When to Teach

 

My wife is in a wheelchair (for the time being), and I have to do the laundry because the washing machine is downstairs.  Well actually, the washing machine does all the work; I just put the clothes in and add laundry soap and fabric softener into the dispensers.  Much different from when I was a kid sixty years ago.  My mother had to use a number two wash tub to boil the clothes to get them clean.  We had three large stones to set the tub on with a fire of pine knots underneath.  It was my job to go back into the woods behind our house to find the pine knots.  Mom used her grandmother’s glass wash board to scrub the clothes with (I still have that scrub board in my attic).  She wrung the clean clothes out and hung them on a clothesline and let the breeze dry them.  Then came the ironing.  Those were the days before steam irons.  Mom had an RC Cola bottle with a stopper/sprinkler in it.  She would sprinkle my Sunday dress shirts with water from that soda bottle and then roll them up tightly and set them aside.  In about an hour, the water was evenly dispersed and she unrolled the damp shirts onto the ironing board.  As mom ironed my shirts, we talked.  She offhandedly asked me questions and gave me advice.  She didn’t lecture me or scold me, we just talked.  She gave me pointers on school, on girls, on manners, and on life in general.  As she ironed, I learned from her wisdom.  I am reminded of what Moses said in Deuteronomy 6:6&7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  Hey, when is the best time to teach the Bible to your children?  All the time.  And when should you start?  Right now.  Hey, it’s never too late to begin.

Cousin Norman

 

I have a dear cousin who is battling cancer.  This is Norman when he was eight years old in 1969.  He is a little older now.  Ha, ha!  Hey, would you stop and pray a short prayer for Norman right now?  Often, we don’t know how to pray, or exactly what to ask for.  But we should just pray.  And if we pray for the wrong thing or ask for the wrong thing, and neither are according to what God is trying to accomplish, the blessed Holy Spirit of God takes our prayers as we have prayed, and offers them up to the throne of God, the Father and says, “Gerald said thus-and-so, but really, what he meant to say was thus-and-so.”  The Holy Spirit turns our prayers around and delivers them as we would have wanted them to be delivered had we known all that God knows.  Paul said in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  Hey, I am praying for full healing for my cousin, but God knows best.  And I want God’s perfect will, don’t you?

Monday Morning

Monday morning, I dropped off my wife at dialysis and ate breakfast at Jack’s in Ft. Oglethorpe.  I needed some AAA batteries, so I stopped by Lowe’s and got a small pack of four.  I didn’t even get a bag; I just stuffed them in my jacket pocket and walked out with my receipt.  I had to pick up some milk and eggs, so I went by Walmart on the way home.  I got the milk and eggs and on the way to the check-out kiosks, I noticed the display of batteries.  They had a four-pack of AAA batteries like the ones that I had just bought at Lowe’s (which I still had in my jacket pocket).  I pulled them out, and they were exactly the same, but for a dollar less.  I put my Lowe’s batteries back into my pocket and continued on to the check-out area.  After paying for my milk and eggs, I passed through the exit door when a man came up behind me and grabbed me by the arm laying his other hand on my back.  “Come with me,” he said.  And then he showed me a Walmart security badge under his jacket.  He led me back into the store, around the corner, and into a little room where he sat me down.  He began, “I saw you steal those batteries.”  And then it dawned on me.  I smiled and said, “Oh no, I just bought them at Lowe’s and was comparing them with your batteries.”  He coldly said, “Do you have a receipt?”  My heart sank.  “The receipt is in my car,” I said.  “Can I go get it?”  He rolled his eyes and said, “Let’s go,” and guided me through the door, down a long hallway, and into another room.  “Sit down here,” he said gruffly, and sat me down beside a teenager in handcuffs.  Then he left, locking the door behind himself.  I looked around nervously and smiled sheepishly at the teenager.  He said, “What did you take?”  He must have been there for shoplifting too … only I was innocent!  After I explained my situation, he chuckled and said, “They’ve got you.  They don’t care about your story.  They have security film, and they’ll start the tape just where they want to, and you’re in big trouble.”  I began to protest, but he was right.  I was in big trouble.  I could produce the receipt, but that would only be after they had me booked at the Ft. Oglethorpe city jail.  The boy said, “Your only hope is to get out of that window over there and fast.”  I saw the window across the room and realized the difficult situation that I was in.  It only took a second for me to get up, walk over, and slide open the window. I put one leg outside just as I heard the door unlock and the security man come in.  He ran over and began to pull my other leg, just like I am pulling your leg right now.  Gotcha!  Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine …”