“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

Bob Saget speculated about the afterlife, days before his own unexpected death, while paying tribute to fellow-departed-star Betty White. He concluded his heartfelt post by speculating about where White is now, noting that she believed she would reunite with her husband, Allen Ludden, in the afterlife.

“She always said the love of her life was her husband, Allen Ludden, whom she lost in 1981. Well, if things work out by Betty’s design— in the afterlife, they are reunited,” Saget wrote. “I don’t know what happens when we die, but if Betty says you get to be with the love of your life, then I happily defer to Betty on this.”

Not to take away from the accomplishments of these individuals, but I wouldn’t trust my soul to their philosophies. These are sentimental statements about their beliefs, but have no evidence for support from the Word of God.

Here are two verses to cast some doubts on these presuppositions.

One, there will be no marriage relationship in heaven.

Matthew 22:29-30

Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 

Two, we can know what happens.

1 John 5:13

 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 

Give it some thought because eternal life should not be based on speculation.

Gary

This song is about a young man who was going to dress the part of a gunslinger and go to town. His mother begged him not to do that, knowing the danger he would be in. Of course, he wouldn’t listen and earned his place six feet below.

He laughed, and kissed his mom, and said, “your Billy Joe’s a man”
I can shoot as quick, and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn’t shoot without a cause; I’d gun nobody down”

He sang a song as on he rode his guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town, a smile upon his lips
He stopped, and walked into a bar, and laid his money down
But his mother’s words echoed again

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town 

And tried to tell himself at last he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mother’s words

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town 

Filled with rage then, Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor, the crowd all gathered ’round
And wondered at his final words 

Don’t take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don’t take your guns to town

The lesson is don’t try and play the part of something you’re not able to perform. Case in point:

2 Samuel 2:22

And Abner said again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”

Asahel didn’t listen either. I pray you are not taking on something that will prove deadly in the end.

Think about it.

Gary

The question for today is, how do you blind someone’s mind? In 1940 Hitler told the Germans that in five years they wouldn’t recognize Germany. He was true to his word because in five years Germany would be destroyed as a military power along with most of the country. How does a leader blind the mind? Offering something that is only an illusion to make one feel good would be my conclusion.

The Bible addresses the master of such illusions:

2 Corinthians 4:4 

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 

He is good at creating blindness, but that doesn’t have to be the rest of the story because Christ can cure blindness. False religion is Satan’s masterpiece. Tapping into their pride, he makes folks believe they can be good enough to enter God’s heaven.

The truth is simple. We are sinners and God has provided a Savior.

Don’t believe the liar because the end will be more disastrous than what happened to Germany and its leadership. That disaster was temporal, but the other is eternal.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I just really appreciate people who serve well. Town managers, fire chiefs, police chiefs, community doctors, teachers, pastors and the list goes on. None of these individuals had an easy time because they all had to work with the public. Let me stress the word, work.

Paul’s letter to Timothy emphasized the need to be constantly ministering to believers:

1 Timothy 4:6

if you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.

Sounds like work to me. Good teaching takes time and study. Some individuals need careful attention. Some need correction. Some need to be rescued from false doctrine and vanity. With others, you need to take a stand against their carnality and pride.

The goalpost is to fight the fight, finish the course, and keep the faith.

Give it some thought and spend the rest of your time ministering to others.

Gary

If you have a constant diet of CNN, Fox, CBS or ABC, you might come away with the idea that the world is crazy. Over 2,500 hundred years ago, the prophet Jeremiah assessed his world the same way. He didn’t get it from watching TV, but he came to the same view. He wanted to get away from it all but couldn’t.

Jeremiah 9:2-6

Oh, that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place for travelers;
That I might leave my people,
And go from them!
For they are all adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.
“ And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me,” says the LORD.
“ Everyone take heed to his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
For every brother will utterly supplant,
And every neighbor will walk with slanderers.
Everyone will deceive his neighbor,
And will not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD.

The refusal to know God leads to this chaos.  You can examine all that’s around you and come to one of two conclusions. The first is to become one of the problems and become a pain for others. The other is that the world needs salt and light which you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can provide.

Please make the right choice because we’d like to see a beautiful flower grow out of this manure.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I shook the governor’s hand as he was handing me a plaque thanking me for my service to the Maine EMS system. I felt a little foolish because I knew there were hundreds of people more deserving of this than I was. I’m not trying to be humble, just telling it the way it was.

The reason I was nominated is because of the many friends I acquired in my three decades of involvement with EMS. They are the ones who put my name into the hat. It was again proof to me that relationships can put you ahead of the line of others more deserving of acknowledgement than you are. I’m just setting the record straight. Not that I desired friendship to gain advantage, it was just a natural outcome.

Here’s what the Scriptures say about friendships:

Proverbs 18:24

A man that has friends must show himself friendly

It’s making friends with the right people.

Proverbs 22:24-25 

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Many of my advantages in life are a result of good relationships. We are not an island but are connected to others, and these others can make all the difference in the world.

Think about it.

Gary