Tony Gael

10/10/2019

For we are His workmanship (masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

11/05/2018

I apologize for not getting back to this, but I am in the process of writing a book, so that has taken up much of my time. However...here goes.
I am a problem solver. Being intellectually honest, researching solutions to a problem or to find an answer to a problem is very important to me. As such, I am consistently saying to myself, "If I could just understand", or "if just knew why (fill in the blank), I would be at peace.".
God never promises to answer all of my problems or all of my questions. This puts me in a precarious position. Do I trust Him enough when my problems or questions are not answered?
The fact of the matter is God does answer all of my prayers. The prayers may take the shape of laments, anger, frustration, being in a state of spiritual sadness, and so on.
If I trust Him I should never make demands of Him when it comes to matters of, well, trust. Should I become a child that when I don't get my way I throw a temper tantrum and go into full melt-down mode? Not always. When I do, God is big enough to handle my melt-downs, whatever shape they may take. God never says that we can't ask questions. If Jesus did when He was on the cross, which He did, then I think it is safe for me to do so, but it shouldn't become a habit.
When it comes to matters of trust, the fact is He knows better than I do. Eternally better. So, who do I lean on? Myself? I don't even know what I am going eat for lunch this afternoon, much less my future, even in the next second.
In a hurricane it is safest to cling to something that is safe, strong, and reliable. Sometimes our lives is like living in the midst of a hurricane. We want to know why it is happening. We want to know when it will end. We want to know how we are going to rebuild. So, who do I ask? Who is it that I can cry to ? Who is the One I should cling to? Certainly not myself. I would get blown away to who knows where. I can cling to Him because He is the safest, strongest, and most reliable person in heaven and earth.

09/18/2018

When I wrote that I would be sharing my favorite Proverb, I should have written that this particular Proverb is not really my favorite. Instead it is a Proverb that cuts to the core of who I am, and who God is (I could have easily flip-flopped those two, and probably should have).

"Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. and do not lean on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6

To look at me with all of my rings, earrings, tattoos, and my silver tipped western boots, you probably would not think that I love hymns. But I do. I love hymns. This is not always been the case, but the older I get, the more I enjoy singing them and reflecting on the words. "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is one of my favorites.

How many times have you sung this hymn in church?

1.What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain:
Leaning, leaning,
safe and secure from all alarms;
leaning, leaning,
leaning on the everlasting arms.

2.O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
(Refrain)

3.What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
(Refrain)

Since I was raised in the church and have been involved in church my whole adult life, I would think that I have sung this hymn 1,000 times.

As I was preparing to give a small talk on Proverbs 3:5-6 the Lord brought this to my attention. It served as a perfect introduction to my talk.

I would encourage you to reflect on the words of this great hymn for a couple of days. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you seek comfort, maybe even conviction.

I will return later to share with you how I fleshed this hymn and Proverbs 3:5-6 out myself.

09/14/2018

A few weeks ago my Sunday school class was starting a study of Proverbs. As an introduction, we were asked what wise words do you remember your parents telling you. Some of them were:
"Work as working for the Lord", "If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all."
"Never skate on thin ice."
"Never say never."
"Clean the tools and put them away."
"You can never unsay something said already."

A couple of mine were:
"ANTHONY EDWARD GAEL!". This wasn't so much a wise saying, but wisdom would dictate that if I didn't want to hear that from my mom, then I should not do anything that that would get me into trouble.
Also from my mom, "You will go to church, and youth group and be respectful." I didn't know it at the time, but that turned out to be some of the wisest words I have ever heard.

This led me to thinking about American proverbs. There is probably know one who is best known for his proverbs than Mark Twain. He had a knack for words. Some of my favorites are:
"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
"A lie can run around the world six times while the truth is still trying to put on its pants."
"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare."
"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not."

Mark Twin definitely had a way with words. So did the writers of the book of Proverbs.
I will share with you what my favorite wisdom saying from the book is in the coming days.

08/20/2018

When it comes to control, Christians are worse than non-Christians. I say this because as Christians we know, or at least we should know, better. James, the half-brother of Jesus said this:
"Now listen, if you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “'f it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." - James 4:13-17
Let me be clear on something. There is nothing wrong with planning. You can have a professional plan. You can plan for your retirement. You can plan for vacation. You can plan for what you are going to do on that vacation. But, when we make plans that God isn't involved in, that's a problem. And we should know better. In fact, when we make plans without a prayer such as,
"Maybe this plan isn't what You want. So, I want to make these plans, but I do so with Your timing and in Your way. Maybe You have something different. Maybe You have something better. I pray that You will help me to discern what, and whose, plans are best. In ending, I pray that it is Your will and not my own that needs to be done."
we are in danger of doing it on our own. And that's never a good thing. In fact, that is pride run amok.

08/08/2018

Pride is an excessive view of one's self importance with regard for others. To put it another way, pride is to trust yourself in the abilities that God gave you, without acknowledging that those abilities were God-given. This is a big deal. Most Christians will tell you that the first, or original, sin was commented by Eve and Adam. From a human perspective that is true. But, the original sin was commented by Satan, the devil. Pride is at the heart of things like heartache, pain, distrust, death (physical, spiritual, relationships, dreams) and war (Both human on human and the spiritual war that goes, for the most part, unseen, but the effects are plain to see.).
Satan got it in his mind that he wanted to be the creator, not the created. He wanted to be God (I say "wanted", but it continues each and every day, and will until the end of time as we know it.). It was self-centered pride. It is an attitude that says, "I am better than you are, get out of my way, you are inferior, I don't need anyone's help, I will do whatever I need to to get ahead, I want to call all the shots, me, me, me, I, I, I. It's ugly, but so deceptive.
Pride is one of the 7 Deadly Sins mentioned in Proverbs 6:16-19. Personally, I think that pride is the number one sin. One reason I think that is because God said, "I hate pride and arrogance..." Proverbs 8:13. That is a strong statement. We should be very careful to live a life that is marked by giving to others, being thankful and being a true team player.

08/06/2018

For arguments sake, let's agree that 90% of what happens to us is not in our control, what do we do about the 10%?
May I suggest that you give it to God and ask for His help to make Godly choices throughout the day? As we do this we are little by little giving control over our lives to Him that is completely trustworthy. Will He steer you in the wrong direction? Nope. Does He know what the best route is for you to get to where He wants you to be? Absolutely. Would it be an easier life if we could here the voice of God telling us to go this way or that way? Sometimes (I used sometimes on purpose. It seems as though that whenever people heard the voice of God there was a little freak out factor. And then there are God's messengers, the Angels, that every time they show up people were more than a little freaked out. Most people were in full panic attack mode.).
Listen, there are times in our lives when we question God and His motives. It sure doesn't feel like that He has everything under control or He has our best interests in mind. Life can be hard sometimes. Life just plainly sucks from time to time. There are times that we question God's motives. There are time when we just stop everything and take a break. There are times that life is so confusing and difficult that we don't trust anyone.
It's easy (or at least it seems like it) to be the passenger in someone's car when the sun is out and there is not a harmful cloud in the sky. It's easy to trust someone when traffic is light. Under these circumstances trust isn't much of a thought. We have a great conversation and listen to good music (or can it be the other way around?). Sometimes it is plain fun to go from here to there and back again. Road trips are for the most part a lot of fun. GPS has made them a bit less eventful (and what I mean by uneventful is trips aren't as stressful and there is less arguing about who is reading the map better).
I will give you some closing advice learned and still learning in my life. Reach out to God before you even get out of bed and tell God that He will be in control of your life today. No matter what happens you won't question God and make a firm choice to trust Him. Will it be scary? Sort of. Will it be hard to do that each and every day? Maybe not each and every day. The more you do it the easier it will be.

08/03/2018

As I stated in my previous post about who is in control of our lives, the belief that we are somehow in control of all things in our world's is laughable at the very least. If this was the case, no one would experience any pain or heartache. We wouldn't get sick, we would not have any money problems, and we would have anything we want. In short, we would be living in a perfect kumbaya world. Of course, none of that is true.
So, what are we in control of? Pastor Chuck Swindoll once said this, "Life is 90% of what happens to me and 10% of how I react.". That rings true. Most of what happens in our day-to-day lives are not in our control. There are just too many variables. As an example, let's take a look into how we begin our days.
We are in control of when we wake up...sort of. Let's say that during the night the electricity went off and your alarm clock was effected. Or your alarm stopped working. If we are in control of our lives that wouldn't ever be a problem.
How about showering and brushing your teeth? Let's say you finally wake up and are late to school or work. Do you have time to get cleaned up before heading out? Or, let's say that you woke up and stumbled into the bathroom only to find out that for some reason you are not getting any water. And so, you can't shower and brush your teeth (I know, for middle school boys this would not be a problem). Who is in control over the water not working?
We just assume that these things will never be a problem, because all things in our lives are under our control. No problem, no mess. Everything is always neat and tidy. Our alarm clocks will always work and taking a shower and brushing our teeth will simply be routine, never to be interrupted.
If that is the 90% that we don't have control over, even before you walk out the door (assuming that that a winter storm hit during the night and you can't get out) what does the 10% look like?

Pete Seeger live Australia

08/01/2018

I'm in Control, You're in Control, Who is in Control? Part 1

Alfred, Jorge, Max, Winston, Sebastian, and Jeeves. If you have a son and name them one of those names, odds are they will grow up to be a chauffeur. Seriously. Okay, not so serious, but are you going to take that chance?
One of my favorite (actually it is the only chauffeur story that I know of, and I had to go online to find it) chauffeur story goes this way:

When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker’s circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking.

“I have an idea, boss,” his chauffeur said. “I’ve heard you give this speech so many times. I’ll bet I could give it for you.” Einstein laughed loudly and said, “Why not? Let’s do it!”

When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur’s cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein’s speech and even answered a few questions
expertly.

Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody’s fool. Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, “Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me.”

There is nothing quite like having to give up control...of anything. Because of my Multiple Sclerosis I don't drive anymore. So, to get to one place or another I rely on my pool of chauffeur's; my sister, brother-in-law, niece, a friend or two, but most of all my mom.

My mom is a good person and she has helped me out so many times I can't even begin to count. And that is not even counting the miles she has logged driving me here, there, and just about everywhere. We get along well and we have our share of car "talk time", which for the most part is good, even fun.
Mom is a good driver and has not gotten into an accident in at least for four years, which is to say, she is a good driver. However...
There are times when I don't exactly trust her decision making skills when we are out and about. It's not that she puts us in harms way. It's more like I think I know what the better route to take is. Or what lane to be in for turning. Or when we should leave the house. Or what car to take (actually my mom has only one car, but I thought I would put that in there just because), or if the weather is suitable for driving, or not.
I think that it is the human condition to want to control, well, everything. It starts when we are very young, and especially when we learn the power of the word, "NO!". We like to think that we are the master of our own little destinies or to put it in another way, we like to think we are in complete control over what happens to us...literally. This is such a ridiculous notion and on face level is laughable to say the least, but we believe it nonetheless.
Part 2 is coming up.

07/23/2018

It's been awhile sense I have written anything so here it goes.
I have been a good kind of busy. I love being outside and I have been able to be outside quite a lot. I like to pull them darn weeds and do some lite landscaping. I sweat a lot and because of my MS I have to be careful how long I am out there doin' my "stuff".
God doesn't need my help in making things look better and beautiful, but He has given me a passion to help Him out a little.
When I am outside I always feel that I am meeting God one-on-one. We chat a bit and discuss some pretty serious stuff in my life too. It's really the one area in my life that I don't have to do a lot of thinking. I just do.
God told Adam that he would have dominion over all that He created. And Adam worked in the garden. I guess Adam and me are "creation care" buddies.
God has blessed me in living where I do here in Cedar Rapids. The is a large area outside for me to lose myself in. There are deer, turkey's, and groundhogs. When I was taking a little break earlier this year not one, not two, but three little racoons that were curious as to who I was and what I was doing in their play area (fortunately for me there was no mom or dad around. All I had for protection was a blue bucket. Whew!).
So, I want to thank my Father for letting me join in the fun of taking care of His world (well, my little part of it anyway).