admin – Page 17 – Jackie Calhoun

Beautiful floors

As an ex-cabinet builder/woodworker, I have an appreciation for and enjoy natural wood colors and grains, especially walnut and oak. I like the highlights of natural black walnut and I like the variety of grains and colors found in natural oak flooring. Just yesterday from this writing, my wife and I discovered the floors under the carpeted portions of the residence we purchased three years ago are white oak flooring. Having just recently helped my daughter refinish an oak floor room in her residence, that turned out absolutely beautiful, I was excited to know what we could do with these floors. Bottom line, if we want to pay the price we can move all the furniture and stuff and do it ourselves. Or, we can pay for a professional to come in and them do it all while we are somewhat displaced for a spell (it is several days process). The benefits are that we can get rid of this old dirty carpet and have beautiful hardwood floors that we can enjoy every day. The carpet will continue to get old and dirty (even if cleaned every day). The question is: Are we willing to pay the price for the benefits available? The Word says God loads us with benefits daily (Psalms 68:19; 103:2; 116:12). By what Jesus Christ did for us, many benefits are available to us to enjoy. What is the price we must pay to have and enjoy them? One benefit is of forgiveness of sin. Our sins don’t just go away with time. We must take ownership of what we have done before God and bring them to him, turning from them, and releasing and exchanging them for the cleansing blood that Jesus shed for us in payment of those sins. There is the benefit of living in the supernatural power of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When we take ownership of our need of his power and ask in faith and yield our lives to him, he fills us with his power. For parents, there is the promise of raising children in a godly way (several guiding verses in Proverbs). When we do what the Word says concerning training and disciplining and living a good example before them, they become responsible adults (you don’t find any “time out” in the Word). There is a price we must pay to receive all God’s provisions in these areas and in many other areas, but if we do our part, we get to enjoy the benefits all the days of our lives. The spiritual “floor” we are walking on in our lives is in direct correspondence to our faith in and obedience to the Word of God. If “pay the price” of believing it, speaking it, and acting on it in a consistent manner, as a lifestyle, then we receive the benefits to enjoy. Bottom line: Are we willing to pay the price for the benefits available?

Beautiful Floors

Entitlement Mentality

Growing up as a kid, we developed an “entitlement mentality”. If we did not do what we were told, we were entitled to get a hard, hurting, spanking. We were told in no uncertain terms what for, but it was born of love and care. When we would work hard all afternoon hauling hay for up to a nickel a bale (most was 2 or 3 cents), then we were entitled to be paid, plus, we would get to take a dip in the Saline River when we were through, birthday suit style, and cool off. We were egg farmers. When we, as kids, did our daily chores, gathering eggs, feeding chickens, tending to whatever and all that needed tending to, we were entitled to sit down at the table with the family and eat whatever Momma fixed. If you did not like what she fixed, there was no whining and complaining. That would bring dire consequences. Much of what we ate was what we grew in the garden. When I say “what we grew in the garden”, again that was a shared, disciplined, responsibility among us all, working together to make it happen. In all of this, for this to work, there was a basic fear of God (respect for God) and a fear (respect) of parents, for we knew there were those “dire consequences” for not doing what we were told on both counts. I am approaching a full 70 years old this month. I look back and see how first the fear (respect) of God has been diminished from our society. I see how respect of parents and working together as a family unit has been diminished for many reasons.

Without going into a tirade of the “why’s”, bottom line, families have been under attack for many years. Statistics show the majority of us have felt the pain of that attack with many of us at fault in some degree. Now, this generation, from the top professional paid politicians on down, are operating on a much different “entitlement mentality”. It is not based on a reverence for God or for hard work or the sanctity of life and a family living and working together for common good. The first step for us all to take, no matter what “side” we are on, is to pray for the counsel of unrighteous ways, even if in ourselves, be brought to nought, and the counsel of the Lord to shine forth and stand. We need to pray the wicked, deviant, devices and ways in our society be foiled and rendered powerless, and the ways of God to be set in place and established. Let us do this for our generations and our nation. The problem that has developed is much bigger than what man can solve. But with God, all things are possible. We need his counsel and guidance that is available, if we will take it. This praying is based on Job 5:12, Psalms 33:10-12, and 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Don’t Cut Up the Card!

I frequently get plastic credit/debit cards in the mail as a solicitation for me to do business with one financial institution or another. I already have all the plastic cards I need, so I promptly take the scissors to them to safely discard them. I did not know that a disbursement of some government funds that I had coming to me was going to come to me in the form of a US Bank debit card. So as I went through my mail one day and was having a conversation with my wife about whatever, I casually opened an envelope, found the card in what I assumed was a solicitation for doing business with that company, and took the scissors to it. I never gave it a second thought – until, time rocked on and I did not receive the expected government payment. I started inquiring. In the inquiry I found out that they send the money out in the form of a US Bank debit card. Oh! My mind went back to that day, and that conversation, and that casual cutting up the card that I assumed was a mere solicitation. Thankfully, I was able to have another card sent to me in order to get the funds that are available to me. That money would have been missed because of my lack of knowledge, assumption of it just being a solicitation, and my inattention.

We can miss what God has for us 1. By not knowing it is for us today, 2. By assuming what we are seeing is something we do not want because we have observed things we did not want before, and 3. By just being apathetic and not paying attention to pursue all the things that God has for us. In the things of God, Peter tells us that there will be false prophets and teachers that people will observe, and by reason of their ways and their lifestyle the way of truth shall be evil spoken of (2 Peter 2:1,2). Just because there are bad preachers does not mean all preachers are bad. Our guide and final judge is the Word of God. If it is in the Word, we are to follow that regardless of what others are doing or not doing. 1. Know that forgiveness and the fullness of the power of God is for us today. 2. Desire and pursue the character and power of God for your life personally. 3. Be diligent to not be sidetracked from what God has for you because of others, and fully embrace the promises of God and act on them with full assurance of God’s faithfulness to you. Refuse to live in fear in any way. Know that God sends you his card of goodness and power that you can receive and benefit from. He loves you and cares for you, and as a good Father through the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, offers you his life and blessings (Luke 11:9-13). Don’t chop it up with your scissors of fear and human reasoning.

You Can Pull the Lever

I was splitting wood with a 20 ton hydraulic gasoline powered wood splitter -20 tons of force brought to bear on one point on the end of a stick of wood. When the engine is running, all you have to do is position a stick of wood about 20 inches long in the upright position and pull a lever and the wedge-shaped blade slowly comes down to split the wood in two. The power to split the wood is not in how hard or how well you can pull the lever down. The power is in the machine itself. All you do is pull the lever down to engage the hydraulic system to cause the splitter to come down to accomplish the task. It does not matter whether you are 70 years old or 3 years old, if you can pull the lever down the machine will do the work. When I was splitting wood, I had my wife’s 3 year old great grandson to pull the lever down and the machine split the wood just as well as when I pulled the lever down.

Our nation and our world has some big, deep-seated problems. They are too big for man alone to work them out. We need God’s wisdom, guidance, and intervention. The way we get this is through believing prayer. It is by finding God’s will in his Word, the Bible, and asking according to his will that things be changed. It is revealed in his Word that it is his will that people be saved from sinful ways and follow the ways of God in righteousness, justice, love, peace, and well-being for all. People’s hearts and minds must change for conditions in the world to change. Only God can do this. We must all take a stand with the Word of God and ask according to his will for people’s hearts to be changed. If you receive the shed blood of Jesus as the sacrifice to take your own sins away, then you are in position to pull the lever of faith and ask God to change people’s hearts. You can ask to remove wicked people from high places and install people who God can use in order to lead this nation in a righteous way. The power of change is not in how hard or how well you pull the lever. All you do is just pull the lever – all you do is ask and trust God to do the work. The power to accomplish it is in God. Pull the lever of faith and ask God to do things that line up with his Word. He is the God of life, liberty, love, and justice for all. Pray that God enlighten people to the truth that needs to be known in order to follow him in his ways. Stand on 1 John 3:20-22 and 5:14,15. Let us all ask that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ be magnified and glorified and our nation and world be changed the way God wants it changed. God is the power to split the toughest piece of spiritual wood. Pull the lever of faith and see God do the work.

Walking With God

As I sat in a doctor’s waiting room to have my 69 year old eyes checked, I had a short visit with a 93 year old lady who also was there for that purpose. In conversation about the virus, she stated that the good Lord is trying to tell us something. I agreed with her saying, “Yes, he had been telling us something for a long time, even before the virus. He has been telling us that he has given the earth over into the care of mankind, and that the wages of sin is death and destruction, and mankind will reap what he sows. He says he is here to help us but if we cut him out, then we are on our own and we will reap what we sow.” As she expressed her trust and committal to the Lord, she named off some of the more popular sins of today’s society. It was concluded that we all need to get right with God. It was obvious that she knew what sin was and she had a lifestyle of staying away from it. Her health and mentality was testimony to that.

There is an element of society in which we live who seems to not have a consciousness of sin. They have been taught that anything goes. When this 69 year old and the 93 year old were being raised, it was common to be taught love to God and man and moral values based on the Holy Bible, along with respect, integrity, manners, and truthfulness. I give recognition and gratitude to all of you who, like this lady, obviously maintain a lifestyle of being a basically good person. Here’s a word of wisdom for us all: “People are going to be people. When the things of life hits the fan, keep your heart pure, learn your lessons, take your correction and instruction, deal with the situation, then give it to God – let it go, and start new and fresh with what you have and move forward.” A pure heart is one that is free from malice, jealousy, un-forgiveness, anger, revenge, and anything ungodly and unedifying. And oh yes, we don’t need to forget fear and unbelief. Does this stuff and more hit us? Yes, sometimes daily, and daily we must humble ourselves before a merciful God and put him as the Lord of our lives instead of the stuff that is going on around us and in us. We have to let it go. The only way society will get cleaned up is that we each get cleaned up and stay clean before God. There is no room for finger pointing in this operation of things – just truth and justice. We can walk with a pure heart before God and truly hear from God, who is always in harmony with the way of the Word in all love, faith, truth, and righteousness. In this way Jesus, who is called the Word, can be Lord of our lives today.

God Will Flow Through Your Life

During the transition of moving from Arkadelphia to Benton and selling our place to my brother Joe, I came away from there with a large trailer load of large rocks. These rocks were hand-picked from the wild about 40 years ago by my Mom and Dad to build flower bed borders and other assorted things on the place. Many of these beds Joe did not want to keep and maintain, so we agreed that I could have the rocks that he did not want. Barb and I brought the rocks up here and unloaded them a couple of years ago and used some for bed borders, a rock bench, and a couple of rock tables, with lots of rocks left over. We had talked about a rock fountain in the front yard in the middle of the circle drive, and with the self quarantining time, that has become a reality. I dug the hole and put a farm-store fiberglass watering trough in it and went and bought several flagstones for the front border, then proceeded to build the fountain part. I had a piece of Firestone rubber sheeting that I had saved for many years for whatever, and that, without cutting or modifying, was laid over the dirt that I sloped to place the rocks on. Then I studied, chose, and placed each rock in just the right way to hopefully turn out to be a beautiful, functional fountain. Oh, and I had to have a pump, and I remembered a submersible, re-circulating pump that I had also saved for many years for whatever, and I am not sure where it came from. It fit down in there perfectly. I threaded a piece of water hose up through the rocks as I put them together. Finally, in an effort to get the desired natural water flowing look and sound, Barb suggested an unused clay pot that was sitting over by the pavilion to go on top. The hose fit in the hole in the bottom perfectly and with that we got the look, sound and flow that is perfect.

Lesson: God uses what he’s got to make the perfect, beautiful, fountain of living water to pour out into the earth. Each rock is important and is studied and hand-placed to fit into the Body of Christ to glorify the name of Jesus to the glory of God. Each one of us is to be who we are, and submit ourselves to the hands of God, and allow him to do his work in our lives. Not only will that be fulfilling to us, but we will be an instrument of blessing to those around us. You have been preserved for years for this purpose. Cooperate with God and enjoy the beauty of God’s hand flowing through your life in a greater way than you have ever known before.

Lemonade From Lemons

We went to the nursery to shop for some plants to give to a birthday recipient. We did find some plants for that, but we also came away with some beautiful red Encore azaleas for our place. We have a section of the yard in which we would like to add some color, and these plants, placed right next to a wooded part of our back yard, will fill the bill perfectly. Once home I got the shovel to start the planting. What I did not plan on, as I began to plant the bushes, was the fact the ground in that area is full of roots and small stumps from last year’s ground clearing. With so many stumps and roots in the ground, it is very difficult to just to get them into the ground, let alone to get them spaced evenly. So here we had the azaleas and were stumped, not knowing where else to put them. As I studied the situation, I remembered we had a stack of cross ties from the old home place stacked in the trees off one side of the yard. It occurred to me that if you can’t dig down, then, go up. With the ties I could build a raised bed. Not only would that get the bushes into the ground, but it would also put the cross ties to a good use. So, Barb and I wrestled those long, large, heavy chunks of wood onto the utility trailer behind the riding lawn mower, and carted them across the yard and set them in place for a border for the new bush bed. Now, we have a rustic bed next to the woods in the back to be filled with good dirt and beautiful blooming bushes, adding a balance of color to that side of the yard.

When David confronted Goliath, he did not talk about how big the giant was that stood before him or his ability to fight and inflict harm. Rather, he talked about the bigness of God, and his ability to work with him to gain the victory. David declared what he would do in God’s strength, and he did just that. He took the head off the giant gaining a great victory for the people of God (1 Samuel 17). We all come up against obstacles from world-wide pandemic giants to a minor matter of root-filled soil. God promised that he would be with us in trials to show us the way of escape, the way to overcome the adversity we face. By allowing Jesus to be Lord over all in our lives, we can be attuned to his desires and directions that will lead us in a victorious way of wisdom every time (Proverbs 3:5, 6). When things are sour, that is the time more than ever to mix in God’s sweetness and wisdom and focus on his word, his power, and his ability to get us through it all with victory.

Apply Psalms 91

Regardless what is facing us, we need to be aware there are two fronts we need to address – the spiritual/mental aspect of it and the physical/practical aspect of it. One scenario to illustrate this is that we go to a doctor with something we are dealing with to be examined and assessed. When determined what is going on, then a plan of treatment is prescribed and that plan is implemented. By application of the medical professional skills and our cooperation with that, a plan of treatment is followed for the cure. The “spiritual/mental” part is to go to the doctor and be assessed. The “physical/practical” part is to receive and apply the treatment. If a bottle of pills is prescribed and we just leave the pills sitting in the bottle on the counter and never take them, then we have effectively negated any good that was made available to us by the examination and assessment of the doctor.

Today, at this moment, there is not only a world-scale pandemic of a virus, but there is also a pandemic of sin which always leads to death. The Word of God is the examining doctor. If we don’t ever go to the doctor to be examined and assessed to be treated, then we are a carrier that spreads and infects others around us with death-dealing sin. The Good News is this: we can go to the Word and see our heart, the very being of who we are, and we can see what is going on. We can apply that Word to our lives by the Holy Spirit and become “salt” and “light”, being set free from sin. This is why Jesus, also known as the Word, came and gave himself. He is the cure for sin, but if his assessment of us is never consulted and his remedy is never applied, pandemic results. For the spiritual/ mental aspect of life there is one scripture that needs to be spoken out loud over our lives every day: Psalms 91. For the physical/practical side of life there is one thing we need to do every day: repent, turn from revealed sin, and embrace the Good News of cleansing and renewed empowerment by the Word and Spirit of God. As we each do our part in this pandemic of sin, the tide of spiritual death can be abated. Eternal life, cradled in love, is the lifestyle of those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in this way. Again, address the spiritual/mental part of this pandemic by speaking out loud Psalms 91. Carry out the physical/practical part by following the protocol of cleansing and keeping yourself from being a carrier of the pandemic to others. In this way the tide of death can be stopped.

The River To Swim In

At the age of 12 I walked a church isle, took the preacher by the hand, said yes to all the questions, and got baptized. They said I got saved. About two years later in the privacy of my bedroom, as I said my nightly prayers before going to sleep, I began to realize that I had no real connection with God. I argued within myself that I was “saved” because I had gotten baptized and I was living a good, clean life. In a short time I was overwhelmed to tears, sobbing into my pillow, convinced that I had no connection with God. In that place of being utterly without strength or without having any righteous standing before God, I had the realization that Jesus Christ died for me to take my sins away. With that realization, peace flooded my soul. I realized truly that Jesus was my Savior.

After peace came into me, seeing Jesus, I had another realization. It came to me that there was a river of the water of life in God. You can stand ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep, or it was a river that could not be passed over with your feet touching the ground. It was a river too deep to wade. It was waters to swim in. It was a call to commit my life completely to the Lord. As the choice was presented to me in my inner mind and heart, I cried out to God, “Lord, let me dive in and swim on your grace!” My life was committed to the Lord to be carried where the river would carry me. From that experience, my life was changed.

I realized that Jesus was my Savior and Lord by the sole virtue of what he did for me – not by anything I had or could do for him. All I wanted to talk about was Jesus and the things of God. There have been a couple of times that I got away from God in my life, but when I came to myself, he welcomed me back in fellowship, and that has remained to this day. My main delight of thought and conversation is Jesus Christ and the Word of God. There is eternal life in a total commitment of your life to the Lord. Some are committed ankle deep, still connected to the earth, the natural. Some are committed knee deep, a little more active in the things of God, but still standing on the earth, the natural. Some are committed waist deep, very active, but still trusting in what they can do and how good they can be. It is when we disconnect from the earth, the natural, and we dive in swimming only on what Jesus has done for us as our complete salvation, that we fully enter eternal life. It is a choice we make, and it is words that we speak, to do business with God and commit our life to him. There is life in the river of God. Ezekiel 47:1-12