“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement
grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus” (Rom. 15:5).
Hey Gang: The Bible says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my
cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction,
out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps
firm. He put a new song in my mouth a
song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and trust in the Lord”
(Ps. 40:1-3)
If I were to sub title this this
epistle, I would title it, “Do you have an itch you can’t scratch?” Those of you who have been with me, these
many years, will recall that I have had a thorn in the flesh that I wish I could
say has taught me patience. The thorn - a D 14 Allis Chalmers tractor. Now, for those of you that know nothing about
D 14 Allis Chalmers tractors, you need to know, first of all, that they have
lived beyond the normal working life and has earned the right to be recycled
into a new bright and shiny new tractor.
You see it has a congenital problem,
called rust in the gas tank. So after a short period of time, the feed lines to
the carburetor get clogged and it ceases to run! And, as you might guess, it always happens at
the most in-opportune times. So the work
stops, while I get out the air compressor, blow out the lines and give it new
breath -a kind of line by-pass surgery to allow air/ (blood) to flow more
freely.
Wow, it sounded so good when the job
was completed! Perhaps I was a wee bit
optimistic, for after each time I blew it out before, it also sounded great -
until one of those little chunks of rust hit the carburetor.
The snow is gone and the ground is
drying, so it is about time to get the D 14 out and get about getting the wood
in for the coming winter; but this year I decided to bite the bullet and beat
the clogging problem to the punch. However, I noticed something very different
as I got out the tool box, and dug into the problem, I was at ease! Something I
never had before, when dealing with this problem, No anxiety, just a calmness
that filled my spirit.
Oh, I forgot to mention, when I
bought the tractor, more than fifteen years ago, I barely knew where to check
the oil and put the gas into it. Now I tackle all kinds of jobs without
apprehension. The trials have taught me
many things about the old faithful beast and the greatest of all is “patience”.
So I ask you this morning, “When was
the last time you were satisfied?” I mean rally satisfied. Paul
wrote in his first letter to Timothy: “We
brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out. But, if we
have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that.”
(6:7-8).
Satisfied? I believe most
would agree, that is something we are not. We take a vacation of a
lifetime, we satiate ourselves with sun, fun, and good food. But we are
not even on the way home before we dread the end of the trip and begin planning
another. We are just not satisfied.
As a child we wish we were teenager;
as teen we wish we were adults; if we are in middle management, we wish we were
in the ivory tower brigade; if we are blessed with a good job, we wish we
were at the top of the ladder! We are
just not satisfied.
Contentment is a difficult virtue.
Why? Because there is nothing on earth
that can satisfy our deepest longing. We long to see God. The
leaves of life are rustling with the rumor that we will see Him one day, face
to face – and we won’t be satisfied until we do.
But this I can attest to….as I have
advanced in the Golden Years (golden for the medical profession) I have
become a wee-bit more satisfied. The best part of my day is the early
morning hours when I lock myself away with the Lord and His Word. Now
that, my young friends is pure satisfaction. Try it, even for five
minutes each morning before you start the busy time of the day. You will
be amazed at how it adds a different look to your day.
Blessings,
Gramps
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