The Good Old Days

 

Marleen, Kat Sinclair, and I drove back from a 4^th of July picnic on Whitwell Mountain with Ron and Liz Kuhns Saturday evening.  On the way home, I enjoyed the fireworks all around us.  Thousands of dollars went up in smoke, no doubt!  I am 76 years old, and when I was young, I asked my Granny Whitely (who was born in 1901) how she celebrated the 4^th of July when she was a little girl.  She said, “Well, we hoed corn all morning, like we did every other morning.  Then we went home and ate dinner (lunch).  Then we got out a little American flag that we had and waved it and said, ‘Hurrah for the 4^th of July!’ and then we went back to the field and hoed corn for the rest of the day until suppertime.”  Hard times but pleasant memories.  Memories of family, work, and country.  Psalm 77:11, "I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old."  Remember the good old days and thank the dear Lord for them.

Complacency

 

I just read an article that intrigued me.  As the war in the Middle East drags on, many Israelis are becoming tired of fleeing to the air raid shelters in the basements of their apartment buildings.  With warning sirens sounding all hours of the day and night, weary citizens have grown tired of living in the underground shelters.  Many are just taking their chances and staying put in the high-rise buildings of Tel Aviv.  How often do we as Christians become complacent too?  Sin becomes not that bad.  Shocking behavior by sinners has become commonplace and no longer alarms us.  We tolerate bad language in social media, movies, and online.  Hosea 6:1, "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."  Don’t let the cares of this world wear you down.  Trust in the Lord and refresh your spirit in His goodness. 

Waxed Knees

 

Two weeks ago, Marleen and I stripped the floor in the fellowship hall at church and rewaxed it.  Well, technically, it wasn’t wax; it was polymer surfactant.  But polymer surfactant doesn’t just roll off your tongue like the word wax does, so I’ll just call it wax.  As I would kneel to scrape the edges and corners of the floor, my jeans became soaked with the old, dissolved wax.  And the next day, my jean knees were hardened like body armor.  Even after washing, the knees were still stiff (it took several washings).  They reminded me of those iron-on patches that my mother used when I was a kid.  My three brothers and I were hard on clothes, and my mother patched our jeans just to keep them in one piece.  My 2026 waxed jeans felt just like my 1960 patched jeans.  And I ought to know, because I remember that feeling quite well.  Matthew 9:16. “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.”  Often my newly patched jeans would tear at the point where the old cloth met the new patch.  Hey, God’s Word is accurate, whether it is 60 A.D. or 1960 A.D.  Keep your clothes in good order.  Keep your fellowship hall floor in good order.  And keep your spiritual soul in good order.  You keep your soul in good spiritual order by staying close to the dear Lord.  He can keep you in good order.  Yes, He can.