Random Thoughts

I was cleaning up my kitchen this morning and was about to throw away some old bread when the thought popped in my head to throw it outside to the birds. I walked out to my patio and threw it into the grass and proceeded to water my plants. As I was standing there the following verse popped into my head:
Luke 12:22-24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
 I started thinking about the bread I had thrown on the grass and the Lord said to me “I have chosen to use you today to feed my birds.” Right after that I heard a noise and turned my head to see what it was and there looking me straight in the eye was the bird in the above picture. Honestly when he was standing straight up we were almost eye to eye. You can't really see it but in his beak is a piece of the bread I had thrown. I grabbed my phone took his picture and said to my breakfast guest “your welcome.”
I began to meditate on the verse and how God takes care of all His creation and on this day He allowed me to feed one of His own. It got me thinking about how much more important we are to Him than the beautiful wild life He has created.
I started thinking about the times the Lord has allowed me to feed His children. On Tuesday nights I help with the Soup Kitchen, in the past I helped bring food to the Women and Men's shelters in Leesburg. I remember one time I had so much food that was given to me and my family the Lord told me to drive into a neighborhood of lower income houses and He would tell me which house to stop at. It was a small white house with black shutters and lawn ornaments in the front yard, I remember that because my daughter hates lart (lawn art.) The Lord said stop here and give this family food. I pulled into the drive way walked up and knocked on the door not really knowing what I would say. An elderly gentlemen opened the door and I said “Hi I'm Gena and the Lord told me to bring you some food.” He was a Christian too and he just smiled the biggest smile and acted as if he had been waiting for me to show up. True story!
I don't tell you these stories for you to think I'm so great but to remind you of how Great Our God is! When He said He would feed us, He meant it. Just a random thought.
What is it about the ocean? We can sit on the shore for hours gazing into the ocean, even at night with no activity going on. No whales spewing water or dolphins doing acrobats, just the crashing of the waves and the mighty sounds of uncontrollable water. What draws up to water? Perhaps it's our souls understanding of baptism.
Luke 3:21-22 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
I have only had the honor of baptizing one person so far, my beautiful spiritual daughter Debbie. It was such a numbing feeling, that's how my feet felt in the freezing water.  Seriously, I was so honored that Debbie would allow me to baptize her.
Baptism is an important decision we make to follow in Christ footsteps to die to self and be raised to eternal life with Jesus. I remember it vividly and will treasure that experience forever. Maybe the ocean beckons us to ask the same thing the eunuch in the Bible asked “why shouldn't I be baptized? Acts 8:36,38 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
Again, perhaps it's the things that are stirred in our Spirit, a feeling of peace and wholeness that our soul knows very well. The commitment of baptism that conjoins us with Jesus himself.
Just a random thought.
The same could be said of fire. I was at a fund raiser recently and when it got dark the guys decided to have a bonfire. How do I know it was the guys decision? Well they made a mound of pallets about 10 feet high which caused the flames to shoot up about 20 feet, you had to sit about a block away to enjoy it. OK that's an exaggeration but it was a pretty big fire. As the fire burned more and more people gathered around it to watch it's dancing flames myself included. Have you ever noticed how mesmerizing it is to watch a fire? I asked the Lord what is it about fire we find so intriguing? The answer I got was, "maybe it's because that was the way I first chose to show myself to you.
" Exodus 3:1-5 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 13:21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Maybe subconsciously our Spirit is communing with God when we gaze upon a fire. When we behold the beauty of it's dancing flames and the more the air hits it the more it spreads and consumes everything it touches. The way it burns debris yet brings new life to what's underneath the earth. Maybe we yearn for that kind of consuming fire.  
Hebrews 12:29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
 Maybe these are all just random thoughts or maybe they are a way of the Holy Spirit sending us thoughts. I'm going with the latter, you can choose for yourself.