THOUGHTS

March 23, 2020

It will raineth,

It will muddeth.

The kideths

Will runneth,

to have the most funeth.

Insideth, outsideth,

All over the houseth.

Jumpeth, leapeth,

from bedeth to coucheth,

With the most bounceth.

Dogs will barketh,

Mamas will yelleth,

Time for homeschooleth,

Please sit downeth!

But to no availeth.

Blame the viruseth,

To drive us all crazyeth.

But remembereth to thanketh

God who hath giveneth

Healthy kideths who can runneth

at all.

c.j.

"In our times of letting go,

God is the one we need to run to

because He knows us better than we know ourselves.

Run to God.

It sounds so basic.

But when we're distressed, 

our natural tendency is often to retreat

from everyone, including God.

We run in all kinds of directions 

by keeping ourselves excessively busy.

We turn to activities, food, alcohol,

novels, shopping, entertainment, 

and other people to mask our pain.

Rollo...said it well:

'It is an old and ironic habit of human beings

to run faster when we have lost our way.'"

author unknown

In this strange and bizarre world we find ourselves in

with no place to run, may we "Be still and know, He is God." 

Here's another excerpt from the 1917th book by Colonel Brengle, 

"The Way of Holiness,"

which by the way was the year of the Spanish flu 

which killed more people than World War I.

"HOW TO GET HOLINESS"

"God never raises a crop of potatoes or a field of wheat or a bushel of oats without man's help.  He takes men into partnership with Him in such matters.  He furnishes the sunshine and the air, the rain and the dew, the day and the night, the fruitful seasons, the busy, burrowing little earth-worms and insects which keep the lungs of the earth open so that it can breathe, and He gives life to the seed, so that it may grow.  Man must prepare the ground, plant the seed, keep down the weeds, and gather in the harvest.  Men sometimes think they are doing it all, but they are quite mistaken in this.  Our loving Heavenly Father has been preparing the earth for thousands of years for every potato that grows, and He ceaselessly works, by day and by night, to help man raise his crops."

"And so it is in matters that concern our souls.  God and man must work together, both to save and to sanctify.  God never saves a sinner without that sinner's help, and usually the help of some other folks as well, who preach or pray, or write and sing, or suffer that he may be saved.  Ages before we were born, God provided the means of salvation for all.  Angels and prophets spoke God's truth.  Jesus came and showed us God's love, and died for our sins; the Holy Spirit was given, the blessed Bible was written, and all things were made ready."

"But now, the sinner must hear the truth for himself, must repent, must confess his sins and give them up, and must ask God for pardon, and believe, before he can be saved.  And for a sinner to expect salvation without doing this would be as big a piece of folly as for a famer to expect a crop of potatoes without having planted them."

"And so, to get the priceless gift of the Holy Spirit--a clean heart--we must work together with God.  On God's side, all things are ready, and He waits and longs to give the blessing; but before He can do so, we must, with His help, get ourselves ready; we must do our part, which is very simple, and easily within our power to do."

While Al was in seminary in Kansas City, we went to Swope Park to the outdoor theater to see the play "Shenandoah."  I will paraphrase the father's prayer over supper: "Lord, we thank you for this food which we sweated, plowed up the earth, planted the seed, watered, and weeded, harvested, ground with our own hands, baked and put on the table... Amen."  Sometimes that is how we thank God, arrogantly, not truly grateful for the gifts He has provided, even our breath itself.   Spiritually, it is true as well.  We tend to lean totally on ourselves, ignoring all that God has promised, falling far below the blessings He has for us.