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TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!

4/28/2014

The folks over at www.greatcleanjokes.com have a whole page devoted to Senior Adult humor.  One of their selections has to do with a lady and her grandson. It goes like this...

“Hi! My name is Gertrude,” said the lady next to a man on the plane. ”It’s so nice to meet you! I’m flying to New York for my grandson’s third birthday. I’m so excited! I remember when he was just a little thumbkin and now he’s already three! It’s really hard to believe.

“He’s the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen!   You know what?   Hold on, I think I might have a picture on me.   Let me take a look in my purse, yes, here it is, just look at him, isn’t he adorable.  Do you see his dimple on his left cheek? Simply adorable! I could stare at his picture all day.

“Oh my, and you should hear him on the phone! He is just the cutest, he says to me in the cutest voice ‘Hi Grandma!” It just gets me all teary eyed.”

After what seemed like two hours for the poor man sitting next to her, Gertrude seemed to realize that perhaps she was talking a bit too much. “You know, I feel terrible! Here I am just talking and talking without letting you get in a word edgewise!

“Tell me…  What do you think about my Grandson?!”*

I share this cute story because this very week, at our church, two important events are unfolding. The first is “Senior Adult Day”, which we call “Prime Time” Day, and which is taking place this coming Sunday. We have a great bunch of Prime Timers; and it is wonderful to be able to celebrate the part they play in our ministry together this coming week.

The second has to do with our Senior Adult Pastor, Dr. Dick DeMerchant.  He has his lovely wife, Mrs. Della, are celebrating the birth of their twin grandchildren down in Atlanta.  I wish the entire DeMerchant family the very best at this joyous time in their lives.

Be advised, however, that if you plan on attending this coming Sunday, you may very well need to plan on a little extra time to look at a few pictures of Pastor Dick’s and Mrs. Della’s newest additions! In fact, knowing Pastor Dick, he may very well have a display booth set up in the main hallway!

Seriously, congratulations to the whole DeMerchant family.  We truly rejoice with you as you celebrate this wondrous blessing in your lives together.

*JOKE SOURCE: http://www.greatcleanjokes.com/jokes/senior-jokes/.

IT AIN’T OVER YET!

4/25/2014

This past Sunday, in our Easter Sunrise service, I told an alternative version of the story I had related in an earlier blog titled PLAYING WITH ONE’S DESTINY dated 04/07/2014.   (Cf.: http://www.cleoejacksoniii.com/1/post/2014/04/playing-with-o
nes-destiny.html.)

In that previous blog, I had related Paul Lee Tan's version of the story about a famous painting by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. That painting is now reportedly in private hands, having been sold at auction at Christie’s in 1999. It purports to be Goethe’s Faust in a chess match with the Devil. Specifically, the scene depicted appears to be that of Faust having just lost that match, with all the ensuing consequences about to unfold. Hence, the title often attributed to it: “Checkmate”!

After being on display at the Louvre in Paris, the painting is said to have gone on a worldwide tour. When it was being displayed in Cincinnati, the world famous chess Grand Master Paul Morphy travelled up from New Orleans to view it. As Oswald Sanders is said to have popularized the story, Morphy gazed intently at the portrait, carefully retracing all the moves of the match that had led to the current configuration on the board.

A half hour or so went by, and suddenly Morphy shouted out loud as he pointed up to the painting, “Young man, make that move. That's the move!" He wanted desperately for the young man in the picture somehow to hear him.  Had he done so, and heeded his advice at that one moment in the game, things would have turned out so differently in the end.

But, alas, the young man could not. The mistake had been made and the die had been cast. The story helps to illustrate the crucial significance of every decision we make in life.

In researching the history of this story, I have discovered that there is an alternative version.  This one was popularized by Billy Graham, among others, as early as 1955. In this version, the story unfolds much as before. The difference is in what Paul Morphy is reported to have uttered after studying the famous painting for so long.

In this version, Morphy ran down the hall exclaiming, “Wait, wait, wait! The match is not over! The King still has another move! The King still has another move!”

Dr. Kenneth Ulmer, Bishop of Faithful Central Bible Church located in Inglewood, CA, once utilized this story from the pulpit. Faithful Central is a predominantly African-American church. Their worship is Spirit filled and heart felt. We are told that when Dr. Ulmer said, “The King still has one more move…” the congregation started to get a little noisy.

Then, when he said a second time, “The King has one more move,” the people got excited. And when they heard that it wasn’t checkmate at all because the King of Kings still had another move, they started shouting their agreement and approval!  Why? Because this gifted communicator of the Gospel had made his point well that Easter Sunday: the King of Kings always has another move!

It may have seemed like He had been checkmated at the Red Sea when the Israelites were hemmed in by Pharaoh’s army. But Old Moses raised his hands to Heaven and showed that the King still had another move!

It may have seemed as if He had been checkmated when Goliath taunted the Israelite Army on the battlefield.  But Young David stepped forward and showed that the King still had another move.

It may have seemed that all was lost when Daniel was thrown into a lion’s den for the night.  But in the night, an angel appeared and showed that the King still had another move! And that is the message of Easter above all else:  “The King still has another move!”

Good Friday may have seen Jesus illegally tried, judged, condemned, whipped, beaten, mocked, scorned, crucified, stabbed, killed, and then laid him in a sealed tomb.  The Devil may have shouted “Checkmate” in delirious delusion!  But…  The King still had another move! And on Easter morning, He proved it! As the hymn writer joyously proclaimed:

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

SOURCES:  I am indebted to the following authors/sites for these thoughts:

http://hottubreligion.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/the-king-still-has-another-move-by-ken-ulmer/;

http://btlife.blogspot.com/2008/07/king-has-another-move.html;

http://what-a-friend-an.blogspot.com/2011/07/checkmate.html;

http://www.y-malawi.org/blog/checkmate/.

Dr. Ken Ulmer’s website is located at: https://www.faithfulcentral.com/about-us/bishop-kenneth-ulmer.

Lastly, a thorough discussion of what is called “Morphy’s Anecdote” can be found over www.chess.com.   Cf.: http://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/die-schachspieler-and-the-morphy-anecdote.  Here, the painting is shown most probably to have been  Retzsch's piece titled "The Chess Players".

The hymn lyrics, from Christ Arose by Robert Lowry, can be found at:   http://
library.timelesstruths.org/music/Christ_Arose/.

DOWN IN THE MOUTH!

4/22/2014

I once heard an emcee tell the following story as he introduced a featured speaker. It seems that…

A dinner speaker was in such a hurry to get to the hotel that when he arrived and sat down at the head table, he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to get his false teeth. Turning to the man next to him he said, "I forgot my teeth." The man said, "No problem." With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of false teeth.

"Try these," he said. The speaker tried them. "Too loose," he said. The man then said, "I have another pair...try these." The speaker tried them and responded, "Too tight." The man was not taken back at all. He then said, "I have one more pair...try them." The speaker said, "They fit perfectly." With that, he ate his meal and gave his address.

After the dinner meeting was over, the speaker went over to thank the man who had helped him. "I want to thank you for coming to my aid. Where is your office? I've been looking for a good dentist." The man replied, "I'm not a dentist.  I'm the local undertaker."*

Thankfully, I do not yet have false teeth. But I do have a few issues with my teeth.  Those of you who read my blog fairly regularly will remember that last year I had to have sum surgery on my upper gums. And now, I have had the same surgery on my lower gums. Hopefully, this will take care of my dental issues.

The bad news is that I will have a few days of discomfort.  But the good news is that I will keep a fairly healthy set of teeth, and thus forestall any mention of false teeth for the foreseeable future.

But the best news of all is that I will essentially have a mouth that is in good working order.  I say best news because, being a preacher, I largely earn my living with my mouth!

Thanks for your prayers as I convalesce.  I should be “up and at ‘em” in the next day or two.

*SOURCE: http://www.dentalaffairs.com/includes/jokes.htm.

FOLLOW ME AND LIVE!

4/20/2014

Max Lucado is a gifted communicator of the Gospel who has written numerous books. In one of these, titled Six Hours One Friday, he tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part of the jungle.

They lived in a village situated near a large river. A contagious disease was ravaging the population and the entire tribe was in need of immediate medical attention. People were literally dying daily.

The good news is that a hospital was not too far away. The bad news is that hospital was across the river. And the Indians would not cross the river because they believed it was inhabited by evil spirits. They believed that to enter it would mean certain death, as they had seen many go into those waters and not come out.

The missionary explained to them how he had crossed the river, and yet was unharmed. But they were not impressed in the slightest. He then took them to the bank of the river and knelt down, placing his hand in the water. They still wouldn’t go in.

Next, he walked into the water up to his waist and proceeded to splash water all over his face. It still did not matter. The villagers were still afraid to enter the river.

Finally, the missionary turned and plunged down into the river. The villagers feared that he had inevitable succumbed to the evil spirits. However, in a moment or two, he emerged on the other bank of the river. He had swum underneath to the other side.

There, standing up, he raised a triumphant fist into the air. He had entered the water and escaped. Indeed, he had triumphed over the river. It was then that the Indians broke into a cheer and gladly followed him across.

Is not that exactly what Jesus did on Good Friday? He entered the river of death on an old rugged cross.  Then, three days later, early on Easter Sunday morning, He came out triumphantly on the other side!

And He did that for one reason: so that we might no longer fear death, but find eternal life in Him.  Little wonder, then, that the Apostle Paul was moved to proclaim the following in his first New Testament letter to the Christians at Corinth (15:54-57):

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Amen!

SOURCE: Paraphrased from Max Lucado’s book, Six Hours One Friday: Anchoring to the Cross, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 1999), pp.126-127.

THREE DAYS LATER…

4/18/2014

Today is Friday, April 18, 2014. For some two billion Christians around the globe, this day is unique on the annual calendar. Known as “Good Friday”, it is part of a greater observance referred to as “Holy Week”, which commemorates the last week of Jesus Christ’s earthly life.

On this day, some two millennia ago, Jesus Christ was crucified on a Roman cross.  Thus, for many believers, this day is a time of sorrow. For most, it is also a time of reflection, as we ponder afresh and anew the significance of the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God. For, as the Apostle Peter says in his first New Testament letter (3:18a), “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

And yet, the truly amazing thing is that He did not have to do this.  He alone was righteous. He alone was innocent. He alone was without fault or blame. And yet, as Peter affirms here, and as the Apostle Paul also states in his own second New Testament letter to the Corinthians (5:21), “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us…”

Why would Jesus Christ willingly go to the cross when He did not deserve it? Why did He lay down His life for all mankind?   Peter answers this question as he continues his thought in the latter portion of the above verse, “He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”

Paul, likewise, adds the reason for Jesus’ death on the cross, continuing his own thought with these words:  “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Because of this, the sorrow that Christians experience on this day is tempered with the knowledge of what is to come. As the Biblical story makes plain, the tragic proceedings of Friday were followed by the glorious events of Sunday.

“Three Days Later”, as one popular song title proclaims, Easter Sunday unfolded. On that blessed day, Jesus Christ miraculously rose up from the grave.  And in so doing, He imbued the events of Friday with meaning beyond measure!

Thus it is, that on this day, Christians everywhere are somewhat sorrowful. But that sorrow is only temporary at best. And this is because we know a secret… It may be Friday; but Sunday is coming!

One of the most gifted communicators of the modern era was a man named S. M. Lockridge, who lived from 1913-2000, and served as the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, a prominent African-American congregation in San Diego, California, from 1953 to 1993. Few people have encapsulated the hearts of Christians as effectively as did Dr. Lockridge in his famous message on the events of Good Friday.

For a genuine blessing, please click on the following link. Here, you will be reminded of why what happened on Good Friday, while indeed sorrowful to remember, is not the end of the story:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn94B3GHcjY.

NOTE: Dr. Lockridge’s oratorical skills are also evident in his famous “That’s My King” message.  It, too, can be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE.

Many of Dr. Lockridge’s other messages are posted there as well.  See also: http://www.rpmministries.org/2009/12/thats-my-king-do-you-know-him/.

I’M LOVING IT!

4/14/2014

This past week, I heard someone use an increasingly rare, though once quite familiar, phrase from the world in which I was raised.  In response to the question, “What are you doing?” they said, “Chewing my cud!” Almost immediately, I was flooded with memories from a lifetime ago.

You see, I was privileged to grow up on a farm down in Georgia. It was not necessarily a large farm. We had around fifty acres altogether. My grandfather actually owned three such farms. He also managed two or three other farms of a friend of his, a physician from up in Atlanta who owned several huge tracts of land down in Fayette County.

Thus, our little farm was surrounded by numerous other ones. So, as far as the eye could see, it was as if one was living in the middle of nothing but farms.

Now, when I say farm, I do not mean cropland.  Mostly, we were into what is more properly called “animal husbandry”. This is the technical term for the farming of domestic animals. Dictionary.com defines it has “the cultivation and production of edible crops or of animals for food”.

And that is exactly what a lot of people did where I grew up.  We all had large vegetable gardens, to be sure.  Although some sold their excess produce at roadside stands or at the farmer’s market, these were essentially for personal consumption. However, most everyone raised swine and cattle, or “hawgs and beef” as we called them, for purposes of sale and income.

To support this, there was far more land under pasture than actual cultivation. Pastures provided summer sustenance and winter hay for the animals. The one large crop that was cultivated was usually corn; but that was mostly used to feed pigs and cows.

Because of this, large herds of cows were abundant and ubiquitous.  At any given time, my extended family may have had a couple hundred cows and around one hundred hogs. These numbers varied as my grandfather and father constantly bought and sold animals at auction.

Now, cows are what are known as ruminants.  This means they have multi-chambered stomachs – four compartments to be exact.* By comparison, we humans only have one chamber in our stomachs.  When we swallow our food, we desire for it to go down and stay down. If it does come back up, we get indigestion, and that is usually quite unpleasant.

But this is not the case for cattle.  Their digestion process is designed to take place in stages.  Hence, food is often swallowed and stored in the first chamber of their stomach, only to be regurgitated and then re-chewed later. In short, when a cow is ruminating, it is in the process of chewing food that has already been grazed and swallowed before.  And apparently, they love it!

This, then, is the origin of the phrase “chewing the cud”.  It is often seen as cattle lie down and continue chewing constantly for extended period of time, even though they are not actually grazing anything at the time.

I share all of this because of what is said to us in chapter one of the Old Testament book of Joshua. Here, the reins of leadership among the Israelites are being passed from Moses to Joshua. In the process of charging His new servant leader, God tells Joshua (1:8): “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

God used two key verbs here. The first, “keep”, is the Hebrew word “yā-mūš”, with the negative “lō-“ in front. This translates as “not do depart”. God obviously wanted Joshua to retain a knowledge of His Word.  But He also wanted him to abide by what that Word commanded. Thus, Joshua is told to “do” everything written in it.

The second key verb God used was “wə-hā-ḡî-ṯā”, which translates as “you shall meditate”. It comes from a root word meaning “to muse”.  This word has the context of reflection and meditation, to be sure. But it involves more than these things. It implies that the reflection and meditation is allowed to show forth in inspiration, and then into motivation to action. Again, this leads to God’s admonition to Joshua to “do” what is written in His Word.

So, what is God saying? Simply that, as His servants, we must retain an essential knowledge of God’s word. We must keep it with us, reflect upon it often, and let it inspire and motivate us to action as a result.

All of which raises questions for you and me.  How often do you and I consume, or take in, God’s word?  Rarely? Infrequently? Frequently? Weekly?  Daily? Do we make it a point to attend regular weekly worship and hear God's Word proclaimed? Do we seek involvement in regular corporate Bible Study? Do we practice regular private Biblical devotions? Certainly we should, and hopefully we do.

And yet, as commendable as all of this may be, is it enough? According to Joshua 1:8, perhaps not. Perhaps God expects even more than a mere regular consumption of His Word?  The real question thus becomes whether or not we go beyond this and actually continue to muse upon God’s Word. Do we take it in and then just let it pass? Or do we take it in, hold it, bring it back up, ruminate upon it, and let it inspire and motivate us afresh and anew?

The next time you drive by a cow pasture and see cattle blissfully chewing their cud, remember the admonition of God’s Word. For you and I may not have a four chambered stomach; but we do have a soul.  And that portion of our being cannot be nurtured by anything but the truth of God’s Word.  Even now, perhaps, it is yearning for sustenance. May it not go hungry!

*SOURCES:   http://www.reference.com/motif/health/how-many-stomachs-does-a-cow-have.  Also, an excellent blog on this subject has been written and can be found posted online at: http://holdingtotruth.com/2013/12/01/meditate-muse-gods-wo
rd/. Lastly, www.biblehub.com is an excellent source for Bible study, including helpful Greek and Hebrew language and word study tools.

I’M GLAD TO KNOW THAT!

4/10/2014

A recent article (published on March 18, 2014) by Jennifer Booton on www.foxbusiness.com grabbed my attention. It is titled "Need to Hide a Corpse? Ask Google".

According to Booten: “Apparently thousands of people a year want to know how to hide a dead body.  Offering further evidence of just how creepy the Internet can be when it wants to be, new research from Australian search optimization agency Search Factory highlights the oddest things people search for each month on Google (GOOG).

The research was born when the Brisbane-based team started wondering how Google rates the auto-complete suggestions that pop up when typing in search queries on Google.com. For example, simply typing in the letters “why do monk…” will produce results ranging from “why do monks shave their heads” to “why do monkeys eat bananas.”

However, after digging a little deeper, things got weird. “Scarily, one of the factors Google auto-complete takes into account when coming up with these ‘guesses’ is how often these similar searches are conducted,” Search Factory said. “This got us thinking, just how much search volume is there for some of Google’s weirdest auto-complete suggestions?”

Then, drawing from original research done by, along with data compiled by www.searchfactory.com, she relates some rather astounding information.

For instance, in most any given month, there is apparently an average of around…

1,000 searches for “how to hide a dead body”…
1,900 searches for “how to get away with murder”…
110 people a month simply searching “cat dating”…
390 people wanting to know how to make their cat love them…
18,100 searches asking whether Lady Gaga is a man…
9,900 wanting to know “how to mend a broken heart”…
5,400 searches asking “how to have an affair”…
40,500 wanting to know “why did I get married?”…
22,000 people who express hatred toward their job…
40,500 asking for tricks on winning the lottery...

and the “coup de grace”…

more than 4,400 people asking Google “how to Google”!

Now I, for one, am glad some person or persons invented the internet.  For me, like most people, it has become an indispensable part of my daily life. In fact, I often wonder how I got along without it. Granted, the World Wide Web is often used for less than worthy pursuits. (I have read that an astounding 70% of web pages worldwide are devoted to pornography!). That notwithstanding, the internet is has still proven to be a boon for information junkies like me.

And although I would never foresee myself searching for tips on how to hide a corpse (something I can only hope is done by aspiring mystery writers), I do enjoy being able to research most any reasonable subject at a moment’s notice. As Aristotle once said, few pleasures compare with learning something new.

Thus, for me, it is gratifying to be able to satisfy my curiosity about the world in which I live, especially at what amounts to a moment’s notice. By comparison, thirty years ago, I might write a letter to a library, publisher, professor, etc…, requesting information, and then have to wait as long as two months or more for a reply.

And yet, as amazing a tool as it is, I do not actually need the internet to discover the answer to life’s single most important question.  Some 2,000 years before the digital world ever came to be, the New Testament Book of "The Acts of the Apostles" was written by a physician named Luke who was present and witnessed most of the events recorded.

In the sixteenth chapter (verses 25-34), we have the record of a conversation that once took place in the Greek city of Philippi.  The Apostle Paul and his assistant Silas had been beaten and imprisoned there for proclaiming the good news of Jesus. Luke writes:

About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought
the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.   He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Like the Philippian jailer, I asked a similar question one spring evening back in 1970. And I too found the same answer as he did. Better yet, I found the same joy! I hope you share a similar testimony. If not, I challenge you to consider the significance of the Bible's message, especially as concerns the person and work of Jesus Christ.

For, in searching for and finding the answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”, one succeeds in satisfying not only the curiosity of the mind, but also the longing of the heart. And that alone produces authentic, genuine joy!

SOURCES: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2014/03/1
8/need-to-hide-corpse-ask-google/.

Booten's business article is based on another one located at: http://searchfactory.com.au/blog/the-crazy-st-people-search-for
-on-google/. My apologies for the latter’s implied title.

Lastly, Aristotle deals with the pleasures of learning in his work titled "Rhetoric". Cf.: http://www.springerreference.com/docs/h
tml/chapterdbid/320261.html.

PLAYING WITH ONE’S DESTINY

4/7/2014

Dr. Paul Lee Tan served as the third president of the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines. He once related the following story.

From a great chess player of Cincinnati, we learn that in the early part of the last century an artist who was also a great chess player painted a picture of a chess game. The players were a young man and Satan. The young man manipulated the white pieces; Satan the black pieces.

The issue of the game was this:  should the young man win, he was to be forever free from the power of evil; should the devil win, the young man was to be his slave forever. The artist evidently believed in the supreme power of evil, for his picture presented the devil as victor.

In the conception of the artist, the devil had just moved his queen and had announced a checkmate in four moves.  The young man's hand hovered over his rook; his face paled with amazement—there was no hope. The devil wins! He was to be a slave forever.

For years, this picture hung in a great art gallery. Chess players from all over the world viewed the picture.  They acquiesced in the thought of the artist. The devil wins!

After several years a chess doubter arose; he studied the picture and became convinced that there was but one chess player upon the earth who could give him assurance that the artist of this picture was right in his conception of the winner.

The chess player was the aged Paul Morphy, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana. Morphy was a supreme master of chess in his day, an undefeated champion. A scheme was arranged through which Morphy was brought to Cincinnati to view the chess picture.

Morphy stood before the picture, five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes. He was all concentration; he lifted and lowered his hands as, in imagination, he made and eliminated moves. Suddenly, his hand paused, his eyes burned with the vision of an unthought-of combination. Suddenly, he shouted, "Young man, make that move.  That's the move!"

To the amazement of all, the old master, the supreme chess personality, has discovered a combination that the creating artist had not considered. The young man could have defeated the Devil.*

This story reminds us that we all face watershed moments in our lives – those times and places where we make decisions that have consequences with which we are destined to live for the remainder of our days.

In the Old Testament book of Numbers (chapters 13-14), the Children of Israel faced just such a moment at a place called Kadesh-Barnea. A little over a year after having left the slavery of Egypt, having been delivered from Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea, having been provided water as well as quail and manna to eat in the desert, having been delivered from the Amalekites, and having entered into a covenant with God at Mt. Sinai, they were then given the opportunity to go in and possess the promised land of Canaan.

But they refused.  Their fears got the best of them. Having scouted the land, they saw that it was indeed a land of milk and honey. But they also plainly saw that it was a land inhabited by giants.  Because of this singular bad decision, having said no to the will of God, they were destined to wander in the wilderness for the next forty years, while a whole generation of them died out. Only then were they given a second chance to possess the land.

In truth, each of us either has faced, or else will face, just such critical times of decision in our own lives.  The important thing is to recognize that whenever God clearly gives us an opportunity and calls us to take a step of faith, we must respond with confidence, trusting Him to provide the victory as we make the decisions He would have us make and then travel the paths He would have us tread.  Otherwise, we may well live with the consequences and suffer a life of defeat rather than victory.

In Reitz's painting, the young man made a bad decision at a critical time. Israel did the same at Kadesh-Barnea. May you and I learn from their mistakes, and make better ones for ourselves.

*SOURCES:  At almost four inches, it is one of the thickest books in my entire library. It is Paul Lee Tan’s exhaustive work titled The Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations. And it contains a copy of the above story  that I told this past Sunday morning. My original source was my memory, from having first heard Dr. Richard Lee tell it from the pulpit years ago when I was a small child.

A web search indicates that the story may have originated with J. Oswald Sanders.  Dr. Sanders (1902-1992), of course, was General Director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship (then known as China Inland Mission) who authored more than forty books on the Christian life and was a worldwide conference speaker for years.

One can read more about famed chess master Paul Morphy at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Morphy. His lifespan parallels that of the painting of "Checkmate" by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch, which hung at Paris' Louvre Art Museum between 1898 and 1899, presumably before going on tour, where he travelled from New Orleans to Cincinnati to see it. Cf. http://www.y-malawi.org/blog/checkmate/.

As is so often the case, the story exists in various versions on the internet, with slightly different artists, different paintings, and different chess masters. Either way, the point is well made: bad decisions can be costly.

QUESTIONS WORTH PONDERING

4/4/2014

While visiting one of the larger local hospitals the other day, I came across the following familiar piece. It had been posted on a bulletin board by one of their Chaplains.  As the title implies, it certainly gives us plenty to ponder in light of how we live out our daily lives.

TEN THINGS GOD WON'T ASK ON THAT DAY

1. God won't ask what kind of car you drove. He'll ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.

2. God won't ask the square footage of your house. He'll ask how many people you welcomed into your home.

3. God won't ask about the clothes you had in your closet. He'll ask how many you helped to clothe.

4. God won't ask what your highest salary was. He'll ask if you compromised your character to obtain it.

5. God won't ask what your job title was. He'll ask if you performed your job to the best of our ability.

6.   God won't ask how many friends you had. He'll ask how many people to whom you were a friend.

7. God won't ask in what neighborhood you lived.  He'll ask how you treated your neighbors.

8.   God won't ask about the color of your skin.  He'll ask about the content of your character.

9.   God won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation. He'll lovingly ask if you taught and did His will.

10. God won't have to ask how many people you’ve given this message to. He already knows your decision.

Note:  This thought-provoking little piece exists in several different variations on the internet.  A good many of them offer the following alternative ending to number 9: “He’ll take you to your mansion in Heaven, and not to the gates of Hell.”

SLAPEGG

4/1/2014

With the recent death of actor Russell Johnson, a.k.a. “the Professor”, the classic television situational comedy known as “Gilligan’s Island” is back in vogue. Nostalgia based television networks like “TV Land” and “MeTV” are re-airing the program nightly. As a baby boomer, I must admit that, as silly as the show can often be, I still like to watch an occasional episode or two.

Most people are familiar with the plot.  Five people went on a “three hour tour” out of Hawaii aboard the S.S. Minnow, captained by Skipper Jonas Grumby and his first mate, Gilligan. The opening theme song, written by George Wyle and Sherwood Schwartz, gives the premise for the show…

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour
tour, a three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the minnow would be lost,
The minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
With Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife,
The movie star, the Professor and Mary Ann, here on “Gilligan’s Isle”.

So this is the tale of the castaways, they're here for a long, long time,
They'll have to make the best of things, it's an uphill climb.

The first mate and the Skipper too, will do their very best,
To make the others comfortable, in the tropic island nest.

No phone, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury,
Like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be.

So join us here each week my friends, you're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castaways, here on "Gilligan's Isle”.*

The show ran for 98 episodes in total, as well as three made for TV movies. Of course, in order for there to be a “next week’s episode”, the castaways could never be rescued.  And even when they were rescued years later in a follow up movie), they soon wound up back on the island.

Of course, the whole premise is that being trapped on their little island offered excellent opportunities for a wide variety of plots, each one based on the various personalities and/or character traits of the seven individual castaways. This was quite intentional, having been planned by the show’s producers and writers. Their little mix of characters on their isolated island was designed to be a reflection of society at large.

In fact, studies have been done suggesting that the characters were carefully constructed to represent the seven deadly sins. For those not familiar with them, these sins are Sloth, Lust, Anger, Pride, Envy, Greed, and Gluttony.   They can easily be remembered by the acronym: SLAPEGG.

They are referred to as “Deadly Sins” because they give generally elicit, or give rise to, other sins. Pride would be an obvious example; as of course, would be anger.  Not to mention envy and/or greed.  Most any episode of either “Perry Mason” or “Matlock” shows us that murder is usually committed over one of these very issues.  That is to say that murder comes about as a result of an earlier sin or disposition.

Thus, the theory holds that each of the characters on “Gilligan’s Island” was carefully constructed to represent one of these seven sins. Hence…

Gilligan represents Sloth (with his constant daydreaming and inattention to detail); Ginger represents Lust (with her curvy figure and sequined dresses); Skipper represents Anger (with his continual swatting of his hat at Gilligan’ head in frustration); Professor represents Pride (with his B.A., B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees); Mary Ann represents Envy (with her having to play second fiddle to Ginger); Mr. Howell represents Greed (with his incessant preoccupation with money); and lastly, Mrs. Howell presumably represents Gluttony (with her appetite for all the finer things in life).

Some even see the Devil himself in Gilligan.  After all, he is always wearing red; and he is a big part of the reason that the castaways cannot ever seem to get off of their cursed island imprisonment. The possibilities for speculation are, of course, endless.

As are the questions raised. For instance, where do you and I fit into this equation?  With which of these seven characters do you and I readily relate? Why or why not?  Once we identify these things, we will be well on the way to recognizing which particular sin (or sins) so often and so easily beset(s) each of us.

I say “or sins” because each of the characters obviously has more than one issue. The Skipper is not only angry; he is obviously gluttonous as well. Likewise, Mrs. Howell, who never seems to contribute anything to the group's welfare, also reflects sloth. The point is that we can each suffer from numerous sinful desires.

Of course, the great news from the Gospel is that Jesus has come to give us victory over sin! All sin!  As one well known preacher once said, this applies to our having victory over (1) the penalty of sin (when we were still lost without Christ), over (2) the power of sin (to cause us to stumble as a follower of Christ), and one day over (3) the presence of sin (when we will get to live forever in a perfect place called Heaven).

Praise God, through Jesus Christ, we have been rescued from having been lost on the island of separation from God, we have been given the ability to overcome those propensities which we have to stumble, and by which we so often hurt ourselves and others, and we have been provided a new home, where we will one day be refreshed and renewed with no fear of ever being lost again!

As the Apostle Paul says in his New Testament letter to the Christians at Rome (8:37), “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Amen!

*LYRICS SOURCE: source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/.

NOTE:  I am indebted to my daughter for pointing this matter out to me in a discussion we had during a recent family get together. An excellent blog has been written on this subject at:  http://www.gracedowntown.org/devotions/the-seven-deadly
-sins-of-gilligans-island.

Numerous other web sites are also devoted to this theory. Just do a Google search on “Gilligan’s Island and the Seven Deadly Sins” and you will find many, many discussions of the matter.