“Like a Rock” is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. The single peaked at number one on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1986.

This song’s greatest exposure was in Chevrolet truck television advertisements from 1991 until 2004 which helped make the company very competitive.

The theme of the song was that youth was wonderful. The young man was on top of the world without worries. His body was as solid as a rock. Then twenty years of time changed it all.

 I bought a Chevrolet S-10 in 1998 and it was a rock that didn’t last. The rust bugs came with it from the factory. I took it to a body shop and the owner there told me it was a waste of time and money to paint it. Time took it from a beauty to a disappointment.

The Bible mentions this phenomenon:

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! 

Psalm 78:39 

He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. 

Psalm 144:4 

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Give it some thought, Rock.

Gary

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. They sang a song in 1962 named “The Reverend Mr. Black.” It was about a circuit preacher in the cowboy days that lived what he preached. The preacher’s son took the same road as his dad, the Reverend Mr. Black.

You got to walk that lonesome valley. You got to walk it by yourself
Oh nobody else can walk it for you. You got to walk it by yourself…

The Bible mentions valleys.

Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

 I look forward to the day when there will be no more valleys.

Luke 3:5

Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.

Give it some thought.

Gary

My brother’s eleven years older than I am and has always had my back. Sometimes someone would tell him, “Your fool brother is out there drunk.” Sometimes he’d come for me and sometimes he wouldn’t. He should have thrown me against a wall and screamed in my face, but he never did.

He always showed up just in time when I found myself jackknifed in a hill, my truck loaded with logs bound for Canada or broken down somewhere on that narrow, dangerous wood’s road. A letter from Viet Nam or a note from home while I was at Bible college always contained money.

He’s eighty-one now with a body that won’t cooperate. Every couple of weeks, he calls to see if I’m ok. My question to you is what can you do with someone like that?

Romans 12:10 

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

He sure did that with me. Can I do that for someone else?

Think about it.

Gary

The expression “diamond in the rough” refers to a person who has much potential, but it has not yet been developed. Some folks with great potential never develop, while others do.

The Bible addresses this for the believer. We should go from the milk stage to the steak stage.

Hebrews 5:12-13

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

Am I writing to mature audiences?

Give it some thought.

Gary

An interesting map is on display in the British Museum in London. It’s an old mariner’s chart, drawn in 1525, outlining the North American coastline and adjacent waters. The cartographer made some intriguing notations on areas of the map that represented regions not yet explored. He wrote: “Here be giants,” “Here be fiery scorpions,” and “Here be dragons.” Eventually, the map came into the possession of Sir John Franklin, a British explorer in the early 1800s. Scratching out the fearful inscriptions, he wrote these words across the map: “HERE IS GOD.”

Source unknown

So many images are coming from outer space because of advances in space missions and ever-improving technology. However, we’re hearing the same old lies. God is absent. Instead, they should look at this awe-inspiring creation and proclaim, “God.”

Psalm 33:6 

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.

Hebrews 1:10 

And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of Your hands;

What do you think when you look up on a clear night and see all the stars?

Give it some thought.

Gary

I heard of a man who said to the preacher, “I want to sing in your choir.” The preacher replied, “But you don’t belong here. Where do you have your membership?” He answered, “I don’t belong to any local church. I belong to the invisible church.” The pastor said, “Then I suggest that you join the invisible choir.”

The truth is that God created the church to be seen and heard. The word translated “church” in the English Bible is ekklesia. This word is the combination of the Greek kaleo (to call), with the prefix ek (out). Thus, the word means “the called-out ones.”

Ephesians 2:20-22 

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The church is an organism, not an organization.

Give it some thought.

Gary

A young minister was called upon for the first time in his short career to counsel a church member. “I just can’t cope anymore,” said the member. “I’m continually depressed, tired, and anxious.”

“I see,” said the minister. Then, turning to his shelf, he took out a book on pastoral psychology and studied it for fifteen minutes. “Have you ever felt this way before?” asked the minister.

“Yes,” said the man, “three years ago.”

“Well then, that SETTLES it!” said the minister triumphantly. “Whatever it was, you’ve got it AGAIN!”

Good counsel is hard to come by; however, there is a place to attain it.

Psalm 32:8-9

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

Give it some thought.

Gary