Read

Good day to each of you reading this column and again, thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on a very important subject. Before we begin, here’s a bit of humor to ponder on the Government Stimulus plan in the United States.

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House. One is from Indiana, another from Florida, and the third is from Utah. All three go with a White House official to examine the fence. The Indiana contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well,” he says, “I figure the job will run about $ 900. That’s $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and a $100 profit for me.”

The Florida contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $700. That’s $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.”

The Utah contractor doesn’t measure nor figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2,700.” The official, incredulous, says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?”

The Utah contractor whispers back, “$1,000 for me, $1,000 for you, and we hire the guy from Florida to fix the fence.”

“Done!” replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how the Government Stimulus plan works.

A few rules to remember in life:

If you help someone when they are in trouble, they will remember you when they’re in trouble again.

Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then neither does milk.

And, money can’t buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a CORVETTE then on a bicycle.

OK, hope you did enjoy and on to the subject of READ.

Public polls say we spend an average of 7 hours or 420 minutes being entertained by the Television set. Some or many of you don’t spend that much time in front of the set and some of you have it on as “white noise” in the background, but the set is on and you peek at it to see if you missed something.

As for reading, no time for that or you did that back in school and plenty of it, you did your time and it is now time to be entertained. The TV set and its programs are for our entertainment or our getaway from the hustle and bustle of life.

We need an escape, we want an escape, we must have an escape for that small amount of time so we won’t face the daily grind of activities that face us each day.

But isn’t it so strange that as we get older, we begin to revert back to our childhood and things such as reading become more prevalent? We like that quiet time to read word for word of an important article on a subject that is very dear to you.

My wife is an ardent reader, whether it be in the morning, daytime or when we go to bed. She can pick up a favorite magazine and read it from cover to cover and then turn on her kindle to read the next few chapters of the book from her favorite author.

I wish I could read like her, but when I begin to read, I can only read a few pages so I can digest what I am reading and then “I must rest my eyes” and ponder what I just have read.

It’s funny how we are built—some of us can read fast and absorb all that we read and some of us read slow and have to go back a second or even third time to absorb that same paragraph.

When we read, some have the attention span of a gnat and some give up and go on to do something else. Some don’t read because it is boring, frivolous, time consuming, thoughtless, puts the reader to sleep.

Ok, but if you were stranded on an island and could have only one book, what would that book be? For those of you that don’t like to read, have you considered that it was God who made you, for he gave you two eyes to see and a mind, in fact, a beautiful mind, to interpret those things that you see physically or in print.

We take for granted our eyesight, our speaking, our comprehension and use of our mind and give it no second thought to the one who gave us these wonderful blessings.

Again, if you had one book to take with you, what book would you choose? What book contains mathematics, grammar, ancestry, geology, geography, history, love, emotions, war, food, medicine, government, laws, political figures, the body, race, race relations, religion, travel, sex, love stories, bribery, adultery, murder, debt, money, the economy, horticulture, divorce, marriage, health insurance, home ownership, holidays, education, inheritance, prison, husbands, wives, interest, finance, personal injury, land, land ownership, commandments, statutes, mortgages, military training, manslaughter, national defense, punishment, politics, promises, property sale, sin, sabbath, church, taxes, mortgage, tithes, treaties, vows, weights, measures, good, evil, political issues, social issues, slavery, alcohol, doctors, teachers, nurses, giants, animals, plants, trees, treasure, minerals, gold, silver, tin, ships, traveling throughout the world, spirits, diets, lottery, wives, age, creation, exercise, magicians, and so many more subjects that I have not touched.

What book can include all of the above subjects? What book gives you all the intrigue, the questions, the answers, the highs and the lows, takes you to places you have never been to, challenges your mind, picks you up, provides answers, and gives direction to you.

Read, when scrambled means dare or to be challenged—Our minds needs to be challenged and what better way than to read and use our minds to read, comprehend and put the knowledge in the Bible to everyday use.

Here, in the United States, Satan is truly having his way with two shootings of innocent people in the past few weeks. People shake their head when asked and have become afraid to go to the mall and now to the grocery store.

Would we be experiencing many of the vicious crimes if we were to follow God’s laws? No, a course not, but we are a stiff-necked people.

Turn with me to Deuteronomy 17:18-20 (NIV) When he takes the throne of the kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of the law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

When breaking down the above verses, the NIV says the king was to be a man of God’s Word. He was to (1) have a copy of the law made for his personal use, (2) keep it with him all the time, (3) read from it every day, and (4) obey it completely. With the abundant availability of the Bible today, it’s not difficult to gain access to the source of the king’s wisdom.

Now turn to 2 Timothy 2:15 (FF) Exert yourself to stand approved with God, as a skillful workman, arranging in order the reason for the truth.

As we end, whether you be a king or a skillful workman, read, follow and build your life on the word of God, for one day God will examine the type of worker that we have been for him.

May you bless God in all that you say and all that you do.