Devotional

Too Big To Describe

Barbara Kain Parker Devotional, Inspirational , , , , , , , , ,

The Ben Franklin Five and Dime at the Arcata Plaza was doing a booming business—it was 1958 and hula hoops were a nationwide craze.  Kids, myself included, were all over the plaza, whirling and twirling those brand new hoops around our waists and from every appendage.

Fifty-some years later, the Plaza that I remember so well was still there; the surrounding businesses now a more eclectic mix of shops and restaurants, and the Ben Franklin building housing a furniture store.  But that was OK because I wasn’t shopping for hula hoops this time—I was browsing bookstores, hoping to find unique-to-the-area publications featuring the redwoods.  I did make a few good discoveries, but there wasn’t much that couldn’t be picked up at any local tourist trap.  Perhaps these ancient trees are just too big to describe adequately via the written word; only in their presence can their majesty be experienced.

A few days ago, reading through the gospels, I was struck anew by the fact that there’s really not a lot written about Jesus’ life on earth either—just four short books, with many of the events of His life duplicated in two or more places.  And yet, in those few pages, lies the greatest biography ever recorded.  How can so few words hold so much truth?  How can the brief accounts of His teachings convey everything we need to know in order to have a relationship with God?  How can each passage be so simple that a little child can understand, yet so complex that every time you read it you may see something new?  I think it’s because the words were inspired by the best communicator ever—the Holy Spirit; and He knew exactly what we needed.

The Apostle John said it well as he concluded his account with, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)

The majesty of the redwoods forests is nothing compared to the majesty of Jesus; and only though relationship as we sit in His presence can we even begin to comprehend the fullness of Christ.

Comfort Food

Barbara Kain Parker Devotional, Inspirational , , , , , , , , , , , ,

At the gym, sweating away on the elliptical and trying to distract myself from how much time was left to exercise, I was watching a cooking show on the TV in front of me.  The guest chef created a dish that looked and sounded delicious, and he described it as comfort food.  The host responded, “Well, that’s what food is all about—to provide comfort.”  I doubt that he even thought about what he was saying—it was just the polite response; but oh, how dangerous a comment if taken seriously.  To seek our comfort from food is to invite disaster, yet to be honest most of us probably do so on occasion.  Just smelling the dish this chef prepared would probably add ten pounds to my body, not to mention sending my cholesterol through the roof!

But the danger lies far deeper than the physical repercussions when we depend on anything or anyone other than God for our comfort.  Lives are wrecked because we try to sooth our wounds, not just with food, but with other things as well—everything from drugs, to shopping, to sex, to anything that gives us a temporary fix and makes us feel better. Even depending solely on a trusted friend can backfire because a time will always come when they will disappoint.

Every created thing to which we run for comfort will eventually fail, but God never will.  He can always be the place we go, whatever our need.

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

(Psalm 46)

And Day and Night Shall Not Cease

Barbara Kain Parker Biblical Insights, Devotional, Inspirational , , , , , , , ,

The Mad River wasn’t always angry.  During the summer it might dwindle down so far that we could wade across in a just few inches of water; or hop from rock to rock, never even removing our shoes.   In the shadow of the railroad trestle we’d play in the water until a logging train came by—then we’d stop and wave at the conductors who would wave back and give a loud whistle blast in return.

But the Mad River lost its temper during the week of Christmas 1964.  In the midst of a 100-year flood it joined with all the other rivers of the Pacific Northwest to rage over its banks, engulfing the surrounding land with wet devastation.  From our hilltop vantage point all we could see was water with a few rooftops and telephone poles sticking up here and there—for miles and miles the entire low-lying area around the Humboldt Bay became a vast sea in which hundreds of dairy cattle were doomed as they floated out into the ocean; and at least a dozen communities were completely wiped out or forever altered in the Redwood Empire.   But as bad as it was, there was once a flood that was much, much worse—the one we read about in Genesis 7 when God’s anger was unleashed against a wicked world and, the flood was on the earth forty days… The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth…and the mountains were covered…Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

I returned to that hilltop a few years ago and gazed out at lush green dairy land, with a scattering of cows peacefully munching the grass; and a pleasant walking/biking path traversing the old railroad trestle.  I pondered God’s mercy and remembered his promise after the biblical flood, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:21-22)

In the Land of Giants

Barbara Kain Parker Devotional, Inspirational , , , , ,

I grew up in a wonderful land that was inhabited by giants, many of whom were hundreds of years old; a land of six rivers that flowed into the ocean along a wild and rugged coastline; a land of giant ferns and colorful azaleas and wild blackberries. How I loved it there and how I hated to leave when, the day after I finished my junior year of high school, we had to move away from the cool, lush giant redwood forests of Northern California to the hot, dry deserts of Southern California.  Even now, more than forty years later, that land still calls to me and I can think of few things I’d rather do than wander through the redwoods in the quiet stillness of a misty fog and soak up the beauty and majesty of God’s creation.

One of the trees along the famous Avenue of the Giants is the ancient Immortal Tree.  Over 950 years old and big enough to build several homes, it has survived lightning strikes, fire, a logger’s axe and a horrible flood—and all of this in just the last 100 years.  On this occasion, rather that just stopping in front, snapping a few pictures, and buying out the gift store I wandered down a path that led around to the back of the tree and stood in awe as I gazed at a living illustration of one of my favorite scriptures, Psalm 1:1-3.  Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Lord, may I be like that Immortal Tree.  May I be forever planted beside your river of living water; standing in faith against the trials of life, bringing forth the fruit of your Spirit in my life and enjoying the bounty of blessings that you have laid up for me.