Got Faith?

Just what is faith? Michael Horton, in his newly relased book, The Gospel-Driven Life, wrote the following about faith:

"Faith in God is generally treated by the powerful of the earth as a crutch for the weak and foolish. As King Nebuchadnezzar admired his accomplishments from his lofty penthouse (see Daniel chapter 4), he was doubtless of this opinion. However, he literally lost his mind. It is not foolishness, but sanity that recognizes the way things really are. God is Creator and Lord; we are all nothing more than ants pretending to conquer the earth when we merely crawl on top of our own anthill." 

How about you? Got faith? Do you really see the way things REALLY ARE? That in God "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28)? HE is Lord - not you, not me, not anyone or anything else!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

The Unwelcome Certainty of Life

This morning, two headlines on the back page of our local newspaper got my attention. The first read, "Grave crisis: No room for London's dead." The story went on to discuss a serious shortage of burial space in England's largest city. And when you consider that London has been around some 2000 years, it's not surprising to read that cemeteries are running out of room. The second headline read, "Wal-Mart starts selling caskets online."  So for as little as $999 you can order a "Dad Remembered" or "Mom Remembered" casket for your departed loved one (and yes, you don't have to purchase a needed casket from a funeral  home - a federal law requires funeral homes to accept third-party caskets).

Both of these articles are a stark (I am going to avoid using the word "grave" here - :)) reminder that death awaits us all. No matter how hard we try to avoid thinking about it (and in many cases try to delay it with our attempts to remain young) - death is inevitable. And none of us know just when death will come knocking on our door! So getting prepared is not a bad idea. In fact, it is a pretty good one. Some people see pre-planning of one's funeral as being morbid. I see it as being prudent. Having had to go through with my siblings the planning of both of my parents' funerals - I know how difficult it is to make decisions while being emotionally drained. Why not spare your loved ones from having to go through this? Make the decisions for them so they don't have to guess about what you would have wanted. And relieve them the necessity of making tough calls when they are in the midst of the often overwhelming pain of grief.

In addition, getting prepared for death also involves getting ready to meet God. The Scripture is clear that "just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Did you catch that? There is an "after that" to death. And the "after that" is judgment. Are you ready to face God's judgment?  How does one "get ready?"  Take a moment and check out the following web site - it will explain how to "get ready!" --  http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Talk about a Wrong Assessment!

Shortly after the President gave a short speech, the Chicago Times reported on the speech with this assessment: "The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States."  The London Times reported on the same speech by saying, “The ceremony was rendered ludicrous by some of the sallies of that poor President. Anything more dull and commonplace it would not be easy to produce.” Finally, the Harrisburg Patriot and Union weighed it with its evaluation of the President's remarks by saying, "we pass over the silly remarks of the President: for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.”

The President who gave this speech was none other than Abraham Lincoln. And the speech was The Gettysburg Address. Many people don't realize that President Lincoln was not the main speaker at the event that day (the event was the public dedication of a cemetery built to bury the Union dead who died in the battle of Gettysburg). That honor went to a man by the name of Edward Everett, one of the era's greatest orators. Everett spoke for two hours. Lincoln's "Dedicatory Remarks" (the label given them in the ceremony's program) lasted two minutes. But I would challenge any of you to recall from memory one phrase from Everett's marathon speech. On the other hand, I would guess that many of you could either recall a portion of Lincoln's ten sentence address - or would at the very least recognize if you heard it being read. It has indeed reached the status of one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) speeches ever given in America's two plus centuries of existence. BOY did those newspapers ever get it wrong!

Now some of the papers who ridiculed Lincoln's remarks did so due to political leanings. Others simply thought the speech was sub par. But whatever the reason - many papers missed seeing the address for what it truly was - a truly great speech. Reminds me of how so many people miss the Bible for what it truly is ... a truly great book. With so many in our world offering advice, I want to go on public record (again!) and say that there is no better advice to be had on how to make life work than the Bible! In its pages God gives us "everything pertaining to life and godliness!" (2 Peter 1:3).

Have you read your Bible lately?

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Back from Vacation with Some Random Thoughts

As I begin to settle back into the routine of work, here are some thoughts floating around my head:

1. Time sure seems to operate differently when one is on vacation. Whereas time usually moves quickly while at work ... while on vacation it passes with blazing speed! As I crawled out of bed this morning it was hard for me to believe that I had just had a week's vacation - but yep, I counted my days off and it was a week!  Hmm. Why does vacation time speed by so fast?  I guess the old adage is right - "Time flies when you are having fun!"  And one thing that characterized my week off was a boatload of fun (which for my wife and I included lengthy visits to Appomattox Court House (where Lee surrendered his army to Grant) and Gettysburg (the new visitor center there is quite impressive!) - what can I say? We love history!) There are many lessons to be learned from history. From time to time its benefical to take a look back (whether it be our nation's history or our own personal history). We just might learn something from yesterday that will help us live our lives today!

2. This coming Saturday night we finally get the hour of sleep back that we lost last March when we turned the clocks ahead to Daylight Savings Time. This coming Sunday morning (at 2 AM) Daylight Savings Time will come to an end. That means we get to turn the clocks back upon retiring!  Hurrah! I wish we could do this every night! (But if we were to do that, we would soon be heading to lunch in the dark!) I love my nights. I love climbing into bed when totally exhausted and then drifting off to Sleepville!  This is one reason I just love the word the book of Hebrews uses for heaven ... "REST!"  Wow!  What an experience that will be - to be able to rest forever!!! Thanks to what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross (paid the penalty for MY sin) I am heading to heaven! What about YOU? Have you trusted Christ as your savior yet?

3. Two excellent baseball teams begin to slug it out starting tonight in the World Series. The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies were one and two in the number of home runs hit during the regular season. So the series could turn into a real slug fest! I think the teams are fairly evenly matched and both are playing good baseball. I sure hope the Phils win - but if they don't, my life will go on and will go on quite gladly. My gladness does not come from the success of any sports team - but rather from my relationship with a God great enough to speak the universe into existence and good enough to welcome me, a defiant rebel to his banqueting table!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Gone Fishing! Well not Really - Just Gone!

I plan to take the next several days off. I will be back posting sometime around the middle of next week (the 28th). Until then ...

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

Take Care of Your Good Name!

The headline caught my eye, "ID THEFT: Your good name is at risk." So I delved into the article. I was astonished to read that the local Lancaster paper had gone onto the Internet and by researching public documents, found the social security numbers of several prominent Lancaster countians. Upon reading that, I decided to do some research of my own. After about 15 minutes of searching public documents on the County's Recorder of Deeds site - I was stunned to see MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on a public document that any Tom, Dick or Harry (or Mary, Jane or Sally) could view!  So I quickly filled out and submitted a redaction request and today I can rest a lot easier knowing that my SS # is not out there for just anyone to find (and use!!).

Our reputations (which would include our credit rating) can be severely damaged if the wrong person gets hold of our private information and uses it for financial gain (theirs not ours!). So we need to guard this info carefully. And remember what the Good Book says about a good name: "A good name is more desirable than great riches" (Proverbs 22:1). 

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj

The Good Old Days?

The automobile, which is now a part of the very fabric of American society (there are approximately 250 million vehicles of various sorts in operation in the United States today) is only a little over 100 years old. When the auto first hit the streets, it was nicknamed "the horseless carriage," for prior to the auto the horse was the basic staple of transportation. So much so that in large urban areas, the number of horses caused a huge problem. Consider New York City for example. In 1900, New York City was the home of 200,000 horses, or one for every 17 residents. That's a lot of horses. And just as all the motor vehicles on today's highways have their down side, so did horses. The biggest of which was .... can you guess???   .... manure! That's right! Two hundred thousand horses can produce an awful lot of manure, especially when you consider that the average horse produces about 25 pounds of manure each day! Multiply that by 200,000 and you have about 5 million pounds of manure to dispose of each and every day! So what happened to all that manure? In many neighborhoods it lined the streets as large snow banks do today after a winter snow storm. It was heaped into huge piles in vacant lots (some piles reaching 60 feet in height!). And not only did it stink, it was a fertile breeding ground for flies that spread disease. City planners were at a loss of how to resolve the manure problem. Fortunately for them, the arrival of the automobile solved the problem (and replaced it with others)!

Problems. In every era, humanity has encountered problems - and will continue to do so until Jesus returns. Sometimes problems resolve themselves (as in the case of unwanted horse manure). But many times we have to apply our minds - using our knowledge and wisdom to find a solution. As we do, let's not fail to ask the giver of wisdom for his help. All too often we try to fix things on our own, leaving God out of the equation. Doing that will only result in failure in the long run. Keep in mind these words of wisdom from the Old Testament book of wisdom: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj