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"Helping Others Communicate"

TEMPERATURE CHECK!

1/31/2019

 
Two times in my life, I have walked on grass that was brown and cracked underneath my feet.  The first was decades ago when I lived in South Georgia.  It was fairly routine for temperatures there to reach triple digits by the first of July, and then to stay in that range until near the end of August.

When they did, the grass, which had sprung up green and luscious in early March, would cease growing and turn brown.  I remember that simply walking on it would make it crack and crumble underneath one’s feet. Thereafter, wherever one had trod, the grass would literally die, leaving darkened footprints in the yard until the next spring.

The second time grass cracked and crumbled under my feet was here in east Tennessee early this morning, where we are experiencing the southernmost tip of a much ballyhooed polar vortex. With temperatures in the teens and approaching single digits, the grass in my yard is once again brown.
 
As I walked across it out to the mailbox early this morning, I heard that old familiar sound and felt that old familiar feeling as the grass literally crunched and crumbled under my feet, snapping as it did into fragments under the combination of extreme temperature and weight.

As I have reflected on this, I have been reminded that grass is not the only thing to suffer under extremes of temperature.  The same can be true for people.  Sometimes, they can be too hot; and sometimes they can be too cold!  Yet, at other times, they can be too lukewarm!

Aesop, the famed ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller, once told a fable titled “The Man and the Satyr”, in which he alludes to people who are at times hot and at other times cold, depending upon what the circumstance warrants.

According to Aesop…

A long time ago a man met a satyr in the forest and succeeded in making friends with him. The two soon became the best of comrades, living together in the man’s hut. But one cold winter evening, as they were walking homeward, the satyr saw the man blow on his fingers.


“Why do you do that?” asked the satyr. “To warm my hands,” the man replied.


When they reached home, the man prepared two bowls of porridge. These he placed steaming hot on the table, and the comrades sat down very cheerfully to enjoy the meal. But much to the satyr’s surprise, the man began to blow into his bowl of porridge.


“Why do you do that?” he asked. “To cool my porridge,” replied the Man.


The satyr sprang hurriedly to his feet and made for the door. “Goodbye,” he said, “I’ve seen enough. A fellow that blows hot and cold in the same breath cannot be friends with me!”


This fable, like all others told by Aesop, ends with a moral:  “The man who talks for both sides is not to be trusted by either.”

The fictional satyr in Aesop’s fable disapproved of someone who chose to embrace neither heat nor cold, but always sought a more middle-of-the-road, more tepid state in life.   

He is not alone in his condemnation of any such approach. Jesus, too, disapproved of such behavior.  Only He was more pointed in His feelings about it!  In the New Testament Book of Revelation (chapter 3, verses 14-16), He speaks and says…

14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:  These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.


As most anyone who has ever felt the effects of extreme temperatures knows, drinking something warm when one is cold or something cold when one is hot is quite preferable to drinking something lukewarm on either occasion! 

All of this raises a question for each of us.  What sort of taste do we as individuals leave in God’s mouth?!  Are we pleasing to His palate in the way we live our lives?  Apparently, He would have us be either too hot or too cold, anything but lukewarm! 

SOURCES:
AESOP’S FABLE: 
https://fablesofaesop.com/the-man-and-the-satyr.html.
SCRIPTURE:  
https://biblehub.com/niv/revelation/3.htm.

MOONSTRUCK!

1/28/2019

 
As couple of posts ago, I referenced the very rare lunar phenomenon that occurred on the night of January 20 and 21, 2019.  (See my previous post of 01/20/2019 titled MOONSHINE!)  As I pointed out at the time, a fairly rare celestial alignment known as a “Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse” occurred the night before.
 
This meant that several things happened all at once:  (1) a full moon occurred (2) at its closest orbital point to the earth (producing a super moon), (3) being eclipsed by the earth’s shadow (producing an eclipse) (4) at just the right time and place (so as to turn the moon blood red in appearance), and (5) happening in the dead of winter (when wolves are said to howl at the moon)!

As it turns out, however, that was not all the moon had in store for us that night.  For there is one thing related to the moon that has proven even more elusive in human history than has a “Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse” – at least until the night of January 20 and 21, 2019.

Anyone looking at the moon through a standard telescope (or even binoculars on a clear night when there is a full moon) will note that its surface is literally pockmarked with craters.  So much so that the moon even looks like Swiss cheese, no doubt giving rise to the historical misnomer that the moon was made out of cheese.

Our planet (Earth) has only 180 known craters of all sizes.  By comparison, the moon is estimated to have more than 181,000 craters over 1km wide.  The total number is unknown; but easily estimated to be in the millions!  The low range is around 1,300,000 craters; whereas the upper range is estimated as high as 5,200,000,000,000! (You read that right – that’s 5 quadrillion, 300 trillion craters!)  And that’s a lot of meter strikes!

Now, what is even more amazing than this is that in all of recorded history, not one single meteor had ever been observed by any human eye actually impacting the lunar surface!  But all that changed the night of January 20-21, 2019.

With millions upon millions of people (and thousands upon thousands of cameras) worldwide focused on the unfolding lunar phenomenon, reports begin to come in by a great many individuals of, first one, and then a short time later, a second momentary flash occurring on the surface of the moon just as the umbral phase of the eclipse gave way to totality.

As the evidence piled up, it soon became clear that an astronomical miracle of sorts had just been observed.  After thousands of years of recorded history without one single observance of a lunar impact, one (or even perhaps two) had now not only been witnessed but recorded for posterity!

Scientists are now hunting proof positive of the impact by scouring pre and post images of that portion of the moon for the telltale location of a new impact crater.  They are confident the proof will be found, and that the only lunar impact ever observed will be confirmed!

As I have researched this, I have been reminded of what happened some two thousand years ago.  According to God’s Word, all throughout history, people had seen the evidence of their Creator.  The proof of His previous involvement in the world was evident all around them.  Nonetheless, no one had ever actually seen Him. 

But then, suddenly, unexpectedly, on a silent and holy night, God came down and entered this world in the person of Jesus Christ. When He did, He made such a powerful and lasting impression upon this world that it has now resulted in millions upon millions of witnesses worldwide.

One such individual was the Apostle John.  In discussing God’s Son having come into this world, he puts it this way (in his eponymous New Testament Gospel, chapter 1, verses 4- 14): 

4"In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John was a thus a witness to the light that had come into this world.  His life had been tremendously impacted by Jesus when this had happened.  And John wanted nothing more than to have everyone else on earth be impacted by the Son of God just as He had been.   

Like the Apostle John, I have both seen the light and felt the impact of Jesus Christ.  I hope you have as well!  For once you have experienced the presence of God in Jesus Christ and discovered the impression He makes upon your world, you too will have seen the light!  And you too will want to tell everyone you encounter about what you have now seen and experienced!

NEWS SOURCES: 


https://cosmoquest.org/x/blog/2012/02/how-many-craters-are-on-the-moon/;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_craters_on_the_Moon;
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/01/meteor-hit-the-moon-during-blood-moon-eclipse-heres-what-we-know/.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:  


https://biblehub.com/niv/john/1.htm.

ROOT CAUSE!

1/24/2019

 
The story is told of a  farmer who once planted two fruit trees on opposite sides of his property. He planted the first one to provide a hedge in order to hide the unsightly view of an old landfill on adjacent property.  He planted the other to provide shade to rest under near a cool mountain stream which ran down beside his fields.  As the two trees grew, both soon began to flower and then eventually to produce fruit.

One day, the farmer decided to gather the fruit from the tree nearest his house - the one used to provide a hedge from the landfill.  As he brought the fruit inside his house, he noticed that it was a little deformed.  The symmetry of the fruit was admittedly not very good.  Nonetheless, the fruit still looked edible.

Later that evening, while sitting on his porch the farmer took one of the pieces of fruit for a snack. Biting into it, he soon found it to be extremely bitter, and in reality, quite inedible. Casting the fruit aside, he looked across the field to the other tree over by the mountain stream.

After making his way across the field, the farmer took a piece of the fruit from this other tree and bit into it.  This time, he found the fruit to be sweet and quite delicious.  So he gathered several more pieces of this fruit and took them all to his house to be enjoyed.

Hopefully, the point of this story is self-evident.  The fruit produced by each tree was greatly affected by the nutrition taken in at its respective root.  Thus, the tree that grew by the landfill turned out to produce bitter fruit; while the tree that grew by the stream of fresh water produced sweet fruit. 

Now, in this little parable is a profound truth: the root determines the fruit!  Each of us can either put down roots into the soil of the landfill of fleshly pursuits, or into soil by the cool refreshing stream of the river of life, Jesus Christ. The choice is entirely ours to make!  But whatever choice we make, the fruit of our respective lives will always be the outward evidence of our respective inward connection!

The Psalmist understood this long ago.  Under God’s guidance, he penned these words in the opening chapter of the Old Testament Book of Psalms (chapter1, verses 1-6):


1Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

3That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers.

4Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

In light of this, let us each do our best to plant ourselves firmly next to the living water; and also to put down deep roots there - roots that will insure that our fruit will not only be beautiful, but ultimately wholesome and nourishing to all!
 
STORY SOURCE: Available widely online.  See, for instance:
https://bible.org/illustration/two-fruit-trees-different-fruit.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:  
https://biblehub.com/niv/psalms/1.htm.

MOONSHINE!

1/21/2019

 
East Tennessee, where I reside, is noted for several wonderful things.  Among them are the Great Smokey Mountains, Gatlinburg, snow skiing, Dolly Parton, and, of course, the University of Tennessee and its associated athletic programs, including NCAA football and (especially) women’s basketball.
 
All of these things (and many more) are rightly celebrated by the good people of east Tennessee.  But let’s be honest, even the “uninitiated” associate this area with hillbillies and above all, moonshine!  And why not?  Even the famed fight song of the University of Tennessee (titled “Rocky Top”) contains the line stating:  “Corn won't grow at all on rocky top… Dirt's too rocky by far... That's why all the folks on rocky top… Get their corn from a jar.”

Moonshine, is of course, illicitly distilled whiskey.  To be certain, middle Tennessee is the home to Jack Daniels, arguably the world most well-known brand of distilled spirits.  But it appears that, in times past at least, the good folks of east Tennessee chose not to pay the taxes on their distillations, and incurred the wrath of the infamous “revenuers” in the process.

Well, last night, a slightly different form of moonshine was featured here in east Tennessee.  In a rare celestial alignment, something called a “Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse” was on display in all its cosmic glory. This means several things happened all at once:  (1) a full moon occurred (2) at its closest point to the earth (producing a super moon), (3) being eclipsed by the earth’s shadow (producing an eclipse) (4) at just the right time and place (so as to turn the moon blood red in appearance), and (5) happening in the dead of winter (when wolves are said to howl at the moon)!

Well, I will admit...  I stayed up well beyond my normal bedtime to witness this very rare astronomical event, which will not happen again for quite some time.

And despite the bitterly cold temperatures (around 18 degrees Fahrenheit) when I ventured outside, the return was well worth the investment.  Like millions of other interested parties, I was rewarded with a sight I will not soon forget!  In the midst of total darkness, the moon first crept up into the sky, and began to show forth in all its glory. 

However, after having briefly lit up the darkness of the night, it then turned blood red, before ultimately disappearing completely behind the shadow of this world.  At length, however, it suddenly burst forth once again in all its resplendent glory.  And thereafter, the once dark night was lit up like the sun shining at midday!

Now, in that simple process of nature, rare as it may be, is a picture of the very Gospel itself!  For into this world there once came the one and only Son of God, shining as a light in the darkness.  After having lit the way for a great many people, he was forced into the shadow of the death, wherein, briefly, His light was (seemingly) extinguished; and only the red blood of his former grandeur was visible. The evil one howled with pleasure while all of this occurred.

But to the amazement of all who observed it, including the evil one himself, God’s one and only Son suddenly burst forth from that dark red shadow and shown forth once again in all His resplendent glory!  From that day until now, the powers of darkness in this world have struggled to overcome His light.  But they have failed to do so! 

And just as the radiance of the full moon from 1AM onward last night eventually gave way to the rise of the sun around 7AM, even so will the radiance of Jesus Christ in this world one day give rise to a time when He will reign unassailable over all things!
And that, my friends, is well worth observing.  And pondering!  For, as the Apostle John tells us (in chapter one of his eponymous New Testament Gospel, verses 9-12):

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…


Praise God!  No power of darkness can ever extinguish that light!  And that gives us more than a mere celestial event to observe.  It gives us an eternal event to celebrate!

STORY SOURCE:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/03/super-blood-wolf-moon-eclipse-coming-soon-what-does-all-mean/2474960002/.
LYRICS SOURCE:
https://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/nitty+gritty+dirt+band/rocky+top_20101246.html.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/john/1.htm.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE!

1/17/2019

 
Continuing in the vein of my previous post, my thoughts today center on my newly restored music channels on our cable network.  When our television has been on over the last few days, it has largely been on these music channels.  I guess that, having for so long done without them, I just needed my musical “fix”.

Accordingly, over the last few evenings, I have enjoyed many nostalgic moments from my grade school days listening to the 60’s channel, from my high school days listening to the 70’s channel, from my college days listening to the 80’s channel, etc…

But the wonderful thing is that, more than just being entertained by these channels, I have also been somewhat challenged by them.  You see, most every song that pops up is accompanied by several tidbits of trivia – either about the artist, the song itself, the album it came from, or the times when the song debuted.

I soon noticed that one recurring piece of trivia has to do with what the major influences on the particular artist who is performing the current song.  So, for instance, a given male artist may have stated that the major influences upon him were Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, and Plácido Domingo.  (That’s right! Very often, these influences consist of the most unusual compilation of earlier recording artists from wide-ranging and seemingly juxtaposed genres.)

Similarly, a given female artist may have stated that she was influenced by Patsy Cline, Karen Carpenter, and Moriah Carey.  And while the various combinations of recording artists having influenced each performer are often somewhat surprising, one thing is clear:  every single recording artist (or group of artists) has been influenced by some other recording artist (or group of artists)!

As I have pondered this, I have been reminded that all of us are influenced by others who came before us.  Likewise, each and every one of us will be an influence on one or more other people who will come after us!  That is the just the way life works!

Given this fact, would we not all do well to consider what the influences on us have been?  I once heard a man state that he had learned from everyone he had ever encountered.  Some of these had taught him what to do and say.  Others had taught him what NOT to do and say!  Either way, he had learned from each and every one of them.

He was on to something there!  Each of us owes a debt of gratitude to those who have influenced us!  This is true whether that influence was for the good we should do or the bad we should not do.  Bu this is especially so if that influence was for the good!

Given this, does it not it behoove each of us on occasion to seek out and to thank those who have played a significant role in our development and/or success in life?!  Yes, it certainly does!  And it also behooves us to remember that, in all we think, say, or do, we are having an influence on some other person or persons in turn!

So, then, who is watching you today?  Who is listening to you today?  Who is learning from you today?  More to the point, who is inculcating your values today?  The answer may just be:  “Far more than you realize!”

In His famed “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus said the following:

14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.


It is obvious that Jesus is here admonishing us to be careful with our influence!  As Christians, we literally light the way for others!  We should make every effort, therefore, to light the way for them in such a manner that it takes them ever closer to a life that glorifies God!

And then, they too will likely take every opportunity to remember us.  More importantly, they will likely remember that they too are now influencing others; and live their lives accordingly! 

That, my friends, is the awesome power of influence!  Use it well; and use it wisely!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: 
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/5.htm. 

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW!

1/13/2019

 
Johnny Nash once had a number one hit single titled " I Can See Clearly Now!".  After what I recently went through, I can certainly relate!

Sometime in the fall of last year, I began to notice that the music channels in the upper region of our cable television selection were not working properly.  Not that I visit them every day; but occasionally I like to put the television on a music channel and listen while I work on projects around the house.

I noticed that whenever I put the television on a music channel, I would be given the message that it would be available “shortly”. The problem was that “shortly” became “never”.  I know because I decided to run an experiment. The day after Thanksgiving, I put the television in our bedroom on the “Sounds of the Seasons” channel and left it there just to see how long it would take. Twelve hours later, the “shortly” message was still being shown!

At this point, I was thoroughly heartbroken.  I knew Christmas was coming on; and I was looking forward to having Christmas carols and seasonal songs in the background to help set the mood for Christmas.  Alas, however, it was not meant to be.  I went the whole Christmas season listening to CDs and iTunes instead.

But when January rolled around, I found myself tired of paying for services I was not receiving.  So I called the cable company; and they promptly sent a technician out at the agreed upon time. After voluminous tests, he concluded that I had an interruption in my signal and informed me that, in such cases, the music channels always went out first.

He went outside and found that a wire had somehow been exposed out at the box.  This wire had obviously been chewed upon by some varmint.  Having replaced the wire, he then tested the incoming signal and determined that it was finally correct. But still no music channels!  He continued testing and then concluded that my box was bad and needed replacing – which he next did. 

The new cable box was much thinner and sleeker than the old one.  It was also an HD capable box; whereas the prior one was not.  I quickly told him I did not need an HD box because, even though our children had gotten us a big, fancy modern flat screen television with all the proverbial bells and whistles, I was simply too cheap to pay for HD.  As a result, I did not need that particular box.

At this point, he connected the television and, to my amazement, showed me that I did indeed have access to HD programming. The cable package I have had for years includes HD!  I had been paying for the HD signal all along, even though I had not known it!

I was simply stunned!  All this time, your truly, a.k.a. “Mr. Tightwad”, could have been watching sports, movies, and documentaries in high definition and never knew it! All along, I had been watching an HD signal though a non-HD capable box, all while smugly assuring myself that I was being frugal.  In reality, all I was doing was cheating myself!  Something had been bought and paid for; but I had not embraced  it.  And worse of all, I had no one to blame but little ol’ me!

But not anymore!  For the same amount of money per month, I am now living in a whole new world!  I have now had my digital eyes opened and have seen the light of high definition!  And I like it!  So much so that there is now no going back!  I won’t watch another ball game in low definition!  Nor another movie!  Nor another documentary!  Not me! 

Of course, somewhere in all of this is a good life lesson.  In the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 10, verse 10), Jesus tells us that He came in order that we might each have a full and abundant life.  The New International Version says He came that we might “have life, and have it to the full”!

And yet, as I look around, I realize that many who profess faith in Jesus Christ do not always necessarily seem to enjoy a full, abundant, and/or meaningful life.  Quite frankly, it seems as if they are living beneath their privilege! 

To anyone experiencing such frustration, I would offer the following for consideration.  Jesus Christ freely gives eternal life to all who seek Him.  But it is important to remember that the wonderful thing about eternal life is that it involves both a quantity of life and a quality of life.  It involves the hereafter, to be sure. But it also involves the here and now! 

To be sure, having eternal life means that we will one day live forever with God in His presence in a wonderful and perfect world called Heaven.  What a day, glorious day that will be!  But eternal life means more than this.  It also means that we can a quality of life here in this world that greatly surpasses anything this world has to offer!

Now, if Jesus is offering all of this to us, then why would we ever not avail ourselves of it?!  Now, do not get me wrong, here.  I am not naively asserting that once we embrace Christ as our Savior, all of our problems will somehow automatically disappear.  But I am asserting that we can live a full, meaningful, and victorious life here and now even in the midst of difficulty!

It all has to do with our perspective!  Once we are in Christ, we can then view life in an entirely different way!  We can see this world and its concerns more clearly, more realistically, and in their proper perspective!  We can look at life in spiritual high definition!

It is not by accident, therefore, that Jesus’ statement in John chapter 10 comes immediately after He has healed a blind man in John chapter 9.  The testimony of that man was that he had been blind; but now he could see!  Once he encountered Jesus Christ, for the first time in his life, he could truly see things in all of their splendor!  And thanks to Jesus, so can we!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES: 
https://biblehub.com/john/10-10.htm and https://biblehub.com/niv/john/9.htm.

WE ARE THE Champions!

1/7/2019

 
“We are the champions!” So sang the rock group known as “Queen”.  Well, here it is Championship Monday; and someone will be able to claim that before this night is over.  As I type this, Alabama and Clemson are slugging it out for the NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.  And to every true football fan’s delight, this game is certainly living up to its billing. So far, in the first half at least, it is a real barn-burner!

Of course, we southerners are quite passionate about our football.   (I’ve blogged about this matter before.  See for instance, MASTERING THE GAME, 01/28/2013.)

Unfortunately for me, being a Georgia Bulldogs fan whose season is already over, my own passion has been dimmed somewhat.  But hey, even though we lost the Sugar Bowl to Texas, we did garner 11 wins.  Thus, my new mantra is “Wait till next year!”  This year, we won the SEC East; maybe next year, we’ll win the SEC itself!  And from there, who knows?  There's always next year!

Of course, it did not help any that before my team lost their bowl game to Texas, they also lost the SEC title game to the Alabama Crimson Tide.  Nor did it help that my uncle lives in Texas!  Nor that my two sisters and their families all live in Alabama!  Nor does it help that I have several friends who all graduated from Clemson!  Rest assured that all of these entities have, each in turn, subtly reminded me that their own respective seasons did not end on January 1, 2019 with a loss!

Oh well, at least I can take solace in knowing that no matter how tonight turns out, I will be able to even the proverbial score against at least one of the offending parties above!  Somebody’s gonna lose tonight; and when they do, boy oh boy, are they’re gonna hear about it from me!

All that being said, and perhaps to alleviate some of the tension surrounding tonight’s big game, I thought I would just take the opportunity to post a little football humor tonight.  Enjoy…

It seems that, during the Super Bowl, there was another football game of note unfolding between the big animals and the little animals.  Not surprisingly, the big animals were soon crushing the little animals.  Thus it was that the coach of the little animals made an impassioned speech at half-time to rally his team.

It just so happened that the big animals got the ball first at the start of the second half.  On the first play, however, the strongest animal, the elephant, got stopped cold for no gain.  On the second play, the toughest animal, the rhinoceros, was also stopped for no gain.  And then, on third down, the heaviest animal, the hippopotamus, was even thrown for a five yard loss! 

To, everyone’s amazement, the big animals were forced to punt!Over on the sidelines, as the defense huddled around the little animals’ coach, he asked excitedly, "Who stopped that elephant?"  "I did" said the centipede.  "Who stopped the rhino?" "Uh, that was me too," said the centipede.  "And how about the hippo?  Who hit him for a five yard loss?"  "Well, that was me as well," said the centipede.

"SO, WHERE WERE YOU THE FIRST HALF?!" demanded the coach. "Well…" said the centipede, "I was having my ankles taped."

Seriously, football is a great game!  But unlike individual sports such as tennis or golf, football is a team sport.  As such, it requires each of the twenty-two players on the field doing their part, each playing their position, and each using whatever skills they have to make an impact and contribute to the overall success of the team!

Of course, great big linemen are typically quite strong, but not very fast.  Much lighter backs are usually fleet of foot, but not necessarily as robust as others.  Still others are good at ball handling, or at punting, or at place-kicking.  By definition, therefore, a championship team is first and foremost just that: a team!

This all reminds us of a basic principle in life.  As John Donne said, “No man is an island unto himself.”  The vast majority of us do the things we do in life in concert with others. Some of us play as a part of a team.  But whether we are involved in sports or not, we typically live as part of a family, work as a part of a company, and worship as a part of a church.  And we absolutely function as part of a community!

As social beings, therefore, it behooves us to learn to work in conjunction with others.  We do this best when we recognize what our own skillset is, and employ it for the good of others.  But we also need to accept the fact that others may be better than we are at certain things.  And in so doing, learn to depend upon them even as we demonstrate to them that that they can confidently depend upon us to do our part.

I assure you that learning to live this way will make us much more than the annual champion of some particular league in some particular sport; it will make us champions in life!

SOURCE: 
http://www.jokesabout.net/football-animal-superbowl.

NOTE:  The Bible has much to say about teamwork.  For instance:
"For the body is not one member, but many."  (1 Corinthians 12:14)
"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor."  (Ecclesiastes 4:9)
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers."  (Ephesians 4:11)
"Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." (Proverbs 27:17)
"We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth." (3 John 1:8)
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1 Corinthians 1:10)

SEE ALSO: 
http://teamworkdefinition.com/quotesfromthebible/.


SADDLE UP!

1/4/2019

 
In 2014, members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.  In 2001, a group of voters selected by the Recording Industry Association of America ranked it as the 98th best song of the entire Twentieth Century!  Four years earlier, in 1997, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  And four years prior to that, in 1993, it even made the soundtrack of the film “Sleepless in Seattle”.

I am referring, of course, to Gene Autry’s signature classic: "Back in the Saddle Again".  And although he was not the first to record it, Autry’s version of it, way back in 1939, became a gold record!

Perhaps you are familiar with the lyrics:


I'm back in the saddle again…
Out where a friend is a friend…
Where the longhorn cattle feed…
On the lowly jimson weed…
I'm back in the saddle again!


Now that this little ditty is stuck in your head, I’ll get to my point. As the holidays come to an end, and as the month of January unfolds, most of us find ourselves getting back in the saddle!  We return to our routine, to our day in and day out and week in and week out cycle of existence.

Not everyone looks forward to this.  For some, the mind-numbing boredom such a routine portends is almost unbearable.  Others dread it less for the monotony and more for the sense that they are trapped.  More fearful than bored, they feel that they are wasting precious time and opportunity in this, that, or the other repetitious pursuit, always busy but never actually accomplishing very much.

And yet, I would suggest that the discipline of a routine is the very essence of accomplishment and fulfillment in life!  Consider what the Bible has to say about the importance of having a routine in the lives of three key figures:

Of Daniel, the Bible says:

“When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously….” (Daniel 6:10 ESV)

Of Paul, it says:

“And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures…” (Acts 17:2 ESV)

And of Jesus, Himself, the Scriptures say:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read…”  (Luke 4:16 ESV)  

Daniel, Paul, and Jesus all appeared to have gotten in the saddle and stayed there!  They each developed routine behaviors that were beneficial to them and also to those they encountered. Among these routine behaviors were praying, attending services at the Lord’s house, and discussing their faith with others. Having developed them, they obviously persisted.  And God used these things to give them repeated victories in their lives.

In the same way, I challenge you to consider that most of our own victories in life will come about in and by the daily routines we develop and maintain in the coming year. One of the most decorated athletes of ancient Greece was Milo of Croton.  He was not a mythological individual like Hercules, but rather a real man noted for his many victories in the various Greek games.
 
He was said to have developed his great strength by lifting a newborn calf and carrying it a certain distance and then setting it down.  He then repeated this exact same feat day in and day out as the calf matured into a full grown bull.  As the days passed and turned into years, the bull grew heavier and heavier.  And so did Milo’s strength and stamina as a result!

Similarly, individuals like Daniel, Paul, and Jesus all possessed great spiritual strength and stamina that gave them many spiritual victories.  This was doubtless due to the fact that they each pursued a daily routine of spiritual nurture and exercise.  And the same can be true for us.

So, my friend, as 2019 unfolds, why not commit to developing and maintaining some essential daily routines?  Do this in all areas of your life – but especially the spiritual.  And then, slowly but surely, as the minutes tick by, and as the hours become days, and as these become weeks, you will doubtless become stronger and better at all you undertake to do.  You will most likely experience more and more daily victorious as well!

Who knows?  Before long, perhaps, it might even be said of you as it was of individuals like Daniel and Paul and, above all, Jesus:  “such was his custom”!

SOURCES: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_Saddle_Again;
https://genius.com/Gene-autry-back-in-the-saddle-again-lyrics;
https://www.openbible.info/topics/routine;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_of_Croton.

WASTED DAYS AND WASTED NIGHTS?!

1/1/2019

 
Like so many, my wife and I have now spent the last 24 hours or so boxing up and packing away our treasured Christmas decorations. This conglomeration of adornments has grown exponentially over the decades, and now consumes numerous boxes and the better part of an entire closet.

In fact, the only thing that is larger is my collection of Christmas music, which I absolutely love.  As is the case for so many people, my own personal collection of Christmas songs is a combination of religious and secular music.  The former includes numerous well-known carols and hymns while the latter includes an assortment of pop favorites from the 1940s up to the present day.

Unlike the more physical accoutrements of Christmas, these songs can all be neatly packed into playlists that only consume disc space on my device.  Sadly, however, just like the more physical counterparts of Christmas décor, these songs too will all now be securely tucked away and left completely undisturbed for the next eleven months.

As I helped my wife pack away all of our Christmas paraphernalia, I listened to one last round of these songs.  As I did, one set of lines from one song in particular struck me. They are from the song “So This Is Christmas” by John Lennon.


So this is Christmas;
And what have you done?
Another year over,
And a new one just begun.


And so this is Christmas;
I hope you have fun.
The near and the dear one,
The old and the young.


A very merry Christmas,
And a happy New Year!
Let's hope it's a good one…
Without any fear!


As yet another Christmas Day gives way to yet another New Year’s Day in general, and as 2018 gives way to 2019 in particular, I find myself haunted by these words:  “Another year over.”  Even more troubling are the words:  “And what have you done?”

I am reminded that life itself is a precious gift - as is each and every day that the future hands us!  You, like me, are a human being created by Almighty God.  Alone among His creation, we have been made “in His image”.  As such, we are the crowning work of God’s creative endeavor!

Also as such, we have each been uniquely gifted by Him for the sole purpose of bringing Him glory and honor!  And the best way to do this is to make use of our individual God-given talents and gifts! 

Now, to be sure, not everyone can paint like Leonardo, or sculpt like Michelangelo, or write like Shakespeare.  Nor is everyone possessed of the skills needed to compose a musical score, to handle a ball, to employ a scalpel, or to conceive of and to invent technological wonders.

Jesus’ famed “Parable of the Talents” 
(in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14-30) affirms all of this in showing us that God equips each of us differently.  In Jesus’ story, some are five-talent people, some are two-talent people, and some are one-talent people. 

Nevertheless, God holds each of us equally accountable for how we utilize whatever He has given to us.  Thus, what matters most in this life is what we each do with what we have each been given by our Creator!  As a certain preacher once put it:  “Life is largely about whatcha do with whatcha got!”

As 2019 unfolds, I ask those of you who visit my blog regularly to pray for me that I will find more and more ways to make the best use of what all God has entrusted to me – be that endowment material, physical, intellectual, relational, and/or spiritual in nature!  In return, I shall do the same for you. 

Thereafter, we can each fearlessly go forth into this new year and do our best to make it one in which we will have not only accomplished much, but also made more and more of a difference by the lives we have lead.

After all, as Jesus Himself put it (in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verse 48), “to whom much is given, much is required”.  Indeed, a God-given and God-endowed life is truly a terrible thing to waste!


LYRICS SOURCE:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/so-this-is-christmas-lyrics-john-lennon.html.

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:
https://biblehub.com/bsb/matthew/25.htm; and https://biblehub.com/luke/12-48.htm.

TITLE SOURCE:  The title of today’s post comes from a classic country music song sung by Freddie Fender back in the day.  In it, a man pines for a lost lover, and confronts the fact that he has now wasted far too many days and nights over the heartbreak she caused him.  The lyrics themselves are a subtle reminder to put the past behind us and get on with our lives.  Given that life never quite turns out the way we plan, and is often full of disappointments, this in itself is not a bad admonition for New Year’s Day!

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

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