Did you ever have an aunt that was an educator? I did in the sixth grade and she had big brown eyes that could penetrate right through you. Sometimes, you believed she knew your thoughts.

But did you ever have an ant that was an educator. I did. I was sitting on a log in a mill yard chewing on a sandwich and observing the ants. One was trying to get a dead ant to some location. My mind said it wasn’t for proper burial, but the Deep Freeze for the winter months. I was considering:

Proverbs 6:6

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise,

They know winter is ahead, and they only have the summer to get ready. They know they must all work hard to get their God-given task accomplished. They know why they are here.

You can learn a lot from an aunt or an ant.

Give it some thought.

Gary

If you tuned in to ABC’s Wild World of Sports from 1971 onward, you’re familiar with the opening sequence, in which sportscaster Jim McKay touts “the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.” For nearly three decades, “the agony of defeat” was personified by a ski jumper’s spectacular wipeout at Oberstock, Germany.

That ski jumper was Vinko Bogataj of Yugoslavia, whose brief presence on the popular show probably made him the most famous ski jumper in the world, or at least to American sports fans. Over the years, different clips were rotated in to the montage to illustrate the “thrill of victory,” but Vinko Bogataj’s accident remained as the “agony of defeat” through to the show’s end in 1998. He’s the Agony-of-Defeat Guy.

The Bible mentions victory twenty-one times. My favorite reference is found in 1^st Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 5:4

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

We don’t have to live in defeat when the path to victory is clearly laid out in Scripture.

Think about it.

Gary

Here are some folks throughout time that took complicated subjects and made them simple. Each one should make us pause to consider.

A brief, simple, but expressive eulogy was pronounced by Martin Luther upon a pastor at Zwickau in 1522 named Nicholas Haussmann.

“What we preach, he lived,” said the great reformer.

I would not give much for your religion unless it can be seen. Lamps do not talk, but they do shine.

Source Unknown

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

                  – HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Psalm 22:22

“I will praise you to all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done.”

Think about it.

Gary

Continuing my dissertation on the hymn entitled “Pancho and “Lefty.”  The way Pancho lived is the way Pancho died. You live a violent life and you die a violent death. Many accounts of such experiences are found in Scripture.

Pancho was a bandit boy
His horse was fast as polished steel
He wore his gun outside his pants
For all the honest world to feel

Pancho met his match you know
On the deserts down in Mexico
Nobody heard his dying words
Ah but that’s the way it goes

Matthew 26:52

But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 

There is a place of no return as can be seen when the end came for Judas.  He couldn’t fix it, so he decided to end it.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Pancho and Lefty” is a story song, one of the finest of the genre. It tells of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and his friendship with Lefty, the man who ultimately betrays him.  Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard made the song famous with their 1983 duet.

Poor old Pancho left what he could have been for what he could never be. So many individuals throughout time have made the same delusional trade. Dreams turn into nightmares when you’re on the road that runs contrary to society’s values.

Living on the road my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
And now you wear your skin like iron
And your breath as hard as kerosene

Weren’t your mama’s only boy
But her favorite one it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams

The Bible also gives advice about taking a road that leads to life. It describes the pitfalls and snares that can trip up a young man and bring about destruction.

Proverbs 1:8

My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;

Proverbs 1:10

My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.

Proverbs 1:15

My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;

What are you thinking, Boy?

Give it some thought.

Gary

Someone might describe you as a jackass, but you’re not one. People could say you are a snake, but that wouldn’t be true. They might even say you resemble a monkey; however, a DNA test would disprove that hypothesis. Only smile when you are referenced to as a turkey.

No, God has created us in his image and we are to rule over the animal kingdom with respect. WE ARE UNIQUE and unlike the animals have a superior intelligence. We were created to reflect God’s greatness.

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Every creature has a specific purpose in God’s grand design. However, the only one that can have a personal relationship with Him is the human being and only if that person so desires.

Give it some thought, you wise old owl.

Gary

When I was a lad going along the highway searching for returnable soda bottles was the only way to make money. Seeing two or three bottles together in a ditch was like finding treasure.

The gold rushes of centuries past were made up of men with gold fever seeking treasure.

The account of Noah in the Old Testament is about a man who found treasure. It was called grace:

Genesis 6:8

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

That treasure was enough to save him and his entire family from the coming judgment.  We also, thousands of years later, can find this treasure and make it our own.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

How about you? What is the value of your stuff?

Think about it.

Gary