"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go." ~ Dr. Seuss

Good morning and welcome to where we will be spending today working within the context of it being Wednesday, October 3, 2018. "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24. It was the summer before I became a freshman in high school when our neighbor, Mollie Self, retired school teacher, invited me over to her house. She had a huge library of books. She proposed that I would read a book, bring it back, and then get another one to read. She started me off with the Thomas B. Costain 1945 classic, 'The Black Rose'. That book was heady stuff for a young teen living in a small rural town. Here is the introduction to the book as provided by the publisher, "Walter of Gurnie, the illegitimate son of an English peer, is forced to flee from Oxford for his part in the university riots of 1273. Inspired by Friar Bacon, he determines to travel to China. With his friend Tristam, he fights his way to the heart of the fabulous Mongol Empire, and returns famous, to find that he must choose between the first love he thought lost and the exotic flower that he found in the East." I don't know how many other books I read, but, it was a large number. Mollie Self was a legendary teacher. The story went that her first love went overseas in WWI and was killed. She never sought another. She taught for some 50 years. She taught my mom, and later, my older brother and my sisters too. I would have had her in her final year in the 8th grade but they split the classes and I fell into Larry Gaskin's class. My loss. She lived across the field from our house. I've often wondered why she invited me to share her library. I thank God that she did. I can truthfully say she made a difference in my life.

One thing I have learned. I may not have always understood it as clearly as I learned, but, I am so thankful I finally got it. "I am not a self-made man." I've worked hard. I've applied myself. I've had many achievements in my life. However, whatever I am, have been, and am today has to do with God's provision in my life along with those He has used to help me along my way. I know all too well how easy it is to convince ourselves that we pulled ourselves up from our own bootstraps. Sorry. Wrong. It is only by the grace of God. Perhaps the most important truth we gain in our sojourn is when we unlearn things that reflect the world's viewpoint passed on as conventional wisdom. The Bible character Job, in commenting on the source of the suffering that had come upon him, had this to say, "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?" (Book of Job, Chapter 12, Verses 7-10) Our next breath, our next heartbeat depends on God. I can remember a time when I thought more highly of myself than I should. That thinking has its own set of consequences. Trust me on that one. I invite us all to recognize God's provision. (This beggar showing other beggars where he found food.) Amen.

I was talking with a fellow in our local congregation this past Sunday about trying to influence people with the truth God has given to us. He is a middle school teacher and when a student asks him how he is doing he responds by sharing how wonderfully blessed he feels. Some ask why he feels that way. He then asks if they really want to know and if they say yes he tells them because of the change Jesus has made in his life. This reminded me of a fellow in our local fellowship many years ago who said he wanted to talk to me. We met. He said he needed my advice. He then began to describe all the problems he was having with his wife. He had a long list of grievances. He asked what I thought he should do. I told him my thoughts are unimportant compared to what God thinks. I told him what God had taught me in my own marriage. I asked him if he wanted to know what God has to say. He said he did. I shared this admonition breathed out by God through the Apostle Paul, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ..."(Ephesians 5:25) We had a discussion about what this means. I could tell it was not what he wanted to hear. I very much understood that but, it was the truth I had learned and it was the truth he needed to hear. I told my brother in Christ last week that when people approach me to ask a question on the basis of me knowing the Bible I always confirm that I am willing to hear their question if they agree to hear my answer. And, God is the only one who can take His Word and bring about change. That's His work. ("For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah Chapter 55, Verses, 10-11   Amen. ....More later.