Sunday Front Porch Sitting: This is war

Welcome back. All this rain we've been having has left us a nice, clear Sunday afternoon.  

Recently, I was thinking about how some kids are afraid of the dark. In their defense, they aren't so much scared of darkness as they are scared of things hiding in the dark. Who knows what lurks in the shadows? There could be all kinds of evil things: clowns, monsters, unsweet tea, fractions homework, the list is endless and diabolical!

Enter the nightlight. It sheds light in the dark so we can be prepared to fight whatever evil might befall us. Fraction homework won't solve itself you know! As I always say: "It's better to die carrying a light than to die in the dark." I always say that. I really do.

You know something, we have a lot of battles in life, and most of those battles hide in dark places where we don't see them until it's too late. Fortunately, we have the Instructions on how we can overcome:

Galatians 5:16, 17

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."

Yep, we got ourselves a war on our hands. Flesh against the Spirit, Spirit against the flesh, this could go on our whole life! Actually, it probably will. Someday, we'll have a glorified body with non-fighting flesh. But that's another subject for another Sunday. 

In Psalm 119:110, it says "The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts." There's snares in the road, y'all. Just waiting to catch us. But you know why we don't have to be afraid of the snares? Psalm 119:105 says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Aren't you glad we have God's word to be a light unto our path? We don't have to be afraid of what's hiding in the dark at all. 

Well, maybe except for fraction homework. Why did that never come easily?!?!

Alright. I guess we'll go in for supper now. Happy Sunday!

Sunday Front Porch Sitting: Gideon and the Midianites

C'mon and sit down. We got some time before supper is ready.

You know, I've been thinking about how sometimes, we can fret over huge problems. Those are the times we always forget that those huge problems aren't huge at all to God.

Take Gideon for example. The Midianites had taken over and made all his fellow Israelites miserable. Here's what's so great about this story: God could've said 'Yo, Gideon, step aside and let me level the Midianite camp for ya.' But instead, the conversation went a little more like:

"And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." (Judges 6:14-16)

Defeating an entire army who defeated your own country is a little on the daunting side. But you probably remember the part of the story where Gideon asked for a sign and put fleece on the ground and if it was wet and the ground dry the next morning he'd know it was of God, etc. etc. Well let's move past that, because Gideon gathers himself a large number of people to be his army. Logical right?

"And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." (7:2)

We're about to learn a huge lesson from God Almighty. Gideon has with him now only 300 men and he splits them into three groups. He yells, he breaks pots, he lights torches, and the Midianites get scared and started killing each other, then Gideon and his men chase the rest out.

Seriously, read Judges chapter 6 and 7. You'll quickly learn that being outnumbered means nothing if you are on God's side.

Well I suppose it's time to head on in for supper. Happy Sunday!

The Big Game

As a friend of mine so aptly put it: "I'm rooting for the commercials."

Don't think I don't know what's going on. The Super Bowl ain't a sporting event. It's just a plot to get us to watch super expensive commercials. A marketing scheme of sorts with periodic breaks for football watching. 

And you know what? It works. And it's awesome....most of the time.

We can all appreciate the golden voice of Morgan Freeman rapping, and I think we all caught that trailer for the Solo movie (unless you're a trekkie, then you probably don't even know who Solo is). But there was this little segment that confused me. Now, I might have been hallucinating from all the cherry Dr. Pepper I'd been drinking, but I almost think I saw Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. dancing together.....naw. That'd never air on TV.  Must've just been a Dr. Pepper coma.

Also, I'm sorry that I saw Danny DeVito floating in the vat of chocolate. I really can't pinpoint what was so disturbing, but excuse me while I gouge my eyes out with a spork. I gotta admit though, it wasn't as bad as last year's Puppy Monkey Baby...which no amount of bleach will remove from my memory. Believe me, I've tried.

It was a nice treat to see Jeff Goldblum return to the Super Bowl commercials. Even though he was without a piano this time, there was a glamorous cameo of Mr. Tyrannosaurus Rex, the star of the last umpteen Jurassic Park movies. You know what, he hasn't aged a day. Now that I think of it, neither has Jeff.

Did I see there was an Avengers movie coming soon? No wait, I think I'm getting mixed up with Crocodile Dundee. Yeah, it's definitely the Aussie movie I'm thinking of. I might watch it if Chris Pratt is in it as a marathon runner.

Well, I'll go ahead and admit it: I've always kinda thought Tom Brady was a cool guy, so the outcome of the minuscule football segment of the show wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. This said, I'll wish the Eagles a hearty congratulations on their Super Bowl win. And by Eagles, I do mean the football team and not the band that Vince Gill is singing with these days. Common misconception. When there's that much scoring, and the fourth quarter starts as anybody's game, you know the players are good.

Well, I guess that's it for this week's blog. Except this isn't technically a blog so much as it is a Tide Commercial.