I don’t need to search the Earth to find what I’m looking for.
Author: simplyputstories
They call Kentucky the blue grass state, but from my experience, the grass is greener here.
Mallards!
A rattle, a racket, a whoosh, and a whirr, then deafening silence right after the stir.
Daisy
In the days after we moved, Daisy was our clock. Every day at 5 O’clock, she would let us know that it was time… dinner time. In Texas she was content to eat at 6, but I guess there was something in that Kentucky air that made her hungry. When I would come home from work at 5, I was greeted by a lean, scraggly pup who knew how to get what she wanted.
In those days, Daisy ran the house.
The boulder
We made our way through the aspens and up the tedious hill upon which that impressive boulder sat. It was for her that we had come all this way. I was so excited I hardly noticed the drizzling rain, or realized the implications it had on our expedition. I rushed to the base of the rock, her walls looming some thirty feet above me, imposing the most inviting shadow. I slid on my La Sportivas as the rain continued to increase; nervous, but determined to at least get off the ground. Reassured by Grant’s presence as my spotter, I swallowed my fears and began the ascent.
The rock was slippery, but, boosted by adrenaline, I pressed on. After ten feet’s progress, it became too wet and dangerous to continue. I climbed down a hero. I hadn’t reached the top, but…I was ALIVE.
We rushed to pack up as the clouds unleashed their full fury. The cold deluge had us soaked through by the time we returned, and though not what I had hoped for, it had been a thrilling adventure. Someday I’ll return to that beast of a boulder to stand atop her summit, a conqueror.
There’s No Place Like Home
I love my little copper cup that Averie gave me as an engagement gift, some nine months ago now. It feels like I’ve been drinking from it my whole life. It’s a beautiful cup: sleek, shiny rim and top half intersecting the dull and tarnished bottom half like sunlight breaking through rain clouds after a storm. And right in the middle, cut almost in half, is the simple design of a camping tent with the inscription scrawled above it: THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. Even the imperfection of the apostrophe looks like a shooting star, though I’m sure it’s just a scratch. I love my perfect cup; there’s not another one like it.
My cup reminds me of war and peace, pain and joy. It seems to me a perfect personification of the tension that exists inside the human heart every day.
I know that Heaven is my home and my Earthly dwelling is only temporary, but inside my heart I build up this tent and live inside it, insulating myself from the Home I’m destined for. My cup reminds me where I belong.
I grow accustomed to the feelings of sadness, anger, and bitterness, resigning myself to them. Out of fear, I choose apathy over hope. My cup reminds me of the truth.
I feel the war waging around me and within me and I grow disheartened, wondering if good really does prevail over evil. My cup reminds me that it does.
Copper is such a beautiful metal in all its forms, for it wears its imperfections like a badge of honor, the way boys proudly flaunt their scars. It isn’t afraid of aging or of the tarnish that comes from hard work, it simply becomes more beautiful. Its patina reminds me what it is and where it has been. That is what I want to be to others: a reminder.
Remember to breathe.
Remember who you are.
Remember what you’re made for.
Remember to drink more water.
Remember to dream.
Remember to hope.
Remember that Jesus will return and make us a new home.
Remember, there’s no place like home.
Lullaby
Oh my son, lay down your head
I’ll watch over you;
Protect you from the lions and the wolves.
And when you rise I’ll be here still to listen to your dreams.
Oh my son, do not despair,
I will never leave;
Through the pain I’ll lead you by the hand,
And one day soon you’ll see my face and forever live in peace.
What is Truth?
As followers of Jesus, we know the importance of TRUTH. We know that Jesus is truth, that everything God has ever said is true, that the Holy Spirit leads us in truth, and that relationship with Jesus Christ is the only way to walk in the truth. We also know that the world hates the truth, and that Satan is the father of lies. Perhaps one of the hardest challenges for the Christian is the task of going about sharing this truth with the unbelieving world without being smug about it. There’s nothing quite so off-putting as someone who knows something and puts you down for not knowing it.
This morning I came across a verse in John 18 that caught me off guard and led me down a rabbit hole of thought. Jesus has been brought before Pilate, not long before he is beaten and crucified, and he questions him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asks. In verse 37, Jesus responds “I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And then comes the three-word question that surprised me so much. Pilate responds to Jesus by saying “What is truth?”
And then he walked away.
This is one of the saddest moments I think I’ve found in the whole Bible. Historically, I’ve always felt bad for Pilate as being sympathetic to Jesus and trying to convince the Jews he wasn’t all that bad, but this verse puts him in a new light for me. How can you stand in front of the King of Truth, ask the question “what is truth?”, and then walk away?
I was looking at some commentaries on this verse online and I found this comment that struck me.
“This might be the most important question a human being can ask, and Pilate is standing in front of the ultimate answer, yet he walks away without really considering his own words.” (BibleRef article linked here: https://www.bibleref.com/John/18/John-18-38.html)
Jesus is the ultimate answer, the ultimate truth. If Pilate were really seeking an answer, he would look no further. Clearly, Pilate was not genuinely seeking. I think the same can be said for most of the world.
Matthew 7:7 says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Romans 1:20 says “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
1 Timothy 2:3-4 says “This is good, and pleases God our savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
While God is mysterious and confusing and nobody fully understands His ways, He does not make the truth hard to find. He upset history by sending Jesus to Earth, He put his Spirit inside His believers, and He commissioned us to spread the truth. There is great power in truth and one must choose to accept it or to reject it. Pilate rejected it. What will you do?
Simply Put Stories 