Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

“No problem”. “Forget about it”. “You bet”. “Just doing my job”. “No big deal”. Those are some of the typical responses you hear when you say a simple “Thank you”.  The ever appropriate “You’re welcome” seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur! Recently, in a certain segment of the service industry, I frequently heard a different response.  When I said, “thank you”, the response was “it’s my pleasure”.  Further rocking my little world was that the response seemed to be based on a perspective that serving really was a pleasure. From within that perspective, is something that boggles my mind in reference to God Himself:  “for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.”  (Phil 2:13 NET). That God would take pleasure in working in us is incredible.  To think that He, in a way, is serving us is almost beyond comprehension! It really is a big deal!

An interesting car was once parked in our neighborhood.  There was an unusually large gap between the body panels around the front wheel.  Often, when you see such a gap, it was the result of an accident.  And sometimes, before repairs can be made, a temporary fix might be in place.  Perhaps duct tape or bungee cords or twine is used to keep the panel from further separating or falling off.  But not in this case, holding the panel was a leather belt with the belt buckled up to keep it from falling off, giving new meaning to the phrase “buckle up”. It points to a unique state we were in.  There is a huge gap between what we are supposed to do and what we actually do. That gap is identified as a problem called sin.  In a way, the Old Testament sacrificial system was the leather belt that provided a temporary fix.  That system provided a measure of cleansing but it had to be done over and over again.  It was not designed to be a permanent repair. Perhaps to the owner of the car,

I occasionally see the ads; exotic locations or adventurous experiences or exposure to the unique or unusual and the ever present promise that it will be the trip of a lifetime. But, how can that really be? I suppose that if it is the last trip of your life and you really can objectively look back over your life and assess and evaluate and come to the conclusion that it was the trip of a lifetime, then maybe it arguable could be.  But any trip experienced before the end of your life, well, it seems that you have to deal with the reality that the real trip of a lifetime could still be right around the corner. But there is a trip of a lifetime that is guaranteed to be a trip of a lifetime. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the L

Forget about remembering… It was part of an ad on TV.  Without context, it is a bit of a head scratcher.  With context, it actually makes sense.  More on that later… God spoke through Jeremiah and said:  “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Does He forget our sin, like I forget details at times? Does He purge His memory like we might command a computer to do so? Does He put our sin in the “back of His mind” so that He does not readily recall? Based on what we know about God, it would be impossible for Him to forget.  The explanation I’ve heard is that He doesn’t actually forget, but once our sins are forgiven, He chooses to remember them no more.  Oh, the ad, well, it had to do with a medication that is effective when you take it regularly.  If you forget, well there could be consequences.  So you normally have to remember to take it.  But the medication has been reengineered and it now is a sustained release medicatio