“I’ve got joy like a fountain.

I’ve got joy like a fountain.

I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.” 

This is one verse of a song that I have sung since I was in my home church youth group.  It’s an enjoyable song.  But, it also teaches a great lesson.  Joy really is like a fountain of water.  It constantly flows from the heart of the one who is filled with it.  If joy resides in your heart, it will not be possible to contain it.

The teacher stood before the Sunday morning Bible class of 6-year-olds.  She asked them, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?”  The children all shouted, “NO!”  “Well, what if I cleaned the church building every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?”  Again, the children answered, “NO!”

When I was growing up, my dad often picked up hitchhikers and drove them some distance.  It was a day and a time when doing that was not so dangerous as it is today.  I have, over the years, done my share of "hitchhiker hand-out".

Once children learn to talk, the whole world changes for their parents. One of those changes occurs when those children begin to ask questions. Those of us who have been through that phase of life with our children have probably asked ourselves several times, “Where are they getting all of these questions?”

How is it that someone can learn to love and then turn away from that love? Why do people leave their first love? More importantly, how can those people retrieve that love if they have left it?

In every age, mankind has been surrounded by sin of every sort.  The wide gate and broad way (Matthew 7:13) offer the path of least resistance.  Sin is appealing, attractive, and satisfying for the appetites of the flesh.  These appetites and sins caused God to give unrighteous men over to a “reprobate mind” and to “uncleanness”.  Romans 1:32, “…and have pleasure in them that do them” are also under the judgment of God.

The first definition for boldness is “willing and eager to face danger or adventure with a sense of confidence and fearlessness.”  This is the meaning of the Jewish leaders who admired Peter and John.  Acts 4:13 records, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John…they marveled…”

We are social creatures. The vast majority of people join clubs, go to parties and conventions, go on dates, and many other things that evidence the desire to be with others. We find it odd when people are not social. We say, “He is so shy!” Or, “She is withdrawn and not very friendly!”

I like fruit!  It is a natural sweetness that I like even though I do not eat desserts.   Fruit is a good end to a meal.  Fruit is a good beginning to a day.  Fruit is a good snack during the day.  I have read that we should try to have 5 to 8 servings of fruit per day.  Even though I like fruit, I have a problem with that because, even though fruit is one of my favorites, I like so many other things as well that there is not enough time in a day to get in that many helpings of fruit!  Oh, well, I’ll just keep eating fruit in my way.

May 30, 2005 was the beginning of a number of bulletins that included weekly updated pictures of the construction of the new building for the Richmond church of Christ. The weekly bulletin article used those pictures to make various points comparing the construction of the building to the construction of our own spiritual lives.The first article began with these words.

One of the most frustrating experiences in life for me is doing something and then having to do it all over again.  It may have been that I was not attentive when doing it the first time and I did something wrong causing me to need to do it over.  It may have been that I rushed through it to get it completed without doing a quality job demanding that I do it over and get it right this time!  Regardless of the reason, it is very frustrating.

The more I hear people explain their convictions the more I believe people have lost the ability to reason.  I just read a story about a spiritual movement called a church for the “nones” that prides itself on accepting people who have no other church that will accept them.  Their founder and preacher was raised in a religious home whose father was himself a preacher.  These people want to be spiritual without being bound by scripture.

By the time most of you read this article, you will have found out about the passing of Orrin Nearhoof, an elder at our congregation (and two other congregations before he and Marge came to Richmond) and a kind and loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. My family left Richmond in 2012 so we didn’t get a chance to know the Nearhoofs when Orrin was in good health. However, over the past six months, I’ve came to know Orrin well, as I spent several late evenings with him when the Johnson family was out of town and I offered to check on him and Marge before they went to bed. In that time, Orrin and I had a number of discussions about the congregation, our faiths, and our Christian journeys. I’d like to use this space to share a three lessons from a Godly man that I learned from Orrin.

All a person has to do is mention the name “Old Faithful” and everyone immediately knows the reference. It is a cone-type geyser in Yellowstone Park that, since 2000, has been erupting every 44 to 125 minutes. This geyser is the most studied in the park though it is not the biggest or the most regular one. Some are bigger. Others are more regular. “Old Faithful” is, though, the biggest and most regular at the same time offering a greater opportunity to study its internal dynamics. The eruptions last anywhere from 1½ to 5 minutes sending steam and water 90 to 184 feet into the air. The Washburn expedition of 1870 is credited with naming this now very popular visitor site.

It is really getting tough for Christians to trust and to appreciate our judicial system. Laws are being made without the input of the people. That is not what our country’s constitution allows. Interpretations are being pronounced without the support of any godly morality. That is not what our spiritual constitution, the Bible, allows.

After a number of years rotating time during the holidays between both sides of parents, a certain wife decided to try her hand at her first Thanksgiving turkey.  “Now I know I have never done this on my own before.  I have seen it done a number of times, though.  However, if it does not turn out to be any good, we will just get right up and go to Cracker Barrel,” she told her family.

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south…Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!...Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.”  (Psalm 107: 1-3, 8, 15, 21, 31-32).

A habit is something a person does over and over again with little or no thought.  A superstition is a belief that a person has that drives them to do something a certain way over and over again so that something bad won’t happen to them.  A bad habit is something a person does over and over again that is detrimental.  A good habit is something a person does over and over again because of solid convictions.

An amber alert is sounded.  The police are activated.  The alert appears on tv screens, phones, news outlets, and on traffic signs along the main highways.  Those first few moments are a critical time.  They could mean the difference between finding the child and never seeing the child again.

His own disciples asked the question, “Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!” (Luke 8:25).  The people in His home town asked it, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is this not the carpenter’s son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?  Where then did this Man get all these things?” (Matthew 13:54-56).