess up, so I choose earthly "bags" to hide my actions. My Heavenly Father though, who knows all things and knows my heart, can see what's hiding in the "bag". Too often I've bought into the wrong things and sometimes it hurts when He stands there at the end of the checkout telling me what He sees. It hurts me to hear the truth, but it hurts Him too because those things disrupt my relationship with Him.

As hard as it is, I'm glad He opens the "bags" and tells me what He sees in them. In doing that, He gives me the opportunity to confess my sins, become clean, and try again.

An Imprint You Can Recognize!

It isn't unusual for birds to hit our sliding glass door. Generally all that remains is a little smudge mark - OK, sometimes a big smudge mark, it all depends on the size of the bird. Last night we discovered that one of the doves had flown into our window. We can tell it was a dove because it left a full imprint. With the outdoor light behind it you can see all the markings of the body, each feather is outlined, even the imprint of the eyes and beak are there to be seen.  Ouch, that must have hurt!  I cringe to think of it - maybe that's because I've gone into a glass door myself and ended up with a broken tooth in the process, but this poor bird had a full body slam at who knows what speed. It had to have had the wind knocked out of it and probably ended up on the cement porch for a little while. With any "bird luck" the outdoor cat wasn't around to see it happen.

Most of us have times in our lives when we slam into something we didn't see coming. It might not be a pane of glass or a brick wall, but we still get the wind knocked out of us and we're left wondering what happened. I've learned that some of my hurts are self-inflicted and brought on by my sin. Other times God allows things to come into my life to test me or strengthen me, things I may or may not understand.

When I encounter that next "wham" in my life, I wonder what kind of imprint I will leave behind. I hope and pray that the "imprint on the glass" will be recognizable to others, and will be a perfect image of Jesus rather than myself.

My Favorite Love Song . . . ummm, Hymn

All through February I was hearing this song on the radio and intended to write about it. Finally I am taking the time. My first recollection is when I was a teenager. The words are my favorite part but the tune was creatively done with notes rolling up and down the keyboard just as water would move with waves lifting one up and down. If you aren't familiar with the hymn, find it online and listen to the way the music moves. I think even in those days it wasn't a popular hymn, but I suspect that was because it could be a challenge to sing and not because it didn't touch hearts.

Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in it's fullness over me
underneath me, all around me, is the current of thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward, to my glorious rest above.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread his praise from shore to shore!
How he loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, never more.
How he watches o'er his loved ones, died to call them all his own;
How for them he intercedeth, watcheth o'er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing, 'tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, 'tis a heav'n of heav'ns to me;
and it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to thee.

Words: S. Trevor Francis

Safely to the next destination

Today I had to wonder if I was witnessing the beginnings of a future Farmer's Insurance commercial. The ladies in our office gathered around the window as we watched a young man attempting to roller skate down the sidewalk. It appeared that this may have been his first attempt on wheels. He stopped at the passenger side of a car, or rather he rolled off the curb and banged into the car, opened the door, put something in the seat and then started around the car. As we watched his attempt to roll from one side of the car to the other we noted that he was wearing the four wheel variety of skates and not those single row ones that will pop up into the shoe. One of my co-workers said "Oh, surely not", but he did another big near spill near the driver side door, grabbed onto the door handle in order to stay upright, opened it and climbed in. After only a few moments the car was in motion. We all looked at each other and imagined the skates rolling off the peddles or even getting stuck on one of them and I said "It happened on March 1st, 2018, and we covered it".  We all laughed remembering the Farmer's commercials that we have seen. By the time we realized what was happening it was probably too late and I don't think any of us could have gotten down the stairs, out the door, and to his car to try and talk some sense into him before he was on his way. He probably wouldn't have listened anyway. We looked out again and hoped he would safely reach his destination.

I wonder how many times I've been "standing at a window" watching people trying to skate their way into Heaven and I haven't done anything to help them safely reach their destination. How many times have I said to myself "They'll be gone before I can get there" or "They probably won't listen anyway". Maybe I need to start trying harder to get close enough to speak, ask God to give me wise words to say, and trust Him open their ears and hearts to listen.

Keep knocking on the door

If you don't have a cat you may not know how smart they can be. Ours know what door knobs are and that those knobs are the key to having access to many wonderful things. Our bedroom door is usually shut so that our two indoor cats can't pounce on us in the night or breath in our face, but it too has one of those nice shiny knobs. When Toki and Coal get hungry or lonesome nothing is going to keep them from scratching at the door in their attempt to reach that knob so that they can get in and tell us of their plight. Our bedroom door has taken a beating as they banged, scratched, and tried to reach the knob to get it open.

Clarence and I think that we are smarter than cats so we were certain that we could outwit our two and get them to stop pounding on our door. Attempt number one was based on the knowledge that cats don't like water. We bought one of those long, wide storage bins that are meant to slide under the bed. We put an inch or two of water in it, and placed it across the front of the bedroom door. It took only one night to learn that this left a gap between the storage bin and the door. If a cat were really careful it could jump over the corner of the bin of water and slide into that gap to scratch at the door and make it bang loudly. 

Attempt number two: We had recently received an item which came in a box that fit very nicely between the bin and the door, filled most of the width of the door, and was at just the right height to hang a corner of it on the doorknob.  Ta-da!!!  That should do it.  That night we discovered that there was just enough room between the bin and pantry door to the left of our bedroom door to allow a cat to snuggle into that spot and reach out to bang the box that was hanging on the doorknob.  A few days later we found another box and went for attempt three. We slid the box into the gap between the bin and the pantry door. A few nights later the cats discovered that the bin was only a few inches beyond the right hand side of the bedroom door and if they carefully stretched across the corner of the storage bin they could still bang that cardboard box and make a lot of noise. That resulted in our most recent attempt and another piece of cardboard sliding between the bin and the box in the door making it a little harder to push the box in.

There's still some scratching on the boxes that takes place but it is bearable, and the meows pleading for attention can be ignored. It does take awhile to maneuver all that stuff around the door each night, and our efforts don't result in blessed quietness, but at least the doorframe is no longer being scratched up and the boxes don't bang against the door anymore . . . most of the time.

I'm reminded of the friend in the Bible who went at midnight to ask the guy next door for bread and, after repeatedly knocking on the door and asking for food, the man who was wanting some sleep finally gave up and gave the neighbor what he wanted. This parable of Jesus is followed by the words "I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. for everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."   (Luke 11:5-13)

We humans sometimes respond because we are tired of that knocking on the door and we want the interruption to stop, but God is just the opposite. He is eagerly waiting for that knock. He will welcome us, listen to us, comfort us, laugh with us, wrap us in His loving arms. He knows what is best and is always preparing for our arrival. Our first thoughts should be to go to Him without hesitation and to trust Him with every bit of our lives.

I remember that first time that God responded to my knocking . . . or maybe He was knocking on my door . . . regardless, I went from helpless sinner to saved by grace. I'm so glad God loves me and wants to spend time with me, and He isn't barricading the door so that I can't reach him . . . . like Clarence and I do with some cats we know.