It's been a brutal winter so far in Western Pennsylvania....-5 degrees as I type at 4 in the morning....after tossing and turning for hours over the condition of the American church....but then it has been a particularly rough weekend....as the Olympics began....in Italy....and people rushed home from church to sit in front of the TV....until the Super Bowl began....and here it is 4 AM....but 10 AM in Milan....so we can turn on the TV as soon as we wake up to see what skier or skater is making news! So It's like a lost weekend.
As for me....I still haven't the slightest idea what went on or who won that football game. We were with an elderly relative in the evening....and I came home and went straight to bed....without so much as clicking on FOX or Drudge or anything....so no updates....no final score....nothing. I assume somebody won. One area of the country is happy....and one isn't so happy. Oh well....March Madness is just about here....and Spring Training....the gods are always here for us!
I try never to let my iPhone or laptop battery go completely dead. I was told once that letting a lithium battery like that go to 0% can degrade the battery itself. Well...that is my worry for this weekend....and it is not battery life but discernment that I am worried about. You see we in the church have been living for quite some time now with very low discernment....and only a slight charge on Sunday morning....or maybe Wednesday evening....and I do not know if we can make it through the next few months....with two Olympics....and a 250 year planned birthday extravaganza....and emergencies of the mind....particularly emanating from Trump....drawing on our intellect and discernment almost every day!
Our....(evangelical's)....reaction to the recent shootings in Minneapolis have been disconcerting.....and the racism element with conservatives is equally disconcerting. I think that a lot of these [batteries] are already dead....for one can turn the key....and there is absolutely no compassion for anyone!
We lost our power for a little while over the weekend....and I have a solar-battery generator.....but we did not have to use it. Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....God's Word speaks of the battery power more as oil in a lamp. How is your oil? Maybe you had better go and get some more....or when things start to unwind....as Jesus is returning....you may find yourself in a pickle....or on a pickleball court?
Addendum: Here is where you can go to get some oil! This is only one of six parts of this series. You can easily find the other five parts. This teaching series by R. C. Sproul was listened to or watched by just about all evangelicals back in the 80s....and that is one reason why there was as strong movement of God at the time.
Addendum....later in the day: So the game is over? Was it worth it? Was it worth a month of playoffs and build-up? Was the year worth it? Are you coming down from the high? Well the Olympics will give you that boost back up....and I think that the NFL draft is either now or coming up! When I was growing up in Buffalo....the Bills were my team.....Kemp and Lamonica and Gilcrist....I could rattle off twenty or thirty names for you....and this is from sixty years ago.....and the Bills haven't won a Super Bowl yet! So for the Bills or Steelers or any team's fans....was it worth it....a whole life of NFL....and hardly an inkling of the glory of the One who was crucified to save those that God had given Him? And the Lord of Glory is coming back and you do not have a clue? Was it worth it?
