One of the disciples here at ALC made the comment recently about the Alaskan spring thaw. He said to me that practicably wins out to many things in Alaska. This he said after I was complaining about how when I came to church at 6:00am in morning I was walking on a ice covered parking lot but by the time I left church at 1:00pm I soaked my good black shoes as the ice turned to water with the warming sun. The results: a slush filled parking lot with about 3" of standing water and cold feet! The place where I normally walk down hill had become a mini raging river of water and left over gravel and ice. It would have been a great river rafting adventure for a squirrel!
He made me think though about the truth behind the idea about practicability winning out over all kinds of things!
Practicability wins out over comfort- you may be more comfortable in a short sleeve shirt but you dawn a long sleeve shirt because it is cold.
Practicability wins out over desires. You may desire to go fishing in the middle of an Alaskan winter but if you do not have an ice auger or some other way to cut through the ice- well you are just going to have to settle for playing the Rapala fishing game on your computer for a few months until ice out.
Practicability wins out in our financial lives as we cannot spend what we do not have since we are not allowed to print money like the U.S. government.
Practicability wins out in our physical lives when our bodies age. At some point if we live long enough, our bodies age to a point where we cannot walk, run, do cartwheels, hear, or see as well as we did when we were 20!
So what are we to do?
My dad always told me to use my head. I remember him saying that A LOT to me when I was growing up and doing stupid things! Now that I am older and still doing stupid things I often think back about my dad's words while I am saying some of the same things to my kids now. So how could I have kept my socks dry, my good shoes from getting soaked with water, and my toes warm? Well....
I could do the Alaskan practicability thing! Put my boots on and carry over to the church my shoes is the practical thing! The "Alaskan" people who lived through a winter or two learned that practicability wins out!
That is way to simple of a solution for me to grasp!!
I hope and pray practicability wins out in our life! Time and again I have been told by those who have served our county in war the old familiar saying: "There are no atheist in foxholes!" That I believe is an example of practicability winning out! God desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of His love for them. When people face death and if they have stood against what God desires for them, I pray that the Holy Spirit uses that moment as a fox hole moment for them. It was kind of like that on the cross. Two thieves hung there with Jesus. One had a fox hole moment and other from the account in scripture did not. That did not change God's love for them both or the sacrifice of His one and only son Jesus our savior on the cross. Yet one rejected what was freely offered and one simply said thank you. God made it really easy. It is not about what we do, who we are, but what God does for us. It is very simple and that means very practicable! Our father in heaven knows what He is doing!
I hope it does not take a fox hole moment for you.
God bless and happy Easter!
Andy
That is way to simple of a solution for me to grasp!!
I hope and pray practicability wins out in our life! Time and again I have been told by those who have served our county in war the old familiar saying: "There are no atheist in foxholes!" That I believe is an example of practicability winning out! God desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of His love for them. When people face death and if they have stood against what God desires for them, I pray that the Holy Spirit uses that moment as a fox hole moment for them. It was kind of like that on the cross. Two thieves hung there with Jesus. One had a fox hole moment and other from the account in scripture did not. That did not change God's love for them both or the sacrifice of His one and only son Jesus our savior on the cross. Yet one rejected what was freely offered and one simply said thank you. God made it really easy. It is not about what we do, who we are, but what God does for us. It is very simple and that means very practicable! Our father in heaven knows what He is doing!
I hope it does not take a fox hole moment for you.
God bless and happy Easter!
Andy
