Pastor’s Corner

Good Saturday morning, Well we got a good guess by Lindsay. Actually England was the place where bowling was outlawed except on the 12 days of Christmas. You may say, WHY? Well bowling was usually coupled with serving food & alcohol, but because it was considered entertainment, the politicians couldn't make their case to the public, for why the alcohol should be taxed, so they just closed it down, Under the guise that it was encouraging gambling & dangerous behavior. This law survived until Henry VIII built his own bowling Alley in Whitehall Palace. Then everything was changed in England. If the king can do it then so can everyone else.

I personally remember Mom's parents taking us kids to a bowling alley for the first time when I was eleven. I had never even known of this activity, we had played miniature golf in the summer a few times, for a quarter dollar, but never in an air conditioned building. Wow!!! What a surprise. Needless to say we were lousy, but when in high school, bowling was a PE segment, so we got better at the sport then.

Later, I never really bowled much other than when conducting Bowlathons with all night New Years Eve parties for teens. We would reserve the Alley after their normal hours, and then have prizes for various feats, like a Giant Candy bar for the next strike, or gift certificates, of all sorts, free MacDonalds burger combos, nail salon, etc. These contest would dispersed throughout the night. Then at midnight we would roll a carpet runway out in the middle lane, have a local pros play a one game tournament with best teen bowlers, then have the pros tell of the change in their life after receiving Christ. Then back to bowling till 6am.

Saturday 5/27

Prov. 30:32 "If you have been a fool by being proud (lying or bragging) or plotting evil, cover your mouth in shame.

Well now Agur is closing his thoughts about how wise folks conduct them selves. If they caught themselving telling an untruth or bragging about something, they could stop their words by covering their mouth in shame.

This sort of conduct was common in my life as a child. If someone was exaggerating their successes publicly, those who knew that to be untrue would cover their mouth. I guess this is like in protest, rather than today people shouting them down.

As a child I can remember in Missouri, when a speaker was publicly saying something the people knew was untrue, they would cover their mouth like in horror. Like "I can't believe you said that."

You may say where is this spoken of otherwise in the Bible? Job 21:; Job.40:4; Micah 7:16

The Jewish people were taught to be respectful of others & God. So when someone was speaking about something wrong, rather than shouting them down, like today, they would cover their mouth in shame.

To the person who is respectful of truth, or treating other people with respect this was proper, and wise conduct. When you think about it, wouldn't this be a more effective way to protest the telling of lies, or evil. Sometimes today I am appalled by words allowed to be said on TV aren't you? Maybe if we were to be struck in shame & horror, these words would not be so commonly used.

The inference here is if you are falsely boasting or making trouble, and you suddenly realize it, you stop right then before you make any more trouble. Maybe one way to rather than putting your foot in your mouth, we put our hand over our mouth. HA!

Can you imagine how people would respond, if when you attend a public speech and the speaker is untruthful or hurtful, if everyone covered their mouth in horror. What do you think would happen? Would the speaker be more cautious when tempted to say those things again? Maybe

So Go With God for He will guide you in your ways. Have you ever been saying something and then afterwords thought to yourself. Why did I say that? I can't believe I said that. The thought here is ... The person who walks wisely will measure his words properly. In a world where lying is common, and people are trying to live bigger than life, we now are forced to have fact checkers.

Unfortunately, today we as a people are expectant of "corrupt communication" as a result rather than being struck with horror, sadly we almost expect it. The writer is encouraging us to measure our words, give caution when speaking, be determined to lift others up, rather than lifting ourselves up. To be encouraging to those we speak too rather than putting them down, or telling them untruths.