What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Friday, September 6, 2013

Early Sunday Message

I confess to struggling lately.  Struggling in my Bible reading, in my morning prayers, in my turning things over to God.  Lately, I've known the piper was due to be paid; in my prayers, I could sense a bit of God's back facing me.  Sure enough, here we are.  A crappy day at work that I probably could have handled better, a short day (a nooner, to go with Tuesday off because our customer is about two weeks away from letting the dogs loose) just to help NEXT weeks paycheck (If anyone can explain to me why some idiot invented the 2-week pay cycle, let me know)... but the real problem was me.  I stubbornly paid a non-late bill I could have waited on.  I bought those mixed beers last week, and talked KC into going out.  And now... I'm completely tapped out.  And Laurie is close.  So we have Ye Olde Liquidity Problem yet again.

So tonight as Scrappy and I walked, I got down to real praying.  Apologizing for my distance, confessing my failures in every area I could think of, not asking for any miracles, just asking for forgiveness.  And it felt good, but it wasn't quite complete.  Do you want to know how I know God listens?  The thing that my atheist friends refuse to understand? 

Before we left, the TV was on Andy Griffith.  The episode was the one where an out-of-town businessman got cheesed because Andy hauled him back to Mayberry to pay a fine.  He set his lawyer to get Andy back, and he sent his paralegal, a young lady posing as a college student, to worm Andy's "deep dark secrets" out of Barney.

Barney obliged in his usual "in my expert opinion" way, and Andy got hauled before a state commissioner to answer charges he was unfit.  Of course, Barney's heartfelt testimony saved Andy, and afterwards Barney hesitantly put out his hand, seeking forgiveness, and Andy shook it.  I told myself that this would be an excellent "frustration bone":  something I could chew on as to why Andy ALWAYS let Barney get away with that crap, and use that to take out the day's frustration.

So, as I ended the prayer (or so I thought), I stirred my mind to debate why Andy would shake his hand instead of, say, telling him, "Y'know, Barn, we've known each other a long time, but..."

And suddenly it came to me:  Andy shook the hand because he KNOWS Barney, that it's just the way that Barney is and isn't likely to change- and that's enough.  His friendship is more valuable that any harm Barney could do to it.

It's easy to see who's Chris and who's God in this picture, isn't it?

 
And then the brief set of tears came.  And I realized I had put out my hand, and God had shook it yet again.  The money will eventually work out, the problems at work aren't life-threatening.  The important thing was I got my head out of my butt and my hand out of my pocket.  The rest will work out.


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Speaking of that incredible 3 1/2 mile walk at a blazing 2.33 MPH, here's some pictures from tonight's action, plus a couple from last night.


 
Here's a bunny from last night, and Scrappy's desperate pursuit.




At sunset, the woods looked like it was filled with glowing embers.  Beautiful, as long as nothing's REALLY burning..



Then we saw a couple of deer just at the edge of the tree line.


View from the new underpass.
 

Spider's eye-view

Nobody here but us pigeons...
 

Been seeing a lot of these orange guys lately...

"Ahh, that's better..."
 
Mr. Ground Hog taking in the sunset..

You might can't see them but there were like a million nesting birds flying through this picture...



 
I just had the thought of doing a "blast from the past" picture- looking through my older files for something I haven't seen in a while.  Here's tonight's blast...  From October 6th last year..




12 comments:

  1. Acceptance and faith, they pretty much go hand in hand (that's how he planned it)....

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    1. So does the repentance that needs to come first... thanks, Tim. I needed that.

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  2. Thank you for sharing this. It gives me a lot of insight into some of my own dilemmas. :)

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    1. God comes from a lot of different angles to tell us the same thing. Your thanks are my encouragement.

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  3. BROTHER MARTIN ~
    Very, very cool way to use that Andy Griffith episode to wrap your mind around the situation and apply it to your own life circumstance. (I know that particular episode very well because 'The Andy Griffith Show' - "TAGS" - is my all time favorite TV show and I own ALL of the black and white seasons with Barney on DVD.)

    Did you know that someone invented a TAGS Bible study course that a number of Christian churches have used? Your analysis here should have been included in the course. (I've always said that the TAGS Bible Study Course is the one thing I SHOULDA invented. As soon as I heard about it, I knew it was a perfect concept and regretted not having thought of it myself first.)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. That I'll have to look into. Thanks for the heads-up!

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  4. Replies
    1. Nice to tell, a little old to be going through over and over...

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  5. What an excellent message! Worrying seems so much easier than having faith--I mean worry comes so naturally to us. But it the end trusting and having faith feels a whole lot better and is much more productive.

    I pray a lot, but I don't pray very well. I get sleepy, distracted, or start having doubt. I need to remember who my best friend is.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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    1. "I need to remember who my best friend is." What a great way to put it, and exactly right. I get so tired of treating Him like "the guy hanging on the wall".

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  6. Chris:
    If Andy Griffith WAS God, we'd ALL be Barney to some degree...and some might wind up as Otis...LOL.
    Very good analogy!
    God will stop to shake your hand when He's not busy with his arm around your shoulder the REST of the time...

    I wouldn't mind being FLOYD for a change
    The pics are fantastic.
    (so THAT'S where my nuthatch is feeding these days...lol)

    Love that homage to "Hitchcock" with all those BIRDS (you planning a sequel???)

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    1. The first thing going through my mind when you said Floyd was the episode he had to look in the mirror and say, "Floyd Lawson, you're a miserable, deceitful wretch!"

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