Dirt on my hands:

Something To Think About Dirt on my hands, 8/21

A popular "Reality" TV show features people who do dirty jobs.  I've watched episodes that featured dead fish, bat dung, sewage and grease of varioussorts. I don't remember who, but I heard a comedian say he didn't want any job that required him to wash his hands before he went to the bathroom.  I have a white-collar job; on occasion, I even wear a white collar, but I often find my hands dirty.  What to do when your hands are covered with grease, mud, or stains from pulling weeds, and you need to reach in your pocket to get your keys or phone, especially when you are wearing the pants that will cause the missus to give you the look over the stains over the pocket? Matthew Crawford talks about the loss of an ethic that has made our culture great.  He speaks of the "misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind. [He] shows us how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide."  (http://matthewbcrawford.com/)  Though Saul of Tarsus was on his way to becoming the leading rabbi of his day, he knew how to make tents, and did so on numerous occasions.  For most of His adult life Jesus was a carpenter, called by His town's residents "the carpenter."  Clearly he did not shrink from hard work. In my grandparents day there were few who didn't know what it meant to get their hands dirty.  Now many youngsters think such work is beneath them.  From the beginning God's intention was for His people to work with the ground (Genesis 2:15). Perhaps if more folk had dirty hands, we'd have less trouble dealing with dirty minds. Any how . . . It's Something to Think About.

Digging Graves

My respect for grave diggers has gone up tremendously.  I'm not talking about the guys who run backhoes, though I have plenty of respect for anyone who does an honest day's work for an honest day's wage.  I'm talking about the real life Jayber Crows who show up with pick & shovel and dig a nice square hole six feet deep.  I had a sewer problem and decided that I needed to dig down to where I could get access to the line.  The hole is on a grade.  The shallow end is maybe three feet deep, but at it's deepest point I figure the hole is over eight feet.  Breaking up the earth with a mattock and a digging bar, shoveling it out and hauling most of it out in a wheel barrow, gave me time to think.
Aside from thinking about how much easier this would be with a machine, I thought about the old tradition of honoring the dead by digging their grave.  Trust me.  If I had been digging that hole for someone's final resting place I would remember that friend.
In my world, ladies are better at honoring others in a hands-on manner.  They are the ones who bring a meal by the home of a new mom, or a grieving family.  It seems that most of the grave-digging type tasks, that men used to do, have been mechanized, bureaucratized, and eliminated.  When was the last time you helped a neighbor build a barn, or harvested the crop for an ailing friend?  Still, with a bit of thought we can find opportunities.

• A friend mows grass to supplement his income.  One of his clients is a senior citizen with limited income, so she only has my friend mow the yard every other week.  My friend goes the extra mile by raking the long grass for her.
• I talked to a guy the other day who is having back trouble.  He hurt himself helping another.  
• Some guys I know are collecting junk, not to pile in their garage, but to sell, so they can help a couple of families.

There is something manly about serving others with sweat on your brow.  It's a lesson I learned in the hole.

Lord help me remember it.

It's Something to Think About.

A Difficult Pattern to Follow:

Something To Think About Tracing the lines, 8/18

I'm spending some time with some really smart kids.  It's interesting watching them play with toys that my boys used to play with 35+ years ago.  One of the kids had trouble identifying the farm animals, but then proceeded to ask me if we had an internet connection.  She wanted to download an App.  Little brother took over playing with the farm, and added in some cars--again three decades old.  He used the fence as a barrier and made a McDonald's drive-through. Kid's follow the patterns they observe in the adults around them.  That's a really important lesson to develop, but I'll save it for another day. Right now, I'm thinking about some patterns that our Lord laid down for us to follow.  Though the Apostle Peter uses a very child-friendly image to make his point, the lessons are entirely grown-up.      “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example,”  (1 Peter 2:21, NASB95)   We live in a world where finding our way is anything but child's play.  The people to whom Peter originally addressed these words, are described as aliens.  They had been forced to leave their homes by those who persecuted them for their faith.  I figure every instinct in them cried out for revenge, but pattern Jesus left behind was of one who "while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;" (23) I have to really focus and work hard to trace over the lines my Lord laid down for me to follow.  Staying in the lines is not simply a matter of a nice looking page in my coloring book.  The end result is a life well-lived. It's Something to Think About.

Learning from a funny man's sad death:

I've spent my life in what used to be called "fly over country."  The big power-brokers are on the East Coast and the trend setters on the West.  Reporters just fly back and forth over our heads looking for news from the edges of our continent.  To be honest, a lot of the news that comes from DC, NY, and L. A. just flies over our heads out here in the hinter-land.  Some Hollywood starlet was arrested for the twenty-fifth time for DUI--"Ho-hum."   A politician on the take?  "Aren't they all?" Sometimes, though, something cuts through the clutter & kicks me in the gut.  Robin Williams death was like that.  Maybe it is because he was about the same age as me.  He enjoyed biking, as do I.  When he was on, he was devastatingly funny.  I figure nobody can be that funny unless they are serious about it.  I like humor.  I appreciate its power. Bottom-line, the news of Williams's death made me think.   In spite of the vast differences between the movie star comic and the small town preacher, there was enough that Williams and I had in common that I found myself responding to the tragic news of his death with, "There but for the grace of God, go I." There is a Solomon-esque Ecclesiastes-like, very un-amusing  quality to the comics death. "WHY?" Solomon had his gardens, palaces, zoos, and harem.  Speaking about his cycling obsession, Bicycling Magazine said, Williams loves bikes. The actor doesn't own one of the best bikes you can get-he owns them all, packed into a San Francisco mega-garage. He can, and does, without hesitation, indulge one of the most intense cases of gear lust in two-wheeled history. If the urge to pedal a favorite back road in Montana hits, no problem: He loads his bike into a private jet and is there in a flash. And while a spin with Lance Armstrong may be just a sweat-soaked chamois dream for most cyclists, the comic counts the Texan as a riding buddy. When Williams attends the Tour, he's a turbo-VIP, following the action from a U.S. Postal support vehicle. You read this and probably ask, "What would I do with a warehouse full of bikes?"  I think I know.  You'd sell them--maybe I'd buy one--and then you'd buy a warehouse full of something that floats your boat.  There is no maybe to this.  I'm sure.  Whatever you or I would fill our store-house full with, would not, will not, can not satisfy.  By God's grace Solomon or Howard, nor you--since you are reading this--did not/have not come to the bitter end that was the last moment of Williams's life.  Let's use our reprieve to learn some very serious lessons from the very sad end of a very funny man's life.  We are are fallen people in a fallen world. The same brokenness that effects the rest of creation, impacts us to our core.  All of us are born with a birth-defect, sin  (seePsalm 51, esp. v.5).  We help those who struggle with congenital blindness, or weak hearts.  Let's help those who struggle with emotional disorders most of us don't understand. I don't care how much you have, when it comes to satisfying your soul it will never be enough.  Don't be like the rich fool, who tried to fill a spiritual hole with stuff.n this fallen world. We often envy the wrong people for the wrong reasons.  I remember reading the article I referenced above.  I had to deal covetousness.  Now, I look again.  I see nothing that makes me want to change places. We desperately need the Lord.  Only He can truly help.     “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26, NASB95)     Indeed It's Something to Think About.

A Good Haircut

Something To Think About Marriage, 8/12

42 years ago at about this time, I was getting a haircut.  Kathy Marsceau was cutting my hair.  She didn't like the way my dad it.  She wanted me to look good for my wedding later that day.  I'll let you judge. Far more important than making me look better, she has and continues to make me better. I thank the Lord for a wonderful wife.  It's my anniversary so you go on from here, after all this is . . . Something to Think About.

Jump In!

Something To Think About Jumping in, 8/11

Maybe you can help me out.  I'm short on time. I'm fairly sure I heard about a group of people who live on the water.  Their homes are floating on H2O, yet most of those water-people have never learned to swim. Please let me know if you find a reference.  I'd like to find out it's not just my memory going bad.  Even if I'm mis-remembering, I do know for sure that it is possible to live right next to something all your life and never experience it. The Old-Testament is full of people who lived next to the Temple, or saw God do wonders, or heard the word of the Lord from the mouth of the prophet, but who never came to know the God of Israel.  Perhaps the most notable New Testament example of this syndrome is Judas, who walked with, ate with, listened to, and even participated in ministry with the Son of God, and yet remained an unbeliever. Many of you who read these, more or less, daily thoughts can walk to a church.  Almost all of you have a Bible in your home, but have you ever met the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is worshiped in that church or written about in the Bible? At the end of this email you'll find a link that take you to a page that contains several ways of finding out more about the Lord Jesus Christ.  Don't just float on top, dive in. It's Something to Think About. God's Story in His Own Words. a message composed of nothing but Scripture that presents the flow of Divine Revelation from "In the beginning," to the final "Amen." Look here  to find out about how you can meet the Lord.