My errands today put about 100 miles on my truck. A bumper sticker for the web address of these posts is always on the tailgate as are new bumper stickers that I make up that have something to do with recent posts. For example I'll put on 'It's Communism...Folks' when the post is on Communism. Today's sticker read 'Who Is Jim Webb?', for the post of a few days ago.
I read the bumper stickers on other cars as I hope that they read mine and a thought came to me today while driving and it's the topic of this post. Now, I have no idea of the percentages but they would be high on the number of Pittsburgh Steeler, Pirate and Penguins stickers that people put on their automobiles. Often there are four or five stickers on one car with each team represented and I saw a couple of those automobiles today. Pittsburgh, like many other cities but probably none more so than Pittsburgh, takes pride in its sports teams. Wherever in the world that you may be reading this, whether it be London, or Rome or maybe even in Japan, you may very well find Pittsburgh Steeler paraphernalia on sale at a kiosk or you may see a bar or restaurant themed with the Pittsburgh Steelers! Such is the passion the people of this city have for their teams.
My thought today was this.....imagine......just imagine..... if instead of sports teams that these bumper stickers were about our Constitution, our founding fathers, our heritage and particularly the battle today to save this heritage! Yes there are plenty of 'God Bless America' stickers and 'Support Our Troops' stickers and 'Don't Tread On Me' flag stickers but no where near....not even in the same ball park, excuse the pun, in numbers compared to the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins. If this were reversed the Communists would be on the run. (If you are new to these posts you may have to read back a little bit to understand that statement)
We spent about an hour at a classic car cruise today. I let myself go back.... no.... I purposely went back in time to when we had an American Creed, to when we were one people....black, white, red and brown but one people, to when we had a Democrat party and not just war councils of tribes all hating only that American Creed.
Imagine this.....that all of those Steeler bumper stickers actually read....'One Nation Under God!' Imagine walking through the mall and seeing every fourth or fifth person with shirts displaying a Bible verse. Just about every person has their driver's license in their wallet. Imagine if most everyone had a pocket Bible on them. A lot f us did at one time. Today it would be more likely a Bible app on their smart phone. I myself use one two or three times day.
Imagine this.....tomorrow.... as tens of millions of people go to church, that the atmosphere was more like the waiting room at an Emergency Room at the hospital than an Evangelical church of today, that Christians sat in their pew nervous as one about to be in the presence of a king, joyful as one who is about to hear that their unpayable debt had been taken care of, full of hope at the mere thought of the return of Jesus Christ, humbled of heart and mind as they are reminded that other Christians are being killed for their faith, and saddened as they see their own country in the rebellious Judah and Israel of the Old Testament, or of Nineveh or even Sodom and Gomorrah.
John Lennon may be more remembered for his own song Imagine than for any of his songs with the Beatles. You remember the lyrics... beginning with "Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky." The refrain was....."You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, and I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."
The 19th chapter of the book of 1st Kings gives us the description of the prophet Elijah hiding in a cave. God told him to come out but apparently he stayed. God then shook that mountain with great winds, an earthquake and then fire, and then as the NKJV puts it...."...and after the fire a still small voice." Elijah then came out.
Surely amidst the turmoil of today there is that 'still small voice.' We should be listening for that voice even more intently than a mother listens for breathing on the baby monitor from their newborn's room. Hopefully it will be listened for in our churches tomorrow and in our prayer closets, for we are not alone in this turmoil as was not Elijah. And I hope that some day.....you the reader......if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Saviour.....will join us..... for as Jesus prayed to the Father in the 17th chapter of John....."For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.....(and a few verses later).....that they all may be one...."
I read the bumper stickers on other cars as I hope that they read mine and a thought came to me today while driving and it's the topic of this post. Now, I have no idea of the percentages but they would be high on the number of Pittsburgh Steeler, Pirate and Penguins stickers that people put on their automobiles. Often there are four or five stickers on one car with each team represented and I saw a couple of those automobiles today. Pittsburgh, like many other cities but probably none more so than Pittsburgh, takes pride in its sports teams. Wherever in the world that you may be reading this, whether it be London, or Rome or maybe even in Japan, you may very well find Pittsburgh Steeler paraphernalia on sale at a kiosk or you may see a bar or restaurant themed with the Pittsburgh Steelers! Such is the passion the people of this city have for their teams.
My thought today was this.....imagine......just imagine..... if instead of sports teams that these bumper stickers were about our Constitution, our founding fathers, our heritage and particularly the battle today to save this heritage! Yes there are plenty of 'God Bless America' stickers and 'Support Our Troops' stickers and 'Don't Tread On Me' flag stickers but no where near....not even in the same ball park, excuse the pun, in numbers compared to the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins. If this were reversed the Communists would be on the run. (If you are new to these posts you may have to read back a little bit to understand that statement)
We spent about an hour at a classic car cruise today. I let myself go back.... no.... I purposely went back in time to when we had an American Creed, to when we were one people....black, white, red and brown but one people, to when we had a Democrat party and not just war councils of tribes all hating only that American Creed.
Imagine this.....that all of those Steeler bumper stickers actually read....'One Nation Under God!' Imagine walking through the mall and seeing every fourth or fifth person with shirts displaying a Bible verse. Just about every person has their driver's license in their wallet. Imagine if most everyone had a pocket Bible on them. A lot f us did at one time. Today it would be more likely a Bible app on their smart phone. I myself use one two or three times day.
Imagine this.....tomorrow.... as tens of millions of people go to church, that the atmosphere was more like the waiting room at an Emergency Room at the hospital than an Evangelical church of today, that Christians sat in their pew nervous as one about to be in the presence of a king, joyful as one who is about to hear that their unpayable debt had been taken care of, full of hope at the mere thought of the return of Jesus Christ, humbled of heart and mind as they are reminded that other Christians are being killed for their faith, and saddened as they see their own country in the rebellious Judah and Israel of the Old Testament, or of Nineveh or even Sodom and Gomorrah.
John Lennon may be more remembered for his own song Imagine than for any of his songs with the Beatles. You remember the lyrics... beginning with "Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky." The refrain was....."You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, and I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one."
The 19th chapter of the book of 1st Kings gives us the description of the prophet Elijah hiding in a cave. God told him to come out but apparently he stayed. God then shook that mountain with great winds, an earthquake and then fire, and then as the NKJV puts it...."...and after the fire a still small voice." Elijah then came out.
Surely amidst the turmoil of today there is that 'still small voice.' We should be listening for that voice even more intently than a mother listens for breathing on the baby monitor from their newborn's room. Hopefully it will be listened for in our churches tomorrow and in our prayer closets, for we are not alone in this turmoil as was not Elijah. And I hope that some day.....you the reader......if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Saviour.....will join us..... for as Jesus prayed to the Father in the 17th chapter of John....."For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.....(and a few verses later).....that they all may be one...."
