By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

I grew up in a Mississippi town that was the county seat.  I have lived for several years now in an Alabama town that is our county seat.  Each county seat differs from other towns or cities in that the county’s court house is located there.  Local governments and organizations also differ in what in particular is housed within their local court house, but one thing is for certain.  It is considered the center for the business of that particular town or county.

The picturesque town of St. Clairsville, Ohio is home to the beautiful court house you see pictured here.  On the Saturday morning when we were in St. Clairsville, there was no business taking place at the court house.  It, like all others under normal circumstances, was closed for the weekend.  But even closed to the public, this court house and so many of our others around this great nation, stands tall in reverence and prominence in its place of distinction.

Perhaps the court house contains court rooms, office spaces, records, maps, and other important people and things.  Whatever the reason you visit your local court house, you’re reminded of the fact that our government is by the people, for the people.  That place is yours.  It is ours.

The church house also stands as a center for the people in the community.  Unfortunately, most are open only on Sundays with very little interaction from the public during the regular work week.  We take pride in our places of worship.  We look forward to being there from one weekend to the next.  But do we recognize its importance on other days of the week?

I do realize that, sadly, in today’s world, it would not always be sensible to leave our church buildings unlocked and unattended around the clock.  Neither are our court houses.  Behind lock and key are places, records, and things of vital importance to our daily lives and our future.

Most vital to our daily lives, and certainly to our future, are the words of the Lord in the Scriptures that are readily available to us at any hour of any day of any week in any town in America.  Do you realize how extraordinarily amazing it is that we have complete access to the Father at any time?!  AND, He has full access to us!

Never locked away, never separated from Him.  I pray that our journeys of the week ahead will take advantage of that accessibility!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

As I stood in front of my grill, getting several things ready for our July 4th cookout at our house, I noticed a little critter scurrying around beside me.  He scooted along a window sill and stopped for a few short moments on the brick facing near the back door.  

The bright lime green color of his body was shining in the sunshine.  In fact, you might can see that what looks like small white specks on his back.  That is actually the gleam of the sunlight reflecting off of his scales.  I “zoomed in” on my picture and cropped it for you to see some of the details.

This little creature, no more than about 6 or 7 inches long, was brighter than I was in my Independence Day red, white, and blue get-up.  He sparkled in the sunshine.  And look at the tiny scales along his back and especially on his head and face.  The incredible detail in its design is amazing.  Take a look at his foot.  You can actually see the “suckers” on the ends of each toe, those things that allow him to climb walls and hang on with no problem.  The long toes can wrap around smaller objects as well.  

You can get a glimpse of his white underbelly, a stark contrast to the bright green color.  And, with the exception of those of you who are reading this and seeing the picture in the black and white print of the newspaper, you can also see the blue color around his eyes.

This tiny little lizard is beautiful.  The lizards come in many colors.  My parents and I have seen several bright blue ones around their house lately.  Each and every one has been created by God.  So stop for a moment and think about that today.

If God, in His infinite wisdom and creativity, spent that much time working on the beautiful tiny details of even the little lizard, then surely He cares about you.  If He puts that much effort into the colors and intricate parts and even these small creatures, then there is no doubt God cares about every single little detail of your life.  If you are struggling this week wondering if the Lord even cares for you and what you’re experiencing in your life, then just look at the lizard.  The proof is in the details.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Life’s highways are full of twists, turns, straight-a-ways, and bridges.  Some of those bridges are quite short and hardly noticeable.  And then there are those bridges, such as ones in southern Louisiana, that are several miles long.  This particular bridge you see here is located in the mountains of Virginia.  What you cannot see is the river that is way down in the bottom of that ravine.

Signage posted in a park near one end of the bridge tells that a Washington Monument and two Statues of Liberty stacked together could fit underneath that bridge, with an extra twenty feet to spare.  For the curious mind, that’s nearly four football fields end to end.  Driving across the bridge with a river that far below was indeed an experience to remember.  That’s why we took advantage of the little park with its hiking trail to get this view of the bridge.

The vast majority of these “thoughts” through the years have been about our week ahead, what we’re facing, the things we might experience, and all the good, bad, and indifferent that come along.  But, I think we might not appreciate what’s ahead of us sometimes if we don’t take a moment to look behind us.  Sometimes we need to stop, take a moment, and focus on the bridge(s) we’ve just crossed.

As we travel across any given bridge, we don’t always concentrate on the strength of it.  We don’t necessarily think about its purpose – to get us safely from one side to the other.  We don’t always focus on the structure of the bridge itself.  But looking back at the massiveness of it, one can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity it took to create such a thing.  There’s the wonder of how the bridge connected the great divide that we never could have crossed on our own had the bridge not been there.  And there’s the great distance between us on the bridge and the rapids of the roaring river below.

The bridge has carried us, even without our acknowledgement, across, through, and beyond what could have been some great difficulties of life.  

As you look back at last week, or the one before, or the one before that, think of the bridges you crossed in order to be where you are today.  And then think of the bridges’ Creator, His ingenuity that kept you, cared for you, and carried you across a great and massive divide – the distance between being on one side trying to do life on your own and being on the other side with Him.  Stop, reflect on life’s bridges, the troubled waters over which they have passed, and the One Who brought you safely across.  For you could not face the bridges ahead without acknowledging the ones you’ve left behind.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

The road is fairly narrow.  It is just about fifteen miles in distance, but it has many sharp turns.  Winding through Wears Valley, Tennessee, this particular road runs from Townsend north to Pigeon Forge.  Wildlife is abundant in this area of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Alas, so is the car traffic.  But if you can get out of the crowds for a while and just ride, you can encounter the Lord in so many ways and places.

Just off the pavement, in one specific sharp turn of the road sits a small older church building that has been in use about 125 years.  Adjacent to the building, sloping down the hillside, is a very well-kept cemetery, presumably mostly for those church members and their families.  Turn off the highway and head down the hill, and you’ll see something very similar to any other area of that part of the state – pasture land, horses, and an old barn.

The old barn, as you can see here, has seen its better days.  Barns don’t receive the same upkeep and care that a church building normally would.  The barn’s old tin roof is bent and twisted in places.  I would venture to say the rain blows in around the rafters sometimes.  No doubt, hay is stored underneath the barn’s roof, keeping it dry for animals to feed upon later.  The barn has been well used, beaten up by time and weather.  It isn’t sound proof, water proof, or weather proof.  It leaks, creaks, and bends during the hard storms that blow through those mountain valleys.  Yet, it stands strong, has no doubt seen several generations, and is in no immediate danger of decay or demise.

I wonder how many of our older generation think their usefulness is dwindling.  As I’m certainly in the second half of my days on this earth, I, like so many of you, deal with the aches and pains, disappointments and disillusionments, but keep going.  Why?  Because, if the Lord was finished with me, He would pull me out of here.

We may not stand as strong, tall, and proud as we once did, but the main thing is that we continue to stand.  Our facade may have faded, but our framework holds together.  Our busy-ness may have slowed, but our usefulness is everlasting.  Until He calls us Home, we have work to do.  It may be to simply hold on the best we can and keep the hay dry for the younger ones – constantly showing them the Way, the Truth, and the Life as we have experienced it!

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that age and infirmity make you no longer useful to the Lord.  We need prayer warriors around every bend in the road, over the mountains, and down in those valleys.  Hold strong.  Carry on.  He’s not done with you yet!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

The Christian music artist Zach Williams sings a song entitled “There Was Jesus.”  Dolly Parton helps him sing the words that talk about Jesus being anywhere and everywhere.  Even in the midst of trials, and hurts, and life’s disappointments, even when I didn’t realize He was anywhere around, there was Jesus.

We go through life as if we have to do it by ourselves.  Never once in God’s Word does He tell us we are in this on our own.  And yet, we always seem surprised to find out Jesus was there with us all along.

This is one of those very few pictures I share that I cannot claim credit to have taken.  This photo was taken by my late father-in-law.  Stationed in Germany for a while in the late 1950’s, he took many photos and wrote many letters home to his mother.  The letters describe what they saw, how they worked, and many times just how many months and days were left before they would return home.

He was able to see a lot of Germany on his tour there, and apparently he had his camera ever-ready.  One particular day, as he and his fellow soldiers were out, near the fork of a dirt road, they ran across this, and he snapped a picture.  There, even in the midst of post-war destruction and the work they were able to do, they found Jesus.

I would like to offer a piece of advice for your week ahead.  Don’t head out the door without Jesus.  Let’s strive to make it a very unusual occurrence to be surprised when we find Jesus among us.  It should be a regular expectation of ours for Jesus to always be with us, always lead us, always be willing to heal and forgive.

As a matter of fact, we use the phrase “I found Jesus” entirely too loosely.  You see, He wasn’t the one who was lost.  I was.  And even as Christians, we live as if He is nowhere around some days.  Jesus found us.  Praise God He is never surprised!  I pray that even in the midst of “life” this week, you see that He’s there, and He always has been.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

The smell of wet earth.  The itch from the occasional mosquito bite.  The warm sun as it beats down upon your neck.  The satisfaction of work well done.  These are just a few of the things you can experience while tending to a garden plot or picking a basket full of fresh vegetables.

These tables full of fresh produce were part of an open-air market in downtown Hood River, Oregon.  We wandered among the tents, listening to the live guitar playing and singing, and admired the home-grown vegetables, the fresh-baked breads of many kinds, the beautiful fresh flowers, and jars of local honey and homemade jelly.  There’s just something about shopping in a situation like this, where you aren’t having to push a grocery buggy or figure out the non-existent price stickers on various items.  To peruse the fruits and veggies, almost always from the very person who grew them, is to witness the labors of those who toiled the ground, to catch a glimpse of the blood, sweat, and tears that brought them to this particular moment where their hard work is on proud display and ready to share with others.

What is it about the fresh items that make them so much more appealing than what we can get inside a grocery store?  I think it’s some of all of what I just said above – the hard work and pride that goes into growing it oneself, and the rest of us being privy to their labors.

If we can enjoy the fresh produce of the field so much more than the canned items on the store shelf, then surely we can get more out of God’s Word by perusing it ourselves.  A gardener receives the pride and joy that comes from a bountiful crop and the ability to share that crop.  A reader of the Scripture can also benefit from the pride and joy of learning on one’s own, receiving the blessings that can come only because we’ve put the hard work into sharing, spreading, and growing in our own relationship with the Lord.

When it comes to food, the fresher the better.  I believe when it comes to reaping the benefits of the harvest, we can and will enjoy it so much more if we just put in the effort to make it personal.  Share your own home-grown witness – your own story, your testimony – with those who pass by.  Let them benefit from the personal side of God’s love upon your life.

The wet earth, mosquito bites, and sun-burnt neck will all be worth it when someone latches on to what you have to share!  Press on.  Plant the seeds.  Work the soil.  Share the bounty.  What a glorious experience you can share with others along the way.

Just a thought.