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? 

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