Sunday Mornin' Hope : Take The Log Out

by Psalmist January 15th 2012, 12:00 am

My wife Patty and I have been married over 30 yrs as of last May. Soon after we were married, we went to Sears and charged a stove and fridge. Besides it was only $22/monthly. (I know the math now but didn't then) After that we got new furniture and a Kodiak wood stove. We paid 531 smackers for it back in 1981. I just loaded it with wood and we're staying warm this winter. That wood stove is one of the best investments we made. All those other things we bought in our first year are long gone. I love burning wood for several reasons. I like the savings on the utility bill and the wamth of wood heat. But there are a few drawbacks too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDhldhIx7vg

Sometimes I can get very critical if someone doesn't see things MY way. I might fuss and fume if I don't GET my way. and on and on. I'm glad you don't have that problem. For me, sometimes God teaches how to be less critical. Often times I don't SEE it the first time. Last night I had a major arguement with a friend. So much so, I hardly slept last night. I sat up and wrote my friend a letter of all the wrongs commited. I wrote small so I could get it all in. I fumed almost the whole night long. I wrote some real zingers. And I must've been right because I'm the older Christian. In the time it took to compose this thesis; the woodstove almost went out. The house cooled and so I needed to add some more wood. Having 30 years experience at loading this box, I can pretty well tell what will fit and what won't. I know better than to burn green wood constantly. My kids and I have split wood for years. This year we borrowed a friend's gas powered splitter. I'm in love. Anyway, around 2 a.m. I was shuffling some of the wood around to get maximum load for the night. Suddenly some sap hit the flame and exploded. A tiny amount of sap flew right into my eye. It burned like crazy. All night long my eye was in pain from the burn. This morning I woke up and my eye was tearing up so bad, I could barely ride. But it was way too nice NOT to ride. I went thru the day and my wife kept after me to see a dr today. I kept responding to wait till tuesday. Finally at 5 she pursuaded me to go to see a dr. He took a flashlight and Q tip and found a sizable sliver up in my eyelid. In seconds I was a new man. Then God began to really drop the revelation of the spiritual significance.

I had been so critical of my friend, that I couldn't see the problems in my own life. I was trying to take what I considered a beem out of my friends, when they actually had only a small sliver or mote in their eye. And in my eye, that little sliver felt like a giant beam. I had to have my wife drive me to the Dr after we enjoyed some fantastic Korean food. As Patty and I were sitting at the table and talkng about what a great day we had together. I said "You know God had that spark explode in my eye for a reason. It festered in my eye ALL day, to the point that I couldn't drive; much less ride. Last night I festered all night because you and I disagreed on something. I was wrong. Tell me when to stop." Patty calmly smiled and listened to me grovel. She had no plans of interrupting me.

The point to all this is, you can be right as rain and still be totally wrong. Don't let a critical or judgemental spirit control you.

Ps 51:17 -The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not
despise.

God is near the broken and contrite heart. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. This year I'm planning on finishing my book "Humility, and How I achieved it". I hope you have learned how to walk humbly before God. I'm still in school on this one and my grades, well they could use some lifting up. My grades have been humbled. I hope you have a fantastic ride this week. And if you can't, just go out and sit on the bike and say "Vroom, vroom." It helps relieve stress overload. we call it 'Cycle-therapy'". remember I'm really praying for you.

Judging
Others
1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 "Forin the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why
do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye "Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.