Day 21

 

A Trip To The Dentist

 

"And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

 

Matthew 25:30

 

I grew up at the dentist office. I'm sure I was his most regular customer. If it could go wrong with your teeth I had it. I had braces for 5 years, two dental surgeries, and I have got enough silver amalgam and a gold crown to provide me with a retirement nest egg.

 

Dentist are kinder and gentler these days. One big change is that they wear gloves that seem to cover more of their hands. When I was a kid my dentist had the hairiest hands. I guess all that saliva watered the hair on his hands so that it grew disturbingly long. Every time he stuck his hand in my mouth I felt like a cat with a fur ball stuck in my throat.

 

My dentist had quiet a setup. His office was in a strip mall and after your appointment he would give you a coupon good for a ice cream cone at the drug store in the mall. He insured my repeat business by keeping me addicted to the cavity producing ice cream.

 

The guy who did my braces was a graduate of the Marquis De Sade School of Orthodontics. Every month he would commit Nazi war crimes in my mouth. I endured this torture patiently at first but after he pulled a wire out of my gum that he had the surgeon insert, and pulled it out without any anesthetic causing massive bleeding and pain, I decided to fight (make that bite) back. His evil machinations eased up when he came to understand that I was not without recourse.

 

Once when I was a young adult I had gone to have my teeth cleaned. My gums bleed so profusely that afterwards I had to go get a transfusion. My hygienist informed me. "Your gums wouldn't bleed so much if you would gargle with salt water every day." Not willing to accept full responsibility for my bleeding gums I informed her, "My gums wouldn't bleed at all if you wouldn't poke them with that sharp stick."

 

On another occasion I became concerned that the hygienist was draped all over me. I appreciate the fact that they must get reasonably close to you if they are going to work on your teeth but this girl needed longer tools or longer arms. I finally informed her, "If you were Dolly Parton I would have suffocated by now."

 

The Bible tells about a time when there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." I'm not a dentist but I'm pretty sure that gnashing your teeth can't be good for you. Hell is going to be bad for a lot of reasons; if bad teeth is one of them I'm glad I have got another destination.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Luke 16:19-31

 

• What was the destiny of the callous rich man?
• After death what did the rich man complain of?
• Could the rich man's fate be changed or altered in any way?

Day 20

 

His Voice

 

"When he has brought out all of his own, he goes ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."

 

John 10:4

 

I worked in a shoe store when I was in Seminary. There was an unusual cast of characters that I worked with during my tenure there. I found that most everybody that worked at that shoe store had a story to tell.

 

There was a woman that worked there who was 30 something, married and attractive. She was having marital trouble: some of it having to do with her husband not adjusting to life after Vietnam and some of it because they had a handicapped child. I'm sure that if I had heard her husband's side of the story there would be more to it than what she told me.

 

I tried to help as much as I could. Being young and single I really had no clue when it came to marital advice. I tried to encourage her and I prayed for her. When the trouble finally led to seperation I invited her to come to church with me. I figured worshipping at church might perk her up.

 

I waited outside of church for her to show up and she arrived a little late so we sat in the back. After we sang a few hymns there was a responsive reading. I had never been a big fan of responsive readings until what happened that day. The reading was from John 10 about Jesus being the Good Shepherd. When, with the rest of us, she read the words out loud about the "sheep follow him because thery know his voice," I could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was a hurting little lamb that had heard the Shepherd's voice.

 

I hope you hear the voice of the Shepherd when you read his word. I hope, that like Peter, you can say, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 

Upon Further Review

 

Read John 10:1-21

 

• Where can sheep find safety? And how do they enter eternal safety?
• How can we know that Jesus is the "Good Shepherd?"
• Who are those "other sheep" that are "not of this sheeppen?"  

Day 19

 

Donnie's Roommate

 

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me."

 

Psalm 139:1

 

 

 

My first roommate in Seminary was perfect. Because he was so perfect, he was not the perfect roommate.

 

Donnie was 6 foot 4 inches tall. I am just 6 foot. Donnie was big muscular guy. I looked like the poster boy for "Feed The Children." Donnie played college football. I played college hooky and went to the zoo as often as I went to class. Donnie had money. I had a car payment. Donnie had his shirts sent to a laundromat and were starched and ironed. My polyester shirts would have melted into a puddle if an iron touched them. Donnie drove a Camaro. I drove an un-air conditioned Vega. Donnie played the guitar. I could identify a guitar in a line up of musical instruments. Donnie's grandfather was a lawyer and his father was a doctor. My grandfather once rescued a orphaned baby squirrel and raised it and my father won a hockey stick for us with a center ice slap shot at a promotion during a hockey game (chalk one up for team Jess). All the girls on campus knew Donnie. I had no name. I was called Donnie's roommate.

 

I could have been angry about that but did I mention that Donnie was a great guy? I couldn't be mad at him, it wasn't his fault that girls thought he was so wonderful and thought that I was so ... actually they didn't think of me at all. Still it would have been nice to have a name other than Donnie's roommate.

 

The good news is that God knew and knows my name. The 139 Psalm tells me that God knows everything about me. He knows my limitations. He knows my thoughts. He knows how I spend my time. And he thinks I am "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm 139:14) So if everyone else knows me as Donnie's roommate, Ethan's dad or Jo's husband, I'm okay with it. God knows who I am and that is good enough for me.

 

Bonus Story

 

My boss told me that because of the snow the store would be closed on Saturday. I had been at Seminary for several months and had not made a trip home because I had to work on weekends because I was poor and I liked to eat. So despite the heavy snow I got in my Vega and headed for home.

 

I decided to take a short cut on a country highway to cut over to the interstate. The snow was really coming down so I figured I better get to the interstate in a hurry knowing if a road would be kept open that would be it. I was in the middle of nowhere when I got a flat tire. I got out my spare and jack and began to take the flat tire off. It was so cold I couldn't feel the lug nuts in my fingers. I got the flat tire off and was putting on the spare only to discover my spare was flat as well.

 

At this point I began to think of a short story we had to read in high school. It was a story by Jack London called To Start A Fire. The main character in the story is in the frozen wilds of Alaska and he has one match to start a fire or he will freeze to death. He manages to start the fire but as the warm smoke drifted upwards some snow in a tree melted and fell out of the tree and put out the fire. When you are cold and in the middle of nowhere with no one around you think of theses things.

 

I started to pray. I promised God if he would get me out of the mess I was in that I would go to Africa as a missionary if he wanted me to. I promised God if he wanted me to I would marry a fat girl. (Okay, I know that is really shallow but it was real cold and I wasn't thinking too clearly). Since I am not in a freezer now sitting next to Ted William's frozen head you can safely assume that God got me through the situation.

 

Psalm 139 not only tells me that God knows my name and all about me, he also knows where I am at all times and is with me. There is nowhere in his creation I can go without his presence with me. And that is very comforting if you are in a hospital room waiting for news, in a motel far from home or in a car with 2 flat tires in the middle of a snow storm.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Psalm 139:1-24

 

• Can you ever escape the presence of God?
• Can there be a patch of your life so dark that God cannot see you?
• How long has God known you?