Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1374 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
The Church as a Tumbleweed – Meditation Monday
Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.
Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1374 of our trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy.
For you, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. You may utilize structured meditation practices. In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you, too, will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind.
If we are honest with ourselves, none of us like to sacrifice our comforts. Very few desire to sacrifice by hunkering down in our own “shelter,” but there are many people that would love to have a few days at home. I realize that we all desire for the world’s economy to get back to work, so we can return to a schedule that is comfortable for us. Even this temporary inconvenience, though, is nothing compared to what the early church faced and what many churches face today under repressive regimes, such as in China. You would think that these crazy times would snuff out the church, but the opposite is true. Today let us meditate on a strange parable called…
The Church as a Tumbleweed
You are probably thinking, “What a strange analogy…What could the church possibly have in common with a tumbleweed?” This story came to mind after reading information about the attributes of the tumbleweed. While working with a client in Kingman, Arizona, a few years back, I used to see tumbleweed on windy days, like in the old westerns rolling by in the open plains. The wind blew there often, so it was a fairly common occurrence during the dry seasons. We also traveled across the entire state of Texas to spend time with our oldest son and his family last Christmas. And once again, the wind was sailing down the plains, and you could see the tumbleweed bouncing along the ground.
I recently read a story from a man who grew up in Texas, and this is what he said. “We had 70 acres on our ranch to explore, fish, make forts, and play. Anytime we had to make a fire when camping, we would find a tumbleweed, stomp it into small pieces, and use it as fire-starter for dead mesquite limbs. We learned that you NEVER put a full-sized tumbleweed on a burning fire. As it burned, the tumbleweed would pop and shower the air with red-hot embers that floated on the wind threatening to start a wildfire. The more you tried to stomp out the burning tumbleweed, the more you spread the embers on the wind.”
This reminded me of a book written by the New Testament scholar, F.F. Bruce called “The Spreading Flame.” Let me read to you Acts 8:1-4. Meditate on it to see if you can understand the analogy of the church to a tumbleweed.
Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.
The unstoppable gospel was a Spirit-ignited tumbleweed phenomenon. The more adversaries of the Jesus movement tried to stomp out the spreading flame, the more the wildfire spread throughout the Roman Empire. When Jesus’ followers are scattered, the spreading fire brings God’s love, grace, and salvation!
The same applies to us today, whether it is the persecuted underground church in China or the worldwide church today. Although at this time we cannot meet together in our regular churches, both small and large, we have an opportunity to reach the world for Christ like no other time in the history of the church. We now have millions of churches meeting house to house, worshipping, and breaking bread together in small groups and then connecting in communion with each other online. As described in Ephesians 2:20, “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.”
So when we feel the world is persecuting you personally or the church as a whole, let us be like the tumbleweed…“The more you try to stomp out the burning tumbleweed, the more you spread the embers on the wind.” The more that China, or any country including our western secular governments, attempt to stomp out the church, the more we can spread the Good News of Jesus Christ as embers on the wind. The church will never be silenced.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
That is a wrap for today’s Meditation. Next week we will continue our trek on Meditation Monday as we take time to reflect on what is most important in creating our living legacy. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
If you would like to listen to any of the past 1373 daily treks or read the daily journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most importantly, your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow!
The entire world is still, for the most part, under shelter in place orders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has been such a trying and uncertain time for so many people. I see that many have lost their hope. Some have lost their jobs. Some may lose their businesses. Some have become ill, and yes, some have lost their life. It is so easy to lose hope during these times.
I have to admit, though, even for the most mature Christ-followers, there are days where it is difficult to maintain a reasonable level of hope. Our world, as we knew it will probably never return to what was normal. We have to make sure that we are prepared, in our minds and heart, for whatever our new normal becomes. Nobody on earth, at this point, knows what that will be. So today, I would like to offer four steps along the road of having a life with hope, meaning, and purpose, even during these days.
I believe that hope is in God. Many of those who have given up on finding hope have done so because they spent their time looking to the wrong things, as I mentioned above. People place their hope in other government programs and people, only to be let down. Prior to this pandemic, many people placed their faith in wealth and possessions, only now to have that faith shaken by economic turmoil. Others look to science and our experts in diseases, but find that the hope science offers is short-term, not reaching beyond the limits of this world’s experts. Only God can offer hope for this life by offering a promise of another life to come.
If you would like to listen to any of the past 1372 daily treks or read the associated journals, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
The Smith family consisted of Mom, Dad, and the six kids ranging in age from six to fourteen. The kids always wanted a pet, but their house was just not large enough for a dog, and Dad was allergic to cats. The kids got together and decided maybe a hamster would be a good alternative. They presented their case to mom and dad. At first, the parents were adamant that they did not want any pets in the house. As the weeks went by, with constant begging every night at the dinner table, mom and dad finally relented, but only after the kids promised that they would take complete care of the hamster. The next day they all went to the local pet store and fell in love with a hamster which they named Butch. The kids fawned over their new pet, and everything went fine for the first couple of weeks. They were diligent with feeding and caring for Butch. Soon the novelty of Butch wore off, and mom and dad’s primary concern started to manifest itself. They had to remind the kids of their promise continually, but that seemed to fall on to deaf ears. Soon mom found herself feeding, providing water, and cleaning the cage each week. This situation went on for about a month when one evening after changing a smelly cage, mom stormed into the kid’s bedroom, and with exasperation, in her voice, she shouted. “How many times do you think Butch would have died if I hadn’t looked after him?”
I hope that brought a smile to your face today. If it did pass your smile onto some else, we all could use a kind smile each day. Our Thursday thought is, “Have you ever just looked at someone and knew the wheel was turning, but the hamster was dead?” 
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1371 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are all available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day will be downloaded to you automatically.
In today’s politically charged societal environment, all too many people are not at all careful about how they speak to others. This is especially true online where cowards can hide behind their computers in a shroud of anonymity and spew all sorts of cold or hot or bitter or wrathful words. These cowards show little concern that they are destroying people who are created as bearers of God’s image. Especially in these times of crisis that we find ourselves in today, it is more important than ever to watch what we say, and how we speak to others. We all are well-advised by the golden rule found in 
Instead, we should only speak words of kindness, love, and compassion. Regardless of whether you agree with others, that is no reason to treat them as if they are worthless. In its place, practice words of encouragement. Especially in these uncertain and chaotic times, let us show love to one another.
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1369 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.