Why Do We Do It?

Why do we press harder on the remote control buttons when we know the batteries are almost dead? Why do banks charge a fee when they already know we don’t have any money? Why when we’re told there are over four billion stars in our galaxy alone we believe it, but we have to use our finger to see if the “Wet Paint” sign applies? Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard? Knowing that Superman can stop bullets with his chest, why does he duck his head when a revolver is thrown at him? Is there a day that mattresses are not on sale? Why do people keep running over a string on the floor with a vacuum cleaner, then reach down; pick it up; examine it; then put it back on the floor to give the vacuum one more chance? How do all the dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures? In winter, why do we keep the house as warm as summer when we were complaining about the heat? And, why when we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart, and apologizes for doing so, do we say, “Oh, that’s all right”? Well, it isn’t “alright”, it hurts! Why don’t we say, “Watch where your going!” I guess for the same reason we don’t tell some people to get back into the closet and we’re allowing, time warp, mind altering, drugs such as marijuana to “come of age”. While the cat’s allowing the mice to play, the “civil rights” of folks, that everyone keeps harping about, are being legislated away by inept representatives, because the citizens of this great country are so wrapped up in themselves, most people just can’t find the time to cast a vote anymore. The wrath of God is coming upon U.S.

[Genesis 3: 4-5] There is a warfare going on between you and Satan (Ephesians 6:12). As in any war it is essential you know your adversary and what he is after. Satan is eager to tread on your gullibility. We have the capacity of being deceived and cheated by his deliberate lies and evil-doings. It happened in the very beginning, to Eve, when Satan questioned God’s habitual observance of the truth, and boldly lied by saying, “You will not surely die”. Then Satan sweetened the lie with the assurance, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”. In Philippians 4: 8, Paul gives a list of what to think about, beginning with “…whatever is true”. The search for truth is imperative if we are to be saved from our gullibility. Don’t believe anything Satan says! He has been a liar from the beginning (John 8:42-47). Satan tells the saint that he can be self-sufficient. You’ve heard it: “There is no need for the church. You will be fine without the body of Christ. Attending worship, singing, praying, partaking of the communion, giving of your means, etc. is fine, but you don’t need it. Jesus, YES!; the church, NO! Well, what are you going to do with Hebrews 10:25; “let us no give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…” In Satan’s bag of tricks there are distractions of the world: discouragement, discord, lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of life. He continually tries to convince us that there is plenty of time to straighten up our lives. He assures us that we can call sin by another name, and that it is not really all that bad. He teaches that the Bible is a book of fables and, although a great teacher, Jesus was just another man.” I’m not perfect. I get duped by Satan like anyone else, but with God’s truth on my side I make better decisions in my life. People are becoming like busy termites, and netting the same results – destruction.

Back Where I Started

Trivia and games of trivia pursuit is a fad that comes and goes. It’s the seeking of little known facts that add intelligence to our already ignorant database which resides between our ears. Ceiling fans are a mystery to me. I’m told to reverse its rotation for better distribution of hot and cold air throughout my house. In reality, unless the room is large and the ceiling is over eight feet high, it really doesn’t matter which way the fan turns. Personally, I don’t like the air blowing down on me and my nice warm dinner. By the way, when using the ceiling fan as a baseball bat, you will probably have to toss the ball up several times before getting a hit. This comes with several warnings. 1. Baseballs make dents in ceilings. 2. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long ways. 3. The glass in windows (even double pane) will not stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan. Some other trivial thoughts that you might not have thought of: Life is sexually transmitted; Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die; Give a person a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a person how to use the internet and he won’t bother you for weeks; Take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism; Have you noticed, in the ‘60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take chemicals to make it normal; and best of all – When you’re feeling blue, start breathing again …just food for thought.
Get your pencil out (or phone calculator) and let’s do the math. Take 2; double it; multiply this by 8; divide by 2; add 5; divide by 3; multiply by 2; subtract 4; divide by 5. What do you have? That’s right! You ended up where you started. I’ve had a lot of days like that, where at the end of a hard day’s work, I felt like I got nothing accomplished. I think it’s possible to use up a whole life adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing only to end a life where it started …with nothing to show for it. There was a man who retired from a top ranking position in a huge corporation who had this to say about his career. “After forty years of neglecting my family, ignoring the spiritual, and living only to reach the highest office in the company, I end up with a gold watch that I could have bought for what it cost me to purchase the suit that got me the job in the first place.” It seems to me he felt he had ended up where he started off.
[Ecclesiastes 12:6-7] We are all going to end up where we started this life. “…and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” I have only one life to live and as I approach the end of it I will no doubt look back and evaluate it. I don’t think I will come as near regretting that I gave plenty of time to my family, as I will neglecting them for trivial pursuits. Nor do I believe I will regret the work I have done for the Lord, and the sacrifices I have made for others, as I will the ambitious pursuits for wealth or fame. (I really didn’t do well there at all) But, we can really make our life count. We must remember that only that which is done for the Lord lasts. “…stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). I am convinced that I will not end up with just a gold watch when I finish my service to Him. “…we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) I’m striving to make my life really add up, with joys in the Lord that multiply, dividing my time properly and not taking away from God what is His. Glory be to God

Love Like God

A woman arrives home, screeching her car into the driveway, runs into the house, slams the door and yells at the top of her lungs, “Honey?! Pack your bags! I won the lottery!” In shock the husband replies, “No kidding? What should I pack; beach stuff or mountain stuff?” “Doesn’t matter”, she says. “Just get out!!” Ahh, yes, love is in the air and guys if you forget Valentine’s Day this too could be your legacy. I’d like to meet the dude that started all this ‘sweetheart’ stuff. It takes me all year to plan and get through her birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, New Years and the Super Bowl, all happening in less than three months, then it is Valentine’s Day. That’s too soon. I think we need to move it to May or June when the weather is better and we could go out for a romantic evening at the racetrack, or the drag strip or something. Be my Valentine?

Seems there was a stressed out woman who was tailgating the vehicle in front of her as they drove on a busy boulevard. When he slowed to stop at a yellow light, the woman hit the horn, cussing and screaming in frustration, and gesturing angrily. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a police officer who ordered her to exit the car with her hands up. He took her to the police station and put her in a holding cell. An hour later the police officer returned and said, “I’m so sorry ma’am. This has been a big mistake on my part. When I pulled up behind you, I noticed your ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ license plate holder and your ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and with what I was witnessing going on in the drivers seat, I assumed the car you were driving was stolen.”

[1 Corinthians 13:4-7; 1 John 4:7-21] Don’t take me too seriously as a chauvinistic pig, more just a lackadaisical romantic. I, in my walk with Christ, am striving to become like him, so if I imitate him I will gain the attributes of God in my life. Because God loves me, He is slow to lose patience with me. He takes the circumstances of my life and uses them in a constructive way for my growth. Can we not do this with one another in love? Because God loves me, he is for me. He does not send down his wrath on every little mistake I make, of which there are many. Can we not do this with one another? Because God loves me, He does not keep score of all my sins and then beat me over the head with them whenever he gets the chance. Because God loves me, He never says there is no hope for me. Rather, he patiently works with me, and disciplines me in such a way that it is hard for me to understand the depth of his concern for me. Because God loves me, He stands with me when I reach the rock-bottom of despair, when I see the real me and compare that with his righteousness, holiness, beauty and love. Is my love and concern for others strong enough to stand with them in their darkest days? Because God loves me, He is deeply grieved when I do not walk in the ways that please him. He sees this as evidence that I do not trust him and love him as I should. “…God is love” (1 John 4:16). “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:19-21). Valentines Day is centered on a hopeful attraction of intimate love, while the best of love awaits just off stage, God’s un-matchless love for all.

The Old Order Will Be Gone

The computer swallowed my co-worker! Yes, honestly it’s true. He pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’ then disappeared from view. It devoured him completely; the thought just makes me squirm. He must have caught a virus or been eaten by a worm. I searched through the recycle bin and files of every kind; I even used the internet, but nothing did I find. In desperation, I asked Google, my searches to refine; the reply from that was negative, not a thing was found ‘online’. So, if inside your ‘inbox’ my co-worker you should see, please ‘copy’, ‘scan’ and ‘paste’ him, and send him back to me!

Life has many calamities that blow through unannounced at the most inopportune times. It could be adverse weather, a much needed vehicle that refuses to comply with our every wish, personal injury or illness, an appliance that gives up the ghost the same day you have invited guests to dinner and of course the one that everyone dreads, the unexpected death of a friend or family member. For years I’ve had to deal with the sudden debilitating horror of a lower back muscle spasm that puts everything I’m doing on hold until further notice. Last Sunday evening, just before crawling into bed, I bent over to plug my phone and charger together when I felt that unwanted twinge of pain wrench my brain stem. I thought at least it happened at the end of the day and a good night’s sleep will relax it and everything will be fine in the morning. The first move I made when I awoke was almost the last move I made all day, and the next two days. Time is the only fix, but I always feel old and worthless waiting to recover.

The other day I noticed on my Dairy Queen receipt, ‘Senior Discount’. Now who told that kid I was old enough to be eligible for such a thing? I’m not old! I’m the life of the party …even when it lasts till 8 p.m. Although I have to admit, I’m not the person I used to be. Half the time I’m ready to go home before I get to where I’m going. People say I’m grouchy. Not really. I just don’t like traffic, waiting in line, crowds, children or politicians. I’m a walking storeroom of facts …I’ve just lost the key to the storeroom. Why am I smiling all the time, you ask? I can’t hear a word you’re saying. Now aging may have something to do with a few noticeable changes in my life. Lately, I awake long before my body is ready to get out of bed. I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a secure place, and just ask me, because I’m always the first one to find the nearest restroom. And, I am discovering, old age ain’t for sissies.

[2 Peter 3] I don’t want to appear to be an alarmist, but, once again this past week I’ve been reminded that life is fragile and all too short, with the passing of a friend and brother in Christ. It’s that calamity that stops the world from turning for a time in the mind, until life brings us back into a hunger state of pressing on. But, it doesn’t have to be a calamity at all. Even though death is a time of sadness and great loss, in Christ, it’s also a time of gladness and celebration, for another believer has gone on to be with the Lord. For those who are prepared for the next stage of life, that which comes after death, a longing for the completion of this life, and the wanting to be with the Lord, grows with age and wisdom. I’m looking forward to the day when this pain in my backside will be no more. I’ll not have to endure disappointment and failure ever again, nor will I be saddened by deaths seeming finality. God is going to wipe away every tear. There’ll be no more death, pain or crying. The old order will be gone. (Rev. 21:3-4)