I used to read Westerns as a teen-ager, and John Wayne...the Duke... was one of my favorites to watch on tv. The Sundance Kid was my favorite book. But, John Wayne had this serious, no "hawg-warsh" attitude that I could really feed on. I find myself still to this day having a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I think somebody's logic is a little fuzzy. I find that you just can't educate the redneck out of hillbillies sometimes. They say you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. But, I had somebody trying to tell me, recently that since A-B=C, we could subtract C and end up with A. I got so mad I was seeing stars. But, I just quietly said, "I don't git it," like the kids say in school. "That sounds like a bunch of hog wash to me," I mumbled in a quiet voice while staring em down.
I didn't want to do that. I tried hard to just let it go. But, I couldn't listen to such a crazy, uninformed reasoning without saying that I just didn't like it.
I didn't want to do that. I tried hard to just let it go. But, I couldn't listen to such a crazy, uninformed reasoning without saying that I just didn't like it.
John Wayne had this habit of calling strangers, "Pilgrim." He was a pilgrim himself, usually, just riding through you know? A pilgrim travels, in a progressive way, usually. John Bunyon, author of a Christian classic allegory called Pilgrim's Progress, wrote about a Christian's journey from the perspective of a pilgrim, because we are pilgrims. Bunyon once said that, "You can do more than pray after you've prayed. But, you can not do more than pray before you've prayed." I think this holds a lot of truth. Prayer alone is usually never enough. But anything without prayer is usually too much. So much time can be saved by getting help. That is, if you plan to make progress, Pilgrim.
Psalm 91:14-16 Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Psalm 91:14-16 Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
This clip of "Greg Says Grace " from Meet the Parents on Movie Clip is really quite funny. It emphasizes how a child or even an adult might feel when praying for the first time. Prayer seems to come naturally, or rather easily for small children. But the older we get, and the longer we suppress the natural inclination to, "cry out to Jesus," the more difficult it becomes to experience the reality of a relationship with God. It becomes tantamount to trying to pick up a foreign language for the first time in your sixties.
So, what's eating you, Pilgrim? Cry out to Jesus now, before you find yourself at the end of yer trail, face-first in the tumbleweeds.
So, what's eating you, Pilgrim? Cry out to Jesus now, before you find yourself at the end of yer trail, face-first in the tumbleweeds.
