Halloween Decorations

I haven’t figured out why some folk go overboard with Halloween decorations. I can see Easter wreaths and Thanksgiving cornstalks and mums, but ghouls, skeletons, and witches?! Our neighborhood is over -the-top! One neighbor has a skeleton Dachshund. Another has a 12’ skeleton. Those things cost hundreds of dollars! But our neighbor at the top of the hill has outdone them all without even trying. The house is run-down with bushes overgrown and a broken-down car in the driveway. And they have a giant dead oak tree in the front yard. But because of the tree’s strategic location, three vultures have taken up residence in the tree! They can be seen in the morning warming themselves with partially outstretched wings. And as soon as they are warm enough, they are off to find road-kill breakfast from the night before. Real live vultures in your front yard?! It’s enough to make the rest of the neighbors just give up. It can’t be topped! Hey, that’s the way that the writer of the book of Hebrews describes Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest. He said in Hebrews 7:22&25, “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Wherefore he (Jesus) is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he (Jesus) ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Jesus is so perfect, so wonderful, so complete, that all you can do is to drop the mike and give up. Jesus is simply everything!

Gold Fish

 

In 1985, my youngest son was four years old and excited to go to our school “Spring Fling”.  It was a fund-raiser for the school, but great fun for all ages.  Food, crafts, silent auction, and games.  Many of the games were cheesy, but the kids loved them.  The one my son liked was the duck pond.  Pay 50¢ and you could pick out one of a hundred floating rubber duckies in the kiddie pond.  One in twenty had a star on the bottom, and you won a goldfish, the cherished prize.  My four-year-old was bent on winning a goldfish.  After he had spent his money, he leaned on the older students to help him win, and several did!  He came home that evening with five goldfish!  We didn’t have an aquarium, or even a fishbowl, so they temporarily lived in a five-gallon bucket in the basement of the house.  They “temporarily” lived there for a year!  Goldfish aren’t very exciting pets, especially if they live in a five-gallon bucket.  One of the goldfish was named Jeff … you guessed it, in honor of Jeff C. who had helped my son win the fish.  I changed the water in the bucket every week or two, and all went well until cold weather set in.  Our basement was cold with a drafty garage door opening to the outside.  One morning, my son came upstairs and announced that the goldfish bucket had frozen over, but that Jeff was fine.  As winter progressed, the ice thickened, but the fish survived.  Oh, they slowed down quite a bit, but they were still moving.  Four of the five gallons became ice with just enough room for Jeff and his friends to keep circling.  Hey, have you ever felt like that?  Stuck in life with just barely enough room to make it around?  Have you felt like the sides were closing in around you?  Take some advice from Jeff.  Just keep circling around, because a better day is coming.  Jeff and his friends made it until the spring thaw, and you can make it too!  Psalm 9:10, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”  God will not forsake you!  Trust in Him!

Aunt Sophie

 

Today would have been Aunt Sophie Economidis’ 96^th birthday.  She passed away April 6 last spring.  I remember her saying, “I just want to go home (heaven) and see John (her husband) and Paul (her son) and my momma and my daddy.”  She was a strong woman who didn’t wait for things to happen, but rather, made things happen.  She served the Lord for many years and left most of her money to charity.  David said in Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.”  Happy birthday, Aunt Sophie.  Thank you for your testimony of a life well-lived.  “May all who come behind us find us faithful.”

Connected

 

Yesterday I spoke in chapel at Calvary Christian School.  I had a PowerPoint with embedded songs and video clips from the Kingfisher bird.  But when I turned on my amp, the power light didn’t come on.  I suspected the little white 16-gauge extension cord, so I bypassed it and plugged my amp directly into the big orange cord, but my amplifier still didn’t work.  My computer was on and working, so it had to be the amp.  I had a half hour before the children arrived, and I was getting frustrated.  I turned on the church sound system but was unfamiliar with it.  It has a 16 input board, preamp, equalizer, wireless mike inputs ... after another twenty minutes, I got it working.  Praise the Lord!  I had sound!  But, when I turned on the projector, it wasn’t working either.  A curious coincidence.  So, I followed the big orange extension cord to the outlet … and it was unplugged.  After I plugged it in, amazingly, my amp and my projector both worked.  The computer had been working on battery power.  Hey, it helps to plug into the power source.  Which brings me to my point: it helps to plug into the spiritual power source.  The old apostle John said in John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”  Because of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary, God’s power to be born again is available to each of us!  Salvation is the gift of God and has the power to redeem us.  Hey, I was glad to plug into the outlet with my amplifier, and you’ll be glad that you connected with God’s unlimited spiritual power.  Yes, you will!