Pride is a Cheeseburger

Fishing Report: Not this week.
Hunting Report: Deer smarter than me. I sat in the cloudy windy rainy woods and saw nothing. Deer evidently were cuddled up and warm somewhere deep in the woods.

Pride we all struggle with it and if you say you don’t well aren’t we proud of ourselves. My story is simple I had a lot of pride for many years. I ate what I wanted, I exercised or didn’t when I wanted, I did what I wanted when I wanted, I did dangerous work because I thought it was a way to gain respect from my peers. In reality all of those things were just one thing Pride. The cost was, is and will continue to be high. I now have a very limited diet with a lot of no’s; no pork (I love pork), no beef, no chocolate, no wheat, no corn, no high fat food, no caffeine, no sugary sweets. Now when I cheat it is a small bowl of oatmeal (I’m not to eat but 2 servings of carbs a day and one is even better). My gallbladder is gone, my colon is scarred and my liver doesn’t work right. I have an infection that comes and goes and kidneys that produce stones evidently for gravelling a driveway. All of this because of pride and doing what I thought was best because I could do what I want. I now have to exercise 2-3 times a week but not more because I don’t recover like my peers, I have to take amino acids so that I can exert myself at the gym or in the yard, without them I can only go for about 20 minutes. I worked long hours (70/week) and had way to much stress for nearly 20 years which led to some of my health issues and a lot of fat which I now have to lose I am down nearly 40 from my peak but have at least that much to go. I ignored my wife and kids much of the time because I was consumed with being a great worker, I loved work, and I had an affair with my job. What was I thinking I have a truly lovely wife and beautiful kids? What was I thinking you ask? I was thinking about ME no one else. Oh, occasionally I would take some time to be with them but more often than not, I was at work or so stressed and tired that I did not live life with my family. My peers thought my job sounded exciting but truth be told it was exciting to them because they didn’t get to do my job they had theirs. The bible says in Proverbs 16: 18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Haughty what a great word, here is the definition; disdainfully proud; snobbish; scornfully arrogant; supercilious. That was me just ask my wife and kids. Ask you wife and kids if that is you. Guys you can run from it for a while but God has a long Staff, you know He is a Sheppard; He will use it to reach out and hook your leg and get your attention. God reached down and grabbed me and said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LOOK AT ME, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, LOOK AROUND CORY YOU ARE LOSING EVERYTHING AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!” He did get my attention. If you have read this and you know me you know that I will be paying for my pride the rest of my life. My diet may never change, my marriage thanks to God and my DW (devote wife) has been restored and is better than ever, the relationships with my kids is getting better but I missed 10 years because I thought work was more important. I am happy that this happened to me. God showed his love to me by chastening me. If He would not have gotten my attention I would have died a young man and missed my wife and I raising our kids, giving my daughter away in marriage and helping raise my grandkids, not to mention watching my kids catch big fish and just enjoying life. Take it from me pride is disdainful, eat right balance work and life, love your wife and spend time with just her no TV, no kids, no distractions and do the same with your kids together and separate. I am here to tell you PRIDE will KILL YOU fast or slow you are still alone and dead.

Fishing Report: #20 Parachute Ants Black in color seems to be the ticket last week but only with the little guys, no bruisers this week. Deer Season starts this week and I almost got one with the Prairie Schooner (my truck, it is really long and not very fast).

I have been putting together a study for couples to start in January and I am filtering through what it truly means to love your spouse. While watching a episode of Life last night the main character has a romantic meeting with his ex-wife (they divorced while he was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, I know very weak plot but it is TV) and it prompted a conversation with my wife that I think is important to share and for you to discuss with your spouse. I believe as does my wife that once you have been married or better yet have engaged in the act of marriage you are linked to that person forever, good, bad but never indifferent. When you share the most intimate of acts with someone you are not only sharing yourself with them but you are making a permanent connection for the rest of your life. In chapter 3 verse 5 “Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires” so why do we bind ourselves to others and awaken love before it is time? I don’t know other than to say that our society has said it is “ok”. In the Song of Salomon in Chapter 2 verse 16 “My lover is mine and I am his”; that shows possession and it does not say “My lover is mine and I am his and another’s.” Do you have possession of your spouse’s heart and do they have possession of yours? .Have you left and forsaken all others, you know do you still “think” about old so and so, do you look longingly at a magazine cover or that person that sits down the hall at the office, or the person at church that treats you so sweetly? If you haven’t you forsaken all others and your spouse need to pray to break the connection completely and do it openly and honestly. Be honest with one another and love each other during this process. No resentment here, we don’t have time life is too short and we have been losing ground by not taking care of this earlier. Later in this book it states that they seek each other out. Have you done this lately, have you sought out your spouse. Have you brought home flowers or made a special meal, better yet men have you jumped in and cleaned the toilet or ladies have you surprised your man with a little “romance”? If you haven’t you ought too. Did you not promise to love this person? That doesn’t mean that you just do life together it means that you GET to do life together so “DO IT” enjoy your life together join each other in the chores and in the fun with the family and with each other. Once you start doing life together your “Love will be awakened” and that is the goal. All of this is a picture of what our walk with Christ is to be. It is to be that deep intimate relationship that you have with your spouse but more it is that feeling that you need (crave, desire) them, your heart aches to see and feel them, to smell and touch them. Have you ever been away from your spouse and smelled your wife’s perfume or your husband’s cologne, what a rush of emotion and longing. That is how it should be for our spouse but even more that is how it should be for Christ. So love your spouse as if they were Christ and love Christ because He is the Lover of your soul.

No Chrome, No Horns but a lot of blessings

This picture of a Stone Cross reminds me of Reformation Day. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran tradition was born. This in turn would later ease the creation of the Reformed and Anabaptist traditions as well.

Wow no fishing and the season is ending very quickly. Steelhead aka “chrome” should start to run soon.

Deer Season is going on but I haven’t done that yet either.

The last ten days has been crazy. Finished a huge project. Got hired full time, truly a blessing from God. And I passed 2 kidney stones. God is at work here at the in our home and life. Blessings are a very interesting thing, for so long I have been at the fringe of my own growth relying on myself for my own survival but now I have let God take over and what a difference, great things have happened. God has truly seen fit to open up the doors and begin to bless my family. I do struggle with this, I come from a pay for performance mindset. I know who and what I am and have been told by several that I am correct in my thinking. This is a lie. 1 John assures me that I am loved by the Lord and that I am precious to Him and I am not what others say I am. He is not ashamed of me, He is not embarrassed by me. He loves me and He cares that I have good gifts (Matthew 7:11 if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?). How do you justify getting good gifts and rich blessing when you have done nothing to deserve them? I don’t have a good answer for you other than to tell you get your children great gifts and all they did was to be formed out of the love you have with your wife. That being said we get great gifts just because God created us when he laid the foundation of time. He knew what the plan was in the beginning we are like Jeremiah. Jeremiah 1:55"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." He has known us from the beginning and I am convinced that He sees us as we will be and not as we are. John Calvin said “God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.” If we can remember this that we are here for His Glory and not for our own, we will be greatly blessed. Calvin also said this “However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.” Be comfortable with blessing and don’t try to justify it there is nothing on this earth that we deserve except Hell. Remember what is stated in Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. That sums it up, we deserve nothing and what we have is a gift born out of God’s love for us not us for Him. Take care until next time. Sorry for the delay it has been a long few weeks.