Follow the Red Blaze

Before Easter weekend, winter's grip was released on a lovely sunny day. With just a few fluffy clouds on a backdrop of blue, I laced on my running shoes to nab a few miles and capture sunshine on my shoulders. "Siri" led me to the south of Murfreesboro (outside of Nashville), Tennessee. Off I-24 is a great little part-suburban park known as Barfield Crescent Park which seems to have two sections: Community ball and Frisbee parks and the hiking & picnic area. For the nature lover, there are roughly 7 miles of trails -some paved and unpaved- from the Volunteer Road parking lot.

At the Wilderness Station, I inquired of the 3 mile loop. A complimentary map was given with the instruction to "Follow the Red Blaze" marking my route. Easy enough. Off I went for my trail run over rocks and roots and foot bridges, up and down to the river, traversing my way along an old rock fence and past chattering families enjoying the trails. 

It did not occur to me until I saw the photos from my trek as to the spiritual symbolism of my instruction to "Follow the Red Blaze." C'mon, work with me...I can make most anything a teaching point for God!

Jesus willingly laid down His life and shed His life's blood on the cross as a blaze marking my way of redemption to God! He rose to life taking the keys of sickness and the grave and hell with Him. Death couldn't hold Him! He said that I could have a life free of bondage and have eternal life with God the Father when I ask Him to forgive my sins and choose to live my life loving and following His instructions...and you can, too! Just "Follow the Red Blaze."

For God so loved the World 

that He gave His only Son.

Whoever believes in Him will not die,

but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God

and it is by openly declaring your faith

that you are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!

Romans 10:13

That Which Was Lost

When Jesus spoke these words, He had just invited himself to dinner with a man who had let greed (and short-man syndrome) govern his life. During those hours reclining around the table, the savior spoke life back into a man who had lost something from the time he was a boy to just before the moment he, now an adult, climbed a tree to see the Savior walk by. 

We lose stuff daily and are not aware we have misplaced glasses, keys, cell phones and t.v. remotes until that item is needed. Frantically rushing around the house, we attempt to recall the last time we saw it.

What if we lost something more valuable? 

Hope. Dreams. Talent. Joy. Desire. Self-esteem. Creativity. Passion. (You name it.)

What if for years, because of failures or distractions we kept choking down the lie that we'll never do or become what our younger selves set out to accomplish? When did life become about surviving instead of thriving? 

Feared lost, that uniqueness which God created in us is still there, buried deep under years of numbing denial of its existence. Perhaps the only reminder being the sting of contempt for ourselves ever having thought it was possible. 

All is not lost.

I believe the Son of God came to save us from sin. I am convinced He can help us locate and reignite the spark we slowly allowed to be snuffed out. Hope. Dreams. Talent. Joy. Desire. Self-esteem. Creativity. Passion. (You name it.) I know Jesus came to find us...every part of us.

The Best Things in Life are Costly

We've all heard the The Beatles banging out the lyrics "The best things in life are free, But you can keep them for the birds and bees. Now, give me money. That's what I want!" And, who doesn't want money? A topic for another day.

The best things in life are free. Now, there's a subject!

Free typically is a ploy to draw you into a bargain that is going to cost you something. "BOGO"- See what I mean?

The best things in life are costly. Please keep reading. I'm not promoting lifestyles dripping with diamonds and custom Bentleys. If the stuff accumulated in my life were to melt away, what would be left? 

I am a believer in the living and loving God. Although free to me, that relationship would cost Him dearly. 

For God so loved the world

He gave His only son

And whoever believes in Him will not perish

But have eternal life.

John 3:16

I am an American living in the Land of the Free. It is quite sobering when acknowledging the cost of freedom. Men and women gave their lives for me to claim and enjoy this earthen right. From the first immigrant stepping on to our rich soil a couple of hundred years ago to the U.S. soldier stepping on an IED, yesterday, it cost dearly. 

Upon learning five brothers had been lost during the Civil War, it is reported President Abraham Lincoln sent these words of comfort to Mrs. Lydia Bixby...

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,--
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln

The best free things in my life are costly. Freedom and Salvation. Money could never afford those things.