Month: May 2025

If you grew up in the 60s, you know how much fun kids had! We’d yell, “I’m going outside!”  We’d open the door and head for a day of adventure.  Sure, now and then in some rural part of the globe, maybe near AREA 51, a kid might disappear, but with all the aliens replacing them…who was complaining?! Parents were happy to have someone mow their lawn.

But a great part of the 60s were comic books!  You’d hide them from teachers and old librarians who’d look at you over their gold-rimmed glasses with that big-bad-wolf face letting you know, “Young man, that ain’t readin’ material…”

The best part of the comics, wasn’t when The Green Lantern saved the day, or where Spiderman flung from a bridge to scoop up a lost girl and return her to her parents, nah, it was the page with all those goodies for $.29-$1.00!

What kid didn’t dream of having a whoopie cushion to use on grandpa? He’d sure enjoy it.  Or, the fake dog poo, or fake blood, and big spiders, among other goodies? But the best, best, best item there, were those expensive ($1.00) X-Ray Vision glasses! You’d see the drawing of the old-looking young man with wide-opened eyes staring at his skeletal hand.  Gosh, he could see right through it! 

Fourth grade classmates, George V. and Freddy R. had their pair in red with the black & white spiral drawings on the glass.  They’d pop them on and the girls would begin screaming as they ran for cover from them who’d say things like, “Wow, I can see what they’re wearing” and, “They sure look good!”

Man, I wanted a pair! I waited two years for my set.  At first, I was a bit concerned, I mean, I didn’t want to get into trouble for being able to look through the wall that separated our apartment from the neighboring 18 yr old twin sisters….so I figured it be safer to look through my little brother’s head to detect brain activity, or lack thereof…yep, little brothers have always been useful!  The glasses were fun! Turns out you really couldn’t see anything, but they were fun to own! 

Having vision is super-important in our lives. We need to have dreams and ideas and visions of things we’re setting goals for.  God agrees.  He says in His word, “Where there is no vision, the people perish… “(Proverbs 29:18). He wants us to succeed in life and to entrust Him with it.

Even better than what life was like in the 60s, God wants us to enjoy His presence.  He walked daily in the garden of Eden and rapped with Adam & Eve (Genesis 3:8). And He wants to fellowship with you too. He wants us to read His word and soak it in.  His word, like real X-Ray glasses sees through to our hearts. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

God doesn’t need X-Ray glasses to see through us.  And we don’t have to scream and run away from Him, or even hide as Adam & Eve did (Genesis 3:8).  Might as well say as Samuel did: “Here am I,” and, Speak, for thy servant heareth” (1Samuel 3:4, 10b), because He knows where you are and what you’re doing.

You might be all dirty from sin, but you’re beautiful in His eyes, no matter what.

God Bless!
Sam

Almost every person alive believes he’s the exception to the rule. People swear they will not be like their mom or dad.  They’ll be different.  They’ll act differently.  They’ll even look differently. Just shy of 50 years ago, a man showed me his wedding picture of a quarter century earlier. He had put on weight.  Then he assured me the same thing would happen to me. I swore it’d never happen.  I was an all-around sports guy playing handball, running track and covering miles on my bike.

He pointed out something I had never thought about.  He said, “If you gain just one pound per year…in 40 years…”

So, it doesn’t matter how much we exercise, how well we eat, or what sports we play, our bodies will change in time.  Now, I’m one for exercising and staying active, but certain things just can’t be controlled.

Our good friend Toño (pronounced Tonyo), is 83 years old and weighs about 140 lbs. He always looks the same.  I told him he had gained about 1 lb. in the last 40 years, and he kind of put his head down and said, “That’s true.” Shoo, who wouldn’t like to have gained only 1 lb. in 40 years?!

We’re not the exception to any rule! The wisest man on earth, King Solomon, said, “As happens to the fool, so it happens even to me” (Ecclesiastes 2:15a, 16b). “And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.”

All in all, there’s only one man who was and continues to be the exception to every rule, Jesus. Not because He didn’t gain weight, not because He was hypocritical or a gossiper, or because His sports team always won, or lost, but because He was without sin. But how? He was God in the flesh. 

Unlike many of us, Jesus didn’t wish to be different from His Father. In fact, He said, “I, and the Father are one” (John 10:30).  Jesus did the works of His Father. He followed His Father’s plans. Notice: “For I have come down from heaven not do my will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38).

Want to be the exception to the rule? Follow in Jesus’ footsteps: Walk as He walked.  Keep His word. Talk as He talked.  Do the Father’s will. Become like His Father. Become one with Him in purpose.

God Bless!

Sam

There are people missing their moms on this day. Many have lost them recently, and some, months or years ago.  In contrast, there are many people having their moms around but don’t bother with them.  Ironically, some people just don’t appreciate, or know what they have until they lose them.  Some things in life, including people, will never change.

God knows everyone’s pain and loss.  He’s made a way for us to reconnect with loved ones whom were saved at the time of death.

He’s always there to fill every void, to lift up every spirit, and to comfort every heart.  And for those of you whose moms are still around, treasure them, honor them, and enjoy them!

“Honor thy mother and thy father that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God givest thee” (Exodus 20:12)
God Bless!
Sam

There are people missing their moms on this day. Many have lost them recently, and some, months or years ago.  In contrast, there are many people having their moms around but don’t bother with them.  Ironically, some people just don’t appreciate, or know what they have until they lose them.  Some things in life, including people, will never change.

God knows everyone’s pain and loss.  He’s made a way for us to reconnect with loved ones whom were saved at the time of death.

He’s always there to fill every void, to lift up every spirit, and to comfort every heart.  And for those of you whose moms are still around, treasure them, honor them, and enjoy them!
God Bless!
Sam

Falling isn’t funny, and sometimes people get hurt.  But three days ago, my wife was sitting on the floor massaging my mom’s feet. Upon finishing, she asked me to help her up. I placed my hands around her waist and pulled up, but she wasn’t coming up! I said, “Lady, what’s up?” “Keep pulling,” she said. I thought, man, she said she just dropped like 15lbs…so I pulled and she’s going to the right, going to the left, moving backwards…I could just see her face going into the foot massager. “Yuk!” I thought.   Man, we were fighting it out. Finally, red-in-the-face, laughing hilariously, she came up!  I said, “Dag, girl!” Mom pointed down.  Viv’s right sock was all off, and her left sock was almost out too. Her socks were causing her to slide everywhere on our ceramic tiles!

We enjoyed a good laugh!  She was glad to get off the floor, and I was glad I could help.  Unfortunately, that’s where humanity finds itself, on the floor.  Mankind fell centuries ago, and it can’t get up. Try as it might, pulled by whomever, it keeps sliding away.   Mankind can try whatever creams or vitamins it wants it can delve deeply into several of the thousands of religions out there, but nothing will help. No self-help book, videos, seminars, or trips to the moon will ground mankind on earth.

Actually, after the fall, after Satan promised Adam and Eve that their eyes would be opened and they’d be as gods knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5), they became more ignorant than they ever were!  They sowed fig leaves as coverings and they hid from God.  They should have known one can’t hide from Him, and that leaves will fade.

The very God they hid from was the God that could save them.  See, God already knew what would happen. He already had a plan of salvation for humanity.

If you’re still sliding across the floors of life, find yourself red-in-the-face, if you’re still down and out and can’t find which way is up, while you’re down there, look up. He’s there right now with open arms waiting to lift you up.  It doesn’t matter how heavy or light you are.  It doesn’t matter how deep in sin you are, and it doesn’t matter how good and innocent you are either.  You’ve fallen, and you can’t get up. Only Jesus can help you up.  “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still” (Isaiah 9:12)

“He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm” (Psalm 40:2b).

Hebrews 13:6 in the New King James Version reads: So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

God Bless

Sam

Back in the early 70s, Joe South, sang Walk a Mile in My Shoes, a great song for those who like to criticize others from afar without knowing what things are like when one’s in the ring.  We can say all types of things but it takes being in the mix, or in the pot to know what the stew is like.

Jesus can relate to us because He walked in our ways. Though He’s high and lifted up, He set aside His power and kingdom privileges to live as we do.  On earth, He wasn’t living in His glory, but among sinners immersed in sin.  He didn’t walk on streets of gold, but on paths of dirt and mud.  He didn’t snap His fingers and have angels bring Him water or food.  He had to fish and fetch water like everyone else.

When we go through tough stuff, He knows what we’re talking about.  When we hurt due to rejection and discrimination, He knows its sting.  He experienced hate, indifference, intolerance, persecution, lying, hunger, thirst, cold, sore feet, and desertion.  Hurt and betrayal came not only from His enemies, but “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9).

We can say, Jesus waked a mile in our shoes.  Later, in the 70s, the Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head singer, BJ Thomas, who became a Christian, sang, He’s Walking in My Shoes on how Jesus still walks with us helping us make right choices.

Friend, whatever you’re going through, from paying for unbelievably high-priced eggs, to unaffordable housing, God knows your life, and He’s got a plan for yours. 

Will you walk in His ways?  Will you walk a mile or two in His shoes and paths?  Will you follow the cross to where it leads?  He calls us to walk by faith, not by sight.  Faith-walking requires trust in him.  It requires being led by the Spirit instead of by our feelings.  No one who walks by sight for God, will be rewarded by Him.  “For we walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).  “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).

Take off your thinking cap, put on your faith-walking shoes, call unto God, and begin your walk!

God Bless!
Sam