Pastor’s Corner

Happy Monday to each of you. Way to go Lindsay, she was the first person to get the right answer. Corn hole was named after the ingredients in the bags. Pop corn was originally sewn into the bags & getting the bag in the hole was the primary goal.

Our meditation for today is found in Prov. 22:3 "A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

In this verse Solomon compared the simple & the prudent.

The prudent person-- is clever,or shrewd. He has learned to read when danger/harm is present. This characteristic is spoken of in Prov. 4:4,5; 11:9; 12:1; 19:25; 21:11.

The simpleton-- naive/gullible person fails to respond with caution to danger. This book refers to this same concern in Prov. 7:7; 9:16; 27:12.

This warning is presented for all of to see. When we are prudent we will foresee an evil circumstance & steer away from its consequence. However, if we ignore its potential harm to us we will get sucked into the vortex of evil & be possibly hurt extensively.

In my youth I went to the same Jr. High as my cousins and for a while we were buddies. However, I began to notice the fact that when I was with them I found myself in trouble with other students & even teachers.

Upon this realization I told them that I didn't like that & I wasn't going to hang out with them at school. They laughed at me & even gave me the nick name "preacher boy". At first I felt guilty because I was at the same school and even was in some classes with them.

When they asked me to set with them I learned not to sit with them. It seemed they made it their purpose to get me in the middle of their troubles. I also found that I wasn't quick enough to steer away from their trap.

So I made it my point to even though my inner struggles to be with them; to stay away from them. My grandmother even chided me for ignoring them at school. I didn't want her to see them in a bad light, so I just ignored explaining the plight I found myself in.

In High School my cousins got into big trouble with theft, fights and ended up in Big Brothers a

juvenile detention facility. They dropped out of school and got into all sorts of trouble.

At graduation my Grandmother realized why I had dropped my contact with them. That week they had joined a group of kids & had attempted a robbery at

liquor store and got arrested.

I visited them in jail and tried to encourage them to come to church with me, and hang out later with a group of Christian kids from school. They laughed at me & said they would be embarrassed to hang out with me. After they were released they continued to hang out with those mean, evil kids.

After graduating from college & moving to California I tried to meet up with my cousins when back in Joplin, but they were hardened to God. They humored me, but wanted nothing to do with anything but drinking, carousing and evil

friends.

I even invited them to come out to see me in Cal. In the hopes that I could get them alone & reach their heart that I knew of in our early childhood, but I couldn't reach them.

This was so sad for me because as children we had such fun together. But as our verse today says they went "blindly on and suffered the consequences."

So Go With God and you will never regret that daily choice of obedience, fellowship, communion with our Lord and His children. My life has been one of experiencing amazing things, my lovely intelligent wife and children who are living lives of positive influnce with those who they are ministering to. No regrets are the results that come to us as We Go With God.