The scar death leaves

My oldest daughter and one of my middle sons have a bunch of chickens that they take care of. We have two roosters and have been talking for some time about killing one of them. Today was the day. I have been hunting and have killed several animals in my life. My daughter has never had to do that...until today. She took the initiative and started the process the way that her book said to do it. When I looked in her eyes I saw the pain that comes when you are suddenly faced with being responsible for an animals death. It took me back to a little boy with a new BB gun at the age of nine. He was headed out to scare the birds out of a cherry tree. Who wouldn't want to defend sweet juicy helpless cherries from the onslaught of vicious winged fruit eating birds. The problem was the BBs weren't scaring them off. So he took carful aim and an instant later a robin fell from the tree. Everything had been fine until that robin fell. Nothing could have prepared me for the knife of pain that stabbed my heart. I remember picking that little bird up and trying to get it to be OK. But it wasn't going to be OK. Tears flowed from my eyes as I asked God to bring it back...but it could never come back. Death and all of its pain and finality had entered my young world. That pain I felt as a little boy rushed back on me as I looked in my daughters eyes. She now understood that death is an abomination. There is something very wrong about death and we all know it. It stands as a blight on creation. Jesus even wept over its unholy impact on the world (John 11:33-35). John tells us that Jesus was troubled by what He saw the people going through as a result of Lazarus death. Now Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus so what else could have been troubling Him except the impact of death on the world and its people. That impact continues today. It reminds us of how imperfect this world has become. For those who are seeking the Lord Jesus it makes one long for Him with a greater intensity. We know that when He comes He will put an end to death (Revelation 21:4). When we face death in the killing of an animal or the death of a loved one it should drive us to seek more fervently our Lord Jesus.

How fears point us to God

CNN has an article on their site called, "Who's afraid of snakes, spiders, vomit?" While the article deals with phobias it brings up a good point for Christians to consider. The very first time that we see fear mentioned in the Bible is when Adam tells the God that he heard Him and was afraid and hid himself (Genesis 3:10). Fear is a result of the fall and I think that in all of eternity this will be borne out. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-control. The main thing here is that power, love and self-control are all things that put fear to death. It is even this idea of self-control that counselors use to treat phobias. What should our goal be as Christian living a God focused life? To be so consumed with a desire for God and His kingdom that the things of this earth that produce fear in us are minimized. To put it another way we can say that we do not fear man or beast because God has ordained the day of our death (Hebrews 9:27). Men may try to intimidate us but we do not fear them because the power of God is greater than that of any man. Ultimately the thing that will fill our heart with the confidence we need to face and overcome fears of all kinds is the love of God filling and permeating our hearts. 1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” The love of God experienced in the context of a relationship with Him will fortify our hearts against fear.