Mark Beeson

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME ...

 

 

The sun was shining a few days ago. It wasn't raining. The temperature wasn't 39 degrees. The wind wasn't blowing 37 mph and most of the leaves were still on the trees. 

That was then.

Now dark clouds have rolled in and snow is predicted. Most of the leaves are on the ground and when the rain finally stops Sheila and I will be blowing leaves for a long, long time.

Fortunately, my mom advised me, "Never judge a day by its weather." 

There is more to true happiness than pretty leaves and sunshine, so this weekend we launch GCC's four-week-study of Philippians. Bring some friends with you for our new series, "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME AND NOBODY'S HAPPY: Secrets of True Happiness from the Book of Philippians."

If you'd like to group-up with some friends to take your next steps toward Christ together, we can help you. Registration is easy and grouping-up to focus on one little (but important) book in the Bible for four weeks might make November one of your best months... ever! 

 

Philippians 4:4  -  Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 

 

Facing Trials and Tests

 

 

Sheila and I saw the weather changing when we drove home from the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We toured along the Lake Michigan shoreline as ominous clouds threatened rain and then delivered it. The wind howled. The waves were enormous. 

It seemed like a great day for taking pictures.

We got to Muskegon. I grabbed my camera and ran down to the water’s edge. Sand drifted around me as I sat in the tempest. The spray drenched me and I wondered if I could possibly get any wetter. 

For 30 minutes I sat there with my camera, watching the gulls and marveling at their control of the situation.

• The wind roared and they soared. 
• The waves pounded the shoreline and they floated above them. 
• I turned my face away from the gale but they flew straight into it. Without flapping their wings they flew; the greater the wind, the greater its lift.

It seemed to me that the squall gave the gulls an opportunity.

The storm simply gave them the chance to fly through it. 

 

James 1:2-4  -  My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need.

 

Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive

 

Sheila and I drove to Sleeping Bear Dunes today.

We choose to do the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive instead of the Dune Climb Trail, demonstrating the cumulative wisdom of seasoned park veterans by avoiding the arduous climb to the top of a mountain of sand. 

The Rangers at the Park Headquarters recommended the loop and even gave us a little map, pinpointing the best places to stop and take a picture. If you ever decide to make this trip, be sure to stop in Empire and get a copy of the Visitor's Guide.

We had my little Fuji X100s with us so we stopped where the Rangers said we should and I grabbed some pics of GOD's handiwork.

 

#1  The Covered Bridge with the National Park Service Arrowhead on it.

 

#2  Glen Lake in the distance and Little Glen more near. 

 

#3  Dune Overlook in the middle of the 2600 acre area of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

 

#4  The Cottonwood Trail through the dunes.

 

#5  The Dune ecology: harsh, windy, dry and sandy.

 

#6  The old Basswood trees between the dunes and the forest.

 

#7  The forest of Sugar Maple and American Beech trees. 

 

#8  The post-Glacier landscape changes, from sterile ground to fertile woods.

 

#9 and # 10  The Overlook for Lake Michigan and The Sleeping Bear Dune.

 

#11  Once a Lake Michigan bay, the North Bar Lake was formed by the accumulation of blowing sand.

 

#12  Pine Plantations were planted by the Park Service many years ago.

 

Isaiah 55:12b  -  The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees in the fields will clap their hands.

 

 

Maple at Grammy's

 

 

Harsh days of wind, rain and colder temperatures are upon us and that'll mean a rather abrupt end to the colorful leaves on Grammy's Maple tree.

We shouldn't be surprised.

It's happened before.

Winter is coming. 

Again.

 

Genesis 8:22  -  As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.

 

 

Additions to Your Life ...

 

 

There's almost nothing better than a new door on the outhouse.

 

Luke 6:47  -  These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on. 

 

Looking at Pre-Resurrection “Seeds”

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 15:39-41  -  Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we’re only looking at pre-resurrection “seeds”—who can imagine what the resurrection “plants” will be like!

 

 

My Son Lives in Florida

 

= Photo by Adam Kanaan - 

 

Sometimes I wonder why Aaron and Tracy live in Florida. Then Aaron goes fishing (as he did this morning), and he sends me a picture of the fish he caught (as he did today) and I stop wondering why he lives in Florida and start wondering why I don't.

43" Red
Caught in Mosquito Lagoon 
Sunrise 
October 23, 2014

Niiiiiiice!

 

Job 41:1a  -  Can you catch Leviathan on a fishhook?

 

My Enemy's Enemy Is My Friend

 

 

Dragonflies can race along at 100 body lengths per second. They can move straight up or down, fly backwards, stop and hover or make hairpin turns at full speed as they attack mosquitoes and snatch them out of the air.

Dragonflies eat dozens of mosquitoes a day.

This is a good thing.

I hate mosquitoes.

 

Exodus 23:22b  -   I will be an enemy to your enemies. I will fight all who fight against you.

  

Big Doors Swing on Little Hinges

 

  

Revelation 3:19-20  -  The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God! Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in.

 

 

Making Memories at the Pumpkin Patch

  

 

If you venture out in the next few days, I hope you go to a pumpkin patch and let your kids pet a goat. 

 

Genesis 2:20  -   Adam gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

 

Serving With Friends

- My friend Tom Polaski, playing BASS this weekend at GCC -

 

I was sitting in a Leadership Conference at Willow Creek Community Church when I first heard Bill Hybels say, "I want to serve the GOD I love, with people I love and people who love me." 

Bill was talking about the value of team chemistry and I think he hit the nail on the head. It's a real privilege to group-up with brothers and sisters, fellow-workers and fellow-soldiers in the service of GOD, and when we have the courage to embrace the Providence of GOD, we'll discover such people wherever we go.

May GOD give us "eyes that see" the people we're called to love and serve as we team-up for the mission ahead.

 

Luke 10:23-24  -  Then when they were alone, Jesus turned to the disciples and said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you have seen. I tell you, many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

 

Time For Courage

 

 

When truly courageous people fly into the teeth of a storm their uncommon valor is impossible to miss. But every person entering the Hot Zone of a plague isn’t courageous; some don’t know what’s happening. They’ve heard nothing about an outbreak; they’re clueless about the epidemic. They may seem fearless but they’re not; they’re oblivious. They don’t know they’re at risk; they don’t know they’re vulnerable. They’re ignorant, not courageous. They’re at risk and don’t know enough to be afraid.

People must recognize a threat before they can courageously attack it.

A plague swept over Carthage in A.D. 252. The devastation was horrifying. Pagans fled, abandoning their suffering family and friends as they tried to escape the destruction. In Rome, during the worst of the plague, 5,000 people were dying every day. In Carthage the bodies of the dead were piled everywhere. Nobody escaped the stench of death without abandoning the city. The hopeless forsook all others in their efforts to save themselves. They stacked carcasses and fled in terror.

But not everyone fled.

Cyprian, the Christian Bishop of Carthage, gathered his congregation and led them into the diseased city. They knew the risks but refused to abandon the diseased and dying. Those Christians tended the sick, buried the dead and courageously risked their lives to save their city from pestilence and destruction.

It takes courage to do what needs to be done when what needs to be done isn't what everyone else wants to do.

They had courage.

They knew Jesus.

 

Matthew 25:34-40    -    Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
     Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
     The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 

Curious About Touching a Walking Stick?

 

Northern Walkingsticks (Diapheromera femorata) are more common than you might imagine. They often go unnoticed because they don't move much during the day and they look so much like a stick that people can look right at one without actually seeing it. 

My oldest granddaughter found one on Saturday morning and she was curious to know if she could touch it. 

I was curious to know if she could touch it too.

 

 

 

 

Philippians 1:13  -  That piqued their curiosity. 

  

Life Is Like The Morning Fog

 

  

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” - John Wesley

 

It's unwise to presume on the future. 

The person who says with certainty that they'll do this or that "later," is counting on having the opportunity "then," that's staring them in the face "now." It makes good sense to plan for tomorrow today, but there's a problem with thinking we can always do later the good we can do now. 

Why?

Because tomorrow is not today. We will be different tomorrow. Our circumstances will be different tomorrow.

Pretentious assumption makes it easy to say, "Not right now." And rejecting every opportunity with a bold, "Not right now," produces about the same results as standing on the "DOWN" escalator while assuming you'll soon arrive on the next floor "UP." 

How curious.

Which part of your life makes you think doing nothing adds value or improves your situation? Doing good requires effort. "DOWN" is done by doing nothing. "UP" demands work and intention. It's so easy to move "DOWN" that you can degrade your future without moving at all. 

Want to ruin your life?

Simply do nothing and you can watch your life spiral into the Abyss. 

The downward cycle of life in a society without diligence is grim, as is life in a culture that tolerates disrespectful procrastination. Diligence is virtuous; apathetic indolence is not. Adding value while you can is virtuous; refusing to help, when you know what you ought to do to help, is sin.

No more evil boasting about our pretentious plans for tomorrow! We must discipline ourselves for timely action, described by Paul as "being instant" or "being ready at all times, whether it is convenient or inconvenient." 

Too much is at stake to presume on the future. 

Today is the day to do what we know ought to be done.  

 

James 4:14  -  How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

 

Moon As Red As Blood? CHECK!

 

 

My camera was already on the tripod when the moon turned "blood red" this morning. It was an awesome sight in the predawn hours and the fearsome image of a "moon as red as blood" was emblazoned on my mind for the rest of the day.

If you're keeping a "check list" titled: THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN BEFORE THE GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD, you can go ahead and check this one off your list. 

 

Acts 2:20  -  The sun will become dark [be turned to darkness], the moon red as blood [to blood], before the overwhelming [great] and glorious day of the Lord will come.