April 8, 2020

I love Linus and his focus on life based on scripture.  He lives his faith!!!  We should, too.  Today I was able to sleep in a little, compared to the 5:30am rise yesterday!  We had nasty storms here, with wind and thunder and lightening, through the night.  No damage to the neighborhood but I know areas suffered near us, including a tornado in New Kensington.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  We brought mom over, and she helped me clean out and organize both freezers.  We found a few things (like cheese sticks!) that I forgot I had.  After lunch we took two walks, sat on the decks, and I pulled a few weeds.  Took mom over and then cut the grass. The boys were doing school work – math – which astounds me.  I don’t remember learning what they are learning. Later, Kelly and I took a longer walk, and now she and Chase are watching Disney’s Onward.  I will join them when I’m done with this.  Also had a long conversation with a great friend.  We don’t always agree, but it doesn’t change how we connect and care.  Love you, buddy! 

This morning I listened to Greg Pelc’s message (Vanderbilt Christian Church).  As in all the other messages from Sunday, the lesson was about Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry.  It’s good to note that the disciples were in front of Jesus, praising and cheering with the crowds.  But the focus was on Jesus, and the praise went to God.  Jesus said, “My father will honor those who follow me.”  Jesus was able to look at the entry realistically;  there was praise and adoration in the beginning, but hatred and death at the end.  He knew what would happen and didn’t let the praise of the crowds sway his focus.  Jesus was not concerned with appearances or the acceptance of men.  He obeyed His Father, and His every action glorified and pleased God.  He knew what was important. 

The parallel lesson he used was the story of Michael Plant, an overconfident, highly capable yachtsman.  He sat out from New York – by himself – in a state of the art sailing vessel.  He knew what to do and how to do it.  His friends were confident that he would reach his destination – France.  Part way into the journey his signal was lost.  After several days a search began, but as no distress signal had been received it was thought he was fine.  The only distress signals received were 3 short beeps, and Plant’s signal was to be four beeps.  The vessel was found, turtled (upside down), ironically with no ballast.  The Ballast, the weight BELOW the waterline, keeps the boat from capsizing.  It was discovered that not only did he NOT register his ‘radio’ signal, but he had not secured his ballast.  He was more concerned about what was visible to the world – that above the water line.  Jesus tells us that we need to be concerned about our relationship with God, and not about our possessions and appearances.  We are a child of God, and Jesus is our ballast, what is below the water line.  If you want to see how this relates to our current world situation, check out his message at the church’s website.  We need to connect to a source that will ultimately save us.  That would be Jesus.  It’s an amazing message – take time to listen! 

On this date in 1974, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record.  In 1983, David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of 20 tourists.  And in 1756, the first fire escape was patented. 

We are mid-way through Holy Week.  Have you taken time to reflect on what this means to you?  God Bless…