Oil For The Tin Man

“Have you been doing your exercises?”  It was my Chiropractor after my last visit.  I go to my Chiropractor every six weeks and he takes care of my neck issue and my lower back.  The exercise is designed to keep my neck loosened up so I can turn it better.  I could truthfully answer for the first time in awhile that I had been doing the exercises he prescribed.    I mentioned that I felt like I was fighting a losing battle.  He agreed with me that gravity was a tough foe to go against.  When I walked  away my neck was unlocked and my head could turn smoothly and freely!  He had done his job but we both knew that in six weeks I would right back here with the same problem.

The problem behind the problem that  I have stems from the job that I do.  You see I sit in front of a computer all day and my neck is positioned out of line.  Small doses of this would probably be fine but hour after hour in the same position takes it’s toll.  The strange part of it is that my neck comes out of line so gradual that I usually don’t realize how locked up I am.  The chiropractor knows just what tests to run me through to see how badly I have regressed.  He either adjusts me on a standing table or he uses one where I lay down.  The procedure is quick with a command of “deep breath in” and the  sudden push in the targeted spot which causes the table to adjust too.  There is always a loud pop when that happens.  Usually it is just the table that pops but once on a while my body cracks too.  Then it is off of the table and more tests to see if the problem is solved.

Remember in the old Wizard of Oz movie where Dorothy and her new friend The Scarecrow were skipping down the yellow brick road only to notice the tin man.  He caught their attention because he was stiff like a statue.  Then they heard his feint sound. Dorothy and the Scarecrow made out his sound to mean oil.  Suddenly they found an oil can right next to him.  Dorothy started squirted the oil on his mouth and suddenly he could talk.  He was telling her where to apply more oil and before you knew it he was limber enough to skip down the yellow brick road with them!

It is ironic that the Tin Man thought he needed a heart.  However the words to the song Tin Man by America are true “Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have.”  His problem was that he got stiff and rusty and couldn’t act on what his heart was telling him.  The same thing can happen to us.  We can get hard toward the things of God and try to do things ourselves.  Often times it is only when we find that we can’t do anything that we humbly put our trust in him.  When we come to that realization we become thankful that he has softened our heart and given us a purpose for living.  No longer are we trying to do everything by ourselves because like the Tin Man we need to be free.  We realize that the spiritual oil God gives us is exactly what we need to be happy.  We are free because the burden is now off of us.  He said that he would take our burdens and carry them for us.  Because of the spiritual freedom he gives we are thankful for the transformation in us that occurs!

One day Jesus as he was about to enter a village on his way to Jerusalem heard 10 men afflicted with Leprocy cry out to him.  “Jesus, Have mercy on us”.  Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest.  As they started walking they were all healed.  Jesus had in effect taken the spiritual healing oil and applied it with his words and their faith.  Later one of the ten came back to Jesus and was so thankful.  He praised him in a loud voice and threw himself at Jesus’ feet.  Jesus asked the questions “Wasn’t there ten that were cleansed?” Where are the other nine?  Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?  Then he said to him “rise and go, your faith has made you well.”  When Jesus said well in this case he meant well both physically and spiritually.  The other 9 got their physical healing but their hearts were still hard.  This man was so thankful that he was sent away the second time with a clean heart too!

There are so many things that I want to do.  Before I try to begin I need to ask myself is this something that God would want me to do?  Being connected to him makes decisions far more easier.  He often times puts the desire in our hearts.  Without that driving desire our dreams by themselves fall by the wayside.  There are so many people that make goals for the new year and after a month or two abandon them.  Why do they fail so miserably?  The answer is that their goals are not deeply rooted.  Without deep roots when discouragement comes their dreams blow away much like a badly planted tree.

So how do we follow through on our goals.  How do we find the successes that we desire?  First of all we need to make sure that what we want is what God wants for us.  If we feel in our spirit that it is we are at the point of beginning.  Now we need to get God involved.  He tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord he will give us the desires of our heart.  Psalms 37:4.  So what does it mean for us to delight ourselves in the Lord?  It means to put him so high that everything else is distant.  It means that he is first and there is not a close second.

We may find that God takes us in a completely different direction.  If so we will be so much more fulfilled knowing that we are completely in his will.  On the other hand it may be a freeing up thing much like the oil for the Tin Man.  The Tin Man didn’t get his oil until he asked for it.  The same went for the ten with Leprocy.  One thing is for certain God is our friend.  He wants the best for us.  His best can be fulfilled when we give our hearts, soul, and mind to him.  Then when he gives us a desire he loosens us with spiritual oil so that we are free to fulfill our mission.  When my neck issue is straightened out it is only a matter of time before it freezes up again.  It is only a temporary fix.  God does not do temporary fixes.  He uses his spiritual oil to take us to higher ground by giving us all of the desires he has placed in our hearts.

 

 

Getting The Brush Off

It could only happen to Kevin.  That was my initial thought when he was telling me the story.  It was like a repeat of past experiences when he expected one thing and got the opposite.  To understand  the significance of the story let me tell you a little about Kevin.  Kevin and I were friends in our teen years.  Kevin had a car and he was our ticket to get to school during my junior year.  He was the bridge between riding the bus which nobody liked and getting my own car.  After high school we both went our separate ways.  I went to college and Kevin joined the Navy.  We lost touch with each other for over 40 years.  One day Dane Kevin’s brother friended me on Facebook.  It wasn’t long after I was talking to Dane and naturally Kevin’s name came up.  Surprisingly one day after work there was a message on my machine and it was Kevin.  He mentioned that he didn’t know if this was my number but if it was he wanted me to call him.

The phone call that ensued lasted about 2 hours.  We talked about what happened to us after we had last seen each other.  From two other experiences that I have had re-kindling friendships after many years apart unexpected things happen.  I’ve found that even though we are much older we basically haven’t changed.  Oh we have changed with the experiences that life has dealt us but we are still the same people.  What I am trying to say is in my experience it is easy to find the things that you originally liked about someone even after years have passed.  Kevin’s likeable traits included the fact that he is responsible, loyal, friendly, and he can laugh at himself.  These traits served him well in his position with the City Water Department after his stint in the Navy.

We’ve talked quite a lot about his many years at the Water Department. We’ve talked about technical things involved and people that he worked with.  The most humorous thing that he told me was that it seemed that whatever the situation he was the one that received the unexpected surprise.  For example if the office was getting gifts from the boss his got the one that was broken.  If they ordered out for lunch his order would be the one missing.  If there was a paycheck issue his was the one that was likely to be wrong.  It got to a point where Kevin’s boss was feeling sorry for him for the apparent black cloud that seemed to fly over his head.

A little over a week ago I was at an indoor flea market.  I got talking to one of the sellers about some of the old record albums that he had.  He was a big guy probably like 6 foot 8 and 270 pounds.  He was also standing up which strained my neck a little looking up as we talked.  I asked him if he knew that Alice Cooper (one of the artists that we talked about) was a Christian?  It seemed like such an unlikely scenario that the man who wore wild outfits and had the painted face was now living for the Lord.  The seller offered several other former rock stars who were now Christians.  He seemed to have an enormous amount of knowledge on the subject.  That is when I asked him the ultimate question “Are you a Christian?”  Immediately his answer was “NO.”  As I tried to witness about the Lord to him he was seemingly trying to find ways to interrupt, dispute, or simply complain about how the world and his situation was.  When I handed him my website card he accepted it but I could tell he probably would never use it.  I had the feeling that I was getting the brush off.

My friend Kevin had me laughing so hard the other day that I was crying.  I had asked him where he would recommend me going to get my car washed.  He told me he had always had good luck with Bob and Kay’s Car wash except for one time.  Naturally I wanted to hear about the one exception.  It was about a year ago that Kevin took his new to him car for a wash.  To his happy surprise the car wash wasn’t very busy that day as he was the only one going in!  With his next in line service he was thinking about what other errands he needed to do that day.  He followed the instructions that the big sign at the place electronically posted which ended with “put your car in neutral and don’t use the brakes.”  As he sat there going through the spinning brushes something very strange happened.  About halfway through the wash the entire power system shut off.  The brushes stopped, the car stopped,  the lights went out, and there was Kevin trapped in his car in the midst of brushes.

Sometimes in the middle of a crises instant action is needed.  Kevin thought about the situation.  What could he do?  He couldn’t get out of the car because he was blocked in and he couldn’t try to drive through the wash for fear that his car would be damaged.  All he could do was nothing.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is nothing.  Kevin kept his fears under control.  I’m sure the memory of the black cloud days entered his mind.  However he was able to not panic and wait for the situation to get better.  After about 5 minutes a sudden noise was heard.  The lights came on, the brushes started spinning and his car started moving.  Within a couple of minutes he was out of the car wash and his car was sparkling clean as though nothing had happened.

I took Kevin’s advice and took my car to Bob and Kay’s.  I pulled into a long line unlike Kevin’s experience on that fateful day.  After paying at the drive through window I followed the car in front of me and obeyed the instructions.  I thought about Kevin’s experience as I went through the wash.  When we do something like ride an elevator, go through a car wash, or drive our car we don’t imagine things will go wrong.  Usually they don’t and we get the belief that nothing bad can happen.  When it does it is so much out of the ordinary that we might panic.

When we talk to people about the Lord we must realize that they may not accept the truth we are sharing  The big man at the flea market is a good example.  I have learned to throw something out there much like throwing seeds out in a field.  The ultimate results are completely out of my control.  Many times we will get the brush off treatment because they don’t want to hear about it.  Their hearts are hard and not ready for the seeds.  At these times we may be tempted to try to do the Lords work and force them to accept it.  If we push the issue we could do permanent damage much like what could have happened to Kevin’s car.  What we need to do is wait on the Lord to take that seed that was planted and do a good work to soften their hearts.  We are not called to produce results.  The good Lord is the only one who can change people.   Our call is to show the light of Jesus within us.  By showing his light we can let him use his power to take their darkness state and transform it into a sparkling clean bright light.

#1 Juan and Gabby

#1 Juan and Gabby
September 1, 2019

The story of the year for 2019 is a story about anger, hurt, and forgiveness.  I hope you enjoy it and I pray that through it all you will make forgiveness a big part of your life in 2020!  Thank you for your readership for 2019 and all of the years I have been doing this!  It means more than you could ever know!

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/09/01/juan-and-rosey/

#2 Let’s Hear It For The Noise

#2 Let’s Hear It For The Noise
September 18, 2019

Sometimes the things that are annoying can be a blessing if we learn to open up our ears and our hearts

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/lets-hear-it-for-the-noise/

#3 A Fly In The Eye FromThe Rooftop

#3 A Fly In The Eye From The Rooftop
July 15, 2019

This story illustrates that sometimes things happen, but God is still in control!

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/a-fly-in-the-eye-from-the-rooftop/

#4 A Helping Hand

#4 A Helping Hand
March 17, 2019
Sometimes all someone needs is a helping hand to enjoy success and prosperity!  Will we be that someone who they can count on to put them over the top?

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2016/06/04/a-little-rain-sometimes/

#5 Do You Remember Me?

Everyone wants to be remembered for something.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they were remembered for something nice that they did.  This story is about remembering names and people.

Do You Remember Me?

January 20, 2019

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/01/20/do-you-remember-me/

#6 Delivering Kindness

#6 Delivering Kindness

November 8, 2019

This story can give us a new perspective in treating people nice even if they aren’t so nice!

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/11/08/delivering-kindness/

#7 I Believe In You

Each year I do a countdown of stories written based on your responses!  For 2019 I cut the list down to 7.  I hope you enjoy the recap!

#7 I Believe In you  August 11, 2019

When we truly believe in something or someone it has enormous effects!

https://lightenload.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/i-believe-in-you/

Wait A Minute Fear!

Suddenly without warning a dog was running at me barking as he came.  His owner was calling his name but to no avail.  The dog seemed determined to get to me.  I guess years ago I wouldn’t know what to do but at my age I’m more experienced.  Instead of putting fear in me the dog put more of an annoyance.  I’ve heard that a charging dog can be defused by not doing anything. The most natural thing to do would be to attack him before he attacked you.  The other natural thing to do would be to run.  Either way is not the advice of experts.  Attacking the dog brings on a fight and you might get hurt by a mean and energized dog.  Running let’s the dog know you fear him and he most likely will chase you down like a scared rabbit.  The thing to do they say and what I did was to stop in my tracks and not look the dog in the eye.  This leads to hopefully a non confrontational feeling for the dog and he most likely will sniff your leg and be more likely to listen to his masters pleading.

I can think of situations in my life where I was truly scared, fearful, and anxious.  One situation that really frightened me along with millions of other people was the financial crises of 2008.  I was very fearful of my financial future and spent a lot of time troubled and scared.   It got so bad that it was on my mind all of the time.  The fear of losing everything that I had was so powerful that it completely swallowed me in it.  What could I do about it?  Who could I talk to to help me cope with this powerful fear that I was feeling?

Franklin Roosevelt made a statement concerning the times at hand during the Great Depression.  Millions of people were out of work and things looked as bleak as they ever had.  Roosevelt knew though that even in bad times that we could compound our problem.  He mad the statement that “The only thing to fear was fear itself.”   What did he mean by that?  He knew that when people are fearful the natural thing to do is nothing.  It’s like the saying of burying your head in the sand.  There are times that doing nothing is the right thing to do but it should not be an automatic response.  It should actually be one of many options.  Roosevelt stated that our main problem was getting people back to work.  By being fearful people that could offer jobs would become paralyzed about the future and not want to expand their business.  Likewise people would become dependent on the government and not dream for a brighter future.  He offered help from the government but it was a temporary fix until our non fearing attitude could turn the ship around.

If you are living in fear it is time to turn your ship around.  The first thing that you should realize is that God loves you and wants the best for you.  I was listening to a radio show and somebody called in and was telling how she had been always fearful.  When questioned why she stated that she feared what people thought about her.  She said that this condition went on for years until she discovered in the Bible that fear is not from God.  When she realized all of the trouble that God went through to make a path for us to get to heaven she discovered that he had her back.  Instead of fearing the future and anything going on now her faith increased.  She became at total peace with who she was and who controlled her future.  Her call that day was a call for victory and a testimony for anyone listening who was in the grasp of fear.

We all go through fearful times.  Some of us are fearful all of the time.  This is not good for our health or our future.  Don’t get me wrong fear is a natural thing.  Some things we should be fearful of.  However living in fear is never good.  When I was living in fear I took some action.  I made a decision of what I was going to do.  It wasn’t a popular view with the so called experts but in my case it was the right thing in my heart.  It’s amazing that when you make a stand whatever it is you are back in control of the situation.  There is something very powerful in standing up to the fear that is within you and controlling it.  That decision was made by my heart and what I felt was the right thing.  I prayed with my pastor about the situation but he did not really understand because he was not in the midst of it.  At the end of the day it was up to me and what I felt God would have me do.

So I ask you today if you are living in fear to stand up to it.  Do not be paralyzed by fear.  Consider your options and pray to God for guidance.  If you listen to that still small voice within you he will direct your ways.  Take action on what you feel.  It is not good enough to think about solutions and then not implement them.  Take control of your life knowing that the God of the Universe only wants what is good for you.  “Peace I give to you”, Jesus said.

So the dog that was charging at me got to my ankle and like I figured he started sniffing my leg.  He was not out to hurt me like I could have feared.  However if I made the wrong move it could have propelled him into vicious actions.  His Master was finally able to get his attention but as I started walking again I heard him calling out his dogs name in a loud and hurried tone.  The dog was right back on my heals and I stopped immediately.  Finally the Master got the dogs attention for good.  There was no fear on my part, just the annoyance of something trying to take the joy of life away from me.