Flight Paths

     I was born legally blind.  In those days, they did not check children like they do today, and I learned to feed and dress myself, and played happily in my bedroom with no one the wiser.  Finally, when I was four, my parents noticed that I kept getting closer and closer to the television.  Don't judge them harshly.  They loved me and cared for me as any parent would.  They just did not recognize the problem because of how well I coped.  And I coped that well because I assumed everyone was like me and so never raised a fuss. 
     I got my first pair of "coke bottle" glasses when I was 4—and it was still nearly 50 years later before the doctors came up with a name for what was wrong with me. But those glasses were pretty amazing.  My mother said the first thing I did when we left the doctor's office with them was to lean over and look at the ground.  Finally, she came to see what I had found and nearly cried when she realized it was the first time I had ever seen ants. 
     I spent a lot of time looking at things after that, and seeing them for the first time.  My daddy, who was a car guy, was especially tickled that I learned all the identifying characteristics of the different models of cars.  Back then, there were not as many as today, so a four year old noticing a "Winken" and "Toodebaker," which for some reason I also called a "backwards forwards car," was not all that amazing.  I also remember when Edsels came out.  That big horse collar of a grille was easy to see for a four year old who paid attention to things like that.
      But Ford had goofed in their research.  They were aiming at people who would buy mid-priced sedans.  Time magazine says they spent $250 million dollars on research and advertising, but by the time the car came out, the country was in a recession and people were looking at compact cars to save money.  The Edsel came out on September 4, 1957, and was discontinued on November 19, 1959.  The car's name has come to mean "a dud," in our slang, and people will always remember it that way.
     The last thing any of us should want is to be remembered for our worst mistake.  In the scriptures, Jeroboam probably has that distinction.  In order to solidify his reign and hold on the people, he introduced things to the worship of God that were considered from then on as some of the worst abominations in the land, particularly the golden calves in Dan and Bethel.  I counted at least 25 times that these sins were listed in the historical books as they described the kings who reigned after him--he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.  God had promised him a dynasty if he only obeyed, but he did not trust God to keep his word, and so he lost that promise.
     We can make life-changing mistakes ourselves.  Whom you marry is probably one of the most important decisions you will make—it can determine your eternal destiny, AND your children's.  "But I can change him," has about as much chance of happening as snow in Tampa—which has happened only once in my lifetime.  How you choose to raise your children is another one.  What you do and don't do, and who you listen to can determine their whole lives.  The career you choose can also be important.  Even the congregation you choose to be a part of can make a difference if all you want is entertainment or "easy listening."  Whenever you find yourself saying, "But I will do better than all those others, it won't affect me that way," you have put an Edsel on the assembly line and are likely to have the same results.
     Please be careful.  Young people, please listen to those who are older and have come through the same stages of life you are in now.  They care about your souls and they want to help you.  You don't want to be remembered as the biggest dud in history, and you don't want the eternal results that might lead to, especially for those you love.
 
An ear that is hearing the reproof of life lodges among the wise.  Whoever is refusing instruction is despising his soul, and whoever is hearing reproof is getting understanding  Prov15:30-32
 
Dene Ward

We made a mistake this summer.  We planted climbing roses at either end of a fifteen foot long trellis, and then planted morning glories along it as well.  To fill up the blank spot in the middle, we told ourselves.  But as the summer progressed those morning glory vines wound their way not only up the trellis but across to the new rose canes and completely covered them.  They shaded the leaves from the already filtered sun in that area of the yard and even hid the few blooms the roses managed to put out.
            Enough, we decided, and Keith clipped the smothering vines one morning.  They were wound so tightly, I had to wait for them to begin to wilt before I could remove them without damaging the rose vines.  Do you know what happened?  For five days those clipped and wilted vines put on new blooms and not just a few.
            Finally on the fifth day, I grabbed some heavy duty scissors and began cutting and carefully unwinding them.  After a half hour of cautious work and quite a few bloody thorn-pricks, nearly all the morning glories were lying in a pile along the bottom of the trellis and I discovered more rose vines than I ever imagined trailing along nearly the entire fifteen feet of trellis.  I gathered the morning glories in an armful and tossed them out in the brushy field.
            The next morning we came out to look at the roses.  New red leaves grew on nearly every end, with half a dozen new buds.  Finally we can breathe, they seemed to be screaming at us.  Then we walked over to the field and out there in the thick grass lay those dead morning glory vines—with brand new purple, blue, pink, and magenta blooms on them!  The next morning we saw more new morning glory blooms.  It had been a week since they were cut and they had lain in the sub-tropical summer sun without even any rain. Yet there they were, putting on new blooms still, even though their vines were wilted and brown. 
            By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaks, Heb 11:4.
            How many hundreds of names do we know from the pages of Scripture?  Though they are long dead, their examples still speak to us and help us along our path. 
            Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Heb 12:1.
            That great cloud of witnesses continues to speak as we read about their lives, as we study them in Bible classes and hear them spoken of in sermons.  We give our children great Bible heroes to pattern their lives after, and well we should.  But what is true of them is true of us as well.
            After we are gone, our deeds will continue to speak, maybe not to as many as those in the pages of Scripture, but to everyone who knew us.  What will they see in the field after we are gone?  Will we leave nothing but a wilted vine, or will colorful blooms still dot the ground?  Will the deeds we do continue to inspire others, or will our useless lives stand as an example not to follow?  Will people talk about us with words of blessing or will others need to come along and undo the damage we left behind?
            Think about my morning glories today.  Someday your stem will be snipped, too.  What will be left behind for others to see?
 
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us, Titus 2:7,8.
 
Dene Ward

Have you noticed this about the internet?  Everyone is in a hurry to spread bad news, almost as if a prize were given to the one who knows it first and has the most lurid detail.  Why is that, especially among Christians?  Shouldn’t a group created by Good News be far more likely to share that?  Yet the many who are quick to excuse their inability to talk to their neighbors about their salvation, have no such qualms about telling even their enemies about a tragedy.
            Psalm 22 should give us pause.  We tend to think of it as “the crucifixion psalm” and relegate it to Messianic prophecy alone.  However, most scholars believe that these psalms had an application in the day in which they were written also.  Therefore, Psalm 22, which is clearly Messianic in many ways, also applied to some time in David’s life. 
            It must be obvious that we do not know every detail of his life.  John said about the life of Jesus, Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25.  Surely the same could be said for David, who lived far longer than the Lord on this earth.  He could easily have had a serious illness we are not told about, or a life-threatening injury.  As many enemies as this man of war had, this psalm could refer to some of them.  Whatever it was, this psalm tells us about some dire straits David found himself in. 
            Note the structure of the psalm.  If you have a modern version, you will see the sections separated clearly.  The “I/me” sections, those about David and his lament, are alternated with the “thou/you” sections, those addressed to God.  The “I/me” sections gradually increase in length, first two verses, then three, then seven.  The “thou” sections gradually increase their urgency until the final one when David seems to scream, “Save me from the mouth of the lion!”
            The danger pictured in the psalm gradually increases.  “Many bulls encompass me.” “They open wide their mouths.” “Dogs encompass me…they pierced my hands and feet.” “Come quickly.  Save me from the mouth of the lion and the horns of the wild oxen.”  By this point, David feels the end is near one way or the other.
            Suddenly, in verse 22, the mood changes.  The poet uses less figurative language and calmer speech.  “Praise” becomes the repetitive word instead of “Deliver me, save me, rescue me.”  David begins to recount this desperate time only so he can tell others the good news—God delivered him.  “Praise him, glorify him, stand in awe of him,” he tells the assembled congregation, probably those whom he had invited to his thank offering feast.  The Law of Moses made provision for a man to offer a sacrifice when something wonderful had happened to him.  He was to invite his friends and neighbors and share not only the feast, but the good news of the blessings God had given him.  (Lev 7:15; Deut 12:15-18; Psa 40:9,10)  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such a tradition today?  Especially in a day where all we want to share with others are the disasters, the complaints, and the bad news, to actually share good news and praise God for His blessings would be a welcome change.
            What are you sharing with your Facebook friends today?  With your family and neighbors, your classmates, fellow workers, and even the cashiers and waitresses you see during the day?  Is bad news the only thing that exhilarates you, or do you excitedly tell others the good news—that a Savior loves them just as he loves you and has done so many wonderful things for you. 
            God had a people once who only reveled in the bad news, including ten men who came back from seeing a glorious Promised Land and with their evil report (bad news) “made the people complain” Num 14:36.  It did not take long for God to give them up to a wilderness in which they learned what bad news really was. 
            Think today, not only before you speak, but before you share. Let’s start a new tradition.  Let’s make a thank offering feast for our friends instead of a gripe-fest.  Share the good things in your life, so that someday you can more easily share the most important thing—your Lord.
 
The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones…Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country, Prov 15:30; 25:25.
 
Dene Ward
 

     A couple of centuries ago, Passenger Pigeons were the most widespread bird in North America, estimated to be 25-40% of the entire avian population, roughly three to five billion.  When they passed overhead, the skies darkened for up to an hour, the time it took for one flock to pass by.  Someone said they sounded like a thousand threshing machines, a thousand steamboats, and a thousand trains all at once. They ranged from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River and from the Great Lakes to the southern United States. 
     The birds flew far in their migration and when they returned in the spring, the settlers in the early days of this country jumped for joy—free protein after the near starvation of winter.  The birds flew so low and so thick that you could swing a pole and kill enough for dinner.  With the advent of the telegraph and railroad, the hunting of passenger pigeons by both amateur and professional sportsmen flourished with numbers nearly as many as the birds themselves, until by the mid-1890s, only three captive breeding flocks were left.  On September 1, 1914, the last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo.  She was about 29 years old and had never laid a fertile egg.  Efforts to save them had come too late.  (All information courtesy of Audubon, the e-magazine.)
     What are you doing to keep Christianity from going extinct?  Or do you just expect others to do that? 
     Think first about your family.  Are you teaching your children at home, not just expecting them to pick it up in church Bible classes, but spending regular time every day talking to them about God in any and every way possible, praying with them, reading the scriptures to them, helping them to begin to make small decisions that a Christian must eventually make in his life in a much larger way? 
     How about your neighborhood?  Does the man across the fence know you are a Christian?  Does the woman down the street whom you pass as she weeds her flowerbeds, the couple who take a walk every evening on the sidewalk that runs past your house?  Does the friendly cashier know that you are on your way to Bible class and just stopped to pick up a couple of things you forgot?  Does the UPS man know that you are pressure cleaning the sidewalk because you expect some folks to come that night for a study?  Or are you hiding your allegiance to the Lord, and if so, why?
     What happens at work?  Does the boss know that staying late on Wednesday night is not a good option for you?  Does she know that you will miss the company picnic because you will be worshipping God on Sunday?  And maybe more important, do they know they can count on you to work hard and do things right precisely because you are a Christian.  That you won't be making flimsy excuses for missing work, possibly even lying about being sick? 
     Will any of that keep Christianity from going extinct?  Why do you think people ask you about your religion?  Because, as a nurse told us once after several days in the hospital, "There's something different about you."  You'd better believe it will help.
      But for today, just think about your home.  The first step to extinction is when the next generation is lost.  What's happening to yours?
 
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel. And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim; and they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down unto them: and they provoked Jehovah to anger.  And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth Judg2:10-13.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Of course, we all know to read the label and follow the directions. But I keep discovering new ways this rule applies. After years of bearing well, my muscadine grapes began, as the Bible describes it, "casting their fruit." This was a major disaster as not only did we and our friends enjoy the fruit, Dene made the only true grape jelly I ever ate. Commercial grape jelly is primarily sweet and only slightly grape. So the county agent came and said it might be Boron deficiency. I immediately ordered some from Amazon and began applying it. The next year, the vines only cast a few grapes so I was eager to continue the program. But, sometime over the winter, my brain sparked across a dried up synapse and I thought to read the label on that laundry staple 20 Mule Team Borax and found it was a boron compound! And guess how much cheaper it is than boron? Then there was Oxyclean Bathroom Cleaner. Did you know that it is ordinary hydrogen peroxide? I can buy a lot of that for the same price and reuse their sprayer. Be careful, not all Oxyclean products are just peroxide, read the label!

So, when Jesus picks you up and reads the label, what ingredients will he see? Will "other ingredients" be the highest percentage? When we introspectively examine ourselves, sometimes we list ingredients that Jesus is not looking for. Surely you have noticed that in the judgment scene where he separates the sheep and the goats, not one of the ingredients had to do with right church or right worship?  In fact, it seems that even religious works and deeds count for little (Mt 25:31-46; 7:22; James 1:27).

So, we go to the right church that does Bible things in Bible ways and we even manage to pray more than at meals and study our Bible some. Those things are not high on the list. They are "other ingredients" to build us up and strengthen us so that our faith will lead us to fill ourselves up with God. Worship is whom you become, not what you do (Gal 2:20).

Thus says Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories, glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knows me, that I am Jehovah who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for IN THESE THINGS I DELIGHT, SAYS JEHOVAH (Jer 9:23-24). Knowing God has more to do with who you are than the religious stuff you do, "Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him. HE JUDGED THE CAUSE OF THE POOR AND NEEDY; THEN IT WAS WELL. WAS NOT THIS TO KNOW ME? Says Jehovah (Jer22:15-16).
When Jesus reads your label, will it say, "sports, video games, TV bingeing, recreation, vacation…but he went to church."?

Or will it say, "lovingkindness, justice, righteousness, cared for the poor and needy"?
 
But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he lives, he lives unto God. Even so you reckon yourselves also to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Rom 6:8-13)

Keith Ward

Since Keith has retired we sit on the carport nearly every morning with a final cup of coffee, talking and tossing treats to Chloe, watching the hummingbirds dogfight, listening to the squeaky whine of titmice fussing over the feeders, counting blooms on the Mexican petunias, and trying to decide if the clouds bode well or ill for the day.  Even in the summer, we enjoy our time, but in the summer one thing changes—the quiet of the country becomes the roar of the big shop fan.  That fan makes it comfortable enough, as it blows away the gnats and mosquitoes, and turns the early morning humidity into a cool breeze instead of a heavy and suffocating blanket.
            As a born and bred Florida girl, fans were a large part of my childhood.  We did not have air conditioning until I was a teenager, and central air did not come along until Keith and I had been married three years.  Not that it wasn’t invented, but it had not yet reached our income level.
            I remember summer afternoons at my grandmother’s house, sitting on the porch under the shade of oaks and chinaberries, listening to the soft whir and tick-tick-tick-tick as her old oscillating fan swept back and forth across us, evaporating the sheen of sweat and cooling us in the process.  That fan felt wonderful.  In an air conditioned world, I doubt many but my generation have known that feeling.
            This morning I came across Genesis 3:8 and saw a margin note I had never noticed before.
            And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…
            Did you know that word “cool” can also be translated “wind” or “breath?”  God created everything, including the cooling effects of wind and, thus, an evening breeze to cool off His earth.  So even the perfect garden must have become a bit warm during the “heat of the day.”  Surely God had already created the ability to perspire, as well, since that is essential to the function of the body.  Man, as he worked in the garden (Gen 2:15), must have become warm and must have sweated.  Then God sent the evening breezes to cool him off.  It wasn’t until after he sinned that the work became difficult and the heat and the sweat became intolerable, just as it wasn’t until after then that conception, which I view as the whole of the female condition, became painful.
            You can find that word again in Prov 17:27:  He who spares his words has knowledge, and he that is of a cool spirit has understanding.  “Spirit” is “wind” is “cool.”  So now I have fans and breezes and dispositions in my mind, and it all came out this way: If I have a hot nature, I need the cooling effects of the Spirit, and what better way than to read the word he “breathed” to cool me off?
            Many of us are foolish enough to put ourselves in situations where we know we will be tempted to anger, where we know we will be pushed and prodded and even shoved right in its path.  Why?!  We tell our children to avoid situations of temptation.  We tell them it’s downright stupid to go certain places and not expect trouble.  But we sometimes even contrive them, almost as if to flaunt our freedom to do so.  Then we shout out, “That shouldn’t have been so hard,” as we fall, flailing our arms for some sort of lifeline that isn’t there.  We decided we didn’t need it.
            This might be more motivating:  Not only can God cool us, but with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked, Isa 11:4.  One word seems to say it from every angle, just as the old oscillating fan hit from every angle.  Cool yourself off with the Word of God, and don’t go near the torrid zones.
 
​Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city, Prov 16:32.
​Good sense makes one slow to anger… Prov 19:11.
​Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools, Eccl 7:9.
 
Dene Ward

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1
 
            In our Psalms class we came upon this call from David to bless Jehovah, a wake-up call directed first to himself as he sat complacent and satisfied with his ho-hum worship, and then later to the people who were following their king’s lead.  The question quite naturally arose then, how can a man bless God?  So we did a little research.
            Your first thought might be that there are two distinct words for “bless”—one for God blessing men and one for men blessing God.  Not true.  Both are the same Hebrew word.  It doesn’t take a Hebrew scholar to look at the anglicized word barak in several different verses and see that it is indeed the same word.
            Here is something else we discovered with but a small amount of time searching the scriptures:  “bless” usually does not involve physical things.  We tend to think that way in our all too materialistic culture.  When asked to count our blessings, what do we list?  When we ask God to bless us, what do we expect?  Yet in the scriptures, I found that well over half the times the word “bless” was used it involved nothing more than what we might call “well wishes,” wanting good to happen to the other person.  Now think about the opposite—if someone curses a person, what is it exactly that he wants?  He wants evil to befall that person.  We understand that perfectly fine; the problem comes when we think a blessing involves a tangible gift.  Of course, we cannot do that for God, but we can give God other “blessings.”
            We checked out over 300 verses using the word “bless,” many of which involved men blessing God.  It helped enormously when we saw the various ways that word is translated in the KJV.  In fact, some of these things completely lost there punch in the newer versions.  Let that be a lesson to you not to completely ignore those older versions.  They lasted a long time for a good reason.
            Five times the word is translated “salute.”  In the newer versions that word is translated “greet.”  There is a world of difference between saluting someone and simply saying hello.  Salutations involve respect.  Especially in 1 Sam 25:14 the difference between David’s men “saluting” Nabal and just greeting him color how we view Nabal’s reaction—it was completely out of line if he had been saluted.
            One time the word is translated “congratulate” (1 Chron 18:10).  When do you usually congratulate someone?  When he has received an accolade or a well-deserved award.  This word involves honor.
            One time the word barak is translated “thanks.”  This word denotes gratitude and appreciation.
            Three times it is translated “kneel” or some variation of it.  That word signifies humility and submission. 
            All of these are other English words used to translate the word “bless” found in Psalm 103:1, Bless God, O my soul.  So how do we as mere mortal men bless an Eternal and Almighty God?  We show respect, we give Him honor, we appreciate the things He has done for us, and with humility we submit our lives to Him.
            Can a disobedient person bless God?  Read that last paragraph again.  No, he cannot.  Can a self-righteous person bless God?  No, not a chance in the world.  Can a half-hearted Christian, who somehow thinks there is a minimum he can do to get by bless God?  None of those things show honor, respect, gratitude, and humility. 
            Be careful before you read Psalm 103.  It demands a whole lot more than most people want to give.
 
Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king, 1 Chron 29:20.
 
Dene Ward

Nothing annoys me much more than a chirping smoke alarm.  Yes, yes, yes, I tell it.  I know you need a new battery.  I will get to it as soon as I can.  
            Maybe it’s because I am the only one around here who even needs the smoke alarm.  Keith not only can’t hear the chirping, he can stand under the thing when it goes off and not hear it.  As long as I am in the house I can wake Keith up and get both of us out in time should a fire start.  If only the toaster and the broiler and the occasional spillover on the burners didn't set it off too.
            Warnings are often annoying.  How about the various beeps in your car?  For us, it’s just the ding-ding-ding when you leave the keys in, but I have friends whose cars ring, buzz, beep, or whoop-whoop-whoop when they back up too close to something, pull in too close to something, swerve a little too close to the lane markings, let their gas tanks get too low, open the wrong door at the wrong time…  Honestly, I don’t know how they stand to drive at all.
            But only a fool ignores warnings.  And there are quite a few of them out there—fools, that is.  Just try warning someone about losing their soul, and you may well lose a friend.  They get mad, they strike out with accusations about your own failings, they tell everyone how mean you are.  Trouble is, ignoring the warnings won’t get them anywhere they want to go. The danger is still there.
            If I don’t answer the call of the chirping smoke alarm with a new battery, I may very well burn to death one night.  Telling everyone how annoying the thing is won’t change that at all.  If I don’t answer the warnings of someone who cares enough about me to brave losing his reputation and being hurt, my end won’t change either.  It doesn’t matter whether I thought he was mean or whether he needed a warning just as badly as I did.  I know the first reaction is anger.  I’ve been there myself.  But anger never saved anyone, nor accusations, nor whining and fussing about my hurt feelings.  There is a whole lot more at stake than a few feelings.
            Heed the warning when you get it, no matter how you get it or from whom.  It may be the only one you get.  People aren’t like smoke alarms.  Not many of them will put up with your bad reactions.  They’ll either stop chirping, or never chirp again.  Then what will you do when the fire starts?
 
"Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life, Ezekiel 33:2-5.
 
Dene Ward

     When my boys were growing up, because we were always living on a shoestring and could not buy them expensive gifts, I always let them choose the menu for their birthday dinners.  Creating a celebratory meal made their inexpensive gifts seem larger, I hoped.  I had also bought a string of shiny multi-colored letters saying "Happy Birthday" that I strung up over the windows behind the table which hung there the entire week.  Their birthdays were only a week apart and, I hoped, that made it seem like the party lasted longer than it really did.  Now that little string of letters hangs up over my grandsons' birthday table—a tradition passed down to the next generation.
     The meals they asked for were always "favorites." Sometimes the combinations were a bit strange and whenever I asked what they wanted, it was always with my breath held.  Hot dogs and potato chips (we seldom had snacks around the house so a bag was a treat) made sense, but New York Strip and Kraft macaroni and cheese (and it HAD to be Kraft) was a bit of an odd marriage.  Another time it was homemade pizza (nothing frozen or takeout would do) and broccoli—yes I had a little boy who loved broccoli AND Brussels sprouts.   
     I thought of that in a moment of writer's block a few weeks ago.  I have been doing this blog since 2012, and an email list three times a week 6 years before that.  While I don't mind rerunning a post here and there, I hate to do it with great regularity.  On the other hand, there are only so many topics just like there are only so many different foods.  Sooner or later you are bound to repeat yourself.  I actually have some favorite posts.  When I do a rerun I always wonder who will remember it.  Sometimes I don't!  But just like you always need certain nutrients, you will always need some of the same reminders in your spiritual life.  I do too, or they wouldn't be on my mind.  Several of the New Testament writers talk about "reminding" their readers of things they had learned long before, so we are in good company.
     So you may find yourself remembering, if not a particular post, then the topic itself.  My old brain is slower these days and I sometimes repeat myself.  I hope yours won't mind a repeat here and there and you are always welcome to ask for a "favorite article" to be run again.  Even if it's not your birthday!  I am sure there is someone somewhere who needs it.  Maybe even me!
 
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you about these things, although you have known [them] and have been established in the present truth, and I think it right, so long as I am in this tent, to stir you up in reminding [you],2 Pet 1: 12,13
 
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Dene Ward
    

     Old age gets evermore undignified.  We were headed for Sunday service when a little pain started deep in my chest.  At first, it just felt like indigestion so I said nothing.  After a few minutes, the pain deepened and a minute or two after that, it ran up my throat until it felt like someone had a hand around my neck.  Okay, I thought.  This is not indigestion.  At that point, Keith figured out something was wrong and he said, "At least church and the hospital are in the same direction."   The pain began to fade after 10-12 minutes until it was completely gone, but the next morning I called my primary care doctor "just in case."  He had me in his office the next day giving what seemed like a pint of blood.  The next day I heard from a cardiologist and the next I was in his office.  "I think you need to go to the ER," he said after I told my story, and after a little thought and more advice, that's where we went.  Before the day was over, I was admitted.
     People came in the room every 15 minutes wanting something or other, usually involving more blood.  I wound up with bandages on my right hand, plus the crooks of both arms.  Each arm had an IV with four empty ampules, another "just in case."  When I held up my arms, it was like I had an udder hanging from each one.  During one "visit" I stained half of a towel bright red that ran all over the pillowcase it was supposed to be protecting and soaked the pillow beneath.  I also had leads all over my chest and eventually had to have a nurse help me change into the hospital gown.  I simply couldn't get through the spider web of lines to pull anything over my head without hanging myself.  Even she finally yanked off the leads so I could undress, and then carefully put them back on.  After 2 days full of tests I made it home late the second night because a very sweet nurse took a liking to us and stayed an hour and a half after her shift ended to get us home. 
     The result of all this?  Are you old enough to remember all those old black and white movies that came on after the late news?  The ones where the patriarch of the wealthy family has a heart condition and must keep a vial of little pills handy in case he has a heart attack?  And as soon as you see that scene, you know that sooner or later, someone will upset the old man on purpose and when the chest pains start and he reaches for his little pills the bad guy will keep him from getting to them and he will die of "natural causes?"  But true to the continuing cliché, some great detective will figure it out and the murderer will be caught after all?  You know those movies?  Surely that is out of date by decades, I thought.  But not so.  I am now a walking cliché with my vial of little pills next to me all the time.  At least we have no murderers in the family, but these little pills are nitroglycerin and after I take three, if they do not work, we are to call 911.  Does that mean if an EMT has to start CPR we will all blow up?  Clearly I have seen too many old movies.
     Despite my flippancy, this did sober us up for a few days.  How likely is this to happen again?  Well, they did give me those pills.  But the answer seems to be somewhere between maybe and probably.  So we will take precautions.  A little scare never hurt anyone did it? 
     And to be honest, it isn't the first scare we have had.  An automobile accident that could have been a lot worse, an illness that could have been fatal or at least debilitating, a violent crime that could have left me a very young widow.  I am certain that everyone has had moments like these, incidents that reminded you of your mortality and how easily things could have gone horribly wrong.  Here is the question for today:  what have we done with those reminders?
     God has always sent reminders to his people and they have almost always refused to pay attention.  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.  So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have you have not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees has the palmer-worm devoured: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have overthrown [cities] among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah. Amos 4:6-11.  If you are familiar with the prophets, you know that is only one of many places where God castigates his heedless and faithless people.
     So is every bad thing that happens a warning of impending destruction, an ultimatum ending in "or else?"  Not always.  Despite what we may want to believe, despite what some religious people preach, God never promised us a life of ease.  We live in a cursed world where sin and death will seem like they are the winners, where we may well be persecuted for doing right, and where the curse upon the earth makes itself known again and again.  So no, not every bad thing that happens is a warning or a punishment.  Job teaches us that if nothing else.  But we would be foolish to ignore those things, to laugh them off as if they mean nothing.  The one thing we can do when these scares occur in our lives, whether big or little, is to remind ourselves that we never know when God will call us, we never know what day will be our last, and we should always be prepared, serving God and his people, doing good works, and shining our lights into a dark world. 
     So I have been reminded.  Maybe now I am more ready than ever before.  How about you?
 
 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that aught be written unto you.  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for you are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober 1Thess 5:1-6.
 
Dene Ward