Mitchell Way
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Summertime on the Nooksack River, sitting in an inner tube, floating mile after mile in the warmth of the sun. On any hot weekend in July and August the river is spotted with hundreds of floaters drifting as singles or bunched together in groups. When you are young and haven’t many responsibilities, the river is the place to go.
Zechariah 8:23 (ESV): Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
As long as I have known my wife Cheryl, she has had a relationship with her Lord that is firmly grounded. If you know her, you know who she lives for and you know that she is not afraid to share the gospel with anyone who seeks her counsel.
My wife says that the only reason I have ears is to neutralize the pressure to my Eustachian tubes because obviously I never listen to a single thing she has to say. Apparently she is referring to last Sunday when I met her in the car after church.
“Did you see Mrs. Critchet’s hair? It’s bright blue!” I exclaimed.
“Duh!” she huffed. “I only mentioned it five times this week.”
“Duh”- a three letter word that can drag you to the depths of humiliation.
** As with all of my inspirational stories, I am writing from my Christian perspective. If this offends you, please return next week for a satire story.
As a Christian, two of the hardest things I have had to learn in my life are: 1) to stand with my hands held open and, 2) not be in control.
Matthew 6:25–27: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
I’ve got this hummingbird who hangs out at my feeder. His name is Larry. He has an oversized gut.
When he sits on the feeder, it tilts under his weight and the nectar drips out. I can’t understand how a hummer who uses so much energy to fly could get so fat. When he flies off the feeder, he skims across the lawn trying to gain altitude. I don’t know if his wheezing is what I am hearing or the beating of his wings.
Cheryl asked me, “What mix are you putting in the feeder?’
“One part water to four parts sugar.” I answered.
“Well, no wonder. The mix is supposed to be one part sugar with four parts water. You turned him into a sugar junkie.”
You know, I was thinking about it, and I don’t believe that I have ever seen a fat robin or any other fat birds. This is because God provides all they need, not what they want.
Matthew 6:28–30: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
In my life, my desire has been to be the controller of my destiny, the creator of amazing things, the self-made man. But what I have come to realize is that my life is a continuous series of gifts God gives and God takes away. An amazing list of gifts that He gives to show what He can do through me. He created me as a Jack of all trades and a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
You see, in my life God has opened doors. I have misunderstood what He was doing and assumed that an open door was an opportunity which was forever, but almost every time God has said, “It is done. Now you are to move on.”
I say to him, “I’m not ready to leave yet.”
To which he answers, “To bad. It’s time.”
My response is, “Well what now?”
He always leads me to the next destination.
Let me walk you through my life. We will go back to when I first started believing that my destiny was exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time. These are examples of why I was confused.
I also went through a period in my life when I was sure that being an inventor was the way to make my place in the world. These things I applied for patents on:
Of course, I made a prototype but before trying to market it, I needed some advertising brochures. So, to get some advertising photos, I took my good buddy, John Zylstra with me up to Abbotsford airport. John did photo art for his exhibitions at shows and I needed his camera.
A week earlier, I had gone to the airport and had spoken with the owner of the helicopter and told him that I wanted to have some photos taken of me in my sling being suspended under his helicopter. We agreed on a price and set a date for the following Saturday.
When John and I showed up the next Saturday, the owner wasn’t there. Instead, there was another pilot there who said that he would be flying for the job.
There is a hook under the helicopter which opens with a solenoid when the pilot pushes a button on his cyclic. I clipped my strap into the hook and closed it. I then told the pilot that I had brought some chain and I wanted to chain the hook so it couldn’t open. His response was “No”. If I started swinging under the helicopter, he wanted to be able to drop me.
This should have been a warning to me, but I said, “Okay.”
I said. “I want you to hover me to eight feet so John can get underneath and photograph me in the sling under the helicopter.” I figured, what could go wrong at eight feet?
The pilot started the helicopter and I clipped myself into the bosun’s chair and pulled the strap to its full length out in front of the helicopter. As he lifted the helicopter off the ground, he rose until the strap was tight and he began lifting me into the air. Once I was eight feet up, I saw John beginning to take photos. Then I realized that the helicopter was moving, and we were moving faster, and the faster we moved, the higher he lifted me off the ground. Suddenly, he was flying 40 mph and climbing. He climbed the length of the Abbotsford runway and then he flew to pattern altitude – 800 feet.
Now, here is what happens when you are in a bosun’s chair under a helicopter flying 60 mph at 800 feet hanging by an unsecured hook. You begin worrying a bit.
The first thing that happened is that because my feet were hanging below me, the wind caught them and weathervaned me so that I was facing backwards. This is an uncomfortable feeling because if I drop from 800 feet going backwards, I am going to land on my back, which would hurt. If I dropped facing forward, I could possibly do a front roll and not get hurt.
I began looking for places that I might want to land if I fell. For instance, there was a ditch full of water. I could do a cannonball. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I would survive. I also noticed the top of fir trees, rows of raspberries, even the roof of a hanger . . . all possibilities.
I noticed a seagull that was flying the same direction as I was. (Although he was flying forward, and I was flying backwards). He looked at me and went, “AWK!”
I shrugged my shoulders and yelled, “I know, right?”
The pilot only went around the pattern once. As we flew past the control tower, I noticed the tower operator standing at the window watching me through his binoculars. I waved. I can’t imagine what he was screaming into his radio to the pilot.
As the helicopter lowered me to the ground, John was still shooting pictures. He ran up to me and asked, “Did you intend to do that?”
When the pilot got out of the helicopter, I ran up to him and screamed, “What were you thinking? I asked you to hover, at eight feet.”
“Yeh, sorry,” he said. “It kind of got away from me.”
As it turned out, he was a student pilot who was building his hours so he could get his license.
This verse came to me as I was flying through the Abbotsford skyline like Peter Pan:
Matthew 10:29–31: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
The title of this story is: With Hands Held Open
Each of our lives are different, but for me I have found that God gives me my blessings, gifts, and encouragement. I believe that every good and creative thing in my life has been a gift from God.
Psalms 116:12,13 says: “So now, what can I ever give back to God to repay him for the blessings he’s poured out on me? I will lift up his cup of salvation and praise him extravagantly for all that he’s done for me.”
James 1:17 says: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
But those blessings may only be for a time and then he removes them and moves me on. Why, I can only guess.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
I also know that I can misunderstand what I think God’s will is for my life, which is confusing.
James 4:13-15 says: “Now listen, 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 don’t 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, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”
God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives. God blesses us and wants us to know that he is the giver of those blessings. The hope is that we will realize that the Father desires us to recognize his blessings and that we draw closer in relationship with Him as the loving God that he is.
Alistair Begg wrote: “You will never know Jesus Christ as a reality in your life until you know Him as a necessity.” As the giver of everything.
I think that it is best to keep my hands held open. To be able to receive what God has for me, and to be able to release it when it’s time to be taken away. It is always better that I do not hold tightly to anything that he is planning to remove because he will only tear it out of my hands. Who can fight against God?
Jeremiah 18:4 says: But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
It is painful being reshaped into something better, but I keep going back to the song that started me in Gospel music. It was written by Andrae’ Crouch and was entitled, “Through it All.” I listened to it over and over. The chorus goes:
“Through it all, Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God. Through it all, Through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon his word.”
There is no way to learn of faith except through trials.
Lastly, a familiar story found in Job 1:6-21:
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20: At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship. (Did he curse God? No, he worshiped. Did he question God? No, he worshiped.)
21 Then he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
I have found that as God removes me from one adventure, he places me in another because He is always in control.
Consider living before God with your hands held open.
** All scripture verses are from the New International Version Bible
Faith Family Life Getting Older Growing Up Misadventures Music Patriotism Pets or Pests? Snips Tributes
A man sat alone on the side of a river. Next to a cottage he made himself.
And by the shore stood a tall red maple. A tree that the man loved very much.
What if a man died on a cross?
What would it matter to me?
Maybe not much, people die all the time.
Maybe I’d care if I knew him.
But what if a man died on a cross
What if He did it for me?
Gave up His life so mine might be spared.
That would be different indeed.
Iris and Lincoln Stodge live at 1835 Fernhook Lane, a very long drive through fields of corn which ends at the base of the Whatcom Timber Reserve. Iris and Lincoln are fourth and fifth graders.
The effectiveness of a good presentation is solely dependent upon the speaker’s ability to hold their audience’s attention. (A guy named Marty.)
I had an opportunity in my 20s to work with youth groups, kids aged kindergarten through 5th grade. This was done in a church setting at vacation Bible schools, junior church, and AWANA kids clubs.
In the fall of 1974, at the start of my songwriting career, I was given the song for Christmas entitled “Little Baby Boy.” That was 50 years ago.
As with all the music and stories I have written, I consider them all to be gifts from God and not a talent which I have.
December of 1973, my girlfriend was killed in a sliding accident at the local ski area. The grief for an 18-year-old was beyond belief. It was because of the support of my church, Pastor, and the teens in the youth group who believed in my music that I was able to climb out of the depression. With the backing of our high school youth group, I was able to perform “Little Baby Boy” for the first time at the church in December of 1974. It has always been a favorite that has been requested through the last 50 years.
The video clip filmed in 2022 is of an old me and my wife Cheryl performing the song at Christmas. I hope you will enjoy the song too.
Little Baby Boy (Lyrics)
Little baby boy, dressed in swaddlin’ clothes,
Lyin’ in a manger, so many years ago.
Little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
Little baby boy, born the highest King.
Through the years we’ve turned around
What Christmas morning means.
Little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
We took the Christmas story, and we laid it on a shelf.
We traded baby Jesus for a jolly little elf.
But did Santa hang upon the cross and die for all our sins?
And can he give us happiness long after Christmas ends?
Can Santa cause the blind to see and cause the deaf to hear?
Can you get to heaven on a sleigh and eight reindeer?
That’s why I say little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
Little baby boy, dressed in swaddlin’ clothes,
Lyin’ in a manger, so many years ago.
Little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
And on that Christmas morning
When the church bells start to ring
I’m going to celebrate that day as the birthday of the King.
Little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
Little baby boy, dressed in swaddlin’ clothes,
Lyin’ in a manger, so many years ago.
Little baby boy, little baby boy, how I love you so.
Little Baby Boy (c) 1974 P.M. Mitchell
Faith Family Life Getting Older Growing Up Misadventures Music Patriotism Pets or Pests? Snips Tributes
** The following essay is written from a Christian perspective. If this offends you, please return another day for satire stories.
We are all gamblers.
You might say, “I don’t play betting games. I don’t buy Lotto, Powerball, or scratch tickets and I’ve never stepped into a casino once.”
Well, you start betting the moment you get out of bed in the morning. Betting all your appliances still work in the house; betting if you ride your bike that you won’t get hit by a car; betting you won’t get into an accident with your car. Everything is a bet that things will go your way.
** The following story is told from my Christian perspective. If you are offended by this, please return next week for another satire story.
I am Soul. Technically, I am Marty’s Soul. I am the center of his being surrounded by bones, organs, and flesh. It is I who confers with his mind to help him make his choices. I was a part of him before he was born, and I will exist long after he is dead because I am Soul. I do not die.
Every person who has ever lived on this planet has a soul too. We were all assigned by God to a specific human. Were it not for us souls, humans would have no ability to communicate with the spirit world. Every human is part flesh and part spirit.
The dictionary defines us as the spirit or immaterial part of man, the seat of human personality, intellect, will, and emotions, regarded as an entity that survives the body after death, capable of redemption from the power of sin through divine grace.
What is ironic about God giving each human a soul, is that the human decides what will happen to us for eternity. In Marty’s case, he gave me to God which will give me eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Many stubborn humans refuse to give their souls to God. This condemns their souls to eternal separation from God. How sad is it that God freely gives a soul to a human being and that human has a lifetime to give the soul back to God but refuses thereby condemning that soul.
So, what is it I do?
Since I was given as a gift back to God, he gives me guidance and instruction which I try to convey to Marty’s brain. Of course, Marty’s brain may choose to ignore my suggestions, which has continually got him in trouble and put him in danger.
You see, also in the spirit world, are those sent from Satan . . . demons. We see them even though you cannot.
It says in the Bible that all believing humans should put on the armor of God for your battle is not with flesh and blood but against the spirit world. (Eph. 6:11-13)
From where I live in Marty, I can see them as they wander about looking for those that they may devour and destroy. They are here 24 hours a day. They never rest.
Even when Marty is resting, they attempt to break into his mind and into his dreams. Were it not for God sending his mightiest angels to drive them away because of my calling, he would be lost. The more God uses Marty, the more the demons attack to cripple him. It is not uncommon to see Marty completely surrounded by angels to protect him.
God’s spirit has given me the responsibility of urging Marty to learn and use the fruits of God’s spirit. These fruits include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. As I work with Marty’s brain, which controls the rest of his body, and we learn to use the fruits, other people see what God can do in a person’s life. Other souls try to convince their humans that they could live like that too.
Sometimes, we get into situations that God wants to handle himself. It has happened many times that God has said to me, “I’ve got this, please step aside for a moment.” He takes my place and takes control of Marty and speaks or acts through him. Only God himself can express his love through someone and to someone.
And so, I have lived inside Marty since the day he was born. I have seen the bad, and the ugly sides of his life for the choices he has made, ignoring me. But I have also seen the good and how God has used him. And Marty’s gift to me was giving me back to God.
One day, when his days on earth are through and his body and brain die, I will be released to return once again to the Kingdom of God from where I came. This time I will be a child of God and I, and the rest of God’s children will live in his presence for eternity.
That is my story. I am Soul.
Faith Family Life Getting Older Growing Up Misadventures Music Patriotism Pets or Pests? Snips Tributes
The following inspirational post was written from my Christian perspective. If you are offended by such content, please return next week for more satire stories.
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 (NIV)
What if the veil were lifted and we could see that which is hidden from our eyes?
His name is Larry. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know. Larry got the short straw when he drew my name and so far, he has been regretting it for 68 years. You see, Larry is my guardian angel.
Great Men, the ones that are few and far between. The ones that inspire you to greatness. The ones you want to emulate. How can I best honor them when they are gone?
The following inspirational post was written from my Christian perspective. If you are offended by such content, please return next week for more satire stories.
Some people believe that when death comes, it is the end. There is nothing else. The body and the spirit cease to exist. The being becomes ashes or dust in the ground, which is marked by a tomb stone, forgotten when the generation passes.