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Do Not Conform, But BE Transformed

what a waste

I’m nervous.  See, I’ve been talking with several builders who I want to help me finish my log home.  I’m doing the log work, I need these expert carpenters to help with the foundation, roof, and all interior work.  One has already declined because he can’t guarantee HIS work because he doesn’t know how good MY work is.  (Can’t blame him…..It’s not everyday that you hear of a Mississippi ‘redneck’ building a log cabin in his barn in Mississippi and then planning on bringing this cabin out to Colorado piece by piece on a truck).

One of the builders has taken an interest.  He’s got lots of questions.  So I send him the set of blueprints, along with the list of questions answered ( how big are the logs, what kind of tree used, how long have they been drying, etc,etc).  And…… he wanted pictures.  So I sent pictures.  Pictures of my carving and cutting the notches.  Pictures of what I’ve done.  (He’ll have to decide if this Mississippi boy is qualified to undertake building a log home….. and decide if he wants to help.)  That’s when I saw the picture of all the waste.

Man, look at all that waste.  A big ole pile of sawdust, shavings, knots, bark ,….. all removed so that my trees can be transformed.  What was once a tree (that I planted 35 yrs ago) has turned into a log.  This log now must be carved and cut using my chainsaw to be transformed even further.  What was once my tree, what was once my logs, are becoming transformed into something even more special……. my home sweet home.

Romans 12:2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is– His good, pleasing and perfect will.

This log home is a physical way of me showing how I live my spiritual life.  I take a tree I planted.  This tree is probably more crooked, bent, not so perfect as what you could buy in the wood yard.  But hey, it’s my tree.  Through a lifelong process, (some days it seems like forever),  I’m gradually cutting and carving (TRANSFORMING) this log into part of my house.

God takes an interest in me (and you).  He sends His Son Jesus to show His Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness to me (and you).  He “helps” me with my own life by sometimes carving and cutting what I’m doing and BEING into what HE wants, what HE thinks is best.  (Call it BEING Transformed!!)

Back to my log house.  The log home builder is going to decide if I measure up to him deciding to build this house. (Decisions, decisions, huh?)  Do you think he will choose to help with this project? ( I’m taking a moment as doubts and fears creep into my thoughts. OK times up, get outa here doubts and fears!)

He will choose to help.  Why?????   Because he’s not using not so perfect trees,….. he’s not using logs that have not been cut and carved,……He’s not looking at an amateur log builder,…….., Or a Mississippi ‘redneck’ ,  or whatever you and I could see as an excuse. What will he see?  Will the builder agree to build this project?  And Why??

Yes, the builder will agree to this.  The Builder will see the transformation.  From trees to logs to what I have been seeing all along from day one.  My HOME SWEET HOME.   (BAM!  The sound of my microphone dropping.)     😉

(Picture of what my TRANSFORMED logs will look like!)

log home int

See Ya!!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher,    part time (full time) transformer

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Have You Taken a Road Less Traveled?

Road Less Traveled

My order is ready, at a town two hours away.  I make the decision to go get it myself.  The best decision I make today…….. is to travel on the road less taken.  The back roads, the dirt roads,……. away from the hustle and bustle.  I met someone who I haven’t talked with in a long while,…..  Myself.

It would have been so easy to hit the four lane, the expressway, and follow the crowd.  I’m sure I could have made the trip in under two hours, (instead of the three and a half).  There was the possibility of sending someone else to get it for me.  Matter of fact, why didn’t I just have it shipped to my home address.  Nope, I’m going to make this decision.  This trip will become part of my journey on Earth today.  And like the poem says, taking the less traveled road has made all the difference.

Here are some of the things that happened to me.  My radio hasn’t been that loud since,….. well, I didn’t know it would play that loud.  With the windows rolled down, (who needs air conditioning), I had the music blasting.  Country songs, a couple of praise songs, and then… Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ down a Dream”.  Yep, it’s sing along, karaoke time.

Stopped at a country store, got a Root Beer.  Thought about, well, for a while there I thought about nothing.  Until an old rock and roll song came on…… highway to the Danger Zone!

It dawned on me that my phone hadn’t rang in a while.  I check it.  Sure enough, there is no service here!  I would later realize that I’m surviving without my phone.  What is amazing to me is that in this modern world how we have become slaves to our phones.  They are mobile devices which means that we must let them follow us everywhere.  Then we religiously check them to see if any messages have come in, to see if facebook has done anything that I need to know that very instant.  I do the unthinkable…… I cut mine off.

That’s when I saw this kid on a bicycle.  He must have been about 12 years old.  As I’m driving past a large graveled driveway, I see him.  There is a mud hole about the size of my truck in this driveway.  I see him.  “Don’t do it” I yelled.  I actually did yell out loud.  (I’m the guy in movie theaters that yells “don’t go in there” to the screen during a scary movie).  As I’m yelling, the kid plows his bike into that big ole mud hole.  It probably wasn’t but a few inches deep.  But his reaction was priceless.  In his mind, he must have jumped the Grand Canyon, or won the Olympic gold, because he raised his hands up in the air in victory.  I laughed from the bottom of my heart.  I just witnessed the glorious victory of a twelve year old kid on his bike winning some gigantious event!!!!!!  And now I’m jealous.

I miss those days when I used to ride my bike through the mud holes.  The days of stopping at a country store for a snack and drink.  I miss those times, especially now in this world we face and live in.  But wait a minute.  It’s my decision.  I can choose how I live in this crazy world.  I can follow the crowd on the interstate, or literally and spiritually, I can take the back road.

(Jesus said), “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to LIFE, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:14

That scripture sounds like a “country dirt road” to me, doesn’t it to you?  I mean spiritually we can follow the “interstate” and let life pass us by, or we can make the deliberate decision to take the narrow road.  Follow Christ’s teachings.  Live the Christian way of life.  It’s a narrow road, but it makes me come alive.

As I make my way back home from this trip, it dawns on me.  There is a HUGE mud hole about 5 miles from my home!  I’m not twelve years old anymore, but a part of me has and will never grow older than that.  I don’t have a bicycle, but I do have a Toyota Tundra pick up.  It going to be a thrill to hit that mud and plow right through.  I can taste the victory now.  There’s room in my truck for all of you to join in.  Better yet, get in line.  Join me!  We’ll make a convoy!  A blasting radio is a must!

Safe travels on your journeys.  My prayer is that you spiritually take and follow the narrow (back country) road.

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, part time stunt driver!!

 

 

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I Got Some Sense Knocked into Me!

tools

Here’s a picture of some of the tools I’m using as I build my log home.  The blue tool with the long handle is called a peavey.  It has a metal spike at the end and also a hook.  When this is placed on the log, I now have leverage to roll a massive log wherever I want.  Power!!  I feel like a MAN because I can now move a 1500 lbs log with just my own muscles.  Be careful, I know, I know.  But it is a rush to be able to move that much weight.  I feel like a super hero.  Call me Thor, or Batman, or a Jedi,…….or LOG Man!!!! cause I got the power!  I need a theme song.

But be careful.  With the proper leverage, you can move the world.  Amazing to me how this huge log can be rolled with such little effort on my part.  With these forces of weight and movement battling with and against each other there is a high probability that things may not roll your way.  Things may not go as planned. Did I remind you and myself to be careful?  Well let me say it once again.  There is danger involved with moving and building with logs.  Be careful.  But sometimes I don’t pay attention, ……….even to myself.

While humming my “theme song” and enjoying all this power, I proceeded to roll this log into position.  It continued to roll on its own.  I ah,.. I ah,….. turned loose of the handle.  Ok, I’ll admit it.  I turned loose of the handle, it continued to roll, but then flipped back in reverse and the end of the handle caught me square on the side of the face.  (I feel like I’m giving an insurance report.)  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  I felt like Rocky Balboa himself had just given me an uppercut.  The theme song in my head suddenly changed.  I saw stars,……. my knees buckled…….and now I am down for the count.  It didn’t knock me out, just knocked me cuckoo.  Didn’t knock my brains out, just “changed the channel” I was on.  It didn’t knock me senseless………. It knocked some sense into me.

Proverbs 24:16– For a just [man] falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

It’s good to know I got up again.  But in a way it’s good to know that I got 6 more times left.  I feel like a cat with 9 lives now.  Well, down to about 4 now.  What I mean is this.  We all fall. We all fail.  At least one of us here falls while singing his own theme song!  I tell myself all the time to be safe,…. be careful.  There is not a day goes by that Staci doesn’t tell me to be careful.  She even calls me from time to time to make sure “I’m OK”.  ( I’ll have to tell ya sometime about the time I fell off the log pile cause I was trying to get to the phone.)  Be safe, Be careful.  I here it over and over.  But when it hits you up side of the head, you get a better understanding of it.

I’ve always said that God Himself will remind you of things that are needed in your life.  He will even hit you between the eyes to get your attention.  With a two by four, on in my case a peavey tool.

I bet you’ve had God “hit you” just to make you take notice of a situation in your life.  That’s what is so “good” about falling.  When you fall, He is there to pick you up.  He’ll pick you up seven times which in Bible terms means as many times as is necessary.

Be careful out there.  Stay safe.  With a very sore jaw this has taken on a newer and more important meaning in my life.

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, part time Rocky punching bag