THE ANGEL AND THE HITCHHIKER

When I was a young man, I had several strange experiences. I want to share a couple of them with you today. This one happened when I was nineteen or twenty years old. I was a young Christian and I was always looking for opportunities to help others. When I saw someone with car trouble on the side of the road, I would stop and try to help. When I saw someone walking, I would always stop and offer them a ride.

One day, I was driving West on Highway 72 just outside Walnut, Mississippi. I saw a man walking on the side of the road and figured he needed a ride so I pulled off the road just in front of him to see if he did. I didn’t even have time to ask if he needed a ride. As soon as I stopped, he hurried to my car and opened the passenger side door, and got in. I asked him where he was going and he said, “Just up the road.”

He started talking as soon as he sat down. He didn’t give me much opportunity to say anything. In the midst of all his talking, he said he was an angel. I was surprised, and a bit skeptical. His eyes looked like he had been drinking, and his clothes and hair were a mess, so I had my doubts. I don’t remember half of what he said because he was talking a mile a minute. He talked about all kinds of stuff including God and angels, and then he started saying something about Mexican people being demons; Diablos, he said. Right away I knew he wasn’t what he was claiming to be.

He might be an angel, but not an angel of God. I didn’t know how to respond to the crazy things he was saying. When he seemed to finally be out of things to say, I nervously said, “Are you really an angel?” As I asked the question, I glanced his way. I could see that he was very angry as he turned and stared at me with bloodshot eyes and an evil look on his face. With a loud voice, he said, “Man, I don’t lie. You don’t know what I can do. I could kill you and take your car, and leave you on the side of the road. I could destroy that bridge and pick this car up off the road and fly us right across.”

At that point, I didn’t hear or understand anything else he said. I just remember he was talking loud and cursing. I was so scared that all I could do was pray. I said, “God, please help me. Please get this guy out of my car.” Well, God answered my prayer. A traffic light was just ahead, and Thank God it was red. As soon as I stopped, the guy opened the door and stepped out of the car, and walked away without saying a word. As soon as that light changed to green, I got out of there as fast as I could. I was so glad and so thankful to God for answering my plea for help. I thanked him over and over for protecting me and getting me away from that guy unharmed. Thank you again, Father. Thank you.

Another time, before that incident, I was on the same road, headed in the same direction, but further east. I was driving with the windows down enjoying the fresh air. It was late spring or early summer. It was late afternoon and the weather was nice. The sun was shining but there was a nice cool breeze. I remember seeing the yellow sage grass on the lower side of the road softly moving back and forth.

I was leaving Corinth, headed west when I saw a man walking West on the shoulder of the highway. He was carrying a small bag on his shoulder so I figured he was traveling a good distance. I pulled off the road a few yards in front of him and waited for him to walk up to the car so I could offer him a ride. He walked up to the passenger door and bent down to look inside the car. I said, “Do you need a ride?” He looked at me with a smile and said, “No, it’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining. I think I’ll just walk, and enjoy it for a while.” I said, “Okay. You have a good day.” He said, “And you as well.”

I checked for traffic, then pulled out on the highway. As I drove away, I glanced at the rear-view mirror to take a last look at the guy, but I didn’t see him. I quickly turned and look out my back window but he just wasn’t there. Where was he? What had happened to him? I thought he may have stepped down the embankment on the side of the road, or maybe he had sat down. Back then, the road was only two lanes, so I quickly turned around and went back to where I had stopped and talked to him. He was nowhere in sight. I looked everywhere, but he was just gone. He disappeared too quickly for any other explanation. I’m sure I encountered an angel that day. When that thought occurred to me, I remembered the smile and the look of peace on his face and how calm and gentle his voice was when he spoke to me, and then I was sure. He must have been an angel, or Jesus himself. That was an amazing experience. It reminds me of two verses from the Bible. One is found in Hebrews 13:2.

Hebrews 13:2
2 Do not forget to entertain strangers because by doing so, some have unknowingly entertained angels.

I’ve had several amazing experiences, and some very strange ones when stopping to help people and giving people rides on the highway over the years, and I’m so thankful to God for protecting me when I’m trying to help others. In our world today, it can be dangerous to deal with strangers, but that shouldn’t deter us from helping others. I still stop and offer to help people, but I pray first and ask God if I should. Sometimes he says yes, and sometimes he says no. If I don’t stop I always pray for them. Sometimes that’s all you can do for people anyway, but if it were me out there, I would hope someone would at least offer to help.

Constant communication with God is very important. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 says, “Pray without ceasing.” We need his guidance in every situation. We don’t need to wait until we’re in trouble before asking for his help. Many times, the messes we get ourselves in could have been avoided if we had just talked to him first. We can be good Christians. We can obey God and show love and kindness to others like we’re commanded and we can be safe from those who would harm us if we depend on him for help and guidance.

The second verse I was thinking of is found in Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus is talking about what will happen in the judgment when he returns and separates the sheep from the goats; the saved from the lost.

He basically said, whatever we do to others in need, we are doing it to him.
We can help him or ignore him, but there’s a price to pay for ignoring people in need. Compassion for others seems to be rare these days but it shouldn’t be, and it wouldn’t be if we would all follow the Golden Rule that Jesus laid out in Matthew 7:12.

Matthew 7:12
12 So treat others like you want them to treat you…

If everyone would just follow this simple rule, the world would be a much better place.

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ONE TREE, TWO COUSINS, AND FOUR FLAT TIRES

It was Halloween and I was 19 years old. I had just recently come to my senses and was off drugs and alcohol. I was trying to rebuild my life and become a better person. I had a good job and a dependable car and I was into having good, clean fun. I thought it might be fun to go Trick-or-Treating. The last time I had gone was a few years earlier when I made my own Freddy Kruger costume. It wasn’t bad if I do say so myself, and I had gotten some good compliments about it.

I felt like I was too old to go Trick-or-Treating, though. I went to my cousin, Tim’s house to see if he wanted to go. I could drive him around from house to house in exchange for a percentage of his treats and we could hang out like we did when we were younger. He’s only a couple of years younger than me so he thought he was too old, as well. He said we should go get my younger cousin Thomas who had recently gone with us on a camp-out and offer him the same deal. That sounded good to me, so that’s what we did.

I got a big, brown paper grocery bag and rolled the top down about halfway, and sat it in the front seat between me and Tim. Each time Thomas came back from a house we would empty his bag into the big one and soon we had several pounds of candy and a few rocks.

After we had hit several neighborhoods in his community, we headed up the main highway toward mine. All of a sudden, I saw blue lights behind me. I stopped and rolled my window down and waited for the officer to walk up. He said someone had been setting fires all along the side of the roads in the neighborhood and wanted to know if we knew anything about it. I told him we didn’t know who was doing it, but I had stopped to put one out earlier, before sunset. I was hoping we could be on our way after that but then he said, “Y’all been drankin?” When I said, “No Sir,” he said, “What’s in the bag?” I said “Candy” as I tilted the bag up for him to look into. A big smile came across his face as he chuckled. Then he told us to be careful and he walked back to his car.

We went to a few more houses, then decided to call it a night. We were on the way to take Thomas home when we came to a place where my aunt Lola Mae lived years ago. The house was gone but the big oak tree and the circle drive were still there. Just as we came to the drive, Thomas said, “Drive around that tree.” I wasn’t going that fast so I turned and drove around the tree. Just then, I felt something bump the bottom of my car, first at the front and then at the back. I had driven over something. I continued back onto the road and to my sister’s house just a short distance ahead. When I got out to see if there was any damage, all four tires on the car were flat.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit Thomas for telling me to drive around that tree. He assured me that he didn’t know that would happen. I halfway believed him, but nothing I could do to him would fix my tires. I had to wait until the next day to get back on the road.

We can learn a lesson from this experience. Those of us who are on this road to heaven need to stay focused and never take a detour. Sometimes though, we do veer off the road and something similar to this happens. We’re sidelined for a while. Sometimes for a long while. The key is to never leave the road, but if we do, for some reason, we need to get back on the road as soon as possible with renewed determination to never be misled again.

By the way, I haven’t celebrated Halloween in the last twenty-two years and I never took my kids Trick-or-Treating because I discovered that it’s Satan’s holiday, and it’s not something that God’s people should celebrate. Click on the link below for a great Bible-based video that explains the evils of Halloween. Thanks for reading my blog, and thank you, Tim and Thomas, for that night and the great memories.

Ghosts and Spooky Spirits

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TWO OLD MEN, TWO OLD TRUCKS, AND A GRAVEYARD

I was probably around ten or eleven years old when I did my first odd Job. There was an old man in our neighborhood who wanted me to help him cut some firewood. Actually, he just wanted me to help him pick it up and put it in the back of his truck. He talked to my grandmother about it and she sent me to help. He had an old white Dodge that had seen better days. Well, I climbed up into his truck and we drove a few miles and he turned off the road and just drove off into the woods.

We got out, and he fired up that old chainsaw and started cutting. He cut the trees into small sections about a foot or two long, so they would fit into a heater. I don’t know if he was cutting it to sell, or for himself. That really didn’t matter to me anyway. I didn’t care what he was doing with it. I just wanted to get his truck loaded and get out of those woods. I helped him for what seemed like all day long, but I only remember loading the truck once, so it was probably only for a few hours.

A few years later, my cousin and I were walking by the house of an old man we had known for years. He had owned the store in that community up until a few years earlier. He called us over and asked if we wanted to make some money. We asked him what we would be doing. He said he needed a little dirt put on a few graves at the graveyard. He said, “It won’t take long, and I’ll give you both Ten dollars.” We said we would do it, and he told us to come back early the next morning when it was cool so we could finish before it got hot.

We arrived early the next morning and knocked on his door. He came out and took us to an old step-side pickup truck that had been sitting in that same spot for years. It was filled with trash that had been there just about as long. We had to clean all that mess out first. That probably took us thirty minutes. That truck was so old the start switch was on the floor, and it didn’t want to start. He had to get some gas and raise the hood to prime it, and all sorts of stuff. It took a while, but it finally started.

Then he drove the truck twenty or thirty feet to his old garden spot that was overgrown with Bermuda grass and handed each of us a shovel. The ground was hard and the grass was thick. It took about an hour to fill up that truck with dirt. I thought he wanted a “little” dirt on a “few” graves. We had enough dirt to completely fill up a couple of graves. We threw the shovels and a wheelbarrow on the truck, then we headed to the graveyard. It was a few miles away and he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. When we got there, it had already been about two hours since we got to his house, and it was getting hot.

We worked in that graveyard for two or three hours, filling up the wheelbarrow, pushing it around from grave to grave, and then back to the truck for more dirt. We were hot and sweaty and soooo tired. As we watched the dirt level drop in the truck we grew more and more anxious. We were ready to go. It wouldn’t be long now.

Finally, the truck bed was empty, and we were working with the last wheelbarrow full of dirt. Just as we finished spreading the last shovel full, the old man said, “I think we need some more dirt.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhh!!! That’s what was going on in my mind.

To make a long story short, we spent the whole day working, until it was almost sundown. When we finally got back to his house, we were ready to get our money and get out of there. We thought we might get paid more than Ten dollars each, since, what we thought would only take a few hours actually took all day, but it was right the opposite. The old man held out a ten-dollar bill and said, “Thank you, boys. Here’s your ten dollars. Y’all will have to get it changed at the store.” Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

All that work, all that heat, all that sweat, and the blisters, and the tired aching body. All, day, long, for five dollars each. When he said he would give us BOTH Ten dollars, he really meant ten dollars for BOTH of us. We said a few mean things about him to each other on the way home, and we both vowed to never work for him again, as long as we lived, and that was one vow we both kept.

Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience. Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done harder work for nothing. We did get paid something, and we did get a “Thank You” to go along with it. I learned an important lesson that day and I told my children this on several occasions. To make good decisions, people need all the information available. So when negotiating, always make sure you have all the information available, and always give people all the information you have so they can make good decisions as well. This is very important when making any kind of deal, especially when it involves money and labor. Ask questions until you’re sure you understand what you’re agreeing to, and you won’t be surprised in the end.

The same principle applies to our relationship with God and his holy scriptures. I’ve talked with many Christians over the years who don’t read and study the Bible for themselves. They just get fed once or twice each week by the preacher, and he can only provide a small portion in the few minutes he has each time. These people don’t have all the available information, so it’s harder to make the right decisions for all the problems Satan’s forces throw at us every day.

It’s very important to know what God expects from us. His instructions are in his Holy Book. There are also many promises from God and many encouraging words from his servants to help us every day. We all need to read and study the Bible every day, and of course, we need to stay in constant communication with Jesus, through prayer. Life is tough, and we all have a lot going on, but a close, personal relationship with our Lord Jesus will make it bearable and will fill our hearts with joy.

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THE MONSTER OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

It was early in the morning; maybe two o'clock. I was startled from sleep by a noise. It sounded like something big ran into the corner of the house outside my room. Still half asleep, I thought the worst. In my mind, I pictured some kind of monster. I could only imagine what he looked like, but I could actually hear him breathing loudly, and fast. He must have been running for a while before he ran into the house. Maybe he was just resting for a minute or two, then he would move on. My bed was in the corner of the room, and there was a small window above the headboard of my bed.

I was lying on my back with the covers up to my nose with my mouth covered with everything under the covers except my eyes. I was scared to death. I couldn’t move. I was literally paralyzed with fear. I was afraid the monster was looking in the small window above my bed, so I was afraid to move. I wanted to jump up and run for my life, but I was literally paralyzed with fear. My heart was beating so fast and so hard that I was actually in pain. I was scared to death.

I laid there for what seemed like forever before I was finally able to gain just enough courage to throw back the covers and jump out of bed. When I looked back at the window, there was nothing there. What a relief. I started to calm down and I began thinking a bit more clearly.

When I crawled back into bed and pulled the covers back up over my face, I realized where the heavy breathing was coming from. It was me. I felt so stupid. Remember, I had my face covered. My mouth and nose and part of my ears were all under the cover. As for the noise I heard, it could have been anything, or it could have been nothing. After all, I was asleep when I heard it. Since then, on several occasions, my neck has popped and made a loud noise in my head, usually when I was lying in bed. I’ve learned that we often imagine things, and our mind actually blows it way out of proportion. Like mine did that time.

There was a similar incident, another time when I was older. We lived in an old house that had been remodeled. The last man who lived there died there, and rumors were floating around that the house was haunted. I was in my room one day with my headphones on, remixing a song on my fancy dual cassette recorder. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bed start shaking. I quickly turned to see what was on my bed but there was nothing there. I threw my headphones off and started to jump up to run out of the room. When I turned around toward the door, there stood my sister’s husband laughing his head off. He had accomplished his goal, though. I was terrified. I had thought the worst.

Sometime later, in the same house, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t feel my arms. I couldn’t move them either. I didn’t know what was happening so it scared me to death. I couldn’t throw the covers off so I got out of bed the best way I could. My feet got tangled up in the covers and I fell to the floor on my knees. Since I had no control of my arms, I couldn’t put them out to catch myself, so I ended up with my face on the floor as well.

Did I mention that I was screaming the whole time? Well, I was, and that brought everybody in the house running into my room thinking a ghost was attacking me. I had started a new job that week that required me to open and close my hands repeatedly throughout the day. My muscles were having spasms and my arms were numb because of the pressure of the swollen muscles on my nerves. My point is, I was afraid. I don’t like being afraid. It’s not a natural thing. It’s painful, both mentally and physically.

I know some people believe fear is a natural thing because every human will experience it at some point in their lives. Some say that fear is healthy in certain situations, like being afraid of a snake, but just because something happens to everyone doesn’t mean it’s natural. It’s wise to be cautious around snakes, and in many other situations, but we don’t need fear to be cautious. In fact, God’s word tells us that fear is not a natural thing. And as for it being healthy, anything that doesn’t come from God is not healthy, and the Bible says fear does not come from God.

2 Timothy 1:7 
7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear is a monster, but it’s not outside our windows, or in our bedrooms. Fear is in our minds, and it’s placed there by Satan and his evil angels. Fear does not produce sound minds. Fear leads to broken minds. Just look at the majority of people with mental illness. Fear consumes their minds, and that’s not what God wants at all. Fear does not come from God, and it is not healthy at all.

On several occasions, Jesus told his followers not to be afraid. In the King James Bible, the phrase “Fear Not” is recorded sixty-two times. God doesn’t want us to be afraid. With God on our side, there’s no need for fear. The Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). We need to trust God. A close personal relationship with Jesus, the Prince of peace, is vital if we want to purge fear from our minds. If you don’t have that, all you have to do is ask. Peace is only a prayer away.

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CUTS, SCARS, AND LESSONS LEARNED

If you know me, you know that I’ve had my share of misfortune. I’ve had plenty of bad things happen to me as I was growing up. I certainly understand that plenty of others have had a much rougher life than I have. I only mention mine to show what God has brought me through. I have had a few major things happen to me, but for the most part, the bad things I’ve experienced were small and spread out over time. There are a few things that I’ve been through that I had absolutely no control over, but as I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize that many of the bad things I’ve experienced, I brought on myself.

I’ve also realized that there is a lesson to be learned from anything that happens in life. Sometimes the lesson is to “never do that again.” Other times the lesson can have a much deeper impact, and can even change the course of our lives forever.

The stories I want to share with you in this post were not life-altering events. These were some of the less significant ones, but I did learn some important lessons from all of them. As you may have noticed from the title, all these events have a common theme. If you've been following my blog, or if you've read my books, then you know that a lot of stuff happened to me when I was twelve years old. That’s where I want to start with this post.

On his latest visit, my dad had a slingshot he had made from a forked tree limb shaped like the letter Y. He had used a piece of leather, a couple of strips of rubber from an old inner tube, and some nylon fishing string to hold it all together. I wanted to make one of my own, so I gathered up all the parts, including a nice Y-shaped limb I cut from a tree in our yard.

My grandmother and my sisters had walked to the store just up the road. I didn’t want to go because I wanted to finish making my slingshot. I wanted it to look nice and smooth so I needed to cut off a knot that was near the center to make both sides look the same. That’s when it happened. After a tough few seconds of cutting, the knife sliced through the rest of the knot. That’s not all it sliced through though. It cut right into my index finger and the blood began to pour.

As many times as I had seen my own blood, you would think I would have been calm about it, but no. It was bad. I panicked. All I could think to do was run to my grandmother for help, but wait! She wasn’t there. The next thing I remember, I was running up the road toward the store as fast as I could go. They had just started back home when I got to the store. My grandmother put some kind of a rag on my finger, maybe one of her handkerchiefs, I don’t remember exactly what it was but she calmed me down and we went back home. She cleaned my hand and got the bleeding stopped and bandaged it up. It healed in no time, but I still have the scar to remind me of that experience. The lesson I learned that day is, Always cut away from yourself, never toward you, and that my grandmother was an awesome woman with a head full of knowledge, and a heart full of love.

I was probably just a few years older when I got my next major cut. I’m certainly not proud of it at all, but I used to hit the wall or throw things when I was angry. This was one of those days, but instead of hitting the wall, I hit the door. That’s when I realized that I had punched through a frosted glass window which was much thicker than regular glass. It sliced a four-inch groove in my arm, taking the skin completely off. I was in pain for quite a while.

Then a few years after that, I was angry again and went to slap a glass off of the sink. It was an empty peanut butter jar, and those things were thick. It hit some other dishes before it left my hand and I was cut again. It was bad, too. It sliced a hole about an inch wide and an inch deep and it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I tried everything. My grandmother did all she knew to do, but it was no use. About an hour had passed, and what looked like a gallon of blood lay on the front porch before I finally decided I might need a doctor. My grandmother sent my sister to get our mother. When we got to the hospital, I had been bleeding for almost two hours.

When the nurse removed the rag I had wrapped around my hand, a huge amount of blood poured out into a puddle on the floor. She took me back to a room and told me to hold pressure on the cut until the doctor could see me. When he came in he told me to let go so he could get a look at it. The second he took my hand, a stream of blood shot out and sprayed all the way up to the ceiling. I was focused on my hand and the stream of blood, so I didn’t see the doctor’s face, but I can imagine what it looked like as he quickly stepped back and said something that scared me to death. I’ll never forget that tone of shock and urgency in the words he said. With surprise and concern in his voice, he said, “Woah! We’ve cut a main artery.”

It’s funny thinking about his reaction today, but it wasn’t funny then at all. I could have died. I lost a lot of blood and I had a terrible time getting that cut to heal. I kept it bandaged up and it couldn’t dry. It swelled up from internal bleeding, and all the stitches pulled loose. When it did finally heal, it left an awful scar that produced excruciating pain every time it was bumped. That lasted more than twenty years, and believe it or not, it’s still tender to this day. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that experience.

Although it took several more years and a few more incidents, I learned not to throw and hit things when I’m angry. I also learned that the kind of anger I was experiencing was not normal, or healthy. I had some things I had to work through. I thank God and my wonderful family for loving me and supporting me through it all.

A close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ will work miracles in a person’s life. I know I sometimes sound like a broken record, but that kind of relationship only comes through prayer and Bible study, and having a close, personal relationship with Jesus is the only way we will ever make it to heaven. So, If you haven’t been born again, ask him to save you today. If you have been born again, ask him to draw you closer and stay in constant communication with him through prayer and Bible study. That’s the key.

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THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

I remember when I was twelve years old, we moved to a new place. It was beautiful, especially after four years of living beside the busy highway. The view of nothing but cars and trucks going back and forth, like rows of ants, got old after a while. Now, we were in a new place. A beautiful place. A place that reminded me of the old west that I had seen on TV. There were fields, and pastures with cows, and horses, creeks and springs, hills and valleys, and a big river where we could fish and swim. Like I said, it was a beautiful place.

I remember immediately wanting to explore as much of my new environment as I possibly could, but my grandmother, being the great parent she was, had some concerns. There were snakes, and other critters to watch out for, and she was worried about us being around a big body of water without adult supervision. She loved us, and she wanted us to have fun but she also wanted us to be safe, so we had time limits on how long we could be gone from the house before we had to come back and let her know we were okay. We didn’t have cell phones back then, and who knows what could happen in a place like that? I was allowed to explore, but she said I needed to check in every hour so she wouldn’t worry so much.

One day, while exploring down by the river, I found an open space in the woods, with a mixture of green grass, and brown weeds, that was totally different from any of the other places I had seen around the river. It wasn’t actually beautiful, like a flower garden. It was very interesting. I was so amazed that God would put that spot there in the middle of the woods where very few people would ever see it. I visited that place time and time again. There was just something about it that kept drawing me back.

I also noticed something else very interesting. Directly across the river, there was a spot without trees that looked quite similar to the spot where I was standing. It appeared to be about the same shape and size as the one on my side of the river. Maybe they were both once part of the same spot before the river ever came through. There was something different about it, though. That grass looked much greener and thicker than the grass on the side where I was. I had to get over there and visit that spot; I just had to.

The desire was so strong that, if I had known how to swim then, I might have jumped in the water, and tried to make it to the other side that day, but I used my common sense and resisted the temptation. I formulated a plan, and the next day I put it into action. I had one hour. I knew there was a bridge somewhere down the river because we had crossed it several times going to my uncle’s house. So, I said goodbye to my sisters and my grandmother and calmly walked toward the field that led to the woods by the river. Then as soon as I was out of sight, I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. I had to make it to that bridge as soon as possible.

I crossed fence after fence and field after field. I kept thinking it should be just around the next turn, only to be disappointed again and again. I started thinking I would never get there. I finally did make it to the bridge and crossed it. Then I headed back up the river on that side in search of that beautiful oasis in the woods. My hour was pretty much up by the time I reached my destination, so I didn’t get to spend much time there, but that wasn’t the most disappointing part. It wasn’t near as beautiful, nor as green as it had appeared when I saw it from the other side of the river. Now it looked exactly like the spot I had viewed it from on the opposite bank. In fact, the spot I had first visited on the other side looked a lot like the spot where I was now standing did when I was on the other side.

When I think about that experience, an old saying comes to mind; “The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side.” Well, I can testify that it’s not! I know that phrase is usually spoken sarcastically, and I wish I could say I learned that lesson that day, but, sadly, I can’t. I was raised going to church, and reading the Bible. I was taught to do right, and to avoid “sinful pleasures,” but I still left home at sixteen, and went to the “other side.” After about three years of “sinful pleasure,” I did finally realize that the grass is NOT always greener on the other side. That’s when I truly realized what a sinner I was, and how much I needed a savior.

It’s sad that we humans don’t often learn from the mistakes of others, or the wisdom of those who have been there, and warn us of things we need to avoid. It’s sad that we have to be in the mud with the pigs to see how much better it is to be clean, but that just seems to be human nature.

So when you look at something and think it looks better than where you are now, don’t be so quick to go after it. Investigate first. Pray and see what God says, and remember, the grass is NOT always greener on the other side.

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© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
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IF AT FIRST, YOU DON'T SUCK SEED

“If at first, you don’t suck seed, try, try again.” I remember my Grandmother saying that many times when I was growing up. When I was really young I wondered, “What does sucking seed mean?” I had no idea. I thought she was talking about sucking on some kind of seeds.

I don’t remember when it became clear, but when I was older I understood what she meant. She wasn’t saying “Suck Seed”, she was quoting the famous mantra, which most people have probably heard a thousand times. “If at first, you don’t SUCCEED, try, try again.”

I came to understand a lot of things when I was older. She taught us so much. She was a very wise woman. She began teaching us the things we would need later on in life, even before we could understand what she was talking about. Then when the situation arose, later on, we were better prepared.

I truly think that’s one of the reasons people today don’t exercise wisdom in a lot of their decisions. They were not taught from early on. Then you have those children raising children of their own before they are even grown, and the cycle continues.

There are many smart young people in our world, but WISDOM comes with age and experience. I find myself shaking my head when I see some of the things younger people do today, and yes, I did many of those same things when I was younger. I know better now because of the experiences I’ve had and the things that I’ve gone through. That helps me to believe that there’s hope for everyone.

Most people don’t make bad decisions knowing they are bad decisions. Usually, we only realize they were bad ones later when we see the end results. That’s why it is so important to listen to someone who has more experience than we do. Many times that’s what successful people will tell you. If you want to be successful follow successful people. Well, if you want to be wise follow wise people and there’s none wiser than the almighty God who created everything.

The principles of life that God has placed in the Bible were put there for our benefit. So we could live a long prosperous life. God created us and he knows what it takes to make us happy. Truly happy. He made us, so he knows what foods our bodies need to be healthy.

Modern science is just now realizing some of God’s principles of health. Thousands of years ago God said we shouldn’t eat certain things. We know now that he knew what he was talking about. Hundreds of diseases can be prevented if we just eat like God said.

Wisdom doesn’t come to us overnight. We are not born with it. It comes from years of experience, both good and bad, and from both success and failure. But, we can make it easier on ourselves and skip a lot of troubles and heartaches on our journey to being wise if we just read and listen and follow the instructions that God has prepared for us in his word, the Bible.

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6