Well, it’s been five and half years since the first surgery on my vocal cords and just over five since the second. My ENT has me come in every six months for “a look see”, just to keep an eye on the situation. The inspections have been good until this last one which is not favorable. It seems the right cord is showing some thickening for some reason. So anyway, I have to take a test this week to determine why. I’ve just gotten used to having this scope run through my nose down my throat, but he says I’m really going to love having a camera stuffed in my mouth. I can’t wait! I already told him it’s from all the good singing I do that’s making that cord Hulk up. “Do the test” he says.
See if you can figure out the need before the end of the riddle. My tongue was doing gymnastics, trying to solve a desperate problem. It was difficult to concentrate, as this consuming problem plagued my soul. The beast refused to go away, it would not be ignored. Finally, I couldn’t take it another minute. I had tried everything, but did not have what it took to solve the problem …and chase away the beast. I had to drop everything in search of the most valuable tool in all the world for this case. While seeking out this tool, I couldn’t help but think, that giant trees father magnificent buildings, wonderful musical instruments, useful fence posts, pencils, furniture, boxes and hundreds of other useful things, but what I need most in this desperate moment, is its most valuable child, a small wooden sliver, called a toothpick. Ahhh, and when the deed was done, great joy filled my mouth. My soul was calmed and my tongue let out a great sigh of relief. One insignificant popcorn hull had altered my life, significantly.
[Revelation 3:20] Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Frank, a college student, roomed with two, noisy upper-classmen, who made it hard to properly study. To solve the problem he bought a “white noise” machine. The static noise created by the device flooded out the other noises in the apartment allowing Frank to concentrate on his work. One night Frank prepared for an important exam and went to bed early. The next day Frank woke up too late for the exam. Although he had set his alarm, he couldn’t hear it, because the “white noise” blocked it out. Do you hear the Lord knocking? Don’t let the “white noise” of the world block out a chance for you to get closer to Jesus. The static noise of the world has a tendency to dull our ability to catch the call of the Spirit. Turn off the world for a little while each day. Pick up God’s Word for some serious concentrated study. Think about this. You don’t know when you’re going to be called for the final exam. “But Tom, I just don’t feel right approaching God with my miserable life. I need to get my life straight first.” I’ve heard that from a lot of people and I’ll tell you now what I tell them. Your sin and guilt is like that popcorn hull stuck between your teeth. It’s never going to go away until you apply the proper tool for the situation. (Romans 5:1-11) Believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, and you become baptized for the remission of your sins through Christ Jesus, you will set the stage for a great relief in your soul, because what’s in the past will be forgiven and no longer held against you. But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Praise be to GOD!
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Good Coffee
My wife and I went to a Gaither Homecoming concert Friday night. We had been the year before and watch their concerts on TV all the time, and on the way home my wife commented how she didn’t think she was going to enjoy the live concert a second time around, but confessed the spiritual lift it gave her hadn’t weaned at all. We all need a spiritual lift now and again. What do you do to recharge your spiritual batteries?
Here’s a story that’s been sent to me several times that might lift your spirit. A young woman went to her mother to tell her about her life. It seems she would solve one problem in her life and another would jump up. She didn’t know how she was going to make it and was about to give up on life. Her mother led her to the kitchen where she filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first she placed carrots, the second she placed eggs and in the last, coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners, fished out the carrots placing them in a bowl, then the eggs, placing them in another bowl, then she ladled the coffee out into a cup. “Tell me, what do you see?”, asked the mother. “Carrots, eggs and coffee”, replied the daughter. When asked to inspect them closer the daughter noted that the carrots were soft, the eggs were hard inside and after a sip of the coffee the daughter smiled commenting on the rich aroma and great taste. “What does this mean, mother?” Her mother explained that each object had faced the same adversity, boiling water. The carrots went in the boiling water strong, hard and unrelenting, but they came out soft and weak. The eggs went in fragile, a thin outer shell protecting its liquid center, but came out with its insides hardened. The coffee beans were unique, however. After being in the boiling water, they had changed the water. “Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
[Romans 8: 18-39] When adversity comes your way are you like the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and disappointment you wilt, become soft and lose your strength? Or maybe you’re like an egg, with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did you have a fluid spirit, then after a hardship or some other trial, though you may look the same outside, your heart has hardened and your spirit has become tough? Why not be like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings it pain. When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you’re like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation surrounding you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are the greatest, elevate yourself to another level. How? Trust in God. (v18) I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Through baptism we receive the Holy Spirit of God to abide within us. Is the Spirit there to condemn us? Not at all! (v26) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. (v28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him… (v31) …If God is for us, who (what) can be against us? Pray to God for wisdom and strength in every situation of life, be it comfortable or uncomfortable. You’re born crying, surrounded by smiles. Die smiling, surrounded by tears. Get right with God.
Here’s a story that’s been sent to me several times that might lift your spirit. A young woman went to her mother to tell her about her life. It seems she would solve one problem in her life and another would jump up. She didn’t know how she was going to make it and was about to give up on life. Her mother led her to the kitchen where she filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first she placed carrots, the second she placed eggs and in the last, coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners, fished out the carrots placing them in a bowl, then the eggs, placing them in another bowl, then she ladled the coffee out into a cup. “Tell me, what do you see?”, asked the mother. “Carrots, eggs and coffee”, replied the daughter. When asked to inspect them closer the daughter noted that the carrots were soft, the eggs were hard inside and after a sip of the coffee the daughter smiled commenting on the rich aroma and great taste. “What does this mean, mother?” Her mother explained that each object had faced the same adversity, boiling water. The carrots went in the boiling water strong, hard and unrelenting, but they came out soft and weak. The eggs went in fragile, a thin outer shell protecting its liquid center, but came out with its insides hardened. The coffee beans were unique, however. After being in the boiling water, they had changed the water. “Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
[Romans 8: 18-39] When adversity comes your way are you like the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and disappointment you wilt, become soft and lose your strength? Or maybe you’re like an egg, with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did you have a fluid spirit, then after a hardship or some other trial, though you may look the same outside, your heart has hardened and your spirit has become tough? Why not be like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings it pain. When the water gets hot, it releases its fragrance and flavor. If you’re like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation surrounding you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are the greatest, elevate yourself to another level. How? Trust in God. (v18) I consider our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Through baptism we receive the Holy Spirit of God to abide within us. Is the Spirit there to condemn us? Not at all! (v26) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. (v28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him… (v31) …If God is for us, who (what) can be against us? Pray to God for wisdom and strength in every situation of life, be it comfortable or uncomfortable. You’re born crying, surrounded by smiles. Die smiling, surrounded by tears. Get right with God.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
A Proper Attitude
Not long ago I helped a friend of mine correct a few problems on his laptop computer. Since then he’s returned with problems on other computers and together we’ve figured out what needed to be done to fix them. I’ve turned him on to some really good maintenance programs to help keep his computer from giving him more trouble in the future. Things were good, except for a rogue program that just kept popping up now and again, part of his original problem. I instructed him how to get into the computers registry and root out the pesky program remnants, which worked, but that wasn’t enough for him. He got to rooting around in places he didn’t belong and the computer hasn’t run since. To make a long story short, again, I’ve tried every “easy step by step” remedy on the internet to solve the problem and short of hitting it with a hammer or tying it to my bumper and dragging it down the road a few miles, I’ve yet to get it running. With a little finesse I’ve come close, but it looks like a major operation ahead. I’ll let you know.
Too often the solutions we try to apply to situations of life, recommended by “friends” or “experts”, seem to fall short of exactly what we need to solve our problem. Then again sometimes we don’t understand the full scope of the situation and apply the wrong logic. Speaking of logic, that brings to mind common sense, and that brings to mind what some “Emergency 9-1-1” operators have to contend with. Here are few real misguided “9-1-1” calls. Two couples were sharing a motel room and called to proclaim there weren’t enough bath towels. A man called and simply stated, “Please connect me to Switzerland”. A woman called to report she had hiccups that wouldn’t quit. Another called to report a wild mouse running around in her house. A man broke up with his girlfriend and wanted the police to go to her house and report to him the owners of any cars, other than hers , in her driveway. A distraught lady called 9-1-1 to report a fight in a parking lot. When asked to describe the combatants, she said, “I’ll try. There’s one man, and he’s dressed like Elvis. He’s kicking another man, who’s lying on the ground screaming, ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog’!” Blessed are 9-1-1 operators.
[Isaiah 61] In this chapter is Isaiah’s prophecy of what the ministry of the coming Messiah will be. When handed the book of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus’ home town, Jesus searched to find and read the first part of this chapter, not divided in chapters in those days, and then announced himself to the gathering that He indeed was the Messiah when He said, …“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. (Luke 4: 14-21) Read farther and you’ll find the crowd forced Jesus out of town to a cliff where they planned to throw him off, but Jesus simply passed through the out of control crowd, “…But passing through their midst, He went His way”. For many years, even following my own baptism, I was seeking to find something in religion that just isn’t there. With all the books and stand-out orators and so-called modern day prophets, I felt lost among the saved. I was walking one way and Jesus was passing me by going the other way. But, I finally applied the proper application to my life, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”. (Matt. 6: 25-34) Then life began to make sense and the troubles of life began to melt away, studying God’s Word and living as it instructs me to do. Life’s 9-1-1? PRAYER! Oh, and stop complaining, and start praising God for once!
Too often the solutions we try to apply to situations of life, recommended by “friends” or “experts”, seem to fall short of exactly what we need to solve our problem. Then again sometimes we don’t understand the full scope of the situation and apply the wrong logic. Speaking of logic, that brings to mind common sense, and that brings to mind what some “Emergency 9-1-1” operators have to contend with. Here are few real misguided “9-1-1” calls. Two couples were sharing a motel room and called to proclaim there weren’t enough bath towels. A man called and simply stated, “Please connect me to Switzerland”. A woman called to report she had hiccups that wouldn’t quit. Another called to report a wild mouse running around in her house. A man broke up with his girlfriend and wanted the police to go to her house and report to him the owners of any cars, other than hers , in her driveway. A distraught lady called 9-1-1 to report a fight in a parking lot. When asked to describe the combatants, she said, “I’ll try. There’s one man, and he’s dressed like Elvis. He’s kicking another man, who’s lying on the ground screaming, ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog’!” Blessed are 9-1-1 operators.
[Isaiah 61] In this chapter is Isaiah’s prophecy of what the ministry of the coming Messiah will be. When handed the book of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus’ home town, Jesus searched to find and read the first part of this chapter, not divided in chapters in those days, and then announced himself to the gathering that He indeed was the Messiah when He said, …“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing”. (Luke 4: 14-21) Read farther and you’ll find the crowd forced Jesus out of town to a cliff where they planned to throw him off, but Jesus simply passed through the out of control crowd, “…But passing through their midst, He went His way”. For many years, even following my own baptism, I was seeking to find something in religion that just isn’t there. With all the books and stand-out orators and so-called modern day prophets, I felt lost among the saved. I was walking one way and Jesus was passing me by going the other way. But, I finally applied the proper application to my life, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”. (Matt. 6: 25-34) Then life began to make sense and the troubles of life began to melt away, studying God’s Word and living as it instructs me to do. Life’s 9-1-1? PRAYER! Oh, and stop complaining, and start praising God for once!
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