Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Dead Stump

 


I do not have a green thumb.  I actually may have a brown thumb, because I can’t get anything to grow.  My son-in-law and his brothers own greenhouses, and I whine to Alex, “Everything that you give me I kill.  I just can’t seem to make them grow.”  To which Alex replies, “That’s what we count on.  We want to sell more plants next year.”  Good business plan, Alex.  But I have a shrub crowding my handrail in front of my house that I just can’t kill.  It keeps growing in the way of people who come to visit us.  So, five years ago, I totally whacked it down.  I cut it back to the ground, planning to plant a smaller bush the following spring.  But, in the spring, what I thought was a dead stump, sprang back to life once again.  And since it was small, I left it alone.  But five years later, it has grown back and is crowding my handrail once again.  Hey, Job spoke of a stump just like my stump.  He said in Job 14:7-10, “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, ... Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?”  The stump wasn’t dead; it just looked dead.  But a man who dies is completely dead.  But not really.  Because a man’s soul lives on forever and will someday be reunited with his resurrected body.  Think about it: you will live forever.  The question is where?  In heaven or … not?

Monday, September 2, 2024

But Wait, There's More!

 


“But wait, there’s more!”  My wife and I laugh and quote the infomercial that always offers more.  Just when you think that their offer is “too good to be true,” the hawker adds, “But wait, there’s more!  We’ll double your order!  You just pay a separate shipping and handling fee, and your order will be doubled.”  Their offer is just too good to be true!  Hey, God has an offer for you that is REALLY too good to be true!  Paul said in Ephesians 3:20&21 “Now unto him that is able to do all that we ask…”  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  “Now unto him that is able to do all that we ask or think…”  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  “Now unto him that is able to do above all that we ask or think…” BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think…”  BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!  “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”  Wow!  God gives and gives ABUNDANTLY beyond belief!  And yet, “But wait! There’s more!”

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Clean

 





I have been cleaning up my boat (actually, soon to be Justin B.’s boat) and today I pressure washed some of the ropes.  This 1982 Catalina 22 sailboat has been in Mike T’s driveway dry-docked for 25 years under the pine trees.  But the braided polyester rope is still good!  Amazing!  So, today, I pressure washed 25 years of dirt, fungus, and crud off of the running rigging.  I made a jig to hold the pressure washer wand and moved the rope slowly (and carefully) underneath the spraying water.  I was amazed to see the results!  Reminded me of Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  Cleaning rope is one thing, but cleaning a wicked heart like mine is clean on another level!  And as I see the results of my work, I am amazed at the spiritual work of Jesus Christ!  My rope will soil again, but Jesus washes my sins as white as snow and as permanent as His eternal grace!  Praise the Lord for the cleansing power of the dear Lord!