Bible, Food from the

   An old man once said, "For a long period, I puzzled myself about the difficulties of Scripture, until at last I came to the resolution, that reading the Bible was like eating fish. When I find a difficulty, I lay it aside, and call it a bone. Why should I choke over the bone when there is so much nutritious meat for me? Some day, perhaps, I may find that even the bone may afford me nourishment."

See:  Psalm 119:97; Jeremiah 15:16; Hebrews 4:12

Walking Like a Pigeon

   Have you ever wondered why a pigeon walks so funny? According to an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press, a pigeon walks the way it does so it can see where it's going. Because it can't adjust its focus as it moves, the pigeon actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. This is the way it walks: head forward, stop; head back, stop. Don't laugh -- that's how it goes!
   In our spiritual walk with the Lord we have the same problem as the pigeon. We have a hard time seeing while we're moving. We also need to stop between steps -- to refocus on where we are in relation to the World and the will of God. That's not to say we have to stop and pray and meditate about every little decision in life. But certainly our walk with the Lord needs to have built into it a pattern of "stops," which enable us to see more clearly before moving on.

See:  Judg 18:5; 1 Sam 14:36; Psa 46:10

Slipping into the Center

   Richard Foster quotes a favorite author of mine, Thomas Kelly:
   "We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow.... We have hints that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we could slip over into that Center!... We have seen and known some people who have found this deep Center of living, where the fretful calls of life are integrated, where No as well as Yes can be said with confidence."
   Kelly says it well; if only we could slip over into that Center!

See:  Luke 10:41-42; John 14:27

A look into my garden

   H.P. Barker gives a graphic illustration that points up the need for both knowing and applying the Bible's truths.
   As I looked out into the garden one day, I saw three things. First, I saw a butterfly. The butterfly was beautiful, and it would alight on a flower and then it would flutter to another flower and then to another, and only for a second or two it would sit and it would move on. It would touch as many lovely blossoms as it could, but derived absolutely no benefit from it. Then I watched a little longer out my window and there came a botanist. And the botanist had a big notebook under his arm and a great big magnifying glass. The botanist would lean over a certain flower and he would look for a long time and then he would write notes in his notebook. He was there for hours writing notes, closed them, stuck them under his arm, tucked his magnifying glass in his pocket and walked away. The third thing I noticed was a bee, just a little bee. But the bee would light on a flower and it would sink down deep into the flower and it would extract all the nectar and pollen that it could carry. It went in empty every time and came out full.

   -- A. Naismith, 1200 Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes (Chicago: Moody, 1962), p. 15.

See:  Josh 1:8; Psa 1:1-3; Psa 119:99; Col 3:16

Never Too Late

   If I had only forgotten future greatness and looked at the green things and reached out to those around me and smelled the air and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations and heard the rain on my roof and put my arms around my wife -- Perhaps it's not too late.

   -- Hugh Prather, Notes to Myself.

See:  1 Pet 1:24-25

The Deepest Joy

   John R. W. Stott once admitted the truth that many of us have felt but failed to confess: "The thing I know will give me the deepest joy -- namely, to be alone and unhurried in the presence of God, aware of His presence, my heart open to worship Him -- is often the thing I least want to do."

See:  Psa 34:8-10; Psa 27:4; Psa 119:97

Slow Me Down, Lord

   Slow me down, Lord.
   Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
   Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
   Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
   Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
   Teach me the art of taking minute vacations -- of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to smile at a child, to read a few lines from a good book.
   Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values, that I may grow toward my greater destiny.
   Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
   Let me look upward to the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well.

   -- Orin L. Crain

See:  Psa 1:2; Psa 4:4; Psa 63:6

Souls lagging behind

   From Mrs. Lettie Cowman's wonderful book, Springs in the Valley (pp. 196-197), comes this interesting tale from African colonial history:
   In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.
   Then Mrs. Cowman concludes with this penetrating exhortation:
   This whirling rushing life which so many of us live does for us what that first march did for those poor jungle tribesmen. The difference: they knew what they needed to restore life's balance; too often we do not.
   It is incredible to realize that Lettie Cowman wrote these words almost fifty years ago.

See:  Matt 11:28-30; Heb 4:1-16

The Devil's Day Off?

   I smiled recently when I read about an angry church member who blustered up to his minister, saying, "I phoned you Monday, but I couldn't get you." The preacher explained that it was his day off. "What? A day off? The devil never takes a day off!" exclaimed the member with holier-than-thou indignation. "That's right, " said the minister, "and if I didn't take any 'time out,' I would be just like him!"
   Yes, we do need to rest. As Vance Havner used to say, "If we don't come apart, we'll come apart!"

See:  Mark 6:31

Greek Motto

   There is an old Greek motto that says:
   You will break the bow if you keep it always bent.

See:  Psa 37:7; Ex 18:13-24

Traveling Too Fast

   Several years ago, newspapers told how a new Navy jet fighter shot itself down. Flying at supersonic speed, it ran into cannon shells it had fired only a few seconds before. The jet was traveling too fast!
   You are also traveling too fast, if you don't have time to worship God in regular church services, if you don't have time to read the Bible, if you don't have time to pray.
   If you're neglecting any of these, you're probably traveling too fast to hear the sound of God's voice. You can't tell whether you are in the center of His will. Better slow down before, like the jet, you shoot yourself down.

See:  Acts 1:14; Acts 2:42-43; Acts 18:5

Call Time Out

   I wasted an hour one morning beside a mountain stream,
   I seized a cloud from the sky above and fashioned myself a dream,
   In the hush of the early twilight, far from the haunts of men,
   I wasted a summer evening, and fashioned my dream again.
   Wasted? Perhaps. Folk say so who never have walked with God,
   When lanes are purple with lilacs and yellow with goldenrod.
   But I have found strength for my labors in that one short evening hour.
   I have found joy and contentment; I have found peace and power.
   My dreaming has left me a treasure, a hope that is strong and true.
   From wasted hours I have built my life and found my faith anew.

See:  Matt 14:23; Mark 1:35