God's Route 66

Many years ago, I was a teacher at an elementary school back east.  For about 2 1/2 years, I taught physical education, health and safety for grades K-5.  Part of the safety curriculum included a Disney created cartoon series starring the little character of Jiminy Cricket who would begin each safety message singing:

"Oh...I'm no fool, no sirree, I want to live to be 93!  I play safe for you and me 'cause I'm no fool."

Of course, those films dealt with physical and mental safety; and how not being foolish with our every day activities can help us avoid injury or even death.  But there is also a need within our souls to realize that avoidance of moral, emotional and spiritual foolishness is equally, if not even more important!

I thought of these films today while reading a little book called "Moments With God On Route 66" by Dr. David Jeremiah.

On the page discussing the virtues of  "counsel," Dr. Jeremiah writes:

"We hear the words "fool" and "foolish" often enough that it is easy to lose sight of their true meaning."

But before I continue with the message, I wanted to explain what this particular book is all about.

On the back cover, we find out:

There are not many people left who can say, "I got my kicks on Route 66!"  But between 1926 and 1984, U. S. Highway (Route) 66 was America's "Mother Road" --2,448 miles of asphalt stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles.  The sections of Route 66 that are left today are unmarked, known only to the locals.  But for decades many Americans dreamed about motoring west on Route 66.  And if they couldn't make the drive, they did it vicariously through the Route 66 hit TV show that aired from 1960-1964.

God has given us His own Route 66 that stretches from your front door to the doorway of heaven--the 66 books of the Bible.  And since 2007, Pastor David Jeremiah has been airing one-minute insights into God's Route 66 on radio stations across the nation.  In Moments With God on Route 66 you will find 230 of the best of the nearly 1,400 Route 66 spots aired through 2012.  Just like the Bible there is something in these short devotionals for everyone, seekers and saints alike.

So take a short drive on God's Route 66 every day.  You'll find His divine highway will keep you focused and moving faithfully toward your heavenly home!

I was young when that show aired, so I don't remember much about it.   But I do recall hearing that it was a very popular series at the time for young adults.  If you are interested in learning more, read a recent article at AV Club: Why the mostly forgotten Route 66 was one of TV’s most ambitious shows. The article includes a few film clips too.

One sentence from the article intrigued me and I'd like to view the episode:

The series even featured future stars in smaller parts, as when Ed Asner played a young Jewish boy’s father, who later died and kicked off a crisis of faith in the boy.

Getting back to the subject of counsel.

There are many Bible verses discussing and warning about "the way of the fool."   We would be wise to heed such warnings.

Dr. Jeremiah continues:

A verse in the Book of Proverbs makes it clear: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes." In other words, a fool is a person who refuses to heed the moral advice of those who are wiser. A fool does what he wants in spite of the pain it causes him and others.

From the Bible's perspective, the fool is a person who refuses to listen to God's counsel or warnings. But the wise person is the one who submits his reasoning to God.

Accept direction on the road to new life.

Discover God's thoughts...on Route 66.

Hat tips to all links.

Exposing the Lie Behind the "Coexist" Movement

Each time I see a "coexist" bumper sticker on a car, I think about how naive such a person must be in order to think such a cohesion of views (some often being violent, threatening, and damaging to a person's spiritual destiny) would ever be possible to be achieved in this fallen world.  Don't get me wrong - perhaps the sentiment of the person posting such a message intends to mean well. 

But the truth of the matter regarding the obvious and continuous increase of sin, evil, and death in our current world (all of which, unfortunately, contains a plethora of views that tend to reject God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ) does not allow the "coexist" mantra to lead anyone to absolute truth, salvation of the soul, reconciliation with God, or eternity with our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

My blogging friend Neil over at Eternity Matters has a good post up and at the end of it I noticed the following graphic that explains the truth of the lie behind the "coexist" movement:




The graphic below and to the right, further explains the contradictions of the coexist movement. [Right click on graphic to enlarge.]

John 14:6 explains why they can't all be true:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6 (NKJV)

Hat tip:

Eternity Matters

Things Hidden From the Learned and the Clever

Every once in a while, I will spot a great column in the Faith and Values section of our local newspaper. Last month, I cut out such an article that was dated July 15, 2011 and meant to share it here at Talk Wisdom. Since I didn't get around to it during the month of July, I thought that I would find a copy of it online to copy and post here. Better late than never, right? But a funny thing (actually, it's kinda sad) happened during my search for the column at the newspaper's archive site. I could not find it! I tried everything. I used the search tool for the author. Only three links showed up and they weren't what I was looking for. Next, I typed in the date and went through page after page of articles to no avail. Finally, I decided to search online via Bing for the author's name, hoping that he had a website. Fortunately, I found the website. I searched under "archived articles" and found it. I will now present it to readers here. I think that you will find it quite thought provoking.


~ Christine

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Things Hidden from the Learned and the Clever
2011-07-10


I've lived and worked within academic circles for most of my adult life, studying in various universities, teaching within university circles, and having university professors as close friends and colleagues. What's that world like? What kind of folks inhabit academic circles?

Perhaps my experience is atypical because most of the scholars under whom I studied and most of the theologians and other scholars who have been my colleagues became professors and university lecturers in function of ministry, as a vocation, rather than as a career. Thus, instead of struggling with faith and church, they were driven to become academics in function of their faith and church commitments. In some ways, professors in theology schools and schools of ministry aren't typical of academic circles.

But an academic is an academic and graduate and post-graduate studies, whatever the motivation for doing them, have some of the same effect on people. And so I suspect that the circles I have been part of, in the end, are more typical than atypical. And what is typical?

Academics, scholars, and university professors, like any segment of society, are a complex mix: In university circles you will find some of the most humble, gracious, faith-filled, and genuinely good people you will ever meet; just as you will also find some of the most arrogant, self-absorbed, amoral, and cynical people in the world. The academic world looks like the rest of the world.

Given that truth, I have long been haunted by a saying of Jesus that, often times, the deep secrets of life and of faith are hidden from the learned and the clever and revealed instead to children, to those of a less-complex mind. I don't doubt the truth of this; I wonder why.



Why? Clearly intelligence and learning are good things. Intelligence is the gift from God that sets us apart from animals and access to learning is a precious right given us by God. Indeed, ignorance and lack of education are things every healthy society and every healthy individual strive to overcome. Scripture praises both wisdom and intelligence and the health of any church is partly predicated on having a vigorous intellectual stream within it. Every time in history that the church has let popular piety, however sincere, trump sound theology it has paid a high price. The Reformation arose out of just that and one of the first things that the Council of Trent mandated for Roman Catholics was that its priests be better trained intellectually.

Intelligence and learning are good things. God did not give us intelligence and then ask us not to use it. Naiveté is not a virtue and should never be confused with innocence. So why is being "intelligent and clever" something that can work against our understanding of the deeper secrets within life and faith?

The fault is not with intelligence and learning, both good things in themselves, but in what they can inadvertently do to us. Intelligence and learning often have the unintended effect of undermining what's childlike in us, that is, the very strength that they bring into our lives can allow us to unconsciously claim a superiority and have us believe that, given our intelligence, we have both the need and the right to isolate ourselves from others in ways that the natural neediness of children does not permit them to do. Children are not self-sufficient even though they fiercely want to be. They need others and they know it. Consequently they more naturally reach out and take some one's hand. They don't have the luxury of self-sufficiency.

When we are "learned and the clever" we can more easily forget that we need others and consequently don't as naturally reach for another's hand as does a child. It's easier for us to isolate ourselves. When we are less aware of our contingency we more easily lose sight of the things to which God and life are inviting us. The very strength that intelligence and learning bring into our lives can instill in us a false sense of self-sufficiency that can make us want to separate ourselves in unhealthy ways from others and understand ourselves as superior In some way. And superiority never enters a room alone, but always brings along a number of her children: arrogance, disdain, boredom, cynicism. All of these are occupational hazards for the "learned and the clever" and none of these helps unlock any of life's deep secrets.

But we must be careful not to misread the lesson. Faith does not ask us to not stretch our minds. Neither ignorance nor naiveté serve faith. Faith not only doesn't fear the hard questions it invites us to ask them. The depths of infinity are never threatened by finite intelligence. And so it's never a bad thing to become learned and sophisticated; it's only a bad thing if we remain there. The task is to become post-sophisticated, that is, to remain full of intelligence and learning even as we put on again to the mindset of a child.

Written by Ron Rolheiser

Hat Tip: Ron Rolheiser.com

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Tonight, I present another great song by Brandon Heath - "Only Water."

When we think about all the references in the Bible about water, we can see the miracles and power that Jesus Christ gave during his ministry on this earth. Water refreshes us. We cannot live for more than several days without drinking water. Water cleanses us, both physically and spiritually via baptism. Jesus turned simple jugs of water into the finest wine that anyone in attendance at one particular wedding in the Bible ever tasted! As Brandon Heath reveals in the lyrics:

And it washes over me
Like a single river stone
Changes everything
But has no power on its own

On its own
It's only water.

Jesus speaking:

John 7:38 - He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

The Heart of the Wise

I have often wondered why it is that the conservatives are called the"right", and the liberals are called the "left."

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV) "The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."

Mystery solved!

Hat Tip:

My hubby via email!

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Also, witness one of God's little miracles at the Restore Honor Rally:



And don't miss Dr. Alveda King's message at the rally! [See videos at bottom of Youtube post.]

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Update 2:

Speaking of foolishness, check out the misspelling of SEIU's "American Dream" sign:

Big Government: SEIU Misspells 'American Dream' at Rally