Acey-deucey is a poker game I played in my youth. Every player was given two cards by the dealer that were placed faceup.  There was a pot of money in the center of the table and every player could bet what he wanted against the pot. If you had an ace in front of you and a three the chance that the dealer would turn up a card between these two was pretty good. If that happened, you won the bet.  You won whatever bet you placed against the pot or if you bet high enough, even the pot itself. However, if an ace, duce or three was turned up, you lost the bet and had to pay the pot.

Gambling was a lot of fun and exciting, but losing was depressing. However, for the thrill, we kept returning to the game week after week.

Do you know there are individuals who never touched cards, but yet gamble every day? They gamble that God will accept them the way they are. They gamble that because they are better than most people God will accept them. These people are in for a shock when the game of life is over.

Titus 3:5 

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

The sad part of all of this is it’s your last game.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“It’s a very strange world, Master Jack,” that stanza was contained in a song that hit the charts in 1968. I heard that song hundreds of times. I was somewhere between sixteen and eighteen, and I totally believed it was a strange world, so I could identify with the words.

Can you imagine coming through the birth canal and viewing this environment for the first time. No wonder you cry even before the doctor slaps you. If the doctor slaps you, it confirms this is a strange place.

Hebrews 11:13 

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

John 17:16 

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

We’re here and it can be very uncomfortable at times. Hang on, because in no time, we’ll be enjoying the comforts of home.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Christians don’t go through life totally insulated from life’s trials and temptations. The only perfect human being was Jesus Christ. The rest of us carry blemishes and regrets.  I like the way Andre Crouche expressed it in his song, “Through It All,” so many years ago.

I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave blessed consolation,
That my trials come to only make me strong.

Through it all,
Through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.

Life is full of lessons that can only be taught one way. We have to recognize the Master-Instructor knows us better than we know ourselves and can be trusted to do the right thing. After lessons from God as to how one is made for the job, Jeremiah comes to a proper conclusion.

Jeremiah 1:18

For behold, I have made you this day
A fortified city and an iron pillar,
And bronze walls against the whole land—
Against the kings of Judah,
Against its princes,
Against its priests,
And against the people of the land.

Jeremiah 10:23

O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

As Christians we need to recognize our God has placed us here for a purpose and is in the process of perfecting us for what is ahead.

Think about it.

Gary

There is a book in the Old Testament that makes for very interesting reading. It is about a Moabite woman who didn’t stand a chance in life, but ended up as an individual in the lineage of Christ. The only way that can be explained is by the grace of God.

How do sinners like us find ourselves in the family of God? The answer to that is just what we find in the short book of Ruth. Our circumstances and hers needed an alignment of so many variables that only the hand of God could bring it to the proper conclusion. Many a strange situation that leads to such a great salvation can be found in the Word. How can we ever completely understand the Creator of the universe?

Take a look at what the Prophet Isaiah recorded:

Isaiah 40:13-15

 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?
With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

No, it can’t be fathomed, but His work certainly needs to be appreciated.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“You Don’t Own the Boat; the Boat Owns You”

I don’t know where that statement came from, but it certainly fits the world we’re familiar with: houses, vehicles, toys for big boys and trips to exotic places. A recent study was done in an upscale neighborhood, and the discovery was one where most of the residents were in a financial situation they could never repay. It was the cost of keeping up with the Jones’s.

The Bible addressed this practice two thousand years ago:

Matthew 6:19-21

 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The question is – do we own our stuff or does our stuff own us?

Give it some thought.

Gary

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. 

Theodore Roosevelt, speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago (April 10, 1899)

Paul mentions something along these lines:

Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 

The Christian experience is very similar to Teddy’s quote. We can’t live on yesterday’s mistakes or successes. There has to be a constant reminder that the mountains of today must be claimed and conquered. An opportunity has been presented to us today that needs to be reached in spite of our own haunting deficits.

Give it some thought; then do something.

Gary

“My Hometown” is a single by Bruce Springsteen.  Anyone over the age of twenty-one will get a tear in his eye upon hearing this song. I never had the experience described in this song, but my hometown is just as meaningful to me, with an attachment just as deep.

I wouldn’t exchange the experience of my hometown for that of anyone else in the world. It was an outstanding place to be born and grow. The people were special, and the old schoolhouse is now a place of many a good memory. The old house that my mom and dad once occupied stands as a sentinel overlooking the rivers.

God placed us here in a certain place and time. From this vantage point, we look back, and from this vantage point, we look forward.  The psalmist stood in a similar spot, having never heard Bruce sing, but he did hear the voice of God.  He also composed a song that brings a tear to my eye. This is what he had to say:

 Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Thank you, Lord, for where I came from and thank you, Lord, for where I’m going. Also, Lord, I want to thank you for the opportunity to look around.

Give it some thought.

Gary