“…Mackenzie, you cannot produce trust, just as you cannot ‘do’ humility. It either is or is not. Trust is the fruit of a relationship in which you know you are loved. Because you do not know that I love you, you cannot trust me.”

Notice the Holy Spirit didn’t say “because you do not love me”, rather, it is not an act of love FROM us, but rather an act of love FOR us that we do not know.

In light of this wisdom, trust among humans is irrelevant when we trust God. If we can TRULY trust God, then we inherently trust humanity. The book is “THE SHACK” written by Wm Paul Young. A GREAT read if you get the chance.

My Husband, My blessing
I love the life we share.
because even though
we’ve been through
some difficult times,
we can thank God
that we’re not just stronger,
we’re closer than ever…
…and we know
that as long as we have Him
and each other -
we have everything
we’ll ever need.

God has a purpose for me, He has a job for me to do and my birthday just brings me one day closer to that purpose. So I say with a peace in my heart and a joy in my spirit, “Happy Birthday to me!”

The weather was a bit windy at times, but overall, a beautiful day to be outside. After all the talking, walking, and enjoying nature, we went back to Randy & Kim’s for lunch. It was really cool to see the girls sitting around talking after lunch while the kids played in the back yard and the men went to play in the front yard. It was just a really great time of fellowship.

In Romans, chapter 7, the last 12 verses, Paul talks about the constant battle of Good and Evil within himself. We all engage in this very same battle every day. This is because of our humanity. If we were perfect, we would engage in this battle only once, to remain victorious gladiators, but alas, we are not perfect, and so the battle rages daily.

We are not “Good” nor “Righteous” by nature, yet Christ died for us.  All that is to say this: I have the best, most wonderful wife in the world! Why? Because even though I battle daily with the evil in my life (and often times lose) She STILL loves me. She STILL makes me coffee and brings it to me without asking. She still cleans up my messes and never complains. She still forgives me when I don’t deserve it. I have the best wife in the world because she is a GODLY wife and allows God to pour out His grace, mercy, and love to me, through her.

Am I blessed or what?

The boy only wanted to give Mother something
And all of her roses had bloomed
Looking at her as he came rushing in with them
Knowing her roses were doomed
All she could see were some thorns buried deep
And the tears that he cried as she tended his wounds

And she knew it was love
It was one she could understand
He was showing his love
And that’s how he hurt his hands

He still remembers that night as child
On his mother’s knee
She held him close and she opened her bible
And quietly started to read
And seeing a picture of Jesus he cried out
“Momma, he’s got some scars just like me.”

And he knew it was love
It was one he could understand
He was showing his love
And that’s how he hurt his hands

I wasn’t so proud of what I had accomplished after that. What I did today wasn’t enough. Whatever I do can never be enough to come close to what Jesus did for us.

We had a really good day! I saw some beautiful scenery, met some folks, and got to climb some rocks in my Jeep! I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
The rest of the pictures are on the photo page.

I named my blog “LIKE HIKE”, but at the time, it was because I did a TON of hiking, camping, and Jeeping. However, looking back on my posts, and contemplating my relationship with the Lord and how He affects me on a daily basis, I am liking my blog title more and more. Its about our journey through this life. Its about applying God’s love and life to our own and what becomes of it.

After all the computers have been unplugged, all the lights dimmed, all the ammo expended, and all the Jeeps have run out of gas, I want to be found worthy of God’s grace and mercy. How does that happen? Simple, by knowing and truly understanding that there is NOTHING I can do to become worthy of God’s grace and mercy. Romans 3:23 “For ALL have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

We sin every day, but I believe the act of sacrifice on the cross by Christ happened over 2000 years ago, and happens every day. It’s a journey, and heaven is the destination, and Christ is the Goal.

When you are intimate with someone, you are completely open, completely vulnerable, completely unclothed (both physically and emotionally) in the presence of another. This is a difficult place to be for any human, because it goes against our humanity, our fight to survive, our natural instinct to protect ourselves. What a dichotomy within us! We yearn for companionship, friendship, kinship, and yet our “natural” instinct is to push anyone and everything away.

Our physical and spiritual relationships are the same. We long for a Creator, someone that loves us, looks out for us, keeps us, yet we deny ourselves because we feel too ashamed to go before God and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, we are too ashamed to come before Him with nothing to hide behind. What we fail to realize (because we are focusing on ourselves and not Him) is that He CREATED us! He KNOWS what we look like, physically, emotionally, with or without clothes, and yet He STILL LOVES US!

When we accept our sinful nature, become comfortable in the fact that we will never be “good” enough and that’s not why God loves us in the first place, then we can enter a truly amazing relationship with Christ.