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.

IGNORED PROOF

O.K.

You have seen them before.  This is a fossil of some

sea shells.  So what is the big deal?

God permitted me to get a few acres of woods here

in the Ozarks.  These woods are near the top of the

hill.  The topo map shows the property to be about

2000 ft. above sea level.  And the nearest sea is about

400 miles away.

Yet,

I have found more than a dozen of these sea shell

fossils scattered around through the woods.

That simply proves that the Bible is correct.

"And the waters prevailed so mightily upon

the earth that all the high mountains under the

whole heaven were covered; the waters prevailed

above the mountains, covering them fifteen

cubits deep."

(Genesis 7:19,20 RSV)

Now you may choose to believe any one of a

number of fairy tales being invented by man 

because they do not want to acknowledge there is

a creator they will have to answer to.  (Yes, some 

theologians take facts and rearrange them to suite 

them selves also.)

After all.  It does make sense that before there

was anything, enough "nothing" got together

to blow it's self up causing everything.  Well,

at least to a pseudo scientist.

Like many other people, I have had a relationship

with the God who created this old world and 

gives you life it's self.  Over the many years He

has answered hundreds of prayers for me.  But

you want me to ignore this relationship just so

you can maintain some theory that ignores Him?  

Forget it, you are too late?

ALL THINGS???????????

We Christians like to declare that all things

work together for good to those who love God.

Makes you wonder sometimes.

But let me tell you about the day the 

above image was taken.

My habit  is to very early in the morning ask

for God's protection for the day, and his blessing

on the day.  I "try" to put the day in his hands

and let him worry about it.  [I know.  Sometimes

I try to help him.]

The above day started for me like several each 

week - at the oncology center.  It started well.

They sent me over to the hospital for blood.

That happens a lot.  About once a week I go

get more blood and/or platelets.  It's a routine

with me.

On entering the hospital I noticed that the 

regular people who do the admitting were not

there.  But one of the regular women who 

come out of the back office was.  So she helped

me.  Well, she had to get some help to help

her so she could help me. 

The next step is "usually" being taken to a 

hospital room.  But this time, she took me 

around the corner to a division or section I 

had never been in.  ??? and double ???

It was for out patient heart patients.  I am

not a heart patient.  I am there because of

"Aplastic anemia" as an out patient.

Next comes a nurse.  So far that happens 

everywhere.  And the way she was going 

to do the infusion was different than my  doctor

had instructed.  I know.  I had careful read the

instructions before handing them in at the front

desk.  Now I liked the nurse's method better. But

I am not normal.  Transfusions can give me reactions

that create real problems.  So I have learned to 

watch pre-medications and infusion rates very

carefully.  The nurse and I "sorta" went round 

and round on infusion rates.  But as mentioned,

I liked her method better and we followed her

"protocol" instead.

Now this division does not stay open 24/7.

So when they had gone as far as they could

they sent me to the 5th floor.  First time I have

ever been there.  The reason is simple.  They

do not work with "out patients" like me.  They

only care for full time patients.  But the people

were great.  They did a great job anyway.

Except as we are winding up, they wanted to

wait 30 minutes and do an "H and H".  No 

way.  How did that get in there?  It ends up that

that instruction came out of "ER" several months

ago when the reaction problems began.  Now

we have been following a different set of instructions

with a "protocol" that is similar to the one from

the department that sent me there.

After this comedy of errors that had me frustrated,

until I could hand it back over to God - what was

the outcome?

I was able to go home between 4 and 8 hours

EARLIER 

than my normal routine.

INSN'T GOD GOOD. 

But we are not done.

For quite a while now I have known that the

alternator on my old truck was getting very 

weak.  And leaving the hospital the lights in

the dash told me it had gone it's last mile.

God got me home safely and all at a time that

there were several extra vehicles I could use 

to go into towns to get parts.

GOD IS STILL GOOD. c

"And we know that all things work together

for good to those who love God, to those

who are the called according to His purpose."

(Romans 8:28 NKJV)

LET YOUR WORDS BE FEW

YES,

my back was hurting -

a lot.

My Sciatica again.

My Sciatica has bothered me a few times in my

life.  The last time the Lord helped me go over

40 years between bouts.  Praise God for that.

Was I praying about it?  Of course.  But I was 

beginning to think God was going to have me 

use more natural means of healing this time.

Thus the book above.

I have read 54 pages in the book.

What have I learned in 54 pages.

BACK PAIN CAN BE CAUSED BY 

A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT REASONS.

54 pages to learn that!  But nothing to help me yet.

OH!

PRAISE GOD.

He took the pain away.

I do not how or why.  But over about

a week it was gone.

Don't think I will finish the book.

"For God is in heaven, and you on earth;

Therefore let your words be few."

(Ecclesiastes 5:2 NKJV)

PRAYER WORKS

I am not even thinking of this as a miracle.

It was just one more answer to prayer.

When I came down with aplastic anemia I

was in ICU in the hospital above for five days.

The watch above.

I clearly remember taking it off and laying it on 

the neat little table or tray that you find in every

hospital room.

I do not remember if it was the day of my release

so I could shower.  Or sometime earlier in my stay.

After all, every hospital room I've been in provides

a LARGE wall clock where the patient can see it

clearly.  That is so you can know how slowly 

time is passing.

On the day of my release we could not find my 

watch.  Now, I am the kind of person that cannot

find something unless it is on top or in the front.

But that is not the way my wife works.  She can

find anything in any kind of pile any where.

She searched through the entire room for it.  She

went through my laundry, suitcase and every thing

I had.  But no watch.

Now that is a very, very cheap watch.  So that 

was not a concern to me.  But I did not want to

feel it had been stolen.

I clearly remember as I was leaving the room

praying and asking the Lord to let the watch

show up some time.  My main concern was 

more that I did not want to feel it had been

stolen from me.

About a month later my wife came carrying it

in to the kitchen.  She ask me if I knew any thing

about it.  Yep.

Where was it??

On the floor between the washer and the dryer.

Thank you Jesus.