Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Job said, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Job 42:3b, NIV

Bird Brain! Perhaps you’ve heard that epithet used as a putdown for someone who did something a little bit stupid. Lacking in thinking power; a few bricks shy of a full load. Fewer brains than God gave a goose!
Now I’ve noticed a number of birds this past week, which started me thinking about real bird brains, and I am impressed! Capo the Rooster provided the initial inspiration, as I watched him fly/jump up on a hay manger in the barn, walk along the narrow board like a tight-rope walker, and jump down where he spotted a grain of corn on the ground. All of that activity took quite a bit of coordination and balance. Granted, Capo can’t read, but let’s see you jump up three feet from a flat-footed start, land on a board one-half inch wide, and walk the length of it without falling off. You’ve got two feet, just like he does.
I watched a goose pass over my head, glide toward the surface of our pond, and perform a perfect landing a few feet from the bank, in the midst of several other geese. God did indeed endow geese with a flight controller system that works quite well. Sometimes we can’t find our car in a parking lot, but many birds fly thousands of miles during migration, and can return to the same nesting or feeding grounds year after year. So what if they can’t read a map?
A crow picked up something from the field I was mowing, and flew off with it. Food for little ones? I don’t know, for I couldn’t follow. Crows manage to feed themselves year ‘round, and have quite a varied diet. I watched as a crow fluttered toward a landing in the thin, top branches of an apple tree. “Too small,” I thought. “Those little branches won’t support you.” But they did. And the crow sat there, bobbing and weaving in the breeze, probably smirking.
We humans sometimes become so self-impressed with our attributes that we had no part in creating that we forget the role of the One who created all things.
Like Job, we sometimes get a lesson in humility from observing God’s creation. One of the wonders of the universe has to be the brain, bird size or otherwise. As the Bible admonishes in Proverbs, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Learn her ways and be wise.”
Take time to read God’s reply to Job, chapters 38 through 41. God begins by asking, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations? Tell me, if you understand.”
The ostrich and the stork are endowed with quite different traits (39:13-18); and God asks, “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?”
Yes, we need on occasion to reflect on God’s greatness, and respond as did Job, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6
May 25, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 b,NKJV)
It is not often that you enter a ‘skyscraper’ building from the top, and go down. Yet, I have done just that! The Pan Am Building in New York City, finished in 1963, was at that time the largest commercial office building in the world. And it had the novel feature of offering helicopter service between New York’s major airports to a heliport on the roof of the building. I experienced the thrill of flying over the city, looking down upon the roofs, and watching as we proceeded to land on the top of that skyscraper.
One of the “Superman” movies used the same scenario, but I am glad to relate that we didn’t need the ‘Man of Steel’ on my landing.
The building was later sold to Metropolitan Life Insurance, and helicopter flights were discontinued.
I have also ascended the Empire State Building, in New York City, and the Sears Tower in Chicago - by more conventional means. Though each building once ranked among the tallest buildings in the world, newer construction dwarfs even these majestic towers.
While it might seem appropriate to make some reference here to a more ancient “heaven reaching” tower, (that of Babel in Genesis 11,) I think that the reasoning for these modern towers has little to do with partaking of the power and glory of God, and more to do with making money. Lots of money!
As tall, as gigantic as these skyscrapers may be, there are two basic principles that make their construction possible. First - the taller the building, the deeper the foundation. Second - the buildings are designed to be flexible. They sway with a strong wind, and are engineered to withstand earthquakes. The well engineered building can stand with integrity; When the testing comes, they stand.
Humility is not something that you generally associate with a skyscraper. Something that seems to stand so tall and proud would not seem to be related to modest pretensions or dimensions, one of the definitions of humble. In fact, many of the definitions for ‘humble’ or ‘humility’ suggest low social, administrative, or political rank. But I also find elements more in line with the humility espoused in the Bible: self-effacing, unassertive; unpresuming, modest, unassuming. Humility, in my view, is not an indicator of shallowness, rather, the taller the building, the deeper the foundation.
So, too, personal humility is deeply rooted in moral and spiritual bedrock. Humility in God flexes when the winds of controversy swirl. The true leader does not “lord it over” others, is not mean or vindictive. They are not puffed up, nor ostentatious. The shallow roots of popular opinion will not hold when truth and justice come forth, but God will give grace to the humble.
We read of the destruction of poorly designed, shoddily built, inflexible buildings with inadequate foundations, often hastily built and boldly promoted to the monetary benefit of the owner. Are they then proud of the calamity and ruin for which they are responsible?
Lives and careers, also, collapse when the testing comes. Selfish ambition and conceit are counter to true humility.
God will give grace to the humble who are rooted deeply in moral and spiritual values. “Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death.” (Philippians 2:8)

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:18,19, NKJV

Ah, Memories! there is nothing quite like dipping down deep into the memory bin, stirring them up a bit, watching them swirl around, and grabbing onto one or two for a trip down memory lane. I did a little stirring recently when I ran across an internet web site about comic strips - Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home Page. Talk about traveling back in time!
Many of the strips from the days of my youth were represented. I especially enjoyed “Out Our Way,” by J. R. Williams. It opened a new world for me, because he drew upon his experiences working in a factory, with cowboys on the range, and typical family situations. There was “Our Boarding House,“ with the ever pompous Major Hoople and his long-suffering but efficient wife, Martha. Some, like “Smokey Stover,” were pure foolishness, but the made-up words fascinated me, like 'Foo’ and 'Notary Sojack.'
I have had a deep interest in the comic strip technique that goes beyond the quick bit of life or humor. All the essential elements of art, writing, film and video presentation are represented, and distilled to a potent essence. I used comic panels to illustrate the techniques of picture composition, movement of the story line, and compression of time in teaching television production.
I still use selected strips in teaching Bible studies. My maternal grandfather had no use for the comics, considering them to be a bunch of rubbish. Never-the-less, I find that they can be used effectively in making a point, or fleshing out an illustration.
Keep in mind that they do not have to be Biblical (although sometimes they may be so - the occasional “B.C.,” or “Peanuts,” for example.) An illustration presenting what ‘IS NOT’ can be just as effective as what ‘IS’ if used properly.
Take relationships; that is what the Bible is all about, after all. Our relationships to God, and to each other - God’s creation.
I got to thinking about the characters in the “Bringing Up Father” strip, created by George McManus, about a poor Irish laborer named Jiggs, and his nagging, social-climbing wife, Maggie. Nouveau riche! Off with the old life, forward to the new, upward mobility into society. At least as far as Maggie is concerned. Art, voice lessons, fashion. Putting on airs. Jiggs? He doesn't understand why his ascension to wealth means he can't hang out with his old friends, and and enjoy corned beef and cabbage at Dinty Moore’s. The artist drew Maggie with a most critical expression on her face where Jigg’s indiscretions were concerned.
Relationships! Between husband and wife, within the family, to friends, both former and future. A place in the social order. Values, laying up treasures. Pride and humility. The higher and lower seats.
Got any ideas yet?
August 7, 2005