What time is it?

 

November 30

 

 While visiting a small Lutheran church in Massachusetts I found a sheaf of yellow dots with sticky backs in the guest register in the pew. A note said to put one of these dots on the face of your watch or cell phone to remind you to take time to pray. Good idea I thought.  

 Every time I look at my watch now I see that yellow dot and pray. I need more yellow dots in my life How about you?

 

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” {1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Rhode Isalnd Accent

 

November 28

 

Native Rhode Islanders have an accent and their own language. I know for I am one.

A cabinet is not made of wood but it is a milk shake with ice cream in it. Some Rhode Islanders have a tendency to pronounce an r that is not there and to leave one off when it is present. To wit; beer becomes bea and Cuba is Cuber.

There really is only one voice we need to hear and heed.

 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28)

LBJ and MLK Peacemakers

November 27

 

It had been a beautiful weekend to visit our nation’s capital. We visit the White House with a group but President Johnson remains upstairs. On Sunday we attend the National Cathedral where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is guest preacher.

 

 Driving back to Connecticut we hear President Johnson say he will concentrate on seeking peace and will not seek reelection. It is a dark time for America. It would get worse. The following Thursday Dr. King is assassinated in Memphis

 

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

The Scary Hand

 

November 26

 

There it is! The shadow of a hand is on my bedroom floor. I scream as only a boy can. My mother enters my room flicking on the light. I insist the hand was there. My mother turns out the light and sits on my bed. Soon the moonlight reappears on the floor.

 

“Look,” I yell, “There is THE HAND.”I hear her gasp. My mother saw it too. She turns on the light. I can see a frown then a smile. She removes a cutout of Pinocchio waving from the wall. I am thankful for a mother who showed her boy compassion.

 

 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

Be and Angel to someone

 

November 24

 

An angel is “a messenger of God.” This is the first definition listed in the dictionary.

 I stop in a coffee shop in a small city. The young woman behind the counter looks  sad. I ask if she is OK. She tells me she has just come from the hospital where her mother is facing a sensitive operation in the morning. I say I will pray for her and her mom. And I do.

 

A week later as I enter that same cofee shop. I hear her say to another customer, “Here comes my guardian angel.” I’m not but God did use me to bring her hope.

 

“I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Happy Thanksgiving

November 22

 We pack up the kids, the hot dishes and slide off to the church parish house.

There are about fifty adults and children at this neighborhood thanksgiving. We stand hand in hand giving thanks for all God’s bounty. We break bread and share the Lord’s Supper before our own.

We arrived as strangers but we leave filled with fellowship with others who are grateful for God’s blessings. This is a Thanksgiving I shall long remember.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
(Psalm 95:2 )

Learning from the Geese

 

November 21

 

Canadian geese fly in a V formation, which actually helps the individual bird fly higher and longer than if it flew alone. Several geese honk encouragement to the leader up front and when the point bird tires, another takes its place. If one bird is wounded or sick and leaves the formation, two will go with it for protection. The two will stay with the injured bird until it recovers or dies. The remaining two will return to another flock.

We can learn a lot from those traits of the Canadian geese.

 

“In the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge.” (Psalms 57:1)

Turning Points

 

November 21

 

Turning Points! These are the defining moments in our lives. My wife Joy’s turning point came at a Billy Graham crusade in Hartford Ct. “I responded to the call that night,” she says, “but I didn’t come to the Lord until I decided to follow Him wherever He wants me to go.” The real turning point is when a life is turned from the world to God, from me to Thee. What is your
turning point?

 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)           

Modern David and Goliath

 

November 20

 

This time the battlefield is downtown Montpelier, Vt. Goliath is a major ice cream maker and David is an Italian Ice vendor whose slingshot is a one page flyer protesting being barred from a festival sponsored by the giant. The flyer works. The vendor is invited to the festival. The giant is not slain, just cut down to size. I know God is smiling. I’ll bet an ice cream or a dish of Italian ice on that.

 

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. (l Samuel 17:47 NIV)      

November 18

 

A friend in our church is going in for an operation for breast cancer. I pray briefly right then for the Lord’s mercy and hand in that surgery.

Later that day I learn that her operation went well and the surgeon thought it was a success. I quietly say,” Thank you Lord for a prayer answered.” I’m blown away when I hear that her whole office stopped what they were doing and prayed when she went into surgery and didn’t stop praying until she came out.

 

“Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28)