Roaring Fire

This evening, Kathy and I ate at Cracker Barrel for their Thursday special: turkey and dressing.  But I had a flashback and almost did something crazy.  Standing in front of the Cracker Barrel fireplace was a man warming up, just like I did when I was a kid in Maryland.  When my dad had begun building our house in 1958, we had no heat except for that fireplace.  I would slide out of bed early in the morning onto a red fox pelt on the floor and hurry into the living room where my dad had a roaring fire going.  I was the first kid up in the morning, so my brother just had to wait his turn.  I would warm my back side until it was almost too hot, then I would turn around and warm up the front side.  But just before I turned to the back again, my brother would grab my pajamas pantleg and pull the burning hot clothing against my legs!  I would howl, he would laugh, and the fight was on.  So, tonight, I had this urge to sear the legs of a total stranger warming up in a public place (Cracker Barrel).  Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?!  Solomon said in Proverbs 22:15, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”  And this evening, for a brief moment, this seventy-two-year-old kid needed his dad to give him what he needed.

The Best

 

Last week I had a birthday.  My two children who live here in town invited me and my wife out to supper at P.F.Chang’s restaurant.  It is a little pricy, but great food, and since they were treating us, it was really good.  After the meal, my daughter brought out a beautiful birthday cake for all of us to enjoy.  She asked me, “What size piece do you want?”  I thought to myself, “I am embarrassed to tell her how much I really want.”  So, I said, “Just cut me a little piece.”  But Beth knew me.  She not only cut me a larger piece than I would have asked for, but she also gave me the corner piece that had icing on TWO sides!  Cha-Ching!  Hey, if I come to the Lord with my prayer requests, He will answer (if they are according to His perfect will).  But if I pray open-ended to the dear Lord, and simply say, “Your will be done,” He will give me much more than I would have asked for, because God knows what I need better than I know what I need myself!  David said in Psalm 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”  If I pray to God for a need, He will answer.  But if I pray to God saying, “Not my will, but thine be done (Luke 22:42),” He will give me much more than I could imagine.  God will give me the very best because He loves me!  And God loves you too!

Preventive Maintenance

I have several big pine trees in my back yard.  They give me shade and somewhere to hang my bird feeders.  The birds enjoy them too.  They sit in the branches waiting their turn at the feeder.  A bird will sit and wait, then swoop down, grab a seed, and bring it back to the same spot on the limb.  Then the bird shells the seed and has breakfast.  But with stately pine trees comes pine needles … in the gutters and in the grass.  I am reminded of the commercial about “Bill” who climbs the ladder that is “way too dangerous” to clean out his gutters.  But for me, Gutter Guard is way too costly.  So, if I don’t clean out those gutters and they get clogged, the rainwater gushes over the clogged gutters, destroys my fascia, and washes out a hole in my grass.  I need to stay ahead of the damage with preventive maintenance.  I need to clean out the gutters BEFORE the rain and BEFORE the damage is done.  Hey, the same is true in my heart.  Solomon said in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”  We need Preventive Maintenance on our hearts!  Get up a little earlier tomorrow morning and read a few verses in the Bible.  Meditate on those verses and start the day with God.  He will help you stay ahead of problems, not under them.  And that’s the best place to be.