Pastor’s Corner

Trivia:

Well way to go Becky, yessssss the world's largest bat is found at the Louisville Slugar Museam, in Kentucky, this bat leans against the museum and is 120-feet tall, and weighs 34 tons. It simulates Babe Ruth's bat which was 34 inches long.

Do you know which famous writer had the habit of napping under his desk with a blanket? Was it Jane Austen; Simca 1000; Mark Twain; Charles Dickens?

Challenge:

Psalm 28:1-5 "To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. Do not take me away with the wicked, And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up."

The writer here opens up this Psalm asking the Lord to hear his prayers, and render him guidance in his everyday decisions. Then he asks the Lord to render justice to those who intentionally purposed to misguide the innocent, with the goal of bringing harm to their lives. Then he states the reasons that they should be punished or destroyed. Because they disregard the way that the Lord strives to build blessings and growth in His children's lives.

David tells the Lord his desire to receive His instruction because of the many benefits he receives, security, strength, and last but not least, stability in his life and his rule of the nation. He tells the Lord his need for guidance because of those who smoothly, even seemingly peaceably speak of concern for others, when in fact they are striving to lead them away from His care.

In our world today many people with evil intentions are able to be convincing in their promises, but in reality have destruction as their intentions.

Early in life I can remember my dad's famous words, "Son, talk is cheap". He was warning me of being cautious in trusting those people who promise results that are beyond what in reality they can provide. If they haven't ever accomplished anything that would prove their ability to acheive even a small quantity of their promises, as the hillbilly statement says, "Don't get into the hog water with them."

I remember early in life being confronted by the proverbial slick salesmen.

My parents faced the high cost of feeding a family of 6 so we together began looking for ways to supply our needs. One of the ways we learned to gain cost cutting, was we would stroll through the farmers market & look for food that had lost its fresh luster. Then mom would offer below market value to help them recover from a total loss. Then we would all quickly can, freeze, or cook, these items to provide for our needs.

This approach taught us the value of good old time work. We learned to rather than turn our nose up at food that appeared to be on the edge of spoiled, but rather approach it for what we could do to save it from becoming useless garbage. Most of the time we were succesful.

These endeavors taught us to be productive, creative, and less critical than we might have otherwise become.

Many times the Lord allows us to face times of uncertainty, and even potential peril, in order for Him to draw us back from what could have resulted in loss, in order to teach us the value of recovering from the challenges we might face later in life.

I will never forget the time that a mother sheep got stuck outside in the cold and was forced by her necessity to birth a baby there in the cold. I was walking to the chicken coup to gather eggs and saw the mother sheep and baby huddling against the shed for some warmth. No one was home that was strong enough to help me so I got a wheel barrow and pushed them both into it. Together, because the mother refused to be separated from her baby.

I then wheeled them into the barn for shelter, and gathered every sort of item to cover us, and hope I was not too late to save them from their peril. Then I got into the pile of blankets, plastic tarp, hay, etc. etc. We together shivered and slowly warmed up. Once we began to feel the warmth of our bodies huddled together, the baby began searching for his mother to eat. For several months after that adventure both the mother and baby would baah for me to come be with them.

We had experienced the beauty of together facing adversity, and winning. We also learned the important lesson of searching for solutions from our past life experiences. For several years when it was time to shear the sheep they would call out for me to come near and hum to them while they were experiencing those first few moments of fear of the shearing ordeal.

SO GO WITH GOD for He will walk you through those times in life of uncertainty, of fearfulness, for He alone can bring comfort amidst uncertainty. His voice of love and comfort are spoken in His words spoken to us there in the Bible. Draw to His eternal words of comfort, care, and truth.

PS. When laying with the sheep I heard Dad driving into the barn yard with the car and him looking for me to help him unload some supplies. When he called for me I yelled to him from inside the barn and the pile of covers, etc. He raised the pile, of blankets, plastic tarp, hay, etc. and saw me in the middle of these sheep where they were warmly huddled. Dad named the baby sheep Benny J. after me because he knew that had I not found them they would have perished in the cold, snowy surroundings.