Category: devotional

Whether we want to admit it or not commercials do affect us.  They are pervasive.  A sixty minute football game can easily go three hours.  That is twice as much time being bombarded with commercials as the amount of time we actually watch the game.  A few of the ads are actually fun to watch while others make us wonder.  One of the wonder ones right now is “Love is what makes a Subaru a Subaru.”   Really?  I’m not sure I know what that means.  Was it constructed by workers who loved their jobs?  Or do they love us for buying one?  Or will those who buy one be demonstrating their love somehow?
 
I wish we had the money and creativity to so promote something about love that is really true.  It would be wonderful to replace most of the car and beer commercials with   “Love is what made Jesus our Savior.”  Now that I understand.   Actually I’m not sure that I do.  The thought of the creator God of the universe becoming one of us and submitting Himself to the cross is beyond my comprehension.  God’s commitment to us will be our study for an eternity.  We will all earn PhDs in God’s love.  What a joy it will be to research and write not one but hundreds of dissertations.  Making oral presentations to committees of professors from universities all over space really will take us where no man has gone before.

We really can’t miss this.  We must treasure what God did and accept His gift.  We will travel everywhere sharing the Good News and we will not be going in a Subaru no matter how much the Subaru manufactures wish it were so.

It’s that time again.  Amazingly so.  An entire year has passed since we last asked for contributions to Spring of Life Ministry.  Our promise is we will only ask once a year and of course we do it now while people are getting their finances in order for the taxman.
 
Once again this year we wrote 240 devotionals resulting in 72,000 words.  That’s 72,000 words with only one goal – to tell as many people as possible how much Jesus loves them. What an amazing task God has given us!  He made the incredible gift of His Son for us and then quested us to tell the world.  We are so close to fulfilling the Gospel Commission.  Modern technology has given us a voice beyond our dreams.  Any place in the world can now hear the wonders of Jesus.  And so we use technology everyday as the Holy Spirit guides us.  We are hungry for Jesus to return.  We are so close now.
 
In the meantime together we are actively using Spring of Life to improve the lives of people in need.  We are able to supply tuition, medical supplies, food and shelter to an interesting array of people.  Thank you so much for making this possible.  Your generous gifts provide us with the resources to seek out and aid very grateful people.  It is very rewarding to be a positive part of others’ lives.  I pray that the devotionals are a positive blessing for you and I thank you for your care, love and concern.

If Freud is correct and my adult actions are the fruit of my childhood, then there is good reason why on Thursdays I am the neighborhood trash man.  Our trash goes on Thursday mornings and on my daily walk with Jazz I pick up the week’s accumulation of miscellaneous things piggy people toss out their car windows – Dunkin Donut coffee cups, beer cans, water bottles, etc.  I drop them into people’s trash containers while still at the curb.  The Freudian connection is when I was really little and lived in the city, once a week a man would come by with a horse and wagon calling out, “Trash, Clothes, Cans, etc.”  His horse was wonderful and I wanted one.  So whenever I was asked what I wanted to be I always replied that I wanted to be a trash man.  That way I could have my very own horse. I never did own a horse but I can still be a trash man.
 
One doesn’t have to be a Freudian scholar to understand the inherent truth regarding childhood’s influence on adulthood.   We are the product of many things but the main ingredient is what we learned in our formative years.  Little ears and little eyes are watching and absorbing – especially the attitudes and ideas expressed by mom and dad.  Sometimes the role models can be so bad children determine not to be like that.  But we shouldn’t hope for that to happen.  Over 75% of children ultimately adopt the value system and behavior patterns of mom and dad.  Children don’t say with it words or flowers but they do want to be like and will be like their parents.  Then of course there is the role model of our heavenly Father.  He’s the ultimate role model.

I was sitting in Applebee’s with my wife reading my email on my phone.   I wasn’t offending her because she was scrolling through Facebook on her phone.  I thought this is stupid.  This was an opportunity for quality time conversation with the person I love most.  Were we doing this because after 50 plus years of marriage we have run out of things to talk about?   Then I looked about and saw both people at the table next to us texting.  And I noticed the couple two tables away doing the same.  One might assume it must be more interesting to talk to people you are not with.
 
I also have a Bible program on my phone so I don’t have to carry my Bible to church.  However, while using it during a sermon I suddenly got an electronic text from someone on the other side of the church chastising me for not paying attention.
 
Actually texting isn’t as new as we might think.  Three thousand five hundred years ago God texted Moses and God has been texting us ever since.  Our Bibles are God’s text to us.  As old as the Bible is, the miracle of it is, it is still relevant.  The inherent principles are eternal.  It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.  That comes from Paul’s texting to a young pastor named Timothy.  In Hebrews 1 Paul wrote that God has communicated with us in various times and various ways.  For us the text is the Good News.  You will never ever get a more important text than the one from our Father assuring us that we are extremely loved.

P. S. Once again I carry my Bible to church.

I have a friend who speaks abbreviated English.  When we hang up the phone he says, “God bless.”  When we part from an actual face to face meeting he says, “Take care.”  God bless what?  Me? My wife? My dog?  Take care of what? Myself? My wife?  My credit card?  Language is a strange animal.  Never say we don’t believe in evolution.  Language is constantly evolving.  Most sales clerks (store associates) now say, “Have a good one.”  A good what?
 
Years ago the word “caretaker” was used for anyone in a position of responsibility for almost anything or anyone.  Now “caretaker” is only attached to inanimate things.  If one is responsible for something alive they have become a “caregiver” which I like.  There is huge difference between “taking” and “giving.” It most likely evolved because “caregivers” did not appreciate being called “takers.”
 
By present day usage God is both “caretaker” and “caregiver.”   He is our “caregiver” and our planet’s “caretaker.” Adam and Eve were “caretakers” of the Garden and “caregivers” for babies Cain and Abel.  If alive today David would write, “The Lord is my caregiver. He leads me to the supermarket and safely down the valley of the interstate.”
 
Actually I don’t care much what words we use.  I do care about and am so thankful that He cares.  He cares about all our daily needs, problems and challenges. If not a bird falls from the sky unnoticed by Him just imagine how He feels about our risings and fallings.  He is our Father and it’s a great family to be a part of.  Enjoy every moment of it.
 
“Take care” “God bless” and “Have a good one.”

We took our walk this evening after sundown and darkness had settled in for the night. This is a great time of the year.  Many of our neighbors have already decorated their homes for the holidays with a vast array of lights.  We do not have street lights so the homes are extra beautiful with no competing light.  One house has brightly lit angels in the yard.
 
As we walked along I thought of a passage in II Chronicles 3 talking about Solomon decorating the home He built for the Lord.  “He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. He also overlaid the house—the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors—with gold; and he carved cherubim on the walls.”
 
The luminosity in our neighborhood is beautiful.  I also thought of something Paul wrote to Timothy about decorating our lives.  Instead of lots of external gold he counseled us to decorate our lives with good works and modesty.  Just think about how beautiful people are that are kind and unselfish.  In college one of the guys had a large purple birthmark on his face.  One year at Thanksgiving he announced that he was having it removed.  We were dumbfounded.  He was so kind and so Christ-like we saw no need for him to do that.  We thought he was handsome because of the kind of person he was.  We ceased to see the birthmark because he was so decorated with good works.  He was a quality person.
 
This is the season for decorating.  This is the season to be thankful, generous, forgiving and kind.  This is the season to be beautiful.

Part of taking my dog for a walk each day is giving her a chance to socialize.  In just a mile she gets to visit with Peanut, Bailey, Cora, Sebastian, and Annie.  There is a lot of sniffing that goes on as greetings are exchanged. Then there are others that bark at us from the confines of their homes as we pass by.  There are at least four of them.  We don’t know their names.  Just last week a new player arrived on the social scene.  His name is Bruno.  Believe me when I tell you that Bruno is big.  Until now she has been the Big Dog.  No longer is this so.  Up until now she has played the big “I’ll take care you” role.  She keeps between me and the others making sure I am safe.  But since Bruno has arrived she makes sure she is behind me.  Suddenly I am the “You’ll take care of me.”   She doesn’t even put up her ruff.  She does her best to hide.
 
How thankful I am that God is a bit more faithful as my shield and protector.   David wrote, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  Psalm 18.  Paul wrote, “If God be for us who can be against us?”  Romans 8.  Unfortunately bad things do happen to God’s children.  Fortunately they are only temporary and God has the final say.  If there are any adjustments to be made He will more than make up what will be needed.  So don’t be afraid of the Brunos of this world.  The REALLY BIG DOG is on our side.

I’m feeling very smug this evening.  We just drove by our supermarket and because it is Thanksgiving Eve the place is packed.  There are people driving around the parking lot looking for a spot.  I can only imagine what it is like in the store.  The reason for my smugness is we went at 8 a.m. and had the store to ourselves; one of the perks of being old and almost retired.
 
Don’t you just hate smug people?  I do.  Therefore, I should be experiencing self-loathing.  But I’m not.  Smugness isn’t nearly as offensive to me when it is I who is the smug one.  So let me be very offensive to the rest of you who had to be at work this morning and were not able to go early to the grocery store.  Here goes.  My church is better than your church because Jesus loves my church more than He loves yours.  We are going to heaven for sure and maybe you will get there.  It depends on just how merciful God is.  You see we had the “Truth” and you didn’t and that makes a huge difference.  And even if you get there we will have bigger and better mansions than you.  You will be on the other side of the tracks.
 
There.  Have I offended you?  As foolish as all of that was, it reflects how we sometimes act even if we give lip service to not being that way.  I have had people knock on my door and tell me my baptism wasn’t any good because an elder from their church didn’t perform it.  Wow.  Talk about smug!
 
I know Jesus loves smug people.  But He despises their smugness and saves them despite it.

When I was a small boy a man with a large grinding wheel came down our street.  The wheel was on a wheelbarrow kind of pushcart with a treadle.  His voice was loud and clear as he called out for us to bring him our dull knives. My mother hurried from the kitchen with two knives and a dime.  It was wonderful to watch as sparks sprayed over his leather apron.  I had never seen anything like this before and long after he had gone I thought how wonderful it would be to have such a job. I imagined the joy of honing knives to a keen edge as I made fireworks for the neighborhood children.
 
In a way I used to imagine being a preacher was a similar task.  One could thunder in a pulpit producing light to hone the spiritual lives of the saints.  I probably started off that way.  But as the years passed by I learned to value the still small voice that moved across a congregation honing in a non-thunderous way.  I learned the quieter the congregation the more they were listening.  One does little pondering while making noise.
 
Perhaps the best moments producing the keenest edge to our spiritual intellect come not from gatherings of the masses but those one on one encounters with Jesus.  I have come to appreciate the words to the hymn, “I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear falling on my ear the Son of God discloses.  And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own.  And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known.”

November 24, 2015
Top Ten Reasons to Go to Heaven
 
When David Letterman retired new top ten lists ceased to be.  We cannot let them totally disappear so I feel the need to write a top ten list of reasons for going to heaven.
 
1.     Your dog will not die.
 
2.     Your cat will not destroy your couch.
 
3.     Leftovers in the fridge will not turn green.
 
4.     Hair will not stop growing on top of your head and start coming out your ears.
 
5.     No one will have bad breath.
 
6.     Dandelions will only grow in dandelion gardens.
 
7.     Spider webs will be cherished works of art.
 
8.     No medicine chests in the bathrooms.
 
9.     One’s spouse will never misunderstand you because she/he misheard you.
 
10. We get to live forever.
 
What a grand place it will be.  Thank you Jesus.