THE BUILDING NOBODY BUILT

NOBODY BUILT THIS BUILDING

It just happened.

Around eighty miles from my home is a building that

just happened.  No body built it.  It was there before 

any of us come along and none of us know of a builder

related to it.

This has been verified by the following;

Mark the scientific mason.  Mark has been in rock and

brick work all his life.  As a young man he helped his

father do this type of work and decided to continue in

this line of work with a top education.  Mark knows how

to split and shape the rocks so they fit together best and

the best bonding materials to use for their work.  Mark

throughly understands the field of masonry and can 

completely explain any faze of it.  Mark says that in a

complete structure that way there is no way anyone

could have built it.  It just happened. 

Frank the scientific framer.  Frank now has twenty

years of experience as a framer.  Frank knows the best

way to place the wall studs, the correct angle of the nails,

and the best lengths of studs and plates to use.  Frank

has been making a close study of framing during those

twenty years of framing work.  This makes him an

expert in this field.  This was all there of course before

Frank came on the scene.  After studying the framing

on this building carefully Frank says there is no way 

this building could have had a builder.  It just happened.

Earl the  scientific electrician.  Earl of course has complete

knowledge of; volt, ohms, amps, watts, resistance, wire

size for various loads etc.  Earl says that with the knowledge

he has on the subject and his ability to understand it,

there is no way there could have been a builder.  It

had to just happen.

Paul the scientific plumber.  Paul has a life time of 

plumbing experience and a complete knowledge of 

pipes, pressures, regulators, valves and anything 

else related to plumbing.  Paul like the rest was not

here when the building went up.  But because Paul

is able to completely understand how the plumbing

works in this building, he too states that it is not 

possible to have had a builder.  This building just

happened.  And we will just have to work with it.

"The fool has said in his heart,

'There is no God.'"

(Psalms 14:1 NKJV)

THERE IS A REST

     

                                                    REST

                       REST. Yes, there is a rest.

The image above is where I probably get the most rest.
An old recliner.  And, the chair I am sitting in now that
looks out across the neighbor's field.  And of course the
bed in the next room.

Not forgetting the several rocking chairs and the swing
the wife has on the front porch.  Or several rock benches
I have placed around the yard under trees.  Or three chairs
in my office.

Or over at my "hide a way" or retreat in Madison County
there are two recliners, two overstuffed chairs, two
straight back chairs and a bed inside.

Outside, two rock benches and a swing under the trees.
Not counting the chair I drug across the ravine up the
hill and put at the back of the property so I could sit and
rest while looking across the neighbor's fields.

But these are for the body.  What do we do when life is
overwhelming us.  We are swamped and about to go
down and out?  When the needs of the body are only
a fraction of our problem.

God has a rest for his people.

I hate to admit it.  But here I am 80 years old now.  My
life is in the balance and the bills are pilling up over my
head.  Of course it looks like all my dreams and aspirations
are a thing of the past.  But I finally learned where the rest
God has for His people is.

Any Christian knows that we are to walk in the Spirit, not
in the flesh.  [See Galatians 5:16 - 25]  And most of us do,
at least sort of.  We don't do all those bad things that are of the
flesh and we try to do the right things.

Here God let me see something.  In verse 16 the word "walk"
is "peripateo" in the Greek.  (Cool, eh!)  And if you will look it
up you will see that the major thought is, "to tread all around,
i.e. walk at large...".  Thanks to James Strong.

Now that is what I do sometimes with the grand kids.  We
may walk all around through the woods looking at stuff.  And
we are walking together.  And that's the way most of us
Christians walk with God in the Spirit.

But look at verse 18.  "But if you are LED by the Spirit, ..."
Hey!   There is a difference between wondering around in
life and being "LED" by the Spirit.  Who is making the choices
or directing my life?  If I am led by the Spirit in EVERYTHING,
then every thing I do becomes God's problem - not mine.  And
I rest in Him.  I dump it all on Him.  Me and my mess up become
His to fix, if I will dump it on Him and allow the Holy Spirit
to do the directing in EVERY THING.

Jesus said,

"Come to Me, all you who labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 
for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you 
will find rest for your souls."
(Matthew 11:28,29 NKJV)

GENEROSITY

GENEROUS

I have a great granddaughter who is learning to drive.

So she even likes to drive my old truck - or anything 

anyone will let her drive.

The other day we took off on one of our back road

lessons.  We had not gone far from the house when

she ask, "Grandpa.  Do you want a mint?"

More out of politeness than any thing I said,

"Yes."  Now you know the answer to that one.

She gave me a mint out of my own candy bowl.

Now, that's GENEROSITY.

But are you and I any different?

God gives us life, health, brains (?)       

strength, a job and every thing needed for 

life.  Every thing is His to start with.

If we give him back anything at all, 

it is only a pittance and we think we have

done a big deal.

"The earth is the LORD'S, 

and all its fullness.

The world and those who dwell

therein."

(Psalms 24:1 NKJV)

FAME

photo courtesy of: www.bigfoto.com

                                           FAME

Fame.  Ah! yes.  Fame.  Something so many are striving for.
Around here it appears it costs lots and lots of money to get
things named after you so you can be remembered for ever.

Last night while driving home I went over a section of road
"named" after a famous local personality.  It brought to mind
an incident from a few years ago.

When I moved into this area in 1973 this man was a well
know business leader.  I only knew of him from advertising
for his business at that time.  But did not know him.

As happens sometimes, he went into politics for some reason
or other.  And as I was working in an luxury auto dealership
I eventually met the man.  In fact I met and talked to him a
number of times over the years.  Perhaps time is forgiving,
but contrary to most politicians all I remember is liking the
guy.

I do not know how far his fame has spread.  But this section
of road - well, O.K. it's a tunnel - was named after him for
his work with the state.  All so, one of the local cities has a
park named after him. [Only the hospital and the bill collectors
remember me.]  I think that he is way ahead of most of us on
this fame thing.

The last time I met him he was out of politics and retired, the
best I know.  He had come into the dealership to get something
or other done to his car.  Now you know politicians, they cannot
just pick up a book and read like real people, while they wait.
They have to go around talking to people.

What was almost funny, if it had not been so pathetic, was watching
him go around the lobby and the show room looking for folks to
talk with.  It was like nobody even knew him, or even wanted to
talk to him. Here was a real live famous person and know one even
seemed to recognized him.  Perhaps it was just a bad day.

After watching this for a while I got to feeling so bad for him that
I went over greeted him, and talked with him for a while.  It
seemed to brighten him up.

So much for FAME.  It does not last long.

"De not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house increased;
For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him."
(Psalms 49:16,17 NKJV)

THE WISDOM OF MAN

God gave us a brain.

But when some pseudo scientist

takes the facts and arranges them

in the order he wants, adding lots of 

guessing to up make his own fairy tale -

That's artificial intelligence.