YOKED

This is a picture of me and my husband Tim taken at a miniature golf course in Ormond Beach Fla.  If he had known I was going to use this picture for my blog, he wouldn’t have made that face. 

Our wonderful picture reminded me of a verse: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV).

Tim is a believer, but I want to a make point here.  When you yoke two oxen together, they have to work together.  They have to follow the same path.  They have to be led by the same driver. They can’t go in two different directions at once. If you are yoked in a relationship with a non-believer, which direction are you going to go in? God’s or theirs?

What if they want to watch an ungodly movie or TV show? Do they curse and you catch yourself doing it too?  Do they want you to get drunk with them? Do they respect God and His laws?  When you are in a relationship with a non-believer, it’s harder to say no to them than to someone else. Don’t allow yourself to be put in a situation where you can be persuaded to go down the wrong path.

I’m not saying to ignore the lost.  In Matthew 28:19, Jesus told us to “make disciples of all nations.”  You can still witness to non-believers without being in a close relationship with them.  By following your Godly path, you may influence them to follow you instead of their ways.

Abraham and Carl

   I have created a bookmark based on this week's post.  If  you want one, please leave your mailing address in the comments section or e-mail it to me at brookec@tds.net

I’ve got a riddle for you.  What do the Biblical patriarch Abraham and astronomer Carl Sagan have in common?   Let me give you a hint.

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:5 (NIV).

Did that clue help?   They both counted stars, but for very different reasons.  Being an astronomer/scientist, Carl Sagan did it for a living.  Abraham was requested by God to count the stars.  At this point in Genesis, Abraham and Sarah were still childless, and God was promising Abraham offspring as countless as the stars.  When he looked up at the stars as God instructed, Abraham probably saw thousands of them with his naked eyes, or did he?  No, I’m not talking about Abraham needing glasses.  I’m referring to the stars themselves. 

Did you know a star is not always a single star? There are more double (binary) star systems then there are single stars like our sun.  They so far away (millions & millions of miles) that they appear as a single point of light in the night sky instead of two. 

Wow.  We just increased Abraham’s number of stars.  Now we’re going to increase the star count even more.  Our sky is full of galaxies so far away that they also appear as a single point of light. Each galaxy can contain millions or billions of stars themselves. 

 The picture above was taken by the Hubble Telescope courtesy of NASA.  Can you see all the galaxies?  This is in just one section of the night sky.

Too bad Abraham didn’t have a modern telescope like Carl used. He would’ve seen countless stars.  Then Abraham would have been overwhelmed when he realized how big God’s promise to him truly was.  Does the same hold true of the promises God makes to us today?  Absolutely! We’re the ones who put a limit on His promises based on our understanding of the world and what’s going on around us.  God’s promises to us have NO boundaries.  Don’t believe me?  Download a Hubble deep space image and try to count each and every star.  By the way, if you ever get done, let me know.

            Below are a couple of links to check out all the stars and space stuff God has created.

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/     Hubble telescope pictures

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html    NASA’s Astronomy picture of the day.

All I Saw Were Lights

           

         This is a special blog dedicated to my husband Tim.  We had our first date on May 8, 1982 and we've been together ever since.  The picture on the bottom is of Tim when we were still dating.

            I’m not going to talk about Christmas lights or UFOs.  This one is going to be serious as it concerns people I love.

            My husband Tim loves older model Camaros.  When we were dating, he had a 1970 Camaro that was a pretty shade of light blue with white stripes down the sides.  It was his baby.  He was driving it out to see me when my neighbor’s dog ran in front of him. It had been raining, so when he slammed on his brakes he lost traction and spun around out of control.  As a result, his Camaro was totaled.  Tim was heartbroken over that car.  I felt sorry for him, but I was more thankful he didn’t get hurt. Then he started driving his late grandfather’s 1963 Chevy Truck.  Being an older truck, it was made out of metal and sturdy. 

            We have always lived in Knoxville, TN. which is mountainous and hilly.  After he took me home one night, Tim was almost back to his home when he topped a hill.  “All I saw were lights!”  He was hit head on by a drunk driver on Tim’s side of the road.  This drunk driver was chasing another drunk driver and they were driving on both sides of the road at high rates of speed. If Tim had been in his Camaro, it would have killed him. The truck’s left front tire was bent up under the driver’s side.  It looked as if somebody had taken a huge bite out of the front of the truck.   

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Psalm 103:2 (NIV)

Wow!  God knows what’s better for us than we do.  When Tim wrecked his Camaro, God was actually saving his life for He knew what was going to happen! Talk about a blessing in disguise!  This December, it’ll be 30 years since that awful night.  Even now when I think about it, I shiver and say a prayer of thanks.  Not only would I not have Tim, but I wouldn’t have our daughter Sara either. 

“Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits” Isaiah 55:8-9(NIV)