Having boundaries was kind of foreign to me as the youngest of eight kids. I was like a free-range chicken going in and out of everyone’s life. Then, suddenly, something changed all of that and it was called school.

You see, in those days whatever happened at school stayed at school. Teachers had latitude in correcting students. They could tape your mouth, hit you with rulers or yardsticks, pull your ears, or throw you against the wall if they so desired. I’m not just making this up; they could even hold you back until you got too big for the seats.

I’ll never forget it. I can’t tell you what that kid did to deserve such punishment. The teacher firmly clutched his shirt, lifted him off the floor, and deposited his feet on his desktop.  Mucus ran down the little guy’s nose and he now stood eyeball to eyeball with the teacher.

I felt like I was the only witness to this event, but there had to be twenty others. No one had to testify because there would be no trial.  I’ll tell you, I learned something about boundaries that day. I said to myself, “Don’t do what that kid did.”

The Bible has a lot to say about boundaries:

Proverbs 22:28

Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set.

Knowing where you belong and where you don’t is important in the life that God has given to us.

Think about it.

Gary

When I was growing up, I had a friend who was so gifted that he could build his own sled for sliding. We had a huge hill not far from home, and we would pull that sled to the top, get on and have a merry ride to the bottom.  However, more often than not, we never made it to the bottom and somewhere along the route would be a crash scene. It didn’t seem to bother him because he would return to his house and build another sled.

Don’t you like individuals like that? They just never give up, and their attitude towards life’s setbacks is seemingly always positive. They are focused.

The Bible describes a man like that.

2 Samuel 23:20

Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day.

Discouraging odds, lions, pits and snow wouldn’t stop him from getting the job done.

What’s your excuse for not getting the job done?

Think about it.

Gary

She was only a year old when I found her incarcerated at the police department pound. I claimed her and sometime later she claimed me. Her fur was bright red and she was a chow-retriever mix. We named her Lady. Every man past middle-age in my town has a dog and pick up to go to the dump with on Saturdays.

Thirteen years later we were taking our final truck ride together to see the vet. We both knew this was the way it had to be. The vet was very understanding and the procedure was carried out in the front seat of my Tacoma with my hand petting her.

King David made this heart-wrenching statement in:

1 Kings 2:2

I go the way of all the earth;

We can’t go through life without the experience of “the way of all the earth,” and some day we will experience it for ourselves. The question is: Are we ready for that event?

Think about it.

Gary

As kids, when we were not in school, our days were spent playing outside. One activity was sliding down the embankment and out unto the river ice. We would make a fire on the ice and take a break once in a while and stand around the fire.

On this particular trip, with me at the front of the sled and my buddy behind, we sped down to the river. Something went wrong with our trajectory, and we landed in the fire that had melted about a six-inch hole in the ice.

My ankle was sprained quite badly, and I was somewhat incapacitated and dazed; however, my faithful companion pulled me out of the hole which still had live coals. As you know by reading this, I survived.

In life, things go wrong and plans made can have snafus. It is a good thing to have a friend who will watch your back when you get in trouble.

Proverbs 17:17

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

God provides such friends to care and protect us; however, man’s greatest friend is our Lord and Savior.

Proverbs 18:24

A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

If your journey involves speed and ice or other hazards, don’t go it alone.

Think about it.

Gary

I can see them in my mind’s eye. They came so close to the truth but were sidetracked by something or someone. Hardness set in and now they are completely callused to the truth.

Winston Churchill said it like this, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing has happened.”

Paul in writing to the Galatians put it as follows:

Galatians 4:16

Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Galatians 5:7

You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

Jesus made the statement that He was the way, the truth and the life and no man could come to the Father except by Him.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I was so vain when I was in high school that I wouldn’t wear my glasses. That habit is not a good one while playing baseball. It was a hit that sent the ball into the heavens. I was right under it as it was coming down to earth. That ball just brushed the top of my mitt and hit me between the eyes. Did that event make me start wearing glasses? No, I was too proud and concerned how I looked before the girls.  That miss, however, didn’t impress the girls much.

What a warped view of life teenagers can develop on their own. They can have, like me, a very shallow understanding of what is most useful. Most believe the universe revolves around them. It’s my environment that needs fixing and not moi. (That’s me in French.) I got a C in French my sophomore year of high school, so I’m pretty good at it. Because I said that, you realize I’m still working on the vanity thing.

If only I had known what God had to say about the subject, how much easier life could have been, and maybe I could have been a good ballplayer.

Ecclesiastes 2:1

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.

He had it right. How are you doing with that subject?

Think about it.

Gary

In 1854 Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” (No, I wasn’t alive then).  Years later, in our time, Bob Seger described this phenomenon in “Running Against the Wind.”

These individuals both are describing life as a hard pull which doesn’t get easier with time. Bob sings, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.” Fortunately, we can’t forget those events that we wish never happened, because they help keep us between the shores as we journey to our destination.

The Bible describes this thought as follows:

Psalm 39:4

“Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am.

Life is short and stuff does add up, but in the economy of God “all things can work together for good” Romans 8:28.

Think about it.

Gary