En route to the mid-week Bible study in Penrose yesterday I ran into a nasty snowstorm. Visibility was poor and the highway through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains was becoming as slick as hair lotion on a bald head. At the mid-point between home and Penrose I received a call on my cell phone from one of the leaders of the church in Penrose. He had heard about the bad driving conditions and advised me to return home.
As soon as I could safely turn around, I did, and I returned to clear skies over Colorado Springs. I learned later clear skies graced Penrose as well. I had simply driven into a narrow band of snow along a highway known for a high rate of accidents even in good weather.
I had been unable to attend mid-week Bible study, but yesterday’s mail alerted me to a February 5 appointment I had better keep. I have been selected for jury duty that day.
Mid-week Bible study and jury duty may seem incongruent, but the two events indicate clearly that the Christian holds dual citizenship. Every Christian is a citizen of heaven and a citizen on earth. The former constrains us to love and obey God. The latter constrains us to love our country and obey its laws. If we are so heavenly minded we are no earthly good, we need to adjust our halos for hard hats and put our faith to work.
Jesus admonished His followers to let their light shine in the world so our fellow human beings would see their good works and glorify their heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). Perhaps in some way a positive response to jury duty will help at least one person to consider his or her relationship to the Righteous Judge, our Savior.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Grandkids Say the Funniest Things
Grandkids Say the Funniest Things
“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22a).
A teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their vacation. One child wrote the following:
“We always spend our vacation with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live here in a big, brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Florida and now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people.
“They live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on big tricycles and wear nametags because they don't know who they are anymore.
“They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all right now. They play games and do exercises there, but they don't do them very well.”
Let’s face it, sometimes grandparents can be as puzzling to their grandkids as grandkids are to their grandparents. And occasionally what the grandkids say about us can be downright humbling:
“Have you always been fat, Grandma?”
“How come you married Grandpa? He doesn’t have any hair. And when I ask him for a dollar, he says he doesn’t have any money.”
“Grandpa, how come you sleep so much?”
But grandkids can also say things that make us feel ten feet tall. When she was six years old, our granddaughter Kayla told my wife, Gloria, “Grandma, next to Jesus, you are the nicest person I know.”
Timothy was an outstanding pastor in the first century, but his training for a commendable life and ministry didn’t begin in a seminary. It began at home. As was typical of first-century families, Grandma Lois, Mom Eunice, Timothy’s dad, and Timothy all lived together when Timothy was growing up; and Grandma Lois must have made a significant impact on the boy’s spiritual life. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul commented: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).
A grandparent may bequeath money and personal items to the grandkids, but don’t you agree that a godly testimony is a far better inheritance? Memories of the grandparents living in a tin-box house with rocks painted green to look like grass may stick with the grandkids for a while, but memories of Grandpa and Grandma’s faith will last a lifetime. Timothy would say Amen to that!
From Moments of Grace: Encouragement for the Senior Years
“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22a).
A teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their vacation. One child wrote the following:
“We always spend our vacation with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live here in a big, brick house, but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Florida and now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people.
“They live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on big tricycles and wear nametags because they don't know who they are anymore.
“They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all right now. They play games and do exercises there, but they don't do them very well.”
Let’s face it, sometimes grandparents can be as puzzling to their grandkids as grandkids are to their grandparents. And occasionally what the grandkids say about us can be downright humbling:
“Have you always been fat, Grandma?”
“How come you married Grandpa? He doesn’t have any hair. And when I ask him for a dollar, he says he doesn’t have any money.”
“Grandpa, how come you sleep so much?”
But grandkids can also say things that make us feel ten feet tall. When she was six years old, our granddaughter Kayla told my wife, Gloria, “Grandma, next to Jesus, you are the nicest person I know.”
Timothy was an outstanding pastor in the first century, but his training for a commendable life and ministry didn’t begin in a seminary. It began at home. As was typical of first-century families, Grandma Lois, Mom Eunice, Timothy’s dad, and Timothy all lived together when Timothy was growing up; and Grandma Lois must have made a significant impact on the boy’s spiritual life. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul commented: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5).
A grandparent may bequeath money and personal items to the grandkids, but don’t you agree that a godly testimony is a far better inheritance? Memories of the grandparents living in a tin-box house with rocks painted green to look like grass may stick with the grandkids for a while, but memories of Grandpa and Grandma’s faith will last a lifetime. Timothy would say Amen to that!
From Moments of Grace: Encouragement for the Senior Years
Friday, January 4, 2008
Who's in Charge?
The Iowa caucuses placed Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in the forefront of the presidential race. But, as you know, the road to the White House is long and has many twists and turns. November’s results may be far different from yesterday’s results in Iowa. We can’t predict much in politics beyond hackneyed political statements like “We need to change the way we do things in Washington”; “I am the candidate of the future”; and “It’s time to get America moving again.”
I suspect we will have heard enough political talk by March to make us hope for a spate of Andy Griffith and All in the Family TV reruns.
However, a ray of hope pokes through the thick fog of political jargon. It springs from the Bible and assures us God controls the ebb and flow of national leaders. Daniel 4:17 states “that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men” and “gives it to whomever He will.” In our free nation, we elect a President every four years, but God uses the elective process to accomplish His will. We may not always be happy with the person who wins the White House, but God makes no mistakes. He will fulfill His purpose for our nation.
I’m grateful that I live in the United States and have the freedom to vote and to worship and serve God freely. I may not like all the political prattle, but it is a constant reminder of my guaranteed blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we survive and prosper long as “one nation under God.”
.
I suspect we will have heard enough political talk by March to make us hope for a spate of Andy Griffith and All in the Family TV reruns.
However, a ray of hope pokes through the thick fog of political jargon. It springs from the Bible and assures us God controls the ebb and flow of national leaders. Daniel 4:17 states “that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men” and “gives it to whomever He will.” In our free nation, we elect a President every four years, but God uses the elective process to accomplish His will. We may not always be happy with the person who wins the White House, but God makes no mistakes. He will fulfill His purpose for our nation.
I’m grateful that I live in the United States and have the freedom to vote and to worship and serve God freely. I may not like all the political prattle, but it is a constant reminder of my guaranteed blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we survive and prosper long as “one nation under God.”
.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Real Hockey in Real Hockey Weather
I didn’t post a blog yesterday. I just felt like watching some hockey and football. The hockey was especially enjoyable. Pittsburgh and Buffalo battled each other into a shootout overtime in front of about 80,000 fans. They played outdoors in high wind and swirling snow, conditions that so many NHL players were accustomed to in their growing up years.
I grew up about 45 minutes from Buffalo, on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and I played hockey as a kid. The CCM skates I purchased when I was 16 are hanging in my garage. Maybe, just maybe, I will strap them on again. At any rate, the televised outdoor hockey game carried me back to my Canadian youth, when winter coaxed many neighborhood friends and me out of our homes and onto a frozen street or pond for a vigorous hockey game. We chose sides and competed until snow covered the ice, and then we cleared the snow and resumed the battle.
After each game we trudged home bearing the marks of victory or defeat. In either case the marks were identical: chapped and bruised skin. In spite of the discomfort, I’m certain we had more fun playing real hockey in real hockey weather than kids today have playing video hockey indoors.
So I didn’t post a blog yesterday. Instead, I indulged my nostalgia. And that’s not a bad thing, especially if memories of growing up are worth reviving.
I think kids today should enjoy wholesome fun with friends. No one should grow old and remember only a world filled with violence, mistrust, isolation, and impersonal video games. Of course the best memory of our youth should include the time we believed on the Savior.
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
I grew up about 45 minutes from Buffalo, on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and I played hockey as a kid. The CCM skates I purchased when I was 16 are hanging in my garage. Maybe, just maybe, I will strap them on again. At any rate, the televised outdoor hockey game carried me back to my Canadian youth, when winter coaxed many neighborhood friends and me out of our homes and onto a frozen street or pond for a vigorous hockey game. We chose sides and competed until snow covered the ice, and then we cleared the snow and resumed the battle.
After each game we trudged home bearing the marks of victory or defeat. In either case the marks were identical: chapped and bruised skin. In spite of the discomfort, I’m certain we had more fun playing real hockey in real hockey weather than kids today have playing video hockey indoors.
So I didn’t post a blog yesterday. Instead, I indulged my nostalgia. And that’s not a bad thing, especially if memories of growing up are worth reviving.
I think kids today should enjoy wholesome fun with friends. No one should grow old and remember only a world filled with violence, mistrust, isolation, and impersonal video games. Of course the best memory of our youth should include the time we believed on the Savior.
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Monday, December 31, 2007
Time Flies
Where did 2007 go? If time flies when we’re having fun, we must have had a lot of fun in 2007, because the time certainly flew.
The end of a year is a good time to reflect on what we put into those fleeting days that brought us to December 31. If we simply spent each 24-hour day, we may have spent many opportunities to serve the Lord. However, if we invested each 24-hour day in serving Him, we used our time wisely and can anticipate the pleasure of His smile at the bema.
I’m sure you would agree that we can do better in 2008 than we did in 2007. We can heed the apostle Paul’s admonition: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17).
When opportunity to honor the Lord knocks in 2008, let’s answer the door!
The end of a year is a good time to reflect on what we put into those fleeting days that brought us to December 31. If we simply spent each 24-hour day, we may have spent many opportunities to serve the Lord. However, if we invested each 24-hour day in serving Him, we used our time wisely and can anticipate the pleasure of His smile at the bema.
I’m sure you would agree that we can do better in 2008 than we did in 2007. We can heed the apostle Paul’s admonition: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17).
When opportunity to honor the Lord knocks in 2008, let’s answer the door!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)