“Shut up legs.” I said it a thousand times, climbing a hill, peddling in a race, at the end of a swim when my legs screamed, “no”, I said, “Shut up legs!”    There are times in life when we need to make clear decisions and whatever else is trying to get our attention has to be silenced.  We learn warfare fighting our own battles.  Saying “no” to the second trip to the buffet, passing on the offer to partake in an activity that you know is wrong, not screaming at the person who just cut you off in traffic.   Daily battles bring daily victories for those who serve the Lord.  We find our strength in trusting God to never leave us alone.   If you and I don’t learn to fight in the small things we will never have the strength and trust in God that it takes to fight the bigger battles. 

Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;”

Leaning to our own understanding sometimes comes in the form of the things or well-meaning friends and family when they say' "Oh, don’t go on that mission to a foreign country we have plenty of people here that need your help.” “You’re spending too much time at that church.”  “The church doesn’t need your money they have plenty of money.”  The legs are screaming and we need to have the power and strength to call upon the Lord and ask Him for grace to keep on peddling.  Life is a journey and sometimes it may seem all uphill but there will be a time of effortless peddling and some beautiful downhill rides that give us the needed recovery time.  Along the way you will see things others never see because the way is narrow and few there are that travel it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Here are some of the photos of my rides. I pray they bless you.

Peaches are my favorite fruit. Now it can’t be just any peaches, they have to be Firestone Peaches and they have to come from Romney, West Virginia. I look forward to them every year. At times I drive to get them, other times friends go and bring them back to me. When I get them I not only enjoy eating them but I always enjoy sharing them. These peaches are juicy and have a red seed that comes out very easily. They are fuzzy but you just rinse them off and eat them or they also can well. So what’s the point? Peaches remind me of people.

When someone is really enjoyable you go out of your way to be with them. You will drive a long distance and do whatever is necessary to get to them.  You tell others about them. You want to share them with others.  They are special.  The Bible tells us a lot about fruit, in fact there are 41 verses that mention fruit.

Matthew 12:33 (KJV) “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” 

I know about peaches and some are good and some are not.  The ones that aren’t any good I don’t waste time on. I could care less where they are located, or if I ever eat another one my entire life.  They are simply not worth my time.  Now I would hate that to be said about me.  That when they taste and see my life they could care less if they ever heard or saw from me again. But yet don’t we feel like that about some people we have met? Why we even say, "They leave a bad taste in my mouth", or "They remind me of a real lemon".

Matthew 7:16 (NIV) “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” 

If you and I want to be the kind of people that drawl others to us, then we have to be the kind of person that is consistent and sweet. If one day we are mean and nasty and another day kind and gentle then we are probably not worth the drive and not someone another person would wait all year for, share with others and want to tell others about. Well, “That’s just peachy.” You mean to tell me the life I live can either drawl people to me or repel people from me? Exactly, and if people don’t like the container the message comes in—well they are probably not going to want to hear the message.  Want to be a vessel the Lord can work through? Try being sweet.

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host.” ― Maya Angelou

Bitterness in the dictionary refers to a taste.  I have often heard it said, “That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.” I have even heard it said, “That was in bad taste…”  So often when someone hurts us or does something intentional to bring us pain we become bitter.  Oh it may first start out as just making us angry but anger if not dealt with properly can fester into quit a sore. The Bible warns us to get rid of bitterness.

Ephesians 4:31 (NIV) “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice”.

William Arthur Ward said, ““Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”   The above quote refers to bitterness as chains and shackles. Often times the Bible refers to a root of bitterness. It is called a root because it begins hidden within the soil of your heart.  From there, its roots will entwine themselves around your heart and mind, until they choke the life out of you emotionally and spiritually.  If allowed to grow unchecked, this “root of bitterness” will spring up into a plant that will cast a shadow over everything you are and do.  A “root of bitterness” in your life will literally come to dominate your very existence.

Forgiveness literally means that before the offense was committed we forgive. Jesus forgave us before we were even born.  He forgave us before any wrong was committed. Forgiving another does not mean what they did was right—it is simply refusing to try to right a wrong by doing wrong ourselves. Two wrongs never make a right.  To make it right forgive and let God do the rest. Be the best person you can be.