100 Pound Chicken

Did you hear about the 100
Pound Chicken researchers have developed? They crossed it genes with a pig. Not
only is it much larger, but its eggs taste like bacon.

If you believed that little
story, you are probably gullible, because I just made it up. I have sometimes
heard folks described as being Gullible and at other times someone described as
Jaded. Just so we are "On the same page" as they say, here are the
meanings of the words. Gullible is defined as: "quick to believe
something, possibly something that is not true". Jaded is defined as:
"made dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience".

I got to thinking about this the other day when in good
nature banter I heard someone say, "She's gullible, she'll believe anything you
tell her." I heard that and thought, "Wow, what a complement…
though they probably don't understand it that way". My wife is that way
too, she tends to believe anything thing someone tells her and I love that
about her. Why, because I'm not as open to that way of thinking as is she, I
may be a little "Jaded", yet, being gullible is a biblical principle.

One of the passages we often hear at weddings comes from 1 Corinthians 13:7, the apostle Paul
talking about what love means in our life says, "(Love) Beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." A
more modern translation of that verse reads this way, "Love
never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every
circumstance." (NLT)

Just so we can be reminded of the importance of these
things, take a look at the whole context of this verse. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7:

"If I could speak all the languages of
earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a
clanging cymbal.

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I
understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had
such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be
nothing.

If I gave everything I have to the poor and
even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I
would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not
jealous or boastful or proud

or rude. It does not demand its own way. It
is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

It does not rejoice about injustice but
rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is
always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance". (NLT)

I don't know about you, but I think I need to work on that
principle in my life. I need to be a little more gullible. I need to not give
up on people, not lose faith in people, always hope for the best and because of
love, endure when circumstances don't work out as I would like. How about you?

GOD'S PROVEDENTIAL SIGHT (GPS)

Have you ever thought about God's providence and how it
works in your life? A few synonymous for provenience would be: opportune,
advantageous, favorable, auspicious, propitious, heaven-sent, fortunate, timely,
well timed and expedient.

I personally believe that God's providence works in the
lives of Christians. How, I'm really not sure, but I have seen it happen too
often, what Paul declares in Romans
8:28. That is that “all things work together for good for those who
love God”.

By way of example: This past week our oldest son had to
go somewhere to make application for membership to a shooting club. He had been
there before, but on a whim turned on his GPS and followed its directions. On a
back road he saw a car in a field, so he stopped to see if he could be of
assistance. It turned out that the man had gotten a phone call and didn't have
bluetooth, so stopped to take the call. The man thanked him several times for
stopping to check on him.

As my son proceeded he noticed the car following him,
turn for turn, right up to the club building where he was going. When they got
out of their cars the man asked what my son was doing there. It turned out that
the man was a club officer and took care of the enrollment process himself,
cutting any red tape that might have slowed things down. Could it have been
God's Providential Sight (GPS)?

Perhaps it was; when God proclaimed through Paul that all
things would work out to the good, he didn't specify that they had to be
“spiritual” things. Could it have been “just a coincidence”? Perhaps, but I
prefer to think that God watches over his people. That's what faith is about,
isn't it? Believing that God is in control of our world, trusting in him to
make things work out, even when we don't understand the how, when or why? I'm
not a big fan of "The Message" (a paraphrase of the Bible), but I
like what it says of Hebrews 11:1.
It reads, "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this
faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.
It's our handle on what we can't see."

I realize that not everything in our lives may feel like
it is being touched or guided by God. There are a lot of bad things that
happen, simply because there is evil in the world. Sometimes we choose poorly
or make bad decisions, sometimes in our mind we do nothing wrong at all, but
bad things happen. That doesn't change the fact that God is in control of our
world.

Maybe each of us should trust a little more in the real
GPS, not necessarily that little box on our dash or in our phone. Maybe we
should walk with a little more trust in God, or by Faith? What do you think?