I called the Jefferson Fire Department and the recorded message said today was a burn day. I figured there wouldn’t be very many more burn days before we would be shut down for the summer, and my burn pile was getting bigger every day. So I drove to town and got 5 gallons of diesel, stretched out my garden hose, and started the pile on fire. I mixed my 5 gallons of diesel with 5 gallons of gas, so I had 10 gallons of fire starter. I started it upwind so it wouldn’t get going too hot. It was a big pile with all the limbs from my apple tree pruning, but with my fire starter poured everywhere on the pile it bured up in about an hour. Now I just need to pitch fork the small unburned pieces into a pile and finish it off.

As I worked on my pile I couldn’t help thinking about

John 15:6
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Working on my burn pile, seeing the roaring fire, feeling the heat, seeing the branches burned up made that verse very, very real to me. I need to do more to reach people with the gospel.

I stayed home from church today, my preaching responsibility over at Buena Vista Community Church I had someone else do as well as my two leadership classes that I teach. Occasionally I have a Parkinson’s flare-up for no apparent reason. My muscles get very rigid, like concrete setting up and when I move it hurts and the pain makes me nauseous, and I usually get a severe headache. I take some extra medication, sit in my hot tub for thirty minutes, and then ride my stationary bike for thirty minutes and then back to the hot tub and back to the bike until I am better. Last night it took so long to get the thing under control that I was totally exhausted this morning from no sleep and all that bike riding. Now that I am feeling better having slept in I think I should have gone to church; I could have toughed it out. I must be getting wimpier in my old age.

I leave on a 1,200-mile bicycle ride in June, and I am a long way from being in good shape for the trip so these kinds of forced extra riding are probably a good thing.

One of the minor conflicts that Patty and I from time to time is when she gets to bossing me around too much. It usually happens when she has a bunch of our grandkids over for a day and then she doesn’t switch out of that grandma role when she talks to me. I usually am patient with it for a while, and then I will say “stop talking to me like a little kid” or “you’re not my boss, ” or “who am I, Your husband or your grandson? I always feel bad afterward because I usually hurt her feelings with my impatient remark.

One of the reasons these COVID restrictions and mask mandate irritate me so much is because I don’t like being bossed around. I think it is an issue we all have in a variety of settings.

I do want Jesus to be the Lord of my life, my boss and my King. The more I obey Him, the closer I follow Him the more successful my life will be. But even with Jesus I find myself doing my own thing instead of doing His will for my life. Kind of stupid to do that, considering that He is God and knows everything, and I am a man and know nothing. I am working on it every day, continually declaring Him my Lord and master. I am getting better at following and obeying him, and my journeys out into the Kingdom of Dee Duke are becoming fewer and shorter. One of the things that has helped me in this goal of being a servant and disciple of Jesus has been memorizing these two passages and reviewing them in my head every day.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Romans 14:7-9
For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

A characteristic that all eight of our kids had was that they got tired after doing most anything for a short time. They were good with practicing the piano for ten minutes, but from that point on to the required thirty minutes, there was a constant, “I’m tired.” Homework was the same way, as was their chores. They weren’t tired, they were just bored, but they couldn’t tell the difference. Being bored is a form of weariness, but it isn’t physical; it is mental. I am the same way, I get bored doing the same thing after a period of time, except for fishing. This afternoon I have been painting my boat. I have to sand the whole thing, then I will do some calking of cracks, and then paint with a light sending between the two coats. It is a big boat and will take about eight hours to complete, and this morning I was sure I could complete all but the second coat of paint today. The problem was that after two hours of the tedious work I got bored. I can push through the feeling of boredom if the job is super important, and I need to get it done, but once boredom sets in, the work isn’t fun any more, and I work slower. I need to get my boat painted in the next week so I can take it fishing, but I have some time. So I did what I usually do when I get bored; I changed jobs; variety is a great energy producer. I looked at my to-do list and picked writing this blog to do next because I could sit down and I could drink a cup of coffee as well. When I get done with this blog I will go back to the boat project with renewed gusto.

Over the years I have figured out the optimum time for almost everything that I do so I plan my day and my to-do list accordingly. I get weary after 15 minutes of praying for the people who attend JBC so I change jobs and come back to my praying later. By adding variety to my day I enjoy myself more and I get more done.

During these days of unrest, fear mongering by the media, political upheaval, huge amounts of injustice, and corruption it is easy to get all worked up when you hear or read about it daily. It the midst of all this craziness I want to live my life with joy, peace, and strength making a difference where I can and attracting people to Jesus Christ. The key to living in the midst of all the chaos is trusting in God and seeking Him constantly. The method of doing that which works well for me is to memorize key portions of the Bible and meditate on it. God’s word is supernatural, it is powerful. Check out this cool passage of scripture, it makes me smile every time I recite it in my mind and put some of my least favorite politicians in it.

Psalms 37:7-15 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more;
And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.
But the humble will inherit the land
And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees his day is coming.
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow
To cast down the afflicted and the needy,
To slay those who are upright in conduct.
Their sword will enter their own heart,
And their bows will be broken.

Have you ever said that or heard others say that? Sure you have; almost everybody says it either to themselves in their self-talk or out loud for anybody and everybody to hear. Our energy level is a significant factor in how much we accomplish with our life that matters. I am 72 years old and I don’t have the physical energy that I had even a few years ago, so I am making up for it in emotional energy, mental energy, spiritual energy, and a high level of motivation.

There are many medical and physical reasons for tiredness, but there is a rapidly growing number of people who complain about being tired, but it isn’t physical fatigue but mental, emotional, and spiritual depression caused by overexposure to all of the negative, stupid, sinful, rotten, absurd, and demonic stuff going on in our country. Here are my personal rules for staying highly motivated every day.

1. I limit my news reading to 15 minutes maximum. The media has become so negative and manipulating that spending too much time watching or reading will suck the life out of you.

2. I never say out loud that I am tired, and if I think it I quote Isaiah 40:31 in my head immediately.

3. Grumbling and complaining are a significant killer of motivation and emotional energy, so I work hard at never doing it.

4. I work hard to thank the Lord all day long for everything, every experience, every person, and everything I touch that is mine.

5. I spend an hour every day in Bible reading and prayer, and I ask God for strength over and over all day long. He loves to give strength to those who ask for it so I am going to ask a lot.

6. I read my goals every day. Goals that are noble and big inspire and motivate.

7. I write a to-do list every day, check it often, compete with myself to get everything on it crossed off.

Many people talk about prayer, but not many have much faith that it does anything, that God does anything, when we pray. It is mostly just something we say.

I believe with all my heart that when I pray God listens and acts because I pray, and the more I pray the more He does. I believe that without a shadow of a doubt.

I often pray back to God the prayers that are recorded in the Bible. I believe He had them written in the pages of the Bible so that I could be encouraged to pray the same words. Prayers that still fit the situation today as they did thousands of year’s ago.

So many things are happening today in our country, not just in our country but by the leaders of our country, that are wrong, unjust, and sinful.

Such as the Chauvin trial, that wasn’t justice, that was a jury giving a guilty verdict because they were threatened by our own government. He may be guilty, but it would be nice if a fair and just trial decided that, not crooked leaders who have a personal agenda.

So, what can I do about it, other than fuss? I can pray! God listens when I pray! God acts when I pray! Things happen when I pray! I am not saying that because I think I am special, God is special. I am just a regular old guy who believes in prayer.

Psalms 2:1-4 Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them.

Psalms 5:1-7 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

I think my favorite word is success. I truly want with all my heart to be a successful man. The word success is a good word. It is a word that is in the Bible. The best kind of success is when we are declared by God to be successful. To be successful means that we are accomplishing the work God gave us to do. It means we are bearing much fruit. It means we are doing something that matters, really matters, making a difference in the lives of people lots of people. What does it take to be really successful? It doesn’t take above average intelligence, a good education, a charming personality, or great gifts, abilities or talents.

Success is simple, it is basic, and it is not hard to do the things that bring success. But very few people are successful. Why? Successful people do a number of little, simple, easy, disciplines almost everyday for a long time. A penny doubled everyday for 31 days ends up being over 10 million dollars. An easy discipline like reading the Bible 15 minutes a day, spending 15 minutes in prayer with God every day, reading ten pages every day in a good book, examining our lives, and confessing all known sin to God every day, declaring Jesus as Lord of our life every day, telling our wife that we love her five times every day, spending 15 minutes in challenging exercise every day, writing out a dozen significant goals and reading them every day, and writing in a journal every day.

As I said very few people do these disciplines faithfully over time, but they guarantee a fulfilled life so why don’t more people do them, three reasons;

(1) They are easy to do, but they are also easy to not do. (2) Not much happens at the start, you have to be faithful over time, and most want instant success or they won’t try. (3) The individual disciplines don’t seem like that big of a deal that they will bring success; they are so easy to do that it is also easy to dismiss them as not very important.

I started out the day with a goal of getting my quad fixed so that grandkids could ride it. I started by putting the chain on that had come off for the billionth time, but it kept coming off. I determined that the chain had numerous links that were bent from the number of times that the chain had come off, and every time one of those bent links went over the small sprocket it came off. I bought a nice, new chain but it was to long so I used my grinder to grind off some pins and shortened it, but when I went to put it back on, I discovered that I had shortened it too much. Fortunately, I had gotten two connector links with the new chain, so I put one link back on. I got the new chain on, but the new chain still kept coming off. I determined that the sprocket on the engine was out of line because a brace had broken that holds the engine straight. I started welding the broken brace and I caught the quad on fire. The plastic shrouds around the engine and the insulation on all the wiring had caught on fire. With my welding helmet on I couldn’t see the fire and it got going pretty good by the time I finished and took the helmet off. I started swatting at the fire with my hands and got melted plastic on my hands that burned me pretty good. I grabbed Patty’s chicken watered that was near by and pored it on the fire and got it out. The fire had burned off the insulation on the wiring so all the wires were shorted out. I pulled the brake handle and the starter motor began turning the engine over. The wiring was a royal mess. I had run out of time to accomplish my goal, I had to get ready for Leadership Class and Saturday evening church service. I would have to finish it another day. Our son Sam came over and rewired it after I had left for church, and it works good now, the chain even stays on.

One of the character traits that I am working on is patience , so I decided to make this a patience-building event after the old chain came off for the third time. I have come up with several definitions for patience in my pursuit of becoming a patient man.

Patience is choosing to act calm and joyful instead of getting irritated or angry when things keep going wrong.

Patience is choosing to be nice to people who do things that messes up my schedule.

Patience is choosing to not put expectations on people to meet my goals for their life.

Patience is choosing to trust God with the details of my life that seem determined not to cooperate with my goals and plans.

A keyword in the pursuit of patience is “choose, ” I will choose to act calm and joyful despite the frustrations of life. The choosing works best when premediated, that is make the choice before I get worked up by frustrations. Once the anger and irritation gets going it is much harder to think clearly enough to make a determined choice.

Once I decided to make this quad thing a patience building event, fixing the quad was now the secondary goal, becoming a strong and patient person was the main goal, so I was motivated to succeed.

A quote from Florida’s govenor, Ron DeSantis

Out of those Americans that have been vaccinated, only 0.0075% have still gotten infected and 0.0001% have died from Covid-19.

That means you have twice the chance of being struck by lightning in a given year than dying from Covid-19 after being vaccinated.

So why are people insisting that vaccinated people still need to wear a mask? The same reason that they insisted on it in the first place, it was and still is all about control. It isn’t and never has been about our safety and health.

Before I became a Christian I belonged to the devil, he owned me and controlled me.

2 Timothy 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

When I became a Christian I was set free from his control over my life.

Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light

I am not a slave of the devil. I am not a slave of my own flesh and sin nature. I am not slave of the world.

John 8:36 So if the Son, (Jesus) makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Sometimes we act like prisoners of the devil because we don’t realize that we are free from his control. If you are saved, act like it.