Tara Wentworth

I am in Oregon with my west coast family, enjoying many different activities that this area has to offer. My big adventure this year was white water rafting. One of my nieces and her family has a large raft and spent 16 days this summer floating down the Colorado River for their summer adventure. They wanted to give others in the family a taste of what they experienced. We put in on the Deschutes River and got to experience 3 or 4 class three rapids and one class four rapid as well as many areas of enjoyable smooth floating and smaller rapids. Our experienced river rafters taught us what to do if certain things happened (thank goodness they didn’t). It was a great time with good memories.

I am beginning this article sitting in the Atlanta airport on my last leg of a 2 ½ week vacation. I have stayed with three different people and had three different experiences! I have become even more aware of the diversity of people, perspectives, and protocols (not official ones as much as expectations in certain situations). Bend, Oregon, Ankeny, Iowa, and Thomasville, Georgia are as different as day and night in some areas. Terrain and weather, of course, are very different and more suitable for certain lifestyles depending on your preferences and abilities to adapt, but ways of thinking and living life were notably different from my southern ways.

I have been meditating on a scripture in Proverbs 4:20-27. I wrote out verses 20-22 and see it three times a day at my breakfast nook where I enjoy most of my meals. I read many different versions of the Bible for my devotion times. I have always tried to memorize and study in New King James since I was a new believer (it was just King James way back, but NKJ takes out the “thee and thou” since most of us do not speak that way!) As I was sharing that scripture in a meeting I was in, someone else read it in the Passion Translation which I use often during my devotional time in the mornings. “Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I have to say. Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit. Then, as you unwrap my words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being. So above all, guard the affections of your heart, for they affect all that you are. Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being, for from there flows the wellspring of life, Avoid dishonest speech and pretentious words. Be free from using perverse words no matter what! Set your gaze on the path before you; with a fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, and ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you are going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness.”

We take so many things for granted. I am a few days out from hip replacement surgery and one of my instructions was not to bend more than 90 degrees. Do you know how many things we drop and just reach over and pick it up? I have had to use my “grab it” stick numerous times after dropping something! I can’t bend over to put a shoe on or reach down to put my dog’s leash on. The bottom drawers in my bedroom are somewhat inaccessible (grab it stick helps). I am not allowed to drive so have to depend on others to get someplace.

How many “friends” do you really have? I have been pondering this question and noticing that there can be many different layers of friendship in every individual’s life. Jesus gives us some interesting perspectives on this. In His life, He grew up for the first thirty years in one village, Nazareth. He may have traveled to Jerusalem several times a year for the feasts, but there is no mention of Him traveling any farther other than when He and His parents were warned by an angel to flee to Egypt until Herod’s wrath was spent while He was still very young. When an angel told Joseph it was safe to return to His own country, he settled farther away from Jerusalem. Jesus lived a fairly normal life as “the carpenter’s son” and not only learned his father’s trade but was likely the one who supported the family when Joseph died. I am sure He had a few friends and cousins which He did life with, but as far as we know He did not act much different than the rest of them. His passion for God was noticed by the religious leaders but not much is said about His influence or participation in His own local house of worship (synagogue).

What comes to your mind when you hear the term “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven?” Depending on your upbringing, both of those terms could even have different meanings. This short article is simply to make you aware of how much Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God. The first three gospels focus on the Kingdom of God as the major theme of Jesus’ life and teaching.

I am recuperating from a recent hip replacement surgery and once again am reminded of the amazing community of people that surround me. Just a year ago I had open heart surgery which took a little longer to return to a measure of normalcy. Both times I had family and friends who served me with love and thoughtfulness. You don’t realize sometimes just how much we take for granted until you need someone to help you do what you cannot do at that moment for yourself.

Some things happen in life for which there are no reasonable answers. Religion has probably done more to complicate and confuse some of those situations than it has done to bring answers or even just peace to what otherwise seems like an uncharacteristic circumstance where God’s nature and character seem to be hidden.

I don’t know about you but my heart is so full of thanksgiving. Once again our area was spared the wrath of Hurricane Helene that has devastated so many communities north of us. At the same time, my heart is deeply grieved and disturbed by the results of what happened elsewhere. Some communities may never be the same as a result of the damage this storm did. We still don’t know the extent of the loss of life yet nor are they done rescuing people who found themselves trapped without the necessities of life.

How much value do you put on your prayers? Are your prayers or prayer times an important part of your daily life and routine? Do you feel like your prayers are effective?