4/10/2019
Studying for upcoming bible classes is an inexact practice. Does that sound weird? Probably, a little. But, what I mean by inexact is this: seldom does the outline of a message from God’s word ever flow out of the deliverer’s mouth with the same thoughts and reasoning which caused the outline to be written in the first place. Why would that be? Because the messenger is not to stand and deliver his own message, but the message of Him Who called the messenger to stand and deliver.
Several years ago, I began to notice that when I studied Scripture, I would shortly feel “full”—as if I had eaten a huge meal which, of course, I had. But, it was really terrific “food” and made me eager to get back to it whenever I could take in more. But, one of the 3 evil detriments to excellence (laziness) would set in and it became so that I would run for days on the fuel of that one study session (meal). I hope you are not like that. Become better than that in your personal study. I’ve often mentioned some of my strange methodology in study, but deep down, never believed anyone else should follow most of it. So don’t—get better study habits than me.
Back to what’s coming up: This weekend, in round Rock, TX, the bible conference will be done just a little differently. The group there has asked one other preacher(Brother Steve Atwood) and me to each do several classes, the intention being to give us the privilege of carrying a thought or doctrine or subject to a further conclusion than what can be done in one message. I’m honored to be put into that position, I’m praying and studying (in a mostly satiated way) that it will be worthwhile to those who attend.
SIMH this morning (I might add early this morning), is “Here We Go Again”—by Ray Charles—that was what was in my head, but especially like the version compiled for his voice with Nora Jones. Wonderful blues song about making the same mistake over and over. Ever do that? Maybe you’ve escaped that little problem. May be, may be.
In the business world, my partners and I have come to a conclusion we wish we had not ever seen: the plastics industry has got to be the most unstable in all the world! We must buy containers of various sizes, shapes and configurations. From 16.9oz. all the way up to 5gal. capacity we find little uniformity. For instance, the manufacturer of most containers is not the supplier of the lids for said containers—is it just me? or is that weird? That’s weird.
Also, since containers do not weigh very much, shipping a few or a truckload seems to be hard for anyone to get a grip on and do consistently: order today, pay one price, order a few days from now, it may be twice as much. Next time, you decide to buy twice as many and shipping costs might just go another direction, OR they might just say, we can’t ship that way, anymore. Strange things happen in the plastics industry. So, if anyone out there wants to get innovative on something, take on the plastic water jug containers. If you can figure it out, you might hit the 21st Century’s greatest “home run” yet!
My teams didn’t fare well in the two post season basketball tournaments. I did really enjoy watching Purdue, Auburn, and Texas Tech do extremely well in the NCAA. And, actually, I thought Duke did very well considering the “Player of the Year” had missed several games just before the Tournament began. (Basketball excellence is based upon all moving parts of the team performing with a near perfect precision against other excellent players trained to do the exact same thing—become the best conditioned and practiced machine in the game.) I didn’t see all the games, but I enjoyed what I saw of both tournaments.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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