We were kids growing up in the sixties and we had a Freddie. Freddie pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and waved it in my face. I asked, “Freddie, where did you get that money? “He said, “I stole it from the old woman who owns the store.” The next day I could see a different expression on his face as he sat in a police cruiser. It was obvious a life of crime should not be something he should aspire to.

I liked Freddie and considered him a friend, but there were places I just couldn’t go with him.

Do you know even a church has a Freddie? But you can’t go along with someone like him.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Freddie wasn’t afraid of the dark. He would walk home alone even though he had to pass the graveyard. However, as we told ghost stories in a haunted house, Freddie would cry and lose his mind. Then for entertainment for the gang, we would have him fistfight with his best friend.

Freddie has been dead for a number of years. However, if he was alive, I would travel the country to apologize to him for the way we used him. Some things of the past can’t be fixed.

Be kind.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Give my regret rekindled with this memory of Freddie some thought.

Gary

It was a warm summer’s evening and the sun was setting. The gang was gathered on the front lawn of a friend’s house. Freddie’s mother and father pulled to a sudden stop in front of our gathering. His dad jumped out, grabbed Freddie, threw him in the back seat and started punching him as his mother drove away. We could hear the blows on his young body from hundreds of feet away.

I had never experienced such a sight in my life. My dad never did lay a hand on me. My mother might have tried, but she never caught me.

How come life was so unkind to Freddie?  Think of how much God loves us as a father.

Psalm 103:13 

As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.

Matthew 23:9 

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

1 John 3:1 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

 Give it some thought and be thankful.

Gary

“The Sound of Silence” is a song by American music duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo’s studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, March 1964. It is amazing how Paul Simon described the worshipers of the sixties, a phenomenon that continues to our present time.

“And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning

In the words that it was forming

And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls

And whispered in the sound of silence”

People are still producing these spinoff gods today. Does the Bible address this phenomenon? Glad you asked.

John 4:23-24 

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Ditch your neon gods because they can’t get you home. Give it some thought.

Gary

It was a small country church way back in the deep woods of New Brunswick, Canada. They had hired this American as their pastor.  I use that term lightly (pastor, that is). They loved our little family and were a part of our support for a year as I attended Bible college. If we had ten or twelve in attendance on a Sunday, it was a crowd. By the look on their faces, they made me feel like they believed Billy Graham was preaching.  Inwardly, I must admit I always went there with fear and trembling every Sunday.

I have never forgotten to be thankful for that congregation who met a major need in our lives. Like David’s mighty men, many others have helped place us in the position we are in today. Paul was reminded of the principle of helps in the closing chapter of Romans. Read it sometime.

Isaiah 46:9 

Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,

Give it some thought.

Gary

Demas had served faithfully with the Apostle Paul, but something drew him off course. I often consider those who were once running the race but were invited to go off into the wild blue yonder. Where are they today?

2 Timothy 4:10

for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica

Let’s for the sake of clarity replace the location, Thessalonica, with a more contemporary location. Maybe it’s the world of music, sports, politics, industry, lust, an unsavory relationship. The list is never-ending, but the results are the same.

If you are in Thessalonica, it means you have abandoned God’s perfect plan for your life.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Bombeck’s Rule of Medicine: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. 

                                                                                     Erma Bombeck

A pastor friend of mine stated the following:  “If you want to see how much a church cares for people, take a look at the restroom.”

Sometimes you have to look outside the box to get the right view of something.

Philippians 2:4 

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

Luke 6:31 

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

Give it some thought and don’t neglect the small things.

Gary