Wainscoting Transformation

 

Marleen and I have been working at church remodeling our pastor’s office.  We wanted to add a little class to the room, so we installed wainscoting on the sheetrock walls.  Wood strips were sooo expensive, so I made 1 ½” strips out of ¾” MDF sheets.  I marked and clamped a straightedge onto the panel and used a circular saw to make a straight cut.  Looks great!  3 MDF panels made wainscoting and baseboard for the entire room!  Hey, like the sheets of MDF, God can take your life and make it into a beautiful thing!  II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Stupid

 

Saturday, I did something really stupid.  Sorry kids, if your parents don’t let you use that word, but as I explain, you will agree, it was really stupid.  I have installed a cap on my F-150 pickup truck.  It used to be a plumbing work truck cap with bins and shelves on the side.  I removed all of that leaving doors on all 3 sides.  Now I must open the back door to drop the tailgate to put stuff in or get stuff out.  It is an added chore that I just must put up with.  But Saturday, I discovered that I could drop the tailgate without opening the door above (refer to the picture below).  I felt rather smug with my discovery until I went to close the tailgate with the door still closed.  I always push the tailgate up with my hand with my fingers over the top of the tailgate.  So Saturday, I caught my middle finger between the cap door and the tailgate.  Instinctively, I pulled my finger out doing further damage.  I moved it tenderly: it wasn’t broken.  But by Saturday afternoon, it was swollen and throbbing with pain.  I slept fitfully throughout Saturday night.  Sunday afternoon, I had to get some relief.  So, I got my smallest drill bit (1/16”) and with my left hand, twisted the drill bit until I drilled a tiny hole in my fingernail (refer to the other picture below).  Blood spurted out of the tiny hole, but I felt relief almost immediately.  I’ve been keeping a Band-Aid over the fingernail to keep debris out of my relief hole, which oozed for a day.  Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."  Hey, I’m so glad that I can get spiritual relief from the dear Lord!  If I come to Him, He will show me the way out of my problems … and God will do the same for you.  Today, bring your problems to Him, for the dear Lord cares about you!

The Gates of Hell

 

Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi on a field trip.  Near the base of Mt. Hermon is an old pagan grotto that used to have a spring of water gushing out.  The ancients believed that the cave was the entrance to the underworld (hades), hence the name: “the Gates of Hell”.  Occult rituals held there involved orgies and infant sacrifices.  A terrible place, to say the least.  It was at this site that Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew 16:13, “… Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”  After much discussion, Peter responded in verse 16, “… Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Peter had it right!  Jesus was the Christ of God!  Then Jesus went on to say that upon that statement, He would “build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Hey, gates are not an offensive weapon; gates are only defensive.  And the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church; quite the contrary, God’s church will prevail against Satan and all other opposition!  Read Revelation 20 and discover Satan’s end.  Then decide for yourself: do you want to be on the losing side or on the winning side?  Satan, the loser or Jesus Christ, the coming King of kings?