A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

In 1962 Bob Dylan wrote one of his most famous protest songs, A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall.  A few lines of the song are;

I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded in hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

The song is full of dense imagery that suggests injustice, suffering, pollution and warfare.  Some have suggested that the refrain of the song refers to nuclear fallout, however Dylan said "No, it's not atomic rain, it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen".



Yesterday this song came to mind as we were experiencing extremely heavy rain here in Mena, Arkansas.  We have lived in this house for almost twenty years now, and in all that time I have never seen as much water as I did yesterday.



The official rainfall totals were 3.5 inches, but most of it came in a short period of time.  Water was running across the yard in front of the house and along the side of the house.  The neighbors front yard and side yard were under water.  Fortunately our house is built up a couple of feet off of the ground.











When the heaviest rains had passed I drove around the neighborhood and took a few photos.









Fortunately the hard rains diminished before there was any lasting damage in our area.


And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what'll you do now my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my songs well before I start singin'
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Danger!

Although it is definitely not the kind of thing that I normally do at my business, a while back I painted a Bandit Wood Chipper. Wood chippers have powerful feed systems with large chipper openings that allow you to break down limbs and branches. One of the things that had to be done was the removal of all of the decals and stickers before painting. So that we would know where to put the new decals when we finished painting, I took pictures of all the decals and locations for reference.

Wood chippers are very dangerous machines. I have never used one, but after reading all of the warning decals I have new found respect for the dangers involved.



This one reads DANGER! STOP TO THINK!! Reaching or kicking into the infeed spout can cause serious injury or death! DO NOT reach with your hand or kick with your foot inside the feed spout. The feedrolls are very powerful. Once your hand or foot is grabbed by the feedrolls, you can be pulled into the chipper. Do not think you will be able to pull yourself out of the feedrolls. They will not let go!



This one reads DANGER! SEVERE INJURY OR DEATH CAN OCCUR! UNLESS THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOLLOWED.

Do you think Bandit Industries Inc. is serious about their warning? Are they plain enough for you to understand? The wood chipper I was working on was literally covered with these warnings. I took 30 pictures of warning labels. The manufacturer wants to make sure that you understand the dangers of working with this machine.







This one is very serious. BRUSH CHIPPERS ARE VERY DANGEROUS MACHINES TO OPERATE! READ AND BELIEVE THIS WARNING DECAL!

One line on this warning decal reads "There have been MANY ACCIDENTS involving the feed rolls, resulting in the amputation of hands, arms, feet, legs and DEATH. DO NOT let this happen to you!

All of these warnings made me think of the Bible, and all of the directions and warnings that God has placed in it.

In Jeremiah 6:10 the Bible says, "Who will listen to me? The people of Israel have closed ears, so they cannot hear my warnings. They don't like the word of the LORD; they don't want to listen to it!"

Why is it that we don't want to listen to the word of the Lord? When I read the warnings on a piece of machinery I take them seriously, but if I read it in the Bible I don't want to listen.

In Romans 6:23 there is a clear warning. As clear as the warning decals on a wood chipper. It says "The wages of sin is death". That is clear. Thankfully the verse doesn't end there. It also says "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord".

The warnings on the wood chipper were not placed there because Bandit Industries Inc. doesn't want you to have any fun. They were not placed there just to restrict the user. They were placed there for the benefit of the user.



God's commandments are like the warnings on the wood chipper. They are not to restrict us, they are for our benefit.

Many times we look at God's law as a jail. We feel that it creates uncomfortable restrictions. We need to ask God to give us a love for his commandments, to instill in us a desire for the peace and safety of His law.

1 John 5:3 tells us "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome".

ABC Wednesday - Z is for Zephyr

I am participating in the ABC Wednesday Round 11 meme.


This week the letter is Z. I am curious to see what everyone posts. Z is a hard letter. My post is Zephyr. In 1936 Lincoln introduced the Zephyr, named and styled after the streamlined Burlington Zephyr express train. Several years ago I spent a lot of time manipulating photos to look like paintings. One of the photo/paintings was of a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr


1939 LINCOLN ZEPHYR

My Daddy has a used car lot, and has always had a number of old cars. That has given me lots of cars to photograph. I have a number of other old car photo/paintings. This one is of a 1942 Desoto. The most distinguishing feature of the 1942 DeSoto was its "Airfoil" headlights. Squarish doors hid the lamps until an underdash lever rotated the covers upward and turned on the lights. Though hidden headlights had been used on 1936-1937 Cords, they were still very much a novel idea in 1942.


1942 DESOTO

The Coupe deVille was introduced by Cadillac late in the 1949 model year. Part of the Cadillac Series 62 line, it was a closed, two-door coupé, Cadillac's first pillarless hardtop. Intended as a prestige model, at $3,497 it was one of the most expensive models of the Series 62 line. It was luxuriously trimmed, with leather upholstery and chrome 'bows' in the headliner to simulate the ribs of a convertible top. The first-year Coupe deVille sold 2,150 units, but 1950 sales were more than double


1950 CADILLAC COUPE DE VILLE

The 1938 Graham was introduced with the slogan "Spirit of Motion". The car looked like it was in motion when standing still. The fenders, wheel openings and grille all appeared to be moving forward. The design was widely praised in the American press and by American designers. It also won the prestigious Concours D'Elegance in Paris, France. Its cut-back grille later gained the car the name "sharknose",


1938 SHARKNOSE GRAHAM

The Edsel is most famous for being a marketing disaster. Indeed, the name Edsel came to be synonymous with commercial failure. The main reason the Edsel's failure is so famous was that it flopped despite Ford’s investment of $400,000,000 in its development. There is no single reason why the Edsel failed, and failed so spectacularly. Popular culture often faults the car’s styling. Marketing experts hold the Edsel up as a supreme example of corporate America’s failure to understand the nature of the American consumer. The Edsel was "the wrong car at the wrong time."


1959 EDSEL

All of these cars belonged to my Daddy and were photographed and digitally manipulated by me.

William Rainey Photography Show

Local Mena photographer, William Rainey, is being featured at the Mena Art Gallery in a photography show from January 2nd - February 1st. My wife and I attended the reception this afternoon.

William specializes in capturing the beautiful Arkansas outdoors.  He says of his passion for photography, “It allows me to capture the natural beauty of Arkansas and share it with others. Now when I go on an outdoor adventure, I can capture what I see and bring it back with me. I don't have to rely on words to tell others what I experienced, I can show them.”

William offers private instruction for photographers as well as guided day trips to scenic spots in the Ouachita Mountains surrounding Mena and the Buffalo River area of northern Arkansas.  For more information on private instruction or guided trips go to www.buffaloriverphotos.com - The website also offers the ability to browse and purchase his photos.

I really enjoyed seeing his photos in such a large format.  They were very striking.  One of William's passions is black and white photography.  Here are a couple of his black and white photos.

If you are interested in photography take a few moments and look through William Rainey's photos and you will be able to see the beauty that is Arkansas through his eyes.

New Year's Resolutions

My favorite cartoon when I was a kid was Peanuts. I remember one comic strip in particular. It is January 1st, and Charlie Brown tells anyone who will listen, “The best way to keep New Year’s Resolutions is in a sealed envelope in a bottom desk drawer.

Charlie Brown knew what every person who has ever made a resolution knows. Making and keeping resolutions is a troublesome business, usually filled with failure and shame.

How have your past resolutions worked out for you? I don't even want to talk about mine. If you have made and broken resolutions on many previous New Year's days, you may feel that you might as well seal them in a bottom desk drawer and forget them. That is the experience I have had.

If there is anything to which Christians should be committed to, it is that people can change for the better and that there is every reason to hope for such a change in our lives and in the lives of others.


If you ask the average person about the resolutions they made for the New Year, they will tell you that they are going to cut down on their eating, they are going to exercise more, stop doing unhealthy things, and start doing healthy things, etc.

While these things are good, they all focus on self and rely on self. These kinds of things are in fact self-serving and look to the power of one’s self to accomplish them. Self-improvement for most people means making themselves more attractive, healthier and happier. They depend on the power of the human will to bring about the changes.

Look at how different our typical resolutions are from the words of Paul in Colossians 3:12-14. “God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So always do these things: Show mercy to others, be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Get along with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. Do all these things; but most important, love each other. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity."


Notice how Paul’s words are focused on others. If we are to use resolutions wisely, we need to turn our attention away from ourselves and toward others. We need to get the focus off of ourselves, and on to God and the strength that comes only from him. What kind of resolutions should we make?

John was called the disciple that Jesus loved. It appears that Jesus had a best friend. I want my resolution to be the words that the best friend of Jesus wrote in 1 John 4:7,8 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”.


I don’t know of a better resolution that you could make. If we would all make the resolution to love one another imagine how different the world would be.

My wife's cousin, Jerry Patton, spent 37 years as the second tenor of The King's Heralds Quartet, the oldest continuous gospel quartet in America.


One of my favorite songs that he sang was titled One Little Candle. The lyrics are great.

It's better to light just one little candle
Than to stumble in the dark
Better far that you light just one little candle
All you need's a tiny spark

If we'd all say a prayer that the world would be free
The wonderful dawn of the new day we'll see
And if everyone lit just one little candle
What a bright world this would be

My resolution for 2013 is to light one little candle, will you join me?

P.S. Check out Restore A Child. They believe that every child is a precious gift to the world and that all children deserve the chance to flourish physically and mentally. Restore A Child helps to provide children in desperate need with the basic essentials necessary for them to live healthy, fulfilled lives.

Rear View Mirror

As a windshield installer, one of the things that I am often asked to do is to glue the rear view mirror back on to a windshield when it has fallen off.  Have you ever driven a car without a rear view mirror?  It can be uncomfortable.  Why do cars have a rear view mirror?  Sometimes we need to know what is behind us.

Do we need a spiritual rear view mirror? Yes, I think we need to know what is behind us.  When Moses was presenting the Feast of Unleavened Bread to his people he said in Exodus 13:3, “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place”.  After presenting the particulars of the feast he then said in verse 8, “And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt”.

It is important for us to look back and see what God has done for us in the past.  It gives us something to base our belief on.  God wants us to remember.  The word remember is used 230 times in the New King James Version of the Bible.  

The first time it was used was in the story of Noah.  Genesis 9:13-16 tells us, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever … the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant…  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and … the earth.”

Whenever you see a rainbow it is a glance in the rear view mirror that tells you that God made a promise and you can be sure he will keep it.

In Psalms 105:5 it says, “Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth”.  Just like a quick glance in the rear view mirror of your car can put your mind at ease, remembering what God has done for us is very reassuring.

A rear view mirror is great for checking out what is happening behind you, but there is something that a rear view mirror isn't good for.   Would you want to be on the road with me if I spent all of my time looking in the rear view mirror?  That would be very dangerous.  It is also dangerous in our spiritual lives if we spend all of our time in the past.

In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul tells us, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”.

Paul says that the first step in pressing forward is forgetting what is behind.  We are to remember what God has done for us in the past, but we are to forget our own past. 

The past can be a terrible enemy.   John MacArthur said in reference to Paul's statement in Philippians 3:13: "Churches are full of spiritual cripples, paralyzed by the grudges, bitterness, sins, and tragedies of the past”.

Writer Max Lucado likens holding a grudge to being in quicksand. When we hold a grudge, we just can't seem to get out of its grasp. The more we think about it and struggle with it the more we sink, and the deeper we go. I really think that the only way we can get ourselves of the quicksand of holding a grudge is through the power of God. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26,27, "Don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the devil.

Our conflict with the devil is hard enough without us intentionally giving him a mighty foothold.  Don’t spend your time looking in the rear view mirror at all of the wrongs that have been done to you.

  

The Bible makes it clear that the Christian should forgive, not hold grudges.  Matthew 6:14-15 states, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Can forgiveness change the past?  No.  What will forgiveness do?  It sets us free from the past so we can move into the future.  Isn't that what God wants?  He wants us to forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead.

Sometimes I think that the only thing harder than forgiving is to accept forgiveness.  When I was growing up in Colorado, my pastor was Pastor George. I can still remember him teaching on the scripture 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9 became my favorite verse.

Over the years I have come to realize that there is a problem with this verse. The problem is not actually with the verse, but that many Christians don’t believe it. They say they believe, but their actions show they don’t feel forgiven.

Isaiah 43:25 tells us that God blots out our sins, and will not remember them.   Psalms 103:12 tells us that God has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.  Micah 7:19 says that God will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

When you are forgiven God has blotted out your sins, He has removed them as far as the east is from the west, He has cast them into the depths of the sea.  Don’t be looking in your rear view mirror for them.  

We need to learn how to properly use our rear view mirror.  Look back at how God has led in our life, and how he has blessed us.  Don’t look back at our sins that God has promised to forgive as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

Christmas Gifts

Published in the December 20, 2012 issue of The Mena Star

As Christmas approaches one of the things that most people focus on is gift giving.  We spend a lot of money and time finding the right gifts for people that are important in our life.  Sometimes we fail in our gift giving.

One Christmas when my son was a young boy, we nearly ruined his Christmas with one particular gift.  One of the jobs that he was given around the house was sweeping the kitchen floor.  That Christmas we bought a stick vacuum cleaner and thought it would be funny to give to him as a gift.  When it was wrapped, the vacuum was the largest gift under the tree.  When my son saw that the largest gift had his name on it he was very excited.  His imagination went wild.  What could that present be?  His whole Christmas revolved around the largest gift under the tree.  When Christmas morning arrived, all he could think about was that gift.  When he opened it, he was so disappointed that the rest of his Christmas presents couldn't make up for the vacuum cleaner fiasco.

Have you ever been disappointed by a gift?  Has someone been disappointed by the gift you gave them?  What about great gifts?  What is the best gift you have ever received? What made it so special? Was it the value of the gift? Was it the person who gave it to you? Was it because it was so unexpected?

As I think about this question I find it hard to narrow down one particular gift as the best. There is one gift that I received that was very special for a number of reasons. One of the reasons this particular gift was special is that I still don’t know who gave me the gift. Let me tell you the story.

In February 2004, 17 members of my church raised 20,000 dollars and went to San Pedro, Belize in Central  America to build a church. While we were there we made lots of friends. We were only in San Pedro for a short time, but by the time we left the walls of the church were finished. During the following months, the church members in San Pedro finished the church building. Plans were made for a church dedication service to be held in February 2005. I was invited to come to the dedication service. I really wanted to go. This church building project had been very important to me, and I had made many friends in San Pedro that I wanted to see again. There was just one problem. I couldn’t afford the trip.


THE NEW HORIZON SDA CHAPEL IN SAN PEDRO BELIZE


One day I received a letter in the mail from Fare Finders Travel. Why were they sending me a letter? When I opened the letter I was surprised by what it said. Please come in to Fare Finders to make arrangements for a  round trip ticket to Belize. Someone has paid for the ticket, but they want to remain anonymous. I couldn’t believe it. My wife immediately tried to figure out who the anonymous donor was. She still hasn’t cracked the case. It is still an unsolved mystery. The mysterious ticket has to be one of the best gifts I have ever received.

We made plans to go back to San Pedro. As we packed and attended to all the details of the trip, the mystery giver was in our thoughts. Who was this person who had given such a meaningful and valuable gift? How could we thank the giver?

Our trip to Belize was wonderful. It was very special to me to see the completed church building. The dedication service was beautiful and moving with people from several different countries participating. We got reacquainted with friends that we had made the year before, and made many new friends the 10 days that we were there. Many times friends would stop by our room with gifts such as fresh coconut water, papaya, or some small trinket. On the last day we were in San Pedro, there was a steady stream of visitors at our room. They wanted to tell us goodbye. Most of them brought a gift.


GINA AND I WITH SOME OF OUR FRIENDS IN SAN PEDRO


We received one gift that was very special to me. My wife made a special friendship with a little 2 year old boy who spoke only Spanish. Whenever he would see her his face would light up. He didn’t understand English, but he understood the language of love. The day we were leaving he and his 4 year old sister came to our door with a gift. They gave us a well worn 1941 Walking Liberty half dollar. I have no idea how this little family had come into possession of this coin, or why they gave it to me. Even though the monetary value of the coin is only a few dollars it is one of the most precious gifts I have ever received.


GINA'S SPECIAL FRIEND, ANGEL


I learned an important spiritual lesson on my trip to Belize. I learned it from the people that I met. They had such a desire to do something for us. Even though they had only meager possessions, they had such a desire to please. They wanted to see us before we left. They had to bring us a gift. It was very important to them. To me that showed how I should relate to God. God, I don’t have anything but I want to give you something. God let me know what I can do to please you. God I want to be with you.



In Romans 6:23 the Bible tells us “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord”. God has given you the best gift ever, what will you give God this Christmas?