Have you ever seen trees after a hurricane has hit?
Many years ago we lived in Mobile, AL, when Hurricane Elena came through. Upon returning home after the storm had passed we found pine trees the diameter of man’s bicep were bent over at a 45 degree angle! Not uprooted, but bent. This sight was rather shocking for me, a novice to hurricanes. Shocking because they didn’t break – they bent!
You may remember a research project called Biosphere 2 where scientists built a contained small-scale environment to study ecological processes. 
Within the oversized greenhouse, conditions mimicked those of earth. One unanticipated thing researchers found was that the lack of wind within the enclosure had a negative effect on trees. Trees in the biosphere couldn’t reach maturity because of the lack of wind! If trees didn’t have wind, they wouldn’t develop the inner strength of the wood to grow to maturity. While we think of hurricanes, tornadoes, and violent winds as destructive things, wind can also be very important in the life of a tree. There are several ways wind helps trees.
First, wind causes trees to grow “stress wood” or “flexure wood” that is of a different make up than what is grown under non-windy, non-stressful conditions. This stress wood developed in the smaller winds of life help the trees to withstand the force when a major storm comes through. This stress wood grows only in certain areas, it grows thicker, and it has different cell structure. The mechanical properties of this “reaction” wood is different because its purpose is to resist bending or failure in the wood in order to protect the tree from breakage. That flexure wood allows the tree’s branches to bend and sway in ever more violent winds as the tree grows and develops through each stressful wind situation. This “scarring” from stressful events protects the tree from losing branches or breaking in two.
Contrary to what I would have thought, trees growing in dense forests tend to be more susceptible to wind, w
hereas a single tree growing in the open tends to be most apt to withstand winds. Most likely this is because the forest trees are sheltered from the force of winds and therefore never have the bending in the everyday blowing winds that cause the growth of stress wood. Thus, these sheltered trees are not strengthened to withstand the winds that will come when the trees around them fall or are removed.
Another benefit of wind on trees is seen in their roots. Root systems of trees tend to develop more mass on the opposite side of the tree from persistent prevailing winds. This makes the tree less apt to be blown down. I’m not a scientist here, but it makes sense that they would plant their foundation firmly to “lean into the wind.” They have to dig down deep to weather the storms they face.
Just like those trees weathering the storm, we humans face winds of adversity in our lives. Wind strengthens a tree and helps it to mature and not fall down from its own weight. Adversity strengthens us too when we face it with the Father and allow Him to mature us through the storms we face. If there’s no wind the trees end up being much weaker and aren’t able to survive for long. Likewise, the strength of our faith grows with every squall we weather with the Father. Stress is what makes a tree strong enough to sustain the wear and tear that it will face later in life. And so it is with us. When we face stresses, we are prepared for what comes next. So what should be our response to the tempests of life?
When the winds come, allow them to develop your inner strength.
1) Let that wind of adversity cause you to cling to the Father like those roots of the tree clinging desperately to the rock below the ground. Let Abba God be your foundation. Wrap your roots tightly around Him no matter what comes. Then you can lean into the wind and weather the storm, possibly being bent, but never destroyed or uprooted.
2) Don’t run to other people in the stormy times, run to the Word of God for insight and answers. Be that lone tree in the field. Let those winds blow and strengthen you as you immerse yourself more and more in His words and His wisdom and His ways. Let the lessons and the love from scripture teach you, heal you, and prepare you to stand on your own rather than sheltering yourself within a forest of other trees that may not be there when the next storm comes.
3) Allow the force of that raging storm to cause you to bend and hit your knees in prayer. It may feel like you’re going to break, but we don’t trust our feelings. We trust the One who created us to bring us through unbroken and still standing however bent and humbled we may be. Prayer is key. Honest, open, humbled, broken, crying, singing, complaining, begging, asking “Why?” – we pray.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house [or planted his tree] on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:24-25
May you have a blessed Resurrection Day! Enjoy your loved ones. Spread God’s gospel of grace and hope. Focus on the great sacrifice Christ made because of His love for you and the redemption offered by Father God in giving His son for our sins.
Vacation was blissful. Swimming, kayaking, and cooking out in the daytime, and jigsaw puzzles and old movies every evening got it off to a great start. Then 2 days into our trip my son commented that his scraped leg was hurting. I checked it. It was a little pink and quite swollen. I went to the store and got some Neopsorin and waterproof Band-aids and told him we needed to watch it.
Monday morning greeted us with a confirmation that it was MRSA – the strain of staph that is most resistant to medicines. I must admit this was quite a faith journey for me, but that’s for another blog. We continued our regimen of cleaning and bandaging and medicating and resting and taking photos twice a day to document the disease’s progression. Healing was happening, but it got to looking worse before it got better. Slowly the oozing, swelling, and redness diminished.
That unforgiveness swells into hatred toward a person. Or our judgmental attitude toward a co-worker grows into vengeful actions because they irritate us. Or we take a pill just to relax because “it’s been a really bad day.” At this point it’s growing silently, unconfessed, just under the surface of life. We’re still doing ok, going through the routine of life. People might notice little quirks, but no one knows about our sin. Whatever it is.
If we had Ebola, staph or even strep we would be heading to the doctor for help! Girls, we have a really bad case of this sin disease. We have spiritual MRSA – Malicious Radical Sin Affliction! It’s tough to fight and impossible to cure here on this earth. We will always be plagued with it lying just under the surface waiting to flare up, to grow and spread its evil infection through our souls, if we aren’t constantly aware, repenting, vigilant. We desperately need help.
Each morning the Lego bin was dumped. In every spare moment – before school, after school, all day on holidays and weekends – cities and machines, craft and people of all sorts were meticulously assembled by my little horde of creators. Over the course of the day there were frequent requests of “Mom, come look at this one!” After supper was prime Lego play time, no school and often Dad would join in the fun. There were pirates and natives of tropical islands, British soldiers and space explorers and of course every conceivable building, device, or mode of transportation these Lego people might need. As you might imagine, when bath and bedtime approached it was war. “No! Don’t make me put them up!” “Whyyyy? I just got finished building it!” Sound familiar?
Just think about the loving care that went in to creating everything we know. Creator God spent thought and energy and love and passion preparing this world we take for granted. What must have gone into his ideas for making the earth a ball and dangling it in space with beautiful heavenly bodies and spinning it and making it of dirt and rocks and water and air? What creative joy did He get out of making volcanos, clouds, hurricanes, and caves? Did He do all 
those majestic things just because one day He would delight in our joy and awe of seeing and experiencing these amazing sights? What about the variety of plants? Couldn’t he just as easily have made one kind of plant to cover the whole earth that fed us all, created all the oxygen, and did everything else He wanted plants to do? And the animals? Again, huge variety. Did He make slugs sticky so little kids would say “Ew!”? Did he make rugged elephants to reveal His strength, downy chicks to show His gentleness, peacocks to reveal His beauty, 
marsupials to remind us He takes care of us when we’re helpless? And did He make giraffes just so one day in 2017 He could watch us with joy all come together online to wait on the birth of a giraffe for weeks? On and on I could go. But the question is still Why?
Ladies, just as we get joy from the creative process and the things we make, Father God gets great joy through us, His created masterpiece. What creative joy there must have been when He dreamed up just who we would be and gave us our particularly unique physical appearance, personality and abilities. He enjoys talking with us and being with us. He receives joy each day as He sees us live out the script, the plan, He has set in place for our lives. He rejoices every time He gets to give us something He knows we desire. He loves seeing each of us first thing every morning and spending His day with us. He enjoys protecting and preserving us from the things that might hurt or destroy us. He loves the whole process, from bringing us into being to relating with us to showing us off. He just simply loves us.
As he was home recovering, we received a call from the hospital where he had gone after his accident. The nurse advised that the radiologist had read his scans and that he had a lesion on his right kidney, unrelated to the accident, that needed to be checked out. Seriously??!! Are you kidding me??!! Did God allow he accident to discover this??!! OVERWHELMED!
We were advised to come back in 6 weeks for my husband to have a repeat CT scan to determine growth or changes and go from there. It was a long, long 6 weeks! OVERWHELMED! In the interim, some days fear consumed us and some days we had incredible faith. And our firstborn got married during this time; we had a lot going on for sure. Six weeks passed and we went to the urologist unsure of the outcome. OVERWHELMED!
The doctor was laughing and smiling so big, I think because he too knew the truth and he too was overwhelmed. Whatever your life looks like today, stuck in a season of pouring rain from the circumstances of this life, grab hold of the Savior. Hang on precious one because the sunshine is coming!
Today as I gathered up another bag, I entered the unused bedroom in the basement that contains the leftovers of my mom’s life. Once again the aroma of her face cream, the sight of her old kitchen utensils and the stuff of her life – her address book, her phone, her purse – all threatened to undo me once again. Then I caught sight of her sifter. That precious old kitchen utensil! The one I begged her to let me help with from the time I was 5 years old and that I had seen her use hundreds of times in the past brought a smile. And I thought – I’ll take that upstairs and clean it up and use it in my kitchen. So now it sits soaking in my sink.
He has a plan for us, just like I have a plan for that sifter. You see, this week is my eldest’s 30th birthday, and I intend to teach some of my closest loves (my grandsons) to use “Peppymint’s” sifter as we make their dad a birthday cake. I’m planning a celebration, and that sifter is central to my plan! No, it won’t be noticed by many. And yes, it will end up sitting in my cabinet except for maybe a few days a month when I happen to bake. But it is not forgotten. It is not useless. It is crucial! It is cherished! And so are you!
I am Sam.
worry. Scripture instructs us not to worry. It’s a command. “Do not worry” or “Be anxious for nothing”! (Philippians 4:6) Do we take that as seriously as we do other commands like “Do not steal” or “Do not commit adultery”? We should. And what are we instructed not to worry about? Here’s a list from God’s Word: your life, your body, what you will eat or drink, what you will wear, when you will die, tomorrow, what to say and how to say it, when you are arrested, when you are brought before the authorities, or how you will defend yourself. (Matt. 6:25-34, Matt. 10:19, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11) Worry and the accompanying anxiety that goes along with it give us health problems. So could I ask you to unload that suitcase of worry from your baggage cart and leave it behind for the rest of your life journey? It takes an intentional choice to put worry behind you.
There is a time to forget hopes, dreams, and expectations and put them behind us, too. If you can’t get over a past relationship that you had hoped would be healed, or if your grown child is not living the life you had dreamed for them, it may be time to forget this as old history and find a way to live life in the present, loving them despite anything we deem to be hangups. That may mean allowing them to live with the consequences of their sinful choices. That’s hard! But God loves them more than we do, and He is active when we are still before Him down on our knees praying on their behalf.
people and an arrogant attitude that is distasteful to the Father. As we move and act and accomplish things that are God’s purpose for our lives, we need to thank God for using us, savor the moment of usefulness, and then forget it and put it behind us. After all, it’s not us, it is God working through us to will and to work for His good pleasure doing the things He created in advance for us to do. It’s all Him! (I Thess. 2:13, Phil. 2:13, Eph. 2:10)
The Process. In ancient times, refining with fire was essential to working precious metals such as gold, silver, or bronze. It’s purpose was to take raw ore out of the ground and separate the impurities (called dross) from the precious metal within the ore in order to make usable, valuable metals.
The crucible was heated to extreme temperatures to bring the metal nuggets to a fluid state. The metalworker (refiner) sat next to the molten metal stirring and skimming it to remove the dross that rose to the top or blowing the dross away with a bellows. Sometimes it took up to five days of this process with fire temperatures topping 1,000 Celsius for the refiner to get the pure metal of great value that He desired.*
Malachi 3 tells us that “he [God] will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” We see another purpose of the fiery trials of life – to purify us. Our strength melts. Our resolve melts. Our faith melts. We suddenly find that the trials have turned us into something we are not comfortable with. This is the unknown. We are vulnerable. Will we survive this fire? What will be left of us when it is over? Not the dross. Not the impurities that keep us from being a pure, clear reflection of our Father God. They will be released and skimmed away in the melting.
Instead of walking around in fear of the next trial that may come, we are told to “not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13) Our pastor often says that people are either in the middle of a fire, just coming out of a fire, or about to go into a fire. Does that strike fear in you? The second verse of Steve Green’s song speaks to this and offers us a glimpse of a mature attitude towards facing those fiery trials.
Priceless 