Mom and Dad taught me to hate fishing. They were avid outdoorsmen.  I had to be with them until I got old enough to stay home alone. To me, fishing was boring and the heat was oppressive, along with the swarms of hungry blackflies. Even after almost seventy years, I won’t eat fish. I love canoeing and hiking, but if anyone brings a fishing pole, they can’t come with my group.

From my previous paragraph, do you get the impression there’s an activity I despise?  Amazing what words can do.

Psalm 19:14 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Matthew 12:37 

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Too many long fishing trips traumatized me as a child. Did my words allow you to feel my exasperation? Words can be powerful.

Give it some thought.

Gary

I feed birds during the winter months and they aren’t even thankful. Seed and suet I provide for them at my expense and they could care less. I wonder if they realize that, if I weren’t doing this, God would just use another resource of His to supply their needs.

I then consider us as believers. Do we acknowledge God’s provision or do we believe it’s just our own ingenuity or time and chance that meets our needs?   Scripture certainly makes it clear.

Luke 12:24

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

God’s caring for you. Thank Him and give it some thought.

Gary

It was a statement made by Jimmy Stewart in the movie The Shop Around the Corner (1940) “You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.”

That thought certainly relates to most people when it comes to the Scriptures. The majority just give it a cursory look and then walk away. However, true seekers spend the time to understand exactly what God is communicating.

Jeremiah 29:13

You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.

Acts 17:11

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

Go deep because it is certainly worth the effort. Give it some thought.

Gary

“Beau”  is the name of a poem written by Jimmy Stewart and published in 1989. Not only was Jimmy, my favorite actor, but this poem is also my favorite about the companionship of a four-legged friend.  Strange, how those canines come into our lives and, though a nuisance from time to time, have a special place in our hearts. I know a lot of Christians who may also be a challenge, but, unbelievably, they spice up my life.

1 John 3:14 

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

1 John 2:10 

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.

We’re all in this together and we shouldn’t wait to miss a person only after he is taken. Give it some thought.

Gary

If you want to read about bad decisions and needless deaths, consider the Book of Ruth. Senselessly, the patriarch of the family caused them to leave the place of God’s choosing, to inhabit a place with the curse of God on it. This is never a good move, but has been the practice for multitudes since the beginning of time. The place of death will never be maxed out. This family’s tragedies were spread over a period of ten years.

Ruth 1:5

Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Be firmly planted in the will of God and don’t move. Give it some thought.

Romans 12:2 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Give it some thought.

Gary

It was time for the evening show. He stood there on that float, wearing his swimming trunks and being in no particular hurry. After stretching and making unusual facial expressions, he’d finally dive into the St John River, sailing for at least ten feet before breaking the water. We’d watch and wait. Long after the ripples had disappeared by his entrance into that water, minutes continued to pass.  It seemed like a quarter mile downstream, he’d finally burst through to the surface, walk to shore, get in his car and head home, all without saying a word.

For some strange reason, I’m glad there were people like him in my world. Our era is made up of so many individuals, with no two alike, God’s marvelous wonder.

Isaiah 13:12 

I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.

I appreciate the variety in our world of humans. Give it some thought.

Gary

It was belted out in 1967 by the Seekers, “The Carnival Is Over.” It’s been 55 years, but in my mind’s eye, I can see the workers taking down the tents that had announced that the carnival was in town. Nothing lasts forever, but try to make a fourteen-year-old understand that concept. In a lifetime, there are a lot of unexpected events that are misunderstood, but of necessity must be endured. The father of the Israelites stated it well.

Genesis 47:9

 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” 

The Gardner paraphrase of that passage is, “This has been some trip, but I can see a light at the end of the road, and that’s okay.”

Give it some thought.

Gary