Harry Whitt on the Journey with Jesus
It is amazing how two people can see the same thing but have a different interpretation of what they experienced. So much of our lives is determined by our perspective. Many people are limited by their perspective. Perspective often determines victory or defeat.
Many people have a wrong perspective of leaders. In the extreme, some tend to either place them on a pedestal or despise them. Hopefully, most of us view them with some normalcy, as people with a tough job who are trying to do their best despite their own weaknesses. But how do ordinary people do extraordinary things?
I have been a kid and I think I was a funny kid. I am a father with two grown children and my kids had some funny moments that we still laugh about as a family. Each of us have retold the stories from our own perspective and we all laugh again. Now I am a grandfather of five ranging in age from about sixteen months to almost thirteen years old. My grandchildren are especially funny–in a good way. We have lots of fun.
Do you have a friend who is always telling jokes, but he never laughs at anyone else’s jokes? Once you notice it, it becomes quite annoying. I am not advocating payback to the non-laugher, but for us to be considerate—to return the favor when we have been shown favor.
“When you open the box and assemble the parts without reading the directions, you will have leftover parts. Read the manual—God’s Word.”
In the beginning, God in His wisdom established the building block of society and community known as the family. This family begins with the union of a man and woman. Society and community begins and properly functions from this basis.
Often when someone succeeds another person, folks will say, “He/she has big shoes to fill”. After Jesus’ short but power-packed three years of ministry, He told his followers something that surely shocked them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12 NKJV). Sounds like filling big sandals!
How you ever said with clenched teeth, “Awh, I could just kill him!” Yep, just about ninety-nine percent of us has said something like that. Thankfully, we probably didn’t mean it. There are millions of good, godly people who get angry but do not hate and they get over their flareups.
There have been thousands of books written about being successful, rich, happy, fulfilled, and the list seems to never end. Everyone seems to be looking for that formula of life that will bring the blessings of peace and joy.
Jesus began a sermon with some verses we call the Beatitudes (Blessings). It is not a formula but a lifestyle likened unto Jesus. For the follower of Jesus, these are not optional nuggets of wisdom but the principles for our lives as we journey with Jesus.
This subject has been incubating in my mind for a few years. I am quite qualified for this subject because I was reared in the midst of old men. My Dad was forty when I was born so by the time I could listen with good reason, I was saturated with the wit of “The Greatest Generation”. I am further qualified because now I am looked at, as that once revered title of, “Old Man”. I have been a “hoary head” since my forties.
We can rest in God and allow Him to work through us.
Yours on the Journey,
Harry L. Whitt
