Good vs. Evil

Over on Myspace, a group exercise for blogging this week, the topic is Good vs. Evil. Here is my entry.

I assume that almost everyone thinks of themselves as good people, that they do more good than bad things. Most of us can rationalize away the things in us that we condemn or disapprove of in others. And most of us have an idea of what evil is, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer & Adolf Hitler are representations! Two of those were mentioned in Tammy’s post. But we are not evil; at least, I am not!

However, if you read the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, you will find that in fact that there is none, good, no, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of God (chapter 3). The prophet Isaiah says that our sin separates us from God, that he turns his face from us because of the repulsive things we do. James tells us that if we are guilty of breaking one law, we are guilty of all. Because of his holiness God can have nothing to do with sin. But he is also merciful and has paid the price for our atonement. And there is no sinner so heinous that his or her sin cannot be removed by the gift of Jesus Christ.

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Child Safety

I read recently about a little boy who was killed when he pulled the big screen television in his home down on top of himself. I always cringe at such stories, knowing the heartache the parents must feel and guilt that some cheap child safety product was not in place to protect their innocent little one.

More than likely they had taken steps to baby proof their home and just had failed to think that the toddler could ever pull the tv over. They no doubt had installed outlet covers, baby gates and cabinet locks, but their baby is gone and the grief will always remain.

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Granny Thoughts

Tomorrow I will be conducting the funeral for Marceliene Burns, who has been my mother-in-law for the past 42 years.
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When it became apparent that Granny was not going to survive the latest ordeal, I wondered what I would say at the memorial service. Then I became afraid that perhaps I wouldn’t be the one asked to say anything. So I’m grateful that you have allowed me these few moments & I hope that I can represent Granny and each of you well. I decided on two points from Scripture that I wanted to make today. One of them is Matthew 10:42.

"And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."

If I’ve ever known a cup of cold water Christian, it was Marceliene Burns. She never set out to do some grand project or to make a big name for herself, but she always did the little things that needed to be done, or even that didn’t need to be done but that she wanted to do for someone, that fulfill the scripture so perfectly. I want to read to you some of the memories that I received from the family members over the last couple days that demonstrate what I’m trying to say about Granny.

When I sat down to jot some thoughts that I wanted to remember today, I remembered our first meeting in 1966. Over Christmas break I went to visit the girl I had met at college. I thought about hating her spaghetti sauce, but eating two plates anyway. And I recalled the phone call we made on our way to my parents’ home from our elopement. We decided to let Marcie know what we had done.

Of course I recalled her infectious laugh. I was easy to identify her in a crowd by that laugh. She even pulled a joke on my first born, her first grandchild two nighta before she passed away, despite being very weak. (The best mother-in-law joke I ever heard, Granny told me)

In the past eight or nine years, Granny had been able to get all of us together once a month for a Bible study at her house. It would be hard to overstate how important those family gatherings to study the Bible were to Granny. She wanted more than anything else for all of us to know the Bible and love the God of the Bible, to surrender our lives to God so that we will be able to spend eternity with her in heaven. Her husband, Chuck would sit and listen and hardly ever comment. Then came the day Chuck called and asked me to baptize him. (Days don't get much better than that one.)

And that's where the other passage that I wanted to share with you came to my mind. It's from Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son. Both Granny and I could identify with that young man. In her early days, Granny made some decisions that were not in keeping with what she knew to be right, as did I. in my younger days. And we both came to understand how open armed our God is to receive us home when we repent. It was her gratitude for God's mercy and love that motivated her to be the great Christian lady she's been over the last several decades. And she knew it was never too late to respond to that loving God while you still have breath. It wasn't too late for Chuck in his 70s, and it's not too late for you today.

For several years after she retired, Granny spent much of her tie volunteering for the Host program, a reading/mentor program in the local middle school. There are no doubt thousands of other things that I could say today about the little ways that Granny touched our lives and influenced us for good. Maybe that's why President Bush 41 recognized her as one of his Thousand Points of Light.

When my kids were little, she took them to the Star Wars movies, and lately her younger son, Alan, and Granny had movie nights each week in these last months. Granny loved movies, the last one we got to see with her was Wall-E. She really enjoyed that outing, and no doubt it will make Wall-E be one of my favorite movies for a long time.

Like all of you, I received countless cups of cold water from the hand of Marceliene Burns. Maybe that's why last week in the hospital I realized what I wanted to say today about her, about how I would depict her, because the very last thing I got to do Marcie Burns, my favorite mother-in-law, was to give her a cup of cold water before I left the hospital.

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One Really Tough Week!

We have had better weeks! Last Saturday I got a call that a friend and fellow Christian had passed away. Then on Sunday morning we got word that another of our members had lost his battle with illness. Tuesday morning I received another call to announce that one of our shut-in members had passed away after several year of deteriorating health. I have prepared had three funerals this week.

Add to that information that on Monday afternoon that the doctors told my wife’s mother that they cannot do anything more to overcome a series of health problems for her. Her body is failing from leukemia, renal failure, pneumonia and a bladder infection. This afternoon she was moved to hospice care, where she will be made comfortable as she finishes her journey.

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Reviewing our Purchasing Decisons!

There are several factors that are going to cause a modification of our financial decisions in the near future. Of course, one of the chief reasons for the changes is the declining economy. Wise folks everywhere are tightening their belts. For my wife and I there is also the situation that she retired just before the first of the year, so our income is down by a significant amount. We will be looking for every edge we can find to gain some benefit.

One is that we will be shopping online to find the best deals possible. We will certainly be taking advantage of free online coupons to help cut the costs of things we by from reputable merchants.

Savings.com lists a wide range of well-recognized merchandisers and service providers for whom they provide promo codes and opportunities to save money. You can get Ice.com coupons to save on jewelry, or Kohl’s.com to save on items sold by the department store chain. You cane even get free shipping coupons for your purchases on many of the sites!

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Beware of #5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There probably will never be a movie about it, but it was the kind of game that a young man will reflect on for a lifetime. Last Friday I went to watch my 16-year-old grandson play in a sub varsity basketball game. His team plays very hard, but they have not won many games. The first half of the game was hard to get excited about, because our team couldn't seem to find the basket with a shot. At the intermission they were trailing 29 to 16.

But the second half is a completely different story. The boys came out with the same high intensity on defense, but now they began to make some shots. One of the boys on our team got hit with an elbow just above his left eye and it began to bleed. He had to come off and get some treatment. To keep the bandage in place, his head was wrapped in a medical tape that made it look like he was wearing a sweat band. But his wound didn't keep him out of the game or cause him to be bashful. He and my grandson are the primary ball handlers for the team, so it was important for him to be on the court. In the third quarter shots began to fall for everyone, including my grandson who hit three three-pointers in that frame. Our team held the visitors to only six points in the quarter, and the score at the end of three quarters was 35-34.

The game was intense in the fourth quarter, but our defense was up to the task again and only allowed nine points in the quarter. In the midst of the battle, I was thrilled, and afterwards found out my grandson had heard and was also thrilled, to hear the opposing coach shot several times in the frame, "Beware of number 5, beware of number 5!" He didn't want number 5 to get any good looks at the basket because he was really on fire. Number 5 ended up leading scorer in the game with 25 points and his team won 55-44. Of course you know who wore number 5 for our team, don't you?

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New Prayer Corner Blog!

I recently posted a piece about the prayer walk several of us took on New Year’s Day. I posted the same item on my blog at Blogevolve.com. That is a community blog site that has a comfortable feel, small town feel.


One of the comments I received from the post was that perhaps I should begin a prayer ministry in that blog village. After giving it some thought, I decided to give that a try, but not on my FFF blog there. So I started a new blog on the site called Prayer Corner . I made an offer to post prayers in response to requests I might receive. The reaction has been cordial, and a few requests have been made. I figured it would not hurt to make the site known to those who might read my blog here.


The downside to the situation is that in order to post a request there, you would have to be signed up on the site. So I set up a new email account for someone that might want to have a prayer offered, whether posted on the site, or offered in private. That email address is prayercorner@ymail.com.

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Timid Investor!

I am not a very adventurous investor, probably because I have so little understanding of stock trading and how the market works. I do not feel that I can afford to risk what little I have in something I do not comprehend with clarity. So I have just stuck with a steady investment in a quality mutual fund for many years.

But I have good friends that kid me frequently because I am not participating in online trading. All three of them spend a little time each day monitoring the business pages and market trends. They connect with their online brokers and make trades regularly. They have done very well, better than me, with their investments. But part of their enjoyment comes in having so much control over their financial decisions and their future!

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Book Review of HOUSE, by Farnk Peretti & Ted Dekker!

I love to read, but the horror genre has been off limits ever since I saw the original Psycho in 1960 and was scared to walk the three blocks to my home. I was 12 and I decided then that I did not want anything to do with such movies, stories, books, or even “fun” houses at the fair!

So I was surprised to receive a novel for Christmas, House, by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. My daughter, who gave me the book, knew that I loved This Present Darkness, also by Peretti, so she thought that I would like this one too. She said it was “Christian Horror.” I never knew there was such a thing!

I want to review the book here, and I hate to give away any of the drama in the book, but I am not sure how to give a good review without describing some of the key elements, so if you think you might want to read the book, maybe you ought not read any further in this post.

I entered the book with trepidation. I met Jack and Stephanie as they were on their way to a counseling session to try to salvage their marriage. Things had not gone well for them following the drowning of their daughter a year earlier.
Their trip took a detour that led to their being drawn to an isolated house that looked like an old Southern inn when they arrived. But it turned out to be anything but a place of cordial hospitality. Another couple, Randy and Leslie, also found themselves in the place that night. The four shared a night of unmitigated terror.

As the evening unfolded, the house seemed to be alive, with a mind of its own. It seemed to know the hearts of the four trapped inside by the machinations of the house itself and the villain, Barsidious White.

The story moves at a good pace and helps the reader to get a growing awareness that the personal guilt of the individuals was contributing to the animosity of the house toward the victims. I must admit that I can think of few things that are more horrifying and painful than having to come face to face with one’s hidden sinfulness.

The story allows for redemption and a victory of good over evil only if those trapped inside would indeed acknowledge the sins they had been covering up, while blaming others for their plight in life. Though the word is never used in the book, repentance is an absolute necessity if the sinner wanted to live another day.

Good does win out for some of the four, and though it appears the story is over, we leave the book with an awareness that the evil perpetrators were far from finished with their “game”.

The book has been recently made into a movie, released last November. I promise, I will not go see it. And I hope I do not have images appear in my mind in the night!

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Way Ahead of His Time!

I have my cell phone programmed to call my wife by my voice command. I just used that feature and delivered a message. I have done that a thousand times, but for some reason this time it caused me to think of a guy I had not thought of in over 30 years.

We were in the 8th grade, so it was 1961 I think, and we had to do science projects. That may have been the year I made an anamometer. But John Treichler brought in his project and wowed us all. He had two telephones, remember the old rotary dials? He picked up one receiver and spoke the number into it, and the other phone rang! We were impressed.

Johnny accelerated his education and entered Rice University, an elite institution, while the rest of us were still in high school. I have not seen him since the football game against our biggest rivalry when I was a senior.

I decided to Google his name today and found that he got his bachelor and masters degrees from from Rice adn his PHDEE from Stanford. He served in the Navy in the early 70's, remember Viet Nam?


Back in 1984 he helped co-found Applied Signal Technologies. He now makes over half a million in annual compensation. I wonder how many of his ideas I have used unknowingly over the years?

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Prayer Walk

A number of us from the congregation where I worship live in the same general neighborhood in which my family lives. That represents 15 households. One of the members in that neighborhood invited all those families to open the New Year with a prayer walk. On the evening of the 1st of January, those who were in town met at our home at 6:30. WE read some Scriptures that had been selected and then a prayer was offered for that home and for an element of the ministers at our congregation.

From there we walked to the nearest home of the 15 we would visit for prayer. Again we read from the Bible and prayed for that home and for another element of our congregation. We continued the pattern, walking, reading, praying for the home and an segment of the congregation or community till the circuit was completed. Some very sweet thoughts were offered up by those that led the prayers.

It always amazes me how special times of prayer bring blessing and a peace of mind. It was a good way for fellow Christians and neighbors to start a New Year.

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