Leaves, Trees, And Forests

 

We have all heard someone described as “He (or she, to be fair) can’t see the forest for the trees.”  It is a description of someone who is so focused on the various individual things that they can’t see the big picture.  They don’t have a clue or are so strictly focused on the parts that they don’t see the whole picture.  Then there are people who get all the way down into what is going on around them that they don’t see the trees because of all the leaves that keep blocking the view of what the pesky leaves are obscuring.  We have all had the experience of being with and dealing with people like these.  It would be like going to the Grand Canyon with them.  While you are taking in and enjoying the whole experience, the awesome views, a tree person would want to focus on the various strata, the individual layers and not see them are part of the whole.  A leaf person would be focused on singular part, like looking at a strata and analyzing or gazing at it part by part, like picking a certain section that varies or a large boulder that disturbs the strata lines.  Each one comes away with a difference and, if asked, would say they had a good time.  The forest person would have enjoyed the beauty and wonder of God’s creation.  The other two missed the whole experience because they refused to look or were so wrapped up in their focus that they didn’t see the picture of God’s creation.

 

On a personal level, it would be like a married couple who, one or both, have an outside interest, activity, or hobby they enjoy.  Nothing is wrong with that.  Couples don’t have to have the same interests.  Each can certainly do or have an interest or hobby and enjoy those experiences as well.  But when the interests start consuming more and more time and attention, the beauty of the marriage and the sum of its parts don’t add up to a whole.  As the marriage forest fades away because of a focus on something else, the trees block the view of something special.  Perhaps there are gaps in the trees so the whole can be glimpsed.  However, when the activity becomes all consuming, the trees disappear and the sole focus is on the activity.  It went from marriage to time-robbing actions to the leaves that blocked everything out.  And remember, leaves fall, the trees become bare, and the forest, and marriage beauty, is lost.

 

God sees it all.  He sees the leaves, the trees, and the forests.  His is an all-inclusive sight.  We are given the gift by God of seeing the wonders of what we do here and what will come.  We see the beauty of God’s promise, eternity with him.  However, the enemy can turn us in his direction by moving our focus a little at a time.  For instance, let’s say you are going to church every Wednesday night.  Many people do, to pray, worship God and learn.  What Satan would do gradually is change your participation.  Over time, Wednesday night church becomes an habit instead of a choice.  On a question of what you doing that night, you might say,
 “We go to church every  Wednesday night.”  It became a habit, a duty, an opportunity  rather than to pray and worship.  Over time, it would lose some of it is draw and it was “okay” to skip it occasionally, until that too became the habit.  And Satan would have won another round.  The forest had receded, the trees faded, and the leaves lost their attraction.

 

God has seen all of this, countless times.  So, what can, or will, you do about it?  Be aware of how and when and where you worship.  I’m not saying you have to go to a Wednesday service.  What you do have to do is be aware of how you worship. Be aware of Satan’s attempts to get you to stop working with God and worship him instead.

 

So, take a look at yourself and your relationship with God.  If you worship and pray in a particular way, then be conscious of Satan’s wiles and efforts to change that, to lessen that.

 

The question, therefore, is are you maintaining your connection with God, are you doing what you can to strengthen it, to defend it?  There are many positive ways to do these.  It is okay to change how we worship God, just so long as we don’t fall into the traps Satan has set.

 

Remember, God conquers all, but it is up to us to use his strength, his grace, to be on the winning side and receive our eternal reward.

Decisions: Good And Bad

 We are faced with many opportunities to make decisions every day.  Most of them are not serious or world-changing.  What’s for supper? Which outfit do I want to wear to go to work/shopping/church?  And others like that.  Some are more serious, like choosing a career.  How about choosing the person you want for a spouse to share the rest of your life with you?  That sounds kind of cold blooded, but that is what we do.

We can also make a decision to do something wrong or even evil.  Perhaps it is stealing from someone or your company.  Or maybe cheating on that spouse who thought life with you was going to happen.  How about plotting revenge?

I’ve made both kinds of decisions, good and bad.  Marrying my wife was definitely good.  Choosing to spend more than 20 years as a Navy pilot was also good.  One decision that was bad was choosing to spend more than 15 years as a catastrophe insurance adjuster.  The money was very good, six figures most years.   What was bad was being gone for months at a time.  I thought I needed to do that to maintain a certain lifestyle.  My wife asked me to stop many times and find a different job but, as a brother said, I was in love with the money.  Why was that bad?  I missed anniversaries, birthdays, holidays and just being home with my wife.  When the assignments stopped, I was slowing down at 75.  I looked back at those years and apologized to her many times and admitted that it was one of my worst decisions.

That was my choice to do that to both of us.  God gave all of us the gift of free will.  We can choose to do good or do bad, even fooling or lying to ourselves that the bad was good.  God will try to point out the bad ones, like hints or events, or outright requests.  He also lets us know when we have made a good decision by rewarding us in some way.  Perhaps it is a person who leads us in a good decision, like focusing on a better job or maybe a church that will feed us spiritually.  Or how to spend better time with that for-ever spouse.  He isn’t going to post a banner or billboard proclaiming our good ones.  He will let us know in subtle ways.  We will know that good things are now in our lives.  We may not realize how God put his hand in it.  That’s okay.  If we do, we need to thank him.  In my case, I have a job in retail.  I enjoy dealing with the customers and solving their problems.  The money isn’t even close to that adjuster job, but I am home every night, even just quiet ones.  God knew what I needed to do to get on the right path.  Then he opened up a Christian men’s group to feed that need.  And, lastly, a church I enjoy attending. 

Do you see yourself in your current life?  A good job?  A loving spouse, and children if that is part of it?  A church of some denomination that feeds your soul?  Then people who enrich your life, whether long term or just for a little while?

God is there for us 24/7.  He will help us go through life in the best way.  He also forgives us when we make a bad decision, no matter how long or serious.  Do you ask him for guidance when you need to decide something?  If not, start the next time.  He used my wife to “nudge” me to apply for this current job and I’ve been there for six years.  He may just whisper in your ear.  Or, send a person or event to show you the right way.  He is on your side.  Are you going to make a good decision by listening to him or are you going to make the bad decision with the consequences? 

It is your free will.  So, good or bad?  Choose.

No Sail, No Rudder

No Sail, No Rudder 

The pastor of the church I have been attending has been talking about structures.  Structures like tall buildings and bridges.  He had illustrations of them and showed and explained how they were constructed so they could stand tall and strong.  He also showed a photo of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state.  It was poorly constructed and collapsed only four months after it was completed.  His message was how we need to construct our lives, both spiritually and how we lived our lives and our families.

 He also had a picture which showed how Noah’s Ark was constructed, its different decks that held thousands of animals he saved from the flood that God sent to cleanse the Earth of sin.  That brought to mind a presentation I watched many years ago on one of Joyce Meyer’s daily programs.  She said she had recently realized that the Ark lacked two important features: it had no sail or oars to propel it and no rudder to direct it.  God was the propelling force and he was the rudder directing it.  Surely Noah knew this since he built it.  Undoubtedly, he asked God about these lacks.  And God told him that he, God, was the power that moved the ship and the rudder that directed it in the direction he wanted it to go.  Noah trusted God throughout the whole process of building the Ark, provisioning it and bringing all manners of animals aboard.  So he certainly trusted God still more about what propelled the ship and what directed it.

 The number 40 is found throughout the bible more than 100 times, so the 40 days that the Ark floated on the sea was in keeping with that God’s custom.

 Noah’s trust and belief in God’s plans are the ultimate example of man’s trust in God.  Did he question God?  Certainly.  But that faith saved him and his people and all of the animals with which to repopulate the Earth.  That belief and trust in God is truly awesome!

 Would you have done it?  If God asked you to do something so outstanding, would you?  Maybe not on Noah’s scale, most certainly not.  But there are many examples of people who turned from one level of life and became what God needed.  I am a very, very small example of that.  When I started writing these in 2012 and created this blog in 2014, I had no idea what God wanted me to do with the words he put in me to write these.  This is the 120^th writing in this blog, all about us and God and the messages he wants me to tell.  I did not know if anyone would read these or the blog.  From time to time, I told people about it, less than 50 most likely.  When I was writing this article, I looked at the totals for the entire period and it is over 17,000 views in 19 countries.  I had no idea what God had in mind in 2012, but he did.  I certainly did not tell that number of people and I do not know how all of these people found this blog and read some of these writings.  God does.

 What is God telling you?  What direction is he asking you to go?  Do you hear that tiny whisper in your ear?  Or maybe he will send a messenger, someone to make a comment or suggestion that catches your attention.  Maybe it will be something you see that will tell you what to do.  God has a plan for each of us, just sometimes we have to listen and believe.  I could have tried to ignore him in 2012.  I didn’t and now 14 years later I am still doing what he directs me to do.

 Are you listening?  Are you seeing some visual clue?  He will wait until you are ready for the task.  Noah didn’t start building the Ark until God was ready to bring the flood.  I was 67 when I started writing these.  Just be open to the message he sends to you.  He will send you in the direction he needs you to go, provide the propulsion with his grace, and keep you on the path.  No sails, no oars, no rudder.  Just God using you to accomplish his goals.

 

Without A Washer

 

Without A Washer

Dan Lane

 

I recently bought a new fire pit for the patio.  It came with those fearsome words, “Some assembly required.”  What was supposed to take one and half to two hours took four and one part was not done, a glass windbreak around the pit part where they put the burners and rocks.   That looked easy, just an hour so.  Nope!  Getting it put basically together was easy enough.  Adjusting the corners so they looked right was another two to three.  They had to be level and, because the screws were touching glass, they kept slipping around.  Then there was the propane tank.  I went and bought a four- foot-long hose.  Instead of the usual black knob, it was supposed to screw into the tank nozzle.  Nope!  Wrong thread.  So, I went back to Lowe’s and got a 20-inch-long hose with the regular knob.  Then it was a struggle screwing it onto the pit fitting inside the pit, with very little room to work inside of it.  It worked at last and fired up as it was supposed to do.

 

Along the way, I had to attach the latch for the propane door and the control panel.  The instructions and diagram showed using the supplied screw and washer, one for the door and four for the panel.  The pit has a basket weave covering all over of it.  Try as I might, I could not get the screw for the latch to engage.  The screw and washer were on top of the weave.  No matter how hard I pushed, no luck, it just wasn’t long enough.  I finally took off the washer, and the screw engaged the threads.  Now on to the control panel.  Same problem with those screws.  So, same solution, remove the washers.  Once that was done, all four screws caught and the panel was mounted. 

 

Finished, done, and it works as it is supposed to do, and it looks nice.

 

Sometimes when we want to talk with God or ask him to do something, the usual method doesn’t feel right, or things or people keep getting in the way.  It doesn’t matter how much you try; they just won’t give you the time and opportunity.  Maybe you have always done it a certain way, a certain prayer format or sequence.  It’s just that darn old washer on the short screw.  Take a look at what you are doing and how.

 

Are there things getting in your way that are preventing you or stopping you from talking to God, praying to God, or living the way he wants you to live?  Maybe a friend, a job, a hobby, even the wrong person.  Just as I had to leave out some washers in order to get those screws to grab hold, maybe you need to leave those people or things behind which you are allowing you to not be close to God.  It may not be comfortable or painless.  It may take a lot of effort and determination.  But!  The prize is worth every bit of it.

 

So, how about you?  Are there “washers” in your life?  Are you going to try to keep them and not get close to God?  Or are you going to throw them out and enjoy all that God has promised you?

 

 

 

A Wing Wants To Fly

 

A Wing Wants To Fly

Dan Lane

Back In January of this year, 2026, I started going to a Christian men’s group at Elevate Church in Frisco, Texas, every Saturday.  The man who leads the group is a Navy Seal (there are no “former” or “ex-“ Seals) named Garrett.  On average , there are about 300 to 400 men there each Saturday morning.  In his introduction each time, he tells us that God made each of us for a particular purpose.  He uses as a metaphor a hammer and a nail.  The hammer was made to hit the nail.  It has no other reason or use.  A hammer that doesn’t get to hit a nail is frustrated simply because it is not striking that nail.

I am a Navy pilot.  I don’t think in terms of hammers, although I have used one on many occasions.  I think in terms of wings.  A wing wants to fly, to feel the flow of air on its upper and lower surfaces.  It wants to feel the power of lift, of defeating its enemy, gravity.  If you think of that as the first order of sentience, then the wing wants the next order.  It wants to lift and carry a load from one place to another.  That load may be people or cargo or a mix of them.  It is doing the mission for which it was created, that makes it feel happy and fulfilled.

 

In the same train of thought, God made us, each of us, for a particular mission or purpose.  When I started this blog in December of 2014, this was one of the first ones I posted.  It had a simple question: Who made you and why did he make you?  This is the answer:

 

“God made me to love and serve him in this life, and be with him for eternity in the next”

 

God created you and me and every man and woman on this planet.  Millions have come before us and many will follow when we meet God in the next life.  We are, each of us, doing what he put in us to do his work.  Be a farmer, a lawyer, a priest or minister, police officer or any one of thousands of occupations or vocations.  It may take years to discover what we are in order to do God’s work, or it may have always been our life’s goal.

 

God uses us to come to him after our work is done.  Most of us do so as we stumble through the years he has given us.  Last September 10, 2025, an assassin killed Charlie Kirk.  Why?  He was carrying God’s message to millions.  Remember that good can come from evil.  Subsequent to his death, the world has seen a tremendous upsurge in people returning to church or going for the first time.  This is especially true about the youth.  They are coming in droves!  There are hundreds of new branches of his organization, Turning Point USA, being formed at schools and colleges and universities across the country.  I am sure Charlie is with God and they are looking at the results of his death.  I have to believe he would have sacrificed his life for the cause of bringing so many people to God.  While we all miss him, family, friends, co-workers, and those of us who watched him on TV or attended one of his rallies, God made Charlie to further the growth of his kingdom and Charlie answered the call, both in this life and the next.

 

What is your purpose?  What are you doing to bring people to God? Or to keep them there or bring them back?  You don’t have to be on an altar or behind a pulpit.  You just have to do what is your life’s work in such a way that people will see God’s message in you and by your example, want to have what you have, a life with God, here on this Earth and then sharing his eternity.

 

The directive is to seek.  So, is what you are doing seeking God, asking, finding, and leading people to him?  If so, great!  If not, when will you start?

 

It goes back to those words from an early writing, To Love and Serve Him In This Life and Be With Him For Eternity In The Next.

 

Go out there and do it!

The Kid Watch

 The Kid Watch

 The other day as I was driving, I saw a very familiar sight. It was a neighborhood ice cream truck. It was something I’ve seen hundreds of times and had eaten my share of its delightful treats. On the back of the truck was this sign for following motorists: WATCH OF KIDS. Excellent advice for sure since a child was likely to dart out of a house to buy a treat and not think about watching for a car. This same is true about the same child now totally absorbed in eating, or even devouring that delicious melting treat. Either way, that sign on the back of that ice cream truck told me it was my responsibility to make sure those kids came and went safely.

 Children play a large part throughout the bible. David was a young teenager when he slew the giant, Goliath. Then there are the three children thrown into the fiery furnace. Of course, Moses was a small baby when he was found and adopted into that royal Egyptian family. His education and training was God’s way of preparing him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land. Abraham followed God’s orders and prepared t sacrifice his son. By following God’s orders, he began the journey to found a nation when God rewarded his faithfulness and provided a sheep to be slain and offered up in Isaac’s place. In the New Testament, Jesus told his followers to let the little children come to him, when they would have kept them away. There is also his admonition that unless we are as little children, we will not get to enter Heaven.

 How can you, and me, be as little children? How about not taking our faith, our beliefs, for granted. They are gifts freely given to us by God. It is fair to question what we don’t know or understand, but once we have our answer, then act on it as a child would.

 Do you look at your faith full of questions or even debate? There are many variations of Christianity and beliefs in God. Some even go far as to say if you don’t follow that particular version, you won’t go to heaven. It isn’t up to that version and its followers to determine that. That smacks of Pride, one of the deadly sins. God decides who gets to share his eternity.

 So it is up to you to be a child of God, regardless of the number of birthdays you have stacked up behind you.

 Will you be a child of God? It is his gift and wish. It is up to you to accept it.

The Lamp In The Darkness

 

Matthew 5:15 “Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel” (KJV)

‘It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness (The Christophers)

 Sometimes a piece of scripture sticks in my head for some reason.  It’s usually something that is common, since I am hardly a biblical scholar.  An example of that is the quote above from Matthew’s gospel.  More modern translations use “bowl” or “basket” instead of bushel.  For reference, a bushel is a basket about 18 inches diameter and 12 inches deep and holds about  56 pounds of grain, about eight gallons.  If you put it over a lamp, it will completely cover it and no light will be seen.

 In 1952, there was a TV program called “Christopher Closeup”.  The Christophers are a Catholic organization that put on a weekly program that discussed Christianity.  Their motto is “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”  While that sounds biblical, it is usually describer as coming from a Chinese proverb.  I was curious about this organization and looked it up.  It was founded in 1945 by Father James Keller who was concerned that many people saw the world’s problems, complained about them, and felt powerless to make a difference.  His philosophy was simple:

·       Don’t focus only on what is wrong.

·       Do something constructive, even if it seems small

·       One person can influence many others

·       The media can be used for good as well as for bad or harmful

I remember watching it many times growing up.  It went off of the air in 2012 after 60 years!

 The news media has reported a surge in the number of people going to or returning to the church and professing their Christianity.  Clearly, there are many lamps of faith being lit.  And, like the quote above from Matthew’s gospel, they are doing so in various visible ways.

 How about you?  What are you doing in your own life to be an example of your faith in such a way that others may be attracted to you or are curious enough to seek out a person such as a priest, minister, or lay leader, or maybe you?  Perhaps they attend a service at some church and that leads them to God and his son.

 In my retail job, I am seeing more and more people who are very visibly wearing a cross necklace.  Some of these crosses are plain and some are ornate.  These people are stating their faith to everyone who sees them.  Unfortunately, there are also some people who hide any evidence of their beliefs.  They say that their faith is private and won’t do anything to show it.

 The first group has taken the basket off of their lamps.  Light attracts and their lamp is their declaration of faith.  The second group keeps their lamp hidden or even unlit.  I am sure they meet people who are asking or wondering about God and Jesus Christ and they will be left  searching.  God will eventually lead them to someone who is part of the first group.

 Which group do you belong to?  Do you meet people with your lamp shining brightly or are you one whose lamp is dark and well hidden?  Going back to the Christopher’s motto, it may be that your candle will light the way of someone’s wish to know God. 

 Will you light it and keep it lit?  God is depending on you to help him bring more people to him.  How can you refuse?