Journal #7

For today... Wednesday, November 11

A Memory from Last Week: The weather was so warm! I went for a walk over one of the bridges last week after work. It might be the last time this year, before the snow and cold comes.

Looking Forward to This Week: Nothing extraordinary is going on, but that's okay. I enjoy having a quiet week too.

Bible Thought for Today: He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32) Romans 8 is one of my favourite chapters.

Picture for Today: We've had some beautiful autumn weather this week, and the girls and Isaac took the opportunity to rake the leaves in the backyard.

The Pin

A friend of mine wrote this true story...

The flea market seemed to be the new favourite place to visit. Almost every Saturday or Sunday, you could see her there, making her way down each aisle. She stopped every now and again, picking up some ugly forgotten object and looking it over.

I remember going with her once. She seemed to find an amusing pleasure in plastic-faced clowns with fabric bodies. As she held one up for me to view, I stated my opinion on the hideous thing, and she just chuckled, actually considering the purchase of it.

I remember the birthday gift I received from her that year, not because it was from the flea market, or because it was gaudy and had missing fake diamonds, or even because of the plastic bag she gave it to me in. I remember it because of my reaction to it. I took the gift, the tarnished pin, and stared at it, not quite sure what my reaction should be. I felt insulted and hurt. How could she give me something so used and cheap? Didn’t I mean more to her than that? Is this all I was worth, an old pin from the flea market?

As I look at it today and remember the thoughts and feelings I had when she gave it to me, I feel deep regret and shame.

Because now I know she selected the pin for me out of tremendous love, and because she knew what and who I loved. When she saw that old tattered pin that spelled the name of Jesus, she thought of me, her daughter.

God's Truth Is Better

John 17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

This week, the Lord gave me this object lesson about how God's truth is even better than man's truth.

What kinds of books do we have that we trust to be accurate?

First, we have a telephone book. We use a telephone book to look up people's phone numbers, and we trust it to tell us the right thing. But what if someone moved away? Then the book would be wrong about them. But the Bible is truth, and is right anywhere we are. Even if we moved across the ocean, the Bible would still be true.

We also use encyclopedia encyclopedias to find out information about all kinds of things. We usually trust an encyclopedia, because the people who wrote it knew a lot about what they wrote. But what if the encyclopedia was written 50 years ago, and I wanted to know about something that happened recently? Encyclopedias have to be updated once in awhile. But the Bible never has to be updated. It's still true now like it was 1,000 years ago. It can still help us whether we're old or young, and still shows us the right way to go.

What about a dictionary? We trust a dictionary to tell us what words mean. But languages change, and eventually words can mean different things than they used to. However, God never changes what He means. He is always the same, and we can always trust His Word.

No matter where we are, when we live, or how old the Bible is, it will still be true. We trust many books that man has written, including dictionaries, telephone books, and encyclopedias, even though we know they aren't perfect. How much more can we trust God's perfect Word?

Why Even Bother?

Kenton smacked his fist into his baseball glove. "Ready, Ian?" he called behind him.

Hearing no answer, he turned to see what the other boys were up to. Wendell and Elliot were laughing, and Ian was standing by, watching. One of the younger boys, Bradley, turned his face away.

"Like this." Elliot squinted hard and made a mighty swing with an invisible bat. Then he turned back, watching the imaginary ball whiz by.

Bradley looked miserable, and, stuffing his hands in his pockets, shuffled off the other direction.

"Hey, are you making fun of him?" Kenton exclaimed. "Stop it."

The boys looked sheepish and jogged out to the field.

Ian lagged behind with Kenton. "Haven't you noticed that Bradley can't see that great? He does a lot of squinting too."

"Yeah, but he's not going to wear glasses if everyone makes fun of them," Kenton pointed out. "I think he actually has a pair, but doesn't like wearing them."

"I guess he does," Ian agreed slowly. "And it wasn't nice to tease him, anyway. I'd better say I'm sorry, even if I wasn't actually doing it. I could have tried to stop it." It didn't take him long to catch up with Bradley's shuffle, and he started talking earnestly to the younger boy.

Kenton walked over just before they started picking teams. "Hey, Bradley, want to use my old glove?" he offered.

"Thanks. I do like your glove, especially since mine's too small now." Bradley took the glove with a grin.

The teams were soon organized, and the game started.

"Awesome day," Ian remarked as he and Kenton headed outfield. "It's a good thing Bro. Stevens picked this evening, 'cause there won't be many more."

Kenton agreed. "And everybody from youth group came out, so we have enough for teams. Although, I kind of like scrubb better because nobody loses."

The game started. The first inning, no one scored. Then the teams kept the scores even for a time.

Halfway through the game, Kenton was stationed on third base when Bradley came up to bat. He stepped up nervously.

Twice, he swung at the ball and missed. The third time he hit a foul. He gripped the bat tighter and swung hard at the next. Missed!

A groan went up from his team. "Give him another one," someone called. "He's the youngest anyway."

"Sure," Bro. Stevens agreed. Kenton didn't expect a hit, but the bat connected, sending the ball forward a few feet. By the time the pitcher had retrieved it, the runners were safely on bases - all the bases were occupied.

Virginia batted next, and hit on her second try - straight toward Kenton.

Kenton dove for it, and landed on the ground, with the ball in his glove. He reached over and touched his base, then threw it toward second.

"Great! Three outs!" Ian congratulated him.

But Virginia didn't move from her spot on first. The other runners stood where they were.

"It's our bat," Ian said, edging toward the bench and waiting for Virginia to do the same.

"No," Virginia contradicted. "The ball hit the ground, so Kenton didn't really catch it. Kendra was running to third, so she's out, but the rest aren't. They got to base on time."

Kenton glanced at his sister Kendra. "I'm out for sure," she said.

"I kind of think he caught the ball," Wendell said.

Bro. Stevens looked toward Kenton. "What do you think?" he asked. "I missed that."

Kenton thought fast. He was quite sure he had, but there was a chance it had touched the ground at some point. Everyone else seemed to think he had, so if he said so, three runners would be out. But maybe Virginia was right. And Elliot was on deck, so he'd probably bat them all home and they'd be four points ahead. It would be hard to catch up.

"Hey, Kenton, don't you know whether you caught the ball?" Ian asked. "Do you really have to decide?"

"No," Kenton said with a sigh. "No, it maybe did hit the ground. Keep going." He felt as if he was sacrificing the entire game. He still thought he'd caught it. But that little doubt kept him from saying positively. I guess I'd rather lose the game on a clear conscience than cheat, even if it's unintentional, he thought. And maybe Virginia would appreciate that.

When the game ended, Kenton's team lost. "That was a good game," he said to Bradley. Bradley just nodded. "Thanks for lending your glove," he said, and handed it back. Then he ran off toward the church building.

Kenton slowly followed. He had a feeling that Bradley didn't appreciate the sacrifice he'd made. His team won because Kenton admitted to not catching the ball. And he'd been extra nice to him this evening too, stopping the boys from teasing him and lending him his glove. A couple other boys would have asked for a chance on his glove if he'd let them. Come to think of it, Virginia could be thankful that he agreed with her over his teammates, too, but she was nowhere in sight.

His older sister Kendra fell in step beside him. "Kenton, that was really nice of you to let us win," she said.

"Did you see me catch it?" Kenton felt hopeful.

"No, but you could've said you had, even if you thought you hadn't. Everyone was ready to believe it."

"Don't tell them, but I really think I did catch it," Kenton said. "I'm just not 100% sure."

"Well, don't worry about it. It was just a game, and we all had fun. I'm sure God doesn't care who won or lost, He just cares about our attitudes."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go in for that snack." Kenton quickened his step.


A couple weeks later, Bro. Stevens arranged to have a bowling night. "Each of you will bring five dollars to help with the cost," he told them.

The boys discussed the night eagerly. That is, all except Joseph.

"What's wrong, Joseph, don't you like bowling?" asked Bradley.

"Yeah, I do, but I can't go."

"Why not?"

"I don't have any money, and my dad won't be able to afford it either."

"Maybe Bro. Stevens will let you come anyway," suggested Elliot. "I hope so."

Kenton agreed. Bro. Stevens could probably spare an extra five dollars. But then, the more he thought about it, so could he.

But an adult would have lots more money than I've got, I'm sure, he thought. I'll ask Dad.

Dad listened as Kenton explained the situation. "Well, Son, I was going to pay for you, of course, but wouldn't you like to pay for Joseph yourself?"

"Well, I guess I could, but you have more money. Can't you?"

"It's your idea, and you'll get a blessing out of it if you do."

Kenton frowned. "Don't you want the blessing, Dad?"

Dad smiled. "And let you miss out?"

"Okay, I'll do it," Kenton agreed. "I'm sure Joseph will be happy."

And Joseph was happy. The smile came back to his face when Bro. Stevens told him that he could come after all. His five-dollar fee had been paid. "Thank you, Bro. Stevens!" he exclaimed. But he didn't ask who had paid it, and Kenton watched him the rest of the morning after Sunday school. He shared his news with all the boys, and they seemed to take it for granted that Bro. Stevens had paid for him.

Kenton clenched his teeth together and finally turned away. So Joseph didn't care either. Why did he even bother doing anything for other people?

On the way home, he sat quietly in the back seat by Kendra. "What's wrong, Kenton?" Dad asked finally.

"Oh, not much, just Joseph didn't even ask who'd paid for him and thank me," Kenton replied.

"Well, just tell everybody about it, then," Kendra said. "Virginia bought Serena an ice cream cone one time when we all were having one but she didn't have the money. Then Serena made sure to tell everybody about it. She made such a big deal out of it that I was tired of hearing of it, and I know Virginia was. She got thanked and praised a lot of times, but I don't think she really enjoyed it. I think she was kind of embarrassed."

The smile began to return to Kenton's face. "You're right, Kendra. People don't have to make a big deal about it. Especially when God knows and I know He's pleased. I just forget about that sometimes."

"And don't forget what the Bible says about the Pharisees," Dad reminded them. "'They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.'"

"When they should have loved God's praise," Kenton finished.

Separated Unto the Gospel

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

(Romans 1:1)

Have you heard the story about the brothers who spent a lot of time quarreling, and the father decided to teach them a lesson about unity? He gave them a bundle of sticks, and challenged them to break it. They couldn't, so he took the bundle apart and asked them to break the individual sticks. Of course, the brothers could do it easily.

As Christians, we need to be separated from the world. We shouldn't go everywhere the world goes. We shouldn't use all the words the world uses. We shouldn't put on all the clothes the world puts on. We shouldn't listen to all the music the world listens to. We are different.

But when we're separated from the world, sometimes it seems as if we're standing alone. And standing alone, it's easy to fall. We must be separated to something - have someone to identify ourselves with.

Paul said he was separated unto the gospel of God. When we are with God, then we are strong. He will give us the strength to stand. And although the world and the devil are strong, they are no match for God.

When it seems as if you're standing alone, remember that you don't have to, because...

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
(1 John 4:4)