I was always after my dad to take me with him into the woods where four-foot pulp was being harvested for the paper industry. As foreman, he would travel from crew to crew inspecting their work and making arrangements for their next move. A crew would be composed of two men and a horse. One man would cut the trees; the horse would haul the delimbed tree and a man in the yard would buck it up and pile it. These men were mostly French-Canadians who could not converse in English.

Dad stopped to talk to a man and I, of course, couldn’t understand the language. This cutter took out a pack of cigarettes and offered my dad one, which he accepted. Then surprisingly he made the same offer to me, a nine-year-old who was standing there. I sheepishly refused the offer, probably because Dad was there.

As we left this scene and were out of earshot, I asked Dad, “Why did that man offer me a cigarette?” Dad said it was because he was a Canadian and in that country they got married at my age. I was reflecting on that and said to myself, I’m thankful I’m an American because I’m not ready for marriage.

Sometimes accurate information can be lacking even from those you trust. This is the reason God has given us His word about the past, present and future.

Psalm 19:7-9

The law of the Lord is perfect,
    refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.
 

The precepts of the Lord are right,
    giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
    giving light to the eyes.

 The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

No, there wasn’t a Santa Claus either.

Give it some thought.

Gary

When I was still in the single numbers, I had a toy paratrooper. He was about eight inches tall with a folded parachute on his back. This model could be thrown into the air, and on his way down the parachute would deploy and he would float to earth.

Conveniently, my dad’s truck was parked in the dooryard with a bulldozer on the back. I climbed up on the truck, navigated unto the cab of the dozer and flung my paratrooper into the wild blue yonder. As he started down, his chute deployed and he stopped his descent.  He started rising, instead of falling, and didn’t stop his ascent. My friend and I followed his flight for half a mile and saw him disappear over a mountain.

One of our neighbors was logging in that area a few years later and came across the spot this unfortunate soldier landed in. There wasn’t enough left of him for a proper burial.

The lesson is that sometimes what you hold so dear can disappear because of forces beyond your control.

James 4:13-14

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

That which you handle today might be gone tomorrow.

Think about it.

Gary

I was probably fourteen years old at the time. The moon was shining over the confluence of the Allagash and St John River. Observing the romantic scene before us, my female companion and I were sitting on a log. This was going to be the first time I kissed a girl and I was looking forward to it with much anticipation. Closing my eyes and moving my lips in her direction, I launched the move; however, the calculation of my trajectory was off by an inch and a half, and the passionate advance was placed squarely on her nose.

We both recovered from that embarrassment and my second aim was right on the money. With time and practice, I became quite proficient with the technique and still use it on occasion with my wife of fifty years.

The Bible describes this form of securing a relationship in:

Psalm 2:12

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

We might lose a lot of relationships by misapplication of this subject; however, contact with the Son of God is imperative.

Think about it.

Gary

“I Surrender All” is a Christian hymn with words written by American art teacher and musician Judson W. Van DeVenter. It was put to music by Winfield S. Weeden and published in 1896.

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live

That sounds like a wonderful endeavor, but in reality it is truly an insurmountable obstacle if a person is not filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe it would be better to approach God like the tax collector in:

Luke 18:9-14

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We do not have anything to offer God for our salvation, but after salvation it is only reasonable to offer ourselves for His service.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Spring would come to my hometown, the ice would run in the rivers and slowly the water would start to recede.  For us boys it was time to be the first to swim across the river. There were maybe five or six of us this particular spring day when we started across.

Having swum almost to the opposite shore, one boy started yelling for help. In my memory I can still see him going under, resurfacing, yelling frantically, and then going down again. How many times I watched this horrible scene repeated before me, I can’t be recall. Fortunately, I do remember that on his last descent his feet touched the bottom, and he was able to keep his head above the waterline.

My group wasn’t experienced or maybe smart enough not to try that trip in reverse. After some communication with the least proficient among us, we swam back to where we’d started this adventure in the first place.  The day wasn’t without excitement and did end well for all involved.

It just goes to prove that youth just doesn’t have the proper experience and information to escape danger.

2 Timothy 2:22 

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Life is made up of decisions.  The need for careful consideration of what’s before you and proper information is critical.

Think about it.

Gary

My brother is eleven years older than I but always had me under his wing. When I was fighting with another brother, all I had to do was make it to him and the problem was resolved.  He was a soldier in Okinawa and then Vietnam. Every correspondence contained some money or a jacket that said Airborne on it. He sold me our first car for a ridiculously low price and then was my instructor during my first trip loaded with logs going to Canada. Many times I would be in some mess with that truck, and he always seemed to be there to bail me out. We trucked together for a few years and his policy was to be first on the job and last to leave.

He challenged me to a game of golf a few years back during which time I used his clubs because we both swing left-handed. I almost hit the person in front of us with the ball on two occasions. I have to say it was the first time he let me down because it was according to his instructions that I shot with people in front of us. I was expecting a confrontation with these players; however, they knew him and that made all the difference. Saved again!

He has been retired from the guards and other retirements along the way but can’t seem to let go of work. Like the energizer bunny he keeps going, for at seventy-nine-years old, he drives a transport bus in the city.

Hebrews 13:1

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

Sometimes we can’t live with our siblings, but we certainly can’t live without them.

Think about it.

Gary

I was walking along with Dad sometime during the late 1950s and a question came to my mind. I asked, “Dad, why does a female dog need a male dog to have pups?” He immediately went into a long drawn out explanation about this phenomenon.  After listening to him for some time, I figured that he didn’t know either.

Some information about life is for the present and some is for later. That is also true in the Word of God:

John 12:16

His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.

My personal belief is that much of the Book of Revelation is to be understood at a future time. We can appreciate most of it now; however, speculation about the rest is like Dad explaining reproduction to an eight-year-old.

Give it some thought.

Gary