My friend’s grandfather had a big barn. In that barn was a pen containing a young bull. My friends and I decided a certain individual should attempt to imitate a bronco rider. We needed to hold the calf until the rider got on its back. When we let go, what followed provided some excitement.

This activity wasn’t appreciated by the animal and, in short order, not by the rider either. On top of that, if we had been caught, we would have been in deep kimchi.  Needless to say, it wasn’t about the calf or the rider, but it was about whatever it took to kill some time and provide pleasure for us. That’s just the way life was.

This is how the smartest man in the world lived before he came to his senses.

Ecclesiastes 2:10

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

This man was allowed to do whatever came to his mind. He had both the finances and the opportunity. Solomon became a mess much like that would-be bronco rider who found himself lying in that fresh, yellow and green manure pile.

God’s plans for us are much better than where our imaginations could lead us.

Think about it.

Gary

We were a gang of boys growing up at the end of the road. Entertainment was hard to come by. Television only had two channels, and if it wasn’t for Bonanza and Star Trek, we would have gone nuts.

To break the monotony, we would sometimes get two of the guys to fight each other. I can still hear the punch that hit one of the boys in the chest. He replied with, “That didn’t hurt.” Well, it did hurt, and not just physically, but emotionally as well.  His parents left town when he was a young teenager, never to return. A heart attack took his life before he was forty. I wish I could have met him as an adult to say, “I’m sorry we treated you the way we did.”

Those events of our youth come back to haunt us. Solomon had those regrets and that is why he left such good advice for a younger generation.

Ecclesiastics 12:1

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:

Sometimes the difficulties are the memories of the transgressions of our youth.

Give it some thought.

Gary

He was the tough guy in my trucking days. His language would fry paint off a Mack truck. His stories about his exploits were quite unbelievable and probably were a figment of his imagination. Keeping up a hard exterior and getting a laugh from his peers seemed to be what kept him going.

However, a number of times I caught him alone. Those were the times I told him of Christ and how He died for our sins. This individual stayed silent and contemplative as I spoke. This would continue until some other worker came along and he would have to return to his Rambo role.

I don’t know if anything sank in, but I do know he was my responsibility. He wouldn’t listen to anyone else about spiritual things. We have a responsibility in our circle of influence.

Ezekiel 33:6

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

Do you have someone like that in your world? Let him or her know truth because you could be the only one.

Give it some thought.

Gary

My mother-in-law always had cattle and it was the boys’ job to clean the barn daily. They didn’t like that job because some of the stuff got attached to them.  If they had to be in the public after the cleanup, they feared that their body might have absorbed some of that odor.

However, those animals provided milk and meat for the table plus fertilizer for the garden which produced delicious crops.

The Bible speaks about relationships being like that. There is a downside to every person that comes into our lives and every endeavor we make.

Proverbs 14:4

 Without oxen a stable stays clean,
    but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

Remember the manure is always worth the benefits.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Is God dead? That’s the question that Time Magazine famously asked way back in 1966, when Time Magazine mattered. The answer then and now is no; God is not dead, but a lot of the people who believed that are. I wonder what they discovered when that common event happened.

What they refused to believe was the fact that He is the Creator and the One through whom all the laws are made and enforced. Not believing in God is like not believing in gravity. Really?

This is what Scripture says about Him:

Acts 17:28

for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Even pagan poets knew God was not dead. Believe what you want; it won’t change Him any.

Give it some thought.

Gary

President Lincoln sent Grant a telegram on April 7: “Gen. Sheridan says, ‘If the thing is pressed, I think that Lee will surrender.’ Let the thing be pressed.” At Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865, Sheridan blocked Lee’s escape, forcing the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia later that day.

The hymn writer used that same word many years ago:

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining ev’ry day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where these abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught a joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”

Philippians 3:14

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Stand by Me” is a song originally performed in 1961 by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by him, along with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who used the pseudonym Elmo Glick. According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called “Stand by Me Father,”  recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead. The third line of the second verse of the former work derives from Psalm 46:1-3.

That spiritual song goes like this:

Oh, Father You’ve been my friend
Now that I’m in trouble
Stand by me to the end, oh, oh
I want You to stand by, stand by

Well, all of my money and my friends are gone
God, I’m in a mean world
And I’m so all alone, oh, oh
I need You Jesus, stand by, stand by

Well, they tell me that
Samson killed in ancient times
I know that You helped
Him kill 10, 000 Philistines, oh
Whoa I need You, stand by, stand by

When I’m sick, Father, stand by
When they doctor walk away from my bedside
Stand by me father
When it seem like I don’t have a friend
I wonder would You be my friend
Stand closer, stand by

The secular, “Stand by Me,” made a lot of money and many of my generation still tear up at its playing today, some sixty years later. However, it’s too bad, though, the spiritual that it spring from didn’t have a similar influence to cause folks to acknowledge their need of God.

Psalm 46:1-3

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

Think about it. (Selah)

Gary