Had some sun this morning and could actually see Cherry Heights and Seven Mile for the first time in a few days. 

Portland has had its highest recorded rainfall ever for December with more moisture to come.  Unfortunately, it is also saturating the ground and with high winds come the danger to trees as they are uprooted – and even more danger to people and their property.

Mt. Hood is starting to get the snow needed to support our water shed for Spring and Summer.  It has a base of 77 inches with another 40 plus inches to follow.  Since September there has been over 190 inches that fell – I appreciate it.

Carla was, once again, called and asked if she would take the day off – they aren’t meeting payroll – as THE senior employee she could ask to be shifted around and someone else would go home, but she won’t – ‘twouldn’t be fair to them; many of them badly need the hours.

So, she is doing ‘Christmasy’ things.

Eyes are still bothering me, but nothing like yesterday.  So, I can once again write my tomes!  :-)

Mathew 26:57-58 And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.

⁵⁸ But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.

John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

I was reading a devotional based on R.C. Sproul’s teaching this morning.  In it he discussed the fact that there were several women who followed Christ to the Calvary.

It appears, though, that only two of Christ’s disciples did so, and Peter denied Him.

As I meditate on the above verses, I got to wondering if I would have been brave enough to have even followed Him – either to the trial as Peter did, or to Calvary as John did.

We now know what happened, Jesus did die, of course, but He was resurrected and we know all that transpired and why.

But His disciples, even though they had been with Him for at least three years, walked with Him, were given private lessons by Jesus, saw Him perform miracles daily – did not.

They felt abandoned and afraid.  Jesus was taken into custody and they were left out in the cold. 

They, indeed, like sheep whose Shepherd has left them to their own devices and they scatter, afraid of what is happening.

It had to be a difficult time.  God knew this, He knew that even though Jesus had told them what was going to happen they didn’t fully understand or appreciate the full ramifications of what was happening.

Only after Christ revealed Himself, after His resurrection, to them did they understand what He had been telling them – and then they devoted the rest of their lives to proclaiming the Salvation Christ offered.

We know better than they did, we have the New Testament written by God through these men to tell us. 

We know that Christ was with them, even in His death.  We know that He lifted them up.  We know that He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and teach them.

We know that Christ is the risen Savior and all He spoke while walking on earth – with these (and of course many others) accompanying Him – was truth.

We know that Christ was with them through their struggles and protected them as they spread the Gospel.  We know that even in their deaths there was life in their words and their example of Christ’s worth and love helped billions of us through the centuries draw close to Him and accept Him as our Savior.

So, why do we struggle so much when we are being tested? 

Why do we lament our fate and try to figure a way out of our problems – without going to Him and asking Him to give us wisdom and guidance?

Why do we cringe when we hear others speak openly against Christ, but do not speak up for Him?

Why are we afraid of what others will think of us, say to us and others about our relationship with Christ?

Why do we listen to satan’s lies and neglect God’s truth?

Why do we take our eyes off Him and falter when we could walk on the water – as Peter did when he left the boat, but failed when he took his eyes off Christ?

When I was a police officer working the streets I had to be able to depend on my brother officers to protect my back.  They were there, they were always there.

I didn’t have to ask them if they were going to be there – I knew that they would be.

Yes, in our world we don’t have the ability to be at more than one place at a time – and – there were times they were involved in something that delayed their arrival for my assistance – but they came as quickly as possible when summoned.

I remember one time we were taking down a juvenile party involving alcohol.  There were four of us on duty – which was sufficient for the situation and we arrived at the same time.

Two went to the front door, myself and another officer went to the back – experience on these things told us that some would try to escape.

Sure enough, as soon as they realized we were police they started running. 

As we were gathering those we could catch up, one of the kids came running from in front of the house and said the place ‘was crawling with cops.’ 

I was pulling one young man out of a blackberry bramble – and it was just as you could expect, he had scratches and clothing torn and was in pain, both for being caught drinking AND from the thorns tearing into him – meanwhile the other officer was taking a couple of the kids to the patrol cars in the front of the house.

He came back to me as I finally extricated the entwined youth, and said, the kid was right, we must have 10 more officers and deputies out there.

When the officers in front, knocked on the door and noted the kids were heading toward the back, one radioed to us that they were heading our way.

Somehow, the dispatcher heard, something resembling ‘shots fired’ and called on the Sheriff’s Office and State Police for assistance.  The Wasco County Sheriff’s Office – at that time – shared a frequency with the Klickitat County (Washington – across the river from us) Sheriff’s Office.

I walked around the front and couldn’t believe all the red and blue lights flashing – the street was lit up like a Christmas tree out there.

We had both Sheriff’s Office deputies, the State Police and since it was almost shift change we had the oncoming shift all going to the scene.  There were indeed ‘cops crawling all over the place.’

We scarfed up as many kids as we could, transported them to the station and had their parents pick them up; and we had a good laugh at the expense of the dispatcher – but we also thanked him for calling for assistance when he thought it was necessary – not waiting to be told.  (Dispatchers, too, have the back of the officers in the field and sometimes they are the only ones that know what is happening.)

However, the second thing we realized was our brother officers had our backs – even coming from another state.  If there had been a dangerous situation for us on the scene, it was nice to know that we had that kind of support.

As Christians, we face difficulties every day.  There ARE OTHER Christians out there that have our back and will stand with us and support us – but even more importantly – we have the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ, to protect and help us.

Not everything we go through is going to come out like we might want – but everything we go through, when we accept that God is with us, strengthens our faith. 

AND glorifies Him.

Sometimes it IS difficult to see God working in our lives when we struggle – but He is and when we have gone through it we see the results of all those red and blue lights, we see that God has our backs.

In truth, I don’t think I would have been as brave as Peter and John.  But, fortunately, Jesus understands our fears, He doesn’t want us to be afraid, but he understands.  AND He doesn’t hold it against us when we falter – AS LONG, as we confess our lack of faith and seek to do better.  After all,

Mathew 28:20 .... and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

AMEN!

Later, Art :-)