God Wants To Help

“How to Install a Southern Home Security System”: 1. Go to Goodwill and buy a size 14-16 pair of men’s work boots. 2. Place them on your front porch along with a current issue of “Gus and Ammo” magazine. 3. Put four giant dog food bowls next to the boots and magazine. 4. Leave a note on the door that reads: “Bubba, Me and Marcel, Donny Ray and Jimmy Earl went for more ammo and beer. Be back in an hour. Don’t mess with the Pit Bulls. They got the mailman this morning and messed him up bad. I don’t think Killer took part, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. I locked all four of them in the house. Better wait outside. Be right back.” Cooter

Paranoia is one of those funny elements of the psyche that sneaks up on one’s self without warning. It’s not worry that triggers my off-balance, wake up in the middle of the night, near panic attack. No, for me it generally hits when my brain reaches overload with all the crazy things going on in the world and somewhere down deep the old man of the past tries to surface and control my thoughts with fears of the world coming to take everything away, leaving me high and dry. Now that you’re sure I’m a little out-of-whack let me assure you I still recognize the situation and realize I have to do something about it, rendering me as sane as one can be living in this old world. Throughout my life I guess I’ve tried just about everything to bury the weird me and keep from falling off the edge, but all I ever managed to do was keep my balance. As the TV commercial says, all I was doing was managing the symptoms, I wasn’t treating the problem. Nowadays, and for many years now, I know what to do, because I know this old world is not my home and the only way to overcome feelings of impending doom is to crawl up into my Heavenly Father’s lap in prayer, tell Him all my fears and give Him all my troubles. My spirit takes control and the worldly man has to yield to the fact that God is still in control. God is my manager, Jesus my coach and the Holy Spirit my Comforter in every day living and especially when the world is beating me up. Our finite thinking is no match for the infinite love and knowledge of God and His Word. Even though the world can be overwhelming at times, I no longer walk on the edge trying to balance my life all by myself. I walk on solid ground knowing that some day this old body will return to the earth but my restless spirit will get to go home.

[Exodus 16: 2-15; John 11: 17-42] Based on an old tale of a piano concert given by the composer Paderewski in an elegant concert hall, a TV commercial depicts a couple discovering the absence of their young son. From behind a closed stage curtain a tune came to their ears that can only be described as their worst nightmare: the notes of “Chopsticks”, as played by their own aspiring pianist on the Steinway grand onstage. The curtain opens revealing their son and before either of them could run up and stop him the great musician himself appears on stage. The master that he is, leans over the top of the boy, whispers, “Keep playing,” and begins playing a lovely and intricate improvisation on the theme of “Chopsticks”. The message is “Encouragement; Pass It On”. There are days when I feel the best I can do is bang out “Chopsticks” and wonder if I’m really making a difference. I suspect you do too. Remember, there is Someone who is carrying the melody as we bang away at the keyboard; Someone else who is developing the theme and bringing it all together. God loves you and wants to help you