Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard someone relate all the ways that the O.T. ordinances contributed to the Israelites’ health. It is true that they did this—there is even a book about it called, None of These Diseases. But, the fact is that they never knew about the health aspects of the rules about latrines, no pork and other dietary regulations, quarantines, etc. For them, these were rules that had no value other than God said so, and to them the purpose was to draw a line that determined whether one would go his own way or God’s way.

Certainly, God knew the health purposes but that was not his purpose either. When I pointed that out in a Bible class, the teacher was shocked. I responded that since God lifted the dietary and other restrictions and did not bind them on the church, did that mean he cared more for the health of the apostate Jews than he did for that of obedient Christians? In effect, by allowing the church to ignore these regulations, he denied them all the health benefits of the O.T. ordinances. Did he love the church less than the Jews in that for more than a millennium and a half until medical discoveries by men, his people died from their failure to follow those ordinances? History reveals that neither the Jews nor others discovered the relationship of these rules to health until the advent of modern medicine.

God’s true purpose was to distinguish between the holy and the common, to firmly establish that such a distinction exists and to teach men to value the holy. Further, these requirements define “Holy” as whatever God says it is. Men may never understand why. So, when we come to the N.T. ordinances [literal meaning, “requirements”] how do you react? Do you decide such things are not really significant—as long as one follows the main issues regarding the deity of Jesus and grace and faith, then such things as instrumental music, use of the church’s money, method of baptism, church organization, etc. really do not matter? Or, is your attitude expressed by the phrase, “I will be holy because God is holy?”
 
Since we are to be a spiritual people with new hearts (Ezek 36:26; Gal 4:6) our diet consists of the things we read, watch, hear, etc. From the Movies and TV shows, I have heard discussed after church, had our people lived under the Law of Moses, they would have been eating a little pork now and then because it is not really like worshipping a different God or coveting. From the dress of both men and women, we who are priests would have ignored the restrictions placed on the High Priest's clothing as "not in style" and having nothing to do with true worship.
 
God looked on their hearts just as he did on David's, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart" (Deut 6:5-6).
 
God looks on our hearts too, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. " (Phil 4:8). God commands mind-control to maintain holiness of heart.
 
 
"but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, " (1Pet 1:15-17).
 
Keith Ward

The first patent for a washing machine in this country was issued on March 28, 1797, to a man named Nathaniel Briggs.  I had no idea anyone had even come up with the notion that early.  Unfortunately, his washing machine business never really got going and the patent office burned in 1863 so we don't even have a picture of it any longer.  Poor Nathaniel gets little, if any, notice for his invention.  Alva J. Fisher gets the credit for the first electric washing machine sometime in the early 20th century, but the date is not exact and there is much argument.
            When we moved, we inherited a new-ish washer, maybe a year or two old.  After using it for a month, I can say with ample evidence that it is a travesty of a washer.  It simply does not clean your clothes.  If you want your clothes to be clean, you just about have to prewash them—so what good is the washer?  In fact, why even call it a "washer" in the first place?
          We have friends in the appliance business, third generation, independent appliance retailers and repairers who know their stuff.  They warned me about these new washers a few years ago, and now I know they were absolutely correct.  And, unfortunately, two people have told me that I got the worst brand—which, ironically, used to be considered the best!  But they changed how the thing works.  It doesn't use enough water to even cover the clothes and there is no agitator—the thing that is supposed to take the place of the old washboard.  When you listen to this one, it seems to huff and puff, take a giant breath as if to pick up the load of clothes by wind power alone, then drop it, maybe a dozen times.  That is supposed to clean the clothes.  Why it takes a full hour to do nothing more than that, I can't figure out.  It certainly isn't because it is actually laundering the clothes.  In fact, I just read an article that is supposed to be objective, saying that the reason for buying a washer with an agitator is to get the clothes clean!
            And all this has come about because men have decided to change their priorities when it comes to washing clothes.  They want to use less water.  They want bigger loads.  They want to be able to wash delicate items without as much wear and tear.  Notice:  nowhere in there does it say that they want to get their clothes clean.  Washers without agitators are known, even by industry experts, not to clean clothes.
            When you change your purpose, when your priorities shift, something that is very important will also change, and maybe even disappear.  This happens in every area of life. It can certainly happen in your religious life.  What is the purpose of the church?  To encourage one another, admonish one another, support one another, correct one another, and all in an effort to make sure as many of us as possible make it to Heaven.  It is to be that foreordained institution that shows the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10).
           The church is not a social club.  Yes, we should all be gathering together at other times than the assembly in order to help one another and get to know one another better in that effort.  We should be a family in every sense of the word.  But having fun is not the purpose of the church.
            It is not about physical blessings.  It will not make us healthy or wealthy, except in spiritual terms—and that should be plenty enough for people who claim to follow a Lord who suffered, lived close to the poverty line, and served others day after day after day. 
            It's not about earning the respect of the world and being accepted on their terms.  It's about following the Lord, doing his will, saying what he said, not what people think is the only appropriate and tactful thing to say.  He never once adapted to the religious world's ways of thinking in order to avoid offense.  It was very much, "My way or the highway" with him.
          You cannot read the New Testament without realizing that the early church was nothing like some of the denominations out there.  Things have been changed in the name of—progress?  But do any of these changes save men's souls?  Not if those men do not follow the Lord's teaching.  If you love me, you will keep my commandments, John 14:15.
            When we decide it's all about providing entertainment, living a "blessed" life here on this earth as society counts blessings, and making sure everyone likes us, we have completely changed God's plan for this body of people, the bride of his Son.  In a very real way, we have become an agitator-less washer that will never make anyone clean.
 
…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish…even as the Lord [loves] the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Eph 5:24-30).
 
Dene Ward

A couple of years ago when I went to a local garden shop to buy another rosemary plant, I learned something more about these herbs I have grown so fond of.
            “Which kind would you like?” the woman said, “prostrate or erect?”
            That was the first I had ever heard of two types of rosemary.  Finally I knew why the rosemary plants in my favorite TV cook’s garden stood so straight, while mine just splayed out like they were tired all the time.  I bought an erect rosemary, the first I had ever had, and you can certainly tell the difference as the two plants bed side by side.
            After only a little contemplation I realized those are exactly the same two types of people—those who try to stand on their own, unwilling to yield to the will of God, and those who prostrate themselves before him in an attitude of worshipful submission.
            We seldom actually fall prostrate before God these days.  The closest I remember seeing this was when I was a small child and some of the men knelt or sat back on their haunches in the aisles, one knee up to hold an elbow during public prayers at church, something I even remember my Daddy doing.  Most of us are too self-conscious to do that sort of thing now.  If someone tried it he might be accused of “praying for show.”  I’ve heard similar things in the not too distant past as we so Pharisaically try to rid ourselves of Phariseeism. 
            Surely, though, we have all reached a point of despair in our lives when we simply throw ourselves on the bed or the floor and lay ourselves and our problems before God.  While it certainly isn’t the outward posture that makes the prayer acceptable to God, one can’t help wondering if a refusal to ever “fall prostrate” doesn’t expose a heart that will not fall prostrate either.
            One of the definitions of “worship” is exactly that:  to fall prostrate before.  We are not truly worshiping if our hearts do not recognize the absolute sovereignty of God and our utter dependence upon him for both physical and spiritual survival.  That dependence, that prostrate attitude, must be accompanied by instant and total obedience.  Too many today think they can “worship” on Sundays with weekday lifestyles that never come close to the one Jesus expected of his followers.  When our choices follow the choices of the world, it is the Prince of the World we are falling prostrate before, not God. 
            This morning I stretched out the limbs of my prostrate rosemary to their full length and they actually reached higher than the erect one.  Isn’t that true of a person who prostrates himself before God?  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me…for when I am weak, then I am strong, 2 Cor 12: 9,10.
            So think today about the two types of rosemary. Which one are you?  The one who insists on reaching for the stars on his own, or the one who depends upon the Creator of those stars to help him reach his full potential, trusting and obeying implicitly?  Even the erect rosemarys will some day fall on their faces before the King of all:  As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God, Rom 14:11.  It would be a whole lot better to do it before you are forced to.
 
And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Rev 7:11-12     
 
Dene Ward

The term “hermeneutics” comes from the god Hermes, the messenger and interpreter of Jupiter to man.  As such, it is a fitting word to describe the principles by which we interpret any piece of written material, especially the one from God.  The textbook I told you about yesterday gives a list called “Helps in Understanding the Bible.”  I think it is a remarkable list because we can all do these things.  It isn’t difficult.
            First, Professor Dungan says we should use plain old common sense.  I often find myself thinking that scholars try to muddy the waters just so they will be the only ones who really know what’s going on, but this one makes the specific point that the Bible was given to the common man to help him in his every day life, so it had to be practical.  Common sense in interpreting it is expected.
            Then he says something else you seldom see from a Biblical scholar these days, at least the ones on the Discovery and History channels—if you want to interpret the Bible correctly you must believe in its Divine inspiration.  I have often thought, “If you don’t, why bother?” and evidently the author agrees.
            He follows this with something that will be less popular—to interpret the scriptures you need “mental industry.”  By that he means the willingness to work at it, to expect something besides an easy-read comic book or pulp fiction.  Didn’t Jesus speak in parables for precisely that reason—so that the ones who cared enough to work at it would, and the rest, the unspiritual, would just ignore it?  You have to wonder about the sincerity of someone who always wants the easy way out.
            When I read the next one, I questioned him for the first time:  “spiritual purity.”  Not that I don’t believe we need to keep ourselves pure, but how can that help or hinder our understanding?  His reasoning reminded me of those same parables and the reason Jesus taught them.  “The gross mind will not apprehend the pure teaching of the Spirit of God.  Men may hear but not understand and in answer to the carnal wish, God may send a strong delusion, and the god of this world may blind the eyes of the unbelieving.”  That quote, alluding to Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2, makes excellent sense.  If I cannot understand the Bible, maybe it is because I don’t like what it says.  That passage should also scare me just a little.
            We are also told that we need a “correct translation.”  So many of these points build on one another.  If I want an easy read, I will probably wind up with an incorrect translation, and that desire for a no-work/easy-read probably says a lot about my lack of spirituality to begin with.
            Then he points out perhaps the most obvious thing:  if we want to understand the Bible, we should expect to understand it.  Would we ever read any other book expecting NOT to understand it?  In fact, I have put down books for that very reason—in trying to be “artistic” they have simply become incomprehensible.  The Biblical writers were not worried about “art.”  They all expected their readers to be better informed when they read their epistles.  “When you read this, you can perceive my understanding” Paul told the Ephesians (3:4).  The writer of my textbook says the Bible is “a sensible communication from God.”  To believe otherwise, turns God into a cruel and petty tyrant. 
            If you are having trouble figuring out what the Bible is all about, maybe you should check yourself against this list.  God wants a relationship with his children.  When my boys were young, they knew exactly what they could and could not get away with.  They knew exactly what was expected of them in any given situation.  They knew all of that was for their good, because we loved them more than our own lives.  Why would we ever think anything less of God?
 
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. John 8:42-43
 
Dene Ward

That was my reaction the first time I heard the word, “hermeneutics.”  Then Keith told me what it meant: rules of interpretation.  Immediately I was skeptical.  Just who determines these rules, especially when we are talking about interpreting the Bible?  So he bought me my own hermeneutics textbook entitled, appropriately enough, Hermeneutics, A Text-book, by D. R. Dungan.  For a textbook written by a professor it is one of the most practical books I have ever seen.  I was thrilled to discover that no one has determined the rules of hermeneutics.  The author simply sorted out and listed the rules we all follow every day without thinking about it.
            Last year I received a letter that told me I was to receive $700.  I could have approached that letter in many different ways.  I could have said, “This is a hoax,” and thrown it away.  I could have said, “This must be from a friend who knows we have a lot of medical bills,” and kept it, eagerly awaiting the gift.  I could have thought, “Keith must have applied for a loan,” and then sat down with the books and tried to figure out how we were going to repay it.
            So what did I do?  I looked at the return address—Internal Revenue Service.  I looked at the date—two weeks after I had mailed in our tax return.  I scoured the letter for clues about why I was to receive this money—I had made an error and they caught it.  Then, and only then, did I decide what to do about it.  Let them send me the extra money!
            I applied the principles of hermeneutics to that letter.  I asked myself, who is this from, when did they send it, why did they send it, and let that determine what it meant.  I do it every day.  So do you.  So does everyone else.  But for some reason people think you aren’t supposed to do that with the Bible.  They treat it like some big book of riddles that is impossible to figure out, or that each one of us can interpret to mean whatever we want.  Tell me, just how capricious do you think God is?  Will He say, “You have to please me to get to Heaven so here is an enigmatic book of rules.  Good luck figuring it out!” or will He give us a perfectly comprehensible guide for success?
            God is not willing that any should perish, Peter tells us.  He loved us enough to plan our salvation before he even made us, several writers say.  The Spirit, who knows the mind of God, inspired men to write the things we need to know so that we can say with full assurance, “I am saved.”  No one ever needs to wonder, or wish, or simply dream about having a relationship with their Creator.  It’s all down in black and white.  You can apply the same principles you apply every day of your life, and correctly interpret how to please God and receive the reward.  It may have been a mystery once, but now we know “whodunit” and why.
            Tomorrow we will talk a little more about how to interpret.
           
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 1 Cor 2:9-12
 
Dene Ward

I have not completely described our new home to you yet.  We are in the Tampa area, on the eastern edge of Temple Terrace.  In fact, if we walked about three blocks east, we would be in the county.  Our community is small, with tiny lots inside a solid white fence.  We sit on the western perimeter, smack in the middle of the westernmost row of homes.  We are called "Bridgeford Oaks" and many oak trees provide cover throughout.  In fact, our line of houses has one in nearly every yard—except ours.  But enough grow behind and to each side to keep off the blazing sun for a good part of the day.  Our back yard is full shade most all day long.
               The house itself would probably be called small yet, not only is it not the smallest house plan in the neighborhood, it is 150 square feet more than I raised my boys in.  But then they had five acres to play in, so maybe that's not a fair comparison.  Our yard is so small it can be mown in 15 minutes.  The house itself is that color of gray you see everywhere now, the popularity of which I have never understood.  Who wants a house the color of a concrete block?  It looks like a giant cinder block sitting on a pretty green lawn.  Keith says he has never seen a cinder block this color, but that is still what it makes me think of.
               The windows in front look out on a short hedge of schefflera bordered by a row of bright blue evolvulus, aptly named "Blue My Mind," and a desert rose sits out by the front curb.  Two pink tabebuias share space in the tiny front yard, trees grown by our grandson Judah from the seeds of their own tabebuias.  I can hardly wait until they bloom.  Along the north side yard are a rose that blooms almost ferociously, huge beautiful red blooms, a gardenia that is also not bashful about blooming, and yet another schefflera.  It may not be the wealth of bloom and color we had before, but it is not minimal either.
               We are still working on the backyard.  The back door now opens into a tiny corner screened porch, maybe 8 x 8.  Too small for a real porch, so when more money comes along, we will screen in the new 10 x 15 slab we had poured, tearing down the back wall of the other and make one larger L-shaped screened porch.  In view of that future, we planted a long row of fuchsia along the fence.  Keith has also laid enough pavers for a patio right beside the slab that already holds the grill, the portable fire pit, and a couple of chairs.  Once we are finished building back there, more planting will commence in the corners and sides, probably shade tolerant perennials and creeping ground covers.
               For now, my elliptical machine is on that tiny back corner porch of the house.  It takes up about a third of the whole room.  But now that we no longer have big burly men in our house hammering, drilling, sawing, and grunting in various levels of exertion, I am back on the machine trying to keep myself as healthy as possible.  And that is where I was when I heard it.
               We must have been there a good four or five months before he came, sat on the grill lid handle, and started his beautiful loud song.  Even I could see that jaunty little tail sticking up at its unusual angle against the white fence—a wren!  All I had heard before was a hawk that circles the neighborhood from his home over the perimeter fence where a retention pond sits surrounded by yet more oaks. I have heard him several times since then and his sound makes me feel at home once again.  They have wrens in this place!  All is right with the world.
               And the truth is, they have wrens every place in this state.  And somehow, that brought to mind the vision Ezekiel saw in chapter 1.  As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire…came the likeness of four living creatures…they had a human likeness, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: their wings touched one another. Each one of them went straight forward, without turning as they went…Wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went…Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl. And the four had the same likeness, their appearance and construction being as it were a wheel within a wheel. When they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went. And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels (Ezek 1:4-21).
               I hope you can visualize that at least a little bit.  The whole point is that this whatever-it-is could go anywhere, anytime, at a moment's notice.  That was important for the people to hear.  If you go back to the first couple of verses of the chapter, you see that Ezekiel is in Babylon along with the exiles.  Those people had grown up in a culture which confined God to Jerusalem and, specifically, the Temple.  Here they were, hundreds of miles away from God—or so they thought.  It took Ezekiel several long years and, finally, a messenger recounting the fall of the city and destruction of the Temple, to get them to believe it when he told them God was there in Babylon with them, that God could be anywhere! 
               We have grown up with the idea of an invisible God who is anywhere and everywhere, but sometimes we seem to forget that too.  No matter where we go, He is there.  He hears, He sees—all those eyes on the wheels Ezekiel saw tell us that.  And so, that morning, when I finally heard that little wren, I was reminded, too.  God is here too, just like he was in all those lush green acres of birds and squirrels and foxes and bobcats and possums and raccoons, yes, and even snakes.  He is wherever His people are, whenever they need Him.  If anyone thought we were just dots on a five acre plot and of no importance to God, they might think we would really be lost to Him now, on this tiny postage stamp yard lost among thousands more people than before.  But that just isn't true. 
               And He can find you too, no matter where you are or what you are going through.  He may not send you a grand vision such as Ezekiel's; but maybe He will send you a little wren to remind you that God is always there for His people.  He will never leave them alone.
 
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth (Ps 145:18).
 
Dene Ward

In the past few years I have found myself fighting sleepless nights on more than one occasion.  Keith always tells me that when that happens to him, he sings hymns in his mind until he falls back asleep.  I have yet to find a better thing to do, unless it is praying, but often they are the same.  How many songs can you find in your hymnals that are nothing more than prayers set to music?  I have a feeling that most of David’s psalms follow that same pattern.
            I recently found a phrase in the middle of a scripture that made me smile, even though the context didn’t.  Still, I think pulling that phrase out of its context is not wresting the scriptures in this case.  “God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,” Job 35:10.  I wonder how many times those hymns have popped into our heads because a loving God sent them our way to help calm us and reassure us.
            The righteous sing for joy on their beds, Psalm 149:5.  After I found that verse, I began to wonder why “bed” was particularly mentioned, just as “night” was in Job. 
            Perhaps it is a metaphoric allusion.  We take to our beds when we are seriously ill.  I can get up and do things when I have a cold, but if I am really sick, I am in bed.  People who are nearing death are usually in bed, in fact, we call it the “death bed.”  In times of worry, when we try to sleep, we find ourselves tossing and turning in bed, just as I have done so often recently.  Why would we be inclined to sing at those times?
            Isn’t it obvious?  If we are God’s children, we have hope, we have a foundation of joy in our lives that keeps us grounded, and that joy often shows itself in song.  Even in prison, having been beaten and wondering what the morning would bring, Paul and Silas sang hymns of praise “at midnight,” Acts 16:25.  They weren’t in a comfortable bed, but the “nighttime” of trouble was upon them.  Even from childhood, aren’t we all just a little afraid of the dark?
            Do not think it strange that songs often come to us during these times.  Our God does not leave us desolate.  He gives us songs in the “night,” songs of comfort, songs of hope, songs of praise for his grace and love, songs of encouragement, songs of edification and even chastisement.  Those songs would not come to your mind without a God who cared enough not only to send his Son, but to send you songs in the times you need them most, in the night time of sorrow and fear and pain. 
            Often the grace of God comes in a song that keeps going round and round in your mind.  It’s up to you to sing it.
 
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Psa 42:8
 
Dene Ward

It hasn't been long since I used an article by Doy Moyer.  But then I came upon this, probably on Facebook posted by someone else, and knew immediately that I needed to share it.  Especially as a parent, God expects us to be the  watchdogs of the home--do not be afraid to say, "We will not watch this in our house."
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Compiled by guest writer Doy Moyer.

While it is difficult to find movies or shows that are worth watching (for various reasons), I do believe Christians need to consider how to evaluate what they watch and hear from the biblical perspective. In recently reading Unraveling Philosophy by Groza and Moreland, I found these questions helpful:

1. What is the point of the movie or show? Movies are not made in a vacuum. There will be an ultimate message, and we need to be able to find it. “Spend some time ascertaining the point of the movie and then ask the all-important question: Is that true? Is the movie telling me the truth or is it lying?” (239)

2. What is the story of redemption? Story plots typically involve something that goes wrong. What is the resolution to the problem? “Another word for resolution, in this sense, is redemption. How is the wrong made right?” … “Knowing the story of redemption enables a greater appreciation of the movie. It also helps explain why its message resonates” (241).

3. “What is the perspective on sin? Does the movie make clear the ‘folly of sin’?” Is sin painted in a positive light or not? Are the consequences of sin shown or is the sin glorified? “Movies can tell the truth by exposing the bad consequences of sin, or movies can lie by painting sin in a positive light and minimizing (or excluding altogether) those consequences.” If good is painted as evil and evil as good (cf. Isa 5:20), and the consequences of this are not shown, we might want to look elsewhere.

4. What virtues are promoted or denied? “A good movie celebrates characters for the right reasons; characters who exhibit virtues such as hope, courage, and loyalty” (242). Or are the “heroes” of the movie bad guys who are celebrated in their wickedness and irresponsibility?

Groza and Moreland finish with this:
“The goal is to provide a framework for thought and conversation for the purpose of discerning beauty and its relation to truth. The goal is not to read Christian themes into art where such themes do not fit, or to impose a Christian worldview against the evidence within the movie. The principle of charity requires that Christians seek to understand the message of a film as it is presented and not as we will it to be understood. Not every story is a Christian story. It is legitimate to see Christian themes where they exist. It is not legitimate, charitable, or honest to force such themes.” (243)

Perhaps we just want to watch shows for entertainment purposes. We don’t want to overthink it. But we cannot afford not to think at all. We are inviting ideas and philosophies into our minds and we will either interact with them with a godly perspective or we will mindlessly imbibe what we see and hear. Let’s be careful, therefore, how we hear, and seek to walk with wisdom and understanding even in our recreational time. If there is nothing redeemable about a story, will the time spent on it be redeemable?

Via Doy Moyer and whoever shared it.   Thank you both!

Several years back we camped at Cloudland Canyon one autumn week, enjoying the new varieties of bird, the mountains carpeted with fall colors, and the spectacle every morning of clouds wafting through the campground from the cliffs just beyond it, cliffs high enough to look down on hawks as they soared by. 
            The neighbors twenty yards away were a small family, a man, his wife, and two little boys, the older about 7 or 8, and the younger just barely past the toddler years.  This was obviously a planned family outing, one that probably didn’t happen very often but that the parents were determined to make a good experience.  They did everything in a planned and almost regimented fashion.  “It’s time to light the fire.”  “Now it’s time to tell ghost stories.”  “Now it’s time to roast marshmallows.”  In between all this, the mother was on her cell phone every hour or so, sometimes for as long as a half hour, seeing to her business. 
            And both parents became impatient at the drop of a hat.  If the boys didn’t react to every activity as they thought they should, they became frustrated and almost angry.  (Who should be surprised if a ghost story terrified a four year old?)  They had mistaken the stereotype of a camping trip for the spontaneous fun of the real thing.  They had probably fallen for that “quality time” myth.
            And because we can’t seem to stop helping out, we offered them a few things, like some lighter wood to help get those campfires going more easily, and we occasionally stopped by on the way back and forth from the bathhouse, to talk and reminisce with them about the times when our two boys were that age.  They seemed appreciative, especially the father, who, we discovered when we got closer, was about 20 years older than the usual father of boys that age, and quite a few years older than the mother.
            As we talked we noticed that the older boy always wore Baylor tee shirts and sweat shirts and had a Baylor hat, so Keith talked to him some about football and asked how Baylor was doing.  The father sighed and said, “He doesn’t know anything about Baylor football.  He just likes the color green.”
            They left after just a weekend, and it sounded like they were leaving one night early, perhaps disappointed that this hadn’t turned out quite like they had expected. 
            You can learn a lot yourselves, just considering this family.  It’s always easier to judge from a distance.  But that little boy can teach us all something today.  Why is it that you assemble where you do?  Why did you choose that place?
            We would all understand the fallacy of going to the handiest place, regardless what they taught.  But how about this:  Do you go where you are needed, or to the place considered the most popular in the area, the most sociable, the one where you wouldn’t mind having people see you standing outside hobnobbing?  Do you go where the work is hard or where the singing is good?  Do you go where the preaching is entertaining or where the teaching is scriptural and plain?  Do you go expecting the church to do for you, or because you want to do for them?
            Too many Christians look upon a church in a proprietary way, as if they had the right to judge everything about it and everyone in it, especially the superficial things—the singing, the preaching, the way the people dress and their occupations and connections in the world.  The way some people choose congregations, they might as well go because they like the color green. 
            The church belongs to Christ, that’s what “church of Christ” means.  It belongs to God, that’s what “church of God” means.  Christ’s church is there to give me an outlet for my service and a source of encouragement toward doing that service.  It is not there to serve me and my preferences. 
            Someday that little boy will grow up and learn to examine the football programs he roots for, choosing them for their character and integrity instead of their colors.  Maybe it’s time we grew up with him.
 
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Pet 4:9-13  

When Nathan married, he and his bride asked for my cheesy potato recipe.  It is nothing fancy.  A lot of people make it or something similar and call it funeral potatoes or hash brown casserole.  This one might be a little cheesier than those, though, which accounts for its name.
            My daughter-in-law took it to one of her first potlucks as a bride.  Half a dozen people must have asked her for the recipe.  But nearly every one of them said something like this when they saw the recipe: "But I don't like garlic.  Would it be okay without it?"
            Excuse me, I thought.  You just ate it with the garlic in it and liked it so much you asked for the recipe.  You didn't even realize it contained garlic.  And no, it would not be the same recipe if you changed it.  That's what the word "change" means.  This is all logic, but people don't seem to get it because of personal preference.
            But why should I be so surprised?  People do this all the time with God's Word.  They see how we live—with joy and peace no matter what comes, and they want it.  But when we show them the recipe?  "I don't like that part.  Would it be the same without it?"  No, it would not.  All those various parts enable us to live with joy and peace, even when troubles come our way.  And besides that, it's God's recipe.  I wouldn't want to have the arrogance to tell him that part of it doesn't appeal to me!
            In the beginning I said that I knew of other potato recipes that were similar to mine.  Notice that:  similar, not the same.  There is a reason Nathan likes mine, and now Brooke's, the best.  And there is a reason that God prefers His way of doing things.  You don't have to use my recipe.  But you had better think twice about ignoring His.
 
​There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Prov 14:12).
 
Dene Ward