Category: Spiritual

My thoughts on God and his love for us

It’s Halloween Time Already!

When I was a little tyke I thought the day was great!  In school we made lots of jack-o-lanterns out of the pumpkins a farmer or two brought a day or so before, and we made ghosts and goblins out of construction paper. In the evening,we had a party with games and doing what I liked the best, bobbing for apples. I still believe Halloween is really for kids, except for the teenage boys who tipped over the backhouses! People say,”The boys didn’t really do that, did they? Oh boy, I’ll say they did! In our little town you could see fathers out trying to make right, the wrongs the boys did on Halloween night.

Halloween has changed though, and I’m not at all sure the change was good. I am not sure when “trick or treat” began, but I joined in with the other mothers, making outfits out of old clothes and then letting them go out and get candy which was not at all good for the teeth! That custom seems to be going away though. It just isn’t safe for children to be running around after dark these days!

What I’m really upset about is the cost. Little kids aren’t satisfied unless they can get a new outfit every year! And the merchants are anxious to help them. The kids shop right along with the adults, who are looking to find the right thing to wear to the grown up parties held on Halloween night. And grown up parties are taking the place of the simple things children used to do.

Maybe we should be remembering that October 30th is the day Martin Luther posted the 98th thesis on the door of the Church 500 years ago. Everything has changed since then. The Catholics have changed much of their former doctrine and the whole Evangelical movement has grown up to believe the way God intended, Faith, not works, should be the norm for all of us. Wouldn’t that be a holiday? It wouldn’t cost very much either, the change would be on the inside rather than our outside costumes. Happy Martin Luther Day, everyone!

 

Let Praise Begin!

I  was thinking the other day about how sick the world is. Everywhere we look we see tornados, hurricanes, volcanos or multi murders. How can we be anything but downhearted? People, even children, walk around wearing scowls instead of smiles. When will this end? we ask. Will the world always look like this?

I am sure that the world wasn’t any better for the brand new Christians, trying to tell others about Jesus. I can hear them now, telling them Jesus was the one promised many times in the Bible. He was born, killed really by us, and rose from the dead and now lives with God in Heaven. Folks just didn’t believe it! They threw the well being Christians into prisons, which were nothing more than dirty caves. But the church still grew!

Paul and Silas were two who were thrown into prison and beaten for their belief in Jesus. But even when things were bad, they sang and shouted praises from their cold and damp prison cell. As they sang the prison doors were opened but they, and the prisoners who were listening to them, didn’t leave. Many became new Christians that day. That story can be found beginning in Acts 16-16 of the New Testament.Praise1

We need more singing and praising in the world today. We do know that God is in charge. But we don’t know or understand why. I am sure that Paul and Silas didn’t understand why their world was so bad either. I think if more of us would praise God for everything He gives us and let Him do what He intends to do. We may have to go through hard times before we see the light, but singing and praising will make us feel better in the meantime! Let’s start today!