Confident?

 

When I bought a gently used 2012 Hyundai, I thought that I was in good shape.  No more breakdowns; no more stranded on the side of the road.  But one month later, I came out to find a flat tire.  Bummer.  I opened the trunk but found no spare tire or jack.  I got my floor jack from the garage and jacked up the car.  I reached for the tire wrench, but that was missing too.  Then I discovered locking lug nuts on the tire with no key in the glove box.  So, I got out my tire plugger, crawled under the car, and plugged the leak with the tire still on the car.  The next day I drove to the dealership (not in a good mood) to get new lug nuts, spare tire, tire wrench, and jack.  I only thought that I was ready for an emergency.  But when I actually had an emergency, I found out that I really wasn’t ready.  Hey, are you prepared for eternity?  Are you sure?  You don’t want to find out at the last minute that you aren’t prepared.  There isn’t a do-over after death.  The writer of the book of Hebrews said in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”  Prepare now for eternity while there is still time.  If you aren’t sure that you are prepared, please message me right now and let’s chat.  Don’t put it off; you may have an emergency today.

"Wh" File Folder

 

I got tired of searching for my file folder at cardiac rehab.  There were too many “W’s” in the “W” hanging file folder, so I had a clever idea.  I brought a hanging folder from home, a plastic tab, and a paper tab that I had labeled “Wh” with a Sharpie just like all of the other file folders   So now I have my own private file folder in the second drawer of the cardiac rehab file cabinet.  But my idea backfired because the cardiac rehab staff began filing everyone’s folders in my private hanging folder with those names alphabetically after “Whitely”.  Wilson, Williams, Wortman, … and the list goes on and on.  I am the victim of my own cleverness!  Ugg!  I Corinthians 10:12, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”  I may think that I am clever and wise, but the dear Lord is always wiser than any of us.  Yes, He is!

Hidden Beauty

 

This past week, Marleen and I installed two double doors between the fellowship hall and the Ladies’ classroom at church.  It really opened up the rooms.  And in the process, we had to remove two old prehung doors and trim.  I pulled the trim off the door casing and cut the pieces down to size so that we could fit them into the church dumpster.  And after a closer look at the trim, there were 4 layers of paint covering mahogany trim!  Thirty years ago, mahogany trim was cheap; it was called manoc.  But only for a few years, because quickly, much of the old-growth mahogany trees in Brazil were cut and the wood was exported.  Now, mahogany is expensive with most of it grown on managed plantations.  For years that beautiful, expensive wood trim was covered with ugly paint.  Romans 7:22, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.”  When you are born into God’s forever family, the inner man is strengthened.  Hey, is your inner beauty coming out today?  Or are you covered with layer upon layer of ugliness?  Let the dear Lord rule in your life and let your inner beauty shine forth!