A little boy went to the store and asked the clerk for a box of Duz detergent. “What do you need that for?” asked the clerk, and the boy answered, “To wash my dog.”
“That’s pretty strong stuff for washing a dog,”, warned the clerk, but the boy insisted that Duz was what he wanted. So the clerk sold it to him, reminding, “Now be careful when you wash your dog. That detergent is strong, and could kill him.”
A week later the boy came into the store again and the clerk asked, “How’s your dog?” The boy explained that the dog had died. The clerk said, “I’m sorry, but I tried to warn you that Duz was too strong.”
The little boy shook his head and said, “I don’t think it was the Duz that did it. I think it was the rinse cycle that got him.”
Sometimes we hear a warning without really hearing. God gives us enough warnings in the Bible that we really have no excuse.
Tags: clean, death, warning
When I was a rather new Christian, I attended Christian Training Center in Ft. Wayne. The classes went from 8AM-12 Noon Monday-Friday. I worked in the afternoons at various ministries of the church, so school tied me up 8 hours a day. I also had responsibilities with the youth group I was leading at my church and worked 6 hours every night in a factory assembling hydraulic pumps on third shift.
Needless to say, I was often a zombie between responsibilities. I remember early one morning I arrived home from work, took a shower and laid down for a quick nap before leaving for school. I awoke to my alarm clock blaring at me. I had slept a half hour too long and that alarm was just now waking me. I rushed around, drove like a NASCAR driver all the way to the school in downtown Ft. Wayne.
When I pulled into the parking lot, however, it was empty. I was confused. I checked my watch, and it was on the right time. I tried to recall if this was a holiday; no. Then it dawned on me: this was Saturday! I could be sleeping in. What a bummer.
Paul advised the church in Rome to be careful about esteeming one day above another (Romans 14:5). And sometimes it would be better to observe that rule. Its always better when God picks the day or the hour He wants to accomplish something in our lives. Let’s let Him control the times in our lives.
Tags: late, time
Most of you know I am passionate about genealogy. I was spending some time Monday reconstructing an early family from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. One early census recorded this man, Abraham Zug (pronounced Zook), as a ‘Preacher’. So I went on through the census records to learn more and he was always listed as a Farmer.
Later in life I found him living with an adult son, who was listed as a ‘Minister of the Gospel’. So I went deeper yet, studying the Lebanon County History and found they were both part of the Church of the Brethren branch known as the Dunkers. The Dunkers, of course, believed in water baptism by immersion, thus the moniker. They were also apparently pretty legalistic.
It seems the Dunker church in Lebanon County was founded by two men, Abraham Zug and one other. It seems the other man fell into sin, whatever that was. At first he confessed to the sin, but then denied it. Since he denied the sin, the church refused to allow him to attend. He was excommunicated and it rocked that local church to the core. I wonder if there was more to the story than meets the eye. A little politics in the old church?
How difficult we sometimes make it for sinners to come to Christ and find grace for their lives. Are you making it simple or difficult for those on the journey?
Tags: forgiveness, sin
Sunday afternoon many of us participated in the first community prayer walk. We divided into 13 geographical zones, each with about six or seven praying people. My group trudged across the field next to the church to a cul-de-sac in the County Village subdivision of Waterloo. From there we walked the streets of the entire neighborhood praying for each home.
One of the residents came out to thank us for praying for their neighborhood. I don’t know how she knew about us praying. One of the gals in our group felt impressed that there was a little girl being abused in one of the homes. Although this was an upscale development of newer homes, there still was the feeling of spiritual oppression and darkness in those homes. I suppose affluence does not break the sin problem.
When we returned there were many testimonies from those who participated. Let’s continue to keep prayers lifted up for those in the Waterloo community. And let’s pray that the words of our God would be prophetic in Waterloo: “Let there be Light!”
What was your impression of our prayer walk?
I was sitting at my desk in my office snacking on some health-food snack called ‘Almond Granola Energy Blend’. I was enjoying the mix of nuts, raisins and chocolate granola, when I received an email from a fellow pastor in Ohio who wanted my opinion of fasting. Suddenly this swell of pride I had for eating healthy vanished in a cloud of guilt. The sticker on the snack package said it all: ‘Simple Indulgence’! Yes, I was convicted.
We Americans do get ourselves so much into comforting our bodies that we starve the spiritual, when we know better. If we want pleasures of this world, there are plenty. Food, thrills, sex, this world has it all. But if we want a spiritual connection with the powers of heaven, we’ve got to look beyond this ‘Simple Indulgence’, and toward something other-worldly.
Fasting helps to take us into that level of discipline that moves us upward beyond worldly indulgence into spiritual connectedness. I want more of God; how about you?
What are you hungry for?
Tags: conviction, fasting
This week I had to drive to Ft. Wayne to visit someone in a hospital. All the way down I-69 other cars were spraying slush up onto my windshield. When I sprayed the windshield washer fluid up onto my windshield, only fluid from the passenger side came out. The wipers cleaned the passenger’s side window just great, but only smeared my side even worse.
Apparently, some debris has clogged the driver’s side tube obstructing the flow of fluid. Now, I wonder how long that was the case. I haven’t used that fluid since mid-summer, I suppose. If we don’t need it, we don’t waste it, right? So when I really needed it, it wasn’t working.
Routine maintenance is needed in our automobiles, furnaces, and lawn mowers. Whatever has working parts needs routine maintenance.
How is the maintenance on your spiritual life? Is it working like you want or is something clogged? You only notice its clogged when you use it and need it. Worldly debris can get wedged in there somewhere and we need to clean it out.
What’s clogged in your life?
Tags: clean, maintenance, vision
A little boy was standing in his yard one sunny day when he noticed his shadow for the first time. “Mommy, Mommy,” he shouted, “what’s that dark thing?”
“Oh, that’s only your shadow, dear,” she answered.
“I’m scared of it, Mommy. I don’t ever want to see it again!” he said, tightly shutting his eyes.
Suddenly his mother had an idea. Turning his little body to face the other direction, she said, “Honey, open your eyes. See, the shadow’s gone.” “How’d it happen?” he asked happily.
“I turned you toward the sun,” she said. “When you keep your face to the sunshine, you can’t see the shadow.”
Your past is like a shadow, following you wherever you go. So, keep looking to the Light of the world (John 8:12) and you won’t be scared by your shadowy past.
Tags: light, past, shadow, sin