by: John Wilbanks

When Janet and I were first married, she was excellent at cross-stitching.  My favorite piece was of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”  It has hung in our home for nearly 42 years of marriage and is a constant reminder of our good Father.

What an incredible promise this passage truly is.  We don’t have to rely on our own intellect nor experiences.  We have an omniscient guide to direct our paths or as the verse is otherwise interpreted, “make our paths straight.”  In these days of turmoil and confusion, we  all seek that direction more than ever. 

A few days ago, Matt, my son, Eli, his 8 year old, and I went on a pretty serious hike from the top of Gingercake Mountain to a rock formation called Sitting Bear.  In order to get there, one has to navigate a steep and slightly treacherous drop finding footholds on rocks and roots and grabbing any available trees or limbs.  Eli started down behind his father and having not done this before, became frightened pretty early on in this effort. He began to say, “I’m scared.”  His dad patiently worked him through the process of watching how and where to step and what to grab onto, giving physical assistance as needed.  We made it down to the lookout and were treated to the most amazing views of the Linville Gorge and the mountain vistas around us - God’s magnificent handiwork laid out before us.  What an incredible shared experience it was!

I reflected on that time and thought that it was an apt illustration of the direction part of the passage from Proverbs.  Eli was scared of falling and unsure of his own ability to scale down the narrow and tortuous path.  He could see the challenge right before him, but he wasn’t sure of what lay beyond his vision.  Every slight slip reminded him of the danger he felt.  But through it all, his good father was there, guiding him, encouraging him and “making his paths straight.”  We could have gone back when the fear and doubt crept in, and concluded it was just too hard for Eli (and maybe me too!) but we kept moving and after all the hard work, the payoff was that we together experienced the wonder of creation in a profound way.

So, what does it really mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart?  That truly is a high standard.  All of our hearts?  In order to fully trust, we have to recognize our dependence on God and release control of our lives to Him.  It’s been said that you can have control or you can have trust, but you can’t have both at the same time.  They are opposed to one another.  In verse 5, we are admonished not to lean on our own understanding (be in control ourselves!) but instead to trust God and seek His direction. Only then will we experience the amazing wonders of His grace!

As a side note, when it came time to go up that same path, Eli transformed into a mountain goat and left us in the dust!

by: John Wilbanks

 One memorable hymn from my childhood was Count Your Blessings. Its simple message was to be thankful for what God has done for us. While that encouragement may be simple, it seems that it’s not always common.

Winston Churchill told the story of a young British boy who went to the pier and accidentally fell into the ocean. Unfortunately, he could not swim and would certainly drown. A quick- thinking soldier who worked on the pier saw the situation and at his own peril dove in and saved the boy. He took the boy home but no one was there. A few days later, the boy’s parents came to the pier to find the soldier. When they introduced themselves, he interrupted them and said, “I don’t want a reward, it is enough to know that I was able to save your son. They replied, ‘We are not her to give you anything. We want to know where our son’s hat is. What have you done with it?” Incredulous, the soldier replied, I saved your son’s life and all you want is to find his hat?”

As crazy as that story of ultimate ingratitude may seem, these parents are not alone. Remember the Israelites complaining about having to eat manna every day, How about ten leper’s being healed by Jesus and only one returning to thank and praise him? On and on it goes.

Read Colossians 3:12-17 and see Paul’s instructions about the traits we are to “put on” as Christ-followers. Nowhere do we see ingratitude, entitlement, selfishness or judgment.

Instead we find compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and most of all love. When we put on these characteristics, the peace of Christ rules in our hearts and we can all use some of that in these challenging times! In verses 15-17, we are told to “be thankful”, worship with “thankfulness to God in our hearts” and to do everything in the name of Jesus “giving thanks to God.” Like the Colossians, our hearts need to be filled with thanks for God’s inexpressible grace and love. So today let us, all in the words of that old hymn, count our blessings and name them one by one.