A first-round baseball draft choice was not adapting well to life in the majors. When asked what was wrong, the manager replied with a shrug, “That’s the way the rookie grumbles.” Headline in the Indianapolis Star: “Mike Tyson says his first year in prison has been a difficult experience.” Isn’t that the idea? Diets would be a lot easier to stomach if you didn’t have to stop eating. Whenever I am asked what kind of writing is the most lucrative, I have to say ransom notes. Isn’t it amazing that of our five senses, four are above the neck. No wonder they used to behead people. D.C. If the universe is still expanding, why are there still only 24 hours in a day?
October 31, 2019 Verse of the Day For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17 NIV
Turn on the light By Linda Buxa We had friends over one night, and six kids were playing in the bedroom. The slightly bigger kids were turning the bedroom into a haunted house, complete with spooky noises and no lights. Justin, the one toddler in the room, ran to turn on the lights, saying, “Scary!” The other five wanted the lights off, enjoying the elementary-school level of fear they were trying to create. Back and forth the disagreement went. The toddler wouldn’t give up. Finally, the other kids gave in. But it wasn’t the same. You just can’t have fear when the lights are on. Grown-ups live in an actual haunted house because this world is full of actual scary situations. Children contract life-threatening diseases, marriages crumble, parents suffer from dementia, paychecks barely seem to cover the bills. With faith like a child, you run to the Light. Shine the light of truth on your fears. Because Jesus suffered the ultimate darkness on the cross—separation from the Father while paying the consequences for our sins—he is more than qualified to handle the darkness of our daily lives. He gives you his light and his strength to face each challenge. Now you get to say, “You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall” (2 Samuel 22:29,30).
They tell you that you will lose your mind when you get older. What they don’t tell you is that you won’t miss it very much. If you believe the past can’t be changed, you haven’t read any celebrity’s autobiography. I never varied from the managerial rule that the worst possible thing we could do would be to lie dead in the water with any problem. Solve it, solve it quickly, solve it right or wrong. If you solve it wrong, it would come back and slap you in the face and then you could solve it right. Doing nothing is a comfortable alternative because it is without immediate risk, but it is an absolutely fatal way to manage a business. Thomas Watson Jr. There was a sure thing at the race track the other day. The race was won by a horse named Death N Taxes. They say if you ever go to Paterson, N.J., check out the intersection of Straight and Narrow Streets. You’ll even find an alcohol rehab center there. John Kenneth Galbraith, professor emeritus of economics at Harvard and noted author on trickle down economics says: “If you feed the horse enough oats some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.” This sign was posted near a recent press conference in TN for then VP Dan Quayle: “Phor Moor Yeers.”
November 1, 2019 Verse of the Day “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. Matthew 12:18 NIV
The grand reunion By Pastor Mark Jeske I’m kind of glad that I didn’t live in Bible times. I sure do look up to the heroes of our faith—Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Esther, and all the rest. But the biblical narrative does not hesitate to tell the stories of their terrible weaknesses as well as their triumphs. Maybe that’s why I still hold these people in such high regard. God achieved great things through them, but they were just frail, sinful mortals like you and me. They lived and worked and suffered and overcame and then died, all the while waiting to see the magnificent revelation of the full might and presence of God. They lived and died in hope and in faith, sustained by the power of God’s Word. Only together with us will they experience the grand reunion. The writer to Jewish Christians in the first century urged them to remember and imitate the saints of old: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39,40). This All Saints’ Day take a moment to give thanks to God for the men and women of centuries past on whose shoulders we stand, people whose courage and steadfastness serve as examples and inspiration for us. Soon, soon, comes the grand reunion when we can thank them in person
November 2, 2019 Verse of the Day However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1 Peter 4:16 NIV
Really, Jesus? Carry my cross? By Pastor Mark Jeske Wouldn’t you like to think that becoming a Christian and living the Christian life will make your life better? Doesn’t Scripture promise that God will bless faith and obedience . . . that it will go well with us and actually extend our lives on this earth? How then can Jesus tell us to carry our crosses? Wasn’t that supposed to be his nasty job? He actually said it various times: “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” (Luke 9:23-25). Really, Jesus? Yes. The one who bore the cross for us invites us to be ready and willing to pick up our own if and when we need to. Our own comfort and our wealth and pleasant environment can become idols, idols so compelling and seductive that to keep our position we just might sacrifice our faith and our worship of God as our number one. I personally have to work on this more. I would much rather pick up my golf clubs or my vacation luggage or some NFL tickets than a cross. But there will be times when accepting a hardship for Jesus’ sake is the highest form of worship.
Commonly we stride through the out-of-doors too swiftly to see more than the most obvious and prominent things. For observing nature, the best pace is a snail’s pace. Edwin Teale The field has eyes, the wood has ears; I will look, be silent, and listen. Look for birds with your ears. Technology: The knack of so arranging the world that we don’t have to experience it. It is much better to have a beer in a joint than water on the knee or brain. Lifting weights is like loading a truck that isn’t there. Misdirected enthusiasm is worse than apathy.
November 3, 2019 Verse of the Day Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 NIV
Horse sense is the instinct that keeps horses from betting on humans. Remember, when things are going perfectly, the only change can be for the worse. It is much better to have a future than a past. I’m not dumber than I used to be. There are just more new things about which I am ignorant. When you are through changing, you are through. One good way to relieve stress is to pop some corn, a big pan full, but leave the cover off. Remember, every professional once was an amateur.
November 4, 2019 Verse of the Day LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. Isaiah 25:1 NIV
Lord, cast your vote through us By Jason Nelson We are excited, Lord! This week we can participate in democracy. We can choose our leaders. We enter a voting booth like it was a confessional and with only you watching make choices that reveal our politics and reflect our faith. Out of our isolated votes comes a consensus. The will of the people is done. And your will is done. Let us cherish this privilege and never neglect our duty to cast our vote. It is a righteous act of citizenship. Brave people died to secure it for us. Move us to cast our votes and honor their sacrifice. There are many competing things to consider. Help us sort through the positions among candidates. Help us sift through the positions of each candidate. None of them is a perfect choice. In the course of human events, no candidate has ever been perfect. This is not the City of God. It is the city of men and women. And you have always made exceptional use of flawed people. We are not electing a national pastor, poet laureate, king of the hill, or ceremonial prima donna. Help us remember what we are doing: electing leaders and legislators who must work together to solve problems in our collective best interest. Remind us that you sent your holy Son to serve and not be served and give himself as a ransom for many. Fill us with hope that comes from him. Lord, please cast your vote through us. Amen.
November 5, 2019 Verse of the Day Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. 1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV
God isn’t broke By Pastor Mark Jeske The most obvious beneficiaries of the financial gifts of Christians are their churches, schools, and charitable ministries. That’s where the gifts become visible. But those are just the secondary recipients of our gifts. The more important intended beneficiary is God himself. Our gifts are given first to him. But it’s not that he needs our money. He isn’t broke: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” (Psalm 50:9-12). This is a great paradox. The great Lord of all, Creator of the world’s gold and silver, opens his hands to receive our dimes. The serene Master of human history, self-sufficient and eternal, actually cares about our offerings and eagerly scrutinizes what we bring him. Why? What do you give a God who has everything? Give him what only you possess—your heart. The amount of the gift, the actual money or goods that you let go of, is not for his heavenly balance sheet. It is a marker for you, so that you may put an emphasis on your words of worship and adoration. The God who isn’t broke is so thrilled with your heart-gifts that he will soon give you back more than you first gave him.
Chi Chi Rodriguez, tells this story: “When I was a young boy in Puerto Rico, we had a little field which was overgrown with thick bamboo trees. My father wanted to plant corn, but clearing the bamboo would have taken weeks, time he couldn’t afford to take off his job. But, every night when he came home from work, he would cut down one stalk of bamboo. The very next spring, there was corn on the Rodriguez table!” If you took all the brains of the idiots on our Supreme Court and put them inside the head of a bird, that poor dumb bird would fly backward. Read the sentence below and choose one answer only: Work is for people who don’t know how to: a. Hunt b. Enjoy the outdoors c. Drink d. Take casual strolls through the woods. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
November 6, 2019 Verse of the Day He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29 NIV
Silence either gives consent or a horrible feeling that nobody’s listening. In 1962, ABC, who had been fighting against color television, finally broadcast their first show, which was a comedy, and a total flop. Yet, in 1963, they again put this show on the air, but moved it to Saturday morning and it was an instant hit with the kids. It still is today in 1998 and is called The Jetsons. That’s a pretty good run of 35 years for that show. The reason our work is so brittle, And shatters at the slightest touch. We think so much about so little, And think so little of so much. There is one thing to be said about ignorance; it sure causes a lot of interesting arguments. John Steinbeck used to tell a story about an old retired sea-dog with a peg leg, who made his headquarters on a wharf at Monterey and was regarded as one of the chief points of interest of the town by visitors. The visitors heard that if you held up before the old salt a $5.00 bill in one hand and a quarter in the other and offered him his choice, he would always pick the quarter. His face would light up with joy and without hesitation, he would choose the quarter. The tourist would always go away gratified. One cold, windy day, when there was nobody else in sight, Steinbeck struck up a conversation with the old man. “Gimpy,” he said, “I’m really surprised at you. Don’t you know by this time that a $5.00 bill is worth exactly 20 times as much as a quarter, no matter how shiny and silvery that quarter is? Gimpy gave him an elaborate wink and cackled, “Of course I do, Skipper. But, if I ever once chose a $5.00 bill, the jig would be up forever.”
November 7, 2019 Verse of the Day But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7 NIV
God’s secret agents By Pastor Mark Jeske How does God get his agenda for earth accomplished? Let me count the ways: He can act unilaterally, with his unlimited almighty power, as when he commanded the great flood to begin. He loves to use his holy angels, a heavenly host of powerful spirit-creatures who hasten to do his bidding. He uses pastors and teachers, prophets and apostles, evangelists and deacons, and the vast army of believers who grasps his mission and heeds his call. And he can use people you’d think would be his enemies. The Persians were not known as believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but their king, Cyrus (whom we call “The Great”), had a special relationship with God: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah’” (Ezra 1:2). Is that amazing or what? Here is a ruthless warlord, fresh off his conquest of the Babylonians, master of the entire Middle East, who humbly acknowledges that it was Israel’s God who had given him his victories and who now felt a personal obligation to assist the Jews both in returning to the land of Israel and in rebuilding the sacred temple in Jerusalem. Do you suppose that God has secret agents working for him in our day as well?
