October Perspective

10/1/2018

Well, off we go into a new month! It seems good to expect some truly good things to happen this month. To begin with, I always expect the Lord to come which, I believe, is only going to happen if the gospel is preached to, heard by, believe on, salvation comes to the last person to fit into the body of Christ. Even though I believe this, I know it could take a while longer than this month. It’s alright with me if it takes another 1000 years—it’s alright with me if it is today.

Another occurrence this month, if all goes well, is more people in 3 states will have a new Blue Jug Alkaline water store near them. We are working with a couple in Louisiana, a man here in Alabama, and a lady in Texas to get their stores open, each of which are in some late stage of getting the door open and offering the world’s best drinking water. This is exciting to see! We’ve (the company) have worked with these folks and they are very hard at work, making ready to see fruition! More in a week or so about this. This is fun! Even the hurdles and hoops we have to clear!

As the month comes to a close, Lord willing, I’ll be in Navarre, FL for a bible conference. I guess the last of this year. (I’m open for more if you want to have one.) This should be a great one. I think it is the 5th year for this (I missed one because a funeral) and I’ve enjoyed them all. People from several states, get to meet new people every year, it seems. The word is taught well, saints are edified, and hopefully, people get saved. (We don’t keep count, the Lord handles that.)

Other than those things, life is normal. Oh yes, I’ll probably have to comment about the Cubs, the Tide, maybe even the Cowboys and those who oppose them. If these teams do worthy things. But, as the song says, there’s rioting in Africa and Texas needs rain—somewhere in Africa and somewhere in Texas these things are always true.

Speaking of songs, I’m not writing about the SIMH today because it is the same one as a couple weeks back. It rarely occurs to have the same song often, but I awoke, slept, woke up again, slept, and finally got up and it’s still there. I mean, I don’t even like the song, it isn’t even true to life! Sheesh!

The Lord said, “for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Modern positive thinkers built on the same basis “You are what you think you are,” and “What the mind can conceive, your will can achieve.” And many other such slogans. But, the Lord’s words were not automatically positive. They are said in a negative way about ego, self, and unrighteousness. So this produces in some of the Lord’s people an attempt to use the words of Paul, such as “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” In fact, many people change the word “which” to the word “who.” Don’t do that.

The sense of the statement is with the pronoun being “which”—read like this: I can do all things through Christ and the knowledge of that gives me strength. Of course, I know that all strength comes for the Lord, but that isn’t his purpose in these words. Paul is trying to tell us no matter what circumstances we are in (he was in prison when he wrote this) our reliance is on Christ, and our knowledge of “our sufficiency is of God” should keep us from faltering or being laden down with the cares of this life. The previous three verses explain what I mean. Phil.4:10-14 is a favorite passage which I depend on to keep my perspective. Hope it helps you, also.

Thanks for reading, the Elder