Big boy's TOY

I know this is a motorcycle, but to me it looks like a big-wheel kids toy. And that toy is forever etched in my memories. Why? A former next-door neighbor's son used to ride it up and down the street next to my house and keep me awake during the day. So, when I see this I remember all those sleepless days (I was working midnight shift then) his innocent play caused. But, I know this IS A MOTORCYCLE, but it still is A BIG BOYS TOY; the hearts desire of some "grown-up" who still loves to "play". This reminds me of the ancient king Solomon who had his "toys" too.


Eccl 1:12-2:10
12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.15 That which is crooked can't be made straight; and that which is lacking can't be counted.16 I said to myself, "Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."17 I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.18 For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.2 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.2 I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.6 I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were reared.7 I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—musical instruments, and that of all sorts.9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them. I didn't withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. WEB

If you could have your heart's desire, what would it be? Maybe a grown-up "big wheel" motorcycle or something else you have set your heart on? What if, what if, you could have anything your heart desired? Ultimately, would that make you happy? The answer is found later in the book of Ecclesiastes and that answer is a resounding "NO". Later on in the book Solomon says:


Eccl 12:13-14
13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil. WEB


Having "things" is fine, but in the end God shows that more than anything you could ever want, you REALLY NEED GOD. Bottom line, end of story. Besides, could you imagine even riding this "big wheel" motorcycle, I don't think I could even see over the handlebars????

Fit for the job

Talk about having a "bad day"! Can you imagine the embarrassment of the "rescuers"? And they should be ashamed. They screwed up; someone just didn't think out what they really needed to do the job correctly. These pictures reminded me of a similar situation from the book of Acts.


Acts 19:11-20
11 God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul,
12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out.
13 But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."
14 There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.
15 The evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?"
16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.
19 Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted the price of them, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.20 So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty. WEB



There is only one God and those who aren't empowered by him to do miracles would have been better off not even showing up. Its amazing to me though, that God could even use their failure to glorify his name. Now I guess the only question that remains is: Who are they going to call to haul in both dunked Riggs?

Clouds, sundials and faith

Please don't ask what causes these "Morning glory" clouds; I haven't a clue. But they do exist on the coast of Australia. Sometimes nature will surprise you, but what if the truly impossible happened? Just such a thing is recorded in the book of Isaiah.



Isa 38:4-8
4 Then the word of Yahweh came to Isaiah, saying,
5 "Go, and tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, "I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.
6 I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.
7 This shall be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do this thing that he has spoken.
8 Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down."'"WEB



The sun moved backwards; impossible, right? Well, God says it happened and that is good enough for me. Naive? Perhaps, but until today I wouldn't have believed clouds could look like those in the above picture. The truth is we humans don't know everything;the world is a strange place. Maybe tomorrow God will show me another something "new"? And with that revelation I just might gain just a smidgen more of faith.

Balancing act

I should think the odds of this stack occurring naturally is very high! Perhaps this bird will be able to stay there, maybe not, but who knows? When Linda and I were wed, our families gave us 6 months at the most before we split up; and yet several decades have gone by and we are still looking forward to another 6 months. Sometimes, the seemingly impossible comes true, just like the situation of the Jews when they returned from exile to build the temple. Nehemiah says...


Neh 4:1-6 But it happened that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.
2 He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned?
3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall.
4 Hear, our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity;
5 and don't cover their iniquity, and don't let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have provoked you to anger before the builders.
6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half the height of it: for the people had a mind to work. WEB



The wall just didn't happen, there had to be plenty of faith and hard work. Sure there were obstacles both physical and psychological, but so what, life is full of them. Faith combined with hard work quite often yields success. And who knows, perhaps the stones in the above picture will still look like that in 6 months, but I think a little superglue would help!

A long way up

Its the CNN tower and its BIG! More than that, this picture makes me realize how far it is to the top! Being a Christian seems like climbing this tower to me. You start at the ground floor at your conversion and over time learn to forget your "old" life. Problems happen, its like that for everyone and they just have to be put behind you. Over the span of life you may feel you have accomplished a little or a lot, but its not what you have done to get to heaven, its the RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS that is important. Reality sets in a no matter how "good" you are, in and of yourself, YOU don't measure up. God makes up the difference through Jesus and you just need to keep looking up and persevere. I love this passage from the book of Philippians because it seems to transform the mundane into a life of poetry for me.

Phil 3:1-14 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not tiresome, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh;
4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
7 However, what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yes most assuredly, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death;
11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. WEB

Many years ago I worked as a guard for a company in upstate New York. After about 8 PM or so, there were very few people left in the plant and after 10 PM I was all alone. But strangely, I never felt alone, even when there was tons of ice and snow outside and I knew that if I fell punching that key clock on one of the outside buildings it could be disastrous; still I kept doing my rounds. I really don't remember being afraid at all; I just kept on doing my thing. God was with me and that's all that mattered. Even when the company was broken into (on my day off) I still continued working as before. Living with Jesus is like that; you just keep going and God takes care of the rest. It may be a long way up to heaven, but the company is great!

Fireproof

Whoever is doing this is just a little "crazy"! Why would someone do this in the first place? For money, a bet or some other "reason". The only one I can think of is that he is running for his life. But, people do the strangest things for equally strange reasons. When the topic of religion is brought up, well, strange becomes normal and normal is out there. Why would someone base their hope of heaven on a mere mortal or follow some brilliant teacher instead of going to the source, Jesus HIMSELF. The Corinthian Christians were all mixed up and the apostle Paul was trying to solve their problems in his letters, but it wasn't easy. Read this short passage from 1st Corinthians and reflect on it a bit.

1 Cor 3:1-15
3 Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren't yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready,
3 for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men?
4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you fleshly?
5 Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's farming, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
11 For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;
13 each man's work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man's work is.
14 If any man's work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
15 If any man's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. WEB

If God builds the church it stands, otherwise, in the last day it will be destroyed. Men are fallible, God is not. If the church passes the example found in the New Testament, it will retained; if not, destroyed. Having said this, focus for a minute on verse 15. God is merciful and will bring the saved through the fire, but with difficulty. Its worth asking yourself the question: "What am I basing my religious beliefs and practices on?" Hopefully, you will think about it and then go the the Bible to check the foundation; make it fireproof!

Quick or slow

Death comes to us all; some more quickly than others. Its easy to understand that if you shoot yourself you WILL DIE, but not quite so obvious if you smoke. To be fair, some poeple who smoke live a long, long time, but I don't think that is the general rule. I know how hard it is to quit smoking and what happens when you quit. I was recently reminded of that during my recent recuperation from neck surgery. For about 6 weeks I was on oxycotin and when I realized I really needed to stop taking it, I found out what a pain addiction withdrawl was. Sin is like both smoking and prescription drugs. Its easy to see the big things like murder or rape and not so obvious in matters of "small" things, like bringing home a pen from work or telling a "white lie". Sin is what it is and with all the power in you... avoid it at all costs. Somehow this passage from John seemed to "fit".



John 5:9-14
9 Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
10 So the Jews said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat."
11 He answered them, "He who made me well, the same said to me, 'Take up your mat, and walk.'"
12 Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?"
13 But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you." WEB



Ok, I didn't include the beginning of the passage when it mentioned the length of his sickness, but it was 38 years. If you have ever been sick for more than a few months, you know that something inside you changes as you continue in your sickness. Obviously, he had sinned because Jesus told him to sin no more. Face it; we all fall short of the mark, but we can and MUST do everything we are able to do to resist evil. Just like the anti-smoking ad above, tolerated sin will kill you. Take your pick, quick or slow?