I've been where you are on a few occasions in my youth and mentioned some of them in the course of this blog of five years, but I would like to mention two of them here. The first was in 1982. God was moving mightily in my heart but I had little to no knowledge to make sense of things or to guide me. I needed help. So I called a television ministry and simply asked if they knew of a church in my area where I might hear about this born again thing. They recommended a church and my wife and I attended there for about ten years and I'm very thankful for that. By then I was reading older Christian books like it was going out of style, which by the way I think that it is, and I saw some fairly serious errors in today's modern theology of which that church was a part. I was like Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist who had the audacity to take his bowl up and plead....Please Sir, may I have more food? I needed help again and again I made a phone call to a minister that I heard on the radio. Again I was directed to a church in my area. I wasn't afraid to ask for help and that's where I hope that you are today.
I can't recommend a church to you for obvious reasons... I don't know you or where you live, but I can do this. I can recommend a resource that if you give it a chance and give it time you will find answers and you will find people that you can call for further help. It's a 24/7 internet/radio ministry. It has numerous teachers on it and all of them are sound in their doctrine. You can tune in any time of the day or night...any day of the week. How easy is that? You can listen to it online or get an app for your iPhone or iPad. The url is www.refnet.fm. I'll be praying that some who found their way to this rather odd blog of mine, which really isn't even a blog, will make the effort and find these teachers!
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John Kennedy's "last official words" never delivered
The following are two posts. The first from this past Spring and the second from almost three years ago. I hope to be on a university campus a few hours after posting these. Unless God's Spirit works mightily in the hearts and minds of our youth... we as a nation, have little hope to turn back those who by denying our heritage and distorting our past.... destroy our discernment in charting our future. It was not chance that President John Kennedy's last official words, which you will read about below, were never delivered, for we would not have believed them nor heeded them and our nation fifty years later is one of leaderless chaos, tottering on a precipice, oblivious to the warnings posted all around.
The Shortest Commencement Speech Ever!
You finally have that degree....it will be worthless if you forget.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Whatever your degree is in.....it must now be built upon this....Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might already have a position at the biggest law firm in New York City.....God's Word reminds you.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
You're already an expert at investing and have great plans for your portfolio.....is this the title of that portfolio...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it?
You're patient and willing to work your way up....good traits, but keep in mind...Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
You just might want to work to build peace....but remember this.... Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might want to protect the environment .....if not for the glory of God your efforts will be in vain, for.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
This may be the shortest commencement speech ever given but one does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates......
"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
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This is my Lord's Day offering...a post from October of 2009. I wanted to keep on the topic of college. I'll leave it up for only a day.
I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came up to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and wanted to know if I knew what it was. It was slightly beveled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was and she was about to throw it away. What! Wait a second. If we throw this out, there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly beveled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it.
I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. Its title is Reach Out, The Living New Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind during my last 7 months at Fort Bragg . I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even textbooks from classes that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book into the college bar and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in, until I could no longer pronounce my words. That's when my genius really came out.
I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral. It would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marvel of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had a taste in 1973.
Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And only a moment is what I would want for I was lost. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time when He would use the words of the Bible as a mirror where I would see only corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as impenetrable as why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says If God would forgive me, then there is hope for you also. And whatever you do, don't open His book!
The Shortest Commencement Speech Ever!
Well the lists are out on the "top" college and university commencement speakers and once again just about all of those speakers are die-hard liberals. I was in attendance of a graduation commencement a week ago Friday and the message from the speaker was, in essence, encouragement to seek employment with the United Nations if you really wanted to be on the forefront of service to peoples of the world.
Once again, another year has passed and I wasn't invited by anyone to be their commencement speaker. So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania (which he is to be) but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage. The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name, Special Dog, they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to give a commencement speech.......then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited as a commencement speaker...anywhere, and here it is.......ahem!
Well this is it! Four years....a hundred thousand dollars in debt.....and all you got is a piece of parchment and a t-shirt saying "I survived four years of American higher education." I just want to say one word to you. Just one word....plastics! Actually that's a quote, one of the top 100 film quotes by the way, from the 1969 movie The Graduate.
I'll start my real advice with a little history...the "last official words" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy! The magazine sized book published in 1964 that most everyone has seen... Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy, described it this way, "These were President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." That speech ended with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
So I pass these words on to you in this commencement speech as encouragement, President Kennedy's last official words, for they are the only truly reliable words that I will speak: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
Now you will be going out trying to find a job...maybe you already have one lined up.....please remember...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Once again, another year has passed and I wasn't invited by anyone to be their commencement speaker. So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania (which he is to be) but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage. The Ivy League school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name, Special Dog, they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to give a commencement speech.......then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited as a commencement speaker...anywhere, and here it is.......ahem!
Well this is it! Four years....a hundred thousand dollars in debt.....and all you got is a piece of parchment and a t-shirt saying "I survived four years of American higher education." I just want to say one word to you. Just one word....plastics! Actually that's a quote, one of the top 100 film quotes by the way, from the 1969 movie The Graduate.
I'll start my real advice with a little history...the "last official words" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy! The magazine sized book published in 1964 that most everyone has seen... Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy, described it this way, "These were President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." That speech ended with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
So I pass these words on to you in this commencement speech as encouragement, President Kennedy's last official words, for they are the only truly reliable words that I will speak: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
Now you will be going out trying to find a job...maybe you already have one lined up.....please remember...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You finally have that degree....it will be worthless if you forget.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Whatever your degree is in.....it must now be built upon this....Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might already have a position at the biggest law firm in New York City.....God's Word reminds you.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
You're already an expert at investing and have great plans for your portfolio.....is this the title of that portfolio...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it?
You're patient and willing to work your way up....good traits, but keep in mind...Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
You just might want to work to build peace....but remember this.... Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
You might want to protect the environment .....if not for the glory of God your efforts will be in vain, for.... Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
This may be the shortest commencement speech ever given but one does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates......
"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
.................................................................................................................................................................
This is my Lord's Day offering...a post from October of 2009. I wanted to keep on the topic of college. I'll leave it up for only a day.
I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came up to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and wanted to know if I knew what it was. It was slightly beveled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was and she was about to throw it away. What! Wait a second. If we throw this out, there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly beveled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it.
I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. Its title is Reach Out, The Living New Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind during my last 7 months at Fort Bragg . I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even textbooks from classes that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book into the college bar and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in, until I could no longer pronounce my words. That's when my genius really came out.
I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral. It would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marvel of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had a taste in 1973.
Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And only a moment is what I would want for I was lost. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time when He would use the words of the Bible as a mirror where I would see only corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as impenetrable as why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says If God would forgive me, then there is hope for you also. And whatever you do, don't open His book!
