Tag Archives: advice

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Walking In My “Bare” Feet

Train up a child in the way he should go!

I told my mother that I’m walking outside in my “bare” feet.  She scolded me and said, “get your socks and shoes on or you’ll catch ‘new moan’yer’.  (Hey, that’s how we pronounce it, so…. that’s how I’ll spell it!)

It reminded me of when I was 12 years old.  She said the same thing back then.  I hated socks and shoes.  Rather be barefoot anytime!  But in a Mother’s eyes, I’m just asking to get sick.  Playing in the rain, or snow, or in mud puddles for some reason didn’t seem like much fun to her.  But, to me….. yeehawwww!

There were many times my parents were “training” me back then.  I’m reminded of it almost every day, because I’ve “used” this training each and every day of my life.  It also reminds me of this……..

Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it.  Proverbs 22:6

I got my training from two wonderful parents.  I’ve given my training to two wonderful children.  So I’ve seen this “training” experience from both sides.  Funny how I’ve passed my parents training of me down to my training of my children.  Yeah, I’ve even told them that “they better quit that or they are gonna catch new moan’yer’.

I think you have got to agree with me that our Heavenly Father also is in the training business.  Least I hope He is cause I need a little help being His Child.  I even ask Him in my prayers for this “training”.  Most of my prayers include asking Him to lead,guide,and direct me.  That’s what I call TRAINING in a most personal way.  Thank you Lord!!  Pray and ask God yourself for this training.

Relax, Mother……… I was outside in the cold in my BEAR feet, not bare feet.  I’ve listened and learned from your advice…….and I thank you as well.

Now, about that “Don’t eat raw brownie mix” advice……………

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wildernesspreacher  a grown man, but still haven’t “growed up”.

 

 

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Why Is The Sky Blue?

You need to understand as a small child

“Why is the sky blue?”, the young child asks.  I’m guessing you would answer the same way I did.  “It’s blue cause, well,……. the colors are….. well, molecules in the air are,…….uhhhh,  the blue light is scattered more than red, and the human eye ah, well, hmmm, we perceive blue color because.  Shoot. C’mon kid, it’s blue just cause that’s the way it is!”

It’s irritating to me that I can’t explain something to this little child.  She’s definitely too young to understand.  She’s too young to have had the experience that I’ve got.  My brain is holding a lot more knowledge than what her tiny new brain would have. Yet, she’s fixin’ to teach me a lesson.

Hey, I should be the teacher here.  I’ve read and studied lots over the years.  My IQ is high enough that I should be able to communicate my thoughts clearly to another person.  Yet here I am stumbling and mumbling trying to explain my thoughts to a 6 year old.  Honestly, it’s because I feel superior to this young child.  What does she know?  Could she even understand what I’m telling her in the first place. (Even if I didn’t stumble and mumble.)  Wait a few years kid, then you’ll be able to understand things (just as good as me).

 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18: 2-4

When I asked the young girl why she thought the sky was blue she gave a short, precise, and confident answer.  “God made it that way”.  (And she didn’t even mumble or stumble with her words.

Bam!  Showed me who the teacher is.  Bam!  Showed me who has faith. Bam!  That little baby girl showed me how to live!!

We live in a world where knowledge is important.  If we don’t know an answer we “google it”, we ask Siri, we seek most all of our answers by seeking more knowledge.  I guess that’s good,……. it makes us more “smart”.

To live in a Christian spiritual world, we must come as a small young child.  That is, we must seek answers to our life’s questions in a trusting way.  Show up each day with questions, but come as a child.  Curious, but not already filled with doubts and fears.We must look to God for answers and KNOW and BELIEVE IN HIM.  Easier said than done, right?

Oh, it’s hard!!  Because you “done growed up”.  You now think as a grown person.  There is more value in understanding how something works than in trusting that it works.  There is this perception that if you have faith and trust, it’s a sign of weakness. Wrong.  It’s a sign that you are thinking as a child.  A child of the King.  A child in the Heavenly Kingdom right here and now on this Earth.  Bam!!   Thank You my Heavenly Father!!

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher    and “Never growing up”

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I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

You Are Not To Be Alone In This Christian Journey

It’s My log house!  But I need help from my friends to complete it.  I’ve built it, but I needed help with the construction up high, (since I’m scared of heights).

I also needed help with the tedious, hard to fit, most precise pieces of this puzzle that I call a log home.  I’m not good with exact measurements.  “Eyeball” measurements are what I use.  Make it close enough and that’s good enough.  If I’m building this house and make a measurement and it’s within a half inch of what it’s supposed to be, then “nailer tailer”.  That means it’s close enough, so to me it’s good enough!!

But not my friends from the construction crew.  Nope,….. Stuart, Chris, Rip, and Scott want the best for my log house.  They want the best for me!!!

Being within a half inch may be “good enough” for me, but it’s totally unacceptable to these guys.  Get this.  They will saw, cut, measure, move, pry, measure, shimmy, adjust, measure, and then measure again until it’s within an eighth of an inch!  That’s the space between these to lines. (II) In a house measured in feet, they won’t stop until what they are constructing measures to within 1/8 of an inch of being exact, of being perfect.

They are my friends.  I’ll admit I couldn’t do this without them.  They can see things that I wasn’t looking for or even that I myself wasn’t even aware of in my own log house.

They are able to make My log home even better than what I myself could be doing.  Why are they doing this?  Like I’ve said, they are my friends.  They want what’s best for me.

Well, that’s great and all.  But it’s my house, and honestly I grow tired of waiting.  I grow impatient.  I grow “antsy” because it’s taking too much time.  I grow restless, I grow annoyed.  But I grow,…….hmmm I grow to be more exact and perfected.

Don’t get me wrong, this log house is full of crooked logs, bent, scarred, and full of (Character/flaws).  But with the help of my friends, it’s being “perfected”.  Kinda like how our lives as Christians are being perfected.  You and I are all full of scars,we are crooked,we have flaws (or character) and yet, God is “perfecting” us each day.  Lots of times, it’s with the help of our friends.

Hey, I know, you and I don’t enjoy having other people tell us what to do.  We certainly don’t like people telling us how to live our lives.  I’ll confess. I’m at the top of that list.  But I’m not talking about people in general.  Not the know- it-alls, the busybodies, the do-it-my-way people.  What I’m talking about are the true friends.  Friends who care about you, who want the best for you.  Friends whether they realize it or not,………..that are being used by God to “make you a little more exact and perfect”.

James 1:4 and let steadfastness have its full effect,that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Proverbs 19:20  Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.  Many are the plans in a persons heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Is my log house perfect?  N0 way!!  But with the help from my friends, it has become more exact and more close to perfect.

Is my life perfect?  No way!!  But with the help from my friends, It is growing to become more exact and more close to what God wants me to be.

This coming week, I’ll be at a men’s retreat with a bunch of guys who are my friends.  The Noble Heart is an online group of guys who help each other with their God given calling.  They help each other continue on this Christian journey, they offer support, they pray.  They are true friends.

Is your life perfect?  Aw c’mon no way right?  Do you allow your friends and family to offer help and advice on how to live your life?

Maybe, just maybe one of those “good for nothing” friends is actually being used by God to make an improvement in your life.  Maybe just maybe one of those family members may be God’s way of getting through your thick skull so that you can be made better, more exact, even more perfected.

Think about it.  You belong to God.  He wants the best for Himself.  He will perfect you and make you more exact to what He wants you to be.  In spite of ALL your flaws, He is in the being made perfect and whole business.  Don’t rob your friends and family of the opportunity of letting God use them to speak some words of advice to you.

It’s your house, I mean it’s your life.  You must decide who,what, when to listen to.  Your friends just may be how God chooses to GROW you.

“Lord, I thank you for my friends.  Help me to know and understand when You may be speaking thru them to get to me.  Help me become more exact and “perfect” to what you’ve created me to be.  Help me to truly care for others so that You may use me to speak to another.  Amen.”

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher