The Old Stories

Posted on May 20, 2017 by James Gorton

On the road from Sante Fe, NM to Taos, NM, Nadine and I passed some old vehicles that we just had to stop and photograph.DSC_0166

I wonder the old stories that this Fire Truck could tell if it only could talk.  I wonder how many fires it was driven to  or cars that were on fire that it had to put out.  It no longer is in working order, but there are stories behind the red paint.

What about this one?

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It was a convertible and probably wasn’t used in the northern states, but isn’t it awesome to look at.  The white paint didn’t deter it from getting to the locations to douse the flames of a burning house or building.  The bumper shows the wear and tear this vehicle went through doing its job in seeking to prevent loss of life and property.

And how about these?

Both of these fire trucks have many stories that if told could hold our attention for hours.    These are fire trucks but have multitudes of stories that inspire us and give us clues to the rich history they came from.

Unfortunately in our society, we often treat our elderly just like these fire engines.  We park them into the retirement years and allow the grass to grow around them not thinking another thing about how they could enlighten us as to what they did in helping to impact our society.  We zoom by our elderly and pay little to no attention to where they are parked or what kind of stories they could bring to the table to enrich our lives.

On this journey, we have the opportunity to stop and ask some questions  to those our society has parked on the sidelines of life.  Unlike these fire engines, we have the privilege of seeking to find out those old stories that will cause us to appreciate the older generation and what they did to build a foundation for this and future generations.

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Assumption Versus Reality

Posted on May 19, 2017 by James Gorton

I have driven the road from Phoenix to Flagstaff to Albuquerque and then up to Colorado Springs numerous times over the 32+ years.  It was in 1985 that we moved to Scottsdale and have gone back to my roots regularly to visit my family.  There is a place outside Flagstaff about 60 miles that I have passed over the years and have never stopped.  It’s called the Petrified Forest National Park.  It can be seen from the road as there are several trees and a couple of buildings.

I assumed that someone found a couple of petrified trees and put them in the buildings off the road and tried to get you to stop to see the tree or a couple of trees that had been petrified.  Needless to say I never stopped because of my assumption.  Who would want to stop only to see the petrified trees in a museum?  I wouldn’t and so I never stopped.  Not until Nadine expressed her inquisitiveness and wanted to stop this last trip so I obliged.  It would only take a few minutes and a maximum of 30.

Come to find out the building was just the start of a road that meandered thru 17 miles (one way) of fascinating places of petroglyphs and petrified forests that blew my mind.

There were these big logs that had fallen down and became petrified over thousands of years (pictures on the bottom).  Then there were these huge logs in the middle right picture that were taller than Nadine when she stood next to them.  In washed out ravines were numerous pieces of petrified trees that had accumulated as a result of rain that washed the trees down the slopes.  We spent over 3 1/2 hours at the petrified park and could have spent more time.

What I assumed to be the case turned out to be something entirely different.  How many times do I (we) make assumptions of what someone is about to say and turn them off because we think we know what we will hear?  How often do we assume what the end result will be and never travel down the road of investigation to find out that we were so wrong in our initial thought process?  Do we make assumptions of what someone will be based on their dress or the kind of car they drive and never find out who that person really is by doing some investigative questioning?  Assumptions are deadly as I found out with my assumption about the petrified forest.

On this journey, our minds will create many assumptions about events, situations, challenging issues, and people that we encounter.  Our job is to cut away those assumptions and take the first step of investigation.  Who knows whether we might find something that blows our mind.

 

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Keeping The Traditions Alive

Posted on May 18, 2017 by James Gorton

Traditions in family life are very important.  Traditions in the family create the foundations for legacies to be built for future generations.  I began a tradition about thirty-five years ago when I had a scavenger hunt for my oldest child at Christmas time.  Debi had to figure out the various clues that would send her to the next clue and ultimately to the last clue that would end with her best gift.  I have been doing that every year at Christmas and at Easter for the last thirty-five years.  I now have a scavenger hunt for the grandkids and a more difficult one for the older kids.

Today my middle daughter got engaged to a wonderful man who had a scavenger hunt leading her to eventually being surprised as he proposed to her and she accepted.  Traditions.  They’re what hold families together and give meaning to the term family.

Nadine and I recently toured Taos Pueblo, a place where Native American Indians in New Mexico still live without running water or electricity or bathrooms.  They do this because they don’t want their children to forget the traditions of their roots.

As you can see in the lower right picture they still cook their food in these mounds heated by wood.  Traditions.  The picture to the left is the remains of the church that the Taos Indians flocked to as the last stand before the Spanish burned it to the ground with many of the tribe in it.  It remains as a memorial to those who went before to seek to preserve their culture.  Traditions.  Legacy.

Moses gave us a template for taking truth to the next generation.  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”  Deuteronomy‬ ‭6:4-9‬ ‭Moses exhorted the older generation to teach the truths to the next generation.  That teaching can be through words as well as traditions.

On this journey there will be temptations to gravitate to the fast and easy path.  Holding onto traditions of our family  may take longer but in the end those traditions will be passed to the next generation and the next.  It may mean that you choose to start a tradition that will eventuate in being carried to the next generation.

 

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Giving Up Bad Habits

Posted on May 13, 2017 by James Gorton

Bad Habits are hard to break.  Smoking.  Drinking.  Eating sweets.  Outbursts of anger.  Swearing.  Pornography.  Speeding.  Running red lights.  California stops.  Unhealthy relationships.  Biting nails.  Negative thinking.  Gossip.  Cutting others down.  Sarcasm.  I could go on and on about bad behaviors and habits that invade our space.  We want to quit, but can’t seem to quit.

What is it that prevents us from giving up a bad habit?  What stops us from wiping it from our minds and actions and choosing a healthier path to take?  What is it in the habit that holds our attention and draws us back into that pattern of behavior?  These seem to have easy answers if only we could live by a counselor who guaranteed to fix any bad behavior in two minutes.  A client came into him wanting to be cured of his bad habit and told the counselor what his problem was.  When the counselor understood the problem, he responded to the client by raising his voice and giving the client the answer.  “STOP IT!!!!!!”  “STOP IT!!!!!”  “THAT’S YOUR ANSWER.  STOP IT”

Wouldn’t it be that easy if we could just stop it.  The problem with bad habits involves at least a couple of factors.  Familiarity with the habit, and pleasure.  When we eat sweets, we are familiar with the sweetness of the food, and it gives us pleasure when we put it in our mouths.

I was reading about a King in the Old Testament who made a commitment to get rid of all the detestable things in the land when he took over as Judah’s leader.  His name was Josiah.  “He pulled down the altars and . . .smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. The king also desecrated the high places that were for the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones. . . .He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. . . .Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built-in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the LORD’s anger. . . .Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem.  . . .Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”  2 Kings‬ ‭23:12-16, 19, 24-25‬ ‭NIV.

If you want to get rid of a bad habit, you have to make choices to eradicate it from your life.  If it’s cigarettes, you have to get rid of them.  If it’s sweets, you have to choose not to buy them.  If it’s pornography, you have to place safeguards on your computer so that you can’t go there.  The removal of the bad habit involves destroying or removing anything that causes you to be drawn to the habit.  Stopping any bad habit involves a commitment to remove it, taking away any trigger that tempts you to do the habit, and resolve to make healthy decisions.  It involves a total committed heart choice that Josiah had that allowed him to remove the temptations in his kingship.

On this journey there will be many things that tempt us.  It’s our responsibility and choice to remove the bad ones so that we can cultivate a heart that is totally devoted to the Lord.

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Surprise in the Canyon

Posted on May 12, 2017 by James Gorton

While we were in New Mexico, we decided to investigate the Rio Grande Gorge bridge.  The scenery around Taos, NM is filled with sagebrush.  Miles and miles of sagebrush.  The landscape is flat with–have I said it–sagebrush.  But outside of Taos is a river that goes from north to south called the Rio Grande River.  About 20 miles south of Taos you can drive your car next to the river and play in it if you like.  It’s quite different just outside Taos.  In fact you drive thru the sagebrush a few miles west of Taos on highway 64 and see an interesting thing.  You can’t see it until you are on it.  It’s the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge over the Rio Grande that towers 564 feet above the water level.

What’s also interesting is that the canyon is filled with all kinds of wildlife, especially big horn sheep.  You can see one in the middle of the next picture.

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In the midst of sagebrush country, you would never think that such a beautiful canyon and unique sheep would be visible.  It’s Gods creation that He has allowed us to enjoy.

On this journey, when we open our eyes and look around, new and different aspects of scenery can be seen.  Sagebrush and canyons and sheep.

 

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The Greatest Human Value

Posted on May 11, 2017 by James Gorton

Nadine and I had a special week this past week.   It started about two months ago when we got a call from one of her 4 other sisters.  Irene got on the phone and indicated to Nadine that Al, the daughters’ father, was celebrating his 80th birthday and she wanted to surprise him by taking he and Maxine, his wife, back to his roots in New Mexico.  She wanted to know if Nadine and I would be willing to drive to Taos, NM to surprise him for his birthday.

When Nadine asked me about it, I didn’t hesitate by saying, “By all means, we need to go back.”  Let me digress for a minute.  I have regretted one thing in the past.  It was declining an invitation to go to a close friends daughters wedding.  It was early in my marriage and we didn’t have two nickels to rub together at the time and so we declined.  It was one of the worst decisions I have ever made.  Even now as I think of the event, I regret my decision.  I determined that I would never put relationship events as a lower priority and I have sought over the years to live by the learning I got from that experience.

Well this last week, the happening occurred and it was glorious.  Al was told that none of his daughters could make it for party.  He was disheartened to hear that none of them would be coming, but he was thankful that one of his daughters was there and would make the best of it.  We rang the doorbell and to his shock and surprise, he with tears in his eyes hugged his Nadine or “COOKIE”, his middle daughter.  Two other sisters came later to his amazement and surprise and we had a glorious time.

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Someone asked one of the richest men in the world if he could have anything in the world and he replied, “One more dollar!”  He didn’t get the concept that richness comes in the form of relationships.

Jesus was asked to choose the greatest commandment to follow and he replied by saying, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”  Luke 10:27.   He defined that greatest value as coming from relationships.  Our relationship with God.  Our relationship with others.  Our relationship with ourself.  That was the most important place we could put our energy on this earth.

On this journey there are going to be plenty of things that grab our attention and take our eyes off the most important values in life.  Don’t live with regret but choose to connect with those you love.

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Knowing Your Limitations

Posted on May 10, 2017 by James Gorton

I grew up with a father that could fix anything.  I mean anything.  A broken washing machine?  He could fix it.  Need laminate on a counter?  He could do it.  Put wall tile on and finish it.  It was done.  Build a counter with drawers.  It might take some time but he did it.  Replace an electrical outlet.  It would be done in a flash.  You name it, he could fix it.

But when it came to resolving relational problems around the house, it was a different matter.  He never learned how to talk through his problems because he never saw it with his parents.  What he did see was a father that shut up and didn’t talk for weeks.  He learned that from his dad and so we would see him clam up for weeks and not talk with anyone.  When he began to talk the problem was seemingly over and we would converse as if nothing ever happened.  He was an expert at fixing things, but was very limited when it came to solving relational ones.  He was limited in his communicative abilities.

It’s important to know your limitations as to what you have the resources to fix as well as knowing what you aren’t good at solving.  All of us have skills and abilities that cause us to choose professions where we can excel.  Just because we can excel in one area of life doesn’t mean that we have the ability to excel in all other areas.

I was reading a passage of the bible this morning where it involved the priests of Israel being called upon by the King of Judah to collect money to fix the temple.  It’s interesting to see what happened.  “Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.” But by the twenty-third year of King Joash the priests still had not repaired the temple. Therefore King Joash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and asked them, “Why aren’t you repairing the damage done to the temple? Take no more money from your treasurers, but hand it over for repairing the temple.” The priests agreed that they would not collect any more money from the people and that they would not repair the temple themselves.”
‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭12:5-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You can see that the priests were good at collecting the money, but they had no concept for repairing the temple.  They collected money for 23 years, and never got the job done. What I think is interesting is that King Joash told them to collect no more money, but to turn it over to the people who had the skills and abilities to do the work.  They needed others because of their limitations to repair the temple.

On this journey we are going to be faced with obstacles that challenge our abilities.  Knowing our limitations can open up opportunities to connect with others who have skills and abilities that we don’t.  We need to be like the priests who admitted that they would not go beyond their limitations.

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My Plan VS God’s Plan

Posted on May 4, 2017 by James Gorton

 

There are problems that come our way in which we have the resources to fix the problem and continue to move on.  Those kind of problems are easy because we don’t need anyone to solve the problem, but we move with the resources we have and solve it.

What about those problems where we have no resources to solve a problem.  What about a physical ailment?  Terminal cancer.  Heart disease.  ALS.  These and others are tough physical problems where the answer to cure the disease is nonexistent or is long in coming.  Have you ever been in a pickle and needed God’s advice or solution to your pickle?   How about a relational problem where you have exhausted your resources to fix the problem and it’s still not fixed?  Your significant other doesn’t get you and seems to be going in the opposite direction of the solution.  You know what would solve the problem, but that solution doesn’t seem to come.  You pray and pray, but no resolution comes.

There was a man whose name was Naaman who had a leprosy and was the commander of the army of Arman.  His boss, the King of Arman, cared for him because he was highly respected and heard of a person in Israel who could potentially heal his commander.  Long story short, Naaman found Elisha whom he had heard who could heal him and began to ask him what he needed to do.  Elisha told him to go to the Jordan river and dip in the river 7 times.  The Jordan river was much dirtier than any of the rivers that Naaman had come from and he went away frustrated by the direction he had been given to get healed.  “But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.”  ‭2 Kings‬ ‭5:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Naaman had in his mind what would be the best plan for solving the problem.  But God had a different plan.  In fact, our plans for solving a problem are often times  different from God’s plan.  Isaiah wrote as he heard the Lord speak to him,  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

On this journey there are going to be difficulties in life that cause us to grind to a halt.  If we truly want God’s direction, it means that we need to be open to unconventional ways of solving a problem.  For His ways are higher than ours.

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Choosing Our Coaches

Posted on May 2, 2017 by James Gorton

I love to coach.  Ever since I can remember I wanted to be coach when I grew up.  Even as I am writing this jlog, I am reminded of my father who coached the little league in our town.  When I was four, he would take me to the practices we had on the football field and I would shag baseballs.  Because there was no backstop, any ball that was missed by the catcher was fair game for me to shag.

One day when the team was having batting practice, my father told me to get a bat and a helmet and get up to the plate.  I can still remember hitting the ball to my father and he threw me out at first, but I vividly remember his coaching me when I was at home plate.  Dad was an example that I wanted to follow.

I did play all through little league and finally got too old to play little league.  No one in the town wanted to volunteer to coach the team so I said I would.  I was just a young teenager, but took on the challenge.  The first year I coached, I sought the counsel of my father along the way and we won the championship game of the district little league tournament.

In fact, we all need counsel along the way on this journey.  It may be seeking help in understanding a math problem that we are having problems with.  We might seek counsel in choosing the right mate or getting advice when those relationships we love begin to unravel.  We may find ourselves in difficult situations at work and a word of advice from a wise mentor could go a long way in solving the problem.

There are plenty of times in life where we need the advice of wise people before we take the next step.  I am reminded of Solomon’s son when he became king.  King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ””
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭12:6-11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Throughout life we will have opportunities to be put in situations where we will need the counsel of others in various events and situations.  On this journey, we also have the opportunity to choose who we seek counsel from.  Choose wisely as to who your counselors will be.

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Stubborness: Part II It’s Effects

Posted on May 1, 2017 by James Gorton

Every choice has a consequence.  When we talk about consequences we most often think of the negative consequences.  But there are positive consequences to positive choices.  For instance, if I choose to drive the speed limit the positive consequence is that I will never get stopped for going over the speed limit.  If I choose not to eat that last piece of double-chocolate fudge nine layer cake, I won’t see its effect on my body in the morning, nor will I have any guilt feelings if I have chosen to stay away from sweets.

Stubbornness emerges in one’s life when we veer off the path that we know to be true and right.  It surfaces when we know the right thing to do but our pride won’t allow us to admit our mistake and we continue to hold onto the thought or action that ultimately causes destruction in our lives.

Solomon in the previous jlog had a fetish for women.  Lots of them.  All kinds and different backgrounds.  All these women had different faiths and worshipped different kinds of gods.  The God of Israel said to Solomon not to marry foreign women because they would turn his heart away from worshipping Himself.  “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.  Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.  And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. . . .Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah.”  1 Kings‬ ‭11:1-2, 4, 14, 23, 26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This passage shows the effects of stubbornness in the life of Solomon.  Up until this time, Solomon had peace all around and there were no wars.  His stubbornness lead to three individuals rebelling against Solomon and the Israelites.  Hadad.  Rezon.  Jeroboam.  Solomon’s eyes were so focused on the love of his 1000 women that he got blinded and didn’t see where the enemy were surfacing.  As you read on in the story, it was Jeroboam who finally pulled 10 of the tribes of Israel into rebellion and split the country in two.

Stubbornness when not dealt with can have devastating effects on the stubborn person as well as people around.  On this journey it is important to be mindful of things and/or people we are too tightly gripping onto.  God can only work in our lives when we let go of  the reigns.

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