I Need Help

I wrote an article the other day about hitting a deer. I was about to type my second point when I realized I had run out of room. In case you do not remember the article, I want to remind you of what we talked about last time. We were discussing riding along the road of life when something brings you to a complete stop. What do you do? We talked about how we pick up the pieces and keep going. Perseverance and faithfulness are key to walking with Jesus. What I wanted to talk about last time when I ran out of room was those who stopped to help.

There were several who drove by. They had to see the deer. It was lying in the middle of the road. We were in our lane with the flashers on. There were pieces of our van lying on the road that people were driving through. Most people kept driving. They might have been late and needed to get somewhere. Maybe it was an older person who did not think they could help. Probably there were some who did not care but just kept on going. We are all going to have accidents in our lives, and we need support from others. I really appreciated the young couple that stopped. They checked on us, called the accident in, and helped us clean up the mess. The young lady said she had hit deer before. She understood, she stopped, she helped. As Christians, we need to look after our brothers and sisters (Hebrews 3:13). We need to try to reach out to those of the world who have accidents (Matthew 22:39). Why? To show them Jesus and because that is what Jesus would do and we claim to be Jesus people. The reality is that out of all the cars that passed by, only one stopped to help. In your time of distress, you might feel that everyone is passing by, but Jesus is there to help (2 Timothy 4:16-17). You are not alone. Turn to Him.

When You Hit a Deer

I hit a deer the other night. I preached in Greenfield on July 23rd. We were driving between Greenfield and McKenzie when Tara yelled, “Deer!” I locked the Odyssey up to no avail. That brought us to a stop. I had other places to be, but we were stopped in the road. After some cleanup, we were on our way. Lord willing, the van will get fixed this week, and it will continue to bless us with safe travels. This incident (and the fact that I need to get something out of this incident) got me to thinking about life. We had experienced rain on the way to Greenfield; stop signs, traffic, and turns, but nothing stopped us in our tracks like hitting that deer. What do you do in your spiritual life when you hit a “deer?”

Most of us expect ebb and flow in life, like the stop signs, turns, and traffic while driving. These things can be annoying but are usually expected. What happens when something big happens? Maybe your deer is a job loss, a bad medical report, the loss of a loved one, or whatever major thing hits your life. What do you do? I will share with you what we did. We checked on ourselves and those that were affected. Is everybody ok? We have a new reality that we all need to adjust to. We checked on the damage. The car had damage but was still functioning and still able to be driven. Pieces of it were scattered across the road. We tried to pick those up so others would not be affected. We eventually went on our way. You cannot quit driving because you had an accident. You cannot quit walking with the Lord because something bad happened. The Bible refers to it as faithfulness or perseverance. Some passages that come to mind are Revelation 2:10 and 2 Peter 1:6. There are plenty of other passages that teach the same thing. The reality is that bad things come up in life. Will you continue to walk with the Lord?

Design Demands a Designer

My family loves fresh vegetables right out of the garden. I know you do also because you are enjoying fresh vegetables and sharing them with others. Right now, gardens are in full swing with tomatoes, lettuce, squash, and so on. It is amazing that we can plant a seed in dirt, and with the addition of sun and water, plants grow and produce food (Matthew 5:45; Acts 14:17). It is like seeds were designed to do this. What an amazing design for a seed to grow into the same kind of plant it came from just to create more seeds so that type of plant will continue to survive. 

We see design in our bodies as our minds and bodies work in harmony to create the garden. I can learn that tomato seeds grow tomatoes, and if I want tomatoes, I need to plant tomato seeds. My mind uses the knowledge it has gained to tell my body what to do to grow tomatoes. This may involve buying fertilizer, digging holes to the right depth, and weeding around the plants. Then my body can eat tomatoes, and that provides my body with the energy I need to live. How can my mind and body do that? What incredible design we see in our bodies!

Not only do we see design in tomatoes and our bodies, but we see the design of those two things working together. Because there is design in nature, there must be a designer (Psalm 19:1-2; Romans 1:18-20). What if I were to tell you that the house that I live in was put together by a tornado? The tornado blew through and placed all the lumber, bricks, plumbing, landscaping, etc. in the exact place it needed to be.  You might try to commit me to a mental institution because chaos (the tornado) does not create design (the home). Yet people today are trying to teach this fact, saying life began randomly and accidentally with no God. You are not a random accident. God created you; why not worship Him?