I’m not the Bible scholar I should be. I know some verses; not as many as I ought. Still, I find most of my experiences can be framed or underscored, explained or illuminated, by Scripture. Or maybe a hymn or a worship song, a devotional or a testimony. Frequently, I have those “Oh, yeah” moments when I see God clearly in an event. Or realized that I should have seen Him.
These are the moments of “The Bible tells me.”
These essays reflect that. Do know that I can proof-text as well as anyone. I have a concordance, and I know how to use it. Well, truthfully, I do all of that online now, where I can quickly find a passage, see it in many versions, and choose the one I like best. I try not to be narrow, but instead broad, as I apply Bible words to my experiences. I know that your interpretations and understanding may be different than mine. But I also know that our God is big enough for all of us.
I have a friend who, in her prayer time, likes to tell jokes to God. “I know He knows the punch line,” she says. “But I tell them anyway. He likes it when I laugh.”
He likes it when I laugh. I’m going to hang on to that. It’s Biblical. The Bible tells me.
Our mouths were filled with laughter then,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord had done great things for us;
we were joyful.
Psalm 126: 2,3 (HCSB)
Last week, on Wednesday morning, I happened to glance out the front window and saw some big equipment in the street.
There was a truck with a smaller truckish-thing on it. And there was a much larger truck thing with two very large utility-looking poles on it. And there was a guy standing by the curb, sort of between our yard and the neighbors’, holding a post-hole digger-ish sort of thing. And I thought maybe I should go out and investigate.
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Our recycling day is Monday, when we put out our blue bin with cardboard, plastics, newspapers, etc. Or, on alternate weeks, the green bin, with yard waste.
Today, I’m recycling a manuscript.
A couple, or so, years ago, our Associate Pastor at church, Mary Alice, asked some church members to submit devotions for a booklet she wanted to put together for our church members, especially those who were on teams going on mission trips. Her plan was that we would all be reading the same words, whether at home in Waco, on vacations, or in China or Lebanon.It would be a bonding experience for us all. She enlisted some of us to write and gave each of us the theme and a Scripture reference. We wrote, sent our words to her, and she edited and compiled them all into a booklet. The response was positive, so she kept on doing it. Now, we do them for Advent and Lent and for the summer mission trips (which, this year, included China, Lebanon, South Texas, and many missions-related trips individuals and families made, all over the place).
There are, as you might imagine, deadlines for the submissions of these things, and I’m always pretty close to getting them in on time. I asked once if anyone was responsible and got them to her early, or did everyone else skid in just under the wire (or a little beyond the wire), like I did. “Oh, I do what most of my seminary professors did,” she said. “I set the deadline a little bit before I really need them, to give me some wiggle room.” Possibly not a good thing to admit, but there you go. And possibly not the sort of thing to tell me, who is now exposing it to all sorts of people. Anyway …
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Mike and Sandy, who were lovely neighbors, put the house next door to us on the market a couple of years ago.
We got this card in the mail from the realtor, the day the new folks arrived.
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Here’s how the story starts: I was at my sister, JoAnne’s, one July 4th. In the afternoon, after a traditional
a traditional strawberry shortcake, Mom Goodwin-style
Fourth lunch of burgers and hotdogs with her family, she said, “I think we should have Strawberry Shortcake for dinner, just like Mom Goodwin used to make.”
“What?!?!?” I didn’t recall any such tradition. Our dad grew up in northwestern Ohio, in Wauseon. We would go, every two or three years, for a summertime visit. We’d stay for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t remember ever being there on Independence Day, and I certainly never heard about having Strawberry Shortcake for dinner. Ever. So, she told me how she learned about it.
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I had a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses when I was a kid, and I remember reading the poem “My Shadow.” It must have made a great impression on me, because I can still recite the first two lines. (Okay, maybe not all that impressive, but I do remember what the poem was about.) It came to mind this week, as Peter’s here. So, I reworked the poem to describe my shadow.
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It was Fun with Friends, and it was very good.
I’ve spent each evening this week at church, with the little kids (Pre-K’s and Kindergarteners). The first through sixth graders were having Music Camp, and we were having Fun with Friends. Literally. We did ART, and lots of it. Sunday was Collage Night. Monday was Drawing Night. Tuesday was Painting Night. Wednesday was Printing Night. And Thursday was Sculpture Night. As usual, there was Tall Painting. And I was sure you’d want to see photos.
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Disney’s fairies, Fauna, Flora, and Merryweather. I get why Merryweather is clad in blue (sky–weather), but it seems like Flora should have on green (even though some flowers *are* pink), since she represents plant life, and Fauna should have on, maybe, brown? There’s not really one color that represents animal life. I don’t know; it just seems confusing for her to be wearing green.
When I was a third-grader, a new Disney movie came out. Sleeping Beauty. Back in those olden days, animated movies didn’t come out every few weeks, like they seem to now. Kids had to wait for those Disney movies. Sleeping Beauty featured, among other characters, three fairies. (I was going to say “magical fairies,” but it seems that, by definition, all fairies are magical.) The Disney fairies are Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. I thought those were just cute names, not having had enough science yet to know what flora and fauna meant. (Merryweather can refer to family surnames, musical groups, a fictional private security corporation from video game, and a Victorian firefighter’s helmet.)
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Left side opened w/car inside; right side closed w/car outside
This is how our garage looked, all my growing up years in the house where we now live. Well, except for the cars. Not for the years and makes of them, but just the fact that they’re there. My Dad would get up each morning, open the garage door and go out to get the newspaper, and leave the door open. After he left for work, it stayed open, all day, as did most other garage doors on our block. He closed the door each evening after dinner. The right-hand door wasn’t opened very often, as there wasn’t a car there.
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Years ago, I read books by Don Aslett, a man who grew a college cleaning job into a huge cleaning supply industry
Some choices from Home Depot
and authored several books about housecleaning, starting a business, organizing, de-cluttering, writing, and public speaking. You can find some of his books in libraries, bookstores, and of course, on Amazon. In one book (and most likely some others), he talked about how much of modern life is overkill; we have, and consistently seek, more, more, more, and more. He specifically mentioned paint colors. And, most pointedly, green. He quoted a number (and I am so very sorry that I cannot recall what exactly it was, but it was HUGE, in the hundreds), of how many colors of green paint one could buy at a paint store. “You don’t need that many greens,” he said. “There aren’t that many greens.”
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I bought this package of toilet paper. It’s raison d’etre is that the rolls don’t have a cardboard tube core. We’re saving trees. It seems like a good thing, doesn’t it?
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