Dead Ends

 

When I traveled to Romania for the first time in 1990, We had the name and street address of Brother Florin Doboş in Haţeg, and that was all.  We had to ask for directions.  Now, when I rent a car in Hungary, it comes with navigation.  It is so simple to find places in Europe now.  When my son-in-law came to our house for the first time to visit our daughter, he used an old-fashioned Garmin GPS.  It brought him to a trailer park nearby and to a road that didn’t exist.  The road probably had been planned and entered into a book somewhere in the courthouse, but in reality, it didn’t exist.  Eric stopped one block from our house, but Patricia Drive was a dead end.  He had to start over and find another route to get to our house.  Hey, there are many dead ends in life: pursuits that lead to nowhere.  Money is a dead end.  Fame and popularity are both dead ends.  People think that there are different roads that lead to God, but except for one, religious roads are dead ends too.  Jesus said in John 14:6, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  Jesus isn’t one of the ways to God; Jesus is the only way to God.  All of the other ways are dead ends.  So … are you on the right road to God, or are you following on a dead end?

Blue Lint, Smelly Jeans

 

This is complicated, but here I go: last Tuesday, I changed the transmission filter and fluid (8 quarts) in my old Buick.  I was installing the new gasket and needed a third hand.  Obviously, I don’t have a third hand, and in the midst of my struggling, I bumped the full drain pan (which was an old steel mixing bowl with a round bottom) and spilled the used transmission fluid on the concrete.  Oops.  And to add insult to injury, the fluid spill was uphill from me, and gravity washed it down under my back soaking my tee shirt and jeans with transmission fluid!  Oops again.  I washed them, but they still stank.  I washed them again, and they still stank.  After 4 washes, they were moderately recovered, over quarantine, and merged with normal dirty clothes (for the 5^th time).  But after the wash, I still detected a smell on my jeans.  With abundance of caution, I dried the 2 blankets (that had just been washed with the jeans and the tee shirt) by themselves to keep the stinky clothes separate.  But as I cleaned off the dryer filter, I found blue lint in the screen.  Being the detective that I am, I pondered my findings.  Neither blanket was blue, so obviously, the jeans had lintified my blankets in the washer.  Without noticing, the transmission fluid leeched onto my innocent blankets.  But the dryer had done its job and had removed the nasty lint from the blankets.  Hey, we as Christians are called by the dear Lord to be in the world, but not of the world.  We are to mingle with pagans while not being tainted by their wickedness.  We are called by God to rescue sinners from their sin.  Jude said it well in Jude 22&23, “And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

Put Them on the Cart

 

I have been visiting Lowe’s almost daily as I have been buying 5/8” wallboard for our church school restoration.  I use the flat carts so that I can simply slide the wallboard onto it easily.  Well, almost ‘easily’ … as easily as awkward/heavy wallboard can be!  I saw a man yesterday carrying two 2X4’s and I said (teasing), “You know, those carts are free.”  He laughed and replied, “I hate to use a cart for just two 2X4’s.  I said, “It sure is easier to use a cart.”  He smiled and laid the 2X4’s on an available cart and pushed it towards the cashier.  Hey, It’s so much easier to roll off all of your burdens onto the strong shoulders of Jesus Christ!  Even the little burdens!  Nothing is too hard for Jesus, and nothing is too insignificant for Jesus.  He will carry them all!  I Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  Remember today: Jesus cares for you!