I’m building a log chair.  Should be a rather simple process of putting a bunch of sticks together right?  But you see that one short log spindle laying on the ground in front of the chair?  That one piece has caused the whole log chair to not fit.  The small spindle was cut to fit on the left arm side.  When placed in the holes cut specifically for it, it fit!!  It fit perfect!!  But every one of the other spindles and logs were suddenly no longer tight.

Still in a delay and waiting on building the log house, I chose this log chair project as an afternoon chore.  A simple design, small logs and limbs readily available, the building task was begun.  But instead of a quick construction of my own chair, it became a time when I scratched my head, measured and re-measured.  This fitting together of several log pieces has become perplexing,confusing, and……..a mystery.

How can one piece cause all the others to not fit?  How can all the pieces of the chair fit tightly, until I add the one single perfectly cut piece.  Then the chair is as “loose as a goose”.

Honestly I never figured it out.  Maybe the holes were cut at an angle, or the spindle was bent, or my measuring was off.  What ever the reason, it didn’t fit.  So,……… I got rid of what I thought was the perfect fitting log spindle, and replaced it with another.  Lo and behold if the chair  now fits perfectly together all over.  The connections are tight.  I’m on my way to having a tight fitting homemade log chair.  Never quite figured out the mystery, but the chair is being completed.

⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  Ephesians 1:8-10 NIV

Friends, if I can’t figure out the mystery of my log chair, then this spiritual MYSTERY of how God wants to Be in our lives is even more complicated to explain.  Through Christ, God “constructs” a perfect fit for us to be with Him.  Our own way of thinking sometimes causes us to try to add what we think is a “perfect fitting piece” to our spiritual life.  But that seems like when our whole spiritual existence becomes “loose as a goose”.  Solution???  Better to let God do the measuring, the carving, the whittling in our lives.  Better to let God have control.  Why God would send His Son into the world for little ole me and you is….. well, it’s a mystery.

I love a mystery.  When the mystery is being lived out daily, maybe I need to focus more on the mysteries and not necessarily trying so hard to solve them.

I’m now looking forward to sitting in my log chair pondering life’s mysteries.  Knowing and believing my God has all the solutions gives me a relaxing fresh breath of life.  It’s still a mystery………

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wildernesspreacher, “scratchin’ my head as I go through life”.

During the making and construction of the log home, I used 5 gallons of chainsaw chain oil, wore out 5 pairs of jeans, destroyed three pairs of gloves, reduced 7 chains on the chainsaw to “nubbins”, obliterated a pair of knee pads, tattered two shirts, ruined a hat, severely cut my finger, and I wrestled with a double case of tennis elbow.  (A doctors term is tennis elbow, I think in my case it should be called chainsaw elbow.)  I also had my dancing partner for the last year to die on me.

That’s right.  Ole Sally Sue, the chainsaw, she “up and died on me”.  It was a challenge to see who would go first, me or her.  See, together we “danced” through many a tree, log, post, and beam.   I whooped it, she didn’t whoop me! (Read her obit here next week!)  First, I’d like to share this week’s blog.  Join me as I share part of my life.

The experiences that took place over the past year have led to one great experience of my building a log home.  I experienced a lot of learning.  I experienced a lot of frustrations.  I experienced a lot of situations that actually required thinking my way through.  I experienced the pride and joy of accomplishing a task.  I experienced the satisfaction of using my own hands to build something that I will call my own.  I experienced the total failure when MY chainsaw refused to crank for ME!!  I experienced the heavenly taste of a cold glass of sweet tea.  I experienced working while sick as a mule.   I experienced the highs, the lows, the temporary failures, the success of two cuts fitting together.  I experienced SO much that these experiences can only be summed up like this.  I am an experienced log home builder.

Yep, I am having so many experiences building this log home (and I wouldn’t have it any other way), that I can’t tell them all.  I enjoy reading a book that teaches me how to do something.  Better yet, I enjoy actually doing what I’ve just read and learned to do.  But this learning process,………..  these experiences that give me experience,…… this learning and gaining knowledge (at least in my case) seems to come from the mistakes, the boo-boos, the slip ups, and the downright failures.  I guess what I’m saying is that I learn from my mistakes.  I learn much more from MY mistakes than I do from other peoples’ successes.

One big thing I’ve learned from all these experiences??     A mistake is not a mistake if you’ve learned from it.  It’s now called a “learning moment“!   You’ve now heard that from a guy “with experience”!

A wise man (my father) once shared with me these great words of wisdom.  “Son, you’ll know what you are doing by the time you get through”.

I bet I will Dad.  By the time I get finished I will have experienced a lot of experiences!  That will make me experienced!  (Tire of that word yet?)

The job market out there in today’s world has a lot of requirements.  Whatever careers, job titles, or occupations, I’ve noticed one thing.  While most require some type of education (college degree), there seems to be a rushing wave of jobs out there that require someone with experience.  I’m beginning to realize what these job openings are asking for is this.  We need men and women who have encountered mistakes (oops, I mean learning moments) in their lives.  This type of experience is vital in this world today.

What about your experiences you are having in your spiritual journey right now?  Can you say that you are seeing a lot of “learning moments”?

Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25: 4-5

See Ya!  Dan Ainsworth  Experienced wilderness preacher,  experienced log home builder, experienced sweet tea drinker