The Message

Scripture

Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. 

~James 3:1-3, MSG

Quote

“Every time the reverent heart reads the Bible, its words come fresh from the lips of God, always new.”

– D.L. Moody

I love reading modern translations and I also enjoy reading paraphrases like the Living Bible and the Message. If you have not read Corinthians and Romans in the Message, you should. I didn’t remember James being so good but I thoroughly enjoyed reading chapter three yesterday. A lot of preachers would take offence at Peterson’s spin on James three but not me. I think there is truth is what he says. A word may seem to be a small thing but so is a match, a bit or a rudder. One tiny match can ignite a forest fire that destroys thousands of acres. One small rudder can turn a ship that weights 100,000 tons. One careless misspoken word can do a lot of damage. It can destroy a friendship, a family or a fellowship. I like the way Peterson puts it, By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

I must confess, when I read that particular line, I thought about the democratic socialist party. I thought about all the propaganda being spewed daily across the air ways by CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC. I can promise you, a person who relies on the media for information is misinformed. They had done nothing but peddle fear and pandemonium for this last four months. Fear mongers are never God’s messengers. God is not the author of fear: that would be the devil. He is also behind the lies and the slander. Can you dip a cup into a mud hole and get fresh clean water? This is exactly what people are doing: the main stream media is the mud hole.

So what about my sin? Do I misspeak? Do I say things that are not accurate or true? Yes, I am afraid so. I try to apologize when I realize I am wrong but it is impossible for any human to get everything right. I will tell you this: preaching and teaching is an awesome responsibility and I don’t take it lightly. If God didn’t call you to preach, I would not be envious of those of us who do–we have to give an account for every misspoken word and we say a lot of words. So live well, live wisely and most of all live humbly.

I found out that Charlie Thompson had been promoted right after I posted yesterday’s blog, I tried to go back and edit the blog but was unable to do so. His Celebration of Life Service will be Saturday at 12:00 at Pecks. Visitation is from 10:00-12:00. Charlie lived life. He gave it all he had and he left nothing on the field. A lot of people will miss Charlie. I am grateful that he did not suffer long and took his departure very peacefully. Charlie was a true Patriot: he flies not one American Flag but a yard filled with flags. He was an avid Alabama fan. His den looks like a Bear Bryant Museum. Matter of fact, I think Charlie has more memorabilia than the real museum.

It is that time of year when lawn mowing is not that much fun. The thicker the sod, better I like to cut but when it gets dry and dusty, it becomes a chore even with a Gravely zero radius.

We had four rows of sweet corn in our last crop and strangely only one row produced and the coons found it. We’ve caught two opossums this year and no coons. The little devils can outsmart the traps.

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