Four Quarters Of Life

There are certainly plenty of things to complain about lately and it seems there’s a never ending list of inconveniences piling up to discourage and depress even the most cheerful of people. My half full glass has become half empty and I find myself scrambling to ensure I find a way to keep it half full all the time. Yes, it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain my optimistic outlook on the future with the price of gas going up every day and the continued forecast of no rain. Transportation has become a premium ticket. Airlines have cut back flights to conserve on fuel and fill their aircraft to capacity in an attempt to lower per passenger overhead costs. Freight shipping costs have gone through the roof while sales in all areas have dropped. Then reflecting on a statement I heard the other morning while drinking coffee, I’m sort of willing to accept the theory, it’s just another cycle of the world that we’re all going to have to endure knowing that everything will even out and we’ll move on. Just think; one day we’ll be the generation that remembers the good old days and our great-grand-children won’t believe a word, because they’ll be growing up in a totally different world than today.
I’ve researched the cycles of life and no matter what happens in the world during ones lifespan, man will experience four quarters of life. With tongue in cheek, here’s what my research has brought to light. God created the dog and said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this I will give you a lifespan of twenty years.” The dog said, “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years, and I’ll give you back ten.” God agreed. Then God created the monkey and said to it, “Entertain people, do tricks and make them laugh. For this I will give you a twenty-year lifespan.” The monkey protested, “Monkey tricks for twenty years!? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about ten years and I’ll give you back ten like the dog did.” God agreed. God created the cow and said to it, “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmers family. For this I will give you a lifespan of sixty years.” Calmly the cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty, and I’ll give back forty?” God agreed. God created man and said to him, “Eat, sleep, play, be marry and enjoy life. For this I’ll give you a twenty-year lifespan.” But man said, “Only twenty years!? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty cow gave back, the ten monkey declined and the ten dog didn’t want; that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay”, said God, “You asked for it.” So that’s why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves; the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our families; then for the next ten years we do monkey tricks entertaining our grandchildren and the final ten years we sit on the front porch barking at everyone.
[Mark 8: 34-37] One thing is for certain in this life, it will end one day. We came into this world with nothing and we’ll leave the same way. But, only a sinless spirit will enter into everlasting life, to be with God forever. The unprepared, lost spirit, will enter into everlasting torment, the second death. I keep my glass half full with the knowledge that God is still sitting on His throne, and everything is under His control. The four quarters of life pass quickly. Are you ready to leave this world and face your creator?

My Grace Is Sufficient

While filling my gas tank the other day I had a flash-back to 1970 when I was in the Air Force stationed at Randolph AFB. I was also working part time at the base gas station pumping gas costing as little as fourteen cents a gallon during some of the gas wars at the time. Maybe you don’t know what a gas war was. Gasoline used to be so cheap and gas stations were so plentiful, that station owners would drop the price of fuel just to get more business at their location. Then everyone in the area would have to drop their prices to get their normal business back again. Well, you couldn’t get ten dollars worth of gas in the biggest of the biggest cars back then. This fill-up just cost me sixty dollars for fifteen gallons of gas. Of course my foremost thought is, “I hope somebody chokes on every penny of profit from this sale!” Well, I guess I feel just like everyone else. I’m being fleeced of every nickel I’ve got and I’m really becoming concerned as to what the future holds. I hope the last car running is a classic, with big fins.
A sales clerk went to the manager with a problem. “How”, he asked, “can I stop women customers from complaining about our prices and talking about the low prices of the good old days?” “Very easy”, replied the manager. “Act surprised and tell them you didn’t think they were old enough to remember them.”
There once was a man who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed he had only three hairs on his head. “Well”, he said, “I think I’ll comb my hair to the left today.” So he did, and he had a wonderful day. The next day he woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that he had only two hairs on the top of his head. “Hmmm”, he said. “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So he did, and had a great day. The next day he woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw he had only one hair on his head. “Well”, he said, “Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” He did, and had a grand day. The next day he woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed he didn’t have a single hair left on his head. “Yea!” he exclaimed. “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”
[Psalm 37: 25] David wrote, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” So, who is righteous? First of all, God is righteous. (Psalm 145:17) All that God does is good and is pleasing to man. Of course man doesn’t always think so. Noah was a righteous man. (Genesis 6: 8-9) He was blameless among the people and he walked with God. Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) To be looked upon as a righteous person in the eyes of God, I must be blameless among my peers and all that I do must be pleasing to God. Am I always pleasing to God in all that I do every day? I’d be a liar if I said yes. But, like Abram, I believe the promises of God and the greatest of them, to me, is that He will forgive me of my sins. I also believe that God will never forsake me no matter how bad I think things are in this life. As I continue to walk daily with God I’m learning that righteousness has a lot to do with attitude. Although the man saw he was losing his hair day by day, he didn’t allow the situation ruin his day, and as we all know, a bad frame of mind can ruin a perfectly good day for everybody around us. Paul said he learned the secret of being content in any situation. God gave him the strength to carry on. (Philippians 4:11-13) A righteous attitude is found in God’s grace. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)

The Debt Is Paid

While in the doctor’s waiting room I was browsing a May 26th issue of Newsweek and began reading about the China earthquake. Unlike the reaction of the Burmese government leaders amidst their national weather disaster, the Chinese leaders poured rescue troops into the effected areas within hours of their disaster. Help and aide from throughout China in the form of personal contributions was so great the leaders of local governments asked that no more be sent for a period of time for they had no place to store it all. When victims were interviewed by reporters, although very distraught now living with death and destruction all around, they seemed to be very well informed about their situation and what they could expect to happen over the next few weeks. When asked what has given them the most hope for recovery so far, they overwhelmingly answered the immediate visit of the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao. Their leader had come to see for himself and made discussions on the spot as to what must be done for the survivors. The philosophy of the Chinese Department For Public Communication is simple and straight forward. “Tell the truth; Tell it fast; Tell it first” The natural disaster forced the Chinese people and government to mobilize and pay a debt they don’t owe to their fellow-countrymen, who now need to rebuild their shattered lives.
I always promise to not get political in this column, but sometime it can’t be helped. As I read I couldn’t help but think about Memorial Day and our honoring of the war dead who served this country, paying the debt of freedom with their life. I also couldn’t help but think about all those who have survived, only to return to a devastated home buried in debt, unemployment and perhaps having been maimed or crippled for life, who find themselves without the guidance of their leaders who sent them to war in the first place. Something is definitely wrong when it takes private contributions to build housing for families trying to recover from the personal devastations inflicted by serving their country. Our love for one another is outstanding, but where are our leaders? Veterans are asking questions and receiving no answers. Why? That’s all I’ve got to say about that.
A six-year-old boy was asked where his grandmother lived. “Oh”, he said, “She lives at the airport and when we want her we just go get her. Then when we’re done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”
[Hebrews 10: 9-10] We live in a world of devastating sin, that is, disobedience toward God’s will for man. Greed, selfishness, murder, sexual immorality, stealing, lying and cheating are just some of the things that destroy our lives. Sin separates us from the love and blessings of God. God demands a blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin, but the sacrifice of bulls and goats did not satisfy this requirement. Jesus, the Word of God, stepped forward as a man and willingly sacrificed his sinless body, one man for all men, shedding his blood which covered all sins ...past, present and future. Jesus came to our rescue in the midst of our sin sick devastation. We have received from God guidance for rebuilding our lives and our relationship with Him. In Jesus, we have truth and hope for everlasting life with our Father in heaven. “He paid a debt He did not owe; I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone, to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song – Amazing Grace; Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.”

We Owe Her Our Life

It never ceases to amaze me how the chapters of this novel called “Life”, can end in sorrow and the fear of uncertainty, yet a new chapter begin with renewed faith and hope. Sounds proverbial, doesn’t it? Yeh, well, all I want to say is my spirit is always lifted after one door is seemingly slammed shut, by another door opening into an even bigger room than the one before. The challenge is always to fill the bigger room with the good things of ones life, working harder than ever before developing character worthy of the move forward. As noted a few weeks back, one of our local newspapers closed its doors after 100+ years, leaving my column out in the cold and its readers in limbo. I want to acknowledge the Wilson County News and especially editor Elaine Kolodziej, thanking her for taking a chance on me and finding space for this column. I hope to fulfill her expectations and look forward to being a part of WCN for a long time to come.
I’d like to take a little time to write about mothers. We’ve all got one, but I guess you knew that already. If we were to examine the pages of her life, we would probably find little dried out memorabilia’s pressed flat between pages. We’ll most likely find a few stain-wrinkled pages here and there, that had at one time, been tear soaked. As her life was transcribed in beautiful elegant script, I know we’d find short hand-written annotations in the margin of most pages, noting precious one time moments in her life, that seemed to have flashed by everyone else unnoticed, but meant so much to her. We’d find she spent much time in prayer for the safety of her children and her home. She also prayed for the guidance and wisdom of her spouse. It has been said, ”...the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”. We have had the greatest impact on our mother’s life and she has also had the greatest impact on our life. Pray for your mom. She loves you.
While waiting in the checkout line at the supermarket, a young man noticed an elderly woman struggling to get her purchases into a net shopping bag. He offered to help and even chatted with her as he repacked her groceries. Just as he was about to return to his place in line, she took the young man’s hand in hers and said with a warm smile, “My compliments to your mother”.
Isn’t it strange how we elevate careers and lower the skilled professionalism of homemaking to the commonplace? Think of how many skills a mother must possess to carry out her duties. There’s teaching, interior decorating, cooking, dietetics, hygiene, psychology, social relations development, clothing, household equipment and so much more. Mothers ask for so little in return, yet we take them for granted most of the time.
[1 Peter 3: 1-7] Not much is said about mothers and motherhood in God’s word which tends to make me believe that God has a special place in his heart for mothers. I mean how do you explain some of the supernatural instincts women acquire at childbirth? Mothers can hear the faintest whimper of a child two rooms away over the snores of the man lying next to her. There’s no instruction book delivered with a newborn, yet the bond is unmistaken from first sight to the grave. It may not seem fair that women have to go through the pains of childbirth, but they get to share with God and the Holy Spirit in the final act of creation – giving life to their children. Let us always be thankful for our mothers and what they have done. We do owe them our life.

Spiritual Insurgents

In the movie “A Christmas Story”, the one made not too many years ago, about this kid, Ralph, who wants a B-B-Gun for Christmas and everybody warns him, “You’ll shot your eye out”, there’s this bully always picking on someone. I have no idea what the meaning behind “say uncle” came from, but even I can remember while in grade school, the bullies wouldn’t turn you loose until you cried “uncle”. I also remember how humiliating it felt to go through those kinds of torment from time to time. Eventually, Ralph had his fill of being picked on every time he encountered this bully, and in a fit of rage, lashed out with all his might, tackling the bully to the ground, his fists wildly swinging, landing blows to his adversary’s body, while cussing up a storm as tears flowed from his eyes. Have you ever wanted to go out into the back yard, look up to heaven, with your hands raised, doubled-up into a fist and scream “UNCLE!”? Spiritually, that’s where I’m at right now. The things I want in this life, I can’t seem to obtain lately, but the things I don’t need or want in my life just seem to be flowing in like water. I know I’m not alone in this battle and I know I’m not the only one who handles these situations poorly. If only I could tackle the devil and beat on him a while I’d feel better, but all I seem to do is shoot myself in the foot by lashing out improperly.
A visiting minister was very long-winded. Worse yet, every time he would make a good point during his sermon and a member of the congregation responded with “Amen” or “That’s right, preacher”, he would get wound up even more and launch into another lengthy discourse. Finally, the local preacher started responding to every few sentences with “Amen, Pharaoh!” The guest speaker wasn’t sure what that meant, but after a few more “Amen, Pharaoh’s” he finally concluded his very lengthy sermon. After the service concluded and the congregation had left, the visiting minister turned to the local preacher and asked, “What exactly was the meaning of your ‘Amen, Pharaoh’s’ during my lesson?” The local preacher replied, “I was asking you to let my people go!”
[1 Peter 5: 6-10] “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” We hear a lot about “insurgencies” lately, concerning our military troops in places like Afghanistan and Iraq; that is: hostile rebels seeking to disrupt our efforts to spread freedom in what ever way we can. The planting of roadside bombs, suicide bombings and sniper attacks are just a few of the many methods employed by those seeking to destroy our forces. Soldiers and innocent civilians alike are either injured or killed by the thousands in such attacks. As a soldier of Christ, the threat of insurgency is just as real. Spiritual insurgents are heavily armed and are ready to attack on every front. Their weapons of mass destruction include lust and greed and pride. (1 John 2: 15-17) Thousands have been taken captive and millions have been destroyed. Evil spirits will tactfully and successfully infiltrate the unguarded heart of the Christian soldier. I wear my armor (Ephesians 6: 10-12), but I still allow myself to become a victim of spiritual insurgency. But, one thing I know for sure, if I stand firm in my faith, God will restore me and make me stronger than before. I will press on toward the goal of His promise.