Monthly Archives: March 2017

Winter: A Season of Life

by Fred Hughes, M.Photog.

Winter is just not my most beloved time of the year! Christmas, I love. Cold I cannot handle! I am most certainly a Summer person. At the earliest hint of Spring, I start to develop an itch in the palm of my hand, and nothing can bring any relief except a fishing pole or a golf club! At this writing it is mid-March, and I am so ready for the return of regular warmth! For months now I have felt like the little fox in the photo above. Have you noticed that like the planet we live on and our individual lives seem to move through seasons? We experience sunshiny summers and hard cold winters. Seasons are to enjoy; and seasons are to endure, or sometimes simply survive. Life presents time frames we must navigate through. The loss of a loved one, a good job, a cherished relationship are all difficult to work through. Most winter experiences are unpleasant to deal with. Other seasons are more like Spring with everything fresh and new, full of life, busting out with the beauty of hope glowing in the morning sun! OK, OK, you get the picture. We have good and not-so-wonderful seasons we move through on our journey, right?

How do you handle season changes?

Season changes, both kinds, are going to come and go. How we handle them is important and affects the direction and quality of our lives as they unfold. There are some things we do in season and out of season. 2 Timothy 4:2 suggests some things we need to be prepared to do during any season. In Christian believer’s lives, we should, like Timothy, be ready to preach the Word of God no matter what the season.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven … (11) He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Verse 11 is huge! You are a very important part of “everything.” Your life is beautiful! Especially when you are in season. So the question is: when are you in season? When are you beautiful?

What about Winter? Is it possible to be “in season” when the season you are currently in is one of losing a loved one, being without a job, or even battling with a sickness or a financial challenge?

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Winter is a season of life. Thankfully, it is not all of life. There is a new season coming. However, while you may be in a winter season, it does not mean that nothing of value is taking place. A tree buds and blooms in the Spring. That same tree leafs out and produces fruit in the Summer, and it displays awesome color in Autumn. The same tree appears to be barren and doing nothing in the Winter, but not so! Trees are working hard to expand and extend the underground root system that supports the tree through all of the seasons. When you find yourself in the middle of Winter, grow deeper roots! Dig into the solid ground of the Word and Wisdom and be prepared to support the coming seasons as they arrive.

Do the flowers or the birds work hard at being beautiful? Neither should you. Just be who God created you to be in every season, and God will be faithful to do it! Yes, make you beautiful. The little fox in the cover photo is in an uncomfortable season, but he is still beautiful!

Fred Hughes, M. Photog.

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www.byfredhughes.com ~ www.decision1.org

The Heart of a Father

by Fred Hughes

The heart of a true father comes from having a relationship with God the Father. We who are earthly fathers are important to our family because we exemplify Christ and his union with the Father.

When we take the hand of one of our children and lead them, we are developing that same union that we enjoy with Christ and that He enjoys with the Father. We become one in the Spirit. We experience the Father’s, heart.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.  Colossians 1:13 NIV

A father will rescue his family from the darkness and bring them to the kingdom of light. That is our first and most important assignment.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

Let us never forget that our old selves died with him on the cross that the tyranny of sin over us might be broken.  Romans 6: 6  Phillips

The heart of the father is that his children will grow and prosper in all areas of life. For that to become a reality, they must be born again and develop a relationship, a union with the person who overcame sin and death for them, Jesus, is their redeemer. They need to see, in their father on earth, what their father in heaven looks like. We must help them transfer their trust to a much greater one than us.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2 KJV

I and my father are one. John 10:30  KJV

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  John 14:20  NKJV

 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17  KJV

Discovering the heart of the Father and introducing Him to your own child is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of fatherhood. Knowing He will never leave them or forsake them. Knowing that He loves them even more than you do. What peace and joy!

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians  1:27  KJV

Your heavenly Father Glories in you in the same way you glory in your children.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3:27 KJV

While he who joins himself to the Lord is one with him in spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17  Moffatt

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  1 John 4:4  NKJV

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4  NIV

There is, therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1  KJV

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray for true fathers to rise up and have a heart for the children, declaring, Isaiah 54:13  Our children will be taught of the Lord, and great shall be their peace. NIV

Fred Hughes, M. Photog.

HeartofaFather1 (Custom)

Read this and other blog posts on our websites.

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Get Wisdom!

by Fred Hughes

As an entrepreneur, it is my job to evaluate business practices and decide what and where to invest the companies resources. I was considering recently what value all of the self-help and business coaching materials I have acquired and studied, really are worth to me and my enterprise.

Quite honestly, I often consider much of what is out there a lot of hype and recopied clutter. (Anyone, understand what I’m saying?) There is a lot of noise but not much substance to much of the available training. So where do we search? What are the main things we actually need to do well? It turns out the same answers have been sought after for thousands of years. Moreover, the foundational principals and precepts we are looking for have not changed, they remain the same.

3 John 2-4 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

One of the basic understandings of how we prosper, and according to these verses, how we stay healthy is that we need a soul that prospers. Your soul that it is talking about is your mind, will, and emotions. The soul is what we think, how we react or respond, and what we determine to be the truth which we choose to follow. Finally, one of the greatest joys we can experience is to see our children or mentees actually walk in the truth we taught them as we pass to them the same prosperity we enjoy.

One of the true treasures of life is a prosperous soul!

The ability of the father or mentor to establish truth and wisdom into the next generation is called legacy — not only prospering yourself but passing it to generations to come. That will never happen unless it is based upon truth. Truth stands through time and validates the wisdom and understanding being passed!

Proverbs 4:5-13 Get Wisdom! Get Understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; A crown of glory she will deliver to you. Hear oh my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life.

Get Wisdom! Get Understanding! What great advice from a father to a son.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without doubting…

Notice that we are talking about the wisdom and understanding that comes from God, not the world. There is a big difference!

1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God…

Please understand that the wisdom that comes from God is far better than the wisdom of men. So if you are a Christian (a believer, a son), you have access to the wisdom of God. That wisdom is the truth, and it is the truth that will set you free — free from making poor business decisions and free to build a legacy of truth that can be transferred to others.

The self-help stuff has some value, but if you want real wisdom and understanding, there is a better source, my friend.

GET WISDOM! MAY YOUR SOUL PROSPER!

Fred Hughes, M. Photog.

Read this and other blog posts on our websites.

www.byfredhughes.com ~ www.decision1.orgGetWisdom-Photo Credit - Mika Matin (Large)