Saturday, April 27, 2013

Learning Curve

      On his very first day of school, little Johnny handed the teacher a note from his mother. It read, “The opinions expressed by this child are not necessarily those of his parent’s.” At the end of her first week of school, little Suzy expressed her thoughts to her mother, “I’m just wasting my time”, she said. “I can’t read, I can’t write, and they won’t let me talk!” Well, just through my personal observations and experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that all of us have some sort of learning disorder. It’s probably because we learn in different ways and generally feel we can never learn all there is to know about any one subject. Some people are visual learners; they think in pictures and need visual aides. Others are auditory learners; they learn through listening; lectures, discussions and such. Then there are tactile/kinesthetic learners; those who learn through experience. I seem to be a bit of each of these learning profiles which may explain my across-the-board, ho-hum attitude toward life and living. I’ve never centered my thoughts on much of anything in particular but enjoy learning a little bit about everything. I tear things apart to discover what makes them tic and fixing something generally makes my day. Math and English have never really turned me on, but I use them to my advantage every day. Isn’t it amazing how a little food can mature the body in less than twenty-five years, but it takes more than a lifetime to mature the brain to the point of self-satisfaction? Although I’m diametric toward the electronic age, mainly because I don’t understand most of it, I find myself, as did my ancestors at the changes of every century, kicking and screaming while being dragged into the quagmire of ones and zeros. I guess maybe it’s because everything is operating at the speed of nanoseconds and I’m expected to do the same. Well, I don’t use a typewriter.


       [Ephesians 4: 11-15] The Sunday school class was asked if they knew why Elijah poured water over the sacrificial steer on the altar. A little girl piped up, “I know! I know! To make the gravy!” A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper complaining that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. “I’ve gone for thirty years now,” he wrote, “and in that time I have heard about 3,000 sermons. But, for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs by preaching at all.” A reply to that ‘Letter to the Editor’ read: “I’ve been married for thirty years now. In that time, my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I can’t remember the entire menu of a single one of those meals. Yet I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife hadn’t given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for the nourishment that comes from the Word of God, I would be spiritually dead today.” My mother dragged me to ‘church’, kickin’ and screamin’ some times, but the lessons learned are still used today. The spiritual world is as elusive as the electronic world, yet I know its real and I can see the product of each when I actively use them in my life. My spiritual self is for ever learning of God and his will for me. I see, I hear and I experience the grace of God every day. Faith can see the invisible, believe the incredible and receive the impossible. I thank God for my spiritual and my physical nourishment. It’s all good gravy. When Satan knocks at your door simply say, “Jesus, could you get that for me?”

Saturday, April 20, 2013

It's An Evil World


      Two angels were traveling about and stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The head of the family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead they were given a small space in the cold damp basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall, where the foundation of the century’s old mansion was apparently beginning to crumble, and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why he had done it, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.” The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable, farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed, where they would be comfortable and get a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their primary source of income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, “How could you have allowed this to happen? The man who had everything, yet was rude and selfish toward us, you freely helped. But, the poor farmer and his wife were willing to share everything with us and as a reward you let their cow die!” The older angel respectfully replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem to be. When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, the hole in the wall was where someone had hidden some gold years ago and the hiding place was crumbling open. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall up so he wouldn’t find it. Then, last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife; I gave him the cow instead.
      [Hebrews 13:2] “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” I find it very difficult to write in the shadows of the recent tragedies of the last few weeks. “WHY?” is the biggest question on the minds of people and the closer to the tragedy one is, the more reasonable is our request to God for an answer. Why were four out of five family members, minding their own business, die in a car crash at the hand of a drunk driver going the wrong way on the interstate? Why the Boston bombings? Why the explosion in West, Texas each bringing about death and destruction? “…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12). Do I believe angels are among us? Yes. I also know that not all angels are obedient to God. I believe that there are spirits among us and some are evil as evil can get. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) But, I refuse to believe they can control me physically or mentally. God gives me the right to invite and analyze all things of the world and it is ultimately my decision whether or not to place God in a competitive position or embrace him as my one and only sovereign. Why do evil things happen in the world? Because the world is evil. Why do people do evil things? Because they embrace the evil things in the world. Why do bad things happen to good people? Because they can’t get out of the way of evil-thinking people fast enough. The world has a serious mental superiority complex and restrictive legislation isn’t going to fix it. God’s principles and the sanctity of life will fix it, right.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Revealing Priorities


      As the family was riding down the road one warm summer evening, a woman in the convertible ahead of them stood up and waved. She was stark naked! As the parents in the front seat were reeling from the shock of what they were witnessing, a five-year-old voice from the back seat exclaimed, “Mom! That lady isn’t wearing a seat belt!”
      What is obvious to us, generally governs our priorities in life, and our experiences in life, generally govern what is obvious. Once upon a time there were six blind men who had never seen an elephant, though they had heard much about the creature. They hired a guide to take them to an elephant so they could satisfy their curiosity. The guide found a tame elephant and the men approached it from different directions to investigate the elephant using their sense of touch. The first man, who touched the elephant’s side, proclaimed that the creature was like a mud-baked wall. The second man, who touched a tusk, affirmed that the elephant was like a spear. The third man grabbed hold of the tail and described the elephant to be much like a rope. The forth man felt the trunk of the creature and believed the elephant was like a large serpent. The fifth man examined an ear and claimed that the elephant was like a large fan. The last man wrapped his arms around one of the elephant’s legs and concluded that the creature was like a tree trunk. Each blind man, based on his own personal experience, was convinced of the correctness of his own conclusion. Each man believed, with all his heart, that he now knew what an elephant was like; he believed his view was the correct one. Without examining the whole creature none of the blind men will ever get a “feel” of what an elephant is really like, thus, they do not know all there is to know.
      [Acts 17:11 & 1 Thessalonians 5:21] In Acts 12 we read that an angel busted Peter out of jail and he goes to the house of Mary, mother of John Mark, where people were gathered, praying for his safety. “…Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”’ I don’t want to appear judgmental, but I see lots of folks these days running around declaring, “God is at the door!” and forgetting to open the door to let Him in. The folks in the house told Rhoda, “…You’re out of your mind” …But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.” There are people who hear about God and accept the conclusions presented to them without checking if what has been said is correct. Then there are people who say, “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to believe that!” without any personal investigation of their own. Then there are people who answer the knocking on the door of their heart and let God in, and they are astonished at the peace that enters their life. When we read and understand the simple truths of God, and His Word, the obvious becomes a priority in our life. The silly, selfish things of the world seem to fade away and ‘keeping up with the Jones’ doesn’t matter anymore. Although one can live a life pleasing to God while in ignorance about elephants, no one can please God while ignorant of His divine will. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.” Spiritual blindness can bring you to the wrong conclusion of God and eternity. Safety in God’s love is more important than comfortable clothing.

Saturday, April 06, 2013

Reaping What We Have Sown


      Little Johnny used to hang out at the corner market. The owner didn’t know what Johnny’s problem was, but the other boys would constantly tease him. They would always comment that he was two bricks short of a full load, or he really wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. To prove it, they would often offer Johnny the choice between a dime and a nickel. Johnny would always take the nickel and they concluded he thought it was worth more because it was bigger, and would laugh at him. One day, after Johnny grabbed the nickel, the store owner took him aside and said, “Johnny, those boys are making fun of you. Are you grabbing the nickel just because it’s bigger or what?” Slowly, Johnny turned to the man and with a big grin on his face he said, “Well, if I take the dime, they’ll stop doing it, and so far I’ve saved $20.00.”
      It used to be the weirdest kid in school wore blue jeans, engineer boots and a white t-shirt; had a duck-tail haircut, smoked cigarettes and sported a leather jacket in the cold weather. In high school, I can remember we had our jocks and geeks (not computer but scholastic), genius’s and those, like me, who didn’t have a clue what algebra was all about or why there has to be adjectives and adverbs to structure a comprehensive, compound sentence, impressive enough to gain the approval of a 90-year-old English teacher who continually compared you to your siblings whom she had taught in earlier years. We had our friends and some of us had to deal with bullies in the best way we knew how, mainly avoiding contact at all cost. I guess you could say I survived the travails of high school with common-sense navigation and blending into the woodwork as often as needed. The same tactics have their advantages to this very day.
      [Galatians 6: 1-10] So, when did we cross over the line from normal, trying to fit in, testosterone aggression, to, life means nothing, revenge? I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools. And we said, “Okay.” Then someone said you better not read or teach from the Bible in school, the Bible that says, “…thou shall not kill; thou shall not steal; and love your neighbors as your self.” And we said, “Okay.” Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, “Okay.” Then someone said that our educators could no longer discipline our children for fear of bad publicity or lawsuits. Let’s let our daughters get abortions without our knowledge if they want and we all know boys will be boys, so, let’s let the schools hand out all the condoms they want, so they can have all the fun they desire, and make a law that says it’s no business of the parents. The entertainment industry said, let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex. And let’s record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide and satanic themes. And let’s make video games that promote revengeful solutions to life such as murder and mass destruction. And we said, “It’s only entertainment and it has no adverse effect; nobody takes it seriously anyway, it’s just a story”. Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience; why they don’t know right from wrong; and why it doesn't bother them to kill complete strangers, classmates, or even themselves. Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long enough, we would figure it out. Are we not reaping what we have sown?