Archive for March, 2017

My Early Lesson on Racial Issues

Sunday, March 12th, 2017

My dad was a welder, and he would occasionally accumulate enough scrap iron to sell to a scrap metal dealer.  We would load the scrap iron onto the trailer and haul it to one of several nearby dealers.  I remember going to a particular man’s place when I was about eight years old.  His name was R. D. Nickols, and he was a good friend of my dad’s.  He was probably a little younger than my dad–a big strong man, and dark-complected, sort of like Dad.

When we were finished unloading the scrap iron, R. D. invited us into his house, and the two men drank coffee together.  As we sat there visiting, R. D. offered me a banana, which I was glad to accept.  I was kind of proud sitting there, eating my banana and being included in the conversation between the older men.  We visited a few minutes and then left.

When we got home, my dad asked me how I liked the banana, and I told him that it was good.  He asked me if it tasted like any other banana.  I assured him that it did, and I wondered what he was getting at.  He then asked me if I knew that R. D. was a black man.  I told him that I hadn’t realized that.  I just thought that he had a little deeper sun tan than we did.  Dad concluded that teaching moment by telling me that black people were no different than anyone else, bananas and all, and we should treat everyone the same.

Days Off Your Life

Sunday, March 12th, 2017

A Recent study showed the impact of certain bad habits by estimating how many days those habits shave off your life.  It showed that smoking a pack of 20 cigarettes a day cuts ten years off your life.  Cocaine addicts lose up to 34 years, with each dose costing 5.6 hours.  Methadone users cut their lives by 38 years, and die at an average age of 41.  A heroin addiction will cut 42 years off a person’s life, killing them at age 38.  Lifetime methamphetamine users lose 42 years, each dose costing 11 hours.

Murder could be worse:  If a 70-year old is murdered, this cuts about 10 years off his life, but if a 10-year-old is murdered, this cuts some 70 years off his life.

The only thing worse that I can think of is abortion, which cuts 80 years of your someone else’s life.

What is Newness of Life?

Sunday, March 12th, 2017

Romans 6:4 says that we can have newness of life through Christ.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “newness” used other than in the Bible.  What exactly does it mean?  Read more…