Ernie & James Outdoor Adventures Part II

James and I took our second hiking trip together yesterday October 17, 2008. We hiked to the summit of Hadley Mountain in the southern part of the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. The trail is approximately 4 miles round trip and ascends approximately 1,500 feet from the trailhead. It was much tougher than our earlier hike to Second Pond due almost entirely to the steep elevation. Also, much of the trail was bare rock which was covered in wet leaves making footing somewhat treacherous.


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The view from the summit was well worth the hike though. Following are pictures from our trip.

James at the trailhead.

Me at the trailhead

James taking a picture of me videotaping him

Great Sacandaga Lake--picture taken near summit of Hadley Mountain

Fire Tower at the top of Hadley Mountain

Me at the top of Hadley Mountain

James at the top of Hadley Mountain

A good quote

I found the following quote in a classic Christian book by Thomas Cook entitled New Testament Holiness.

"If we will we may, but if we won't we can't."

There's a lot of truth here. Cook is speaking of our will to do something--without a will or desire to do we won't do it. Thus, sin comes first from a desire to do wrong before committing the act of wrong-doing.

A Balanced Spiritual Life

When I go to my family doctor for my yearly check-up he tells me I need to eat right AND exercise. I have the eating right thing down pretty well--I do sneak the occasional cookie or piece of cake or pie, or a candy bar, or donut, muffin, or other breakfast pastry (nobody's perfect, right?).

It's the exercise part with which I have the most trouble. Apparently I take in more calories on a daily basis than I burn. As a result over the past several years I have gained a few more pounds than I should have. Health gurus would say I have an unbalanced physical life.

The same can be said for the spiritual life of most Christians--it is unbalanced. There are three aspects that make up the spiritual life: the first is worship, the second is ministry, and the third is discipleship. In the Rick Warren lingo it would go something like this: majesty, ministry, and maturity. I'm fine with that.

Whatever labels you apply, the principle is the same: the spiritual life needs to worship God--that is first and foremost, then the spiritual life needs to serve others in some capacity and to be served by others.

Most Christians live an unbalanced spiritual life. They are either serving in too many ministries--in physical life parlance they burn far more calories than they consume which if taken to an extreme could lead to anorexia; or they are sitting in too many Bible studies but never actually serving anywhere--in physical life they consume far more calories than they burn, which if taken to an extreme could lead to obesity.

In the church we often call people "Martha" who are busy doing ministry and never take time to be fed spiritually, or worse yet who never take time to worship God. Martha and her sister Mary were disciples of Jesus. Martha was the worker-bee type, and Mary just wanted to spend time with Jesus. Martha was so busy serving others and Jesus that she never took time to actually worship Him. And, she complained to Jesus that her sister Mary was spending too much time with Him. Luke chapter 10 records: "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' To which Jesus replied, "Martha, Martha . . . you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The opposite of Martha are those who, in modern vernacular, we call couch potatoes--they are content to sit around watching television all day but never do anything. In the church, people who are involved in very little if any service could be called pew potatoes. They are content to watch the very few workers do most of the work. They are like the third employee in the Parable of Talents who instead of investing his talent, buried it in the backyard. When the master came back the the employee had nothing to show for what was given to him. The master was angry at the do-nothing employee, took the one talent he had, and tossed the employee out. God has gifted every follower of Christ and expects us to be doing something for the kingdom of God. We cannot afford to squander what He has given by being pew potatoes.

So, which side do you fall on--Martha or pew potato? Or, are one of the few who has a balanced spiritual life: worshiping God, serving others and being discipled? This week consider where you are and make adjustments as necessary. It may involve you stepping out of areas of service so you can make time to be fed or worship God; it may involve you getting out of the pew and stepping up to serve others.

My Favorite Theodore Roosevelt Quote

Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite presidents--he is in my top five: 1) George Washington, 2) Abe Lincoln, 3) Ronald Reagan, 4) Thomas Jefferson, 5) Theodore Roosevelt.

Following is my favorite quote by him.

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

What great thing is God daring you to do? You may succeed, you may fail. But, if God is asking you to do it, then no failure is ever really a failure.

Three More Christians Murdered in Orissa, India

The following is from the Open Doors website....

India: Three More Christians Murdered in Orissa

At least two killed today, another succumbed to axe injuries Wednesday; 400 houses burned.

NEW DELHI, October 3 (Compass Direct News) – At least two more Christians were killed today in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district after Hindu extremists this week set fire to nearly 400 homes there and in Boudh district. A third man succumbed to axe injuries on Wednesday (Oct. 1). Read More...

Ernie & James' Outdoor Adventures Part 1

James, my eleven year old son, and I took our first hiking trip together on October 4, 2008. We hiked into Second Pond which is a small pond in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. The trail is 2.6 miles one-way, so James and I hiked 5.2


View Larger Map miles before all was said and done. The day was cool (at times cold) but we kept fairly warm.



Initially we thought the trail was only 1.2 miles, so we were surprised when we got to the trailhead to find out it was actually 2.6 miles. Not a big deal, we had a great time anyway.

Following are pictures from our trip.

Second Pond Trailhead, Johnsburg, NY

James at Second Pond Trailhead

Me, getting cozy with Second Pond Trailhead Sign

James on the trail

Me on the trail

James and Me

James at Second Pond

Fall Foliage at Second Pond

More on Fear

I previously stated "Fear is the motivation of the unrepentant heart." We fear not getting the things we want--e.g., money, fame, power, success, possessions, etc. And we fear getting the things we do not want--e.g., abandonment, punishment, rejection, etc. However, is there something more here that drives our fears? I think there is.

Below our fear of not getting what we want and getting that which we do not want I think is the fear of not measuring up. We fear failure most of all. We fear we do not measure up to our own idea of what is good or successful; or we fear we do not measure up to someone else's or God's idea of good or successful. For instance, my root fear of not measuring up to other people's opinions of me might manifest itself in the fear of rejection or abandonment. Or, my fear of not being rich might be driven by my own idea of success. If it is true that my root fear is the fear of failure--whether in my own eyes, someone else's, or God's, then in order to overcome this fear I need to first decide whether what I am measuring myself against is legitimate.

Is measuring myself against my own idea of good and successful right? Why is my measurement correct? What if it isn't the right "measuring stick", then what? If I live my life trying to reach my own idea of good and successful then come to the end of my life and find out I was measuring myself against the wrong idea, then what? The same is true for measuring myself against someone else's idea of good and successful--whether it is my parents, my friends, my church, or my culture. Is their measurement correct? How can I know? What if their idea of good and successful is not correct? Where does that leave me? Cultures and people differ; how can it be that cultures and people with vastly different ideas of good and successful can be correct?

Two mutually exclusive and contradictory ideas cannot both be correct at the same time. Saying, "what is true for you is good for you and what is true for me is good for me" when the two ideas of true are mutually exclusive and contradictory is not good enough. That is moral relativism and it is wrong. Contradictory ideas can have only two outcomes--either one is correct and the other is not, or both are incorrect. Two contradictory ideas both correct--that is a logical fallacy. So, since people and cultures have competing and contradictory ideas of what is good and successful, I cannot depend on either my own ideas or the ideas of others by which to measure my own success. Where does that leave me? It leaves me looking outside myself, my culture, and other cultures for the measuring stick by which I obtain my idea of good and successful.

I need an objective source by which to measure myself. But, what is objective? Obviously anything made by humankind is not objective, since all humans are part of cultures and influenced by what the culture says is good and successful. Maybe the five senses since my senses only tell me what is going on around me regardless of what my culture says? Hmmm.....that leaves alot unsaid, plus my five senses are notoriously unreliable. For instance a physical ailment can affect the way I smell, taste, hear. A disease like leprosy can affect my sense of touch. Besides, the physical world can't tell me what is right and wrong, or good and successful. It tells me what is, not what should be.

Ultimately, I need an objective One, who is not part of me, any culture, or the physical universe, intelligent, morally reliable and consistent, and can engage me so I can what is good and successful. That One is God. Proverbs states, "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline" (Prov. 1:7). St. Augustine stated that it is from the fear of God that we first learn to recognize His Will: what He wants us to do and what He wants us to avoid. This fear should awaken in us a healthy reflection of our bodily death and possible spiritual death, if we continue to choose to run away from Him. Our deepest seat of fear should be fear of God. But God does not leave us in a constant state of fear because He loves us. John 3:16 states, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

Prayer

Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare and feeble thing.

--E. M. Bounds

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Study in Ephesians: Pick Up Your Weapon and Fight With Me (6:10-20)

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places . . . "

~Ephesians 6:12

Therefore take up the whole armor of God . . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints"

~Ephesians 6:17, 18

Followers of Jesus Christ are at war and unfortunately most of Jesus' followers do not seem to notice or understand this. Everyday around the world Christians are being persecuted and even martyred for the faith. In other places, Christians and the Christian faith are being attacked by the government, in schools, in institutions of higher learning, and at the workplace.

In Paul's closing remarks to the Ephesian church, he sounds the call to arms and warns his readers they are already engaged in a life and death struggle. As the Wesleyan commentator on the book of Ephesians, Mark Holmes states, "Two major points are developed in this section: (1) Christians are in a battle against opponents far greater than themselves; and (2) if they plan to win the battle, Christians must rely on provisions beyond their human capabilities" (Ephesians: A Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition).

Even though the attacks on Christians are being carried out by other humans, as the apostle Paul states, "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood . . . " Our enemies are not human, (flesh and blood) but principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness. These forces influence and control the people who carry out the persecution, terrorism, killing, and subjugation of Christians.

In our fight against the spiritual darkness we are given a weapon . . . the Sword of the Spirit--which is the Word of God. Yes, our offensive and defensive weapon is the Bible. We dare not use the weapons of the enemy physical--e.g., guns and bombs--psychological--e.g., mind control and coercion--political--e.g., laws and military force. Our weapon is far mightier and has brought down powers, principalities, and spiritual wickedness for centuries. Great defenders and apologists of the faith have wielded the Sword of the Spirit skillfully; men of ancient Christianity like Ignatius, Clement of Rome, St. Augustine. More modern apologists include Ravi Zacharias, Chuck Colson, and Probe Ministries

In addition to the Sword of the Spirit Christians have a force multiplier weapon--prayer. Prayer exponentially increases the effectiveness of our use of the Sword. Praying in the Spirit is like sending an artillery barrage or a squadron of Stealth Fighters after the enemy. James, in his epistle states, "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results" (Jam 5:16). Paul exhorted his readers in Thessalonica to "pray continually" (I Thess. 5:17).

" Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan"

--John Bunyan