A string walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Get out. We don’t serve your kind in here.”
The string leaves. Once outside, he bends over and pushes his head through the loop in his belly. Then he straightens up and tussles his hair.
The string walks back into the bar. The bartender asks, “Hey, aren’t you that string that I just kicked out of here?”
The string says, “No, I’m a frayed knot.”
Matthew 6.19-21 tells us not to accumulate treasures on earth “where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.” I know about destruction and loss when it comes to baseball cards.
Those cardboard collectibles were so much fun when I was a kid. No one worried about keeping them in “mint condition.” You could handle them endlessly, trade with your friends, check out the statistics on the back of the card, and put them into groups with big rubber bands around them. You used a clothespin to attach a card to the frame of your bicycle so that it flapped against the tire spokes. Whirrrrrp, just like a motorcycle. Cooler than cool.
The images on the cards are burned into my brain, particularly the 1959 Topps set with the round picture of the player surrounded by bright solid colors. They were lovely cards, although it did not seem fair to give famous St Louis Cardinal hard guy Bob Gibson a PINK rookie card.
After grade school I gave up on the cards until the early ‘90s. Like every male my age who had a little extra cash, I wanted to regain the joy. Everyone had visions of the riches available. I visited a card shop where a 1959 Willie Mays card was available for $80! I explained to the dealer that I had that card when I was a kid, but my mom threw out all my cards at some point in the last thirty years. The dealer deadpanned, “It’s because of moms like yours that this card is now worth $80.”
Jesse liked basketball cards better than baseball. We would go to card shows and look for our favorite players. Unfortunately, all that extra baby boomer money met card makers who churned out billions of cards. Not realizing simple supply/demand economics, I bought boxes and sets as “investments.” What a shock to end up selling 3,500 over-produced 1990’s common cards to some guy for $7; He said he could package and sell them in China. Made in USA, indeed.
And floods also work against earthly investments. A few years ago, the sewer system backed up into our basement when the city was making repairs. Cardboard boxes of baseball and basketball paper products do not stand up to water. The opposite of mint condition is Fair or Poor; these cards were now in a new category of “Stinky Soggy”.
On days like that it was good to remember the second half of Matthew’s verse: “Lay up treasures in heaven.”
At Christmas two years ago our family prayed “big” prayers for each other. We hassled Jesse a bit, forcing him to prioritize between buying a house and getting married. It seemed good to us that he made getting married his first choice, even though he had accumulated money for a house but had never dated anyone besides high school proms.
Next Saturday, June 29, Jesse Clark Knapp and Amber Laneé Cross will exchange wedding vows. In the nature of God’s providing more than we could ask or imagine, they will close on their new house July 3.
This week has no cool number dates.
But we can use the time to explain how to determine which day of the month will be a half-back day.
Recall that Half-back days are named in honor of all the retirees who move from Northern states (Michigan, Minnesota, New York, etc) to Florida, find out Florida is too hot, and then move to middle ground in Tennessee or North Carolina or around there someplace.
So, start at the month, go to the day, and come half way back to the year.
If the integers for month / day / year are m/d/y, then the problem is to solve for d when m and y are known. The one equation we need is:
d – y = (d – m)/2
2( d – y ) = d – m
2d – 2y = d – m
d = 2y – m
For next month, m is 7 and y is 13, so the half-back day is 26 – 7 = 19. Since each succeeding month value for the rest of the year increases by 1, the half-back d decreases by 1:
8/18/13
9/17/13
10/16/13
11/15/13
12/14/13
For the next week with no cool number days (8/25/13), we will examine when the half-back days will end this century.
Why don’t cannibals eat clowns?
Because they taste funny.
Did you hear about the cannibal who arrived late for dinner?
They gave him the cold shoulder.
Thanks, Scott!
Ephesians 5 opens with an encouragingly demanding command: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Verses 3-14 follow with a blistering “let no one deceive you with empty words” condemnation of “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness.” Then verses 15-21 are a blessed list of things to think about (Philippians 4.8), particularly on how to live together in Christian community. Obvious ideas for further resources are parenthesized:
– Make the best use of the time (Don’t Waste Your Life, Piper)
– Do not be foolish (Proverbs)
– Understand the will of the LORD (Bible study)
– Do not get drunk with wine (or beer, or anything else)
– Be filled with the Spirit (Meditate, Pray, Ask)
– Address one another joyfully (Worship and fellowship)
– Give thanks ALWAYS and for EVERYTHING to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (remember what a great gift it is to even understand and know the gift of Jesus Christ in our lives)
– Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Seek humility)
Amen, let it be so.
In Psalm 8, the phrase “O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” is a magnificent begin and end to a praise song with the gospel snugly hidden inside. Jesus quotes verse 2, “Out of the mouths of babies and infants…” to clearly identify himself with the LORD being praised in the psalm. There is an echo of the Creation in Genesis 1-2. The creator is praised for his handiwork: the heavens; the seas; birds and sea creatures; beasts of the field; and man is given dominion over every living thing that moves in all the earth. The curse of Genesis 3 is also present with the foes, enemy, and avenger of verse 2. It is clear that God is mighty and man is small – “what is man that you are mindful of him?”- and the coming Messiah is hinted at, using Jesus’ phrase for himself – “son of man”.
The writer of Hebrews uses this psalm as additional description of the fullness of the gospel message. Readers are warned In Hebrews 2.3-4, not to “neglect such a great salvation, which was ” announced by Jesus himself, confirmed by eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ, affirmed by God’s miracles, and surrounded by distributed gifts of the Holy Spirit. That is quite a positive testimony.
Beyond all that evidence, Hebrews 9 ties to Psalm 8.5 to emphasize two things – the mighty sacrifices made by Jesus and the appropriateness that He would be “crowned with honor and glory.” Not only did Jesus taste death for everyone (by the grace of God), but to do so, He needed to be “Made lower than the angels for a little while.” Jesus becoming fully man was a definite demotion, even if temporary. The appropriate response from those of us for whom the sacrifice was made is Thanksgiving, along with praise and honor, to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hebrews is right to emphasize that we ignore this awesome assistance at our own peril.
An Eskimo was very cold one day, out in his one-person boat. He decided to light a fire in the bottom of the boat. Unfortunately, the bottom burned up and the boat sank.
The moral of the story: “You can’t have your kayak and heat it, too.”
Why did the Israelites sing the Song of Moses, found in Exodus 15? Short answer: Change of fears.
Chapter 14 of Exodus is about crossing the Red Sea. The people knew the plagues the LORD brought upon Egypt, including the Passover protection of their firstborn. They had seen the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. But they had not yet lost their fearful slave mentality; they were still in bondage. When Pharaoh with all his chariots and soldiers drew near to the Israelite encampment, they “feared greatly” and complained bitterly, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Moses called them forward, “Fear not, stand firm, be quiet, watch how the LORD fights for you.”
God’s fight included at least two miracles, lumped together to produce the famous parting of the Red Sea waters. Miracle One was a cloud that separated the pursuing Egyptians from the fleeing Israelites all night while Miracle Two could work – a strong east wind that blew many hours to back up the sea waters and make a dry path.
The Hebrews hustled across. After they cleared, the waters started leaking. As the cloud moved, the Egyptians pursued. Their chariots and horsemen were bogged down in the newly re-moistened riverbed. God called Moses to raise his hand, causing the full waters to return, covering and destroying the entrapped Egyptians.
When Israel saw the Egyptian army dead on the shore, they realized they had truly been set free. They grasped the irrevocable reality of their deliverance; they understood the commitment of God to save them. They “saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. Then Moses and the people sang.”
They had their dreadful fear of the Egyptians removed and gained an awe-filled fear of the LORD.
Thanks to Pastor Dale Vandyke.
I was at a conference the last couple of days where Derek Thomas and Kevin DeYoung spoke about the authority of scripture. One of the main passages Dr. Thomas developed was 2 Timothy 3.14 – 4.5. I realized I had made a mistake in my post of June 5 – I had called the exhortation to Timothy at the beginning of chapter 4 a WARNING. It is really a COMMISSION to Timothy to preach the word, with a warning imbedded in the commission. In either case, “itchy ears” used in the ESV translation is a wonderfully descriptive phrase.
I was struck also at the conference with a “fear of the Lord” understanding of two things. First, God is the potter and we are the clay. God made us and the universe the way He wanted to. The omnipotent , all-powerful One COULD have done anything he wanted (except violate His own character) and THIS is what He decided to do. The creation is to glorify God, not satisfy my design specs. It is major impertinence to think I would know better how to set up the universe.
Second, God tells us the truth about Himself in the Bible, where we can read exactly what He wants us to know in exactly the way He wants to, at exactly the right time for us to know it. Again, it is major impertinence to think that the arms of the Almighty are shortened when it comes to directing human writers, keeping Biblical content intact for centuries, and enlightening the hearts and minds of believers.
Unfortunately there are many heretics today – just like there have always been heretics – who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ but make mistakes or adjust the meaning to suit their own ends. When nice-sounding arguments assail the truth, how can we possible know the difference? The COMMISSION that Paul gives Timothy points the way:
– “Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed.” History is full of prior heresies and the arguments used to disapprove them. God and His Biblical truth have not changed just because man’s cultures have.
– “All Scripture (Old and New Testament) is breathed out by God.” The Bereans were commended for testing Paul’s teachings against scripture (Acts 17.10-12). God said what he meant to say.
– “Many people will not endure sound teaching and will accumulate teachers to suit their own passions.” The Holy Spirit works to give sight to the blind, to those who repent and believe. Even though the Evil One works to deceive, He who is with us is greater than he who is in the world.
There are good sound teachers who can explain the truth and refute the lies. I was happy to hear from a couple of them over the last two days.
A. Knapp for That 