LEARNING

That is two of my great grand kids at work. They caught me in one of my shops. Their question, "Grandpa can we make something?"

After granting permission they headed straight from my scrap metal pile. They did not know what they wanted to make or how. But they jumped right in making "stuff".

It almost hurt watching them TRY to work. I was very tempted to step in and do it for them. But how else are they going to learn?

As I watched them I could not but wonder, are we like that in God's sight. Does he in love let us blunder around so we can learn?

The little boy made this for grandpa. It is a weapon. Something to throw at the bad guys. And all I had to do was tie the string for him. Can't beat that.

JUST WONDERING

This is the picture of an old computer. It is all set up and ready to use. (I know, it is not a nice new one like you have. But it will work.)

Now what is the purpose of a computer? Just to admire? Simply to have one more asset? To play with? (That can be a valid reason, I know.) Something to brag about?

Now I'm not real smart. But I am under the impression that the purpose is to set down at the keyboard, grab the mouse and either start entering data or look up something or other. To put the thing to work for you. Right or wrong?

Huh!

I must be a little on the "geeky" side. Then it is not to tear up and see what makes it tick. You mean I do not have to try and find out the difference between the; motherboard, hard drive, raid controller, video card, fan, heat sink, expansion card, Ram and Rom memory or a processor. You mean the purpose is simply to use it, put it to work?

This is not a plea for ignorance nor neglect of the Word of God. God wants us in his word and he gives us wisdom.

But with all of our Bible study, conferences, seminars etc, we still have one of the most impotent churches on the face of the earth here in this country.

Is it we Christians are too "geeky". We think study and service are synonyms . That godliness is the by product of knowledge.

Let's face it. The heathen could tell us where Mesopotamia is. A pagan could give us the proper way to pronounce Mephibosheth. And an atheist could probable tell us more about Petra than we could.

I would like to suggest that the need is not more scholarship, but more discipleship.

Gene Edwards in his book - Living Close To God When you're Not Good At It - makes a very interesting observation on page 15.

"I am a theologian with more degrees than a thermometer!"

"I come from six generations of complete illiterates - my father and five fathers before him. My Cajun grandfather had a closer walk with the Lord Jesus than any theologian I have ever known. Being a theologian is not in any way a passport to spirituality. In fact, it can be a hindrance."

...

"...the man who had the closest walk with Christ was my utterly illiterate grandfather, a man who could not identify a single letter of his signature."

Just something to think about.

IN NEED OF ENCOURAGEMENT

You guessed it. Motorcycles again.

I knew that both of these motorcycles had problems. And in that case it meant that I had problems. However the day the one above was brought in it really hit me. Shortly after the one above came in, we found out the magnitude of the problem in the one below. It's problem meant that I was going to have to pull the engine again and take it totally apart. And at that moment there were eight motorcycles on the place. (Only three are mine.) and five of them have problems.

This coupled with a lot of other work this old man wants to get done soon overwhelmed me.

I was discouraged. Real discouraged.

The next morning while praying about it I reminded the Lord that he is the source of my encouragement.

"And may God, the source of patience and encouragement,"-Romans 15:5 (TEV)

And that if he was my encouragement I needed help.

While in prayer he brought the scripture to mind, "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light." -Matthew 11:28-30 (TEV)

And in that very moment he lifted the burden. PRAISE GOD.

About and hour latter in one of my devotional periods the following verse just happened to be there, "So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings." -Matthew 6:34 (TEV)

GOD IS THE SOURCE OF MY ENCOURAGEMENT.