The Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. Paul named the plane after his mother because she believed in him and encouraged him in his goal of becoming a pilot. The bomb that he dropped and a second nuclear bomb dropped by another Superfortress brought an end to WW2.

My point here is the fact that this man realized in the course of his career that he wouldn’t have made it without the original support of his mother. How many men and women look back and realize their position today is the result of a supportive mother?

Paul gave this observation of Timothy:

2 Timothy 1:5

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 

It would have made a good Mother’s Day devotional, but I’m late this year.

Whom do you look back on as foundational to your success?

Give it some thought.

Gary

It was April 13, 1970, that the now famous words were spoken from Apollo 13, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” Apollo 13 had just experienced an explosion and astronaut Jim Lovell called mission control in Houston to report the problem.

A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM’s oxygen tanks to space. Without oxygen needed for breathing and for generating electric power, the SM’s propulsion and life support systems could not operate. They were 200,000 miles from home and in some real trouble.

Mission Control was able to communicate with them and the problem was resolved. This could have meant death, but it only meant an uncomfortable ride home.

I don’t know how far it is from here to heaven. The thing I do know is: because of the precarious situation we are in, communication is necessary for survival.

Philippians 4:6

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Matthew 21:22

And all things, whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.

They completed the journey and so can you.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I would like a job as tutor, teacher and advisor to your family.  I will never take a vacation.   I will never be out of humor.  I don’t drink or smoke.   I won’t borrow your clothes or raid your refrigerator.   I will be up in the morning as early as anyone in the household and will stay up as late as anyone wishes.   I will help solve any problems your children might have.   I will give you the satisfaction of knowing that no question your children ask will go unanswered.  For that matter, I will answer any of your own questions on subjects that range from “How we got here?” to “Where are we headed?”  I will help settle bets and differences of opinion.   I will give you information that will help you with your job, your family and all of your other interests.   In short, I will give you the knowledge that will insure the continued success of your family. I am your Bible.   Do I get the job?

                                                                  Unknown author

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Romans 15:4 

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

The Bible is looking for work and you could be just the person. It only takes a willingness to accept the fact that you have the need.

Give it some thought.

Gary

A story of Cordell Hull, the great Secretary of State under Franklin Roosevelt: He was riding in a train one day, with a companion, through the New England states. Observing a flock of sheep feeding on a hillside his companion idly remarked, “Those sheep have recently been sheared.” Cordell Hull stared at them a moment and said, “Well, sheared on this side anyway!” Thomas was that kind of a man. He would go no further than what he understood.

Before the church had the full canon of Scripture, they were in the dark about many things. However, when the N.T was completed, everything necessary was made clear. They could see both sides now.

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Both sides are revealed to the one who takes the time to examine what the Word of God has to say. God has even given us the Holy Spirit to help out in that endeavor.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It was released as a single and included on his album The Freewheelin’Bob Dylan in 1963.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
And how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
And how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Bob didn’t know the answer was not blowing in the wind but found between the pages of Scripture.

Isaiah 45:22

“Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.

Romans 14:7

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

The next time you’re taking a walk and feel a breeze on your face, don’t think it has an answer. The answers are found in the Old Book.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Politicians like slogans like “Make America Great Again” or “Build Back Better.” Great slogans, but under the present moral conditions, they are impossible to make into a reality. The reason being: man was created by God for a specific purpose.

Genesis 1:27-28, 2:24

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

God’s purpose for us was to acknowledge Him and for families to be the units to make the world worth living in. When families are broken, the foundation of a nation is destroyed.

High gas prices and lack of baby formula are not the causes of our problems, but provide the evidence of the problems. We need to get back to what the Creator has designed us for.

Don’t weed your garden with a lawn mower because it wasn’t designed for that.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Charles Dickens began his epic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, with these words: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

We’re twenty-two years into this 21st century and no one has to convince us that it is the worst of times. CNN and Fox will help you out with that. Then there are some really wild and wacky things on Christian TV that will also help your understanding of the worst of times.

How about the best of times? God left the believers with many promises and here are a few that can help us realize these are the best of times.

 Matthew 16:18

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Petrology is the study of rocks. When you research the rocks of the Bible, you realize Christ is the Rock and His church will be built. Peter was just a stone. Christ is the rock. That process has been going on for almost two thousand years now. He’s at it in the best of times and the worst of times. The same statement made to Peter is made to you as a believer today.

 Philippians 4:19

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 

In the worst of times, you get to prove God is sufficient for every need.

Give it some thought.

Gary