Doors and Trials

Back to the Thoughts rather than the events.

Today's thoughts come courtesy of the Willow Park Church staff retreat last week. We went to Gardom Lake for 24 hours to be able to take time away to rest and meditate on God (Mark 6:31).We were meditating on Revelation 2 and 3 which are the letters to the churches and so these two thoughts come from there.

Thought 17: Revelation 2:7 (NIV) "...What He opens no one can shut and what He shuts no on can open."

God opens doors for us that no force but Himself can shut. We can, however, stop ourselves from walking through those doors. We need to recognize opportunities God is giving us and walk into them. We also need to recognize areas God is closing and not to keep trying to knock on those doors. If we keep banging on the doors that cannot be open we could miss the door that leads to Him and His will.

Thought 18: Revelation 2:10 (Message) "...The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing - ten days. It won't last forever."

Whenever I read something that makes me stop and think I have a tendency to look up and into the distance. After I read "It won't last forever" I looked up and outside the window snow started to fall off the trees and then it stopped. Later I read it again and when I looked up again snow began to drop off the trees again. It lead me to write this poem. It hasn't been edited this is purely what I wrote in the moment:

Though the winter nights are long
and it's days are grey
It doesn't last forever.
The green pushes through
and the blue comes out
It doesn't last forever.

Though chains bind limbs
and rope cuts into flesh
It doesn't last forever
Chains rust and break
rope frays and snaps
It doesn't last forever

Through Eyes that are dry
We can truly see
This lasts forever
That upon a tree he died
melted death and broke chains
So we last forever

Mexico Day 7: Zitch Dog + Mexico Day 8: Coming Home...Delayed

Just going to finish up the Mexico Stuff now

Day 7:

The Ryder boys walked to Bucerias in the morning for some time away from the little boys. They've been following us everywhere and we needed a break by then. The first time we went to Bucerias on the Monday there was the carnival. Today the carnival was gone and it returned to a slum. There was one block of a flea market with more high pressure salesmen. Once back we played an hour of shuffleboard before lunch and then a few more hours of shuffleboard and table tennis. After all that time in the sun we had to get out of it so we returned to the room to read until dinner at the Thai restaurant. The show was a rock and roll show featuring dance numbers from footloose and Grease and finished with some 70s/80s rock that I recognized but couldn't name the songs. It was a good show

Day 8:

Our last day consisted of more table tennis. A.J and I also played beach volleyball with a nice family from the Sunshine Coast. Our shuttle left for the airport at 6 for the airport and upon arriving we found out our flight was delayed for an hour. We finally got off the ground at 11:30 and were on our way home