Hot Car Deaths

 Every year, in the hot summertime, children die because their parents forget that they are still in the automobile. The closed interiors of the vehicles quickly become like an oven in the hot sun.

Apparently, the adults somehow become hurried or distracted and momentarily and tragically forget about the children. Everyone understands that there was no intention to harm the child. But harm was still done.

There are other kinds of harm besides death. Death or physical injury are immediately obvious. Not so with emotional and spiritual cuts and wounds.

Not all emotional cuts and spiritual wounds are maliciously or even intentionally inflicted. The feeling of neglect or of being seen as a bother to their parents can cause painful lifelong wounds to a child. Anything, even church activities, which continually distract us from our children’s emotional and spiritual needs, can be harmful.  

Exodus 22:23; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Proverbs 13:22, 22:6; Nehemiah 4:14; Psalms 82:4,127:3; Matthew 18:6,10; Luke 17:2, 22:36; Romans 12:18-19; Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21; 1 Timothy 5:8; 2 Corinthians 12:14. 

Will You be Ready?

Recently, I was watching an American football game, but it could have been a game in any sport and in any country.

Abruptly, the coach called for one of his primary players to come out of the game and to be replaced by one of the seldom used players.

The primary player had been performing well and the situation in the game was very important because the coach’s team was about to score. Replacing the primary player made no obvious tactical sense in terms of game strategy.

The game was being broadcasted nationally and the move by the coach was so obvious that the television commentators remarked about it but had no explanation for it.

The secondary player responded well and the team scored. On the next series of plays, the coach returned the primary player to the game. After the game the coach offered no explanation for the substitution.

The player switch could have been tactical in response to something which the coach noticed about the other team. I believe that it was something else. I think it was a teaching moment.

The coach could have been telling his substitutes to not fall asleep and to be ready to act at all times. They might only be placed into the current game once or even only once in an entire season, but, when they are called upon they are expected to be ready at that moment.

The replacement player could have been daydreaming or talking to someone and not paying attention to the game.

Instead, he went into the game and executed the duties of his assigned position. If he had not been ready, the coach would have called on someone else the next time an opportunity arose.

As Mordechai said to Esther when it was her time to be called upon: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14. Italics added. Read the entire chapter with emphasis on verse 14. Mordechai’s implication is that God put Esther in the place where she needed to be in order to carry out his will. (Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)

Esther 4:1-15; 1 Samuel 3:9; Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 24:42-44; Ephesians 2:10.

Subjects in the Labels List Which Begin with the Letters chrj to ck

 This blog is ακωλυτως, unhindered. (Acts 28:31) Any subject is fair game. Below is a listing of the LABELS which begin with the letters chrj to ck. All can be searched from the list which follows the last posted article on this page or by typing them into the SEARCH button at the top of the page. Most will call up multiple postings in which they appear.

chromosome, chronology, church, church activities, church attendance, church bulletin, church burnout, church council, church councils, Church of Christ, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of Iran, Church of Satan, Church of Scotland, church organ, church people, church politics, church sign board, church work, circulatory system, circumcision, circumstances, circus, citizen, citizenship, city state, civic duty, civic involvement, civil disobedience, civil records, civil rights, civility.

There is Power in the Blood

Lewis E. Jones (1865-1934) was a YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) worker who wrote  the hymn, There is Power in the Blood (1899). He is recorded as having said, "I want to be so full of Christ that when a mosquito bites me he flies away singing there is power in the blood."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeTE0W7K4sU

Biblical Sources of Common English Language Phrases: The Eyes Are the Windows of the Soul

 

The exact earliest origin of the phrase "the eyes are the window of the soul" is debated but the concept is ancient.

 

The Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC/BCE), said “The face is a picture of the mind as the eyes are its interpreter.”

 

The phrase does not appear in the Bible but the concept is echoed by Jesus in Matthew 6:22–23 where he says "The eye is the lamp of the body … if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light…”

 

The first known use of the phrase in its modern form was by the 16th-century French poet Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544-1590), who spoke of the eyes as "windows of the soul".

 

As I was growing up, I was taught that it was rude to not look people in the eyes as you talked to them. The idea was that to not do so made you appear to be evasive or uninterested. But … there are numerous cultures which believe the exact opposite, that avoiding direct eye contact is a sign of respect and deference to the other person. They see direct eye contact as aggressive and as an invasion of their personal space.

 

So, I am either very open and direct or I am very rude, because I will look into you and allow you to look into me. It is just part of who I am.

 

I am in my over 60 years period of life so, through the decades, I have occasionally met numerous internationally known persons, usually for only a few minutes or even seconds. I am just a regular person. Let’s just say that I don’t normally run in their circles and that meeting most of them was incidental.

 

I will discuss what I saw in the eyes of some of them but I will respect their privacy and will not personally identify them.

 

One of them was a retired National Football League quarterback who was posthumously inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame. His eyes told me that he was friendly and easy-going, fun to talk with, and that he was surprised that I did not ask for his autograph.

 

Another was a politician who was involved with the peace negotiations during the Vietnam War. His eyes told me that he did not see me at all.

 

The eyes of the legendary daytime soap opera actor whom I met told me that he would have rather been anywhere else than where he was.

 

Highly respected as a radio announcer in numerous sports, one man showed me friendly eyes and even invited me to sit and talk with him about sports during his lunch hour.

 

An Israeli business executive showed me eyes that told me that she respected my politeness and competence. Whenever she visited, she sought me out before meeting with my superiors.

 

My co-worker of African ancestry showed me eyes of deep friendship, great professional competence, and ambition. He ended up in a national governmental health position.

 

The historic singer looked deep into my eyes with what appeared to be panic and repugnance as if I were an unexpected intruder into her home. I must have pushed her personal space and privacy buttons.

 

I was sitting on the second row in the coliseum when an internationally known Christian singer came down from the stage and began to personally interact with people in the crowd. When he stopped to talk to two pre-teen girls, he was about four feet away from me. He noticed me and we locked eyes.

 

What I saw was kindness, generosity, gentleness, sincerity, and a love for the people who had come to his concert. What I saw was a Christian man. His wife has said that he is the purest soul she has ever met. We all should hope that our eyes show the same thing.

Three Religious Truths

I do not know the origin of this joke but I would strongly believe that it came from a Baptist.

There are three religious truths.

1. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

2. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith. 

3. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store.

Subjects in the Labels List Which Begin with the letters bia to boys

This blog is ακωλυτως, unhindered. (Acts 28:31) Any subject is fair game. Below is a listing of the LABELS which begin with the letters bia to boys. All of the Labels can be searched from the list which follows the last posted article on this page or by typing them into the SEARCH button at the top of the page. Most will call up multiple postings in which they appear.

Bing, biography, biology, bird, bird finger, birds, Birmingham, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, birth, birth control, birthday, bishop, Bizarro, blabbing, black, black comedy, Black Magic, black man, black metal, Black Sabbath, black smoke, black woman, blacks, blasphemy, blessing, blind, Blind Boys of Alabama, blog, blog aggregator, blog community, blog tools, BlogCatalog, Blogger, blood, Blood of Christ, Blood of Jesus, blues, blues music, board games, boats, Boaz, Bob Dylan, bodhisattva, body modification, Body of Christ, Bolivia, Bollywood, bomb threats, bone, bones, boogeyman, book, book comment, Book of Eli, Book of Jasher, Book of Mormon, Book of the Bee, Book of the Wars of the Lord, book reviews, books, Books-a-Million, boredom, Borg, Borneo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian, bosons, Boston, botany, Botswana, Boudicca, bowel gas, bowling, Boy Scouts, boycott, boys.