The old hymn, “How Great Thou Art”, was composed by Carl Gustav Boberg, in Sweden (1885). The song had to do with considering creation and how it points to a powerful Creator.

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Consider means think carefully about something, typically before making a decision.

Isaiah 42:4

This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:

This is a word we need to take seriously when it comes to the Creator. The window of opportunity in this endeavor is closing.

Think about it.

Gary

Trucking logs in the north Maine woods in the winter months can be hazardous.  I was fully loaded with hardwood logs destined for Canada when I approached a steep hill that wasn’t sanded. Almost to the top, the truck no longer had traction. Fortunately, I was able to hold it steady as I backed down, using my west coast mirrors. Looking it over, I decided to try climbing once again… bad decision. Almost to the top again, the truck decided it had had enough of me and developed a mind of its own. Halfway down, it decided to turn sideways and roll over.

You’re right. It was a big mess. Logs were strewn everywhere. That GMC was now resting on its side with the operator shaking in places he’d never shaken before.

The road of life has many hazards and one never knows what a day might bring forth. Beware when the load is heavy and it doesn’t look like you are going to have much traction.

Proverbs 15:24

The road of the godly leads upward, leaving hell behind.

Look it over well; make an educated decision based on the Word of God, and like a trucker would say, “Keep the shiny side up.”

Think about it.

Gary

“The Class of ’57” is a song written by Don Reid and Harold Reid and recorded by American country music group The Statler Brothers. It was released in August 1972.

One stanza goes like this:

And the class of ’57 had its dreams
But living life day to day is never like it seems
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen
But the class of ’57 had its dreams

I was just introduced to this song a few years ago. No, I’m not from the class of ‘57. I was only five in ’57, but I remember it well because my grandmother went from being Grammy to being Mrs. Gardner and life was never the same after that.

Anyway, this song is about a high school graduating class where its members believed they were going out to change the world. I sat in on enumerable graduation ceremonies, and they all believed they were going out to change the world. None ever did because the system is rigged. You don’t change the world, but the world sure changes you. Listen to the song and you will find yourself in there somewhere.

Be careful of the world:

2 Timothy 4:10

for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Use the world for the glory of God and don’t let it use and turn you into refuse.

Think about it.

Gary

Secretary of State Edward Everett delivered a two-hour speech at the Gettysburg National Cemetery, but most people only remember the two-minute speech given by President Abraham Lincoln.

It always amazes me how long it takes some people to say nothing. At one preaching service I attended, I made believe I had to go to the men’s room because I just couldn’t take it anymore. I detest it when kids do that during my service, oh well.

A well-known philosopher made the following statement:

“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

Trying to make sense of this world we were dropped in has buried many a philosopher. Anyone who leaves the Word of God out of the examination of life will end up in the same cemetery.

Here, take a look at what the Bible says about this subject:

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

We need to go beyond what is known naturally to have the equation of life come out correctly.

Think about it.

Gary

When I was very young in the 50’s, there were many movies about WW2 and the bombing raids over Germany by the U.S. Air force.  I would go into my room, fold my mattress over on itself, sit on the folded mattress with my feet on the springs, and do a bombing run over Germany. My crew would navigate for me as my six gunners would hold off the Messerschmitt 109’s while we were taking heavy flack. We always came back shot up, low on fuel and in need of an emergency landing.

I don’t know if we successfully completed our required thirty-five missions or not, but because of my expert leadership we never lost a man or plane. My only trouble was my mother’s concern for what I was doing to the bed. She didn’t realize we all had to be committed to the war effort.

I hated to leave my B-17, fellow airmen, and the war itself, but we all have to rid ourselves of imaginations as reality and maturity overtake us.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

My imaginations were certainly far out, but what about your imaginations? Is it time to deal with them and be obedient to Christ?

Think about it.

Gary

The Scotch- Irish knew something about making music in worship come alive.  The old hymn “Be Thou My Vision” could have a root that goes all the way back to the sixth century. It has been worked on and modified over the years but never lost its powerful effects on the faithful.

The old hymn goes as follows:

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father; thine own may I be,
Thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and thou only first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

This is about a relationship that has nothing to do with religion; it has everything to do with a personal relationship with God. May these ancient truths fill us with the desire to have what this poet had.

Philippians 3:10

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Think about it.

Gary

Johnny Cash sang it as only Johnny could do, with such emotion that it made the listener think that the vocalist was there. It’s the account of a prisoner who decided he was going to take on the impossible wall. He didn’t make it.

He was in prison for a robbery that he believed would have made him the money to win the girl. It was a letter from her while he was in prison that snapped the circuit breaker of right thinking.

I’ll just give you the first and last stanza and you can look up the rest:

There’s a lot of strange men in cell block ten
But the strangest of em’ all
Was a friend of mine who spent his time
Starin at the wall…
Starin at the wall…

Well there’s never been a man who shook this camp
But I knew a man who tried
The newspapers called it a jailbreak plan
But I know it was suicide…
I know it was suicide…

What gets into someone’s head that leads to a prison? What gets into someone’s head that causes him to believe suicide is the only way out? Of all the sad songs, I believe this to be the saddest of them all.

There is a better way.

Psalm 10:14

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

Think about it.

Gary