Which Version of the Bible Should I Use?

Use the version of the Bible you will read! I started my Christian walk 38 years ago using mostly the King James Version. I did so in part because I thought — and think — it is a very accurate translation. But eventuallyeth I-eth goteth tiredeth of myeth hardeth timeth readingeth iteth. I now use the New International Version most of the time, and there is a New King James Version close at hand. I still use the King James Version. Some passages just plain read better!

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah 55:1 KJV and other versions.

When I read Isaiah 55 in the KJV I hear poetry. In the NIV, it’s just prose to me.

“But aren’t you worried about missing the meanings of words, using a less accurate translation?” you may ask.

No. I have learned to rely on the Holy Spirit. Many times I have paused when prompted, and perhaps checked the verse in other versions. I meditate and think a bit, and I will come to understand the meaning in the original languages. This is part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
John 16:13 NIV

I begin all Bible reading and study sessions with a prayer where I touch my eyelids, ears and heart. I pray, “Thank you Lord, for opening these eyes to see by your Spirit (touching my eyelids), for opening these ears to hear by your Spirit (touching my ears), and for opening this heart to understand by your Spirit (touching my heart).” It works! It’s rather the inverse of this verse.

But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.
Deuteronomy 29:4 NIV

I learned about this part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit as a young Christian, when I read about Smith Wigglesworth. If you are unfamiliar with him, by all means read about him. He had a tremendous impact and a powerful ministry. It took me a long time to understand this quote of his.

“Some people read their Bibles in Hebrew, some in Greek; I like to read mine in the Holy Ghost.”

Smith Wigglesworth considered the original languages crude and inaccurate, compared to the teaching of the Holy Spirit Himself.  🙂

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

Uncommon Core

Back when America was great, local school boards hired and fired teachers. Laura Ingalls Wilder became a teacher at age 15. She had proved she knew the material. I bought the ebook edition of Little Town on the Prairie, so I could easily post excerpts from the book. I hope America can return to this way of education. Local people decide what they want their children to know, and then they hire the people that can teach. If it doesn’t work out, the locals fire the teacher and hire someone else.

Laura is one of the students who displays what she knows in the chapter, The School Exhibition.

Laura was not frightened. It did not seem real that she was standing in the dazzle of light, wearing her blue cashmere and reciting geography. It would be shameful to fail to answer, or to make a mistake, before all those people and Pa and Ma, but she was not frightened. It was all like a dream of being half-asleep, and all the time she was thinking, “America was discovered by Christopher Columbus—” She did not make one mistake in geography.

There was applause when that was over. Then came grammar. This was harder because there was no blackboard. It is easy enough to parse every word in a long, complex-compound sentence full of adverbial phrases, when you see the sentence written on slate or blackboard. It is not so easy to keep the whole sentence in mind and not omit a word nor so much as a comma. Still, only Nellie and Arthur made mistakes.

Once upon a time in American schools, the students didn’t need calculators. They didn’t even need paper and pencil! Note that Laura calls this short division.

Mental arithmetic was even harder. Laura disliked arithmetic. Her heart beat desperately when her turn came and she was sure she would fail. She stood amazed, hearing her voice going glibly through problems in short division. “Divide 347,264 by 16. Sixteen into 34 goes twice, put down 2 and carry 2; sixteen into 27 goes once, put down 1 and carry 11; sixteen into 112 goes seven times, put down 7 and carry naught; sixteen into 6 does not go, put down naught; sixteen into 64 goes 4 times, put down 4. Three hundred and forty-seven thousand, two hundred and sixty-four divided by sixteen equals—twenty-one thousand, seven hundred and four.”

Shame on me. I used the calculator app on my iPhone to check Laura’s answer.

Then Mr. Owen said, “Now we will listen to a review of the history of our country from its discovery to the present time, given by Laura Ingalls and Ida Wright. You may begin, Laura.”

The time had come. Laura stood up. She did not know how she got to the platform. Somehow she was there, and her voice began. “America was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa in Italy, had long sought permission to make a voyage toward the west in order to discover a new route to India. At that time Spain was ruled by the united crowns of—”

Skipping three paragraphs.

Then she was really launched upon the great history of America. She told of the new vision of freedom and equality in the New World, she told of the old oppressions of Europe and of the war against tyranny and despotism, of the war for the independence of the thirteen new States, and of how the Constitution was written and these thirteen States united. Then, taking up the pointer, she pointed to George Washington.

Skipping a few more paragraphs. I’m feeling a little angry at the American history Laura knew that I didn’t. By the time I was in public schools in the 1960’s and 70’s, the Powers That Be were well progressed on their plan to make the American people too ignorant to sustain the American republic. One key is to make sure Americans do not know real American history. They must not know that it takes bravery and sacrifice to win and maintain freedom. As a young Army officer I read American history books and learned many things I had not been taught. I talked about some of these things with my boss, a retired Army Command Sergeant Major. His four combat paratrooper jumps included parachuting into Normandy on D-Day, 1944. My new American history facts were old hat to him. He had been taught these things. In public school. In the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area. In the 1930’s and 1940’s. I was angry — and still am angry — that someone decided I didn’t need to know between 75% and 90% of what it really took — and takes — to make American freedom work. I looked in my children’s textbooks in the 1990’s and 2000’s. What they were taught wouldn’t have even been a decent coloring book of the 1930’s and 40’s. I really fear that as a nation, we are too ignorant of history to sustain the republic. God help us. He is the only solution.

Then came Monroe, who dared to tell all the older, stronger nations and their tyrants never again to invade the New World. Andrew Jackson went down from Tennessee and fought the Spanish and took Florida, then the honest United States paid Spain for it. In 1820 came hard times; all the banks failed, all business stopped, all the people were out of work and starving.

Skipping more paragraphs.

She laid down the pointer and bowed in the stillness. A loud crash of applause almost made her jump out of her skin. The noise grew louder and louder until she felt as if she must push against it to reach her seat. It did not stop even when at last she reached her place beside Ida and weakly sat down. It went on until Mr. Owen stopped it.

What happened the next day is told in the next chapter, Unexpected in December. Two men stop by Laura’s home.

“Lew Brewster, here, is looking for a teacher for the new school they are starting in their district. He came in to the School Exhibition last night. He figures that Laura’s the teacher they want, and I tell him he can’t do better.”

A few paragraphs later the county superintendent comes to her house.

The knock came at the door. Ma opened it. A large man, with a pleasant face and friendly manner, told her that he was Williams, the county superintendent.

“So you’re the young lady that wants a certificate!” he said to Laura. “There’s not much need to give you an examination. I heard you last night. You answered all the questions. But I see your slate and pencil on the table, so we might as well go over some of it.”

They sat together at the table. Laura worked examples in arithmetic, she spelled, she answered questions in geography. She read Marc Antony’s oration on the death of Caesar. She felt quite at home with Mr. Williams while she diagrammed sentences on her slate and rapidly parsed them.

Skipping ahead.

“There is no need to examine you in history,” he said. “I heard your review of history last night. I will cut your grades a little for I must not give you more than a third grade certificate until next year. May I have the use of pen and ink?” he asked Ma.

“They are here at the desk,” Ma showed him.

He sat at Pa’s desk and spread a blank certificate on it. For moments there was no sound but the faint scratch of his sleeve on the paper as he wrote. He wiped the pen-point on the wiper, corked the ink bottle again, and stood up.

“There you are, Miss Ingalls,” he said. “Brewster asked me to tell you that the school opens next Monday. He will come for you Saturday or Sunday, depending on the looks of the weather. You know it is twelve miles south of town?”

“Yes, sir. Mr. Brewster said so,” Laura replied.

“Well, I wish you good luck,” he said cordially.

“Thank you, sir,” Laura answered.

When he had said good day to Ma and gone, they read the certificate.

That’s how it was done, back in the day. Local people decided what they wanted their children to know. Then they hired and fired teachers to teach their children. May those days return!

---

Excerpts From: Laura Ingalls Wilder. “Little Town on the Prairie.” HarperCollinsPublishers, 2016-02-12. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Has the rapture happened?
   You can still be saved and go to heaven!
---
Are you following God's plan for your life?    
   You should.
     Your plan is not going to work. 
     It is a really, really bad plan. 
     Please come to Jesus to escape your plan! 

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I am honestly jealous of you if you haven’t read The Chronicles of Narnia by Clive Staples Lewis. You have the joy of reading them for the first time in front of you. I don’t. Somewhat unwillingly, on the advice of a college friend, I read the first of these so-called “Children’s books,” The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. 48 hours later I had wolfishly consumed all seven, electing to stay up all night to finish the last four! They are delightful, and have meaning for adults as well as children. Good old C.S. managed to cram a lot of solid theology into a delicious, easy-to-digest banquet.

Put them on your bucket list if you haven’t read them, and check it off before you kick the bucket.

I took my volume of all seven stories off the shelf to reread The Last Battle recently, after Facebook did to me what it sometimes does. In that Facebook session I encountered article after article after article of people, seemingly willfully, doing everything they could to tick God off and hasten their own destruction. I was somewhat bummed out. The Last Battle is C.S.’s allegory of evil, deception, and the end of the age. In the book evil thinks it is winning, but in the end it is sadly mistaken. I reread the book to clean the end-time prophetic glasses I choose to wear to view the world and its events.

Put reading The Chronicles of Narnia on your bucket list if you haven’t read them.

Which story is my favorite? Tough call. The one I’ve probably read the most times is The Horse and His Boy, but The Silver Chair and The Last Battle aren’t far behind. I recommend all seven very highly!

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

The Shepherd of the Hills

My 150 shelf-feet of books have shrunk drastically in recent years, as a result of my rather nomadic life. But I still tote around two books by one of my favorite authors, Harold Bell Wright. From the wikipedia page.

Harold Bell Wright (May 4, 1872 – May 24, 1944) was a best-selling American writer of fiction, essays, and nonfiction.^[1] Although mostly forgotten or ignored after the middle of the 20th century, he is said to have been the first American writer to sell a million copies of a novel and the first to make $1 million from writing fiction.^{[citation needed]} Between 1902 and 1942 Wright wrote 19 books,^[2] several stage plays, and many magazine articles. More than 15 movies were made or claimed to be made from Wright’s stories, including Gary Cooper‘s first major movie, The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926)^[2] and the John Wayne film The Shepherd of the Hills (1941).

There are several things I like about his books. They tend to be rather romantic, with happy endings. I don’t mind that. The Bible itself ends well for the saved. But it is not a standard formula in his books. The hero doesn’t always get the girl. In one of his books one of the good guys chooses to risk his life to help one of the bad guys, and dies as a result. I think he wrote with an internal eternal perspective, and is now a citizen of heaven.

I think what I liked the most about his writing was I learned people haven’t really changed, just our technology has. I somehow had the impression as a youngster that people were different before TVs, radios and refrigerators. HBW taught me they were not. Some of his observations of people have stayed sharp in my mind for 40 years, like this gem:

For the legal aspect of the case, James Rutlidge had all the indifference of his kind, who imbibe contempt for law with their mother’s milk.

That could be said of some people in Facebook posts today, eh? You didn’t need a cell phone to be a dirtbag.

His most well-known book is The Shepherd of the Hills. I have seen modern reprints of this book for sale in Christian bookstores. To my complete surprise, I find I prefer reading electronic books on my iPad instead of the paperback versions. The iPad is a little heavier, but my thumbs don’t get sore from holding the book open. Plus, my eyes became operational when Ike was president, and need brighter light for reading now than in times past. The iPad supplies its own light. 🙂 The Shepherd of the Hills is available as a free download at Gutenberg. I suggest you read it if you haven’t.

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

Bible Reading & Bible Study

When I first thought about this post I thought it would be about the superiority of Bible study over mere Bible reading. I’m not so sure anymore. For me, Bible study is Bible reading with a large notebook open, and pen handy to write notes, verses, related verses, categories, items for prayer, and so on. When a thought strikes, I may spend a lot of time searching and studying related passages for additional understanding. It is a very valuable process. I learn a lot. But I don’t necessarily cover very much of the Bible in a given amount of time. I’m starting to think I need to spend more time just reading the Bible, to simply read lots of its words. The only notebook I should allow myself to have open is my pocket notebook, to capture only the most important thoughts.

Which brings me to The One Year Bible. For each of the 365 days of the year, it has slices of the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament. After a year, you will have read the entire Bible. It only needs one bookmark to read the whole Bible in a year. If you miss a day, week, or month (been there) just go to today’s reading. Forgive yourself, forget the past and press on to the future. As someone (*) has said, “If you miss a goal, cut it in half and start over.” If you don’t have a regular Bible reading system, I suggest you get a copy of The One Year Bible (OYB) and use it. I’m on my 3rd copy. (I’m just a satisfied customer. I’m not getting paid to write this.) First I used a King James OYB for over a year. I can see now that it was “training wheels” for regular Bible study. When I was a young Christian I was lazy. It seemed that moving 4 place marks would be too difficult. The OYB worked nicely. Eventually I got tired of not being able to easily find passages I had read recently, and I moved to a “real” Bible. I found that moving 4 place mark ribbons wasn’t that difficult at all. 🙂

Then there was a dark time in my life, and I fell out of daily Bible reading and study. When I knew I needed to get going again, I bought a NIV OYB. I used it to get going again. I recently bought another NIV OYB to get going again, to come out of my recent time in the desert. (My previous NIV OYB was left behind somewhere in my many post-separation address changes.)

Do I need to use the phrase, “get going again,” again? Remember, what is not doing something you know you should do called? That’s right. Sin.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Make straight paths for your feet,” the Bible says. That is, make it easy for you to do what you need to do. The OYB is an excellent tool for reading the Bible in a year.

---

I left this post in draft a couple days, to see how I would end it. I am now using the OYB for daily reading, only allowing myself to use my pocket notebook to record the most important of notes and thoughts. I feel I am to continue to use the OYB to just simply read the Bible in a year, and use my “real” Bible and notebook for the in-depth study I so enjoy. Yet another time a post has turned out quite differently from how I imagined it. Writing is a cool way to meditate.

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(*) When I heard him speak at ALFC, William Van Crouch said, “If you miss a goal, cut it in half and start again.” The quotes in this post vary; I don’t remember his exact words. The 1980’s were some time ago. 🙂 Three other things he said I have repeated often:

“We lived so far back in the woods we had to go towards town to hunt.”

“I came from such a large family, I never slept alone until I got married.”

(On being the chaplain for a pro sports team, the Chicago Bears IIRC.) “You think you have problems. Try getting a bunch of young, healthy millionaires to go to bed at 10 PM.”

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

What Does Greater Mean?

It means greater. I’ve heard all kinds of people try to explain how Jesus didn’t mean what he said in this verse. I believe they are wrong. I think Jesus said what He meant, and meant what He said.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 NIV

“Even greater things.” Interesting. Very interesting. You know it’s happened, right? In my opinion, Joshua and Moses both did greater works than Jesus! Joshua made the sun stand still. Jesus never did that. IMO Joshua did a greater work than Jesus.

On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel:

   “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
      and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” 
   So the sun stood still,
      and the moon stopped,
   till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a human being. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!
                           Joshua 10:12-14 NIV

My man Mo made the waters of the sea stand up in a heap on either side. Again, IMO, a greater work than Jesus did during His earthly ministry.

   Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 
   Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 
   Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
                   Exodus 14:15-22 NIV

In the past 100 years, I think there are people that have done greater things than Jesus did when he walked on earth. For example, as a young Christian I read a story of a widow who did what I consider a greater work than Jesus. Jesus rebuked a storm and it became calm. She made a tornado miss her farm. It’s a close call, but I think she did the greater work. The black, swirling, evil twister was barreling straight towards her farm and buildings. Ignoring the pleas of others to get in the root cellar, she grabbed her Bible and ran towards the beast. Her hair and clothes ruffling in the wind, she shouted at the tornado that it had to obey the Word of God. She shouted specific dominion and protection verses at it. Standing her ground to almost the point of death, at the last moment the tornado lifted. It stayed in the air over her property, damaging nothing. It descended again immediately when it cleared her property. It continued gobbling up the countryside for miles.

I think these are days that require greater works than Jesus. Evil has better technology now. Nukes instead of swords. The devil and his gang no doubt have planned some spectacular, dastardly outrages – that God will stop! Philip and Jesus and his posse were both suddenly transported a great distance. Are you ready to be instantly translated somewhere to tell an nuclear weapon it’s not going to go off, or tell an earthquake it’s not going to happen? The need for such actions may occur.

The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Daniel 11:32 KJV

Check this out: Henry Gruver: Fallen Angels Chained Beneath Streets of Rome!

In the ultimate sense, can we do greater works than Jesus? No. It is a tough act to follow, the Dude who created the universe. Of course his total acts are greater!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
From ‭‭John‬ ‭1:1-14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

But Jesus decided to be the ultimate example of the Golden Rule, to do as you would have done to you. He knew that if He needed a savior, it would be really cool if someone stepped up to the plate and saved Him. He saw mankind needed a savior, so He did what He would have wanted done for Him if He needed it. He emptied Himself and took on our form.

Whoooop! Whoooop! Whoooop! Warning buzzers and lights went off in heaven. “Warning, all creation that loves God! God is now running on two-thirds power! The Father is full power, the Spirit is full power, but the Son is empty!” Whoooop! Whoooop! Whoooop!

Pause and ponder. I don’t claim to understand all of this. But it seems to me that Jesus, during His ministry on earth about 2000 years ago, was like a sinless version of Elijah or Elisha of the Old Teatment. Jesus is fully man and fully God, but he chose to empty Himself. During his time on earth back in the day, he chose not to have His “God Superpowers.” He operated as just a man, doing miracles not by his own God powers, but only by the Spirit’s. He operated just like Elijah or Elisha. He did a better job because he hadn’t screwed up and sinned.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 NIV

Greater works, because. Greater works, because. Greater works, because.

When Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection He refilled Himself with His “God Superpowers.” Whoooop! Whoooop! Whoooop! “Attention, all creation! God is now running on full power again! The Father is full power, the Spirit is full power, and the Son is full power! Glory be to our God!” Whoooop! Whoooop! Whoooop!

Greater works, because. Greater works, because. Greater works, because Jesus is full-power God again! 

Are you preparing to be used for greater works than Jesus did in his earthly ministry? These two verses are key.

“Apart from me you can do nothing.”
John‬ ‭15:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
John 14:12 NIV

Friends, it ain’t about us. The place of power is knowing we bring absolutely nothing to the party, but God wants a big party anyway.  🙂

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.

George Washington Carver

I believe every school child in America should study and understand the life of George Washington Carver. Though the man never even knew his birthday, his life has had a profound impact for good on mine. In a modern history book the author penned the opinion that GWC’s life counted for little, that his discoveries on the uses of the components of peanuts and other plants are now technologically moot. That blind, gnat-straining, camel-swallowing fool! George’s main contributions were to show people – by living example – how they should behave, and how they can put feet under their beliefs. GWC is rather forgotten today. I would like to see him return to his rightful place in American history.

GWC taught an entire generation to do the best with whatever they had. I am very good at making useful items from things most people throw away. Thank you, George, for encouraging me to try to think creatively.

George couldn’t be bought. He never got around to cashing many of his paychecks. In the nineteen-teens he turned down a six-figure offer to work in industry, believing God wanted him to continue teaching in the poor south. I believe money is a good tool, but a cruel master. Thank you, George, for helping me think this way.

George was a true scientist. He approached his work with the attitude and prayer, “Mr. Creator, what are you trying to teach me today?” His students knew that was the source of his great accomplishments. Without this focus on the eternal, man creates leaded gasoline, CFCs, Chernobyl and Fukushima. I believe much of “science” is directly inspired by principalities and powers of spiritual wickedness. For example, I believe compact fluorescent light bulbs are demonically-inspired hand grenades to spread deadly mercury in the environment. Any thinking person knows these bulbs break when dropped, explode in fires, get smashed in tornadoes, and will simply be thrown in the trash by many lazy Americans, to put mercury in the groundwater. No thinking person who expects to give an account of his or her life to the Almighty could ever be a party to the destruction of the earth by compact fluorescent light bulbs. Science must be done in partnership with God. Science without God is deadly. Thank you, GWC, for showing me how I should begin each workday.

George could crochet. He taught me it’s ok for a man to like flowers and other “girl things.”

George had no ego. He bragged about the accomplishments of those under him. Taking his cue, I made it a habit to discuss the achievements of those under me to my boss, while all parties were present. I was to discover this is perhaps the single greatest motivational technique anyone can use – brag about what people do right! Thanks, George, I couldn’t have done it without you!

I won’t take the time to discuss George’s musical talents and how he used them. Sadly, I haven’t done much with my musical talent. While I own a piano, a flute, two guitars, and can carry a tune in a bucket if it has a tight, well-fitting lid, I mostly only play mp3’s. Musical instruments are my exercise stepper in the corner of the bedroom, unused except as a clothes rack.

When the Almighty plays back the tape of my life, there are many events I’m looking forward to seeing again. One happened on my family’s automobile journey from Ft. Bliss, Texas, to Ft. Gordon, Georgia, while I was in the Army. Though a few miles off the direct route, we detoured to visit the GWC museum. Being rather pressed for time, I herded my family from display to display, often giving soliloquies on details not mentioned. We left. My mind being what it is, I reviewed the tour in detail while continuing the trip to Ft. Gordon. I was surprised to realize I had received wondering stares. I am not racist. I have been known to be able to recall all kinds of details about a person, except for skin color. It took me some time to realize they don’t get many 6′ 3″ lilly-white-dude visitors with curator-grade knowledge of my friend, George Washington Carver. I was like a white unicorn to their eyes.

Are you following God's plan for your life? 
   You should.
      Your plan sucks.
      It really, really sucks.
      Suckage Maximus.

Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Jesus is coming.
   Are you ready to meet Him?
   Give your life to Jesus Christ.
   Time is running out.