Cheerios Problem

 

There’s nothing like a problem at 5:30 am.  Let me explain.  My dear wife likes to take Cheerios to dialysis in a zip lock bag.  Cheerios are relatively healthy to eat (except for the added phosphorus) and she eats them one at a time to break up her three-hour dialysis session.  But Friday morning, the Cheerio box ran out.  And when it ran out, I got the Cheerio sawdust in the bottom of the box in the zip lock bag.  Not good.  So, I dumped the bag into a cereal bowl and carefully refilled the bag leaving the sawdust in the bowl (and into the trash).  But the bag still wasn’t full, and Kathy needs all the Cheerios she can get to take up her time in the dialysis chair.  So, I finished filling the bag with my Honey Nut Cheerios.  But I didn’t want her to eat all of the sweet Cheerios on the top (Honey Nut Cheerios is code for sugar-coated Cheerios) and have bland Cheerios at the end, so I sealed the bag, tumbled the two Cheerio kinds, and mixed them up.  Then I opened the edge of the zip lock bag and pushed the surplus air out of the bag so that it would fit into the little side pocket of Kathy’s dialysis bag.  Then I had to rush because I was late.  But in the whole scheme of things, my Cheerio problem wasn’t very big.  The weary clients going into a three-hour dialysis … now that’s a bigger problem.  God told his people in Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  And if you belong to the Lord, He will uphold you today too!  God will meet your needs, Cheerios or not!  Remember, you can trust the Lord today!

Extra Feature

 

My wife and I like to keep the house cold at night (68°).  We think it makes for better sleeping.  A cool room and cozy blankets make for good night’s sleep.  So, I have taken to wearing long-sleeved tee shirts so that my arms will stay warm.  And I have this long-sleeved tee shirt that is a spoof on Star Wars.  Instead of saying May the Force be with you, it reads, May the Lord be with you.  Sort of clever, I think.  But last night after I turned off the lights, I realized for the first time that the words glowed in the dark.  A neat feature.  I have had this tee shirt for two years and never knew that it glowed in the dark!  Hey, there are many features of my relationship with Jesus Christ that I have never realized either.  And there are even more things that I will experience in the future that I cannot even imagine are true!  Paul said in I Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  I can’t even imagine what I will experience in heaven!  Hey, have you been born into God’s forever family?  If you have been, you have a fantastic future ahead of you!  If you haven’t been born into God’s forever family, now would be a great time to make that decision.  Message me and let’s chat.

Marbles

 

When I was a kid, the craze was playing marbles.  The boys in Old Post Elementary school had drawstring bags full of marbles.  Those kids not so rich (like me) had their marbles in old socks.  My dad wouldn’t let me play marbles at school because he said that the game was gambling.  I suppose he was right.  Here’s how it went: someone drew a circle in the dirt and each of the two players would put the same number of their marbles into the center.  Then each boy would take turns using his shooter marble to hit the marbles out of the circle.  When he did, the marble went into his bag.  The game was over when the last marble was hit out.  No real winner, someone’s bag just got fatter.  Bad players would go home with no marbles, hence the expression, “They lost all of their marbles”.  During a game while you were aiming down at the marbles to shoot, sometimes your shooter would accidentally roll out of your hand.  If you yelled “slipsies” before the other player did, you could have a do-over.  Hey, in life, have you ever wanted to have a do-over?  Sometimes your slipsie might have been a dumb mistake.  But sometimes your slissie might have been a divorce, a DUI, a broken friendship, an affair.  You see, some slipsies are not just slipsies, they are life-changing sins.  John said in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  You can’t have a do-over for sins, but you can be forgiven of your sins.  Oh, you will live with the scars of those sins, but you can have a clean heart before God.  Thanks to Jesus, your sins can be made as white as snow!

A Longer Weekend

 

I wake up early and post on Facebook.  Then I turn on a small lamp to let my wife wake up slowly.  I am a morning person, and my wife likes to stay up late.  I jump out of bed in the mornings but my wife eases into the morning.  But this past Friday morning, she got up early.  I was surprised and asked her about it.  She said, “If I get up early, I can get ready earlier and get to dialysis earlier.  If they see me in the lobby early, they might take me in early and I can get off the machine early, and I can get my weekend started ten minutes early.”  Good thinking, Kathy, good thinking.  OK, let’s take a vote: who would like to have ten extra minutes added to your weekend?  I think the vote would be 100%!  Ten minutes extra on the weekend is not much, but it is better than ten minutes less!  That’s because we all like the weekend.  Hey, we may find a few moments of diversion on the weekend, but true rest still eludes us because we must start the same grind all over again Monday morning!  True peace can’t be found after five pm on Friday; true peace can only be found in Jesus Christ.  Paul said in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  We may find temporary rest on the weekend, but real rest is found only in Jesus.  And you can rest in Jesus twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week!  Yes, you can!

Bad Decision

 

Have you ever made a bad decision that led to another bad decision and then another bad decision?  Let me explain: I found a band saw for sale on Facebook Marketplace up on Sand Mountain.  It was only $75 – a real bargain.  But after a 90-mile trip, the saw wasn’t at all what I wanted.  The man said, “I think I have another one over under my shed.”  We went to another location and started digging around in his shed.  And buried under a lot of stuff, we found a tilting head Craftsman band saw (in rough condition).  He said, “I’ll let you have this one, table and all, for $50.”  A real bargain!  So, I took it.  I didn’t want to drive all the way to Sand Mountain and come back with nothing.  But back home, my bargain became a money pit.  I found new rubber sleeves for the drive wheels on eBay and a new blade and blade guides on Amazon.  Dixie Electrical Motor Service located a motor that would fit the bolt pattern.  After soaking everything in WD-40, I got all of the moving parts moving again and finally, the bandsaw was running.  I was so proud of my work!  But when I attempted to cut a piece of wood, I had to go so slow.  The motor was too small.  And a thicker board just wouldn’t go through at all.  It was like putting a lawnmower engine into a car.  I ended up giving the band saw away to a friend (or former friend).  Hey, in life, one bad decision often leads to another bad decision to get out of the first bad decision.  But at some point, we must wake up.  Stop, go back, and make the first bad decision right.  If we would just pray about decisions first!  Solomon said in Proverbs 3:5&6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  And I’m still looking for a band saw.  Does anyone out there have a good, used band saw?  Ha, ha!

Selfish or Kind?

 

It used to be that folks would park their fancy car far away from the store where the parking lot was empty.  No danger of door dings there.  But now they park close to the store and just take up two spaces to give them extra room.  I understand that they want to protect their car, but to do so, they steal someone else’s space!  How selfish!  Selfish people are not happy because they think only of themselves.  Hey, kind people are not wimps, they just want to be nice instead of rude.  Paul said it best in Philippians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”  This verse holds the key to happy living: in your mind, put others above yourself.  Verse five goes on to say that putting others first is what Jesus did, and Jesus is our supreme example.  Hey, do you want to be liked by others?  Do you want to be happy?  Then follow the example of Jesus Christ: be a servant; be humble; be obedient to God the Father.  You’ll be glad that you did.  Really.

Miscommunication

 

The summer of 1994, I was in Romania for a month.  On the drive back to the Munich airport, we overnighted in Salzburg, Austria.  I had gone a month without a haircut, so I found a barbershop, sat down in the chair, and greeted the hairdresser.  She spoke no English and I spoke no German.  I gestured with my thumb and finger (see picture) as I told her that I wanted a half inch off the top.  She smiled and nodded.  I sat down, she wrapped me with a cape, and she got her clippers out.  As I settled into the chair, I felt the clippers on the back of my head.  Before I realized it, she had cut a path from back to front over the top of my head LEAVING a half inch!  I was speechless, but it was too late to do anything about it!  I had a runway down the middle of my head!  I left the shop with a very short G.I. haircut!  Hey, have you ever had a miscommunication with someone?  It’s one thing to misunderstand someone, but it’s quite another thing to misunderstand God.  But there should be no misunderstanding God.  God has clear expectations for us plainly written in His Word.  So, we must read the Bible with an open mind to understand exactly what God expects of us.  Read it slowly, read it often, read it carefully, but read it … because the Bible is the written Words of God!  Hey, take time to read your Bible right now!  You’ll be glad that you did.