Faith and Bumper Stickers

     Years ago a colleague reported for jury duty and was surprised at one of the questions a lawyer threw at the prospective jurors:  "What bumper stickers do you have on your car?"

     At first she was puzzled but, the more she thought about it, the more she realized what we slap on the bumpers and windows of our cars often reveals our attitude about a lot of things. Bumper sticker decals speak to our faith, our political persuasion, our taste in music, our membership in organizations, our cynicism, how well our children are doing in school, and even the number of people in our families. If we have no bumper stickers, that, too, might say something about us. It was an interesting way to whittle down the jurors to the lawyer's satisfaction.

     Bumper stickers can be fun. The last two posts have been rather serious so it's time to get a little silly.

Here are bumper stickers I'd like to see:

Survival:

Cut Me Some Slack

 I'm Doing the Best I Can

 Bad Hair Day--So What!

 Perfection is Overrated

Children:

You Need How Many Cupcakes, When?

Play More and Clean Less

 Go Fly a Kite--No, Really. Go Have Fun!

 Reading with a Child Rocks

 The Worry Train has Left the Station!

Perseverance:

Move Aside, I'm Comin' Through!

Don't Mess with Me Today

 I'm Going to Pursue This 'Til It Dies or I Die!

Aging:

Retirement:  It's Nice to Have the Time to Be Busy

Message to Retirees:  Stay out of the Stores on Weekends!

Where was I Going with that Thought?

What Did I Come Into This Room For?

 When You Die, All Your Treasures Go In A Yard Sale

Don't Ask How I Am, Ask What I'm Doing

Miscellaneous:

I'm Multi-Lingual:  I Can Smile in 7 Languages

Success Re-defined = Contentment

Goal:  To Be the Best I'm Capable of Being

Garbage In, Garbage Out

You Might Wanna Try De-daf

Faith:

Heaven Looks Better All the Time

The World Needs God

Love Conquers Most Things. God's Love Conquers All

My Favorite Bumper Sticker:

Eternal Life is God's Idea of Success

     The Bible has bumper stickers. It's called the book of Proverbs. I always smile when I read that book because it conjures up a mental image of an old Grandpa or Grandma rocking on a front porch, sharing wisdom with a group of youngsters seated at their feet. And, yes, they're smoking corn cob pipes. The Old Testament book of Proverbs is God having a little fun. He distills wisdom clothed in marvelous Jewish humor.

     Ann Zwemer, former missionary nurse in India and a dear friend, has been legally blind for the past ten years. However, that hasn't kept her from publishing a book titled, Just a Moment! Daily Reflections for Thinkers. The book is formatted in large print with two reflections per page so readers who are sight-impaired can enjoy it. Behind each is a world of wisdom gained from her walk with God.

Your Turn...

      Now it's your turn. Today, whenever your family gathers together, see if you can make a list of possible bumper stickers that reflect your family's philosophy or belief system. Be creative and have fun. The kids will probably come up with some winners.

If you come up with some good bumper stickers, publish them on the Comments page so we all can get a chuckle.

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Power of H2O

  Recently, Arizona experienced the power of unleashed water in the form of a five-hour rainstorm--nothing of consequence in the Midwest but destructive in our thirsty desert. Interstate 10, the main artery from California to Florida which cuts through the heart of Phoenix, had to be closed for most of a day due to flooding, stranded vehicles, and the slippery muck left behind as the water receded. Schools were closed and neighborhoods were flooded.

Neighborhood park after Phoenix' 100-Year Flood                (photo courtesy Peggy Gregory)

 I was reminded anew of the immense power of water on a recent visit to the Grand Canyon. We hadn't seen this amazing wonder for about thirty years and wanted to check to see if it had changed. It didn't. It is still the inspiring view that elicits gasps. The steady erosion of the relentless Colorado River flowing for eons carves out this exquisite Natural Wonder of the World, both creating and revealing the striped beauty of the Canyon.

 











Arizona is the Grand Canyon State and residents and visitors enjoy it close up and personal, as hikers or mule riders, close but safe from viewpoints along the ridge or the new clear viewing platform that juts over the abyss, or from afar in an airplane or helicopter.

 


We visited another spectacular phenomenon on our recent trip to Canada where we hiked up to the base of Takakkaw Falls, formed by a melting glacier. The roar was deafening, the mist drenching, and the power thunderous.



The Bible talks about the power of water in its metaphor about believers being channels of God's love to others--living water leading from Jesus, the Source of abundant life and salvation. "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7: 37-38) Jesus was teaching about the power of the Holy Spirit which soon would come to his followers. He was encouraging them to believe and then spread the Good News.

Imagine yourself as a living stream, a channel filled with fresh, clear, life-giving water. You can be the one who carries the message of salvation and blessings to your family, friends, and acquaintances. People all around are hurting and craving hope in a world gone crazy. What strengths, love, faith, etc. do you have to offer? 

Go and refresh the world around you.

"If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has nourished in you mighty torrents of blessing for others." 

                                                                    Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest

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God's Love Letter to Mankind

Gds <3 Lttr 2 Mnknd

How many texts do you get in one day? How many personal, hand-written notes have you received in the past month? No contest there. Whatever the form--text, written, typed, or chiseled in stone--we enjoy communication with friends and family.

Take a teenager out to dinner and you'll observe them sneaking peeks at the phone buzzing in their lap. They really think we don't notice. As a teacher, my high school students complained when I made them write essays, saying they hated writing. Then I would intercept long, heart-felt notes to one of their dearest BFFs containing some sort of teenaged drivel. It was puzzling.

Let's face it, whether texting or real writing or talking on the phone, we all love to communicate with those important to us. We are wired for social communication.


Cursive? What's that?

Gone are the days of beautifully scripted, hand-written notes. Cursive is on its way out just like the calligraphy of by-gone years. My Step-Grandmother Rose was an artist who wrote beautiful letters. I don't remember what she wrote but I do remember the artistry of her communications:  onion-skin paper, blue fountain pen ink, and consistent handwriting with swirls and flourishes that truly were works of beauty. As a child in school her knuckles were rapped often during penmanship class for not following the Palmer Method of writing, whatever that is.

One of Rose's Artistic Letters 

God's Communication with Us

The Bible is God's special letter of love to us and is an important tool to teach us how to live. Just think, he inspired many writers as well as teams of scholars throughout the years to compose and select scripture, resulting in communication with us mere mortals. It fascinates me how modern the Bible is. It has answers for whatever I'm going through or feeling and I always learn something new.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man [woman] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16 & 17)

Try This for an Exercise

Think of one or two issues you're dealing with right now. You know, the things that keep you awake at night and plague your thoughts throughout the day. Then find a Bible Concordance (index) and look up key words from what you're battling. A good online concordance can be found at https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?

Your search will bring up various passages of scripture that speak to your concerns. Zero in on the one or two that touch your heart and then read them in various translations of the Bible, finding the one you like best. This site offers choices from a long list of versions. You may be moved by the beautiful language of Elizabethan English in the King James Version of the Bible or you may enjoy the ultra-modern, easy to grasp version in The Message. A few translations I've enjoyed are:

• The Book
• The Message
• The Living Bible (paraphrase)
• The Good News Bible
• The New International Version
• The New English Version
• The Revised Standard Version

 Find which one is the clearest and dearest to you. See if you're uplifted, helped, instructed, or encouraged.


So Many Choices

We are fortunate the Bible is available in many formats today. We're not relegated to a heavy book with real pages. We can read it on our phones, our tablets, our e-readers, our laptops, desktops, wrist computers, and soon perhaps eyeglass computers! There even are audio versions of scripture we can listen to during long commutes in our cars. Get in the habit of turning to this Book for help in your daily struggles through life and be enriched.

* * * * * *

My dear Step-grandmother frequently signed her letters, "Lovingly, Rose" or "Take care, love to all and wishes for good health." I'd like to think God had such closings in mind for us when he gave us his Word as our Holy Guidebook.

"Take care, my Divine love to all, and wishes for good health. Love, God."

 

(or:  "My Dvn <3 2 all & wshs 4 gd hlth. <3, Gd.")