POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK

There is an old idiom we used to hear that said,
"The pot calling the kettle black".

That of course was because both of them had
soot on them from the fire.
The meaning was,
someone was accusing someone else of 
the same thing they were guilty of themselves.

This was brought to mind when on our way to church 
a few days ago.

The side road we live on dead ends at the main road.
But our side road comes into the main road at an angle.
This forces you to look over your left shoulder and 
look for traffic before pulling out on to the main road
in ether direction.  And when the foliage is heavy,
you have to pull out into the main road a little ways to
see and be safe.

My wife was driving.  The nose of the car was out a
ways into the main road so she could see.  Signals
were going.  Stop had been made.  Everything was
proper, but for safeties sake, a little further out than
normal.

To our right on the main road was an open Jeep coming.
You know.  A real Jeep.  No top.  Half doors etc.
The Jeep made a left turn in front of us and went 
up our side road.

I made two observations.
1.  The driver of the Jeep, a man, was shaking his head
in a very intentional, obvious manner at the wife.  The 
meaning seemed to be, 
"Stupid woman driver."

2. The other observation, he made the left turn off
the main road in front of any and all traffic with absolutely 
no signal of any type what ever.

"You teach others -

why don't you teach yourself?

(Romans 2:21GNT)

PROTECTED

"God is our shelter

and strength,

always ready to help

in times of trouble."

(Psalms 46:1 GNT)

MAKE YOUR OWN GOD

image courtesy of:www.bigfoto.com

Have you thought about making your own god?

A lot of people in this old world do.  It does not

matter if it is an ignorant savage down in the 

South American jungle whittling one out of a

tree, or a sophisticated person from a cultured

country making one out of gold.  Or even an 

highly educated intellectual deciding in there 

mind what kind of a god they could believe in -

they all have one thing in common.

THEY DO NOT WORK.

They are like the the sculpture below.

It is only material, it lacks power.

No engine, no power.

"

"God is Spirit, and those who worship

Him must worship in spirit and truth."

(John 4:24 NKJV)

But there is a God who has been hearing and answering

my prayers for over sixty years now.  Has your god got

that kind of record?

He is found in the Holy Bible.

He created this old world and gives us life.

He loves us enough that He even died for us

then rose again.

His name is:

JESUS CHRIST.

TRUST

O.K!

So it's a shaggy old cat.  So what?

Yes, it's getting old and shaggy.  It leaves hair

all over the place.  I do not know how old it is.

But the wife and I were a whole lot younger 

when she came dragging it home.

But that's not the point.

Notice that it is asleep right in the middle of 

the floor.  That cat spends lots of time sleeping

right in the way - where we walk.

Why?

Because it has learned to trust us.  It knows

that we will not step on it intentionally.

It just simply trusts us.

That is what God wants us to do.

Just simply trust Him.

From one cover of the Bible to the other.

God asks us to TRUST Him.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,

Which spreads out its roots by the river,

And will not fear when heat comes;

But its leaf will be green,

And will not be anxious in the year of drought,

Nor will cease from yielding fruit."

(Jeremiah17:7-9 NKJV)

"Therefore humble yourselves under the

mighty hand of God, that He may exalt

you in due time, 

casting all your care upon Him,

for He cares for you."

(1 PETER 5:6,7 NKJV)

GOD "FIXED" MY TRUCK

NO.

This is not the truck God "fixed" for me.

This is only a picture from my files of a pickup.

Back about 1980 I bought the first pickup I ever had

from a fellow mechanic.  It was one of those ugly

1961 chev. pickups.  It seems that chev. designed it

ugly on purpose.  Like some of today's cars.  They

did well.  It was ugly.  And if there are any left on

a scrap heap some where - they are still ugly.

I had borrowed the pickup from my friend a number

of times.  So it did not come with any hidden faults.

It's chief fault was that it would pop out of high 

gear once in a while.   This was one of those old

6 cylinder three speed manual transmissions.

But that was not supposed to be a problem.  I was

a mechanic, and overhauling manual transmissions 

was one of my jobs.

As you can guess, the problem did not get any better.

Over time it got to popping out of high gear real bad.

I counted one time.  In driving to work, that's, 12 miles,

it popped out of high gear 16 times.

I know, the logical thing to have done would be simply

buy a rebuilt transmission and slip in on a Saturday.

But at that time circumstances were such it could not

be afforded. 

The other option of course was to fix it myself.  The

problem there was down time.  Back then we could

get parts for automatic transmissions in a day or two.

But every time we had a car down with a manual 

transmission, it took a week or two to get parts.

This truck was my only transportation and I had

tried every adjustment I could think of.

One day returning home from work it popped out

of gear while going down a straight section of road.

I put it back in gear.  Let out the clutch and it popped

right back out again.

In frustration and desperation I cried out loud enough

He could hear me, "Lord, I don't know how much longer

I can put up with this."

The next morning on way to work the young fellow

riding into town with me ask, "Did you fix the

transmission?"  No.  Then he pointed out that it had

not popped out of gear at all.

I started watching it then.  It must have been about 

one and a half years before it ever popped out of high

gear again.

Talk about a cheap fix.  God is a whole lot better

mechanic than I am.

Ultimately I gave the old truck to the young man

that was riding with me that morning.

PRAISE GOD FOR ANSWERED PRAYER.

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)