Thought for February 15

 History:

  • 399 BC: Socrates is sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of youths. How many would die if this were a crime today?
  • 1764: St. Louis is founded as a French trading post
  • 1842: First adhesive postage stamp in the U.S. 
  • 1862: Grant assaults Fort Donelson
  • 1967: "Blue Danube Waltz" by Strauss premiers
  • 1879: Women authorized to practice before the Supreme Court
  • 1898: U.S. Maine sinks in Havana Harbor
  • 1903: First Teddy Bear introduced
  • 1919: American Legion organizes in France
  • 1932: George Burns and Gracie Allen debut on the Guy Lombardo Show
  • 1933: FDR survives assassination attempt that kills Chicago Mayor
  • 1936: Hitler announces the Volkswagen Beetle
  • 1941: Duke Ellington records "Take the A Train"
  • 1950: Disney's "Cinderella" premiers
  • 1961: U.S. Figure Skating Team killed in plane crash--Brussels
  • 1965: Red Maple Leaf flag becomes official flag of Canada
  • 1996: Bill Belichick fired by the Cleveland Browns
  • 1997: Todd Eldridge and Tara Lipinski win US Figure Skating Championships in Nashville
  • 2005: YouTube launched in the US
  • Born: Galileo, Heinrich Steinway, Cyrus McCormick, Charles Lewis Tiffany, Susan B Anthony, Ernest Shackleton, Alfred Gilbert [erector set inventor], Lew Wallace ["Ben Hur"], Caesar Romero, Hale Boggs, Graham Hill [racer], Jane Seymour, Chris Farley, Seattle Slew
  • Died: Maribel Vinson [9 time US Figure Skating Champ], Nat King Cole,Wally Cox, Ethel Merman, Tommy Rettig [Lassie]
Thought:
I skipped over Jonah to get to Micah. The next couple of days, I want to go back to Jonah. Now everyone knows the story, but a couple of verses hit me--they are underlined in my Bible, but for different reasons than those I now see and understand. 

Take a look this morning at 1:1-3. The Lord speaks to Jonah. Stop here for a moment and think about that. The Lord spoke to Jonah. Amazing! The Creator of the universe speaks to Jonah. Have you ever received a call from some very important or highly positioned person and been surprised that they called you. Or perhaps you met an important person for a second time and they actually remembered your name. Now think about the Almighty, Eternal God speaking to you. If you were Jonah and the Lord spoke to you how would you react? 

Well, how did Jonah react? God is asking me to do something I do not want to do. So I will flee from the presence of the Lord. This sounds too familiar to me. God who is omniscient and omnipresent speaks to Larry with a word I do not want to hear or something I do not want to do. So I ignore God's voice, I run from God's voice, I try and have other things drown out God's voice. I make excuses, create reasons. 

What has the Lord said to you? In your prayers, in your Bible reading, in your listening to sermons, in your conversations with Godly friends. How do you react? Recall when you were a child or teenager. Your parent spoke something you did not want to hear or something you did not want to do. So you pretended you did not hear; then you said you did not understand; then you came up with your excuses why that was a bad idea; then you said you would do it, but didn't. Well, maybe that was how I responded, not you. 

My take away is when the Lord, the God of Creation, the Almighty, my Savior, Redeemer speaks to me, it is a miracle of love and grace. So when He speaks, I answer like Isaiah--Here am I, send me. 

Blessings
Larry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for July 19

History: 1553: Lady Jane Gray deposed after 9 days 1692: 5 people hung during Salem Witch Trials 1848: First women's rights convention -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls NY 1910: Cy Young wins his 500th game 1941: US Army flying school at Tuskegee AL dedicated 1945: USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub--only sub-to-sub rescue 1957: Firing of first rocket with nuclear warhead-Nevada 1984: Geraldine Ferraro is first major party female VP candidate 1996: Olympics open in Atlanta 2007: Madmen debuts 2018: Duck Boat sinks in Table Rock Lake killing 17 Born: Samuel Colt, Edgar Degas [painter], Lizzie Borden, Charles Mayo [Mayo Clinic], George McGovern, Al Haig, George Hamilton IV, Vikki Carr, Ilie Nastase, Stuart Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch,  Died: Syngman Rhee [President South Korea], Clyde Beatty [circus animal trainer], Mary Jo Kopechne [passenger with Ted Kennedy], Jack Warden, Frank McCourt [Angela's Ashes], James Garner, Garry Marshall
Read more

Thought for November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!  1664: Blaise Pascal is converted following a vision. He wrote the date and time of his conversion and said, "Fire. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Not of philosophers and intellectuals. Certitude, certitude, joy, peace. The God of Jesus Christ." Laid the foundation for the law of probabilities; genius in hydrodynamics and hydrostatics developing Pascal's principle of pressure; taught the experience of God through the heart rather than reason; mathematician and philosopher. 1783: Annapolis Maryland becomes U.S. Capitol until June 1784 1863: Patent for making color photographs granted 1889: First jukebox debuts in Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco 1897: Pencil sharpener patented 1904: Summer Olympics in St. Louis close [1st Olymics in U.S.] 1921: President Harding signs an Act prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes 1923: Cecil B. DeMille's first "The Ten Commandments" premiers
Read more

Thought for April 5, 2024

1722: Easter Island discovered 1792: First Presidential veto 1815: Mt. Tambora erupts. Largest eruption ever witnessed. Created year without summer in 1816--frost and snow in North America in June and July. Largest part of eruption on April 10th. Killed 10,000 in initial blast.  1906: Mt. Vesuvius erupts killing 100 1923: Firestone begins producing inflatable tires 1936: Tupelo almost completely destroyed by a tornado--216 die 1972: Baseball strike costs 86 games 2063: On "Star Trek", earth has its first contact with the Vulcan species Born: Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Lister, Booker T Washington, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Arthur Hailey. Gale Storm, Frank Gorshin, Colin Powell, Pharrell Williams Died: Robert Raikes [Sunday School], Douglas MacArthur, Howard Hughes, Abe Fortas, Sam Walton, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Charlton Heston, Honor Blackman Thought: Reading Daniel 1:5-7 this morning. Continuing with the thoughts about Nebuchadnezzar's plan. Having brough
Read more