The Highway Department resurfaced our section of Highway #101 north. It needed it badly. Potholes and rough road characterized the passage of vehicles of all sizes and shapes along our stretch of road. A lot of travel on a relatively narrow road lends itself toward much wear and tear.
My heart goes out to those flagmen who stand, holding that sign, SLOW! STOP! For hours on end noisy highway department trucks backed up, stopped, hauled, men shoveled, doing their job. “LET ‘EM WORK; LET ‘EM LIVE” takes on new meaning if you’re one of those who holds that sign or if you’re the one working in the middle of the road while all the traffic rolls past you giving you the jaundiced eye and more dirty looks than you can shake a stick at. You’d think the world had come to an end because the road is ‘under construction’ and you have to slow down.
I had to sit for at least five minutes, waiting to drive ¼ mile to get to our subdivision because of the resurfacing crew. HORRORS! The lady in front of me couldn’t turn into her own driveway because of the construction crew. You’d think they’d be more considerate, huh?!
Well, the road roughened considerably before the work crew finished it’s thankless task. At first they addressed the specific potholes in the road, which caused sections to be resurfaced. That caused bumps in the road, not to mention the aesthetics of the thing. It looked really awful. One lane of traffic for a mile frustrates the driving public unbelievably. Stop and go; stop and go. ROUGH ROAD AHEAD
And then it was finished! Ahh, the pleasure of riding on smooth surface.
Life is so much like that. Continual wear and tear on life, marriages, parenting, and church politics creates dangerously rough roads. Stop and go, slow down, be patient, let go and let God. LET HIM WORK, LET US LIVE. You think it can’t get any worse and then of course, it does. It gets worse before it gets better.
It happened like that on crucifixion day. The Via Dolorosa took on a macabre procession of Stop and Go traffic, loud shouts, gut wrenching grief and horrible dread of what lay ahead. We know that the worst was yet to be on that ‘Good Friday’.
And yet, the best was yet to be on that Resurrection Sunday when Jesus paved the way for our resurrection. God the Father knew what He was doing in spite of what everyone thought. Because life became unbearable for Jesus, my Lord, life in Christ is possible for me …and for you.
It had to get worse before it got better. Can you wait three days? “It is finished!” (John 19:20 NIV)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
HEART THOUGHTS from Helen
"Daddy's Corn"
“For in Him, all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you are complete in Him.” Colossians 2: 9-10
My daddy grew the best corn ever! Silver Queen and Seneca Chief, primarily, thrived in the black loamy soil of my folk’s home in northern Sumter County. I can still see him out in the corn field, checking the ears on those short stalks. He perfected the art of pulling corn at precisely the right time, when the ears matured to fullness. Then, he shucked it in the field, brought it in with a grin from ear to ear (pun intended), proud of the fullness of his corn crop. He spaced out the planting of his corn so that all didn’t come to fullness at same time. Two reasons prevailed: (1) So Mother wouldn’t be overwhelmed freezing it, either off or on the cob. (2) So we enjoyed eating fresh corn crop after crop.
Not only did Daddy grow corn, he gave away corn by the dozen of full ears, each dozen shucked and fresh from the field. I never knew him to sell his corn; he gave it away…fresh full ears, ready for enjoying. Mother had ceramic corn bowl/holders so we could keep corn off the plate and swimming in melted butter. Then there were the corn sticker things that went in each end, so as not to burn your fingers. None of this semi-warm corn on the cob. It was HOT.
My grandchildren love corn. When I don’t have fresh corn, I like to buy it frozen in those corn cob frozen shapes, because it reminds me of my daddy. I mix the creamed corn with the fried corn and they gobble it up like we did growing up and fuss because one of them got more than the other.
As I studied the second chapter of Colossians this morning and the fullness of the Deity dwelling in bodily form in Christ, the word study used the example of the corn and wine offered to Jehovah as tithe or the first fruits. (Unger’s Bible Dictionary) The word used for fullness is pleroma: total quantity, with emphasis on completeness. The whole nature and attributes of God are in Christ. In Ephesians 1:23 Paul speaks of the church, the body of believers called the fullness of Christ as it is the Church which makes a complete and perfect Head.
Seed corn put into the ground, nurtured, natured (rain/sun), and grown to completion, harvested in its fullness feeds the world. In the ‘fullness of time’ God came. In the ‘fullness of time’, Christ died and rose in completeness. His Word, the Seed, the Manna, THE CHRIST, HIMSELF, feeds us, fills us and completes us.
In the ‘fullness of time’ I died, was buried with Him in baptism, and raised in completeness with Him Who is the Head of His Body the Church. In the fullness of time, when we are exactly ripe, the Head will unite with His Body and we will dwell forever in His presence, united in Him. Until then, we rejoice knowing, “For it was the father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” (Col. 1:19 NAS)
“And in Him you have been made complete” (Col 2:10)
Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.
“For in Him, all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. And you are complete in Him.” Colossians 2: 9-10
My daddy grew the best corn ever! Silver Queen and Seneca Chief, primarily, thrived in the black loamy soil of my folk’s home in northern Sumter County. I can still see him out in the corn field, checking the ears on those short stalks. He perfected the art of pulling corn at precisely the right time, when the ears matured to fullness. Then, he shucked it in the field, brought it in with a grin from ear to ear (pun intended), proud of the fullness of his corn crop. He spaced out the planting of his corn so that all didn’t come to fullness at same time. Two reasons prevailed: (1) So Mother wouldn’t be overwhelmed freezing it, either off or on the cob. (2) So we enjoyed eating fresh corn crop after crop.
Not only did Daddy grow corn, he gave away corn by the dozen of full ears, each dozen shucked and fresh from the field. I never knew him to sell his corn; he gave it away…fresh full ears, ready for enjoying. Mother had ceramic corn bowl/holders so we could keep corn off the plate and swimming in melted butter. Then there were the corn sticker things that went in each end, so as not to burn your fingers. None of this semi-warm corn on the cob. It was HOT.
My grandchildren love corn. When I don’t have fresh corn, I like to buy it frozen in those corn cob frozen shapes, because it reminds me of my daddy. I mix the creamed corn with the fried corn and they gobble it up like we did growing up and fuss because one of them got more than the other.
As I studied the second chapter of Colossians this morning and the fullness of the Deity dwelling in bodily form in Christ, the word study used the example of the corn and wine offered to Jehovah as tithe or the first fruits. (Unger’s Bible Dictionary) The word used for fullness is pleroma: total quantity, with emphasis on completeness. The whole nature and attributes of God are in Christ. In Ephesians 1:23 Paul speaks of the church, the body of believers called the fullness of Christ as it is the Church which makes a complete and perfect Head.
Seed corn put into the ground, nurtured, natured (rain/sun), and grown to completion, harvested in its fullness feeds the world. In the ‘fullness of time’ God came. In the ‘fullness of time’, Christ died and rose in completeness. His Word, the Seed, the Manna, THE CHRIST, HIMSELF, feeds us, fills us and completes us.
In the ‘fullness of time’ I died, was buried with Him in baptism, and raised in completeness with Him Who is the Head of His Body the Church. In the fullness of time, when we are exactly ripe, the Head will unite with His Body and we will dwell forever in His presence, united in Him. Until then, we rejoice knowing, “For it was the father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him.” (Col. 1:19 NAS)
“And in Him you have been made complete” (Col 2:10)
Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow.
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