The Cost Is Great

Well, after years of depending on someone else to mow the grass at my house I’ve decided to take on the chore myself once again. I had gotten away from doing yard work for several reasons, the largest being allergies. I think I’ve actually gotten over most of my grass and mold allergies as I’ve grown older, though some symptoms still remain. Another reason is that the guy doing my lawn is becoming undependable, or too busy, or something, as he doesn’t get around as often as I would like to see him. This year I especially want my grass mowed more often because of all the rain we’ve received. Not keeping the grass cut down sure breeds the mosquitoes, not to mention it just makes the place look trashy. Of course that means more money to pay out and my wife doesn’t like to do that at all. So, I looked at the cost and weighed my options before making my decision, which also included the fact I could use a little exercise. Now I’ve got to tell you I went “green”, buying an electric mower and weedwacker. I just don’t want to have to deal with gasoline and all the problems that come with it. Putting a pencil to all of this looks to be a full return on the investment if it keeps raining all summer, which looks pretty promising at the moment. I’m doing a good job so far and happy with my decision. I just hope the new domestic chore won’t wane, like it did before.
One day a housework challenged husband decided to wash his favorite sweatshirt. He shouted to his wife from the laundry room, “What setting do I use on the washing machine?” “It depends”, she replied. “What does it say on your shirt?” He yelled back, “University Of Oklahoma!”
Two fellows took their wives into a nearby Gulf Coast town to do some holiday shopping. While their wives were shopping they rented a boat to get in some winter saltwater fishing. While they were out a storm blew in. Retreating to shore and running to fast, the men ran the boat up on a sand bar. They jumped out to try and free the boat from the bar. With mud up to their waists and ice cold water up to their chins, one fellow turned to the other and said, “Sure beats holiday shopping, doesn’t it?”
With picnic sandwiches clutched in his hand, the father was standing at the edge of a cliff admiring the sea below. His son approached and said, “Mother says it isn’t safe here and you’re either to come away from the edge or give me the sandwiches.”
[Luke 14: 28-35] Do we not all keep vigilance over the activities of daily life weighing the favorable and not so favorable aspects of what’s happening around us? Of course we do. It’s part of our self-preservation instincts. My biggest problem is, when someone approaches me with a thought to get me involved in something, I weigh it to a point where I think it’s going to cost me too much, then draw a line as to how involved I’m going to get. What does it cost to be a Christian? Can you imagine what people thought when Jesus said, “…any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Even today, people want their Christianity to be a “part” of their life, dedicating so many hours a week to worship and depositing a set sum of money for the “church” to do good works in the community. The Christian life is every day in every way. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3: 17) Christian = Servant.

Waxing Nostolgic

I’ve been waxing nostalgic all this past week. It started last week when I took a young lady to church singing school, the same one I attended several years in the mid 90’s. I learned of a reunion following this, their 40th consecutive school session, and I couldn’t wait to get home to dig out my photos and pour over some other memorabilia from the sessions I attended. I’m going to try making the reunion. Then early week, I found time between the thunderstorms to work on a long awaited store room cleaning. Well, I guess you know what happens when you start digging into the past. Yep, it takes forever to sort and discard. My wife did an Elvis. She simply turned and left the building. “You sort and toss”, she instructed. “If I don’t see it I won’t miss it.” Oh boy, this won’t take long now! Then I ran across a box I thought had been lost years ago, after finding my High School graduation yearbook damaged and separated from it. I stared into a box from the 60’s when youth sprang eternal. Boy Scouts, High School, Auto Racing, pay stubs from my first big employer and the bill of sales for the only new car I’ve ever bought, a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda Fastback for $2,746.44, after trade-in and down payment. I owned it three months before Uncle Sam owned me. It’s all safely repacked until the next time. Then the other night I was surfing and stopped at the Sci-Fi channel which was running a “Twilight Zone Marathon”. Before MASH, there was the Twilight Zone. I love that show and could watch every episode over and over without getting tired of them. Well, the only problem with waxing nostalgic is the mind becomes flooded with the “what ifs” and “whys” of life that tend to make us second guess ourselves. But I must say, I find myself quite content at the end of this nostalgia trip.
One day a man said to his wife,’ I don’t know how you can be so beautiful and so stupid at the same time.” The wife responded, “Allow me to explain it to you. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me. God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you.” Then there was the minister who had been invited back to dinner after coming three months prior. Immediately after giving thanks for the food one of the children turned to the preacher and said matter-of-factly, “Know what? That’s the first time we’ve said grace since you ate with us before.” How about the Bible teacher that asked her class what the Epistles were. One said, “They were the wives of the Apostles”.
[2 Peter 1: 1-15] In this entire letter, Peter reminds us that we need to open the past of God’s word to review what we already know, but perhaps has become a little skewed from listening to the world a little too much. It’s easy for us to slip-slip away from the basic truths that brought us to Christ and salvation in the beginning. We need to be reminded of these basic truths, even though we feel we have a firm grip on them. Are we still building our Christian faith and hope on the same foundation we started with? Are we building as God has instructed us to build? We need to examine our Christian walk every day and “wax nostalgic” on why we came this way to begin with. We have a treasure chest of history to open and reminisce through whenever we want. It’s called the Bible. Not only can we look into the past to witness God’s love throughout the ages, but know the future that awaits mankind through God’s promises yet to be fulfilled. I’ve read the end of the book and those who build on the promises are the winners, forever.

And That Was Good

I’m not one to dive head-long into anything new. I worked around automobiles long enough to know that the only way to truly find out if a product is good or not is to give it to the good-ole American public to use and abuse. If it survives, it’s a miracle. If engineers can improve on it and continue to sell it at a profit for several years, it gains my attention. Well, it took forever to get me into the computer age and now I don’t know what I’d do without one, or two, or three. I’m now about to embark on the cell phone scene. I’ve been avoiding it in fear of how I see the way that little communicator can dominate and overpower every aspect of life. One good thing I think I can see in it. Now I’ll be able to find my wife faster in the super shopping centers. Just call her up!
My growing-up-years were in the Fifties and Sixties. The “baby-boomers” are getting old enough that our childhood days are jokes of Comedians, our grandkids snicker at our stories and twenty-something’s shudder and say, “Eeeew!” But our childhood really wasn’t that bad. In 1953 the U.S. population was less than 150 million …yet you knew more people then, and knew them better …and that was good. The average annual salary was less than $3000 …yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life …and that was good. A loaf of bread cost about 15¢ …but it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one …and that was good. Prime-Time meant “I Love Lucy”, “Ozzie and Harriet”, “Gunsmoke” and “Lassie”, and nobody ever heard of ratings or filters …and that was good. We didn’t have air conditioning, so the windows stayed up all summer and a half dozen mothers came running when you fell off your bike …and that was good. We addressed our teachers as Miss Matthews, or Mrs. Adkins, or Mr. Logan, not Ms. Becky or Mr. Dan …and that was good. The only hazardous material you knew about was the grass burrs growing around the light pole at the corner …and that was good. You loved to climb into a fresh bed because sheets were dried on the clothesline …and that was good. People generally lived in the same town as their closest relatives, so childcare meant grandparents or aunts and uncles …and that was good. Parents were respected and their rules were law …children didn’t talk back …and that was good. TV was in black-and-white, but all outdoors was in glorious color …and that was certainly good. Your dad knew how to adjust everybody’s carburetor, and the dad next door knew how to adjust all the knobs on the TV set …and that was very good. Your grandma grew snap beans and raised chickens out back of the garage …and that was definitely good. And just about the time you were about to do something bad, chances were you would be observed by someone who knew your name and your father’s phone number …and even that was good. Our childhood even felt good.
[Matthew 19: 16-17; Romans 3] What we perceive to be good is no doubt what makes us feel good. In truth we are all sinners and only God is good. Goodness and being good is a large subject in the New Testament of the Bible. The Apostles teachings have very little to do with doctrine of the church and everything to do with daily living. Study, and you’ll conclude that the only way you can even come close to being good, is to live a life in obedience to God’s law, through faith in Jesus Christ. A faithful baptized believer will be a good servant, and his master will be well pleased with his good works.

Memorial Memories

My memories of Memorial Day while growing up in Upstate New York are of Spring in full bloom and signs of warm summer weather approaching, a few more weeks of school (we didn’t get out till the middle of June), the first downtown parade of the year, the Indy 500 on the radio and full anticipation of an unruly summer vacation. Well, the last part never happened because my dad saw to it that we kids were busy doing something constructive, keeping us out of trouble. Anyway, Memorial Day never really meant much to me, I guess because I had no personal stake in death due to war. I only remember my mother speaking about her brother never returning from WWII with no recorded loss, just “Missing In Action”. His memory lived in a picture hanging on the wall, in honor, at grandmas house, with no known grave site to visit. At the risk of sounding bitter, at my High School graduation many of the males in the class were going to war and it was only a matter of time that the draft would catch up to most of us and like it or not, Uncle Sam would be steering the direction of life for a period of time. I’ve pondered the thought of where I would be and what I would be doing today if it weren’t for war, but I don’t worry about it, because I know I’m right where God wants me to be.
If there’s anything good in war it would be learning survival disciplines which carry over into whatever one involves themselves in the rest of their life. Fred and his wife Edna went to the state fair every year. Every year Fred would say, “Edna, I sure would like to fly in one of them there airplanes.” Edna would reply, “I know Fred, but it’s ten dollars to ride and ten dollars is ten dollars.” Finally, one year Fred said, “Edna, I’m 71 years old. If I don’t ride that airplane this year I may never get another chance.” Edna reminded Fred, “But ten dollars is ten dollars.” The pilot overheard the little spat and said, “Folks, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take you both up for a ride, if you promise to not say one word the entire ride. Added to that, if you’re quiet the whole ride I won’t charge you the ten dollars.” Fred and Edna agreed, and up they went. The pilot did every stunt in the book, twice, but never heard a sound out of his passengers. After landing the pilot turned to Fred and said, “By golly, I did everything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn’t.” Fred replied, “Well, I was going to say something when Edna fell out of the plane, but ten dollars is ten dollars!” Discipline; that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
[Ephesians 6: 10-18] Memorial Day, first known as Decoration Day, was established following the American Civil War as a time of national mourning. It was instituted to honor the war dead and to renew ones pledge to an undivided republic. Each and every one of us is at war every day. “…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.” In the Christian life there is also a memorial day, a communion, and a remembrance, which Christ established for the unified body of the church. From the beginning, the church has gathered together in memory of the risen Christ on the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection, sharing in that communion which Jesus said to do in remembrance of Him, until his return. Don’t be declared “missing” following the Judgment Day. Put your armor on! In the name of Jesus, fight a good fight, and maybe one day physical war will be no more.

The Observation Of Others

“Get away from me kid, you bother me!” W.C. Fields didn’t have much use for children. It seems every time Fields was “cooking up” a scheme to fleece someone of their money or property, a young boy would appear looking over his shoulder to learn from the master. Well, that’s how children mostly learn, by observation. The local school district has an annual luncheon for businesses and church congregations honoring and thanking them for the help they provide throughout the year for families in crisis. Oh, by the way, May 6 – 12 is National Family Week. Okay, back to my thought. How did all these people get involved? The school district, and I don’t think we’re unique here, has a very conscientious and concerned social department, that reaches into the community, with love, to find the resources needed to help families out of a crisis that has hindered the learning abilities of their children. For example: food, clothing, utility costs, legal counseling, medical help, and the list goes on and on. The things most of us take for granted could have a huge negative impact on other families. The whole community recognizes the needs and willingly pitches in. Personally, I think it’s the social workers that deserve the pat on the back for caring and loving enough to do what needs to be done to see that every child has the best of chances to learn and prosper. My hat’s off to them for having the courage to ask for help from the community and not turning their back on those less fortunate. I know this could be argued all day long, but when I get the call I know there’s a real need and a child is suffering. I answer the call.
During the minister’s prayer one Sunday morning, there came a loud whistle from one of the back pews. Gary’s mother was horrified! She pinched him into silence. After worship she asked him, “Gary, what made you do such a thing?” Gary answered soberly, “I asked God to teach me to whistle and He just did!”
A grandmother was curious as to whether her granddaughter had learned her colors so decided to test her. She would point out something and ask her what color it was. The girl would always respond with the correct answer. The grandmother was having fun so continued the little game. With some frustration in her voice the little girl said, “Grandma, I think it’s about time you tried to figure out some of these yourself!”
[Psalm 1] Families, and the children thereof, are on a journey of growth, which includes a huge learning curve, not equally achieved by everyone. My children are grown and successful, and if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I’d certainly do things different. I find it hard, sometimes, to keep from using my knowledge to chastise the lack of knowledge in others, not remembering I once was ignorant. So, I’m happy to serve in the background and not on the front lines, but I continue to learn by observation of others. We all learn by observation from birth to death. What are you showing the less fortunate? Giving from a virtuous heart will relieve tension, combat depression, reduce stress, improve blood circulation, invigorate, rejuvenate, generate good will and elevate self esteem. And guess what? This applies not only to the recipient, but the giver also! I see great things happening in our schools. Children are being taught to look out for one another, with love and concern. We need to look over the master’s shoulder, Jesus, to become the examples our children need to observe.