Week Twelve, 2024
When Moses’ arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down. In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites. Exodus 17:12-13
Lighthouses in America have always fascinated me, and I have been able to visit many and climb to the top of several. There are more than a thousand lining the coast, shooting beams of light to warn ships at sea.
Most predate electricity, yet project sharp beams of light as they rotate. The important components are height, the light, the lens and the lighthouse keeper, who kept the light burning all night long. Lighthouses are built high enough on the land to be seen by ships miles away. The light itself was usually a burning wick saturated with kerosene. It gives little light, but the key is the prism lens that concentrates the light into a bright beam.
Several years ago, I was walking through a cemetery on St. Simons Island in southern Georgia when I came across a gravestone that said, “For fifty years–the keeper of St. Simons Light.” I could not think about how many ships he had kept off the coastal rocks and the lives he had saved, as the light guided ships into St. Simons Sound and warned of the many sandbars in the area. Since 1872, a lens made in France has projected the light that guides mariners into the sound.
Lighthousue
But all of that was impossible without the keeper of the light, most of which are never remembered. I thought of Aaron and Hur in the Bible. Everyone remembers Moses who was directing the army to defeat the Amalekites. Lacking more modern forms of direction and communication, he directed with his arms. When he became tired, Aaron and Hur brought him a stone to sit on and when his arms became too tired to lift, they held them steady. Again, like the lighthouse keepers they, though hardly remembered saved the day in defeating the Amalekites.
I thought about Jesus being our lighthouse and that great song that describer him:
I thank God for the lighthouse. I owe my life to Him. Jesus is the lighthouse and from the rocks of sin he has shown a light around me that I might clearly see. If it wasn’t for the lighthouse tell me where would this ship be?
This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7
***
SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
Counterculture: a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores.
In a society and culture moving further and further from the values in which it was founded, how then should we live?
A Countercultural Standard For Living:
• Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
• Do not conform to what the world/age says is ok.
• Be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you can discern God’s perfect will.
• Do not think of yourself more highly than you should.
• Think sensibly.
• Be a functional part of the body of Christ
How, then, will you live? For Christianity is naturally countercultural. What, then, will you follow? Mainstream society and the direction its world is pulling and leading? Or the counter… a world led by Biblical values, with decisions and choices made through prayer and supplication? Marty Stubblefield
— o —
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.
At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water-slide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do.
But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy! They baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.
QUOTES YOU CAN USE
You must not only aim right, but draw the bow with all of your might. Henry David Thoreau
It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project. Napolean Hill
You can’t have legalism and the Gospel at the same time, as they are incompatible. Tommy Campbell
The price tag of prejudice and racism is the elimination of people who might have been our friends. Dwight Short
One of our goals as Believers should be to bless God and glorify Him through our actions and our words. Taking off the old and dirty… and putting on the new and the clean. Marty Stubblefield
Jesus will not leave you the way He found you. He is such a great friend and savior that he will not leave you in your sin. He will find sinners in their sin, but He will not leave them in their sin. Edgar Aponte
Our adversary seems to attack us at the very time when we are not fully awake, or at a time when we are least prepared to fend off the attack. And it happens when we’re being productive and least expect it. Take heart. The same Jesus who calmed the storm for His disciples will calm the storm in your life as well. He is always there. Focus your eyes on Jesus, not the storm. Rich Jensen
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. George Orwwell
The fear of the Lord may be the beginning of wisdom, but the love and obedience of the Lord’s precepts will be the basis of wisdom for a lifetime. Dwight Short
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. Albert Einstein
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. Eleanor Roosevelt
***
Selected portions of Thoughts on Life can also be read at TheLife.com.
Your feedback is welcome and if you want to be taken off the mailing list a simple e-mail will do it. Feel free to pass this along to others and to contribute your ideas and thoughts. Address all items and comments to [email protected]. © Thoughts on Life Copyright 2024