20 Degrees!

On April 9, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Music, Photography, Trees and forests8 Comments

Twenty degrees! (That’s room temperature for those of you living in the country that doesn’t use Celsius.) Yesterday the sun was shining! I opened the windows! I went out without a jacket!

I had work to do, but the forest paths called to me.

The snow was gone. The birds were singing! The trees were rustling! The scent of pine and fir and cedar is starting to return.

Ahhh

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

and see the brook and feel the gentle breeze,

then sings my souls, my Saviour God, to Thee,

“How great Thou art!”

Dressing in Layers

On March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects. –Henry Ward Beecher

We are in a season here in the southern British Columbia Rockies where one day it is spring and the next day (sigh) winter again. I’m packing for a road trip and I don’t know what to take – parka, jacket, hoodie?. The weather report includes predictions of a wide variety of experiences which will require flexibility.

It strikes me that when we live among people we care about who, like us, are in a process of change, great flexibility is required. When we’ve made adjustments and developed the habit of tip-toeing around someone’s idiosyncrasies, attempts on their part to change can throw off our own sense of equilibrium. Yes, we want to encourage change, but now we need to readjust. Sometimes we are not prepared. Sometimes we don’t have the appropriate clothing at hand.

Relationships between people who desire to follow God and live out their identity in Him are never static. One day it is spring, and the next it’s back to winter again. We need to be kind to each other, and be flexible. I’ve heard it’s wise to dress in layers.

When Reason Despairs

On March 17, 2014March 17, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Sky, Trees and forests3 Comments

Love is hope when reason despairs. -Jack Hyles

But When I Am Afraid…

On March 14, 2014March 16, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

But when I am afraid,

I will put my trust in you.

I praise God for what he has promised.

I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?

What can mere mortals do to me?

(Psalm 56:3,4 NLT)

One night after praying, I heard, “If I show you where I am going with this, it removes the element of faith.”

I read the great faith chapter in the book of Hebrews today, the one that starts with, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (11:1) It goes on to list many faithful people who trusted in God’s promise. It lists what they accomplished by faith. Toward the end of the chapter it says:

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection.

Yes! I thought, Look at what was accomplished by faith in people who were born before Jesus Christ died and rose again to conquer sin and death once and for all. Imagine what kind of things God plans for His church to do now that Christ indwells us and is our hope of glory! Jesus said “Greater works shall you do…

Then I read the next part: Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

SAY, WHAT?

Then I remembered the verse in Revelation 12:11 I mentioned in an earlier post, that says “They over came him [the accuser, the evil one] by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives even unto death.” In Philippians 3:10 (a theme verse for my life) Paul wrote that He longed to know Christ and the fellowship of his sufferings. I would prefer to gloss over those parts, but I can’t. Knowing Christ on a deeper level involves suffering.

Persecution is real and sharing suffering is part of knowing Christ. As Graham Cooke says, “God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent by His power.”

A good father will allow his child to face increasingly difficult challenges that strengthen him. A good friend will allow you to share their suffering -and their joy- with them.

When my close friend was dying of cancer she sent many acquaintances away with a cheerful wave, but she gave me the privilege of staying with her through all the ugly parts of her suffering until the end. The last thing she said to me was, “My angel is singing to me.” Jesus told his disciples they were more than servants; they were friends.

But do we need to live in fear?

I was terrified of childbirth. My mother had many complications and I heard the story of how horrible my birth was over and over. The result was a fear of not only labour and delivery but, eventually, of even visiting anyone in hospital. I was steeped in a culture of fear. But after my son was born, which I admit was no picnic, I learned that I was much stronger than I thought, that fear of physical pain did not need to set limits on my happiness. I could endure because I knew the joy that came afterward. (And as I tell young women who are as fearful as I, if the pain was all that bad would so many of us choose to bear more children after the first? Even my mother, who had every complication in the book, chose to have another baby after me.)

If we back up and see the big, BIG picture we can see that eventually, for the believer, all tears end when we are face to face with our Lord -even for the ones sawn in two. There is more to come. Fear of pain, emotional or physical, need not set the limits of our joy. It was for the joy set before Him that Christ endured the cross and despised the shame heaped on Him. We can trust Him to give us the grace we need for the assignments He has for us. I do not have the grace for a hypothetical trial right now, because, like a train ticket to Novosibirsk, I don’t need it right now. Jesus’ promise to never leave or forsake me means that I can trust that when I do, He will provide it. It would be silly to fret over not having a ticket I don’t (and may never) need.

A lion’s roar is meant to be intimidating. Roaring lions are territorial. The enemy manipulates with fear. Peter warns:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Fear not. God is good.

In Season and Out of Season

On March 13, 2014March 13, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

I donned my water-proof boots and headed back up to the woods yesterday. The tall grasses of last summer slumped over in wadded tangles of faded brown. Between the puddles patches of green moss, kinnikinnik, Oregon grapes and half a dozen mosses and lichens proudly prove that they endured yet another winter, remaining faithfully green underneath a thick blanket of snow.

March and April mean the time spring blossoms in many parts of the world. March and April, in most of southern Canada, and especially here in the shadow of the Rockies, is when the snow may or may not start to melt and when the detritus of winter is no longer covered with pristine blankets of glowing white snow. A lot of garbage and dead plant life from last summer clutters the landscape and piles of accumulated snow morph into piles of dirty sludge. It’s not very pretty. If the temperature rises suddenly and the snow withdraws quickly droppings from pets and farm animals may thaw on the same day and the winds of early spring are not such a sweet thing, believe me. The deer left plenty of unpleasant evidence behind that they chose our front garden as their bed this winter.

Spring is a welcome season of stirring hope, but for people like loggers, who work outside, break-up means going home and waiting for the ground to dry until they can work again. In the tourism trade it’s called the shoulder season -too wet (or too dangerous due to avalanche hazard) to hike, too warm to ice fish or outdoor skate or to ski the lower hills, too cold to boat or swim. Out of season. It’s a good time to tend to tools that need repair.

Paul wrote to his young protegé, Timothy, that making disciples of Jesus is ongoing. True there are seasons when many new believers are born into the family of God and seasons when the Church experiences rapid growth in maturity, but there are also seasons when growth is hidden. Sometimes it looks like nothing is happening, but when the cold and dark season gives up its hold the warming light reveals that which has endured. The mosses and lichens have been busy breaking down dead trees and hard rocks to prepare the soil for another season of growth. Seeds that have lain dormant will soon take root and shoot up.

You know, we never know what is going on in the hearts of people who appear to be cold and hard. We are just called to love faithfully -in season and out of season.

I urge you, Timothy, as we live in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus (whose coming in power will judge the living and the dead), to preach the Word of God. Never lose your sense of urgency, in season or out of season. Prove, correct, and encourage, using the utmost patience in your teaching. (2 Timothy 4:1,2 Phillips)

Take Heart

On February 4, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests2 Comments

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” -Jesus

(John 16:33)

The Sunshine of Forgiveness

On February 2, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Art, Mountains, Sky, Trees and forests, Water4 Comments

We tend to drag up our old sins, we tend to live under a vague sense of guilt…we are not nearly as vigorous in appropriating God’s forgiveness as He is in extending it. Consequently, instead of living in the sunshine of God’s forgiveness through Christ, we tend to live under an overcast sky of guilt most of the time. -Jerry Bridges

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. (Colossians 1:11-14)

Walk with Me

On January 20, 2014March 3, 2014 By Charis PsalloIn Music, Photography, Trees and forests, Winter5 Comments

As I went for a walk on a frosty afternoon yesterday the song “A Resting Place” by Paul Wilbur was running through my head. The air was calm and peaceful and Holy Spirit’s presence so gentle and warm that I forgot the cold weather. Can I share some photos from that walk with you?