Seeds For Thinking

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

Scripture: For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8, NKJV)
You have probably never heard of, nor even imagined, an engine where everything rotates around a stationary crankshaft. That is just not the way engines are built. Check out the engines used in automobiles, lawnmowers, and numerous engines, large and small - even electric motors - and you will see that the crankshaft revolves within a stationary engine block. Yet such a ‘rotary’ engine was used extensively in WWI fighter aircraft. The crankshaft was bolted to the aircraft frame, and the rest of the engine revolved around it. The propeller was attached to the engine body.
The rotary engine had several advantages over conventional engines, which were mounted firmly in supports, with the shaft and propeller spinning. Rotary engines reversed that, with the shaft being held tightly - and the engine spinning! The propeller was mounted to the rotating engine, which stayed cool by having its cylinders whirl within the open air. The design was inherently light weight, as it did not require a flywheel, for the bulk of the engine filled that need. Most systems used no carburetor. Instead, the fuel/air mixture and lubricating oil were injected through the hollow crankshaft.
This was at a time when the availability of petroleum based fuels and lubricants was limited. Actually, they found that the best option for lubrication was castor oil, for it was not diluted by gasoline, as with petroleum based lubricants. Excess oil was ejected with the exhaust gasses, as it was not burned during the ignition process. This was rather messy, as you might imagine, and I have found numerous references to the laxative effects upon the pilots, who were breathing the castor oil fumes. Goggles didn’t just protect the eyes from bugs, but were also necessary because of the oil mist. They wore a neck scarf to wipe the goggles clean.
The large bulk of the spinning engine made controlling the aircraft difficult, leading to the loss of many planes and inexperienced pilots. Further, the speed of the engine was not easily adjusted, as with a carburetor type of engine, making landing difficult. A ”Blip” switch was used to actually turn the engine off and on to lower the speed.
Eventually, aircraft engine technology evolved to the point where the conventional engine became the preference for all applications. The shortcomings of the rotary engine consigned it to history by the 1920’s.
It is unlikely that anyone today would think up a design based upon the rotary engine principle. We tend to think in terms of common and familiar practice. Great inventions and advances in technology come from people who think “outside the box,” whose thoughts are not conventional thoughts, rooted in accepted practice.
That applies to our worldly outlook on life, as well. If we base our thoughts upon the accepted and popular notions of society, we may be missing the Way of the LORD. Isaiah called upon the wicked to forsake the world’s way, and for the unrighteous man his thoughts, and to turn to the LORD. Is not such advice appropriate for us today as well?
There are times when we must break with conventional thoughts and wisdom, and think of a way of life designed to meet the unique needs of God’s heaven-oriented service. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9, NKJV)

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

Scripture: “Come, now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18, NIV

Deer are plentiful enough, and of sufficient size, that their presence is often noted in the woods and fields that surround our house. We also see marks of their hooves in the soft soil, and know that they come to drink at the pond. They also leave a compressed area in the grass in the pastures, where they bed down over night.
Those masked bandits, the raccoons, are often seen , but more frequently make their presence known by leaving footprints in the mud at the edges of ponds and streams. Rabbits and squirrels frequent the yard, often to the detriment of my attempts at growing things we both relish.
Birds of all sizes are also easily spotted, especially the numerous visitors to our bird feeders, the geese and blue heron that make the pond a port of call, and, of course, the hovering buzzards that look down from on high.
We know there must be many other birds and animals out there that we do not normally see. Some are evidenced by things the cats drag in. Others are heard, but not seen, like the call of the cock pheasant, or the howl of the coyote that puts our livestock guard dog on high alert. Sometimes the soaring notes of a hidden songster pulls at our heart strings, alluring, yet unseen.
What a different world we discover on those calm, cold wintery days when we step out into a world painted on a canvas of white! The rabbits and squirrels now mark their every step with their signature footprint. I can tell where the spooked rabbit shifts into high gear. The night-traveling dog, and even the deer, are easily noted. Birds do come to earth; we read their touch-downs and hop-abouts like a message written on a page of snow. But the little creatures, things that hide in the woodlot leaves and tufts of grass in the fields, leave tracks and trails in abundance. What we have speculated about, because the dog’s marvelous nose had indicated there must be something there, now makes evident that they do indeed exist. What has long been hidden is now plainly seen.
Sometimes I wish there were a way that I could make people’s thoughts and deeds so visible. I think of the day in the courtroom, when we, the jury, struggled to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused, knowing some who testified were not telling the truth. My, how the face of politics would be changed if motives could be seen, and discrepancies made evident for all.
Then, the sobering thought strikes deep. How would my own life change, if thoughts and deeds were put on such open display. Rare among us, I’m sure, would be the individual who would fear not for full disclosure of every moment of our lives. Something to strive for, of course, but difficult for the humanity that lies within us.
Yet, because I believe in the future judgment, and the accountability that comes with it, it behooves me to acknowledge my shortcomings, and call on the grace and mercies of God for the cleansing that will make this trammeled and much tracked earthly journey as clean as the new-fallen snow on the woodlot and field. The LORD has promised as much: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Therein lies our only hope for the mortal to become immortal, and for the perishable to become eternal.
January 18, 2004