Harry Whitt on the Journey with Jesus
The malicious destroyer scans his evil eyes over the landscape of a people who were at peace and prosperous. He knew his labor was not to convince but to deceive. He was trained in the principles of life and order in the Creation of the world, yet he rebelled against all that was good and holy and right. Whatever God was for, he was against.
He set his sights on two brothers named Confusion and Chaos and began the process of their wicked apprenticeship.
Continue reading “Confusion and Chaos”
The fellowship of Adam with God was complete. His worship of God was flawless. This was why he had been created. Mankind was the reason God had created this lush, verdant creation called Earth.
God so desired to bring all of mankind from one created being, all people would be of one blood. In Adam was all who were ever be conceived. He was the complete creation formed and brought forth by God. Through him, all others would come forth from his genetic pool.
Continue reading “The First Woman’s First Day (Mother’s Day)”
I remember some of the old timers from our valley and ridges talking about folks who were going through difficult times and using the rhetorical phrase, “I don’t know how they have ‘walkin’ around sense?”
That’s the truth. When you look at the suffering of some folks, you think, “How do they keep their senses about them?” I am amazed how some people go through horrific things and seem to weather the storm with supernatural strength. Well, it is with supernatural strength. God gives the that extra “Umph!” to get them over the line.
Continue reading “Suffering and the Kingdom”
When I was a skinny little kid, my mother would be serving some food on my plate and I would say, “That’s enough.” But then she would put another big spoonful on my plate.
Some of us often overdo it. We have a difficult time hitting that sweet spot of just right. I think great cooks are the ones who know when the spice is just enough. Cayenne pepper can enhance the flavor of a dish, but when the eater must call the fire department to put out the fire—Enough Already!
I think I am a people person. I like people to be friendly, but I don’t want to be smothered. If someone is walking away and you are pursuing them like a beagle chasing a rabbit. Enough Already!
Some folks think they want to be popular or even famous, but I doubt they would be happy with the Paparazzi camping in front of their house or people snapping pictures while they were eating at Taco Bell. At some point they would scream, “Enough Already!”
I heard a famous minister say that many young ministers often ask him how they can be like him. He wondered if they would be happy being away from their families for over 200 days per year. Even things that look wonderful can become enough faster than we think.
People need to find a balance in their lives. We tend to gravitate to the far end of a spectrum. Some folks think it would be cool to be a radical. Radicals are often lonely people. They are greatly admired from a distance, but when you get too close for too long, most folks end up thinking, “Enough Already!”
We greatly admire the Apostle Paul but how would you have liked to buddy-up with him when you read about his sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11: 24-27 (NKJV).
(24) From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
(25) Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
(26) in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
(27) in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
See! Case in point, I should have ended my Bible quote at the end of verse 25 because the point was made, yet I kept typing and almost lost you in “perils”. It was Enough Already!
I am afraid many of us would have been like John Mark who had enough and left the first missionary journey about a third of the way. He in essence said, “Enough Already!” To be fair, he later redeemed himself.
I’m not sure what you will get out of this post? My advice: seek a little balance in your life, enjoy where God has you, and who He has put with you! We tend to look over the fence and see bright lights and shiny objects, but it may be a spaceship to a planet you don’t want to go. (It’s a metaphor! I’m not a believer in UFOs—Enough Already! I’m kind of like Jesus, my parables don’t always make sense on the first reading!)
I’m going to go and make me some cheese grits now. If I add too little cheese, what’s the point in the cheese. If I add too much, I have grits in my cheese rather than cheese in my grits. Just enough is just right. How much cheese do I usually put? Just enough. Try it sometime. This post is Enough Already!
Yours on the Journey,
Harry L. Whitt
In another lifetime ago, when I taught school, I liked to break the study of subjects with a little humor or thought-provoking intermission. One day, I had a half of a glass of water, and I was asking the proverbial question, “Is this glass half full or half empty?”
Continue reading “Half-a-Glass of Water”
So I began as a large outcropping of bedrock, just outside of the ancient city of Jerusalem near the place called Golgotha. As a huge rock, I often wondered what I would eventually become. Maybe I would be hewn into stones for a great building. Perhaps, I would become a monument for a great king. I could be cut into pieces and used as a fortress wall. My mass may be chipped into pavement for a king’s highway or perhaps small stones for a fancy garden wall.
Continue reading “If Tombs Could Talk!”
A Story of the Executioner at Golgotha by Harry L. Whitt
After their scourging, we herded the three men through the jeering streets to Golgotha. The citizens of Jerusalem hate us only a bit less than we hate them. Being assigned to the occupation force of Judea is a good point for a possible promotion but today the city is set on edge. One of the three is a popular prophet to the common people but hated by the elites of their counsel.
Finally, we are out of the bustle of the city streets and bring the three miserable souls to the top of the hill, the place of the skull. The rock outcropping resembles a skull, and today it the place of execution for all to see.
The schemer who devised the crucifixion is to be congratulated. Nothing puts the fear and dread in occupied people as the crucifixion. It is an agonizing death to endure and to witness. I have killed countless men in warfare with sword and spear, but this is the most gruesome of all.
The poor creatures are hammered on the cross with hand forged spikes which tear flesh and sinew. We set their knees at a bend, so they can push up to catch a breath of air, and then hang by their arms until they began to smother. This reeling up and down until their last life fades from their bodies takes sometimes days. It is a wretched sight for wretched souls.
We put the so-called prophet in the middle as he is the most renown. The other two are common thieves. The middle one gets the most attention as some of his mourners are at the foot of his cross. Some say his mother is present along with mostly women and a few men. Why do they come to see? I do not know.
His scourging left his back nothing but ribbons of flesh with clotted blood. He cried out as we laid him on the splintered wood. Then we raised his cross and the jar of the upright going from empty hole to solid earth left him with a quiver in his body that took some time cease.
Continue reading “The Executioner’s Dream”
Simply Put
Put me in a family to love
Put me in a community to serve
Put me in Your Kingdom to sacrifice
Put Your Word in my ear to hear
Put Your Word in my heart to believe
Put Your Word in my mouth to speak
Put something in my hand to give
Put compassion in my heart to heal
Put bread in my hand to share
Put me in a place to trod
Put me in Your field to work
Put me in the world to shine
Put me in the line to stand
Put me in the battle to fight
Put me in the war to win
Put me in Your altar to pray
Put me in Your heart to worship
Put me in Your hand to die
—Harry L. Whitt
When I was in the eighth or ninth grade, my Daddy bought me a horse. Her name was Sugar and at first, she was as sweet as her name. Then Sugar realized I was a greenhorn cowboy, and she started misbehaving like her name was Diablo. She would get to the edge of our yard, and she would “pitch a fit”. After about two go arounds of that, I was more afraid of her than she was of me.
Continue reading “When You Have Had Enough!”
I remember when I was a boy looking at old men in wonderment. They were either my grandfather or someone else’s grandfather. I knew my granddaddy was once a farmer and he still dabbled with farming. He helped my Daddy with a few things, had a garden, and sometimes had a little patch of corn. He got a few dollars every month from the plan put in place by FDR.
Continue reading “Old Men”
Pathway Journey 