Category Archives: Steps Along This Journey

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Feeding Your Soul (Stay Hungry)

Poor little chipmunk.  He must be starving because he’s stuffin’ himself.  He’s filled his cheek pouches full.  The seeds and grain at my bird feeder have turned into the chipmunk express buffet!!  He looks full.  Well, actually he’s still eating and still stuffin’!

Looks hungry doesn’t he?  I’ve looked that way eating Cheetos as I drive down the road.  I’ve seen other folks look that way as they exit the fish house.

How do you know when your hungry?  Stomach growls? An empty feeling inside?  Maybe even when the clock hits 12:00 you feel the need to eat just because…..

What makes you hungry? The smell of food cooking?  When you pass a Taco Bell/Dairy Queen/Wendy’s?  A commercial on TV can plant a thought in our brain.  Having a bad day? Then you need a snickers.  Hey, is your friend having a bad day…..they definitely need a snickers.  Oh, having a good day!  Then you must have stopped at McDonalds.  I never have figured out my cravings for Cheetos.  It’s mainly a habit.  Every time I’m traveling and I stop for gas, then it’s automatic that I get a snack.  Peanuts, nabs, chips, Coke, … any and everything seems to reach out to help quench my hunger.  Especially Cheetos!! They’re fun for everyone!  Nothing like having Cheetos crumbs on your shirt and also the tell tale sign of fingers covered and stained from orange salty crumbs.

Sure it’s tough traveling the roads these days and eating healthy.  I guess that fruit would be better for me…..wait there’s a PayDay candy bar.  Maybe I should drink more water…….whoa there’s a Big Gulp and it’s on sale!  Too bad this convenience store doesn’t have,………… no, there they are, Cheetos!… and they are in an extra large bag!!!!…..and it’s the crunchy kind!!!!

What makes you hungry for spiritual food?…… Oops, uh oh, never have much of a craving there huh?  Well, maybe it’s not the most natural craving that we humans get.  I mean it’s tough traveling on these spiritual journeys that you and I take these days and eating healthy spiritual food.  But I also know that my spiritual life can’t be sustained very well by eatin’ “Cheetos” for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and supper.  I need some good food.  Food from Mama’s kitchen consisting of home grown vegetables.  Food made from scratch.  I can smell the rolls, the corn, peas, taters, meat……..really don’t matter, long as it’s home made.

Psalm 107:8-10 (NKJV) For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

God’s in the spiritual food business.  He has a buffet as long as five picnic tables.  Just like back in the day when you would eat your Mama’s cooking.  You didn’t decide what to eat.  SHE DID!  You got to eat what was there in front of you.  You just need to come hungry…. and don’t be late.

Maybe that’s a little advice I’d like to share with you.  Focus on staying hungry for God’s Will and His Word.  He’s got a big time buffet of spiritually good food for you.  You don’t even need to decide what to eat.  Just show up at His table.  Show up hungry for this spiritual food.  Don’t be late.  Whenever I was late for supper growing up, it was because I was busy doing (and or eating) something else.  More to the point, if I was late for a meal, it was because I wasn’t hungry.  I more than likely had eaten something, (probably Cheetos), and now I had no appetite.  Not even for the Lemon Icebox Pie.  My bad,…… I shouldn’t have filled up on unfulfilling foods when the nourishing home grown meal was waiting for me.

Our decisions cost us sometimes.  Convenient empty food takes the place of a nourishing healthy meal.  I’m talking about spiritual food here.  Pray to God that He will help you with your cravings, your desires, your appetites.  Pray to Him that your soul will have a longing for the right things.  Remember God fills the hungry soul with goodness.  So, pack those cheeks full of His goodness!  Stay hungry!  And keep eatin’

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher (at the all-you-can-eat-spiritual-buffet)

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Deeply Rooted in the Rock of Ages

This tree is rooted in the Rock of Ages.  I so want to be just like this tree.  Everything, I mean everything, that it receives comes from  the Rock of Ages.  Its nourishment, the rooted foundation, the sustainment,…. all, I mean all that it is, or ever hopes to be……… it depends totally on the rock.

“But Dan”, some of you readers are saying, ” are you OK?”  “Look at the tree again.  It’s scrawny.  It’s feable looking.  It’s a weakling.  No strength in that pathetic specimen of a tree.  You sure you want to be like that?”

Go ahead and say it.  You see no value in this tree.   You are looking at this tree like my timber guy looks at trees.  What value can this tree provide?  How can I cut it up to make what I want out of it, is what he is thinking.  You are looking on the outside, not on the inside.

But I WANT to depend on this Rock of Ages for all that I am meant to be.  If the nourishment from this rock only allows me to survive,  Then Glory Hallelujah!!  If the “spiritual food” from this rock causes me to flourish, to grow 50 feet tall, to (in the eyes of the world be SUCCESSFUL), then Glory Hallelujah!!!!  It better be giving Glory, cause if it becomes all about me, myself, and I, that’s when that “timber man” will take notice and “cut me down”.

Sharing something personal now.  I write this wilderness preacher blog to help you (and me) take one more small step to being closer to God.  This is my way of “preachin”.  I view this blog more as sharing with you my friends. I share what “spiritual food” I receive from my Rock of Ages.  The world and honestly most people look on a successful preacher by how many numbers and how many buildings, and how many projects, and how many trips are planned.  In that case, my “preachin” tree is a little weakling,…… and scrawny.

And you???…………..You are JUST a housewife, just a secretary, just a single dad, just a mom, just a fledgling writer,  just a country lawyer, just a retiree, just a teacher, just a small time pastor, just little ole you…… a little weakling,…… and a little scrawny.

Maybe in the eyes of the world, or (Careful now, in your own eyes) you view yourself as pitiful.  Pity party time!!  “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me……. guess I might as well  eat worms.”  Never heard that?  It’s a blast from the past.

A beautiful hymn “How Firm a Foundation” has a verse that goes like this……

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.    

This song uses these verses from Isaiah 41:10  Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

A song that uses God’s own words that we in turn sing back to Him.  Now that’s what a hymn should be.  We are created to glorify God.  We use what He gave us (in scripture) and give it back to Him (in singing this hymn).  He gives to me, I in return give back to Him.  It’s such a satisfying thing.

A life and all its blessings.  He gives to me and you.  Jesus came to Earth to give life.  We in return give back to Him  each and every day of this life.  Give to Him each opportunity you face.  Give to Him each difficulty you face.  He gives to you, you give to Him…… such a satisfying thing.

You and I may always be considered scrawny, weak, insignificant,…… a nobody in this world eyes.  Wait a minute.  Not me!  Not you!  I know I’m somebody!  My roots are in the Rock of Ages.  All that is within me is  reaching up to the Heavens.  The world may not see what I get to see.  I see a wonderful and LIVING relationship between me and my God.  And I must say, I enjoy the view.

tree scenery

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, hiking in the wilderness

 

 

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Stay Connected

I’ve got a Leak!  I’ve got a hundred things to do today.  Now I’ve got a hundred and one things to do.  As I drive down my driveway, I notice water coming from out of the ground.  Uh oh,  The water is spewing from the exact spot where my water line to the house is buried. Uh oh.

A quick trip to town and I’m back with shovel, pipe repair kit and glue, the all important hacksaw, and most important………. me wearing my repairman’s hat.  I’ll fix it myself!!!!

Naturally this happens on a very cold day.  I start digging through mud and water.  Uh oh, I find the pipe.  Uh oh, it’s seriously being choked by tree roots that have grown around the pipe and the joint that hooks the two pieces together.  Uh oh, there’s the leak.  After I move all the mud and dirt away, the water now shoots straight up (and into my face)

A quick trip to the barn and I’m now back with an axe to chop away all the tree roots from around the pipe’s joint. It’s fascinating to me how slowly growing tree roots can over time cause pressure……. pressure enough to break the bonds of this pipe joint.

But it’s Dan the repair man to the rescue!!!!   I’ll just chop away those pesky roots and ……..uh oh.  I nicked a hole in the pipe with the axe. Dang it!

A quick trip to the neighbors to borrow a cutoff wrench so that I can turn off the water at the main meter.  Uh oh I better tell Staci that the water is going to be off for a while. She asks what the problem is and my reply is something like “I’m not sure, but I’m sure it won’t be off for long.”  Uh oh……

I cut the pipe and remove all tree roots from around the pipe.  Honestly, it was a wad of roots the size of a basketball all tangled and woven in a tight mass around this pipe joint.  I placed the repair kit union over the cut pipe and join the two pieces together.  I get to yell what every repairman loves to yell.  “YEEAAAA, I fixed it!”  I turn the water back on expecting to load up all the tools, wash all the mud off of me and my clothes and continue on my day of the other 100 things to do.  Uh oh…….Oh no, I must not have tightened the repair union enough because now it’s leaking like a screen door on a submarine.

A quick trip to borrow Daddy’s pipe wrenches, and I’m back kneeling down in the muddy hole that has grown to the size of a bathtub.  Uh oh, no wait…..,this time I do fix it.  It’s stopped leaking.  “I fixed it” I whispered this time instead of yelling, just so I wouldn’t jinx it.

Lamentations 3:40 (NIV) Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.

Staying Connected……. it’s one of the most important things that we need in our lives.  All kinds of circumstance can become like those roots and choke and put pressure on our connections with God.  Uh oh.  Also the connections we have with other people can begin to “leak”.  Could be slowly over time things start “growing around the pipe”.  We don’t even realize it until well, until the “uh oh” moment.  Now we got to do some repair work.  And that’s when it gets muddy and nasty and well more “uh oh’s”

So, constantly examine your ways and test them.  By that I mean does it seems that you and your relationship to God is not as strong as it should be, or even used to be?  Uh oh, maybe there’s a leak that needs fixin’.

At the same time, what about those relationships with others in your life…… family, friends.  Over time has the connection started to leak.  Better put your repairman’s hat on.  It’s fascinating but also troubling to me how over time small things can “turn a drip, drip leak into a busted pipe” between people.  Uh oh.  Even more troubling is how those leaks and “breaks” between people cause even more leaks and breaks and broken connections between you and God.

My prayer is that you will have few “Uh Oh” moments.  But they happen.  When they do, realize it will be muddy and nasty.  Connections with other people need to be repaired.  There may be a piece of pipe or let’s say a part of your life that will not be the same because of the damage.  You yourself may even get “nicked” in the repair process.  But all in all we are all in this together.  Stay connected in some way.

I am a repairman for my connections in my own life and spiritual journey.  I have come to realize that God’s got the “glue” that works best for me to use, on myself as well as others.  If I focus on staying connected with Him, my connection with others becomes more manageable.  Always will be uh oh’s, always will be leaks.  How we repair these connections will determine if our source of Living Water becomes interrupted or can continue free flowing.

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, plumber, professional “Uh Oher”