In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus.

“These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”

“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”

Consider the things that can be accomplished for the kingdom of God when believers cooperate with one another.

1 Peter 3:8 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

Romans 12:16 

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Everyone I know is thirty-five.
Donna in my writing class is thirty-five,
Melissa, the artist, is thirty-five.
Last night when I lay sleeping
Someone slipped in and
Scribbled lines all over my face,
Stuck bags under my eyes,
Packed cellulite on my thighs.
This morning my mother’s hand
Reached to get my toothbrush;
An unfamiliar face
Stared back at me from the vanity;
Someone else’s stomach
Protruded from beneath my belt.

                                                 Penne J. Laubenthal, Ph.D.

Humorous, but here’s something better than that philosophy:

Acts 13:36
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

Psalms 31:15

My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies,
And from those who persecute me.

If you can’t beat the effects of time, join it with God’s plan for you.

Give it some thought.

Gary

When the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez landed at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1519 he was intent on conquest. To assure the devotion of his men, Cortez set fire to his fleet of eleven ships! With no means of retreat, Cortez’s army had only one direction to move, into the Mexican interior. Cortez understood the price of commitment—and he paid it.

I don’t think much of him and the atrocities he committed, but it is interesting how committed some men can be in trying to accomplish a set goal.

Do you have any goals and how committed are you?

Luke 9:62

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

2 Timothy 1:12

For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

1 Corinthians 15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I can’t tell you why I was there, but I can say I was sixteen and walking through the forest on a dark and dreary night. My journey was about six miles total. I had a lot of hair then, and it was all standing up without the help of sticky-stuff. I needed to retrieve Dad’s dozer to get me and some other people out of a situation. Scared? Absolutely! No doubt, a result of too many Albert Hitchcock movies.

Being in trouble like that is something I don’t miss. We talk about the good old days but forget that some of those days weren’t so good.  Dad told a church deacon when he heard that I had attended his church, “If you can do something with that boy, I’ll go to your church.” I changed and Dad kept his promise.

Matthew 9:6-8 

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

I’m thankful to God that I don’t have to walk through the dark nights because of my foolishness anymore. I can walk without fear. He has given me a Light.

Think about it.

Gary

Five of us fourteen-years-olds were heading to the dance in the next town. It was dark and I told the rowdy crowd that no one would stop for that many guys. What we should do is have three hide in the ditch and two of us would appear on the roadside as hitch hikers. That’s what we did and along came a Corvair which could hold four uncomfortably.  The driver stopped and all of us squeezed in, not heeding his protests. Somehow, one of us was able to ply the door shut. Someone suggested to the driver that if he would press the clutch, he would do the shifting. The old guy followed our directions and we made it to the dance on time. It was a riot for us, but the poor owner didn’t find it humorous.

God certainly was not in the equation at that time in my life. I am a new creation in Christ, and with the new birth those old ways of doing things had to be put aside. 

1 Peter 4:4
wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot

Psalm 17:4

Concerning the works of men,
By the word of Your lips,
I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.

I really try not to use others for my purposes.  It just isn’t right before a Holy God.

Think about it.

Gary

It has always amazed me as to how some lyrics out of the sixties and seventies line up with what the Scriptures teach. Like that line out of Paul Simon’s “The Boxer.” It states this, “Man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” That has been true since Adam and Eve tramped around in the garden. Most regard the Bible like it was a salad bar. Just pick out what you like and leave the rest.

But listen to what the Book of books has to say about the matter:

Isaiah 55:11 

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Matthew 4:4 

But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Give it some serious thought today.

Gary

In 1976 we moved to Canada to attend the New Brunswick Bible Institute. The next two years were undertaken by claiming one verse that our pastor brought to our attention when he wrote it out on a piece of planking. It was a verse that sustained us through the daily struggles of life. We’d left for school with debt, and after two years, our mobile home was sold and we started our ministry debt-free.

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

If you are right with God and doing His will, that verse has a lot of mileage in it.

Think about it.

Gary