A Place To Grow In Faith
One summer day Old Bill was privileged to have a Moses kind of conversation with God. Bill was sitting on a bench at the local park he liked to visit. The place was usually teeming with people as Bill regularly put out seed for the pigeons. The park was mostly quiet even though the weather was sunny and warm with just a hint of a breeze.
Continue reading “Memories”One of the definitions of “jaded” from Merriam-webster.com says, “[M]ade dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience or by having or seeing too much of something.” Has that happened in your service to Jesus?
Continue reading “Are You Jaded?”
Trees and other plants line the edge of the property behind the church. A volunteer cut the branches from the trees that were encroaching into the area behind the church.
My wife mentioned the importance of the scripture about continuing to abide in Jesus when she saw the dead branches on the ground that are in stark contrast to the living branches still connected to the trees.
Jesus said in John 15:1-8 . . .
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
To make a point, please allow me to share with you a few details about what I remember learning about tree growth, muscle growth, bone strength and bone repair after a break.
You have probably seen small trees planted at new landscaping projects with guy wires holding them upright. Trees that cannot sway in the wind grow up weak. The wind causes microfractures to occur in tree cellular structure. The resulting healing fills in the damaged areas making trees stronger.
The same goes for muscles and bones. Muscles that bear weight get tiny little tears in the muscle fibers. The body fills in these damaged areas resulting in building muscle mass. So, those bodybuilders with the big muscles have gone through a lot of tearing and filling in. Bone density increases when microfractures occur as bones are subjected to stressors, such as weightlifting. The little microfractures fill in with strong bone.
Continue reading “Building You Up Not Tearing You Down”