Ensign: Sometimes I Am Stuck Yet Driven

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3


AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                                       8 July 2016


Sometimes I am just stuck for an idea.


I pray about it, I open the screen to begin typing whether I've taken notes or not -- seriously, some of the best Ensigns you've seen here were cut from whole cloth! We'll have to share about that sometime. But I get going good for a few paragraphs ... and I forget the point I was trying to make. Or I finish, and end up making a totally different point from the one I'd intended to! This is proof that even though the road to hell is paved with good intentions (that's from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, not the Bible), our Lord and our God can use ours to accomplish His will in the world and in ourselves.


No matter who wins November's election, I can be content in all things.


And so can you, through Christ Who gives us strength. And that IS in the Bible, in Paul's letter to the Philippians chapter 4 verses 11 through 13. Whether I'm in North Dakota or Florida or Kentucky or Illinois ... I KNOW that's not what "in whatsoever state I am" from verse 11 means! No matter what condition I'm in, no matter what my circumstance, no matter if the world and my life is flying apart. I've still got Jesus Christ, literally Jesus The Anointed One, in my life and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so do you; each day we have to ask how much, or how much more, of Him do we want in us?


From here I'm sharing the Ensign I wrote 2 July 2004, 3 years to the day before Jeffrey was born.

I haven't played a good game of chess with someone for a while. 


(I'll play with the computer occasionally, but it beats me too quickly.)  It's not so much that I'm particularly good at it, but I like the game.  Consider the poor little pawns.  You start out with eight of them, and at least one pawn always has to move before anyone else can because they're all in the front row.  Once a pawn moves forward, it can only move forward in a straight line.  Even when a pawn captures a piece (and it can capture anybody), it has to be moved forward diagonally.  The pawn, like the chicken crossing the road, is always focused on getting to the other side.  Argue against Paul however you want, he's sure of getting to the other side where he'll meet God and the Lord Jesus Christ because "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)

 

Why aren't we more like that?  Are we the bishops that can move left or right diagonally with prevailing opinion, or are we the knights that move in L-formations (across, up, or down diagonally), or do we want to be the queen, who can dominate the entire board? Playing chess, I've taken a few of them in my day because anyone who's ever played chess doesn't always plan as far ahead as you would like.  Turning neither to the right nor the left, but going straight ahead like the pawn, is what the Christian life is supposed to be.

 

In his last recorded letter in the New Testament, Paul wrote to Timothy that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts" (2 Timothy 4:3)  But it's a choice you and I must make; do we follow Jesus or not?  Even if we aspire to be nothing more than the person we are now (and I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't want a better life for themselves or those close to them), we become more when we follow the author and finisher of our faith.  Even if we're not particularly good at it, we can stand out in our world because we are the driven pawns. [Even as I've gotten to be a better chess player in the last twelve years! -- D.] 

From there, we can grow as far as we want.

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch and I hope to be an encouragement too! If I'm not or you just want me to get lost, please let me know. Thank you!

Thank YOU, Lord, that we can come to you in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. And let us come to You in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and all over the world.


Thank You as well, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service both here and abroad. Thank You also for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus Christ.


And I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.