It's On My Mind

September 7, 2019 (Saturday)

When President Eisenhower saw the Autobahn in Germany, it gave him the idea that the United States could have an entire network of super highways. The result was our Interstate Highway system, which is a truly remarkable phenomenon. It has saved many lives, and shortened travel time across the country.
There is one negative factor, however. The new Interstate system has bypassed many interesting roads. Perhaps one of the best is Route 66. Bobby Troup wrote a song about it in 1966. If you are going that way, you might like to take the road that is now “less traveled.”

Route 66 (Get Your Kicks On)
Bobby Troup
1966
If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that is best
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six
It winds from Chicago to LA
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six
Now you go through Saint Looey
Joplin, Missouri
and Oklahoma City is mighty pretty
You see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernandino
Won’t you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six
Won’t you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six

I took the title of this blog from a classic poem by one of history’s greatest poets, Robert Frost:
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
1916
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

September 6, 2019 (Friday)

We enter the Kingdom of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that we have that faith by the grace of God (Ephesians 2). Being saved by faith through God’s matchless grace is our first step with Jesus. Then follows a lifetime of walking with Him, finally ending by being crowned with His glory. Grace and Glory–what a combination that demonstrates the love of God.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord gives grace and glory;
He does not withhold the good
from those who live with integrity.
Happy is the person who trusts in You,
Lord of Hosts! (Psalm 84:11-12 (HCSB)

GOD OF GRACE AND GOD OF GLORY
Harry Emerson Fosdick
1930

1 God of grace and God of glory,
on your people pour your power;
crown your ancient church’s story,
bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour,
for the facing of this hour.

2 Lo! the hosts of evil round us
scorn the Christ, assail his ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the living of these days,
for the living of these days.

3 Cure your children’s warring madness;
bend our pride to your control;
shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal,
lest we miss your kingdom’s goal.

4 Save us from weak resignation
to the evils we deplore;
let the gift of your salvation
be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
serving you whom we adore,
serving you whom we adore.

September 5, 2019 (Thursday)

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV).

Peter wrote to encourage believers who faced persecution. He offered encouraging words to them in his brief letters. He urged them to grow as Christians so that they might be strong enough to go through the trials and withstand the temptations.

Last week I uncovered an old photograph that included a tree in the scene. Today I used Google Earth to find that tree again, 65 years later. The tree has grown. It needed all the help we could give it; we watered it during the drought years of the 1950s, and today it is a huge tree, obviously at least 65 years older than it was in the previous picture.

Growth is normal.  Growth is the normal state of living things. We grow physically. We should also grow spiritually. That was Peter’s message in the verse quoted above.

I’ve kept up with my weight, but I lost track of my height. When I went to a medical facility last week to get a test, the lady measured my height. My height has been on my drivers’ licenses since I was a young person. The last measurement was 5′ 8 1/4″. Last week it was 5′ 5″ or something like that. When she told me that much I couldn’t hear the exact measurement. It just hit me between the eyes that I am now more than 3 inches shorter than I used to be. As I understand the situation, that’s perfectly normal, but I was still shocked when told. Would you be shocked to learn you have not only failed to grow in Christ but lost some ground in your spiritual life?

I used to hold my sons and grandsons in my arms, but I cannot do that any more, because they have grown, just like they are meant to do. They could probably hold me in their arms these days. Growth is normal. (Of course, old age is a blessing but it is normal to lose height as aging progresses). It is never normal, however, to stop growing spiritually.
Just as Peter urged the believers to grow in the Lord, so Paul chided some believers because they were not growing. They were still on a diet of milk instead of meat. It is not normal for a Christian to stay the same, or regress, instead of growing.

Are you growing spiritually? I sincerely hope you are, because spiritual growth is the source of Christian joy.

September 4, 2019 (Wednesday)

Our friend, Olan McCraw, now with the Lord, took busloads of high school seniors to visit Washington, D.C. year after year during his tenure as Mathis School District Superintendent. Many people today have fond memories of those trips and, hopefully, love their country even more because of them.

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., has been the site of many gatherings of large numbers of people for various purposes. The memorial is impressive and sits in a prominent location, where the statue of Lincoln looks at the Washington monument and the reflecting pool, the mall and the Capitol.

Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting PoolThe Lincoln Memorial is one of many in our nation’s capital. Many of you have been there and have visited them all, as well as the museums and other places that stir the hearts of visitors. Others have yet to experience this. I hope you will all get to go there.

What are the memorials on or near the mall? There is the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capitol building, all of which we have already mentioned.

There are the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. You can visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the National World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Marine Corps War Memorial, the Arlington National Cemetery, a number of museums and other points of interest–enough to keep you busy and interested for a long time.

US Marine War Memorial – ArlingtonWhen people choose to protest by dishonoring memorials, flags, and anthems or anything else that stands as a reverent reminder of our American heritage, they are sadly mistaken and misled. Our country is not perfect, but we have in place decent and honorable ways of expressing dissent and exercising legal options with the same kind of honor held by those whose memorials grace the National Mall. At our Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, we heard a musical entitled, “I Love America.” Everyone who heard it was blessed by it. In the words of that song, I repeat, “I love America,” and I believe the readers of this blog love America too.

September 3, 2019 (Tuesday)

God has not promised we shall have a trouble-free life, but, in the words of the poet, Annie Johnson Flint, “God has promised strength for the day, rest from the labors, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.”

Today’s world presents challenges to our faith by many who believe they can have all the best that life has to offer, without God. I am reminded of the words of Joshua to the Israelites, “.. choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve .. but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15).”

No matter what others may believe or do, our faith is anchored in Christ–in His love and power. With the apostle Paul, each of us declares, “To me to live is Christ! (Philippians 1:21)”  When faced with the many challenges of modern life, we look for answers. After full investigation of all the possiblities, we say with Simon Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68).” In the words of the old gospel song, “Where could I go but to the Lord?”