Don’t pay any attention to the thumbnail.  I am experimenting with a new way to post pictures.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet Bob and Sylvia Jordan and hear their music and experience their ministry, you have really missed something.  Bob and Sylvia (neither pictured above) sang at Jean’s Mens Bible Class this past Sunday.  They travel throughout the U.S. singing  for the Lord, charging nothing for their appearance, and give away free CD’s.  If you would like to learn more about their music ministry, download free mp3’s, donate, or check their calendar, click on Bob and Sylvia Jordan under blogroll at the right.

Attitude

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.  “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”  She did and had a wonderful day.

The next morning she awoke, and looked in the mirror, and saw only two hairs on her head.  “Hmm,” she thought, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”  She did and had a wonderful day.

The next morning as she looked in the mirror she saw only one hair on her head.  She said, “I think I’ll wear my hair in a pony tail today.”  She did and had a wonderful day.

The fourth day she looked in the mirror and noticed she was completely bald, and exclaimed, “Finally, I don’t have to fix my hair.”

Attitude is everything.

Everyone is fighting some kind of battle, so be kinder than necessary.  Live simply, love generously, care deeply, and leave the rest to God.

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass — its about learning to dance in the rain.

The Pledge Of Allegiance

I remember Red Skelton reciting this on his TV show in 1969.  He loved his country.  He loved making people laugh.  He was an American.  Of the few Master Mason’s in Hollywood back when it didn’t embarrass a parent to take his child to the movies, I believe Red was my favorite entertainer.  We need more Red Skeltons (and other M.M.’s like John Wayne, Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers who practiced the tenets of Freemasonry) setting an example for today’s youth.

The Fish

You see the symbol of the fish on cars, lapel pins, and business logos.  What does the fish represent?

Because of persecution, early believers lived in fear.  When two people met one of them would draw an arch with his foot or finger on the ground.  If the other person was a Christian, he would draw the bottom half, making the symbol of a fish.  Then the other person would print the first of five Greek letters inside the fish.  After writing the letter “I,” the first person would write the letter “X,” then the other person would write the “O” and so forth, until they spelled the word “IXOUS” inside the fish symbol.

The Greek word IXOUS (pronounced “ichthus”) means “fish,” but the early Christians gave the Greek word for “fish” a greater meaning.

I (iota) represents Iesous, which is Greek for “Jesus.”

X (chi) stands for Xristos, meaning “Christ.”

O (theta) is Theos, which translates “God.”

U [Y] (upsilon) represents Huios translated “Son.”

S [E] (sigma) stands for Soter, meaning “Savior.”

So the next time you see the sign of the fish remember that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Savior.

Chunkin’ Rocks

When I was a child I always dreamed of being the closing pitcher for the New York Yankees.  I could see Yogi jumping up in agony after having his palm blistered by my blazing fast ball.  In order to hone an already deadly aim I would throw rocks.  One day while standing in the middle of our country road chunkin’ rocks at grasshoppers, a man stopped, watched a minute or two, and finally asked, “Hey, boy!  Ever play any baseball?  Ever pitch?”  I said, “You bet.”  (Of course I had never pitched a baseball, only chunked rocks at grasshoppers, rats and fence posts.)  He told me he needed a pitcher for his team, the Saint Jo Bankers, and I assured him that I was the man for the job.

I never practiced with the team, just showed up for the first game.  Having thrown rocks at grasshoppers and rodents all my life with the intention of killing the little pests, I guess I thought the same principle applied to batters.  After hitting the first four, I attempted to regulate my accuracy by pitching outside — the first pitch went sailing into the dugout.  I threw several several over the backstop and even hit the third baseman one time.

After about 15 walks (still in the top of the first inning) the coach came out and said he thought he should take me out of the game.  I said, “Oh no, I started and I’d like to finish.”  Coach said, “Well, just throw it up there and let them hit it.”  I replied, “That’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past hour.”

Finally, after only about 31 or 32 batters, and learning the secret of softly lobbing the ball over the plate, we retired the side.  Sadly, I also was retired.  Although my dreams of being the closing hurler for the Yankees were shattered, I’m pretty sure my 28 walks set some kind of record.

The Devil Didn’t Like It

Several years back I was invited to speak at a church in St. Louis, Missouri.  I chose for my text Jeremiah 36:21-24.

God had given Jeremiah a message of judgement against king Jehoiakim.  After the scribe had read three or four leaves, the king not liking what he heard, grabbed the scroll and cut it in to pieces.  Then he threw it into the fire — burning the Word of God.

I went on to explain that in chapter 22 Jeremiah had described Jehoiakim’s funeral, “Therefore thus saith the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah…he will be buried with a donkey’s burial, dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

After about twenty minutes of elaboration I closed with the words, “I doubt there is one person in this building who would burn the Word of God.  But if your Bible is lying in a horizontal position on the coffee table 24 hours a day — if you never pick it up and read it — you may as well throw it in the fire and burn it.”

As people were leaving the building a woman approached me and said, “Sir, I really did not enjoy that message very much at all.”  I replied, “That’s alright ma’am, the devil didn’t like it either.”

Anger

Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, and yet sin not….”  In that statement I believe Paul is legitimatizing righteous indignation.  It is an anger at evil, immorality and ungodliness of every sort — an anger for that which is done against God’s purposes.

Jesus expressed holy anger (righteous indignation) at the Pharisees who resented His healing people on the Sabbath.  It was righteous indignition that caused Him to drive the moneychangers from the Temple.  Jesus experienced righteous indignation whenever His Father was dishonored and when others were mistreated.

As for Christians, the more holy they become the more they hate sin.  A Christian should be angry with everything that takes away from the glory and majesty of God and that which is not for the good of all mankind.  Holy anger is a sign of good spiritual health.

We Reap What We Sow

Today’s blog is rather lengthy, so it is located in the right column under “Pages” — entiltled “Sowing And Reaping.”

God Leads You Home

“God takes you to the depths of your being — until you are at rock bottom — and then, if you turn to Him with utter and blind faith, and resolve in your heart and mind to walk only with Him and toward Him, picks you up by the bootstraps and leads you home.”  NBC reporter David Bloom’s last e-mail to his family.

David Bloom died in 2003 of a pulmonary embolism while covering the war in Iraq.

Hear My Words

I am a devoted fan of the LPGA tour.  There’s not much I enjoy more than a Sunday afternoon reclined in front of the TV watching 25 or 30 long-haired women slap around a little white ball.  But there is one thing that confuses me.  Why do they talk to the ball?  I have never seen a golf ball with ears, besides, if it had a brain it would be completely scrambled after just being zapped with a driver.

Why does a woman golfer talk to her golf ball?  I don’t know.  Maybe, they just have to talk even if their words fall on deaf ears (or no ears).  I have noticed that a golf ball is a lot like some men — it really doesn’t matter what the lady golfer tells it to do.  If she tells it to go right, it goes left.  If she tells it to stop, it keeps rolling.  It always does just the opposite of what she tells it to.

Even though the golf ball doesn’t listen, I guess the lady golfer loves it anyway.  After completing a hole she picks it up, wipes it gently with a clean white towel and moves on to the next tee where she zaps it with a driver and, once again, begins telling it what to do.