What In the Heck Is "Hell"?

Three words used for “hell” in the Bible:

1. Tartaroo - a word borrowed from the Greek world which was a reference to the place where angels were punished in the world of mythology.

2. Hades – A Greek translation of the Hebrew word Sh’ol – only word used for hell in the Old Testament and refers to the world of the dead, grave, pit, and sleep. The Gates of Hades is a physical place in the Decapolus where the pagan God, Pan, was worshiped.

3. Gei-Hinnom – A reference to The Valley of Hinnom. 2 Kings 23:10, “He (King Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.”

Molech was a god that the people would sacrifice their first born child to by burning him or her in the Valley of Hinnom. King Josiah destroyed and desecrated the place so that it could never be used for anything other than a town dump, which it became and was still being used for in the days of Jesus.

People would take their garbage to the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem where a continuous fire would burn the trash. Wild dogs would fight for scraps of food. And as they fought they would make a high pitched whimper like fighting dogs do and their teeth would grind together. This was known as the “weeping and gnashing of teeth in Gei-Hinnom."

When Jesus speaks of a person being cast into hell, he is referring to the wasted life; a life which is good for nothing but the local dump. When we don’t follow God, we are like food that can’t be eaten, therefore we have become a rotten spot in the Kingdom of God, which is better off being thrown in the garbage where only wild animals will find anything of value in the waste that has become the life of a child of God.

Hell for Jesus and his followers was a literal place to which they could point and say, "That's all you are good for, unless you are doing God's will." For them, it was not a spiritual, after death place, but a very real and present, ever-burning, stinking place where wild dogs fought for the garbage.

In His dust,
Johnny

No One Can Afford You!

Reflection on my own behavior and attitude toward my work has led me to the following insights. I feel that they are helpful and should be shared with others.


When a person has a job, he or she can never be paid what they are truly worth, if they are truly worth being paid for the job.

For example: If you have a job that pays you $30,000 per year, work like you are being paid $60,000 and you'll never have to worry about losing your job.

Most people will work like they are not paid enough for what they do. That's the wrong attitude, because, if it's true that we can never truly be paid what we're worth, then no one can complain about not being paid enough.

We should be so good at whatever we do that no one can afford us, if they had to pay what we're worth.

On the other hand, if you're not being paid at least one half of what you're worth, which is double what the job should be able to fairly pay, then you need to find a new job or ask for a raise. The sad fact is that most people ask for a raise when they are only doing the amount of work they are being paid for rather than giving more than their job pays them to do.

I truly believe that Jesus agrees with me. As Paul says, “Do everything as if you’re doing it for God, and not for man” (Colossians 3:23).
Those are my thoughts. Enjoy.

In His dust,
Johnny

Shmikah

The first century followers of Jesus understood that to be a disciple meant that they had devote their lives to becoming like Jesus. Most Christians today are not disciples of Jesus. They are believers, but they are not disciples.

In the Jewish world, there were two kinds of rabbis. One was called a Torah teacher. Torah teachers were very learned in the Torah and were able to teach whatever the people understood and accepted as sound teaching from the Word of God. The second kind of rabbi was called a Master teacher. Master teachers could recite 365 pages of Scripture from memory and they were able to give new teachings or new interpretations of the Scriptures. For example, the Bible says that God’s people are not to work on the Sabbath, but it does not clearly define what “work” is. Defining these meanings was the job of the Master-teachers. Jesus was one of these rabbis who was able to give new interpretations. We know this because we read often in the gospels where Jesus says, “You have heard it said, but I say…” This is an example of giving new interpretations.

What gave a rabbi the right to give new interpretations? Rabbis who were able to teach new interpretations were those who had shmikah. The word that the English translators often use to translate the word shmikah is “authority.”

In Mark’s gospel we read that Jesus went to Capernaum and began to teach in the synagogue. And the Bible says Jesus taught, not like the Torah-teachers, but like one who had authority (shmikah). Jesus was a Master teacher, a rabbi with shmikah.

How did a rabbi get shmikah? It actually begins way back when Moses and Aaron chose the 70 judges in the book of Exodus. They brought all of the 70 together, placed their hands on the heads of each of them and declared that they had the authority to speak on God’s behalf when leading God’s people. After that, only a rabbi who was anointed by two other Master-teachers and declared in the presence of witnesses to have schmikah was considered to be a Master-teacher.

Rabbis would often be asked, “Where did you get your shmikah” just as Jesus was asked by the chief priest, Torah-teachers, and elders in Luke 20:1-3. “One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priest and the teachers of the law together with the elders, came up to him. ‘Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,’ they said. ‘Who gave you this authority?”

So, who were the two people who had the authority to speak on God's behalf and declared that Jesus had that same authority? Jesus says after the teachers, priest, and elders asked him where he received his shmikah, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men,” which was half the answer. When Jesus came to the Jordon River for John’s baptism, John said, “Look everyone! The Messiah!” John is the first shmikahed rabbi to claim that Jesus has the authority of God when he speaks. The second authoritative person who declared the authority or shmikah of Jesus spoke when the heavens opened after Jesus’ baptism and said, “This is my son! Obey him! For I love him!”

Jesus is the only Master-teacher in history who received his authority to speak on the behalf of God from God himself. This means that when Jesus says something to his followers, God is speaking to His followers. All authority in heaven and in earth has been given to Jesus. To follow Jesus is to follow God. To obey Jesus is to obey God. To imitate Jesus is to imitate God.

When Jesus tells us that we must do something, if we are to follow him, then he isn’t giving us a suggestion. Either we love our enemy or we are not His followers. Either we feed the hungry or we go home. Either we help the sick or we stop pretending that we know what it means to follow Jesus.

Being a disciple is not synonymous with being a believer. Being a disciple of Jesus is to be an imitator of God.

A Christian Nation?

The subject of America being a Christian nation was addressed to me in an email by a friend. I was very glad to receive the opportunity to discuss the issue, as it afforded me the opportunity to begin to dig into my own thoughts on the subject. And the following paragraphs are the initial result of this quest.

Jesus' message was clear in that the "key" or "theme" of his message was "The Kingdom of God." The Kingdom of God was the people of God doing the will of God on earth today and together. If I go into a room, a store, a house, a country, I either bring with me the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of hell. God's Kingdom is brought with me when I obey the teachings of Christ whose words are literally God's words. Hell's kingdom is brought with me when I don't obey Christ's words to heal, help, serve, feed, et cetera.

We are to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as Jesus directed. With this as the case, to call ourselves a Christian nation is a lie at worst and silly at best. We are no more a Christian nation than the ocean is a Christian ocean. And I'm not sure that Jesus wanted us to create a Christian nation. After all, it was after the death of Constantine when all other religions except for Christianity were declared illegal that a nation of Christians who were persecuted became a nation of Christian persecutors.

I'm not as interested in being a Christian nation as much as I am interested in being a nation that accepts Christians who are free to enter and invite others to enter the Kingdom of God.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to discover what I think about this topic.

In His dust,
Johnny

Don't Give Up Your Kavanah

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18 is a message about kavanah. Kavanah is the Hebrew word for the sincerity of the heart in worship. Kavanah is what God looks for in those who worship Him. And, to truly understand the parable, you have to first be willing to open your mind to the idea (actually the fact) that Pharisees were not considered to be bad people in Jesus’ day. They were considered to be very obedient, righteous, God-fearing, Bible-studying, live-out-the-Word of God people.

The fact that Pharisees were held in very high esteem is what made this story so powerful. Christians often hear the parable with their thoughts of the characters being “The Hypocrite and the Tax Collector.” But, if Jesus were to tell this story today, he would expect us to picture these two people as Billy Graham and a porn star. Or, as the writer John Crossan said, “The pope and the pimp.”

Jesus speaks of these two people going up to the temple for prayer. In the original language of Hebrew, prayer meant “worship.” You and I will say that we are going to church to worship, but the Jews would have said, “We’re going to synagogue to pray.” Of course worship included prayer; it also included singing of praises and other elements of worship. In fact, when the Bible tells us that Jesus went out into the wilderness to “pray,” it literally means that he went out into the wilderness to “worship.”

Knowing this, we must also recognize that Jesus says they were both going up to the temple to pray, meaning they were both going to the temple to worship. This is a reference to corporate worship, meaning that this was a day when thousands of people were going to the temple to worship God.

The tax collector or publican was a public official for the Roman government. The taxes he collected went to support the pagan worship practices and many lined their own pockets as well. This caused the Jews to look at their Jewish brothers who were working for the Romans as idolaters and traitors. During worship, the tax collector would have been escorted out of temple through the eastern gate as soon as the symbols began to crash during worship. But the Pharisee, being seen as a godly man would have been able to get very close to the altar itself and pray.

The prayers of the two people in the parable are the powerful climax of the story, because the prayer of forgiveness plays a vital role in temple worship during the first century.

Atonement was the ultimate purpose and goal of Temple worship. And the prayer of repentance would have been offered at the climactic and most important moment in the time of worship.

When the worshipers begin to gather, they enter according to their roles, positions, and standing in society. Gentiles would gather outside in the gentile court, Jewish worshipers would gather in the women’s court or in the court of the Israelites. And the priests would be in charge of conducting worship. The first part of worship would take place on a staircase inside the temple with music, liturgy, and possibly a short sermon. For the next element of the worship service the priest moved from the steps to the great altar, and as the people stood in awe of God, observing the musicians and the priests and Levites, the worship reached a climax with the Levitical coir chanting a Psalm with symbols crashing over and over. This is when those considered unclean, including the tax collector in this story, would have been escorted outside the temple.

Then the priest takes the lamb and he is standing with the knife in his hand. All of the music and chanting and the symbols crashing comes to a complete stop and the trumpet is blown. Then the lamb’s throat is cut, the blood is caught and spattered on the altar. There isn’t a sound in the temple. The lamb is slaughtered, its parts placed in a pan and carried to the fire. And the priest would say, “God, keep your promise that you will forgive our sins!” He says this as if he has taken God by the shirt collar and is looking God in the eyes with all of the tenacity of starving man, “GOD! REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE!”

Everyone is standing completely silent as the priest offers repentance on behalf of all the people worshiping in and outside the temple. Then another priest walks past the altar and up the steps to the Holy of Holies; he is standing in front of the altar of incense with his bowl of 21 different kinds of incense mixed together as he looks up and begins to pray, “God, hear your people!”

The people can’t see the priest, but as the priest stands and begins to pray, the people also begin to pray out loud as the way to the Lord has been opened. When the priest is done, he pours the incense on the coals and a cloud of steam and spoke rises up, it fills the temple courts along with the smell of incense and roasting meat, which is a vivid picture symbolizing God’s presence with His people who is able to hear every prayer. Thousands of voices are now lifted up as the people pray for forgiveness.

It is at this moment, when every worshiper is given the opportunity to admit thier wrongs in the presence of God, that the Pharisee, standing alone, close to the alter of God, is reminding God of his own righteousness, while the publican who is not even allowed in the temple, is standing far from the altar, beating his chest and crying for forgiveness.

This parable is the story of the truly righteous who has become self-righteous and the sinner who worships with kavanah. It is not the godly man, but the sinner who has come with the heart of worship.

How many times have we said, “I’m glad I’m not like the Pharisee”? As soon as we make that statement, we, like this good intentioned, godly man, have given up our kavanah.

In His dust,
Johnny

Thanks, Ronnie.

"Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out." (Unknown)

Grace and peace,
Johnny

"You Can Do Anything You Want to Do, As Long As You Were Created to Do It"

For the record, I would like to say that there are things that some people will never be able to do, nor should they be expected to learn how to do them.

For example, a blind person should never take driving lessons. This is not a criticism, but recognition of his or her inabilities. Blindness is an obvious inabilitiy, but everyone has inabilities, and those inabilities may not necessarily be considered flaws. For a blind person, he or she may discover that blindness is not a flaw, but a different opportunity with which to experience the world. The blind person should no more be taught to overcome his or her weakness of not being able to drive than a tall person should be taught to practice being shorter.

We wouldn't ask a high energy person to teach a class on how to be slow. High energy is actually the gift of that person and he should teach high energy people how to be great at using their high energy. Find somebody else to teach how to be slow. We wouldn't think twice about waiting for a jump master to teach us how to parachute, if a scuba diving instructor offered to take us up in a plane.

I think of this often when I think about kids in American schools where every child is expected to be an audible learner with a calm temperament who can sit and listen for long periods of time. The phlegmatic children with relaxed natures and a gift for audible learning are considered to be good, well-behaved children, while the sanguine or choleric children who are hands-on learners, highly social and energetic are suspected of having A.D.D. and have their parents given the recommendation to take the child to see a doctor. Eventually the child with natural high energy will learn to hide his or her true temperament while in school, out of the fear of failing or getting into trouble. The suppression of the child's true temperament will be forced to reveal itself in unhealthy, nervous tension. I don't think this is the answer.

Ultimately, ducks are ducks and eagles are eagles. I think that's true of people too. Each has his or her part to play, and each is to value the parts others play, without expecting to have to be able to play the others' parts.

The age of the "you can do anything you put your mind to" is quickly giving way to the age of "you can do anything you have been created to do as an individual with individual gifts, when you recognize and develop those gifts."

Grace and peace,
Johnny

"You are you and I am me, no matter what others insist we should be."

So many wonderful people are not recognized simply because they are in the wrong position or they are not allowed to live and work in their strengths. I have argued this truth for years.

I’m reading The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey. In his book he shares the genius of Dr. R.H. Reeves on the subject of appreciating one another’s differences in order to synergize, rather than simply compromise, and develop highly creative plans together.

“The Animal School”

“Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a ‘New World,’ so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer, all animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and made excellent grades in flying, but he was very poor in running. Since he was low in running he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustrations in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree-top down. He also develop charley horses from over-exertion and he got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and had to be disciplined severely. In climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way of getting there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school."

Valuing one another’s differences is important, no matter what organization, school, home, marriage, or job we are a part of.

Mercy is for the Merciful

In Matthew 18:23-25 we read of The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

It’s not easy to have a clear understanding of many of the words of Jesus without a better understanding of the context, time, and place in which Jesus is teaching.

This story is a reminder that when you’re feeling sorry for yourself and you're thinking that nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant is a message about divine forgiveness exemplified in human relationships. God does not provide mercy to the unforgiving.

The amount of money that is portrayed by Jesus in this story is so ridiculously large that it had to have been heard as funny. I’m sure his listeners were thinking to themselves, “That is just silly that someone would owe that much money” which is how Jesus got their undivided attention to hear how this would all pan out.

Ten thousand talents was roughly equivalent to the national debt. No average worker could ever even dream of paying back that much money. A talent was equivalent to 6,000 denarii. To help you understand how much that is, Judea, Idumaea, and Samaria together would pay 600 talents per year, while the servant, an average working man, in this story, all by himself owed 10,000 talents. If this working man could work every day of his life, and save every single dollar, meaning he had no bills and didn’t even use money to eat, it would take him over 150 years to pay this back.

The enslavement or imprisonment of a person, and in many situations, the enslavement of family members for paying off debt is a reality for Jesus’ listeners as well. In fact, Jesus refers to this when he says, “Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you pay the last penny” (Matt 5:25-26; Luke 12:58). In 2 Kgs 4:1 a widow cries to Elisha, “Your servant may husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

The listeners of this story are amazed when Jesus says that the king forgives the debt and lets the man go free.

Then the twist comes when this same man who had an enormous debt forgiven by the king goes to a man who owes him what would be considered three months wages and he does not forgive the debt. The man who was forgiven then faces the judgment of being unmerciful.

I believe that we, as children of God, are to gorge one another with forgiveness; without it, we whither and die.
The ultimate goal of Jesus’ story is to remind his hearers of God’s compassion and willingness to forgive, as well as His unwillingness to ignore justice

Only the merciful are shown mercy.

Forever learning,
Johnny

God's Daughters

The ministry of women is as ancient as Eve. She was created to be a "powerful partner" and to be an encourager.

As a Salvation Army officer, the privilege of seeing women given the opportunity for meaningful ministry has been a true blessing, though there is still a long way to go.

Catherine Booth, who was the wife of The Salvation Army's founder, William Booth, was the author of many of her husband's sermons and her deep theological and spiritual sensitivity was an always needed balancing tool for her husband.

The lack of respecting the ministry of women in the history of the church has had many negative impacts on some branches of the church. For example, The Salvation Army, to this day, does not practice communion, as it was not accepted by female ministers in the beginnings of The Army's mission. Therefore, William Booth declared that we will not practice communion in order that we do not offend anyone needing to hear the gospel.

I believe that women have always been just as important as men in God's family, Kingdom, and ministries. It is very exciting to see the changes in the world of women's ministries and how our generally male dominated church is beginning to benefit from recognizing the gifts, talents, and offerings of God's daughters.

It's interesting to me that wisdom is always spoken of as "her" and "she" in the Bible. That Mr. Booth went to his wife for counsel, wisdom, and sermon writing should be expected, as a woman's sensitivity to the Spirit is a wonderful part of her creation.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Life

When I was a boy growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, my brothers and I had a friend our age. I’ll call him Ricky.

Ricky had a little brother, whom I’ll call Timmy.

Ricky and Timmy lived in a house down the street from ours. One particular Christmas around 1980 or 81 my brothers and I got an Atari 2600 with at least 10 new games, a bunch of other toys, and brand new clothes, which my mom charged on her credit card and paid back over the next ten years.

I remember being so excited, and I couldn’t wait to go out and tell everyone all that we got for Christmas.

My brothers and I went and visited our other friends, one house after the other, each showing off our new treasures. Then we went to Ricky and Timmy’s.

Walking into their house was strange. Immediately, the first thing that caught my attention was the floor, which was almost covered in grey sand. In their bedroom was a pile of old clothes that they used for a bed, and they had almost no furniture.

This was Christmas. Everything should be shimmering with lights and shiny decorations, with the smell of a Christmas tree and turkey or ham baking in the oven. Ricky and Timmy were alone in their house. Their mother wasn’t home. I’m not sure where she was on this Christmas day, but I do remember that they had presents.

Their presents weren’t like ours, with the smell of new clothes and toys, and the shine of freshly opened boxes and wrapping paper.
One of their presents was a board game that was torn on the corners, repaired with masking tape, and a small, black and white television with a coat hanger for an antenna. I don’t remember anything else.

I do remember that on a few occasions, Ricky climbed in our window of the porch that was made into a bedroom where we kept our Atari. He’d be in there about six in the morning playing video games.

Ricky was in jail about ten years ago, where my younger brother, who’d gotten into some trouble, saw him. Ricky said his little brother, Timmy, died of malnutrition. I’m not sure what happened to his mother.

I tell this story to remind myself, that no matter how rough I think my life can be at times, there are always those who have it rougher.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

What does it mean?

For two nights in a row, I dreamed that Ella was in danger of being hurt in a ditch. And in the ditch was a large cement drain pipe that ran under the ground until it protruded just a few inches into the ditch. The first night she and I were falling into the ditch together and she nearly hit her head on the drain pipe until, while in midair, I jerked her away by her hand just in time for both of us to land on the grass outside the ditch. The second night she crawled into the drain pipe, which happened to be flooded about 4 inches with tomato soup. I know…weird.

I think I know what it means. It means nothing.

Isn’t it nice when something means nothing? How often does that happen in real life? Everything always means something, no matter how big or how small the thing is.

It’s so cool to have a really bad dream like your spouse has left you or your baby fell in a ditch, only to wake up and learn that it was all a dream. There are a lot of people who wish their lives could be like that, hoping that they’ll wake up and it was all just a dream that meant nothing.

They'd love to wake up and remember that their real life is wonderful and means so much.

Sometimes all it takes to go from meaning nothing to meaning a lot, is a change.

I like change. Change can turn nothing into something.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

“Strengthening Faith or Dancing with the Devil?”

Speaking dangerously is something that more Christians would do well to dabble in. I have found that far too many believers become angry or even threatened by some of the thoughts and ideas of the classic writers and even refuse to read for fear of feeling that they are dancing with the devil.

Recently I read a definite classic by Rudolf Bultmann, of which I'm sure many have read, titled "Jesus Christ and Mythology." Bultmann's philosophy is very striking and thought provoking as his words would seem to challenge the reader to once again approach some of the questions many have during a point in life when a person begins to experience doubts about faith and God. Bultmann's "de-mythologizing" theory is very tantalizing in that it brings to the surface of those reading the book that many well-meaning believers have mythologized much of the ideals of Christianity.

When we tell our children that angels are watching over them, how much of our thoughts about that statement are steeped in myths of female, winged, gown wearing, glowing, ghost-like creatures hovering invisibly about the bed?

Some of Bultmann's thoughts are no doubt placed in the theological world of infamy, while at the same time there is much to his words that gives us cause to look deeper into what we believe and how we live as Christians.

In a general conversation, I spoke of this book to another Christian who not only did not want to read it, but refused to even talk about it. This brings to my mind that we, as believers, must not fear the thoughts of the classic writers who helped to shape and even challenge our Christian theology throughout history, ancient or more recent. It is through the efforts of the classic writers that we are able to galvanize our thoughts as Christians.

I wish that we would all dare to dabble in the dangerous. Faith is only as strong as it is able to stretch in and out of the safest and scariest of converstations, whether written or spoken.

Forever learning,
Johnny

"Get A Shovel"

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl in Matthew 13:44-46 has a deep and rich background in the Hebrew world, which has always been a reference to the teaching of God’s Word. Learning the Word of God was more valuable than anything that had ever existed; it was a hidden treasure that was meant to be excavated by every child of God, and nothing was more valuable.

Jesus' message was The Message of the Kingdom. He taught of the priceless Way and Will of God. And the people who found the Kingdom, who found the Way of God, had indeed discovered a priceless treasure.

The church fathers, like Origen and Irenaeus taught that the pearl was Christ and that those who found Jesus had found the great Jewel. But in the context of Jesus’ teaching, it was the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and learn to live the will of God that was the value of his invitation.

In Jewish tradition, the greatest treasure was the Torah, and people would give up land, flocks, crops, and gold to have the opportunity for deep study in the Torah of God.

“An ancient sage named Jose, the son of Kisma, said, I was once walking by the way when a man met me and greeted me, and I returned his greeting. He said to me, Rabbi, from what place are you? I said to him, I come from a great city of sages and scribes. He said to me, If you are willing to dwell with us in our place, I will give you a thousand golden dinars and precious stones and pearls. I said to him, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere but in a home of the Torah.” –Brad H. Young, Parables, 210

The hidden treasure and the pearl both signify the Kingdom of God, which is the Word of God being learned and lived by the people of God. Jesus calls us to search for the treasures of the Kingdom, the Will and Ways of God and His people, and even to give up everything to know and live according to His priceless Word.

Jim Rohn said when we invite people to come and dig for the treasures of higher learning, many will say, “I don’t have a shovel.” He will then say, “Get you one” with their reply being, “Do you know what a shovel costs today?”

Jesus calls us to pay the price, no matter how expensive the shovel, in order that we may find the Pearl of Great Price that is His eternal Word.

Forever learning,
Johnny

People Are Like A Box of Whitman's Chocolate

Listening is such a needed attribute within the body of Christ. Often we are given the opportunity to share or be shared with, and the chance is missed for lack of interest or difference of opinion.

I love what one writer, possibly Stephen Covey, says, “First seek to understand, and then seek to be understood.”

Forest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”

Life may not be predictable as we'd like it, but I think people are another story.

Most people are like a box of Whitman’s chocolate; the kind that does let us know what we’re going to get, if only we take the time to look inside the box before we grab or reject the morsels inside of one another.

Grace and peace,
Johnny