Hello, dear ones.
Since we are temporarily looking after the neighbor’s dog, and since I had let her out of her kennel earlier, I was reluctant to jog on the road for fear she would follow me. So I did my old man jog doing circles on our own property.
My list isn’t getting any less overwhelming. Thano is not working at Safeway today, so I have him out setting up the mill so we can begin to turn out a bunch of needed lumber.
Blessings on your day.
Love and prayers, Ray
My mother, who spent a good deal of travel time aboard a Model T Ford (…having traveled in a family caravan of Model Ts at the age of 9 from Pittsfield, Massachusetts to Tacoma, Washington), told me this little story when I was young: A man driving a Model T Ford once broke down and was stopped by the side of the road. He had no idea why it quit, but was fiddling around, checking for something obvious. Another Model T pulled up behind him and the driver approached to ask what was going on. The stranger reached into the engine compartment, did a little wiggling here, tapping there, etc, and suggested that he try to start again. Bingo! She fired up and ran beautiful. It seemed almost magical that this guy would know so much. About the time that the “good Samaritan” stranger had left, a friend of the guy who broke down pulled up. The first thing he said was, “Do you know who that was?” “No—I don’t.” “That was Henry Ford!”
It only makes sense that the designer and manufacturer of Model T Fords would know how they work—and how to make them work right. And it only makes sense that the Designer and Manufacturer of you would know what makes you tick, and tick right. I may be inventing a new word here, but I have to regard Jesus as a SUPER professional PSYCHO-SPIRITOLOGIST. That is, He knows exactly how to coordinate and synchronize the psychological and spiritual components of your life so as to cause your life to perform correctly.
We must not miss an understanding of the connection between INPUT and OUTPUT. Jesus makes it clear that when “the day of judgment” happens (He mentions that day three times in this passage alone), we will be judged according to our OUTPUT, which, of course, is the direct result of INPUT. Listen again to how Jesus speaks to the “religionists,” or Pharisees—“The fruit (OUTPUT) defines the tree. But you who are known as the Pharisees are rotten to the core! You’ve been poisoned by the nature of a venomous snake (the universal INPUT of the NATURAL SIN NATURE—so beware!—it’s not just Pharisees!). How can your words (OUTPUT) be good and trustworthy if you are rotten within? (INPUT status) For what has been stored up in your hearts (INPUT) will be heard in the overflow of your words!” (OUTPUT). And the FOCUS VERSE, if I understand it correctly, should be enough to scare the #%&!! out of anyone who accepts Jesus’ words as Truth!
In Psalm 19, the Psalmist David extols the value and benefits of God’s Word—making it our vital INPUT. Then he finishes up that psalm with what I believe to be one of the safest and all-encompassing prayers you and I can pray at heart level—and one I mention often. “So may the words of my mouth, my meditation-thoughts, and every movement of my heart be always pure and pleasing, my only Redeemer, my Protetor-God” (TPT). How can one’s OUTPUT be far off when this is the basis of INPUT?