People

Gas for Thirty Two Cents a Gallon – But, Jesus Paid it All

/ Bill Jones / Leave a comment
A fill up for less than $5

A fill up for less than $5

32 Cents a gallon!

32 Cents a gallon!

These aren’t nostalgia examples, they’re from earlier this afternoon. I really did fill up my truck for less than 5 dollars. Been a long time since I did that (actually, I don’t think I had a truck when gas was that cheap.)

It was possible because I buy groceries at a particular store that has a Bonus Card program. (I’ll give them a quick plug – it’s Bi-Lo). The more groceries you buy, the more cents per gallon you get off at a local convenience store. I let the “cents off” add up more than usual and with the price of gas going down (at least here it has), I was in danger of having more credit per gallon than the gas cost, so I decided it was time to fill up. (Although exceeding the cost could have been interesting – buying it “for nothing”.)

I realize somewhere along the way, either me or someone else paid for the “cents off” I received today. I’m a firm believer in the “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” adage. If there’s a cost, someone will pay full price, sometime, somehow.

That’s where the song, Jesus Paid it All, comes to mind. We had a debt from our sins that required payment, and that payment was (spiritual) death. There were no Bonus Cards that could reduce the price enough that we could pay the remainder. It was all or nothing.

So, “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain – He washed it white as snow” (Elvina M. Hall 1865)

Roads Merge and God Gives Opportunities

/ Bill Jones / 6 Comments
Multiple Road Signs

Multiple Road Signs

This jumble of road signs is on the outskirts of Hawkinsville, GA. The highways come from different towns in various directions. They merge and spend a few miles and a little time together, and then split off to continue on separate journeys.

For a few, this section is the only place they ever meet (such as 26 and 341). Some run together more than just this short section. In this case, 26, 112 and 129 go eleven miles to Cochran, and then diverge. 27 and 341 run east together one hundred seventy miles to Brunswick on the coast (yet, on the west side of town, they separate never to meet again).

This could bring thoughts of the people who come and go in our lives. But, I would like to have it instead remind us of the opportunities we’re given as we come and go in others’ lives.

Some relationships are long term (in this analogy, we travel many miles together.) Others have varying lengths, depending on how long the separate journeys come together. Still others pass in a few moments.

But, short or long, our relationships are made of individual days. Like this stretch of road, where a particular group of highways comes together for a short time, each day we pass through has a particular group of people coming together around us. And, within that group, God gives us particular opportunities to serve others (and thus serve Him) that day.

I would say our responsibility is to pay attention to the signs around us, and obediently take advantage of the opportunities He gives us.

“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:8-10 ESV

Blooms and Scripture 13

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
First Magnolia Blossom 2013

First Magnolia Blossom 2013

This magnolia blossom isn’t perfect but it is significant. Sharon has always wanted a magnolia tree so she could smell the blossoms. This is our first blossom from our first magnolia tree – the tree was planted last Fall. And it does smell wonderfully. Success!

Significant but not perfect is pretty good in life. But we have a God Who is perfect and, oh so, significant.

“This God–his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him” 2 Samuel 22:31 ESV

Sure Signs of Faith

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments
Budding Pecan Tree - Sure Sign of Spring

Budding Pecan Tree – Sure Sign of Spring

Want a sure sign that Spring is here? Then, look for the budding pecan  trees. They seem to be the last large trees around here (south Georgia) that bud out.

Want a sure sign of faith? Then look for the huge pecan trees and oak trees around the homesteads in the country. I don’t know how old this tree is, but it’s on the edge of our property and has obviously been there many years. And I do know that whoever planted it is not around to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But, they had the faith to plant it anyway.

That’s even more evident with slow growing live oaks. You can see one oak tree large enough to shade an entire house. Yet, the planters knew they wouldn’t be around when the tree reached that point. Again, they had the faith to plant it anyway – not necessarily for themselves but for generations to come.

Hebrews Chapter 11 is sometimes called the “faith” chapter because it speaks of the faith of a number of saints from Biblical times. Their acts exceeded the simple planting of a tree, but the concepts can be compared. Much of what we do, in faith today, will not have an effect until sometime in the future – whether it be tomorrow, next week, next year – or in a lifetime following ours. Chapter 12 refers to these witnesses (showing faith) and gives us instructions on how to join them as witnesses for the future generations.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2