WELCOME TO THE RIDGEWAY NAZARENE CHURCH

2009 Concert Schedule is now updated. CLICK HERE.

It is a beautiful sunny day as I write this.   Our backyard has a beautiful white coat of snow on it and some of the pines  still have pieces of their white blankets clinging to their boughs. A few minutes ago a couple of squirrels were chasing each other under the trees out back and the birds are busy at their feeder.  It is a beautiful sight to brighten    these cold days of winter. 

    What stands out to me is the great number of tracks crisscrossing the backyard.  It has been about a week since we have had much snow and in that time the creatures have been busy.  Some are rabbit tracks, especially by the wood pile and the pines; If you get up close the birds have trampled the snow around the feeder, and there is at least one set of big dog or coyote tracks.  But most of them are deer tracks.  During the day Judy has seen up to four deer together out back eating and walking around,     

 but they are only rarely around during the day.  It is at night that they come around.  Each morning brings new tracks and they go everywhere.  Some cross the ball field to the neighbors, some come and go from the trees out back or around the garden by the pines towards Bishop's farm. A number of them lead into the white pines between us and the Steuwe's.  It looks like they have a party out there every night.  They aren’t exactly playing fox and goose but pretty close to it.  It is amazing what takes place in the backyard that we never would know about except for the tracks.

    I got to thinking this week how much that is like our relationship with God.  He is always around us to help and guide us and we can see His answers and His guidance in our lives.  But we often don’t see the many things He does for us in our daily lives.  It is like these deer that come out mainly at night so we don’t see them.  God often works behind the scenes or does things in quiet ways that we don’t notice.  We may be busy or just not paying attention to see what He does.It reminds me of the poem about the footprints in the sand where when the person thought God wasn’t with them God was actually carrying them. 

    We are often amazed at what God does in our world, but we would be even more amazed if we realized all that He really does that we never see because He just does it without fanfare. Trust God with your life.  Pastor Ray