Seasons of Suffering

Ponder the creative genius of our Great God.  He made it all.  The Original Inventor, the First Artist EVER, and the author of imagination.

God designed the Alaskan wood frog as the only amphibian capable of surviving the frigid Arctic winter. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, this one-of-a-kind creature has the amazing ability to freeze solid and thaw out as temperatures warm in the spring.  At the onset of freezing temperatures, wood frogs hibernate.  Their bodies are engineered by the Master's Hand to pump much of the water out their organs and replace it with large amounts of glucose. The syrupy sugar-solution serves as a cryoprotectant (antifreeze), protecting the cells themselves from a frigid death. Within a few hours, ice fills the abdominal cavity and encases all internal organs. Flat ice crystals form between layers of skin and muscle, and the eyes turn white because the lens and fluids freeze. During this painful process nearly 70% of the frog's total body water is converted to ice. The blood freezes, the heart stops beating, all breathing and muscle movements cease, and the wood frog remains in a virtual state of suspended animation. 

Was God showing off when he designed the wood frog?  (Maybe so!)  Or was He painting a picture of a season of suffering that could only be thawed by the "glory of spring?" 
 
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  (1 Peter 4:12-13)

No matter what trials we face in this lifetime, there is a season forthcoming that will set us free from the icy grip of world's winter.  Let us not be taken by surprise, let us prepare, expect, REJOICE! 

After all, Spring is just around the bend!

I Love My Wife

A few years ago, I was playing tennis with one of my good friends. We had a great match, got some great exercise and on a final changeover, he asked for my help. He needed help with a quick errand. It wasn't far so I agreed and off we went. What happened next is something I will never forget as long as I am alive...

We were nearing the rendezvous (I think he was buying a car??) when my friend opened his tennis bag. I looked down to find a suprising discovery. CASH! and lots of it!! I don't know that I have ever seen so much money...17,000 dollars total.

I asked the all-important question (WHY?), which led to his answer, an answer that soaked my heart with grief. My friend explained about his marriage how conflict had taken the reigns. He seemed convinced that it would likely soon end in divorce. He said that he had been keeping his money stashed away from his wife. I gently pressed, and found out that he had been hiding cash from his wife for about 2 and a half years!

"If we do get a divorce Nathan, in North Carolina the woman gets EVERYTHING."

What came out of MY mouth was purely reactive and spontaneous. It was the first and only thought that came to my mind...

"IF I CAN'T HAVE MY WIFE, I DON'T WANT MY MONEY."

I didn't feel like i was being judgemental, just honest and genuine...I can't live without her. She is everything I am not and everything I want to be. She is beauty, inside and out. As men, we must truly "leave our father and mother, and cling to our wives" (Eph 5:31). We must for the same reason Jesus left his father for His bride, the Church. We must love and serve and sacrifice for our wives no matter what the cost. And I am not talking about just money, no, our very lives! Oh that my wife might be cherished above my own life! She is worth it...worth it all!

For Christ,

Nathan Smith