Day 14

 

The UFO

 

The King said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground."

 

1 Samuel 28:13

 

 

We stared up into the night sky and there it was , a UFO. I say it was a UFO because it was an object, it was flying and we couldn't identify it. It wasn't swamp gas, we weren't in a swamp but camping near a river. It wasn't a weather balloon because it was shaped like a saucer. It wasn't lights on an airplane or a blimp because it didn't have any lights. It was a saucer shaped thing that hovered above our heads and there was a whistling sound emanating from it.

 

It was actually the sound that first attracted us. There were four of us guys on a canoe trip out gathering some firewood after dark. We were walking along, our way lit by an old flashlight that only worked if you shook it and held it just right, when we heard the whistling sound above us. We looked up and there a saucer was hovering overhead. We weren't sure how big it was or high it was above us because the flash light only worked a few seconds at a time and there was nothing to give us perspective. We stared at it for the longest time but it never moved so eventually we went back to collecting firewood. We went to sleep that night wondering what it could possibly be.

 

The next morning it was still there. It was still hovering, making that sound. Actually it wasn't hovering, it was hanging. It was a saucer shaped metal reflector hanging from a power line. The sound came from the wind passing through holes in the rim of the saucer. I guess it was  hung from the power line so that any small airplane that might try to fly low over the river could more easily see the power line.

 

Your eyes can deceive you. None of us thought aliens had come to earth just to observe our canoe trip but that night we had no idea what it was. At night it looked eerie and creepy but in the light of day it was harmless.

 

In 1 Samuel 28 King Saul goes to consult a medium known as the witch of Endor. Being involved in the occult was strictly forbidden in Jewish law but Saul ignored that because he was afraid of a Philistine army he was facing. He tried to get direction from God but received no help. He could have repented of his sins and pleaded with God for direction but instead he turned to this witch  and asked that she bring up the ghost of the prophet Samuel for him to talk to.

 

So the witch of Endor does her thing and she sees a spirit rising up out of the ground. Saul asks her, "What does he look like?"

 

She tells him, "An old man wearing a robe."

 

Saul knows (or perhaps just believes) it is Samuel and asks the apparition what he should do.

 

What is going on here? Was it really Samuel and could this witch actually be in contact with the dead? I believe the answer to that is not good for either Saul or the witch.

 

First of all she see "an old man wearing a robe." That could be a description of some old dude in a nursing home, not necessarily Samuel. Secondly, I don't care if this lady was the witch of Endor or the Wicked Witch of the West, she doesn't have the authority to summon up one of God's saints from the dead. Of course God could have sent Samuel to deliver a message and the witch, being a complete phony, would have been as shocked and scared as Saul.

 

So, if she is not a complete fraud, what can this witchy woman do? She can be in touch with Satan and be his willing or unwitting accomplice. And Satan can provide her with a demon that looks enough like Samuel to terrify an already scared Saul. As for the prediction of the future the apparition makes it is something that any astute observer of the times could have come up with. The prediction was that Saul would lose his kingdom to someone else, which a lot of people (particularly those who followed David) already knew. Also it was predicted Saul would lose his battle with the Philistines. That didn't require any great insight because Saul, the Israelite commander, was going to start the battle terrified. He was bound to lose.

 

Sometimes what we see, or think we see, is not what is really there. You might see the ghost of your granny, the Blair Witch, Harvey the giant rabbit or a UFO, but that doesn't mean that is what is really there.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Samuel 28:3-25

 

• What had Saul done with the mediums and spiritists?
• Did Saul's actions show that he knew consulting a medium was wrong?
• What kind of emotional shape was Saul in before he saw the medium? (v.5)
• What kind of emotional shape was Saul in after he saw the medium? (v. 20)
• Did Saul gain anything by talking to the medium? 

The Christmas Etiquette Test

 

This is a little break from The Random Driven Life in favor of a Christmas Etiquette Test that I wrote years ago when I was a youth minister for the kids at Rice Temple Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.

1. Your cousins give you underwear for the 4th year in a row. You should say:
 a.) Just how many people know my underwear size?
 b.) I'm sure they will go well with everything I wear.
 c.) Is this a hint or what?
 d.) What a kind and thoughtful gift.

2. Your grandfather says, "Back in the Depression we were given fresh fruit as a Christmas gift and we were grateful." You should say:
 a.) Then I guess you want complain about the banana I gave you.
 b.) Tell me Grandpa, do you wrap grapes by the bunch or individually?
 c.) If you want fruit, you can have the Fruit of the Looms my cousins gave me.
 d.) What a kind and thoughtful gift.

3. Your Great Aunt makes you some Christmas Fig Fudge Ripple Cookies. She insists that you try them while she is there. You should say:
 a.) Has there been a FDA ruling on these cookies?
 b.) You know this and that underwear my cousins gave me is what Christmas is all about.
 c.) Looks like I'll be putting that new underwear to the test.
 d.) What a kind and thoughtful gift.

4. Your Great Aunt says, "My you have grown." You should say:
 a.) No, I believe you've shrunk.
 b.) That's because I've avoided eating those cookies you give me.
 c.) I sure have! It's a good thing my cousins gave me some new underwear.
 d.) What a kind and thoughtful thing to say.

5. You are unwrapping Christmas gifts and your Grandmother says, "Save the paper." You should say:
 a.) Think of the naked presents in Ethiopia.
 b.) Save the paper, save the whales, it's so hard to keep your priorities straight.
 c.) You know, I think this is the same paper my underwear was wrapped in last year.
 d.) What a kind and thoughtful thing to do.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you and your family have a kind and thoughtful Christmas! 

Day 13

 

Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Worse

 

 

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

 

 

Hebrews 13:8

 

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong? You have plans and you envision certain things happening and somehow you are sent down some alternative path that takes bizarre twists and turns you could never imagine.

 

It was Saturday  and I needed to get my car inspected. It was already past due and I didn't want to risk being caught with an expired inspection sticker. Normally the odds of being pulled over in a big city for a late inspection sticker are pretty slim, but I had a date that night which meant I had to drive through a little incorporated village that the city of Houston had surrounded. That little village had a police force that was known for pulling over young men with long hair, which was exactly what I was.

 

The place I usually got my car inspected was closed, so I went to the local mall where there was a Montgomery Ward with an automotive department. My plan was to get my car inspected in the morning, come home for an afternoon off and then go to my girlfriend's for our date. That was the plan but that was not what happened.

 

I got to Montgomery Ward not long after it opened and asked to get my car inspected and they informed me that there was a few cars ahead of me so it would be about an hour. Hanging around the mall for an hour was not problem, so I went window shopping for an hour and came back.

 

I was told that they hadn't got to my car yet, so I settled down in their waiting room and began to watch a Marx Brothers movie on TV. I checked on the car periodically and they kept saying, "a little longer."

 

I was young and had long hair and it wasn't the first time I thought I was being treated unfairly because of my appearance. I waited patiently, watched the whole Marx Brothers movie, had lunch and waited some more.

 

After 6 hours they finally got to my car. I watched them inspect it and though everything was fine. However, I was told my car hadn't passed inspection because a rear tail light did not come on. They offered to fix it for me and charge me for it and then my car would pass inspection. I opened my trunk and found that the light had somehow come unplugged (perhaps their doing, I don't know). I plugged it in and said, "Now it works. Can I get my inspection sticker?"

 

"No," the guy said. I didn't work when I inspected it, so you don't pass. That will be $6.00"

 

I went ballistic. You mean to tell me you are going to charge me $6.00 when I waited here 6 hours to get my car inspected and you flunked it even though there is nothing wrong?"

 

"Yes," he said. "That will be $6.00."

 

"No way," I told him. "There is no way I am ever going to pay you a penny." I grabbed my keys, jumped in the car and left. I never shopped at Montgomery Ward again, and it is probably the loss of my business that made them go bankrupt.

 

When I got home I was boiling over mad and had just enough time to get cleaned up and head for my girlfriend's. I walked in the door and my mom asked, "Where have you been all day?"

 

It was an innocent enough question, but it was the wrong question. I slammed the kitchen counter so hard with my fist that a glass jumped off and shattered on the floor. I lost the feeling in a couple of my fingers for a few days. I took a shower, got dressed and cautiously headed for my girlfriend's. I thought at least the day would end all right.

 

I got to my girlfriend's house and rang the doorbell. She opened the door and started crying. "My parents wont let me see my best friend anymore. They say she is a bad influence. My parents hate her!"

 

I was being tortured as she cried on my shoulder. I had my own reasons for not liking the girl. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it had.

 

We all have days like that. There are times when it is hard to believe that things could go so wrong. The good news is that, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." He is our constant companion through the good and the bad and for all eternity. He will always be the same loving, caring Savior that you came to know that first day you were saved. When all else fails he will be constant and true.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Hebrews 13:5-8

 

• Why can we be content?
• How can we not be afraid?
• Who are we to imitate and take courage from?

 



 

Day 12

 

The Argument

 

"Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice."

 

Proverbs 13:10 

 

I was arguing with my parents again. I don't know what it was about. I was in college and free to do just about anything I pleased. I was a good kid and not getting into any kind of trouble or doing things I wasn't supposed to do. I still chafed at my parent's authority though they seldom tried to exert it. We argued about my hair (long, as in hippie long) and one of my girlfriends (turned out they were right about her).

 

Like I said, I don't even know how this argument got started, but it had taken a bizarre twist. Somehow it had got to the point where I was claiming I could beat Billie Jean King in tennis. I know that's crazy, but that was my story and I was sticking to it. The truth was I had played tennis about 3 times in my life. I could not beat Billie Jean King. I could not have beaten Martin Luther King, but I was not going to back down.

 

Then my father said something I'll never forget. "Your problem is you are too proud." As soon as he said it I knew it was true. There was nothing I could say, he was right.

 

That argument stopped and there were no others. It was my pride that started all of them, and when I kept that in check they went away.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Daniel 4:4-37

 

• What was Nebuchadnezzar's dream?
• How did Daniel interpret the dream?
• What was it that triggered the dream into becoming a reality?
• What brought sanity back to Nebuchadnezzar?

 

Day 11

 

If It's Good Enough for My Father

 

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

 

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

 

Paula's dad was an alcoholic. He had been known to be a little violent when he was drunk. Paula was in high school and had learned to fear her father. Her greatest fear was that her dad would one day hurt her younger brother.

 

I was in college and Paula was my friend. She would call me up on the phone and we would discuss her fears. She told me,  "I have seen what alcohol can do. I will never touch a drop."

 

Sometime later I heard that someone had to go to a local club in the middle of the night and give Paula a ride home. She was drunk. I called to see what had happened. I told her, "Why, of all people, knowing what alcohol can do to you, why did you go out and get drunk?"

 

I'll never forget her answer. "If it's good enough for my father, it's good enough for me."

 

Obviously it wasn't good for her father or for her. At the time, as young as I was, I couldn't understand it. Now, I know that way too often parents pass down things to kids that should never be passed down.

 

God's plan is that we should pass down a heritage of faith to our kids. His commands are to be ingrained in our hearts and demonstrated in our actions so that our children cannot help but catch them and own them for themselves. We are to go beyond just hoping they catch them though. We are to systematically teach them. This is primarily a parent's job not the church's job.

 

In Exodus 20 with the command to not make idols, God warns that the sins of a father can last generations. The Bible also teaches that we all have free wills. Paula did not have to choose to follow her father's footsteps. His actions just made her making the right choice a lot more difficult.

 

Years and years after this happened I got a phone call from Paula. By that time I had made several moves and was living in a different state so how she got my phone number I'll never know. She called to tell me that after years away from God she had had straightened her life out. She had a child of her own and had married a good Christian man. I was delighted to hear it. Now she can pass down the right kind of heritage to her child.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Deuteronomy 6:1-25

• What is the command that Jesus will later say is the greatest command? (v.5)
• To what lengths were they to go to in order to teach the commands to their children?
• What were they to be careful not to forget? 

If you enjoy reading this blog you might want to join my email devotion service, "A Look At The Word."  Just about every Tuesday morning a devotional message will be emailed directly to your inbox. The messages are much like these but come more from today's news items rather than personal stories. Not all email accounts accept messages from this professional service, but most do. All I need is for you to message me your email address and I will add you to the "A Look At The Word" list. Up coming devotionals will include messages on coffin therapy, unicorns and deep frying guns. I would love to have you join.

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10

 

Speak the Truth in Love

 

"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ."

 

Ephesians 4:15

 

 

A girlfriend once asked me what I thought of her dress. It was clearly one of her favorites and just the fact that she asked me should have sent warning flares up in my brain. Back then I had not yet realized the need for a relationship warning system to be installed. I also had a problem discerning the truth from my opinion. So, I told her what I thought about the dress.

 

Now before I tell you what I said, in my defense, the dress was polka-dotted. Lots and lots of tiny polka-dots. Get ready to cringe because here is what I said, "I hate the dress. It makes you look fat. It has way too many dots."

 

For the official record, this girl has never had a fat day in her life. She was born doing Tae Bo and had to wear athletic cut diapers. But clearly from the look on her face my answer was not the answer she was looking for. Not being a total idiot (just 95% idiot), I quickly added, "I don't think you're fat. I just think the dress makes you look fat. It's the dots. The...uh...dots."

 

The bible tells us we are to speak the truth in love. Sometimes the loving thing to do is to just keep your mouth shut. Besides when Paul tells us to speak the truth in love, he is talking about the truth of Christian instruction, not fashion tips. He is warning us not to use the truth as a weapon to tear somebody down, but as a tool to build somebody up.

 

So, I want to apologize to this girl (now woman), who shall remain nameless. (She has a name, I am just not going to use it). Her memory of this may be different than mine or it may be a repressed memory that I have once again brought to the surface. She is now married and her husband, whom I've never seen, might be bigger than me, so I double apologize. I apologize for the remark about the dress and for so many other things. I apologize for harboring ill feelings towards your wiener dog. He was a great dog but his little claws put a run in my favorite pair of polyester slacks. I apologize for thinking that your Christmas tree without any needles on the limbs was kind of depressing. It was a beautiful tree and y'all did an amazing job flocking it. I just thought evergreens were supposed to be green but I really have no room to talk because our tree was made from aluminum and was only green when that color came around on the color wheel. I could keep going because my offenses were legion, but let me say once again, sincerely - I apologize.

 

Upon Further Review

 

Read Ephesians 4:14-16

 

• What can happen to us if we remain infants in Christ?
• Speaking the truth in love is supposed to help people grow like whom?
• Does speaking the truth in love break us apart or help us grow together?



 

 

 

 

 

 Day 9

The Cruella De Vil Wannabe

 

"Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed, Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

 

James 1:14-15

 

Once I had to clean out a house that had way too many dogs living in it. It's hard to say how many dogs there were because they didn't line up to be counted.

 

The church I grew up in had a rent house. The church had bought property that it had future plans for that had a house on it. Since the property and the house were not needed at that time the house was rented out to this guy. After a while it became apparent that the man had too many dogs living with him. The church tried to handle it peacefully, but it came down to the man being evicted. The dogs also had to be evicted. The dog catcher was called out and he began to collect dogs. For some reason the number 52 sticks in my mind. That may not be accurate, but I guarantee you it was a lot of dogs.

 

As the final 3 or 4 dogs were being round up, my friend and I were called in for clean-up duty (make that clean-up doody). We were young, in college and expendable. The man who had been evicted showed up and hassled the dog catcher. The dog catcher called the cops who hauled the man away as the dog catcher hauled the dogs away.

 

My friend and I headed into the house armed with shovels, brooms and a garden hose. It was incredibly bad. You could only work in the house for as long as you could hold your breath and then you had to rush for an open window. Though the dogs lived in the house, none of them were house broken. I'm not even sure that the man was house broken.

 

How do you get to a place where you are living with 52 dogs that have pooped all over the place? We couldn't even breath in the place, yet the man ate and slept there. How do you decide that living with 52 dogs is a good idea? What went wrong? Was he traumatized by 101 Dalmatians as a child? Did he have a Cruella De Vil fixation? I can just see it:

 

Little Timmy and his mom sat in the theater as the credits to 101 Dalmatians began to roll. All the other children and parents were leaving but little Timmy sat there with tears running down his face. His mother asked, "What's wrong Timmy?"

"It's Cruella De Vil, Mom. Why did they have to be so mean to her?"

"But Timmy, Cruella wanted to hurt the puppies."

"Not you too, Mom. You don't understand...I hate Pongo!"

Timmy's mom was suddenly glad everyone else had left the theater. She took Timmy by the hand and as they slowly walked out the theater she could hear Timmy softly singing, "Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil. If she doesn't scare you no evil thing will."

 

Okay, it probably didn't happen exactly like that. The man probably never sat out to live in absolute filth with 52 dogs, it just happened over time. First it is 2 or 3 dogs and then one day you don't use the pooper scooper. You get used to the smell, you get more dogs and before you know it you've got more poop than a zoo and enough dogs to enter several teams in the Iditarod.

 

In James 1 we are told, "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." (James 1:14-15) It happens to all of us, something that starts out small turns into one big sinful problem. Most of us don't do it in such spectacular fashion as the guy with the dogs, but we do it. We don't have a growing pack of dogs, we have a growing pack of pride or gluttony. Whatever our problem may be, the result is the same. We need our house cleaned up.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read James 1:13-18

 

• What is the root of temptation?
• When sin is full grown what does it give birth to?
• Through what does the Father give us birth?
• What is the result of that birth from the Father?

 



The Random Driven Life

 

Day 8

 

Be Careful What You Pray For

 

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

 

James 5:16

 

I had gone to a conference where a speaker had said if we wanted to develop some godly attributes in our life we should pray for them. I was a single college student at the time and a previous girlfriend had told me I was conceited. My initial reaction was to think, "Oh, yeah! And who are you to tell me I'm conceited? I'm too good for the likes of you!" (I guess that explains why she was a previous girlfriend).  After I thought about it for a while I decided she might have something there, so I started praying for humility.

 

I had just started dating a girl who had been a homecoming queen, which was kind of counterproductive to the humility thing. We had a date on Saturday night, but on Friday night my older brother was getting married. We were all getting ready for the wedding on Friday when my older brother, suffering from a case of nerves I guess, somehow managed to accidentally flush the toilet paper spindle down the toilet int the upstairs bathroom. He volunteered to come back on Saturday and fix it, but I told him, "Hey, it's your honeymoon. I'll take care of the toilet." God was at work; humility was on its way.

 

The next morning I got the toilet unbolted from the floor and managed to lug it down the stairs and out into the front yard. The toilet spindle was wooden and had gotten firmly wedged into the U-section of the toilet. I stuck my hand in as for as I could go but part of what I grabbed was not the spindle. A friend stopped by and saw me wrestling the toilet and had a good laugh. Eventually, with the help of a garden hose, I was finally able to dislodge the spindle and fix the toilet.

 

I went on my date with the homecoming queen that night and everything was going well. We were going to get something to eat after a movie, so I purposely took her to a place that our circle of friends seldom went to, but when we arrived many of our friends were there. God was at work; humility was on its way.

 

They were our friends so we had to sit with them. Still, everything seemed fine, we were laughing and joking with our friends when the guy who had seen me that morning said, "Tell them what you had to do this morning." Not being one to pass up a chance to tell a good story, I told them about lugging the toilet downstairs, finding disgusting little surprises in the toilet when I stuck my hand in it and how humiliating it was to see people drive by our house and see me wrestling a toilet. Everyone thought the story was hilarious... everyone except my date, the homecoming queen. Perhaps she was thinking, "I've just been holding a hand that has recently been in a toilet."

 

After that every time I called her for a date she was going to be busy washing her hair that night. I got to thinking about the whole thing. I remembered the people driving by laughing at the toilet wrestler and my new previous girlfriend with the really clean hair and I realized that God had answered my prayer. I prayed for humility and I had been humbled.

 

They say, "Be careful what you pray for. You just might get it." I don't think God is waiting to catch us on a technicality in our prayers so he can mess with us. God is not like that. But I do think that if we ask for something that is truly good for us then we best be ready.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Galatians 5:22-23

 

• How might the Spirit produce patience in us?
• How might the Spirit produce self-control in us?
• Is the pathway to some virtues always easy?

Day 7

 

The Government Field Trip

 

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way."

 

Proverbs 19:2

 

It started out as an innocent school field trip, but it almost ended in a tragic accident. My high school required that you go on some sort of field trip for you government class. This trip was not with the whole class on a bus but was to be done on your own time in the summer between your junior and senior year and you were to observe some official government function. A lot of kids went to a local traffic court to observe a few cases (maybe their own), but my friends and I had bigger plans. We went to downtown Houston for a murder trial.

 

My best friend's dad worked downtown so we rode with him into town and he parked his car on the top floor of a parking garage. The dad went to his office and we went to the courthouse. We sat and watched the case of this guy for whom the future did not look good. We doodled pictures of the defendant with a rope around his neck and had to be told by the judge to be quiet when a witness said something that was pretty funny and wasn't aware that he had done it.

 

On our lunch break we quickly grabbed a bite to eat and went to Foleys, this huge department store. I bought the coolest rope braid belt to wear with my button fly bell bottoms. I was very pleased with my purchase.

 

When it came time to leave we went to meet my friend's dad at his office and then on to the parking garage to get the car. The dad, his son and another friend started walking up the ramp to get to the car several stories above us, but 2 of us decided to go by a quicker route. My friend's dad tried to discourage us from our plan, but it looked to be an adventure to us so we ignored his advice.

 

The parking garage had valet parking if you wanted to pay extra and the parking attendants had this cool conveyor belt elevator they rode.  The conveyor belt had foot holds and hand holds that you used. You put one foot on the foot hold and reached up and grabbed a hand hold and up you went straight up an elevator shaft. At the top the conveyor belt just flipped over and you could get on it going down, so while some were going up the conveyor belt others were on the backside going down.

 

I'm pretty sure that this device was for employees only but since it looked cool I wasn't going to let that little detail stop me. So, with one hand gripping my shopping bag with the precious rope braid belt I stepped on to the conveyor belt and reached up with my other hand and grabbed the hand hold. My friend got on below me and up we went. It moved faster than I thought and I confess I was enjoying the ride and not paying enough attention to what was going on. As I neared the top I suddenly realized I had a problem.

 

I was facing the wrong direction to get off and I needed to somehow quickly turn around and step off the conveyor belt before it passed the top floor and then flipped over and started heading down. By the time I processed all my options I didn't have any options, I had missed the top floor. I was up in a metal building on the top of the parking garage that housed the motor for the conveyor belt and the conveyor belt was about to flip over and head back down. That meant I could do a one armed hand stand all the way down or, most likely, plummet several stories down the elevator shaft.

 

I was not a big fan of either of those options so, as the conveyor belt flipped over, I got off on a beam the motor was mounted on in the roof of the metal building. I hollered down at my companion below me to quickly get off because it was a one person perch on that beam.

 

He got off and I tossed down my shopping bag with the cool belt to him because the belt was expensive and I might need to wear it to my funeral. I also needed both hands. I figured I could lower myself from the beam by my hands and do a swinging dismount like it was some kind of high bar routine. It was a bit dangerous but preferable to calling the fire department to rescue me.

 

It took a few minutes to sum up the courage to do this so my friend's dad arrived at the top of the parking garage just in time to witness my flying dismount. He never told my parents what happened. He did have heart trouble a few years later and I probably contributed to that.

 

The Bible says, "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." (Proverbs 19:2) In my youthful zeal I almost missed the way permanently. The biblical model is for younger men to learn from wiser, older men and not to rush foolishly into things they don't understand.

 

I never rode one of those conveyor belt things again. Years later my rope braid belt was mistakenly put in a bag of clothes that went to a homeless shelter. It's a shame too, because it sure would look cool with my suits on Sunday mornings and now I have to come up with another cool belt for my funeral.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Peter 5:1-5

 

• What is the responsibility of the elders of the church?
• What are the young men of the church supposed to do?
• How is pride an enemy to both the elders' and the young men's responsibilities? 

Day 6

 

Be Careful What You Sow

 

 

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

 

Galatians 6:7

 

 

When I was a underclassman in high school, I learned how to make a modest little stink bomb by  using a ball point, a paper clip and a match. I am not going to give out the engineering details, (I try to be a responsible adult), but I can tell you that the end results were a match being lit inside the plastic pen, melting a small amount of the plastic thus causing a bad smell and a small amount of black smoke. This invention was not a science project but was used to disrupt classes I found boring (which meant everything but P.E.). I used this device for several weeks without getting caught and was quiet proud of myself.

To keep my covert operation going I needed a supply of pens, paper clips and matches. Pens and paper clips were school supplies, so I could carry them openly, but the matches I had to hide. I carried the matches in my back pocket in the case my glasses went in. I thought it was a good hiding place because I could easily take off my glasses and put them in the case and slip out a match to load my device.

One day in history we had a test with essay questions that were written on the chalk board. I read the questions and, as my habit, took my glasses off to write my essay.  I slipped my glasses into my glasses case while it was still in the back pocket of my cords. I can't be certain how it happened but what I figure happened is that the hinge on my glasses hit a match head with enough force that the match lit. The lit match set off other matches and they began to melt a hole in my plastic glasses case, which was still in my back pocket. Suddenly the same principle that made the pen stink bomb work was taking place in my pants. The foul odor of melting plastic and black smoke was coming out of the back of my pants as I prayed that the smoke would clear before the teacher looked up.

Fortunately by the time the teacher smelled it and looked up the smoke was gone. However, my fellow students had smelled it and seen the smoke coming from my pants. They probably wondered what I had eaten for lunch. I was in no danger of catching fire because there was not enough oxygen in my back pocket for that to happen, but it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, and I have a lot to choose from. I learned what the Bible says is true, "a man reaps what he sows."

I had been sowing trouble and I reaped trouble. The good news is that if you sow good things you will will receive heavenly rewards. So be careful what you sow and never, ever put matches in your back pocket.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Galatians 6:9

 

• What causes you to grow weary in doing good?
• When is the "proper time" to receive the harvest?
• What condition must we keep if we are to reap the harvest?

Day 5

 

The Eyes of the LORD

 

For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

 

 

2 Chronicles 16:9

 

Cletus Scrunchie was one of those kids who cut the sleeves out of his button up shirts. I was the smallest kid in the 7th grade, and I shared one of those black topped science desks with Cletus. Cletus was a couple of years older than me. It wasn't that I was a child prodigy that had moved up several grades because of my genius, it was because Cletus had the same IQ as the desk and had been held back a grade or two. What Cletus lacked in brain power he made up for in brawn.

 

Every time the science teacher would turn her back to the class to write something on the chalkboard, Cletus would punch me in the arm. As you can imagine this got really old and my arm got really sore. I suppose I could have told the teacher what was happening. Of course, if I had told the teacher I would have needed to give the teacher my last will and testament for safe keeping because Cletus would have surely got me for that.

 

I brought a sack lunch to school everyday and had it with me in science, which was my class right before lunch. From time to time I would get a head start on lunch by eating something in class while the teacher wasn't looking (and while I was being punched in the arm). One day I had a small box of raisins in my lunch and when I opened the raisins I saw my revenge on Cletus.

I whispered to Cletus, "Hey Cletus, do you want some raisins?"

 

"Sure."

 

"Here, eat them quick before the teacher looks."

 

Cletus quickly turned the box up to his mouth and gulped some raisins down.

"Hey Cletus," I whispered again. "Look in the bottom of the raisin box."

 

Cletus peered into the box and let out a loud scream. The raisins had gone bad and were filled with maggots.

 

When Cletus screamed the teacher turned around and asked what was wrong. "He gave me some wormy raisins and I ate them!"

 

Cletus didn't get the sympathy he was hoping for; he got a detention for eating in class. He informed me he was going to kill me. I told him, "Cletus, don't mess with me. I am smarter than you are and I will always get you back." Cletus decided to leave me alone from then on.

 

It was a spur of the moment clever plan that got me the relief that I wanted. Was it the best plan though? Did God have a better plan or were those worms God's provision? I'll never know because I never asked.

 

The southern kingdom of Israelites, Judah, had a problem. They were being attacked by, of all people, the northern kingdom of Israelites, Israel. Judah's king, Asa, came up with what seemed to be a brilliant solution. He took the gold and silver from the temple and his palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria to bribe him to attack Israel on it's northern border, so Israel would not be free to attack Judah on it's southern border. It was a brilliant plan and it worked to perfection. The Syrians attacked Israel, and Israel stopped harassing Judah. (2 Chronicles 16)

 

There was only one problem with the plan. It wasn't God's plan. God sent a seer to King Asa to let him know that God had a plan that included delivering the king of the Syrians into Judah's hands. Asa never knew that because Asa never asked. Out of his own cleverness Asa had solved the problem only to find out that God had a better plan.

 

That is the problem with being half-way smart. We think we can solve our own problems, and often times we do. We come up with solutions that are clever enough and work to a certain degree, but leave God out of the equation. Any solution that doesn't have God involved in some sort of way is not the best solution. You may find something that works, but it will not be what God is looking for.

 And what is God looking for? "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." (2 Chronicles 16:9) If we are always coming up with our own solutions are our hearts fully committed to him?

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 2 Chronicles 16:1-14

• Do you think the silver and gold in the treasury of the Temple was King Asa's to distribute as he pleased?
• Did Asa have good results when he relied on God before?
• In what other matter did Asa not call on God, and what was the result?

Day 4

 

Going to the Dogs

 

"It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

 

Matthew 15:26

 

 

Both of my grandmothers could really cook. My mom's mother, who my siblings and I called Mar-Mar (don't ask how that got started because I don't know, but I do know she was proud to be called that), lived in the same city as we did so we saw her quite often. My dad's mom, T-Mar, lived a couple of hours away from where we did so we didn't see her as much. (The one we saw often was Mar-Mar so the one we didn't see as much was Two-Mar, which was somehow shortened to T-Mar. A name she proudly bore as well.) Not seeing T-Mar as much must have led her to cook prodigious amounts of food for our visits.

 

I can remember meals at T-Mar's where there was a large turkey and a large ham for nine people. Everyone would have their favorite dessert too. At any given meal there was strawberry pie, pumpkin pie, brownies, cherry pie and ambrosia (whatever that is).

 

Not only did we eat well there, her dogs ate well too. Her dogs had bacon and eggs and toast with jelly for breakfast and ate off of china. It was the old china, but it was china. They were big ol' slobbering outdoor boxer dogs named Fritz and Bozo. I didn't realize until much later when I saw other people's boxers that boxers were not supposed to be such big heavy dogs. Those dogs easily weighed more than I did as a kid.

 

T-Mar would not sit down at the table while we ate. She was always up filling some one's plate or making more food. Every night before bed she would make all us kids a milkshake like she was topping off a gas tank. One night my dad came in the kitchen as us kids drank our milkshakes and said he was going to get a bowl of ice cream. T-Mar started to get it but Dad said, "No, Mom, you've been waiting on us hand and foot. You sit down. I'll get my own ice cream."

 

He got his bowl of ice cream and sat down at the table and began to eat. He made a few faces and said, "Mom, where did you get this ice cream? It tastes kind of funky."

 

She said, "I got it at the store yesterday, so it should be good. Which carton did you get your ice cream from?"

 

"I got it from the carton on the door," my dad told her. "There wasn't much left in it so I thought I would finish it off."

 

My grandmother's reply was priceless. "Oh, that's the dog's ice cream. They eat right out of the carton."

 

In Matthew 15 Jesus has a conversation with a Canaanite woman who is requesting that her demon possessed daughter be healed. Jesus tells her he was sent to to help the lost sheep of Israel, God's people. She was not an Israelite, but she was asking for help. It is then that Jesus tells her, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

 

Let me explain something. Israelites did not like dogs. They did not have pet dogs. They called gentiles "dogs."  So when Jesus talks about the "children's bread" the children are God's children, the Israelites. The dog the bread is tossed to is a gentile. Don't get all bent out of shape about this. First of all he calls the Israelites sheep so being a dog isn't that bad. And in Greek (which the New Testament is written in) there are two words for dogs. One means a mangy old mongrel, the other means a house pet. Jesus doesn't call her a mongrel, he calls her a house pet.

 

The point Jesus is making is that he came to God's people first. The rest of us are just house pets that get asked to be a part of the family. Jesus heals the woman's daughter. The woman found out, like my grandmother's dogs, that being the right person's pet is better than being in the wrong person's family. And I, for one, am glad that Jesus looked down on this slobbering little kid named Jess and made me a part of his family.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 15:21-28

 

• What was Jesus' initial reaction and what was the disciples initial reaction?
• In what manner did the woman come to Jesus?
• Do you think Jesus healed her daughter because of her persistent faith?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Day 3

 

 

The Radiator

 

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."

 

Proverbs 14:12

 

 

My elementary school was heated by hot water radiators. To most kids that meant don't touch it when it is hot, but my mind worked along a different path than most. I saw the radiator as much more than a heater.

 

My plan was to place crayons on the floor under the radiator and to heat them up to where the crayons were moldable. I would take those moldable crayons and shape them into dinosaur crayons. I just knew that every kid in that class would be envious that I had little dinosaurs I could color with. (I still think I should patent the idea). I was a visionary, but a little short on the fundamentals of how it could work.

 

I had no idea what the melting point of crayons was or how long it might take the radiator to get the crayons to a moldable substance. I wasn't even sure that the crayons could ever be made to be moldable. I just knew that there was enough waxy material in crayons that heat would do something to them. Hey, the advance of science is not without it's risks. So, I placed a bunch of crayons underneath the radiator right before we left for recess.

 

I still cannot tell you what the melting temperature for a crayon is, since it happened while I was at recess. What I can tell you is that the floor around the radiator was much more colorful after recess than it was before recess. And I can tell you that the principal had a strange and painful way of showing his appreciation for my artistic attempt to advance science.

 

It had all seemed like such a brilliant idea. However like most of my wonderful schemes it had gone colorfully wrong. That is what happens when we do things our way and not God's way.

 

I cannot tell you how many times people come to me with problems of their own making. They find themselves knee deep in melted crayons (metaphorically speaking) because they though they knew a better way than God's way. God doesn't give us "thou shalt nots" because he is trying to ruin our fun. God's ways are simply what is best for us.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Kings 21:1-29

• What did King Ahab want and who did it belong to?
• Did he try to acquire it the right way?
• By whose way did he wind up acquiring what he wanted?
• Did God approve of the way Ahab acquired what he wanted?
• What did Elijah tell Ahab would happen as a result of doing things the way he did?

Read 1 Kings 22:34-40

• What happened to Ahab as predicted by Elijah?

Read 2 Kings 10:1-11

• What happened to Jezebel as predicted by Elijah?
 
 

Your First Love

Day 2

 

Your First Love

 

 

"Yet I hold this against you:You have forsaken your first love."

 

 

Revelation 2:4



Do you remember your first love? There was that special someone that captured your heart. I certainly remember that first girl I fell for.

 

Her name was Sandy and she lived down the street from me. I don't really remember if Sandy was a blond or a brunette. I don't remember if Sandy was short or tall. I cannot recall what color her eyes were. Sandy was out of my league. She had something that elevated her above all others, something that made hair or eye color unimportant. What Sandy had was a Davy Crockett coonskin cap.

 

When I was a little kid Davy Crockett was bigger than the Beatles or Cabbage Patch dolls. Every kid wanted a coonskin cap. We all watched Fess Parker play Davy Crockett on TV every week. And Sandy had one of those awesome Davy Crockett hats.

 

In Revelation 2 Jesus tells the church at Ephesus that he is pleased with how hard they had been working and the deeds they had done. He was also pleased that they had stayed doctrinally sound. Then he says, "I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love." Those people were doing the right thing, they believed the right thing, but their love for Jesus had grown cold. 

                                                                                    

 It's one thing to forget your kindergarten sweetheart;  it's entirely different to forget Jesus. We believe the right things and we do the right things (because of habit), and we forget Jesus in our daily life. We take him for granted and our love grows cold.

 

Jesus said there is a two point remedy for this. He said we should remember and repent. We need to remember how Jesus loved us and died on a cross for our sins. We need to repent and turn back to Jesus being an important part of our everyday life.

    

My family moved out of the neighborhood where Sandy lived. I don't know what became of Sandy, and I confess I haven't thought about her all that much. I have often wondered what happened to that coonskin cap.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Revelation 2:1-7

• What are all the good things said about the church at Ephesus?
• What do you think is the significance of removing the lamp stand?
• What is the benefit of being an overcomer?

                                                 

DAY 1

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those  who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

 

 

 

 

 

I had taken my three year old son to Walmart and we had to make a pit stop, so we were in the men's restroom. I took my eye off of him for only one second and then I heard his voice. I turned to find him on his hands and knees peering under a bathroom stall door. He was shouting back at me in wonder, "There is a man tee-teeing in there!"

There is a lesson to be learned here, besides the obvious lesson of never take a small child to Walmart. That is a lesson we all know, but we do it anyway. There is a deeper more spiritual lesson to be learned.

You see I believe that there is a purpose and meaning in every event in life. God promises to take the random events in life and work them for your good, even events like your child broadcasting what is going on in the bathroom stall.

When your three years old life is an adventure. In every store and under every bathroom stall door there is something new and exciting. Every day brings new knowledge and different experiences. Life is fresh and wonderful. I think when Jesus tells us we need the faith of a child that the newness and freshness is a part of it. The Christian life is full of random, wonderful discoveries if we have the eyes and heart to see them.

So I look for the hand of God everywhere. In every seemingly random event of my life, every strange new thought I might have or in some item in the news that catches my attention I can see God working something for my good. I think that day in Walmart everyone involved learned a lesson. 

• I learned about seeing things through the eyes of a child.
• My three year old learned what goes on behind bathroom stall doors.
• The man in the stall learned that when there is a preschooler involved that privacy is just an illusion. 

Upon Further Review:

 

God does use seemingly random events to shape us and mold us. That is not to say that we should wander through life aimlessly without purpose or direction. God uses the random things and the purposeful things of life to achieve his goal of making us more like Jesus.

Some of what I know about prayer I learned very purposefully. I sat down with a bible and studied what it said about prayer.  I have read books about prayer and attended seminars. I have learned many valuable things about prayer that way.

I also learned a very important thing about prayer when I was just 12 years and had never dreamed about studying up on prayer. At a revival service, during the invitation I did as the preacher asked and prayed that someone might be saved. When I opened my eyes at the end of my prayer and the invitation I saw that the boy seated next to me had walked the aisle and prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. I had not set out to learn about prayer, but God had taught me a lesson about prayer that I shall never forget.

It also important to purposefully study God's word so that we can judge the random experiences of life in light of what scripture says. This is so incredibly important. Our experiences should always be judged by scripture rather than letting our experiences be the judge.

You might be going through some difficult times. Some random tragedy, an illness or an accident might lead you to think that God doesn't care for you or that he has abandoned you. That is listening solely to your experience. However, the bible tells us that God never leaves us and that he loves us so much that he gave his Son to die for us on a cross. So, let scripture judge your experiences. Let God's word interpret the random events  of your life that God wants to use to achieve his purpose.

 

Read Romans 8:28-29

 

• Does God say we will always know what the good is he bringing about?
• Does God work things together for good for everyone or are there certain conditions to be met?
• What is the direction God is taking us? Who are we being made like?

 

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