Category: Family

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Ordinary Days

I remember during a very busy season of my life hearing someone say, “I’m bored!” and wishing I had time to be bored. For the record, I hate being bored.

Many of us have a “first world problem” (as opposed to someone living in a third world country) of possibly despising a simple ordinary day with nothing special happening. We need to appreciate ordinary days. I love simple, ordinary days.

It is wonderful to wake in the morning and have a few minutes to thank God for another day, to give a phrase of worship to Him, pray for my family, and pray for a few folks who I know are not having an ordinary day. Then staggering down the hallway to the smell of fresh brewed coffee, savoring the slow, unhurried sipping of brown liquid gold.

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Stable Stool in a Wobbly World

I know you have eaten in a diner where the table was wobbly because one leg was a little short (and you probably put a wad of a napkin under it.) Do you know that a three-legged stool will never wobble? A carpenter puts a diagonal brace in a structure because he transforms a rectangular object into two triangles thus stabilizing the structure.

When rock climbing or climbing a ladder, the safest way is to always have three points of contact—move only one foot or hand at a time.

You see where I am going with this, right? Something of “threes” brings stability. A three-legged stool never wobbles.

“Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12 NKJV).

In the wobbly world we live in, let’s look at the three legs of stability. In a stable society, we need three points of contact to stay secure. We need faith, family, and community.

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What Has Changed? Times or People

Recently when I was preaching, I said something that really resonated with my audience. The statement I made was this: “Often people will say that times have changed. But that is not true. Times have not changed; it is people that have changed.”

The rural community I lived in as a boy was not perfect. We had a few rough folks living among us. The little farmhouse we lived in had a screen door and wood door with the top third being three panes of glass. It had a lock, but I never saw the key to it. We never locked the front door. We would sleep inside with an unlocked door. In the summertime every window would be raised and only a flimsy screen separated us from the boogey man outside.

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My Dentist Said I Was Stoic!

Crazy title, right?

After a lengthy dental procedure where my dentist did a root canal, then ground it down for the crown prep, plus filled the neighbor tooth, and ground it down for a crown; he patted me on the shoulder and said, “You’re stoic.” I forgot how long I was in the dental chair, but it was a while. When finished my dentist said it was hard on him and he was amazed that I didn’t move a muscle or make a sound. Perhaps I was afraid to move! Anyway, I was surprised by his comment, thinking maybe it was intended as a compliment.

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Barking…

Being perfect is not something I have ever professed to be. I try to be quite honest with myself about my weaknesses, yet often we can be blind to our own stuff. Every day when I read the Bible, I take notice of the rebukes of scripture as it relates to my fleshly notions. When I pray and spend quiet times with God, I try to listen to the still, small voice of Holy Spirit warning me and convicting me. My desire is to be right with God and in cordial relationships with other people.

I do not believe I am a particularly difficult person, nor do I enjoy confrontation as some people tend to do. I usually take a fair amount of gruff before I bark back, but occasionally, I feel shoved over the line, and I bark. “Woof!”

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Hog Killin’ 1787

Historical Fiction based on the Life of William Whitt (1775-1850), My 3rd-Great-Grandfather

Disclaimer: It’s real cultural history, don’t be squeamish.

It was the last of October and we had the first killing frost near the middle of the month here in Virginia. It was hog killing time and we had three to kill. We always waited for cool weather so the meat wouldn’t spoil before we salted or smoked it for our winter meat.

Our shoats foraged in the nearby woods for about six months before we brought them in for corn fatting for a few weeks. Back in early spring, one of our old sows had farrowed a litter of pigs numbering eight. One died soon after birth when she laid down too fast for the little feller to get out of the way. Some critter stole another one. We ended up with six total with four boars and two gilts.

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Meaning of Life

Now I have jumped into the deep end of the pool! Philosophers, theologians, scientists, and freshmen plebes have tolled over the meaning of life for millenniums. The phrase, “meaning of life” asks the question: “Why are we here?”

There is a simple, short answer that satisfies most of us, but begs for more of the curious, introspective types. The short but grand answer is simply, God created us and desires to have a relationship with us fulfilling His purpose. But let us go a little further.

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The Value of Life

People are more than globs of carbon compounds organized by DNA. We, yes, you and I, were created and designed by God, in His own image. In the second chapter of the Bible, the declaration is made, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7 NKJV).

For all of you animal lovers, yes, treat your critters humanely, but they are not equal with us. Human beings are at the apex of the creature pyramid. Our eyes are on the front of our heads which makes us a predator. A five-hundred-pound black bear is much more likely to run from us than attack.

We are not gods, but we do have the spark of divinity in us. We were created in the image of God. Just as God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so he created us as a triune being with a spirit, soul, and body.

The main point to this: We were created in the image of God with a soul, and everyone is inherently spiritual. A person is a spiritual being regardless of their morals or religious leanings, people can be spiritually righteous or spiritually evil.

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