Junk Mail by Larry Refsland
Every day I go through the same routine when I come home from work. I stand over the garbage can and sort through the pile of junk mail! I’m sure the post office is grateful for the revenue this mail generates. But for me, it’s just that much more garbage to haul out to the curb. Offers for credit cards, solicitations for donations, sweepstakes “winner” announcements, and more credit card applications are just some of the seemingly endless stack of envelopes that fill my mailbox. Occasionally, in the middle of the stack of mail is a real genuine letter! A letter written by someone I actually know! It’s exciting to read a letter from someone that isn’t asking for money and who is telling me interesting things about themselves. Good letters ask me how I’m doing and bring back memories of times we’ve had together. Letters like that are special because it means someone took the time to say, “I was thinking about you.” Did you ever look at the Bible as a letter from God to you? It is! In it, he gives us an update on what he’s been doing. He tells news about his plans to visit us. He gives the details on his plans to come and take us to his place someday. He even writes about his preparations to get our place ready for us. Some people might toss the Bible aside like so much junk mail, but I savor every word. I know whom it comes from and that he’s taken the time to let me know he was thinking about me. Be sure to take some time to set aside the junk mail and read some of God’s letter to you. It beats a credit card offer any day! Kitchen Stories by Larry Refsland
My wife and I watched the movie “Kitchen Stories”, a foreign film set in the 1950s. The film was about researching and designing a more efficient kitchen for single men. But, if you don’t speak Norwegian or Swedish, you’d have to read the subtitles like I did. Even so, it was an intriguing and thought-provoking movie, portraying a Swedish research team that is sent to Norway to observe Norwegian men and how they move about in their kitchens. The observer for the research sat in an elevated chair placed in a corner and simply charted each and every move the host would make. The observer was not to engage in conversation or in any way assist the host. By the end, I realized the point of the movie might have been to show that to understand someone, you have to do more than observe. You have to communicate! Some people think God is just an impersonal observer who is only keeping track of the good and bad we do. The scriptures tell us otherwise; it clearly portrays God as an interactive communicator. He wants us to talk to him and he wants to talk to us. He wants us to understand his love for us. He wants us to know he cares about our thoughts, our hurts, our joys and our worries. Obviously he is speaking to us through his word. He also is sending messages through music and nature. The first step in developing any relationship is communication. Spend some time today talking and listening to God. You’ll not only gain a better understanding of God but of yourself and your purpose in life. Join us virtually for service at 3:00 pm CST |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2016
Categories
All
|