Up up and Away

Posted on March 14, 2011 by James Gorton

Monday March 14, 2011

I’m sitting in the Phoenix international Airport with Carter as we wait for his flight to Virginia Beach to visit his sisters and his nephew. Just think about what has happened in my lifetime. I would never have even thought of flying across country when I was his age. But today it’s instant travel that can get us completely across the country in as little as 5 hours. He will arrive in Norfolk this afternoon and will not have experienced any of the beauty of our great land between Arizona and Virginia.

It kind of reminds me of how we often do relationships. We have a destination in mind and want to get there as soon as possible, but we often take for granted and don’t even see the beautiful characteristics and qualities that are there for the viewing in our children, our spouse, a friend or even God. Our instant society where we can get instant food, instant cash, instant on demand movies, search a word without even opening a dictionary has caused us to zoom thru life and forget to smell the flowers (we can get instant flowers too). I’m not saying that all the new technology is bad for us. It isn’t. I am saying that it might be a good idea to get off the freeway of life and get on some back roads to really see people. Slowing down in the little towns and stopping at a local grocery store or talking to a teller can begin to allow us to become more appreciative for the things we have and for the relationships that God has given us.

This week with Carter gone and the house being totally to myself, I have the opportunity to slow down on this journey of life. I am taking the challenge to be still and tune in to what the Lord has to say to me. Sometimes the journey is a lonely and quiet one but one that can cause us to become more thankful for what we do have.

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Doing The Right Thing

Posted on March 12, 2011 by James Gorton

Saturday March 12, 2011

I grew up in a small town of 200+ people. It was a small farming community in eastern Colorado called Seibert. It was a wonderful experience. Everyone knew you and you knew everyone. We got a weekly newspaper that gave the news of MaryJo visiting Twila on Tuesday afternoon and stayed for supper. Berta went to Denver to visit her relatives and stayed 3 days. Everyone knew your business and you knew everyone else’s business.

There were pros and cons as you might imagine. Everyone knew when you did something positive and everyone knew when you did something you weren’t supposed to do. Messages were drilled into you from church and from family to do the right thing. There was an unwritten and unspoken message to make wise and healthy decisions. It’s not all bad to have that external motivation to keep you on the straight and narrow road. Doing the right thing keeps you out of a lot of potential trouble. Going to church regularly! Staying close to healthy friendships! Seeking out wise counselors! Reading the bible! Staying away from unhealthy establishments! Doing the right thing can keep us from getting off track of God’s steps He has designed for us.

Take the case of a man in the Old Testament who was known as “A man after God’s own heart.” “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.” (II Samuel 11:1). Doing the right thing for David meant that he needed to go out to war with his troops. It’s in the spring of the year when it gets warmer and the winter clothes begin to come off and desires get aroused. Doing the right thing meant getting away from temptation. What follows is a huge black mark on David in his sleeping with another man’s wife and then ultimately killing the man due to the woman becoming pregnant.

I don’t want to count the number of times when I could have done the right thing and didn’t and ended up regretting my decisions and had to seek forgiveness. The positive thing we have today is the Holy Spirit residing within us if we have a relationship with God that enables and empowers us “to do the right thing.” I (we) can learn from our forefathers the effects of getting off track in our lives and doing our own thing. Getting back on track is as simple as admitting that we got off track, asking forgiveness and start doing the right thing.

This journey has a straight and narrow road, but it has as well side roads that seem wonderful to explore at the time but eventually end up as a dead-end. Choose wisely the road you take today.

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Four Sandwiches and a Coke

Posted on March 10, 2011 by James Gorton

Thursday, March 10, 2011

This morning I got Carter up as usual for his morning shower, brushing his expensive upper braces, and breakfast consisting of two kiwis.  As he was eating his breakfast, I fixed two sandwiches–a turkey and swiss sandwich and a peanut butter and jam sandwich.  Included in the brown bag was smores and chips.  I was going to pick him up from school at 1:15 p.m. for his orthodontist appointment where he was going to get his lower braces.

On the way to the doctor, he informed me that he was hungry.  I didn’t think anything about stopping for food before his mouth was going to be hurting and could only get down smoothies for the next 2 days.  He ordered a number 4 which included 3 cheese burgers, a large french fries, and a large coke.  He ate the sandwiches and fries like he hadn’t been fed for two days.  It was then that I realized that I had prepared a full lunch for him in the morning.   As I questioned him, he had already eaten his whole lunch including two sandwiches, chips and smores.  Four Sandwiches.  Smores.  Chips.  French fries.  All for a son I love dearly and is obviously growing thru a growth spurt.

He sometimes eats me out of house and home, but I wouldn’t trade a single second of my time with him.  He as well as my two daughters have truly been God’s gift to me.  In the midst of life, circumstances, and trying times, I have so much to be thankful for, even a growing and very hungry boy.

Each day has a new adventure and new opportunities to experience this journey.

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Strong Enough

Posted on March 9, 2011 by James Gorton

Wednesday March 9, 2011

A pattern has emerged as I have read through the Old Testament this year. This pattern involves God’s ability to take care of Himself and to be victorious without our help. Jericho is a prime example where God asked the nation of Israel to march around Jericho one time for 6 days and 7 times in one day and the walls would fall in. When the people did that, the walls fell in and Jericho was completely destroyed.

God asked Gideon to destroy an entire army of 120,000 soldiers with 300 warriors. The task of the 300 warriors was to blow their trumpets, crash pitchers, and yell, “For the Lord and for Gideon.” They did that and experienced a tremendous victory over the Midianites. In an earlier jlog, Jonathan with “One Sword” had victory over an entire army of warriors. With one sword.

The most recent passage I was reading involved the ark of God being captured by the Philistines (I Samuel 4-6). Israel brought the ark of God into the camp thinking it would give them victory, but they didn’t trust God to give them victory and the result involved 30,000 of their own people being killed and the ark of God being captured by the Philistines. As you read this story in chapter 5, you see a very interesting thing begin to happen. The first place the ark of God was but in Ashdod and set it with Dagon, their idol god. In two days, Dagon’s head and hands were broken off and it was at the feet of the ark of God. Something else began to occur in that all the men developed tumors (hemroids).

They moved the ark of God to Gath. Tumors broke out on all the men and they were in great pain. So they moved the ark of God to Ekron. Tumors broke out on all the men there as well. The men responded by saying, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people. For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it.”

The moral of this story and others in the Old Testament is that God is “Strong Enough” to take care of himself. I sometimes find myself thinking what I need to do, but God has enough power to take care of any situation I might find myself in. He does want us to rest in Him. Sometimes He wants us to move or do. Sometimes He just wants us to wait and watch. He is STRONG ENOUGH for any situation you find yourself in.

So rest in Him as you take steps or sit on your journey today.

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Thirty Years Old

Posted on March 8, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday March 8, 2011

What do you remember doing when you were thirty years old. I was living in Rowley, Massachusetts, was married to Cynthia, and had one child. I was in graduate school preparing to become a pastor. I wanted to reach out and minister to married couples primarily. I was in the preparation stage of my life for what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I have made mention in my jlogs (Jim’s log) that God tapped older men and women to become His leaders. But he also used young people to lead as in the case of my reading this morning in II Samuel 5: 4 where we read, “David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.” I can’t imagine leading a nation at thirty years old. But for David, he sought the lord to guide and direct him in leading his men as well as leading a nation. When I look at leaders who are young from my aged vantage point, I think of lack of wisdom and lack of experience. What I heard my grandma say about how young the doctors were is the same thing I am saying today. Perspective. At thirty I thought people in their fifties and sixties were old. I don’t have that perspective today. Everyone in leadership is becoming so young because of my perspective. It’s not age that determines a good leader but who the leader’s master is.

David was known for being a “man after God’s own heart.” I choose each and every day where my heart is directed. On this journey, whether you are in the thirty group or in the older group, you and I have the opportunity to “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). So today on this journey choose wisely.

Yet I

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Tough Times Need a Healthy Perspective

Posted on March 7, 2011 by James Gorton

Monday March 7, 2011

We live in some very tough times in our economy. It seems that frequently I hear of a friend of mine or someone else having to move out of their house or sell their belongings. People who have saved all their lives for their possessions and their retirement are having to reorder their lives because of a lost job that can’t support their lifestyle or keep up their possessions. We are living in some very tough times and can easily become bitter or resentful toward our circumstances.

In reading the scriptures this morning I came across a similar situation with two distinctly different responses to their tough times. It is the story of David and his men who went off to battle to fight with the Philistines against the Israelite nation, his own people. The Philistine king got wet feet and wondered if David could be trusted to keep his focus on the enemy or would he turn and start fighting against the Philistines. He told David to go back home so David turned back. When they got back to their town of Ziklag, their children, their wives, and their possessions had been taken by the Egyptians and they had nothing, not even their families. Talk about tough times.

In I Samuel 30: 6 we read their responses, “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the lord his God.” Two responses. The first response was from the men when tough times occurred. The men wanted to stone David. He wasn’t the reason for their losing stuff, but they were lashing out at the closest person that came into their line of fire. David on the other hand found strength in the lord his God. Probably the easiest and most natural response when tough times come is to lash out at the people closest to us. Our spouse. Our children, our pets. Our friends.

The healthy response is to seek the One who has the power to change our perspectives and our circumstances and the problems we are dealing with. As you read on you see that not only did God give them the power to get their families back with all their stuff, but there was an abundance of other stuff they got back that David used to connect with others.

Tough journeys provide the opportunity for us to choose healthy perspectives if we only turn to the source of relational transformation.

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Hard Days

Posted on March 4, 2011 by James Gorton

Friday, March 4, 2011

Today is a hard day. We’ve all had them. It may be a conflict that hasn’t been resolved causing much angst that colors everything that you do that day. It may be a job that was promised to you and then given to someone else. In light of our economy it could be the inability to pay a bill or the reality that your house is being taken away from you. It could be some bad news that cancer has been detected in your body. There are various things that contribute to a bad day.

When we experience trauma in our lives our minds are focused on the circumstance and feelings begin to emerge about that experience causing us to “have bad days.” Yet as I begin to compare the circumstances that is causing me to have a bad day with the other things that could be happening in my life, my stuff pales in significance to those things. those thoughts take away the sting but I feel it all the same.

My issue may sound trivial but it hurts all the same. Wednesday night Carter had a lacrosse playoff game to go to state. His team had done very well and was ranked second in the state. We were playing a team from Tucson whom we had beat 4-3 before. The Outlaws played their hearts out but came out on the losing side, 7-5. It was a heart breaker and I have been in a funk for a couple of days. You see, compared to other things that are happening, it is no big deal, but I realize that God doesn’t want us to compare our issues with others because He cares for us and our circumstances no matter what it is and sees that every crisis issue and problem is just as important as any other problem because he is a personal God. So I am going to experience this and look tonight as the team has 6 lacrosse games over the next 1 1/2 and will cheer them on no matter what the outcome.

On the journey, each day is a new day filled with new experiences along the journey.

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One Sword

Posted on March 3, 2011 by James Gorton

Thursday, March 3, 2011

There are a lot of wonderful stories in the old testament that I am familiar with and I am sure you have heard over the years. David and Goliath! Jonah and the whale! The Red Sea Splitting! Adam and Eve and the apple! Joshua and Jericho! Gideon with 300 dog lapper men! Moses and the 10 commandments! Moses and the burning bush! These are wonderful stories because of the power that God shows in taking impossible tasks and turning them into awesome miracles.

One that may have missed your listening ear is the one with the one sword. Have you heard about the victory over an entire nation with one sword? It isn’t one that is on the forefront of your memory banks. In fact you may have never heard of this story. I know I never heard about this story growing up in Sunday school. This may be due in fact to the spit wads I was making and shooting at others from the back of the room.

It might be well worth taking a look at I Samuel 13-14 where this story is buried. It is a story of King Saul’s son Jonathan. Here is the nation of Israel going into battle with the Philistine army with only two swords–Saul had one and Jonathan had one. None of the other army had a sword to their name. The Philistines took all the blacksmiths out of the country of Israel so that the army couldn’t make swords. So they had 2 swords for the entire army.

Why I named this jlog “One Sword” follows in chapter 14 where Jonathan and his armor-bearer decided to go up to the Philistine camp without telling the others with one sword, and seeing if God wanted them to attack the Philistine army with one sword. I love the passage in I Samuel 14:6 where Jonathan says, “…Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” They didn’t have a few, but only one sword. ONE SWORD. Do you understand the significance of going into battle with one sword. ONE SWORD. It is absurd as my daughter would say. Yet Jonathan went and in the first 1/2 acre, he and his armor-bearer killed some twenty Philistine men. It caused the Philistines to go into panic mode and they began killing one another. The Israelites heard the commotion and began pursuing them and taking the swords that fell to the ground and brought about a great victory. With ONE SWORD.

What resources do we have at our disposal? If you look at the resources you have, you are looking at the wrong thing. It is the God of the universe that brought about the victory for the Israelites and it is the God of the bible that is waiting to bring victory to our lives, if only we would trust Him to do so. Do you have one sword? It’s enough for God to use to bring victory to whatever you are facing today!! God can take whatever resources you have and cause miraculous things to happen.

Limited resources create excitement along the journey!!

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Impatience

Posted on March 1, 2011 by James Gorton

Tuesday March 1, 2011

Impatience is a characteristic that I have been plagued with at times during the course of my life. Oh, I know I can be patient and during the more recent times I have demonstrated more patience in my life, but I have worked at being more patient and it at times has not been easy. As I read I Samuel 13 this morning, I was reminded of this characteristic in the life of Saul and began to look at the the factors that cause us to become impatient. The story begins by Samuel asking Saul to wait for him to come and sacrifice a lamb before the army goes out to battle. Samuel doesn’t come when Saul had expected so he took it upon himself to do the sacrificing. We pick up the story when Samuel asks Saul what he has done. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

If you circle the “I” statements of Saul, you begin to get a sense of what drives impatience. Impatience is driven by putting my needs and my goals and my aspirations above all the relationships in my life. The task becomes more important than the connection of the relationship. When I look at times that I have been impatient, every time I have focused on getting something done or getting to a place and that task or getting to someones house became more important than staying connected to the person I was with.

Unfortunately the consequence of impatience with others and with God is disconnection. For Saul the blessing of God and a long generational reign was cut off because of his impatience. My impatience impacts my connection with those I am impatient with and with God. Slowing down and not sweating the small stuff will cause us to truly smell the flowers and see clearly the next steps God has for us. Take time today to see the rocks and ants along the journey.

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Who Am I

Posted on February 28, 2011 by James Gorton

Monday February 28,2011

In my reading this morning I have begun to think of a pattern of leaders God chose to lead his people and to do his work. Think of Moses as God asked him to lead the nation out of Egypt. When God called him from the burning bush, Moses referenced his being in the least tribe of Israel and his family.

When God called Gideon, Gideon made reference to his being in a tribe that lacked prominence. Jephthah when he was called to be a judge compared himself to a thistle as he compared the other potential leaders as trees/vines. And yet we come to another person being called by God to lead His people.

Today as I was reading I Samuel 9, another leader is being chosen who had an inferiority complex. Samuel, the prophet and judge at that time was asked by God to choose a king for the nation of Israel because they wanted to be like every other nation. Saul was the one chosen by God and yet Saul had a similar self deprevation when it came to discussing his qualifications. Saul answered, “But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you say such a thing to me?” I Sam. 9:22

As I contemplate Gods’ choices to give direction to His plan for the world and for His people, it would seem that He chooses those who are weak because of past failures and mistakes. Those He wants are individuals have had self knocked out of them and are vessels that He can pour His power and wisdom in. Paul rejoiced in his weaknesses because he said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” II Cor. 12:10.

It puts a new spin on how I have begun to look at mistakes, failures and limitations in our lives. Those may be just the things that God uses to prepare us to be used by Him for His purposes. Something to ponder. New insights as we contemplate our past and future journey

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