A Pittance of Time A Memorial Day Communion Address

Introduction—-please play this music video "A Pittance of Time"  (NOTICE...if this link doesn't work....type in (or copy) this URL in Internet Explorer and watch this movie.)—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kX_3y3u5Uo 
This music video, by Terry Kelly, was a 1999 Canadian tribute to its veterans.

When I watched and listened to the video, a tear came to my eyes as I DID stop and reflect on the pain and suffering of war veterans, many losing their lives so we could have a free America. When I first started to participate in a weekly reliving of the suffering and dying of our Savior, I ...

Today’s blog is going to be short. It is basically an introduction to a very interesting story found in the book of the Bible, Numbers. You all recall the time when Moses struck a rock and water gushed out of it for the thirsty Israelites?  In the tale of this event in this book, God was displeased with Moses’ actions. But I am not going to give away the reasons today. I just wanted those who are reading this to take the time to find the story in Numbers, chapter 20, read it, and ponder it a bit. For on Wednesday evening, I will be hosting a Bible Study at our house to go into detail about this, and attempt to, together, garner some very important lessons from God.

I don’t ask that you study this in much detail, just read it. Together, we will venture into other parts of the Bible in relation to this story and attempt ...

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (Paul)

"But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." (Frost)

“Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy brav'ry in their rotten smoke?” (Shakespeare)

“Promise This — When You be Dying —
Some shall summon Me”  (Dickinson)

“And now I think of only this,—
How I again may woo
The gentle sleep— who promises
That death is gentle too” (Levy)

The title of today’s blog is short for Semper Fidelis, a Latin phrase translated as “Always Faithful” (or “Always Loyal”). Many of you may be familiar with this idiom as it is the motto of the United States Marines, and the shortened version appears even on the Corps’ television advertisements. It is also the motto of a town I drive close by a coupla times each year (White Plains, New York) as we travel to Vermont. The first city to ever use this phrase as a motto is purportedly Abbeville, France, in 1369, and can be found as the motto for several other cities worldwide as well as many other military organizations. It is a slogan that can surely be applied to followers of Christ.

King David was known as one of the most faithful men of God found in the Bible (see 1^st Samuel 22:14). So was Abraham. And Moses. So were 50,000 men of Zebulun—faithful to their ...

One day at a time, and the day is His day;
He hath numbered its hours, though they haste or delay.
His grace is sufficient; we walk not alone;
As the day, so the strength that He giveth His own.

This is a stanza from a poem by Annie Johnson Flint, and it should remind us that we ought to take life one day at a time. We are told about planning TOO far into the future in Luke chapter 12 in the story about a rich man who had a large crop to harvest. He said he’d build bigger barns and then he’d have “plenty of good things laid up for many years.”, and would “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' But, if you recall the story, God called him a fool, as his life would be taken that very night.”

Now I am not advocating ...

Okay, okay, men….so I watched the movie (for the second time), Must Love Dogs, with my wife Sunday night. Yeh, a chick flick…but hey, I was with my wife. So, to take a take on the title, I thought of this one….Must Love God.

Is this a criteria for a Christian?  MUST a Christian love the Lord Almighty?  I know, I DO come up with some weird questions some times, don’t I?  So, what do you think?  Can someone actually be a Christian and NOT love God?  I guess the answer lies in the Scriptures, so let’s go looking.

In Deuteronomy (the second law), it states this in chapter 6, verse 5. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Verse 6 follows with this: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” (italics emphasis is mine).The author of that book continues this same ...

“I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher,
And it burns, burn, burns,
The ring of fire, the ring of fire.”

This morning, if you lived on the Asian continent and the clouds weren’t in your way, you could have seen a complete solar eclipse, when if viewed at the right time, would appear like a ring of fire in the heavens. Check out CNN.com to get a snapshot of that event.

Johnny Cash sang the words above in a song also titled, Ring of Fire, of which I immediately thought when I read that headline. I also thought of an event in the Bible when God appeared on this earth AS, yes, you guessed it, a ring of fire. Check out these verses from Zechariah, chapter 2:

Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a ...

I grew up in the beautiful state of Vermont. You know, the place that is famous for having four seasons: Summer (lasts about 8 days), Fall, Winter (lasts about 8 months), and Mud. Yes, MUD. From about late March to mid May, Vermont has this unique season they call Mud Season. A lot of the road systems in that state are not paved, and when I grew up, not very well maintained. So, during this rainy time of the year, the roads grew soft and after a few cars, jeeps and trucks had driven on them, very deep ruts were formed. They were so deep in a couple of places near our farm that a lot of cars (the non-four wheel drive kind) would simply get into those ruts and get stuck right dab in the middle of that road. Many times, my dad or I had to get the tractor and go and pull those vehicles through those muddy areas. They were literally stuck in the road.

Going Public

facebook® just announced that it is ‘going public’ with a starting share price of $38. That will net the co-owners of that mega-concept additional BILLIONS of dollars. It will also benefit many businesses who are offered that price. You and I, however, probably won’t be able to buy any facebook® shares until it has doubled, and then who knows what will happen to it then. ‘Going Public’ means, in the business world, that a product/service/commodity/business is being sold by shares to ‘the public’. BUT, the term when referenced in the world of Christians, it means something entirely different.

The Bible uses the term ‘public’ several times, usually describing a square where town folks gathered to hear some speaker. PROVERBS 1:20 says, “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares.”  Job, the man who had a hard life, to say the least, said this:  "When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the ...

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is  between 2  "wolves" inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,  kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and  faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
"Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." 

I thought this was a great analogy of the way God and satan fight for our souls. Actually, let me re-phrase that—-this is a great analogy of the way we feed God and the way we feed satan. Let's take a moment to see how people in the Bible feed either one.

We get inspiration to feed God from the psalmist who said ...

And now, the end is here

And so I face the final curtain

My friend, I’ll say it clear

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain

I’ve lived a life that’s full

I traveled each and ev’ry highway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

I did it my way. What a prideful statement for someone to make!  Frank Sinatra sang those words put to music by Paul Anka and three other songwriters. I wonder if any of them realized how this is a slap in the face to the Creator. When I do things MY way, I usually mess them up. And that runs the gamut of parenting, husbanding, carpentry, putting together toys for Christmas and much, much more. When I do things ...

That’s My Boy!

A new movie is about to hit the big screen starring Adam Sandler…not one of my favorite actors…with the title the same as today’s blog. Not sure I’m going to go see it when it comes out. The plot involves failed parenting skills along with sexual relations between a teacher and Adam’s son when he was 13. SO, probably won’t go see it.

But, the part about failed parenting skills is one to which I can relate. Many of you know my history with my son….through my neglect and failed parenting skills, he spent years in drugs and trouble with the law. But today, a year plus after having been through his second rehab program, he is doing just AWESOME. Married (with 5 kids now—-one was his by another girl, and 4 came with his new wife), he lives and works in Clarksville, Tn. He has a fantastic concrete business, with several employees. He is ...

PARENTHESES 

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These mirroring arcs didn’t exist when the Bible was written…neither the Old nor the New Testament. They didn’t enter the Greek language either, until sometime after the 14^th century. So, when our modern day Bible was being formed in English (generally accepted as those translations by Tyndale and Wycliffe), probably this punctuation was not included. But if you look at the NIV, for example, today you will find around 333 uses of it (about 222 in the KJV written in the 1600’s). What good, or of what value, are parentheses when it comes to studying the Bible?

The purpose of these curved marks is to set aside, or insert, other words to somehow amplify or explain something else within a statement. They are extremely useful in helping us to better understand the Word of God. The first time they are used in the Bible ...

Thank You.

I hope you don’t mind getting into a bit of the Greek language today, but there is so much in the New Testament about being thankful that I thought it important to better understand how the Bible tries to convey the meaning of ‘Thank You’. If you have a Greek version of the New Testament (mine made it through our 2004 house fire, but is very dirty to use—-think I need another), you would find the verb eucharisteo 37 times. It is made up of two Greek words, eu, meaning ‘well’,  and charizomai, meaning ‘to give freely,’ denoting both gratitude and thankfulness. You’d find that word in a very well known Scripture, Ephesians 5:20: “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Some of the other more commonly referred to phrases with this word are: Colossians 1:3—“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you”; and 1st Thessalonians 5:18—“give thanks ...

Who’s On First?

As all you of are probably aware, the vaudeville greats, Abbott and Costello, performed a baseball comedy routine in the 30’s for the first time and titled it, Who’s On First. It became a hit on the vaudeville and radio scene, eventually being seen and lauded on ‘the picture box’, or TV, as it became more formally known. ...

“I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.”

“Memorization: difficult for some, simple for others, a challenge for most.”