Thought So!

"Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously"

Try saying that to someone in the grocery line.  Suddenly, you'll have plenty of elbow room.

Have you ever played the word game where you make up grammatically correct but absolutely meaningless sentences like this one (alas, I cannot take credit for it)?  Obviously, these word-strings are not intended for every-day conversations. 

But sometimes our loquaciousness can be just as meaningless, stuffed into embarrassing silences and enveloping tense situations (words up having breakfast before brain is out of bed).  Sometimes our words come charging out, elbows flailing--lining up into sentences on which we would never act (words in the car and halfway down the street while action is still looking for the keys).

The Lord promises us true Words-- no deception or trickery, no nonsense or malapropisms, no space-fillers or thoughtless verbiage; and everything He says is grammatically correct.

  "The words of the Lord are pure words:  as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."  Psalm 12:6 (but read the whole Psalm)

How fewer words would we speak if our speech were tried like that?

© Thought So! //To automatically receive these blogs when written, visit Ribtickler and look for the “Free By E-mail” icon.

Field Stories  - misisonary stories for Sunday School, VBS, Christian School...

God, Please don't come before camp!

Christmas is over.  There are no more sleeps to count.  Your goose has been cooked, eaten, and saved for left-overs.  Presents have been torn open, wrapping thrown away (remember, they tell us it can't be recycled), and you have, no doubt, started your save, return, and re-gift piles.

Celebrators of this first Advent only (loving this present-filled world) may be depressed and deflated...left with bills and a bottle of Tums. (2 Tim. 4:10)

But, those of us looking ahead to the second Advent still count our sleeps with hope (unless you are a child really wanting to go to camp but are fearful that the Lord will pre-empt your plans). 

Do you desire/long for the Savior and welcome His coming in the clouds?  Do you love His appearing?  This is a test of our faith-- but if we keep our focus there even in the midst of this world's "stuff", the Lord is safely keeping our reward until He sees us.

Salvation, seeing our Savior,  being rewarded for longing for His coming -- our Lord knows how to give us good gifts! 

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."   2 Cor. 9:15

© Thought So! //To automatically receive these blogs when written, visit Ribtickler and look for the “Free By E-mail” icon.

Field Stories  - misisonary stories for Sunday School, VBS, Christian School...

 

So, He Got Up

Did you ever wonder if Joseph began to dread going to sleep at night?  With my Bible open, spanning Matthew 1:17 to 2:23, I can see the phrase, "a dream" mentioned 5 times-- four of those pertaining to Joseph.  Did he ever ponder, as he closed his eyes, if this would be a night of disturbed sleep?

All of Joseph's recorded utterances could be placed on the head of a pin, which would be zero.  (In how many Christmas plays have you actually heard a speaking Joseph?).  The rest of the participants at the time of Christ's birth--Mary, shepherds, angels, wise men, even Simeon later on--all had something to say.  Joseph's silence keeps us focused on the heavenly Father. 

No account is made of Joseph, thrashing around on his mat after a dream, grumbling about moving yet again.  Though what father today would relish hopping up, shaking his slumbering wife and saying, "OK, honey, we're outta here!  Grab the rocker, crib, baby monitor, stroller, swing-o-matic, jolly jumper, baby bathtub, food grinder, earplugs, 10 tons of toys, 20 tons of clothes, 30 tons of disposable diapers, and meet me at the minivan in 40 minutes--oh, and don't forget the baby!"?  Yet having a simpler life-style, say... needing only to back a donkey out of a stall and throw a few things on its back did not, I am sure, diminish the angst of the moment.

What we do read about Joseph is his faithfulness:          

-"Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him..." (Matt. 1:24)

-"And when he arose, he took...and departed..." (2:14)

-"And he arose,and took...and came..." (2:21)

-"Being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside..." (2:22)

Like any earthly father should desire to do, he simply followed his Lord's instructions, and took care of his family. 

So, he got up....

© Thought So! //To automatically receive these blogs when written, visit Ribtickler and look for the “Free By E-mail” icon.

Field Stories  - misisonary stories for Sunday School, VBS, Christian School...

Having a Louse-y Christmas?

What better way to see Christmas sights than by walking briskly through the neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon.  Lights hugged eaves… wreaths clung to doors… trees glittered and glowed in the windows… a mom de-liced her daughter’s hair…

Wait--what was that again? 

I gaped unobtrusively at the vignette just to be sure:  standing near the window for best light, slicing through hair with a chopstick, head bent close to the roots…yes, I had seen and done the same thing myself.

So there, in the middle of that all-dressed-up-for-Christmas street was a minute reminder of sin's results, tugging my thoughts back to why the Lord came to this earth in the first place.

"And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."   Matthew 1:21

© Thought So! //To automatically receive these blogs when written, visit Ribtickler and look for the “Free By E-mail” icon.

Field Stories  - misisonary stories for Sunday School, VBS, Christian School...