His first day with us - 12 weeks.

It’s been 3 yrs since we brought Hamish home, a couple of days before July 4th.  It was a good time for a young puppy in two ways.  Firstly it was good for him to get used to the loud noises and fireworks so he wouldn't be scared of them in subsequent years. Secondly it was symbolic as he was gaining his independence from his siblings and his mother.

On this day as America celebrates her independence and freedom from the UK, for Christians it’s a time to be reminded that we have freedom in Christ and in Christ we are no longer chained to sin.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  Galatians 5:1

One of the biggest lies that satan would love us to believe is the exact opposite.  He would love us to believe that sin and indulging in as many sins as possible, is the biggest freedom there is and that being a Christian is all about rules and regulations and stifling us.  Don’t believe the lies!  We are free in Christ, it is only in Christ that we are free – so don’t believe the lies, sin does enslave – so start living in freedom!

Do you need to hear that today, for the first time if you are not a Christian? 

Or maybe you are a Christian and had forgotten and started to believe the lies.  If so, click here - The freedom project to watch a video based on Galatians 5:1 (make sure you watch it to the end, it's more of a modern 'seeker' type video.)

"All mankind is corrupted by the effects of sin until they accept the freedom already provided by Christ.."
Freedom project

To learn more about them click here.

Isn’t your dog good for a laugh, knows how to make you smile when you feel down?  Hamish just needs to sleep on his back with both his paws up, curled in to make me smile.  Even when things around you are hard it’s good to see things that make us smile.

The skit guys came out with a new video – “hurting helpline” and rather than viewing the subject in a sombre manner they did it in a light hearted way.  So if you have 16 min and want a laugh then watch it, for people who don’t know what ‘lucky charms’ is, it’s a breakfast cereal.

The verse they use at the end is
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3  
I had to compress this to upload it but you can also view it here.

Sciencetology, new age, self indulging doesn't work. Make sure whoever else you go to for help, you always go to God whether it's a small or huge problem and remember to be honest!

As I mentioned in the last post this is a hard time for our family, and one of the sunsets is to do with that.  I have mentioned before that I am a naturally anxious person, sometimes I don't think I am worrying about something but it manifests in other practical ways.

To share how bad it can be, sometimes I used to worry about that verse so I was worrying about worrying! 

Sometimes if I prayed about something that at the time was worrying me and if it came back into my mind, I would pray about it again and the cycle continued. Do you know that Satan is the great accuser?  My spiritual attacks mostly seemed to focus on this: 'the bible says you have not to worry and pray and here you are worrying, you are a rubbish christian.'  So I would feel defeated and then feel worse.  (when the thoughts came as 'you' I knew 100% it was a spiritual attack)

Then I realised what was happening and any kind of attack like this I just say this prayer and look in the mirror* "I am saved by the grace of God, not by any works I can do or will do as it will never be enough to earn my way into heaven.  Thank you God for this!  I am a work in progress and will never be perfect this side of heaven but yet you love me and keep working in me.  My weakness actually shows God working through me as I give over something to God - others around me will witness what I find difficult but then see God working in me."  (or just quote Romans 8:1!)  Since I have started doing that, those thoughts have not been coming that much!

The past few days looking and mediating on this verse, I saw it a different way.  That it wasn't an admonishment about worrying but more of a 'you're not alone in all this, you can come to me and I will help you.'  I knew this in my head but not in my heart or practically as I always felt guilty if I was anxious as people usually quote that verse to you and then I felt worse as I had prayed about it.  

If you are anything like me maybe you will understand and my goal in sharing this is to help you. 

I think sometimes that God just wants us in continual prayer with Him and while in some things I have instant long lasting peace when I pray, other times I have peace but different aspects come to mind that I am anxious about so I come and pray about it again.  Those times God just knows better than me how much I need long continual prayer - alone time with Him and I think it's just one way of doing it, letting me know that I need that special closeness with Him at that difficult time.  Do you need to know this as well?

So you will understand why I say quite frequently that it is a great daily example to me, watching dogs living in the moment.  So that in those really tough times I actively am reminded to "Be still and know that I am God" and live in that moment giving it all over to God.

*Sometimes when you are having such negative thoughts I find it helpful to look in the mirror when reinforcing the truth as well as praying.  I look in the mirror rarely re this but it may help you at those really dark moments in your life.

Are you coming to a ‘sunset’ in your life – end of something or a task or time in your life is drawing to an end for you? Looking at the sunset at the end of our holiday I was sad that our days away had flown by and it was time to go home but there were other things in our lives that were finishing up and in some of them I don’t know what the next ‘sunrise’ of that aspect in our lives will look like.

Sunsets can be stunning, last a long time, but they can also be stormy – hard to even see the sun through the dark clouds, and be over very quickly.  They also are different for everyone, the person next to you, sees it differently as they aren’t in the exact same spot, the shadows of a tree or cloud will make it slightly different.

Just like in our lives some things come to a satisfying end, giving nice closure and we can look back fondly at the memories.  Other times we can’t wait for the sunset or the end is hidden from us, like illness or hard times and it’s not until it’s well behind us, that we even realise we are finished with it.

We may not know what shape or type or what our next sunrise will be in different aspects of our lives but we do know that God is with us.  So if you are facing a beautiful or stormy sunset in life, trust in God and He will be with you every step of the way showing you at the right time what your sunrise on a new chapter will look like.

We will never understand everything fully here on earth but one day we will and we will see Jesus and everything will be put into perspective and make sense to us.

"Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."  1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)

Until then I do try and look to Hamish as my daily example, as he reminds me with how quickly he slots into new situations, from holiday cabin back to home he just accepts it and lives in the now. 

I discovered something today, I really am scared of water and don’t have faith in canoes.  As soon as I was in it and it kept going sideways, sometimes an inch away from the ocean, any faith I had that I wouldn’t fall out, vanished.  As I said in the video, forget about having enough faith to step out of the boat I was finding it hard to have enough faith to get in the boat, then I had none left over!

It makes all the difference in who or what you place your faith in, doesn’t it?  If it was a large boat I wouldn’t think twice but even that can sink.  Only God is infallible.  If you place your faith in your husband or friend they will eventually let you down.  Sometimes we seem to place enormous faith in ourselves as we think we know best in a situation or how to handle something.  It’s like Hamish in the 2nd video (once I got out of the boat!) he was OK in the beginning, then Hamish tried to control the oars when he was unsure of the situation he was in, but imagine the disaster if he did!  It sounds stupid but isn’t that what we do sometimes, trying to control the oars and take them away from God?

Put your faith in God, He won’t let you down and you will find that when you look to Him you can walk on the waters in your life – rise above the circumstances and not let them drown you.


Anthony came immediately back and let Hamish out.

Above is Hamish on a beach near where we are staying with dead or rotten tree trunks.
Below is a short video on the beach beside our cabin.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:6-7

Yesterday we spent the day exploring, the theme of the day seemed to be dead or decaying trees on the two different beaches we went to.  Hamish thought they were interesting even though they were dead or dying.  Roots going nowhere, no nourishment and the result - one dying tree, one fallen tree and loads of dead branches that have fallen onto the beach to be with the washed up branches from the tide.  What a picture that is of people’s lives and even some Christians who have lost their way or are in danger of it.

It’s a good example to be constantly reminded of, as if our soil isn’t Jesus, who gives us water and the nourishment we need to thrive healthily to be able to produce fruit ( Psalm 1:1-4  Mark 4:1-20  John 15:1-9 ) we are in danger of becoming like that tree.  It can be a slow thing which is why we always have to be on guard against temptation and schemes, and keep in the word – reading the bible, meditating on it and praying to God asking for His help and wisdom.   The result of walking in him (sounds deeper than walking with him, like steeping a teabag in hot water – the teabag permeates all the water there is no separate teabag and water.  The water now tastes of tea, but if you choose to root yourself or steep yourself in anything else like more water then the tea gets slowly diluted away.) is that we are then built up in him but we have to be walking in him first!

That tree had roots but it was empty and was drawing no nourishment – what’s in your roots? 
                               

Or is it covered with unhealthy, nourishment sapping, hard to get rid of yuck?

Examine and see if it’s empty or yucky and if it is in well nourished and watered soil – Jesus the Lord. 

If your roots aren’t drawing nourishment from God, turn to Him and walk in Him not just today but everyday, only He can take away the yuck and turn your dead roots into living ones, unlike that tree.

This is the deck of our cabin, complete with pew. We arrived last night.

Hamish is on his holidays and we joined him.  He doesn’t have a voice but still everything on his wish list for holiday destinations is met, so his non voice is the loudest of us all. 

We had to find a dog friendly self-catering house as hotels were out.  I looked for a remote location, so there was space to play ball around the property without neighbours being on top of us.  He likes the water and this year it wasn’t sand but pebbles so less clean up (OK that was for us!)  Sometimes you have to listen to your dog because he picked a lovely place.  It’s truly a ‘get away from it all’ place as the nearest supermarket is 40 mins away, and no local place to buy milk!  Sitting having a meal outside when we arrived, listening to the gentle lapping of the water is the most relaxing sound there is and caused immediate relaxation. 

We are on the Puget sound so the ocean is tempered by the time it reaches the cabin so it’s not as noisy as last year being at the ocean and also it doesn’t have the mist that comes with it.

Early morning on the beach beside the cabin, it's quiet!  I haven’t seen one person on the beach, so far it’s wonderful and Hamish is loving it. 

Sometimes in our lives it’s hard to make time ‘to be still and know I am God’ but even when we can’t, we can still do that in a very busy environment – just close your eyes.  When we do get the opportunity to do so, it’s good to be alone even in a locked bedroom or if like me on holiday – make the most of it.

God’s voice is the quietest as it often is the voice that is drowned out by our own wishes or what is going on around us.  May we concentrate on God’s voice so His will always be the loudest of us all, as we seek to hear Him and look to Him and what He wants us to do.

Hopefully I will post tomorrow or the next day, there is a canoe so we'll see how brave I can be - mmm.

Yesterday Hamish was given a big beef knuckle raw bone.  He loved it and was obsessed with it, burying it then carrying it around.  He managed to sneak it in to the family room, covered in soil and plop it down on our light beige coloured carpet before I noticed!  Anthony came home and Hamish went running to him, then Hamish immediately went running to the beloved bone, took it and ran and dropped it at Anthony’s feet.   ‘Here master this is my bone, it’s yours.’  Hamish was wagging his tail and excited when he gave up his bone even though he loved it.

What a beautiful picture that is for us, to be reminded of whatever we have, whatever we love, it’s God’s.  We should be bringing everything before God’s feet, willing to give it up, if God can use something better elsewhere.  God may like Anthony, say ‘I don’t want it this time, or much of it but thank you for bringing it to me.’  It can be time, money, interests, anything we have.  Willing to give up everything, at anytime purely because God is our master and it’s His to begin with, as He first give it to us.  We gave Hamish the bone first, but he was willing to give it back to His master. 

We know God is a good master, a very loving one only wanting the best for us and He sees the bigger picture.  Hamish loves Anthony and was excited to see Him.  Are we like that, just so pleased to experience God we put EVERYTHING at His feet, excited to see what God will say to us even if it’s to take some of our time away to do work for Him or more money to do something for Him?  Do we ‘leave’ God ‘wagging our tail’ happy if He does take something, excited as something better will happen or like a dog, not think about what their master will do with something but just happy that they helped?

May we be more like our dogs in this aspect, so trusting and loving.  How often do we have our grubby little paws gripping onto something, reluctant to give over our loved ones, or things to God. And yet He is God – the most perfect loving example of what true, unselfish love really is and yet we still don’t trust Him sometimes.   Let us give up our ‘bone’ to God, whatever that may be today.

Hamish is 3 today!  I thought I'd share with you, some of his previous birthdays with you.  The video is when he was 1, the cookies when he was 2.  He wasn't naughty, the first video didn't work out so this was a redo.

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

So when is your birthday, the important one?

There may not have been a time and day you can point to, knowing you were saved from an eternal existence without God.  It may have been an unfolding experience, but as long as you can say today that you accepted Jesus as your personal saviour, believe in Him and want to follow Him, then that is what is important.  But roughly most people know how many years they have a restored relationship with God.

Looking at Hamish knowing he is 3 started me thinking about dog years.  Dogs in their comparable short lives to humans grow up so fast.  Our new birthday is sort of like it.  Compared to eternity the time we live here, is so short and yet this is our preparation for eternity.  Our choices and what we do here, does matter.

It also doesn’t matter if you come to believe in Jesus when you are 80 as you can have a powerful impact on those around you when you talk about Jesus.  So when we think about our new birthday, even if we are ‘old’ having been saved for many years, may we all have a renewed sense of our short life and a view on eternity, making a most of every opportunity.  Let me wish you a 'happy new birthday' to whenever you were born again, let’s rejoice and what a great idea for a party. Let's party!

Hamish will be 3 this weekend; and he still acts like a puppy.  When he goes into the cloakroom/restroom a lot of the time he grabs the towel then runs away with it.  He wants me to chase him.  He does this with the kitchen towel as well.  We can’t put the kitchen towel over the edge of the sink but it has to be way back from the edge in the middle of the counter and he still sometimes get it.  I know it’s just to get my attention if he is bored.

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."   Ephesians 6:18

How wonderful we don’t have to do tricks or try to get God’s attention like some young kids or dogs do with us.

God is the greatest multi-tasker there is!  His ‘desk’ will never get too busy; He will never feel over whelmed.  Whatever happens or has happened combined probably wouldn’t take up a tenth of a millionth of God’s brain if He had one.  As God makes all the brains, He is away above all knowledge and we can’t comprehend or ever will, what it is like as we aren’t or ever will be God!   Don’t you wish people would stop trying to put God in a box? 

Sorry I digress; my point is that God always has time for you.  God wants you to come to Him with everything, as that means your thoughts are always on God.

Sometimes I used to fall into the trap of not wanting to bother God with something, after all He is God, and He doesn’t want to hear about ‘x’ as it’s too small.  Wrong!  I have found I don’t even think that now, as if I did, I know I would say it’s wrong.  Sometimes I just wouldn’t even think to think that about something because it’s so small.  Do you know what I mean? I only tend to bring small things to God if it unduly worries me or it’s something pressing, or for someone else. 

When we realise that God is waiting for us to talk to Him 24/7 and that nothing is too small, then we start understanding the kind of relationship God wants with us.  Still not convinced about small things?  1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing.”

It’s not the fact that the problem is small or big, it’s that God wants continual prayer from us. 

When we meditate on the bible and pray without ceasing, our thoughts, attitudes, how we look at situations change.  We start to see it from a heavenly perspective.  We are told to use "all kinds of prayers."  Sometimes that can be a one liner, non verbal to God over something minor.  “On all occasions” sometimes that can be funny, or sad or not that serious in the grand scheme of things.  We usually bring the big things to God, but we sometimes aren't that good in bringing the other stuff to God.

So the next time you either think something is too tiny to bring to God or you don’t even think at the time about thinking of bringing something to God – remember God wants you to.