He was home on leave and Mom and I went to meet him at the bus. We were a little late, and he was standing there in his paratrooper uniform with the bloused boots and paratrooper wings on his chest. I was ten, and he was my big brother and to me he was larger than life.

We find the love of a brother in the Word of God. His name was Andrew and his brother’s name was Peter.  After Andrew came to know Christ, the first thing he did was go to find his brother and tell him the good news.

John 1:40-42

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Brothers are something.

Think about it.

Gary

As I watched that five -year- old go tearing across the parking lot free as a bird, I remembered how quickly youth vanishes.  No need to tell him that because he would never believe it.

Even the old hippies believe themselves to be young. Of course, marijuana helps to solidify that belief.

The truth is in the end we have to answer to the One who put us here.

Ecclesiastes 11:9

You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.

The “but know” in that verse is the eye-opener if one is ready to face reality.

Think about it.

Gary

No one enjoys being deceived, but self-deception is really the worse kind of deception.

We do not deal much in fact when we are contemplating ourselves.

— Mark Twain

The Word of God addresses the fact that hearing the truth doesn’t accomplish much. It is allowing it to be lived out that accomplishes much.

James 1:22 

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Find out what the Scriptures say and go out and do it.

Think about it.

Gary

In 1971 the Five Man Electrical Band recorded their song about signs. The song basically said there shouldn’t be any rules.

They were not alone. Since the Garden of Eden and Satan’s talk with Eve, man has chaffed under the laws of God. We try to keep rules to a minimum because we really don’t like rules.

The Lord made it very clear to His chosen nation the consequences of breaking His statutes.

Leviticus 20:22 

You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

Could it be the land is getting sick of us because of what we’ve done with the laws of God?

Give it some thought,

Gary

After a fouled up effort to be a deliverer of his people, after forty years of living on the run, after a burning bush that would not be consumed, Moses comes face to face with God.

Exodus 6:2

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord.”

I wouldn’t be looking for a burning bush if I were you. However, God still speaks from His Word, somewhere, under some set of circumstances, at some time in our existence.

The question is, has He spoken to you?

It could be today.

Give it some thought.

Gary

How many people appreciate what you have to say? How many people listen to what you have to say? How many people benefit from what you have to say?

Now that you’ve reached for an antidepressant pill enough with the questions.

Let me just say when God says something, things happen.

Genesis 1:3 

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Has God spoken to you recently in some profound way?  If not isn’t it time. He’s speaking; the problem is on our end.

Think about it.

Gary

The guys in my generation loved to play war as we were growing up. We fought the Japanese, Germans, British, American Indians and those who wore gray.

Then some of them ended up in Vietnam and discovered to their horror it wasn’t the same as our imagination had been.

Paul in addressing the Corinthians dealt with the same theme. It was time for them to grow up.

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Is it time for you to grow up?

Think about it.

Gary