Wanderings – Page 69 – The Life and Times of Joe Suttle

Wisdom, Wisdom Everywhere…

joe April 15, 2008 Faith

Finished up James chapter 3 this morning. He talks about wisdom, and so I went to look up a definition. Took me on a wonderful(?) journey across the internet. Names like Socrates and Plato came up – have not really thought about those two since college. Then they dropped the names of others on me, along with their plays. More college memories.

Seems that Socrates was the first great philosopher. Now, the question is “was he?” He may have start the “Socratic Method” (look it up), but I seem to remember Job asking questions like Socrates talks about doing. Also seem to recall that “wisdom” was a thing discussed in the Old Testament – a thing to be desired. There is no confusion, probably just the fact that eventually the truth bursts forth.

Here in James, it seems clear to me that “wisdom” properly applied (lived) does not hurt others, but helps. It soothes, is full of mercy and helps to build up. It brings peace. Wisdom may be applied knowledge, but it is also applied truth – His truth.

Yesterday Was A Blast

joe April 14, 2008 Church

Church on the lawn – sun beating down on my head – no bugs flying around…

On and on this could go. Needless to say, the fire on the pole and the blown transformers meant no electricity for the school where we meet. So, Saturday night at 7 p.m. a crew cleaned up the recently mowed field and made sure that everything we needed was out of the storage container. That in itself meant sorting through what had been removed earlier in the day, and getting the right pieces out.

Bright and early Sunday morning, the crews were in place to move 200 chairs and staging. Rolling the chair racks over the grass was not an option – we found some old asphalt behind the building, but still, every stack was a two-man job. By 9 a.m. we had chairs, stage and canopies up as the sun continued to rise and beat down on us. It could not have been more perfect (somebody knew what He was doing).

There have been times when we have planned to do things outside, and the day started off cloudy or foggy, and may clear up by 11. This was a perfect worship experience. Acoustic guitars, congregation singing along and just praising God. Then the message about what happens when we lose our source of power. We need to stay plugged in… Our power comes from a source that we need to stay connected to. When we forget to “plug in”, we start to falter and fail. Check out Acts 1.

Words and Words

joe April 12, 2008 Faith

Sometimes, that seems like what we say and hear has turned into. In one of Shakespeare’s sonnets it says “It is a tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” That is one the things that has stuck with me since high school (now that was a long time ago. There are days, when I get the feeling that my words are that way. There are other times when they are inciteful and precise without hurting other people. What we say and how we say it can be helpful or hurtful.

Reading James this morning got me caught up in chapter 3 where he talks about the tongue. The comparison of the tongue to a fire was almost real-time. What with the grass fire burning on Sherman Island right now, it’s easy to be very real about the the damage the tongue can do.

Then I looked up a cross reference to Proverbs…