Grabbing The Brass Ring

In the days of the carousel, the outside circle of horses often did not move up and down and therefore were not as enticing by them self. To create some excitement for those riders, they were given the incentive of “grabbing the brass ring”, which when redeemed gave the holder a free ride. There was a dispensing arm, within the reach of horse riders, full of rings, dispensed one at a time, mostly iron and of no value with a few brass rings mixed in. As the carousel turned, riders would snatch a ring, as they passed the wooden arm, hoping a brass ring would be available on the next trip around. A good part of life was like riding a carousel. First we sit in the chairs and just go round and round because we’re too little to do much of anything else. Them we get the nerve up to ride one of the horses that move up and down until that becomes boring. Then we find there’s a brass ring to be obtained and free rides come with a brass ring. So, we start riding the outside circle of horses “grabbing for the brass ring”. It seems throughout my life the guy in front of me always got the brass ring. No matter how I strategize, no matter how hard I’ve worked for it, I find that brass ring to be an elusive little trinket of luck just out of reach. I still have time, so I’m going to keep trying.


On the merry-go-round of life we’re always looking for that reward we don’t have to work very hard for. A modern twist on “grabbing the brass ring” can be found in a recent insurance TV commercial. Two gals spy a purse (looks like a suitcase to me) and without hesitation one of them latches on to it. Magically, she comes in contact with her insurance agent to find out if her rebate rewards, for being a good driver, will cover the cost of her new found accessory. He quotes her a figure; she takes the brass ring offered and redeems it for the new purse. Feeling rejected, her friend calls for her insurance agent, who dangles a dollar bill in front of her on the end of a fishing line. She coyly snatches at the dollar bill whereupon the agent jerks on the pole making her miss the prize. The agent grins and says, “Ooooo; You’ve got to be quicker than that.” And while the world dangles “rings” in front of us to chase all day long, we fail to see the destructive path we are walking. Me-ism has brought about the cultural mind-set of, “to each his own” and “it is what it is” and “what’s right for you is okay” and “it’s my body” and “I’m not hurting anyone”. While we snatch up worthless “iron rings” in hopes that tomorrow we get the “brass ring”, we’re ignoring the influx of artificial non-redeemable “mood rings” being collected and weighing down our righteous society.

[Matthew 13:24-30; Ephesians 5:1-21] “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.” Pornography, alcoholism, drug addiction and you name it, are being sown into society by the enemy to destroy the family and render the Word of God non-redeemable. Individualism, pluralism, secularism, and apathy are rendering American religion impotent, nearly incapable of doing anything about our moral crisis. I dread to think where I would be if I hadn’t been taught right from wrong by my parents. I once imitated the weeds of the field and I dread to think what condition my soul would be in if it were not for a concerned child of God bringing me the “brass ring”, Jesus, and the Good News of salvation into my life. “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Yes, you.

Courageous Conqueror

What is courage? Webster says its bravery; fortitude; spirit. I think of late the world has confused courage with conquer. To conquer is to gain victory over; to defeat; to acquire by conquest; to overcome; to master. Some of the programs on TV of late, and over the past several years, show the amateur filming of some of the stupidest things people do, just so they can say they did it. Most of them end up in the hospital with broken body parts, testifying to what went wrong and looking forward to the day they can try it again. This courageous conquest of the unknown by these dim-witted video stars is world renowned and affects all classes. Surprisingly, among all the drunken carnage, one can find greatness in those who have courageously conquered the ridiculous and in many cases a professional sport has emerged. I ask why and someone says, why not? I’m just not cut out for outrageous courageous conquering greatness.


The Pony Express ran from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, a long 1900 miles. Forty courageous riders would cover the distance in ten days. Everything had to be light in weight. Saddles were small. Mail pouches were flat. No guns were carried. Letters were written on small pieces of paper. Yet, when a rider first signed on, he was given what was considered standard equipment, a full sized Bible and it was taken on every trip. The Bible should always be considered standard equipment to everyone. It is the only book that meets the needs of man under all conditions of life. May I encourage you to carry it, read it, study it and live it. Life will change if you do.

[Hebrews 4:12; Romans 8:35-39; Revelation 3:7-13] An atheist asked a little boy, whom he knew had already had a hard life at home, “I hear your family started going to church.” With a big grin on his face the boy replied, “You bet!” The man asked, “Do you really believe Jesus turned water into wine?” “Oh, yes!” exclaimed the boy. The man tried to belittle the boy and the Bible, and just about the time the man thought he conquered the boy, he looked up at the man, still smiling, with tears in his eyes, and said, “I know Jesus changed a drunk into a father and whiskey into furniture.”

Jimmy Jividen writes: “I have seen a cowboy mount a wild bronco and ride him to a standstill. The bronco would buck, kick, paw and snort trying to throw the rider. It requires a great courage for him to risk life and limb to break a bronco, but that is not the most courageous thing a man can do. If the cowboy makes the ride, he has only conquered an animal. I have seen fighters in a boxing ring pit their skills against other fighters. The punishment a fighter receives sometimes is unmerciful. His flesh might be bruised and his body bleeding, but he ignores the pain and fights on. One might think this is a supreme act of courage, but it is not. The victor has only conquered another man. I have seen a man come before the church with head bowed low and tears of repentance flowing from his eyes. He had been cut to the heart by God’s Word. He had been made to know the misery and consequence of sin. He utters a painful and humbling statement, ‘I have sinned.’ He seeks forgiveness from God and man. It is in this scene one witnesses the supreme act of courage. You see, such a man has conquered himself.” “…For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing …is hidden from God.” Nothing

Invading Forces of Destruction

      I know you’ve seen it on TV, the fellows in a fishing boat motoring up a river and the fish literally jumping into the boat. We laugh at the scene and can only imagine what it would be like to experience the phenomena. Unfortunately, when the truth is known, one is witnessing the near future of an ecological disaster in the making. The fish is an Asian Carp imported by catfish farmers in the 90’s to help control pests in their breading tanks. Like the fire ant, the West Nile mosquito and our newest threat, the Giant African Land Snail, the Asian Carp escaped from its users intended controlled situation, and has been breading in the Mississippi River for nearly twenty years now. The out of control species is currently threatening the Great Lakes Region and its size alone has the potential to destroy fresh water commercial and sport fishing throughout the Northeast. Farm fresh catfish may be the only “catch-of-the-day” available in the future. Major League Baseball may have to take a step backwards in the future. A beetle accidentally imported from Asia in cargo that suspect arrived in Michigan around the turn of the century, dubbed the “Emerald Ash Borer” is killing millions of ash trees in the north-central states. Many MLB players have moved from Maple wood bats to Ash, the Louisville Slugger, (about 48%), but in the future may have to migrate back. Perhaps we might hear the ever increasing “ping” sound of the aluminum bat in the pro ranks some day. The makers of the Louisville Slugger are owners of ash tree forests where they harvest on average 40,000 trees a season to make the popular baseball bat. So far their forests have not been invaded, but the fear is it’s only a matter of time before the ash tree follows the way of the Dutch Elm and the only rendering a generation or two from now will know will be in pictures along with the dinosaur, the soda-jerk, fender-skirts, fins, big hair and poodle-skirts. I’m teary-eyed.


      Did you hear about the man who professed to be a walking economic disaster? When asked what he meant by that he replied, “Well, my hairline is in recession; my stomach is a victim of inflation; and the combination of these factors is putting me in deep depression. Then there was the visiting preacher who conducted a Gospel meeting in an economically depressed area. On the last night of the meeting his hat was passed for donations. When it returned to the preacher, it was empty. He didn’t flinch. He raised the hat to heaven and said, “I thank you Lord, that at least I got my hat back.”

      [2 Peter 2: 20-24] The tree is referenced in the Bible over three hundred times. The tree has played a significant roll in God’s plan of salvation. The tree in the Garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, posed no problem in itself. Adam and Eve were told not to eat the fruit of it and everything would be fine. We know they disobeyed God’s command and sin invaded the world with corruption and destruction to this very day (Genesis 3).The tree, upon which our Lord and Savior hung and died, has brought salvation to man because of total obedience. Jesus gave his innocent life as the sacrifice for the sins of the world and through baptism into His death, burial and resurrection, the believer has forgiveness of their sins. The love of Jesus invaded and completely changed the world. One day everything physical will be destroyed, but the tree of life awaits the obedient believer in our heavenly abode, nevermore to be invaded or corrupted and destroyed. We who are saved will eat of it, with God, forever.

God Is Not Techno

     The information highway has so many avenues, lanes and frequencies we’re lucky the air around us doesn't start crackling with energy and fry all our hair off. Some obvious evidence can already be seen in our male population, who seem to be more susceptible to this particular phobic phenomenon. Cell phones, tablets and laptops have replaced cigarettes and loud conversation everywhere in our society and the verdict is still out on which of these unsocial graces has been the least healthy for the continued development of our species ability to love and understand one another. People are emailing, texting, sharing, liking, tweeting and talking faster than the speed of light as they rush from task to task throughout their daily life only to realize for a split second it’s already the middle of July and over half the year has passed by. It really is no surprise to me that drugs and alcohol are the choice of escape for those who can’t seem to cope with the magnitude of today’s fast-pace complicated life. I’m doing my best, but sometimes I think, “Stop the World - I Want to Get Off”, also the title of a little known 1961 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Set against the backdrop of a circus, it focuses on Littlechap, whose first major step towards improving his lot is to marry Evie, his boss's daughter, after getting her pregnant out of wedlock. Saddled with the responsibilities of a family, he allows his growing dissatisfaction with his existence to lead him into the arms of various women. As he searches for something better than he has, only to realize in the twilight of his life what he always had, the love of his wife was more than enough to sustain him. (Wikipedia) I have always found running my own life was enough of a struggle.

[Psalm 121; James 5:13-20] Prayer is a local call to heaven; no charge; no hidden fees; no taxes; no monthly bill. Can you imagine what it would be like if God got so busy tending to other things rather than His creation, that he found it necessary to installed Voice Mail? Just think; right after you start praying you hear this: “Thank-you for calling Heaven. For English think 1. For Spanish think 2. For all other languages think 3. Please select one of the following options: Think 1 for request; Think 2 for thanksgiving; Think 3 for complaints; Think 4 for all others.” Some silence and a few clicks later: “I’m sorry; all our angles are busy helping other sinners right now. However, your prayer is important to us and we will answer it in the order it was received. Please stay on the line.” A hymn or two later: “The office is now closed for the weekend to observe a religious holiday. If you are calling after hours and need emergency assistance, please contact the leadership of a local congregation representing heaven on earth. Thank-you, and have a heavenly day.” I thank my God that he isn’t always thinking up some new plan for me to contact him in a “more intimate way” getting me to join some new and improved media with more toolbar buttons for more options of getting more out of and using God in ways more convenient and suitable to my lifestyle. No, God has given each and every one of us the opportunity of a personal close relationship with Him through his son, Jesus Christ. There are no options. A little boy prayed for God to take care of his mommy and daddy; his brother and sister; his doggy and himself. Then he added: “And take care of yourself, God. If anything happens to you, we’re going to be in a big mess.” Amen!

Saved and Forgiven

      Most of the week I run around like a head with its chicken cut off, with too many irons in the fire, red hot and ready to go, only to discover I’ve gotten the cart before the horse, so I drop those projects, just for a moment, while I run off to put out a fire I had forgotten about. Have you been there? Some of the time when I get there, I’ve forgotten why I went there in the first place, but I always find something to do while standing there trying to remember why I was there. That’s when I get side-tracked, remembering and restarting what I got side-tracked from about an hour ago. Eventually I get back to the irons in the fire and decide they have to be used now, but then I remember why I went for what I needed, the cattle, only to find myself standing in the pasture not remembering why I went there, then getting side-tracked, again. Everything eventually gets completed, not necessarily in the planned order of priority, and the week comes together satisfactorily on Friday afternoon. All seems to go quite normal except when the computer crashes and demands a reboot because I have too many programs running at the same time. Or, the electricity decides to momentarily blink off then on, a span of two and one half nano-seconds, resulting in the loss of valuable computer entries not saved over the past twenty minutes, my bad. When I figure I couldn’t possibly get any busier, the phone decides to start ringing off the hook. “Hello; Hello? …No, sorry, this isn’t Churches Fried Chicken!” I love my job.


      A family moved into a new neighborhood and the man and woman of the house decided they needed a night out away from the children. A sitter was hired from a local professional service, which turned out to be a very nice young college student earning some extra money. All was well until bed-time. One of the boys kept sneaking out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and the sitter had to keep chasing him back. Soon the doorbell rang. “Is my son here?” asked the neighbor. The sitter replied, “NO!” A small voice from the top of the stairs said, “I’m here, mom. He won’t let me go home!”

      [Luke 18: 9-14] There was a young preacher who was very confident that his sermon was going to be great. He had all kinds of, somewhat arrogant, confidence in his own ability to preach a dynamic and forceful sermon. As he got up to the pulpit, grabbing the sides of the podium, he opened his mouth to begin his sermon, but he couldn’t say a word. Nothing would come out of his mouth. He tried again, but he couldn’t get a word to come out. Finally, after several attempts, he hung his head, very much humbled, and sat down. A wise older gentleman was overheard saying to his pew-mate, “If he’d have gone up there like he came down, he’d have come down the way he went up there.” Ooooo, I’ve been slapped down humbled by my God several times. I used to have to be the loudest, the most knowledgeable, the first one there and the last one to leave. I still get loud and want to tell it all, but not to be the center of attention any longer. I know someone out there is going to say, “You’re still that way!” and all I’ve got to say is, you haven’t known me very long. I still have attitude, but my Lord has been working on me through His Word and what I would like to say sometimes, just doesn’t come out anymore. Cold crow and humble pie are not my favorite dishes and that’s what gets served up on the roadway outside of God’s Kingdom. Physically, I’m forgetful and humbled. Spiritually, I’m humbled and forgetful. Yet, I’m saved and forgiven.