Why should we do good for others?

My chickens have been doing well and enjoying the last few days of cooling weather. Gertrude continues to go her own way, though. She does not understand the blessing of doing good for others or even the negatives of hurting others. She is a cute chicken, even a funny chicken. She is just a chicken.

Gertrude hiding in the flowers.

Gertrude is totally focused on living in the moment with little care for those around her. (You know that Country Western song by Toby Keith – I Wanna Talk About Me – Gertrude sings this song all day long)

Only at night does she seek the comfort of others for group protection. However, Gertrude knows to run from things that want to eat her and always be watchful.

She is a chicken who understands her placement in life as food for others

Thankfully, we are not chickens. We have minds full of thought and abilities to comprehend the marvels in our lives. We know love and sadness. Loss and gain. Anger and forgiveness. Grace and mercy. Wondrous things reside in the human mind.

Our Creator places within us all these things and more.

He desires us to bless others in our life as we walk our way through the path He has placed before us. Those that we love and love us in return are easy to bless with good things. Sorry to say, those we do not know or even like we are more doubtful to help.

I believe we should try to do good for others with everyone we meet. The older I get, the more I understand our purpose in life: to help others even when it is painful.

My wife and I just finished a road trip across the United States. We drove two large U-Haul trucks (26 footers) to move my wife’s sister to Mississippi from California. That was an adventure that prayer brought us through.

Along the way, as I stopped to gas up my truck, I noticed someone had placed a sticker on the pump I was using.

The sticker I found is below:

Sticker found at Route 66 truck stop.

This was an excellent reminder of what I was called to be as one of His children.

(By the way, John Wesley was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist of the 1700s. Who led a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day. He was well known for his loving heart.)

Again, we are not chickens. We are so much more than a small, feathery animal because of our Creator. He has placed within us a soul and a mind that allows us to appreciate the fullness of His creation and His redemptive heart.

What benefit can we get from doing good for others? God’s pleasure towards us is our reward. Because we are made by Him, He has put within us something unique that no animal has. We experience pleasure and peace within ourselves as we help others meet their needs.

HEBREWS 13:16

 “Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices.”

MATTHEW 5:16

 “In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”

I pray that you and I have a more open heart to do good for others as we walk the path God has put before us.

Be Blessed and do well for others. There is a great need in our world for those with hearts of mercy.

Peter D McPheters

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Why is Forgiving Others Hard To Do?

Working in central Alaska was like starring in some animal documentary. The first year there, it was commonplace to be dodging moose, caribou, and random bears on the way to the job site. I always kept expecting Marlin Perkins from Mutual of Omaha to step out from behind a bush and say, “And now Peter will wrestle this male caribou to the ground. We will see how long it takes before Peter is gored; by its antlers.”  

Thankfully, I never was hurt by one of the critters I ran into on my travels in Alaska. The Lord was good to me.

The animals and fishing in Alaska are great to observe and appreciate, but the people are more impressive. They all have a story to tell. Many of them are adventurous and fully embrace the land they live in. I found them caring, helpful people, proud of what they accomplished against constant adversity from weather to hard times making a living.

On the jobsite itself, I had an additional duty of taking work progress photos. The issue that came up with this assignment was from the workers themselves. At least half of the crew working on our job site had to be warned that I would take a picture. This way, they had time to turn their faces away from the camera lens. They wanted to stay hidden from their past.

The craft working on the project were professional as they carried out the work on site. However, a few of the workers had pasts they did not want to talk about. They had come to Alaska to start new lives and escape from their old ones. Many of these new Alaskans hoped this life change would bring about the happiness they could not find in the forty-eight.

A few of these men and women were escaping a relationship that had gone badly. Bitterness and unforgiveness lay at the root of their breakup. The lack of forgiveness by both parties feeding anger and distrust between the couple.

This same bitterness turning to hate can found here at home as well. Especially if we feed it with anger towards the ones we had loved. Yes, those we love may hurt you and be cold when you needed the warmth of their comfort instead.

The devil would love to destroy what you hoped for when you were younger. A relationship built on respect, love, and, for me, belief in God. Growing in faith together, serving Him through our blessing of others was the plan that I have often fallen short of. I am seeking still more of what my marriage could be.

I have found by practice that whatever you may try to do by oneself to fix a relationship will not work. Promises, commitments, and oaths to stop this and begin this has only a short time effect on improving a relationship.

Prayer is the answer, and the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our life changes not only your own heart but your spouse’s, partner, friend, or family members. Forgiveness is a big part of this change that will bring healing to a relationship.

The word says we can go to Him for all things. Be specific, be earnest, cry out to Him your desires and needs in your relationships. Destroy the bitterness and anger that will keep coming back to you through the power of prayer.

Pray for a heart of forgiveness towards those who have hurt you. Pray for the healing of your relationship.

Pray for living in peace, one with the other. Then, as the Lord answers your prayers, praise Him and thank Him for answering your cry and meeting your needs.

My friends, I hope you will find the loving, forgiving relationship you have always wanted in life. Our Father wants you to have this as well.

I pray this post finds you well and blessed this day.

Peter D McPheters

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Are You Dealing With Loss?

Since I last spoke about my hens, we have had a passing in our chicken coop. One night, a big wide-eyed possum dug underneath the chicken run fence and entered the hen’s roost sleeping area. The possum was in a perfect place, as it now had the chickens trapped. The rat-tailed, fierce teethed beast proceeded to kill three of my girls. A possum eats only the internals of its victims and leaves all the meat behind. This makes the loss even more disagreeable for me.

I set a live trap for the possum the next day, caught it, and ended its chicken-killing lifestyle. (If you are wondering, no, I did not let it go free in some distant area of the woods.)

After cleaning up the after-effects of the chicken coop attack, I expected the chickens would return to their routine. I was wrong, even naïve in thinking the chickens would not remember at some level the terror they went through in the night. Fear can be as intense as pain for all of God’s creatures. I wonder if the surviving chickens dream of giant possums trying to bite them with a mouth full of pointed teeth while dodging their grasping baby-like hands.

The hens stopped laying for about ten days, and each hen started laying again over time, but two. Their roosting habits changed as well. They bunched up now instead of spreading out on their roost. They no longer coooed and clucked in the night as they dozed and slept. Instead, they were quietly hiding in the darkness.

Six weeks have passed, but the same two still have not begun laying. Many of the girls have returned to the usual roost, but four have not. These chickens may never return to normal.

When we lose someone close to us, I wonder what our expectations of ourselves and others should be. In the Marines, the words provided for comfort were … Suck it up, buttercup. Unfortunately, that mentality is more persuasive in our culture than we may perceive.

We expect ourselves to get over a loss even when the separation is only temporary, as those of us who believe in Jesus and His resurrection know. Yes, we understand this, but we still grieve and miss our loved one’s presence. We do not just get over it as some fool may advise you. (Yes, I said fool). Instead, we learn to endure and allow the Father to bless us with His peace. We take heart in God’s promises to us concerning the ones who have passed on to eternal life.

Our Savior was greatly distressed by the loss of his friend Lazarus. When Jesus wept, he wept for Lazarus’s pain as he passed and for the pain of loss others who loved Lazarus felt. The Lord knows our sorrow when we lose the ones we love.  

He called Lazarus forth from the grave as a witness and an example of what was to come with Jesus Himself rising from the dead. Please read the whole story found here with this link.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011&version=NIV#:~:text=The%20Death%20of,let%20him%20go.%E2%80%9D

You will see the humanity of Jesus in the Word and His Kingship as Lord of Lords present at the same time.

I think of those who we have lost in the past year because of COVID or other circumstances. I have hope that I will be with them again and will share eternity with them. However, I still miss them, and I wish they were with me now. I am lonely without them.

I just want to stand beside them again as they stood with me in life.  

I pray this post finds you well and blessed this day.

Peter D McPheters

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Just because I can do something does not mean I should.

During my years working in Alaska, I seriously considered going on a hunt for moose, reindeer, or bear. I was invited one weekend to help set up a bear-baiting site for a future bear hunt. This was an experience I had never had before, and I thought I would learn more about bear hunting, so I went. This escapade entailed nailing together a wooden shooting platform high in a tree. After that, we filled a plastic barrel full of sweet things that would draw in the bear by smell alone.

Setting up the shooting platform took most of the day. I then helped fill the bait barrel it was a little bit gross but lovely for a bear. We filled the barrel with sugar-loaded cereal, candy gumdrops, then layers of maple syrup. Finally, molasses was added at the very end to coat everything with its pungent smell with a thick dark liquid.

Some hunters bury the open barrel vertically in the ground. Others lay the barrel down and chain one end of the barrel to a large tree. They even hang barrels from trees full of the sugar mass of attractant.

Black Bear on Bait Barrel

You knew you have reached the perfect state of olfactory overload when your nose picks up a sugar scent a hundred yards away from the bait site.

I had observed many bears through my years in Alaska, brown and black, and they always reminded me of drunk people wearing bear suits.

Man in bear suit?

 But, after watching some bear-on-bait videos with hunters shooting the animals, I lost interest in the whole idea. The animals acted like little children on Christmas morning as they consumed the sugar-laden foods. My heart was now too soft towards these powerful but expressive creatures.

Yes, I could have done this. I had wanted to do this. I could experience the whole shooting a bear experience and obtain a bear rug as a trophy to bring home. But I just could not do it. The bears were too humanlike to me now. They exhibited emotional qualities of fun, excitement, and contentment. I easily observed all this on the bait site videos as the bears, young and old, devoured the tasty treats. (Oh, I left out listing the bear’s most favorite treat – doughnuts – greaser the better.)

I believe we are often faced with decisions like this in our lives. We can do something you would like to do. It is ok to do it. No one even cares that you do it. However, you know you should not do this thing. It will harm something within yourself.

The bible speaks to this condition in 1 Corinthians 6:12.

(12) You say, “I am allowed to do anything,”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.

Boy, oh boy, I struggle with this as I consume a bowl of ice cream late at night. Or when I enjoy thinking dark thoughts against another and take joy in seeing their misery, and no one knows but the Father.

Yeah, I can do this thing, but what does doing this thing do to me? How will it change me? Will doing what I know in my heart I should not do become a habit or even a way of life. Will it entrap me into even more destructive behavior? That class of wine was great after dinner. I could do two or more….hmmm.

You get the picture. Our heavenly Father created us and has put a soul in each of us. He knows we are all different and affected by life uniquely. He has put inside us the ability to discern what is good or bad for us. Listen to what Spirit within you knows is the truth. Pray for His help to stop hurting yourself through your own desires.  

Jesus understands your problems and wants you to be happy and not consumed by something that will hurt you in the end. Go to Him in prayer and ask for his help.

I pray this post finds you well and blessed this day.

Peter D McPheters

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Are the consequences of your actions catching up with you?

Chickens do not worry about tomorrow and the results they may suffer or be blessed by from their day-to-day actions. Sometimes, I live my life the same way. Not thinking about others but just about myself, and my basic needs. This is how I understand Gertrude and why she does what she does.

Gertrude, is my special hen. She struggles with her daily choices. While the other hens stay crowded together as they go about the property, she will wander by herself. She never considers overhead threats from owls and hawks. She ignores the dogs and cats. She lives a clueless life of chance.

Recently she almost lost her feathery life to an attacking hawk. I did not witness this event but I did find a burst of scattered feathers in the back yard. I thought sure she was gone. When the other hens see the shadow of a hawk they run for the bushes and hide for a safe period of time. Gertrude just continues her normal actions of going her own way as she hunts for bugs and seed. She is not a bad chicken just foolish.

I counted the chickens that night in the coop after finding the feathers, and I still had them all. Gertrude was a little stiff as she walked about that evening but she was fine otherwise. She had enough feathers it was hard to tell where she had been hit. I think her saving grace was she is such a fat chicken the hawk could not grasp her and carry her away.

The consequences of my decisions both good and bad through the years have been greatly influenced by my Father’s blessing of grace and mercy towards me. I have never deserved his help but he has given it to me.

The word says clearly the consequences of our actions will be suffered; but the word also tells us to go to Him with prayer and supplication for our needs. This reflects the depth of His love for us as our Father.

As the old church saying goes: Prayer Changes Things. Old Gertrude does not have the Father mitigating her bad decisions for her. She has to live with her poor choices and suffer the consequences of them. But you can pray and ask for His mercy at any time.

Philippians 4:6 NIV 6 — Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

The Father will do what is best for you even if it is painful for you to endure. But this post is not about just the consequences of bad choices. Even for those who desire to be obedient to the word; and have embraced the sacrifice of his son Jesus, walking His road is still hard. You will fall short but the peace and forgiveness you will live under is worth the changes you will pass through.

The Father knows your heart and I have found His flow of grace towards me to be overwhelming and underserved. Have joy in this love relationship we can have with Him.

I pray this post finds you well and blessed this day.

Peter D McPheters

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Do you wonder what happened to true friendship? – 5-6-2021

When fishing in Alaska or even on a riverbank in rural Mississippi, it is always a better experience with a friend. You can share family stories and your worries with someone you have shared a common love with — the love and enjoyment of fishing.

Early morning on the river.

Salmon fishing brings this emotion out deeper in a person. It is hard work and often a twenty-hour day for all involved in pursuing these stately fish. The rough terrain takes its toll, but it is an easy day because you are fishing and sharing the experience with your friends.  

The moment when your fishing partner drives a landing net into dark flowing water and pulls out the fish you always wanted bonds a memory between the two of you. Your friend has helped make your heart’s desire come true. Friendships are built on these memories that seem more dream than reality.

Going for the dip.

This is all good, but our heavenly Father has much more than this for us. As part of the family of God, you will find yourself among people who love you right where you are right now. Attend a church or a bible study, and you will build relationships not on fishing experiences or what you achieved that day but upon the love Christ has for you.

Believers will love you for who you are and where you are in your walk. If you find they cannot move onto another church just as if you are moving on to another fishing hole. You need to hook up with those who are not judgmental towards where you are in your walk for what the Lord has called you to be.  

Many people complain about churches, large or small, that do not meet their needs. Move on to find the church that does. This is OK. Seek to find a church home that feeds you the Word and puts people in your life to encourage you. Church members should be an example for you. Showing you how to become more like Him in your daily life by their actions.

Jesus wants us to develop loving, Godly relationships, as you can see below. I experienced this when I returned to the church, and this began the change in me that is still ongoing.

Proverbs 18:24 ²⁴ “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

John 13:34-35 ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

John 15:15 ^I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Fishing with friends with common interests is a great and lasting experience. However, having a love relationship with other believers is an eternal one that cannot be compared to our earthly relationships.

Fellow believers will pray for you and seek the best in life for you. They desire you to be joyful in the life the Father has given you.

So treasure your Christian friendships. Pray for them and their needs as you both grow in your walk together.

I pray that all who read this are Blessed and that your family is well.

Peter D McPheters

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Do you need more peace?

My chickens are pleased. The nights are no longer freezing, and they have stopped clustering together for warmth as darkness surrounds them. As I conduct my evening headcount to see if any hens are missing, I find my golden feathered girls spread out across the coop’s roost beam. They sleep at peace, waiting for the dawn to come cooing softly.

When I release them from the chicken run each day, they burst forth from the door, clucking loudly as they go for the best of all things has occurred. The bugs are back! Wonderful, tasty bugs of all types and shapes.

Chickens are the best for keeping your yard free of bugs and ticks. All day long, the hens wander about my property in the cool weather of this new Spring. They scratch and dig up pine straw into piles and find the tiniest of insects and gobble them down.

Only the threat of the dark with all its hidden peril for a tasty chicken drives them home to safety. My chickens are happy as all their physical needs have been met. They are consistently laying a brown egg a day of good size and flavor. They do bicker about their laying boxes as they all want to use the same box. After they drop their egg, they quickly forget this disagreement and return to the bug hunt.

Life is good for the chickens as each day passes by. They are living in the moment, as I have talked about in an earlier post. However, my chickens are not like us. The Father has given us memories of our past, and we can wonder about our future…. full of its unknowns.

He would like us to not be burdened by our past errors and being fearful of our future. Our Creator knows how our lives falter when we embrace the emotions of condemnation and fear.

He wants us to seek Him and ask for Godly wisdom to deal with the worrisome unknowns of our future.

I continue to persevere and try not to let past mistakes weigh me down. Not allowing my fear of future threats to my family and those I care for steal my joy away.

The bible says that we can have peace every day in our lives if we keep our eyes and heart upon Him. I have not been able to do this consistently. However, I have had periods when the peace that He promised us all has fallen upon me. My experience was palatable, even life-changing.

We can all live in the freedom and peace Christ has given us all through His death and resurrection. We can all be free from worry and condemnation. Enjoy these renewing days of Spring and go find those bugs under the pine straw. Find the gift of a better life through our Father’s promise for you.

Philippians 4:6 – ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

I am now issuing this blog in a two-week cycle for the near future. This will help me juggle summer activities and the writing of my next book a little easier.

In all things Be Blessed

Peter D McPheters

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Have you ever missed being home? – 04-08-21

Take a close look at this picture that I have on my office wall. It graphically shows in red the land of origin of the salmon species shown on the map. You also see the salmon with their names and approximate size, one to the other.

• 

  Different Species of Salmon

This picture reminds me that no matter where the salmon roam in the deep cold seas of the North Atlantic, they nevertheless return home. They return to their place of birth to deposit and fertilize their eggs to continue their birth, growth, and death cycle.

I do not believe salmon ponder their home like we do and consider those they love that they have left behind. I think God flips a switch on in their minds that tells the salmon where to go to get back home. As one, these schools of fish return to their birthplace with a fervor.

• 

  Silver Salmon in a small stream – Wearing spawning colors

Roman naval commander and naturalist Pliny the Elder. (Born in the year 23 AD) wrote, “ Home is where your heart is.” I understand more than most the meaning of these words by Pliny.

As most of you know, I have traveled a lot during my lifetime. First, in the Marines around the world, living in foreign lands. Then in civilian life, working for construction companies building this and that.  

During these days and months of separation, I always missed home. I thought of my wife and my children each day, looking forward to being home once again with them.

For me, my home was always with my family. Nothing else could satisfy the desire I had but to be with them.

We all seek a place of rest and peace that gives us rest from the challenges of living in a world more focused on taking from you than giving. We want a place where you can be yourself and still be loved and cherished. I call this place home. However, this is but a shadow of our final home, which we will find in heaven.

Heaven is to be our true home for those who follow Christ Jesus. Jesus told us clearly what he had planned for us there. A place of eternity where the desire we have for home is fully met and satisfied.

John 14:2-4  “ ²My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Take heart if your Earthly home is not still what you have dreamed of. When Jesus prepares your heavenly home, you know it will be perfect in all that makes up a home for you.

I pray you and your family have had a special Easter and that you were blessed by His love for you.

Yes, I hope you enjoyed your family time as well, plus the Easter egg hunts and the unique taste of marshmallow peeps.

I will start issuing this blog in a two-week cycle for the near future. This will help me juggle summer activities and the writing of my next book a little easier.

Peter D McPheters

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Are You Seeking Freedom in your Life? – 3/29/21

Yesterday a series of major thunderstorms rolled through our part of Mississippi. The fantastic weather we have had today is striking in comparison. We are all thankful for the warm sun and cool breeze. Spring in Mississippi is a joyous time as we leave the gloomy, cold, wet days behind us.

My little hens were excited this morning to enjoy the sunny day. As I stepped outside, they gave out a squawk seeking to be let loose from the confines of the chicken run. They line up against the wire and watch my every move. They do not hope for me to come their way and open the coop door; they demand it.

The little hens lined up against the fence.

They do not understand that the coop is there for their protection from wild animals and stray dogs. They want to have the freedom to find new hidey-holes of bugs and seeds.

As a man of the sixties, I remember a fictional character quote that resided in MAD Magazine. His name was Alfred E Neuman. His statement on life and how one should live it was simple. “What, me worry.”  My chickens live out this phrase exceptionally well until they become scared. Then it’s time to panic and run every direction at once, seeking safety.

I have written in an earlier post how the chickens wander about without care until the sun starts to descend. The golden feathered birds start making their pilgrimage back to the coop, and as dark fully covers the land, all the chickens have returned to their safe roost as the creatures of the wood start seeking weaker prey.

The chickens are again locked into their chicken run, and their freedom has left them. They are happy, though, as they settle down to dream their chicken dreams with a constant cooing and clicking as they sit on their roost.

Only when the sun rises, do they return to the coop fencing to cry for their freedom. The threatening darkness has disappeared, and the peril of beasts waiting in the darkness has evaporated along with it.

I am not comparing myself and you to a chicken and their actions (Well, maybe a little bit, if I am honest). For we do as a people hunger for freedom. Freedom is a beautiful thing but dangerous as well, as we often choose to do something that makes us feel good for the moment. Frequently we do not think of the consequences that may come after we make these choices.

God knows this about us as our Creator, and He has always had a plan to care for us, redeem us so we can be with Him forever.

As Easter is upon us, I praise Him for His kindness and mercy towards us to live in freedom and safety and be with Him forever because His son has already paid the price for us.

Romans 8:2 – “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Happy Easter to you all – may you and your family Be Blessed as we celebrate His resurrection.

Peter D McPheters

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Are You Learning to Persevere?

Chicken and Salmon Blog – 3-23-2021

While fishing on the Russian River in Alaska, one is given time to think. I think of my blessings and of my shortcomings. I take heart from the creation that surrounds me. I look at the animals and watch them to find what lessons I can learn from their behavior.

One small bird found in Alaska and the North American continent’s western parts defines the word perseverance. Let me tell you about a bit of a bird that loves fast-flowing streams and rivers called the American Dipper.

American Dipper

Mary Willson, a biologist, ecologist, and consultant from Juneau, AK, wrote the words below of what she calls “a very cool bird.”

The Dipper often feeds while flying underwater, using the liquid as it does another fluid, air. The birds also snorkel, swimming on the surface with their heads below the water surface. They sometimes pick up rocks on stream bottoms to find food underneath.

Dippers depend on clean, open water. In icy places, the birds appear at openings in the ice caused by water upwelling, and dippers can dive through one hole in the ice and emerge from another one.

Dippers eat aquatic and flying insects and are skilled enough to catch small fish, Willson said. She has seen a dipper with four tiny fish in its beak at once. Another time, she witnessed a dipper catching a four-inch fish called a sculpin.

“It had to beat that one on the rocks until it was in enough pieces to eat.”

Willson thinks the dippers can survive the transition from 32-degree water to subzero air because of their feathers, which are denser than other songbirds’, and large oil glands near the base of their tails. They dip their beaks in the oil glands and wipe oil on their feathers, perhaps to keep themselves waterproof. Dippers also have flaps that cover their nostrils while diving.  

Nobody knows how dippers survive the cold, dark winter in northern Alaska and the Yukon. Wilson wonders how dippers in the far north don’t perish in the frigid air temperatures and during the long nights between the three-to-four hours of twilight.

“They are visual hunters,” she said. “In the pits of winter, they’d have to hurry-scurry to get enough food in the time where there’s light to hunt.”

These birds never give up as they live their God-given life. We should not as well as we walk out our daily lives. Take heart in the word below. Our Father knows our life can be challenging. Often overwhelming. Perseverance is our guidance from His word to us. Like the Dipper, find a way to overcome through prayer and with the community of those who love you.

Romans 5:3-5 – ESV More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Easter comes early this year, on April 4th, and I feel we should prepare for this day with a heart of praise for what He has done for us.

I pray that all who read this are Blessed and that your family is well.

Peter D McPheters

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