Ed Christian's World

When I was growing up I would marvel at how Grandfather would walk outside, look up into the heavens and tell me what the day would be like. He knew when the rains were coming and just when we needed to batten down the hatches hours before the big storms would hit. I remember one summer morning as we were heading down to the river to fish, he said I think we better grab our ponchos it feels like rain.

We haven’t had any rain for weeks and the sky was clear blue, but I turned around and gathered our ponchos then off we went. Right before noon the rains came and it was a downpour. Out of nowhere came dark clouds and a big storm. When I asked Grandfather how he knew this was going to happen, he just said “It’s the wisdom of age.”

What is wisdom of age? Grandfather would define it as knowing yourself. Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Over the years I have learned it is the accumulation of all your experiences and knowledge all rolled up into the love of living life to the fullest.

No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning. Wisdom really does come with age: Older people’s knowledge and experience means they make better decisions. Grandfather would agree with that for he always made to right decisions.

Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. Wisdom has been regarded as one of four cardinal virtues; and as a virtue, it is a habit or disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance. To put this Grandfather’s words: “Wisdom means making the right decisions at the time they are required, keeping in mind the feelings of others, the love of life and the laws of God.” Then he would add and not necessarily in that order.

In school we learned that knowledge is power and the wisdom to use that power correctly defines us in life. That is where common sense and insight come into play. It seems the older we get, the more common sense we have or the more we rely on common sense. In short, wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgment as to what actions should be taken in order to deliver the correct outcome.

When you add all this together you find the wisdom of age. There is a certain reward for growing older, that is the knowledge that you grew through all the good and rough times and still came out on top of the heap. To me there is nothing more valuable in life.

Proverbs 16:16 How much better to get wisdom than gold, and good judgment than silver!

I am no where near as good as Grandfather when it comes to predicting the weather, though I do much better than the people on TV. But he has instilled in me a love of life and an understanding of nature that will never end.

Wisdom of age is the experiences of living a full life of love and joy, sharing the happiness of life with all you meet and then enjoying their happiness in return.

What about you are you living the wisdom of age?

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love,

Ed

How many times in your life have you heard the phrase: “God helps those who help themselves”? It’s probably the most often quoted phrase that is not found in the Bible. This phrase is usually attributed to Ben Franklin, quoted in Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1757. In actuality, it originated from Algernon Sydney in 1698 in an article titled Discourse’s Concerning Government.

Whatever the original source of this saying, the Bible teaches the opposite. God helps the helpless! Isaiah 25:4 declares, “For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat…” Romans 5:6 tells us, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

In terms of salvation, we are all utterly helpless. We are all infected by sin (Romans 3:23), and condemned as a result of that sin (Romans 6:23). Nothing we can do on our own can remedy this situation (Isaiah 64:6). Thankfully, God is the helper of the helpless. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). Jesus paid the penalty that we were incapable of paying (2 Corinthians 5:21). God provided the “help” that we need precisely because we could not help ourselves.

Apart from salvation, there is perhaps a way that the concept “God helps those who help themselves” is correct. As an example, if you asked me to help you move a piece of furniture, but then just watched me as I moved the furniture for you, I was not actually helping you. I would be doing the work for you. Many Christians fall into the trap of inactivity. Many Christians ask God for help, but then expect God to do everything Himself. They excuse this by pointing to the fact that God will provide according to His will and in His timing. However, this is not a reason for inactivity. As a specific example, if you are in need of a job, ask the Lord to help you find a job – but then be active in actually looking for a job. While it is in His power to do so, it is highly unlikely that God will cause employers to come looking for you!

Another example would be when you ask for help for just about everything, but are never able to offer when someone comes to you for help, you always find an excuse or you say you will help, but for some reason can’t be found when the project comes in. If you can’t be counted on, eventually people are going to stop offering to help you.

So maybe the phrase should be reworded: God helps those who help others. I know He certainly blesses us when we step up and help.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love,

Ed

As you are aware I was raised on a reservation in Arizona. My family read the Bible everyday, we worked the fields and cared for the animals as instructed in the Bible. I, myself, read through the Bible three times by the time I was twelve. This was required reading for me and I was tested on it. After I graduated AYOP school at age eight, Grandfather started teaching me the Bible and the way of the Lord, guiding me to become a Shaman, a spiritual healer. He taught me the ways of protecting the earth and caring for people and the animals in times of sickness. He spent many hours teaching me the Medicine Wheel and the phases of the heavens and earth. Never once in my life have I ever questioned my foundation, for my foundation is God’s word, the Bible.

I remember the morning I was to go into the canyon and present myself to God to prepare me for my role as a Shaman. I stood there in quiet prayer as I prepared for my journey into the canyon for three days of solitude at the Angel Grotto a few miles inside the Grand Canyon. This would complete my training and with God’s will I would then become a spiritual healer. I felt a peace come over me that made me feel like I was floating on air.

God’s word is the Bible and all that is in it is His word. From the creation in Genesis to the coming of Jesus in Revelations. I place my being on this truth and strive to live my life sharing this truth in my everyday life. Through word and song. I start my day with a quiet time with God and then post on Facebook a thought for the day, a bible verse and a prayer. This is my daily ritual and I pray that others are reading them and learning from them. It is my hope that these postings makes someone’s life a bit easier and also makes them happy.

I tell you this because I think it is something everyone should think about. When I gave my life to Jesus 59 years ago, I promised Him I would do my part to bring others to Him. I would follow the path He has chosen for me and have lived my life in His name.

This week our church had a “A Firm Foundation” reading of the Bible, cover to cover, which culminated in the reading of Revelations chapter 22 in church service this morning. Taking part in the reading of the Bible brought back memories of when I was younger and had read it as part of my training. The peace I felt then and this past week was so consuming I felt that I was in His immediate presence. It is a wonderful feeling!

This brings me back to the question – How firm is your foundation? His word is so important in our everyday life and I pray it is your foundation. Make God part of your image today.

Walk daily with God at your side.

Love you,

Ed

He is speaking – Are you listening?

Before I get into the question, I need to clarify myself. When I get an idea for a post, usually in the middle of the night, He wakes me up and has me write until I have written His message. The post “In His Image” was one of those posts. If you haven’t read it go to my home page and look it up.

This post is a culmination of four other posts written last spring and summer. He has had me reword it many times. Enjoy.

In my post “The Simple Life” I showed how prayer is a two-way street. That when God speaks to us we should be listening to what He has to tell us. We have learned to pray as Christians but have we learned to listen?

In my post “Two Ways To Live” I wrote how we have the choice to be positive or negative in our life and our choices determine who, what and why we are who we are.

I followed up with my post “The Silver Lining” where I tried to show our every thought, word and deed is tied to our relationship with God and how close He watches over us.

I pulled it together with my post “Do We Complicate Christianity” where I showed some of the many ways God answers prayer and talks to us.

This asks you why you don’t follow what He is saying. God talks to us many ways, the Bible, through prayer, through our friends and in our thoughts. The pastor of my church says some Christians read their bible during bible study class and service on Sunday and it gathers dust the rest of the time. I have to say I don’t know any Christians like that, but I am sure some do exist. I’m also sure God had that in mind when He gave us life. That is why He talks to us in many ways. The problem is we just aren’t listening!

Over the past few weeks our Bible study teacher has said there has been many times when he prayed he felt like it wasn’t going any higher than the ceiling in the room. Frustrating as that may sound, many other have felt the same way once in a while because their prayers were not answered the way they thought they should have been. Some think it is because we aren’t in a sincere state when we pray or are asking the wrong way.

Just to be clear, God hears all your prayers, in fact He knows your needs before you put then to words and is acting on your behalf before you even ask. As our Father, He is watching over us and meeting our needs according to His time table, not ours. He wonders why you don’t listen when He is talking. He reminds us that He gives us everything and everyday we are blessed in some little way, whether we realize it or not.
He talks to us in quiet times as well when we are in need of comfort. He calms us in the midst of our storms and warms us when we are chilly. He guides us through our everyday life, yet so many times we choose to take another path and end up coming to Him for help. He is very patient with us and also very forgiving in spite of our misgivings. Yet, we say He doesn’t hear our prayers or He didn’t answer my prayer.

He asks “I gave you life and a land to live on, along with instructions on how to care for the land. Did you follow the instructions and give the land time to recover? I told you My greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as I have loved you, do you, or do you love only those you think worthy of your love? Where do you get off determining who is worthy of my love? When I come to you as a neighbor asking for assistance, do you find excuses not to help and push it off, or do you extend your hand in help? Are you doing everything you can to help the needy or are you complaining because they are asking for a hand up?”

Can you answer those questions honestly? God blesses us everyday of our life, yet we find it hard to bless others with our help and company. He listens to our requests for this and that then gives us what we need, yet we fail in the very thing when someone comes to us for help. He says live your life as an example of Him and lead others to Him. What kind of leader are you?

God answers every prayer in His time. If we share our blessings with others, they are blessed and we are blessed again by them. If we would listen more and talk less we just might hear Him when He whispers in our ears. Hear what He is telling you!

Walk daily with God at you side!

Love you,

Ed