Teachers

 

Last week, I was cutting some western cedar wood to make Lincoln Logs.  The smell of cedar sawdust brought my mind back to sharpening pencils in elementary school.  Today pencils are made with some form of composite pressed and formed wood pieces, but back in the day, pencils were made with real western cedar wood.  That smell reminded me of shaking out the pencil sharpener, along with dusting the chalkboard erasers.  Pencils were reserved for math and pens were for writing.  Thank you, Miss Tigner for showing me how to add and subtract in the first grade at Old Post Elementary school in 1956, and thank you, Miss Merryman for teaching me the times tables in the third grade.  Thank you, Miss Buis for explaining long division in the fifth grade, and thank you, Miss Barrett for patiently teaching me to balance equations in the seventh grade.  Thank you, Mr. Webb for motivating me to learn geometry as a high school junior and, finally, thank you, Miss Janes for staying with me through trigonometry as a senior at Edgewood High school.  I am sure that all of the above-mentioned teachers wondered what would ever become of Gerald.  Well, he made it … sort of.  And he taught others as well.  And many of those, my students, are teaching now.  Solomon enigmatically said in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”  Solomon, you are spot on!  There have been teachers, there are teachers, and there will be teachers.  And for all of you teachers reading this post, I give to you a heartfelt, “Thank You!”  Keep up the good work!

Yummy Baked Potato

 

Marleen got a new bag of potatoes for baking.  Yummy!  I suppose that baked potatoes are just about my favorite food.  She had several large potatoes in her bin, but we had used them up.  So, we got a new bag of potatoes from Publix.  Publix had baking potatoes by the pound, but the 5-pound bag was much cheaper.  Some of the potatoes in the bag were as big as the by-the-pound ones, but most were much smaller.  We thought, “We’ll use the bigger ones for baking and use the smaller ones for mashed potatoes.”  And mashed potatoes with butter, cream, and sea salt are just as tasty as baked potatoes.  Hey, in life, there are important people who are seen by everyone, and there are smaller behind-the-scenes folk who are just as important.  How could we manage without the stocker at Publix putting out those potatoes?!  How could Publix manage without the truck driver delivering those luscious potatoes?!  How could the potato farmer manage without the tractor driver plowing up his potato field?!  Proverbs 22:2, “The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all."  Everyone is important in God’s economy, and so are you!  So … whether your job is great or whether your job is small, do it well today.  Remember, the dear Lord is watching.

Bait and Switch

 

A while back, I went to Lowe’s for stuff.  You know … just stuff.  Lowe’s is my candy store.  I picked up a light switch and a cover plate and saw some orange earplugs hanging conveniently nearby.  So I grabbed them too.  But when I got to the checkout counter, I discovered that the earplugs were actually orange wire nuts.  I’m not sure if it was my aging eyes or just plain carelessness, but it would not have been a good thing to push those wire nuts into my ears!  Hey, have you ever been disappointed by something that you had mistaken for something else?  You thought you were putting sour cream onto your baked potato at the salad bar, but it was whipped cream you were piling on?!  Hey, Satan uses the “bait and switch” trick often.  You think you are getting something exciting, but it is actually a trap to enslave your soul.  Solomon knew the disappointment of Satan’s lies.  He said in Proverbs 23:32, “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”  Don’t be disappointed; don’t fall for Satan’s lies.  If he is selling it, don’t buy it.  Like my wire nuts for ear plugs, don’t be mistaken.  Trust the good, good Lord; He will never let you down!