Throughout our lives, we face “Giants.” They have different names: Fear, Discouragement, Loneliness, Worry, Guilt, Anger, Failure, etc. They do battle with what all of us need, hope, peace, joy, etc. There is a verse in John 14: 27 which are the words of Jesus.
“ I leave the gift of peace with you – my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the world, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts – instead, be courageous.”
On the side of a hill, about a twenty-minute hike in from a secluded bay on Long Lake, which adjoins the lake where our family “Sugar Shack” is in Northern Ontario, there is “Balancing Rock”. My grandfather found it many years ago, while hunting in the area and we have made numerous trips there. Don’t ask some of my family about a trip, I was leading, and we got hopelessly lost; that is another story.
One of the chores I enjoyed on the farm (there were not many), was cutting hay; the warm sun, the smell of fresh mown hay and I was in charge of the tractor; I loved being in charge. One particular morning, I was walking out to the field to pick up where I had left off the day before and I was listening to my transistor radio (I just dated myself).
For this week, I want to give you an excerpt from a book which is in the publishing process with Tyndale Publishing and Focus on the Family. I was thinking about this, as I was preparing for this upcoming Sunday.
My parents were caretakers for a group of cottages on three secluded lakes in Northern Ontario. It is an area of 2500 acres with only 7 cottages, plus our family “sugar shack,” where we made maple syrup. It is pristine and still remains this way. I grew up on these lakes . . .
Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher in the 1600’s wrote, “Humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Well, I do believe people are having more time to think and reflect in these days. It certainly is true for myself (between Zoom meetings, I would add) and I am grateful for this.
In the middle of the Vatican, there is a hall called, “The Vatican Hall of Tapestries”. The artist is Raffaello Sanzio who was in charge of the drawings, which he sent to Brussels to be transformed into huge tapestries. It was first opened to the public on December 26, 1519. I walked slowly down the hall, mesmerized that someone could produce these masterpieces.
A tv commentator said this past week, "The mission is to conquer Covid." The word conquer is the same word as Jesus used in Revelation 2:17. Some translate it “overcome”.
Dr. Roger Birkman would often make this statement:
“The reality of life is that your perceptions—right or wrong—influence everything you do. When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place.”
