This blog will not be posted on Sunday.  Return again on Tuesday.

WHAT IS YOUR CREED?

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Everyone has a creed or creeds and all of them are not so very good. They are secret creeds and they are not shouted from the mountain top but they nevertheless are the creeds thousands live by.

Creeds such as…
I believe in a God who sent me the pleasure of back-biting and gossip.
I believe in a God who sent me the joy of nagging my husband or wife or child.
I believe in a God who sent me the feeling of superiority so I can lord it over those who are not as good as me.
And these creeds put a smile on the face of arrogance and bring a chuckle alive from the mouth of ego and the world shrivels a little and dies a little and weeps a great deal when it happens.

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To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com
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LEISURE, WHAT TO DO WITH IT…WHAT IT DOES TO US

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I watched a child playing the other day and he was so busy and his sister equally so. All that energy expended in the sheer joy of living and I thought how idleness is only good when it takes place after a host of doing.

It is why when someone says to me that they are about to retire I first congratulate them and then ask the question, “What are you retiring to?”

What purpose indeed? What goal that enlivens the waking up process. As beautiful as a sunrise or a sunset is it is not enough unless some of the time in between is filled with doing.
They put together a psychological test recently and took two groups of people. One group volunteered to carry a package a goodly distance and a second group was told they had to carry the package the same distance.
Where it was voluntary or by demand…the group that got up and got going was happier and more content afterwards than the group that sat idly by.

The mood of idleness is negative.

The great psychologist William James put it well when he wrote, “Neither the nature nor the amount of our work is accountable for the frequency and severity of our breakdowns. But their cause lies, rather in that absurd feeling of hurry and having no time, in breathlessness and tension and anxiety.”

In short, sometimes we need to let our clocks run down.
Sometimes we need to get so engrossed in a game we are playing, a book we are reading, or a job we are completing we don’t care what time it is.
Again, retire to what!
It’s using time like we appreciate and admire it.
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To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ ********************************************

RUST ON MY SOUL (22nd episode in series)

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RUST ON MY SOUL (A Novel) (Published by Bridge Press in 1985 & Distributed Internationally)

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INTRODUCTION (Repeated for those new to the series)

In an old loose leaf notebook, Thomas Kettering wrote when there was a cry from his heart. He wrote when his inner longing spilled over into the reality of his days. He did not write every day, only when he felt he must. How often he wrote or when is not important. The journey is what counts, for it is a diary about all of us, to all of us. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and even a stumble is a step.

Evening

I survive in a perpetual traffic jam. I endure the cacophony of noise that assaults me from the city streets. I grimace and growl at pedestrians as they grimace and growl back at me.

In early pioneer days if a man missed a stagecoach he just settled back and waited a couple of days for the next one. Today a man gets upset if he misses one section of a revolving door.

I fight a losing battle with panic. It surges up and tightens every muscle in my body. It makes me wide eyed at two A.M. I lie in bed with a frantic prayer and a rapidly beating heart. Will it step its churning of my life blood before I learn how to live?

Morning

“Get off my back!” It wasn’t an original comment neither was Billy’s red face nor the door slammed hard and loud. I had watched the same scene on television more than once. Bu then people are never original when it comes to problems. There are only so many ways to foul up a life.

“You knew he was smoking pot!” Nancy shouted.

“You didn’t have to sit there in shocked silence and finally come out with the inane statement, “You know you’re ruining your health.” There were tears in her eyes as she turned to stare out the window.She was right. I have suspected Billy’s sullen silence was more than inability to talk about his sister’s departure. But what am I supposed to say? What words can make a difference to him?

A daughter, already run away, gone for almost a month. Now a son unruly in revolt. Why will not our children be parented? We read the books on child psychology. We protected their egos. We tried to let them know we cared by letter them be free and unrestrained.It hasn’t been a paradise around here, but neither is it an Eden out there. Connie’s seventeen going on twenty-seven and her self-image is a picture painted by bravado. R-rated movies and too much of the unearned “good life.”

She was never sweet sixteen. Indeed, from the first time as a baby she threw a tantrum and got her way, it’s been all downhill.

Connie, will you ever come back? And if you do, what will our conversation be like?
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TO BE CONTINUED ********************************************

To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL

http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

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SOME THOUGHTS ON VANITY



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These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday
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They had given up wealth, position, time, community ties.

They had sacrificed and now they had become pompous in their sacrifice

Thinking, that at the very least they deserved some reward, they asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

And then they waited.

Each one hopeful that Jesus would say, “You are the greatest, Peter your fire and enthusiasm has endeared you above all others.’

Matthew waiting to hear Him say, “You are the greatest, your logical mind has placed you head and shoulders above this rough-hewn lot.”

Thomas waited to hear, “You are the greatest, for your searching questions have shown your honest desire to understand.”

Each of the twelve waited to hear Jesus say, “You are the greatest. I love you the most. I care what happens to you above all the rest. I cannot thank you enough.”

But Christ, as often Christ did, answered that question in a way that would teach a lesson.
He called a little child unto Him.

A comely, dark-eyed youngster still with a heart pure and clear.
A creature from the miracle of creation.

A being not yet old enough to be marred by petty jealousies hurts and imagined wrongs.
And cradling that little child in His arms, He said, “Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Vanity puts a chip on the shoulder a hole in the head and a thorn in the side.

Vanity will neither accept criticism or learn from it.

The truly vain when they pray remind God of their credentials.

It is unlikely they will say it in a prayer but the thought does sometimes still reside in their thoughts, “Look closely Lord and I am sure you will find my name written in gold on the pages of heaven.”

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Job 15:31 - Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.

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To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ ***********************************************************

THE WHITE BRIGHT LIGHT OF HOPE

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Hope is faith in perpetual motion.
It is a man preparing to play a song on a violin with only one string.
Hope is an antidote for fear.

Hope is blind to the imperfections of a moment but hope is what makes rainbows out of storms.

Hope is in love with shine rather than shadow.
Hope has a love affair going with gratitude.

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"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (ROM 12:12).

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To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ ********************************************

RUST ON MY SOUL (21ST episode in series)

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If you would like to purchase this book go to amazon.com and type in RUST ON MY SOUL. *****************************************
RUST ON MY SOUL (A Novel) (Published by Bridge Press in 1985 & Distributed Internationally) *****************************************

INTRODUCTION (Repeated for those new to the series)

In an old loose leaf notebook, Thomas Kettering wrote when there was a cry from his heart. He wrote when his inner longing spilled over into the reality of his days. He did not write every day, only when he felt he must. How often he wrote or when is not important. The journey is what counts, for it is a diary about all of us, to all of us. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” and even a stumble is a step.

Evening
I’m not really so much angry at the world as confused.
Why have we let humanity get so dog-eared? Crime has made me no longer responsive to trust.

Welfare, since it is impossible to tell the needy from the listless, causes us to disgustedly assign the title “bum” to everyone who isn’t working And politicians are probably no better or worse than they ever were, but victim to the myopic eye of television focusing on them with never-ending klieg lights and questions.

Very modern Nancy and all too modern Tom, all of us and any of us suffer from information overload.

We are no better prepared to deal with our own living rooms than man ever was, except that now, prepared or not, the whole world has entered our living room.

Evening

Immanuel Kant said that two things filled him with unutterable awe: the starry heavens above and the moral law within.

What is moral law? What about my values? Good, bad or indifferent, they’re what I live by.

I hope I’m not completely for sale to the highest bidder. If God offered me a million dollars for my devotion, is that the only way He’d get it”

The thought makes me sick.

Late night
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? More than once I’ve wondered if I am but one of million of lost children of a forgetful Father.

Where have you gone out there? Have you gone to minister to a better, more obedient, more worthy set of children? Have we had our chance and muffed it?

Afternoon
The minister this morning was ill prepared to preach and I was unprepared to listen. So as I sat looking at the pulpit, my mind wandered, and I found myself wondering what it would be like of God came down and delivered the weekly sermon.

Would He speak of love or would He severely admonish us? Would He look like Saliman’s :Head of Christ”? Would He have angels on either side all bright and shinning?

On the other hand, if John the Baptist came in his sackcloth and ashes I’m sure we’d all be so shocked at his appearance that we’d miss his message.

Did God make a mistake when He gave us so much that was good for free? Maybe in the beginning He should have created price tags as well as beauty. Maybe we’d lie down in green pastures and walk beside still waters if it were two dollars for the walk and a dollar for the still waters and only two-fifty if we took them both as a package deal.

Maybe Adam and Eve would have appreciated the Garden of Eden more if they’d had to make mortgage payments to keep their tenancy.

But maybe just maybe, there are price tags and we just have problems finding the right currency.
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To view an abundance of unusual stories by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ *********************************************