It was the summer of ’68. We were mostly a group of underage teens drinking and partying. My brother and another soldier were spending the weekend away from the Naval hospital where they’d been recovering from their wounds. As the night turned darker, I lit a pack of firecrackers and threw it into the crowd and multiple explosions filled the air.  That soldier fell to the ground and started crying and yelling, “Incoming.”  My brother calmly looked at me, took a drag off his cigarette and said, “He’s crazy and don’t you ever do that again.” I don’t know what my brother was on, but it was working.

Not knowing what others are suffering from, we need to be careful and considerate. They didn’t hold that stupidity against me, but I have regretted that act ever since that summer.

Philippians 2:4

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Titus 3:2

To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Give it some thought. You don’t know what others are going through.

Gary

… In the world’s mighty gallery of pictures
Hang the scenes that are painted from life
There’re pictures of love and of passion
And there’re pictures of peace and of strife

… There hang pictures of youth and of beauty
Of old age and a blushing young bride
They all hang on the wall, but the saddest of all
Are the pictures from life’s other side

In 1895 a song was written about life’s other side. Hank Williams made it a hit in 1951. It was a song about the tragedies of life here on terra firma. The Bible is also full of the tragedies about living here, found in both the Old and New Testament. If you are not familiar with life’s disappointments, there are many around you who are. Here’s the solution for such experiences.

Psalm 34:18 

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Someone once said, “if you want to see how much space you take up in life, put your hand in a bucket of water and then remove it.” The fact that the hole quickly disappears will tell you a story. There is a poem by the title “When Tomorrow Starts Without Me” that I also find telling. Give the following verses some thought.

James 4:14 

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Psalm 39:4 

“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

Life will go on, so what are you doing here? Give it some serious thought.

Gary

Tadpoles are transformed into frogs. Now, how did evolution accomplish that tremendous feat? No, God designed that for my devotional today. That tadpole doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in that dirty puddle. He wants to hop out of that mess and enjoy a brand-new experience designed by God. This new paradigm will introduce him to an unbelievable world in which he will live out his days with purpose.

Do you know God has designed us for a new life?

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

1 Peter 1:23 

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Jump out of that dirty environment and get a better life. Give it some thought.

Gary

Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.

–       Dwight L. Moody

After a call to salvation and service, it takes time to go from crawling, to walking, and finally to running.

1 Peter 2:2

as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Let’s grow up and get with it. Give it some thought.

Gary

I had a talk with my organs the other day. I said, “Look, guys, we came into this together in 1952 and I always believed we would leave together. However, some of you seem to be wanting to jump ship before the cruise is over.”  There was no reply which left me kind of shaken. This is a sure sign of trouble ahead.

Psalm 90:12

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

James 4:13-15

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Give it some thought before the last organ of your existence will be playing “Amazing Grace” at your funeral service.

Gary

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

– Henry David Thoreau

Peace of mind and the opportunity to escape reality is what I think Henry had in mind.

Many in our world are searching for that elusive goal. Real and lasting peace is only truly found in the pages of ancient words. Let me give you both sides of this coin.

Ezekiel 13:10

“Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar— 

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Nothing wrong with fishing, but if it is peace you’re after, turn to Christ.

Give it some thought.

Gary