Sunday July 20, 2025 – An outrigger for those in need around you

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 34:18  The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.In church we sang a song that had a verse that really touched me.  It spoke of the tired and weary, the lost and lonely, and the brokenhearted.  All of us have probably experienced all these things at one time or another.  Hopefully in those times, we have experienced the closeness of the Lord and been blessed by His love and presence.  But each of these can be formidable things to deal with.

The thing that I was particularly struck by was the thought of all those around us, who may or may not know Jesus, who are experiencing one or more of these things.  Take a moment to think of those in your circle of relationships.  Are there any who are tired and weary?  I don’t think this is talking about physical tiredness that comes from working hard or doing something physically demanding.  It seems that it is referring to a weariness of spirit, which would be similar to one being lost or lonely, or brokenhearted.  Typically, these conditions come with discouragement.

An illustration that has really been helpful to me is that of an outrigger on a canoe.  It is there to stabilize the canoe in turbulent water.  I’ve found that there are times when we’re able to come along side of a friend or coworker who’s going through difficulties and the Lord enables us to function like an outrigger on their canoe as they go through ‘whitewater’ in their life.  We’re there to encourage; pray with them; listen to them; give help and advice if asked; possibly share our faith.  The Lord gives us the opportunity to help them keep their ‘canoe’ from tipping over.  We’re there to help them get through the difficulties.  It’s all about loving them.

It’s not about evangelizing – it’s about being the fragrance of Christ.  It’s about being salt and light.  It’s about loving those around us – being able to touch them with the love of God.  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted – and sometimes He wants us to be the ones, through whom, they experience Him.,

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Saturday July 19, 2025 – His impact on the unexpected

Posted on July 19, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing.

The unexpected is a fact of life.  Think how often in our daily routine that we encounter the unexpected.  Simple things: running out of paper, ink, dish detergent, the shirt you were going to wear is in the laundry, the lawn mower won’t start; your appointment is delayed.  Then there are those that are a little more noteworthy: traffic jams, canceled appointments, a friend lets you down, something is forgotten by someone who shouldn’t forget, the car breaks down, extra work is dumped on you in your job….

These (and many other) things when viewed from a distance don’t seem to be so bad – annoying maybe – but they aren’t major issues.  We usually don’t perceive them as tests of our faith.  They don’t fall into the category of losing a job, losing investments, losing a loved one, being injured in an accident, being betrayed by a friend, discovering you have a life threatening disease, etc….

But all of these things, whether big or small, have something important in common.  They are all opportunities.  Opportunities for what you ask?  Each and every one of them gives us the opportunity to reflect the reality of our life in Christ.  These opportunities are windows into our soul that give insight to those around us – and ourselves if we have eyes to see it.

Take a moment now and re-read today’s verse.  Now, read it again, out loud, pausing after the first phrase.  This verse describes an unshakeable, bedrock reality that God intends to
become ours as we walk in His ways – truly becoming a disciple of Jesus.  It becomes the reality of who we are to the depth of our being.  The reality of God in our lives is an unshakeable settled-ness that is reflected in our responses to everything we encounter.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I lack nothing.  Although a storm may be raging around us, it’s peaceful in the boat.  The storm doesn’t shake us.  Jesus is our Shepherd and the reality of our life in Him is reflected in all of the unexpected ‘opportunities’ we encounter.  Hopefully, that reflected reality is of someone walking in His ways.

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Friday July 18, 2025 – The difference of “we have to” and “we get to”

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Joshua 23:11  So be very diligent to love the LORD your God for your own well-being.  (Holman)

One of the things so precious to me is what I typically experience during the worship portion of our Sunday service.  It is a mix of wonder, gratitude, amazement and heartfelt love that Yahweh – our God – is my father and has made me His own.  I am one of His sons!  He is not distant – nor is He aloof.  He is my loving father.

Our four sons, John, Jamie, Andrew and Michael, will hug and kiss me when we see each other.  They will do this anywhere in front of anyone.  And our hugs are not perfunctory or just a little embrace, a little squeeze.  Our hugs are experiences in themselves!  We will embrace and hold each other tightly and just ooze with love and affection and joy in each other.  We then look at each other and smile.  My sons love me – and I love them. (I am in tears sitting here just thinking of my sons and the blessing they are to me).

This is what I experience with our Lord!  At times I want to pinch myself because it is so unbelievable. This is what He wants for all of us!  But this isn’t the end of it.  He gives us a way to respond so that we can experience the joy of giving back to Him.  We love Him in return.  Yes, we are commanded to love Him.  But when we understand how He loves us, our loving response isn’t a “have to” but a “get to”.  WE GET TO LOVE HIM IN RETURN!  We GET TO walk in His ways!

But it gets even more amazing!  The more that our lives express genuine love for Him, the more He enables us to experience His limitless love for us!  There is so much of Him that we will not experience if we don’t.  In reality, He’s given us the ‘keys’ to a storehouse of His treasure that He wants us to have – if only we choose to use them.

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Thursday July 17, 2025 – Focusing on Him turns darkness into light

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places
smooth.  These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

This promise to Israel is a promise from the Lord for us as well.  You might have to read the verse several times to have it sink in. The Lord quickened this verse to me several years ago while I was in Brazil visiting my son John and his family.  It was a time when I was really struggling with direction and God’s plan for me.  I was having difficulty understanding what was going on in my life in terms of job/ministry/direction.

The “details” of my daily life were giving me problems as I grappled with them.  At the same time, I did understand that the Lord wanted me to walk in faith.  My struggle was between focusing on the Lord and dealing with my circumstances that I didn’t understand – back and forth.

Into this mix one morning, the Lord gave me this verse as a token of kindness.  It says that there are times in our walk with the Lord when He leads us in ways we have not known, along unfamiliar paths.  Our unfamiliarity translates into darkness, like finding our way on an unfamiliar hiking trail in the dark through treacherous terrain.  We usually aren’t aware that He is leading us because we simply find ourselves in difficult unfamiliar circumstances and have to deal with them.

But here is where the faith element comes in.  He will turn the darkness into light – our anxiety and distress over where we find ourselves is replaced by the peaceful confidence that comes from Him.  Think of being on that hiking trail in the dark in treacherous terrain and having a trusted guide meet you.  We still have to traverse the trail but we’re not alone.  The presence of this guide and our justified confidence in Him results in the rough places becoming smooth.

Our problem is that we are so inclined to focus on our troubling circumstances.  The Lord wants us to understand that life is filled with these situations – but He is always with us.  That is reality, not just a theological promise.  We might not know where we’re going or the details of how things will work out, but we have our God with us.  He provides the light in our darkness.  He guides and strengthens us in the journey.  He delivers us from fear and uncertainty. That is something to rejoice in no matter what else is going on!

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Wednesday July 16, 2025 – Life is filled with ‘soufflés’

Posted on July 16, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

This morning I would like us to consider a cooking illustration.  Do we view God’s word like recipe cards?  They sit on a shelf or in a drawer until we want to cook a dish where we need the specific recipe. Even then, we might think we are familiar enough with the recipe so we go ahead without looking for it. I did this with one of my favorite casseroles lately – twice – and both times I forgot something.

We’ve all grown up around kitchens, so we have a familiarity with cooking.  We can fry eggs; make sandwiches; use the microwave to warm up a dish; etc…  Typically, the ladies who have raised families are much more knowledgeable about cooking because they’ve had to learn.  They answer our questions like, ‘What temperature do I use?’  ‘Where do you keep the blender?’  ‘How do I keep it from sticking to the skillet?’

We are able to function in a kitchen because of familiarity – so long as it’s kept simple.  Just don’t ask us to make a soufflé! Or gravy!  Or pie crusts!  This issue of familiarity can be a very serious problem in our lives as Christians.  We’ve been around church and have a general sense of things to do or not do.  We’ve read parts of the Bible so we have a ‘feel’ for what the Christian life should be.  The problem is life is filled with ‘soufflés’.  In fact, the Christian life requires us to live in the ‘cookbook’ not just hunt for a recipe card on occasion.

Today’s verse offers a nice parallel.  If we have to walk in the dark, we would always have a light with us, even if we are familiar with the path – let alone if we are dealing with rocky, uneven or unknown terrain.  It enables us to walk safely and securely – avoiding unexpected obstacles.  Familiarity with the Christian life is no substitute for having an intimate, thorough knowledge and understanding of God’s word.  Life is filled with ‘darkness’ even in the middle of the day, where decisions have to be made right then.  God’s word within us provides the ‘light’ to guide our steps no matter how difficult or unfamiliar the terrain.

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Tuesday July 15, 2025 – Not just the absence of the negative!

Posted on July 15, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Who are our companions?

Yesterday we talked about the idea of companions – not being people but instead referring to the attributes that characterize our lives.  We were looking at affliction and used the example of Frodo and the Company of the Ring.  The journey he volunteered to undertake to destroy the ring of power (affliction) was made so much better by the companions who began the journey with him.  Instead of Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, etc… we considered joy, hope, patience, faithfulness and prayer as the ‘companions’ of affliction and how powerfully they impact our lives (Romans 12:12).

This idea of referring to attributes as ‘companions’ has really captured me because I’ve never thought of it this way before.  If you’re a parent and your child is going out to be with friends, you’ve asked that child who are they going to be with – who are they hanging out with?  When the son or daughter provides the names of the friends, it’s not the names that are so important; it’s the attributes we associate with those names that characterize those individuals.  Do they have good character?  What kind of reputation do they have?

Likewise, who are our ‘companions’?  Consider the ‘companions’ listed in these two verses:

  Colossians 3:5a  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

This reminds me of the red and white  stones I encountered on my trip to Afghanistan in 2007.  We visited villages far from metropolitan areas.  Along side some of the roads we traveled on were sections where every few yards there were small stones that had a brush-stroke of paint on them.  The stones were painted either red or white.  What did they mean?

Afghanistan had experienced years and years of war resulting in many minefields – areas where explosive devices had been planted.  The white stones indicated fields that the military had ‘swept’, meaning they had been cleared of the mines.  The red stones indicated fields that had not been swept free of mines.  To walk in those areas marked by the red stones would likely result in serious injury or death.  No matter where we were going we paid attention to red stones and avoided those areas.

The Scriptures warn us that the earthly nature ‘companions’ of the first verse are ‘red stones’; they result in serious harm and we are warned to avoid those ‘fields’.  Those of the second verse are ‘white stones’ but they are so much more than merely the absence of the bad.  They don’t just reflect a ‘mineless’ field where the serious dangers have been removed, but fruitful fields.  The ‘white stones’ are the presence of the good – the qualities God desires and commands us to develop.

Who are our companions?  Do we surround ourselves with white stones?  Or do we have a mixture of red and white stones?  – meaning we have danger areas in our lives that can cause great harm both to ourselves and those around us.  Jesus wants our ‘fields’ swept clean!

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Monday July 14, 2025 – Thank God for these special companions

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Romans 12:12  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Isn’t it fascinating that of the six items identified in the above verse, only the one we generally perceive as negative is a given in our lives?  All of the others can be companions that radically change the nature of our journey.  The Lord of the Rings offers another helpful picture in this regard.  Remember the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring, when they are discussing the ring and how to destroy it?  In the heaviness of that discussion, Frodo steps forward and says “I will take the ring though I do not know the way.”

For this difficult journey (think affliction), Frodo knows that at least he will have Sam with him.  But Elrond informs him that they will not be alone.  There is to be a ‘Company of the Ring’, and that company will include those most important to him.  Great is Frodo’s joy when he finds this out because he knows and trusts most of these companions.  They will make the journey so much better for they will help him find the way and he won’t be alone.

Affliction is our journey.  But instead of us having Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Sam, and the others accompanying us, we have the opportunity to have Joy, Hope, Patience, Faithfulness and Prayer as our companions.  We are not alone in the midst of the afflictions we face.  These are the ‘companions’ that the Lord wants us to cultivate and have because He knows how incredibly important they are to our journey.

In 1969 I went on a short-term mission trip to Columbia with a group of high school and college students.  I wound up losing about 20 pounds on the trip fighting off Montezuma’s revenge.  Included in our adventure was a very difficult trek of several miles back through the mountainous jungle to a village.  When it was time to return from the village, I was exhausted with no strength, facing miles of muddy mountain trails.  (Think of the muddy slides in Romancing the Stone – we did that.)  Thank God that on this return trip there were donkey’s to carry our backpacks.  I didn’t have to carry that weight – and I had a staff to lean on!  We still had to walk out of the jungle but my load was lighter.  The Lord enabled me to do it, one step at a time – for miles!!  That is an example of how these marvelous companions can impact our journey!

One more thought about the Company of the Ring.  I particularly like Frodo’s joyous reaction upon learning that Aragorn (Strider) will be with him!  Aragorn is the true king.  In addition to the above companions, we too have the true King with us as well.  Jesus promised to never leave us or forsake us.  These other companions all enable us to better experience the wonder and blessing of His presence.

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Sunday July 13, 2025 – Inspiration of artist painting during worship

Posted on July 13, 2025 by Don Schmidt

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

For many years we lived in NE Ohio and attended a wonderful church named St. Luke’s.  The worship was particularly good and much to our blessing St. Luke’s was really involved with the arts. Drama, mime, dance, pageantry, painting were all part of the church-life there.

One of our favorite examples of the arts was when an artist would paint during the worship service (that typically lasted for 45 – 50 minutes).  St. Luke’s was blessed with a number of fine artists.  On Sunday morning, if an artist’s easel with a blank canvas was up front on the platform, we knew that a special blessing was coming.  The artist would begin painting when the worship started.

The artist would paint what was in their heart as moved by the worship.  We would sing and the artist would paint – inspiring one another.  The painting would always involve some aspect of faith.  The Lord used the gifting of the artist to enhance our worship and draw us closer to Him.  The painting would be sufficiently done by the end of worship for everyone to be blessed by what the artist had accomplished.

Importantly it was never about the artist – it was always about the Lord.  Fortunately many of the paintings have become prints that may be purchased and enjoyed.  My favorite one of all is a representation of today’s verse.  It is painting of a beautiful blue urn riddled with cracks showing the golden glory of God filling it and shining out through all the cracks.   Thankfully it is a print we own.

We have been blessed by this print for many years.  It is such a wonderful reminder of the dynamic we enjoy with the Lord.  He fills us with his love and glory in order that He would shine out through our lives – in spite of the vessels of clay that we are.

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Saturday July 12, 2025 – Becoming wise builders!

Posted on July 12, 2025 by Don Schmidt

NOTE: The Lord is those in with Kerr County Texas in the midst of the incredible flooding!

Matthew 7:24  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

In my NIV Bible, the heading for this portion of scripture is “The Wise and Foolish Builders”. How we respond to the words of Jesus determines the foundation of the house we build.  It’s a major league choice that we have because the alternatives are rock or sand.  The structures built upon rock survive the storms and floods while those built upon sand don’t.

Yesterday I used the Three Little Pigs children’s story as an illustration of foolish choices and misplaced trust.  The first two little pigs were more interested in playing than working and took the shortcuts that enabled them to play.  They didn’t consider the consequences of their decisions until it was too late.  In terms of today’s scripture, they were the foolish builders.  Their homes built of straw or sticks are the equivalent of building them upon the sand.

The third little pig built correctly.  He was the wise builder and his home of bricks is the equivalent of building upon a rock foundation.  It not only withstands the storm and wind (huffing and puffing), but it withstands the floods as well.  When the foundation of a house goes – the house goes with it.  The issue is to be able to withstand whatever comes.

Such a simple story yet it’s significance is profound: doing things the right way leads to good results, while doing them the wrong way leads to catastrophic results.  The obvious question then is how do we determine what the right way is?  Or more accurately, what are the right ways?

Every area of life is affected: how we live, work, raise our children, relate to others, treat our spouse, respond to our parents – to authority, to responsibility – it goes on and on.  There are so many ‘voices’ saying, “This is the way.” – and so many of them lead to building upon sand – houses of straw or sticks.

How do we recognize the wise from the foolish?  Jesus makes it clear that the answer is hearing His words AND putting them into practice.  His words aren’t suggestions where we can pick and choose.  Nor do we have the option of not becoming familiar with what they are – our lives are to embrace them.  We are to become so a part of them that they are engraved upon our lives.  Let us set our hearts upon becoming wise builders so that every area of our lives will glorify our Lord.

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Friday July 11, 2025 – What are we building?

Posted on July 11, 2025 by Don Schmidt

Isaiah 31:1  Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

Once upon a time there were 3 little pigs.  One built his home out of straw.  The second built his home out of sticks, while the third built his out of bricks.  The wolf comes upon each of the pigs in their homes with the result that straw and sticks are no match for his ‘huffing and puffing’.  Their houses get blown down and they suffer the consequences.  But the wolf was no match for the third little pig with the brick home.  Not only did it withstand his ‘huffing and puffing’, but this little pig outwits the wolf resulting in the end of the wolf.  He also wasn’t shaking with fear at the wolf at the door.  He actively countered whatever the wolf tried.

Right now there is a whole lot of ‘huffing and puffing’ going on all around us.  So many things seem to be taking on a threatening nature.  How are we responding to it?  Is our ‘house’ beginning to shake and come apart?  Do we find ourselves awake at night consumed with fear – because of the ‘wolf’ at the door?  Where do we turn for help and assurance?  Where do we place our trust?

The Israelites were tempted to go down to Egypt for help because they had horses and chariots and horsemen for hire – in spite of God’s warning not to.  With the threat of enemy armies approaching, it seems reasonable to want something that can be seen versus trusting what isn’t seen.  But it’s where do we place our faith?  It’s tempting to succumb to the worldly wisdom that faith is nice but we need something that we can get our hands on.  If we’re going to be in a ‘war’, we need an army; we need to be able to defend ourselves.

Fortunately, God is calling us, if we only have ears to hear and eyes to see.  We are to look to Him, the Holy One of Israel, to seek help from the LORD.  Even if we’ve built our lives out of ‘straw’ or ‘sticks’, it is never too late to turn to Him.  He not only will be there for us, He will likely lead us to those who have built their lives with ‘bricks’ so that we might learn of His ways from them.  He will use them to help us to stand securely in the circumstances we face.  God loves to overcome the ‘wolves’ in our lives when we truly turn to Him.

Tomorrow we will talk about the relationship of the bricks and the Rock.

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