Bear Camp, Blazing Fire, & Spurs

He was home for a whopping 15 hours.
Now he is out at Bear Camp, in a blizzard, by himself, under a tarp.

I, on the other hand, am at home with a fire blazing, sitting on my chair with my mom on the couch, waiting for our Dish Satellite to acquire a signal for us to watch the news. Aside from the dish thing, it's pretty perfect.

I feel so thankful for the opportunity to gather with my group gals and share how our prayers are being answered! I am so thankful that we can encourage each other and live out Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another daily - even more as you see the day approaching." (from memory, so it may not be 100%!)
God has enabled us to reach out together to help out a sister in Christ tomorrow. This sister has lost her young son, as I mentioned here, and their family is in need of prayer. Their loss is becoming very real and painful. If you think of it, please send a prayer their way.
I think this is one of the ways I, or rather WE, can DO something to show God's love. I am so thankful that one of the group gals was able to hear from them and we can meet a need. It is a good spurring.
My husband, the crazy one on the snowy mountain hunting bears alone, used to ride bulls. Big surprise, I know. He didn't do it too long due to an injury, but it got him involved in the Rodeo scene. He taught me more than I ever knew I wanted to know about Rodeo's, gear, chaps (which are pronounced "shaps" by the way), etc. Spurring is an important part of the scoring process. You earn more points if you spur correctly. They are not typically used to "punish" an animal, as the rowels are pretty dull on any actively used spurs, but rather used to "strongly suggest" a particular move or just for show. I won't go into all the finer points, since I did not personally learn all of them, but I do know that spurs can be slightly uncomfortable. At least on the receiving end!
As I'm thinking of this scripture, I find it interesting that this is a pretty intense style of "encouragement." Different versions use different words, but it all means a very strong stimuli. This spurring is not to be a sweet, gentle nudge, but (if needed) a possibly uncomfortable push to get outside of ourselves and be Jesus to someone. This will cost us something. It may cost us time, resources, fuel, food, etc. It's not really up for discussion. I've never seen a gentle nudge at a rodeo. I'm not saying it's never effective, but we need to be kicked into gear. Talking about doing won't get it done. Giddy-up!