LOVE AND LAUGH

Wanda and I are embarked on a two week commitment of love and laughter. We have agreed to two weeks of sharing each day one joke with each other and one specific compliment to the other. I have stacks of joke books and files of funnies, but I will not use any of them. This has to be new material.

We compliment each other daily, but during these next two weeks we will be even more specific in encouraging each other and writing the compliments down. It isn't my role to straighten her or anyone else out. We don't have issues, but we do want to make our marriage even better. More compliments can only help.

Saturday, I woke up with the idea of cooking an egg omelet for breakfast. Believe it or not I cook breakfast every so often, but I have never cooked an omelet. But, if you google omelets, you will find a number of short videos to tell you how to fix delicious ones. So that is just what I did. Did you know the secret to cooking a great omelet, is to cook the bottom side and then stick it in the broiler to cook the top. That way you don't burn the bottom while trying to get the top done. At least that is what the video says.

Well, I did it, and it works.

Wanda loved it. She told me later that she woke up wanting an omelet. She was really surprised when I told her I was cooking an omelet for her. Then she bragged all day how good my omelet was.

Yeah, I said. I know what you're doing. You're bragging on how good I did it so I'll keep on cooking them. You know what. She is smart. A little bragging makes anyone want to do more. That is just the nature of life.

So, the two week experiment begins.

Loving compliments and then sharing a laugh together. It should be a great two weeks. I'll write how it goes and share the best jokes. The may be better than Reader Digest jokes.

GOT PUMPKIN?

Candy, Candy, Candy.

That is all the kiddies are thinking about this weekend. Candy and more candy. Halloween is approaching and the kiddies are excited. Well, I enjoy candy too.

I prefer to focus more on a harvest theme than halloween. Somewhere in all the ghosts and witches and skeletons, I lose it.

Angels are better than witches any day. I would rather focus on the goodness of the Lord than celebrate evil spirits and bad thinking.

So, my vote goes for a higher view, a holier outlook, a more positive take.

Witches and evils spirits are real so I would rather not give them any place. Years ago I will admit that we put too much time into the halloween scene, but not today.

Harvest-time fits me better. What about these pictures?

Neat

The carved pumpkin was done by Jerry Callison. He brought it to our harvest festival at our church, and you know who is in the other picture.

She is a beauty! I am so blessed.

CLOSE TO THE END

Here is a comment made by my daughter, Jennifer, from my blog from yesterday. I thought her words were telling, particularly coming from the younger generation.

Jennifer wrote:

It's very scary to see where our society is headed. I don't understand what this generation is thinking, without morals that come from God our society will break down. If everyone gets to make up their own morals then who gets to draw the line in the end? Who is to stop the pedophile? Don't people see where this is headed?? Sadly I only think it's going to get much worse. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the fall of The United States. It's freaky that we are possibly witnessing the last days!

Another thing that keeps startling me is how what used to be wrong is now right and what was right is now wrong. In fact just having the opinion that homosexuality is wrong is dangerous and labels you as being wrong, unfair and the taker of others civil rights! It's going to be getting even scarier! Now is the time to be hiding God's word in our hearts before they take away our right to have a Bible! Some people won't think that's possible but I believe it's coming and it's going to happen sooner than we think!

***

Milton here again:

Society has always made moral choices. Actually they have to be made for the well being of mankind. It is a total fallacy to say that no one has the "right" to make moral judgements. To make no moral judgment is to make a moral judgement.

So here is the bottom line. Judgements and moral decisions are going to be made. The question is who is going to make the moral judgements and what morality will they chose? Someone's morals will prevail. It is just a matter of whose.

I choose to follow the Judeo/Christian model. It works. It is true. It brings blessings!

Imagine driving in a city with no red lights where everyone drives at breakneck speed giving no thought to intersections. One could only guess how many wrecks and deaths would occur.

Today's society wants no red lights, but that is suicide and will not work.

Yes, Jennifer, Jesus is coming. We are close to the end.

FOUNDATIONS OF TRUTH

Our world is turning morality upside down. The truth of generations past is being forgotten. It is implausible.

If we cannot take The Word of God at face value, can we at least accept how generations past have lived? Has all mankind been wrong and this generation all of a sudden become the enlightened generation of all generations?

Is marriage, as all past generations defined it, truly between a man and a woman? Or has this generation discovered truth missed by centuries of life?

Morality has always been dumbed-down. People have always wanted to sin, so regrettably to their own hurt. But todays' generation seem to think they are smarter. They think they are the enlightened ones. No one knows better than they know.

I don't think so. Time has a way of sifting truth out. God's Word hasn't changed. Mankind hasn't been wrong. Centuries of foundational truth lived out are higher than these "so called" enlightened ones.

When will we learn?

CONSISTENCY

Life without consistency can become tragic. When there is not consistency in how we live, act, and behave, then things begin to fall apart.

Leave flour out of a cake recipe and see what happens. You won't have much of a cake. Leave honor out of our marriage vows, and you won't have much of a marriage. If we fail to walk with integrity, then respect becomes tarnished.

On and off again functioning just doesn't get it done. A car that cranks and then won't crank cannot be depended upon. It loses its dependability. You just don't know if you can trust it to take you on a long trip or to work or even to the grocery store. It is not dependable. It is inconsistent.

Great relationships are made when you know you can totally trust the consistency of the both parties' lives. That is a winning combination.

By the way, that is God's way.

I once heard that the single greatest requirement for effective preaching is that people must believe that the preacher believes what he is preaching. That believability is determined first by the consistency of what the preacher lives. If the people see it in the life of the preacher, then they will believe that preacher truly believes what he is preaching.

It goes back to the consistency issue. It seems to me that we need a revival of consistency about as much as anything thing else.

Solomon put it this way. He wrote:

Proverbs 25:19

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

How about praying today that God will help you be more consistent. That is my prayer today.

HOW LONG?

Faith cannot be separated from patience. Faith often finds release and answer immediately and that is wonderful.

But what if you had to wait 24 years for your answer to come? Would that still be faith? Or what if you didn't see what God had promised turn into reality for 400 years? Would that be faith too? Abraham and Noah knew that faith required patience. Some in the Bible waited even longer.

Hebrews clearly notes that it is through both faith and patience that we inherit the promises.

"..but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

The writers notes that we should be"

1. Diligent

2. Not sluggish

3. Imitate

That makes for a good formula. How long before the answer comes you have been seeking from God? Be diligent. Don't be sluggish. Imitate those who have inherited. The answer will come in His perfect time.

Have faith and be patience. You will inherit.

CONNECTING

Meeting new people and making new friends adds to life. This should be a daily venture for all of us, especially for Christians. Christ in us reaches out toward others. Usually, all it takes is a smile and a brief kind gesture. Most people respond.

Last week I connected with numerous new people and made new friendships. I have found that motorcycling is one of the easiest ways to connect with people. They don't know that I am a preacher. They just don't expect preachers to ride. It removes their preconceived notions.

I have had people pull up next to me at a red light, or store, or restaurant and start up conversations over Big Red. They each have a comment or question to offer. Many times I have used this conversation starter to get a word in about the Lord.

People need to know the Lord. They need to know God is love and that He sent His son to die for us. They need to know that they can spend eternity in heaven.

May God help us to connect and graciously share His love.