Category Random Ramblings

Meaningful randomness

Footprints Along the Shore

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

beach As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalms 103:12 (NKJV)

I recently returned from a splendid four days at the Atlantic seashore town of Stone Harbor, New Jersey. This was my first trip to this tiny hamlet on the Jersey shore but not my first experience with the Atlantic Ocean. This weekend the weather was perfect for days on the beach and cool evenings on the balcony.

What I enjoy the most about time at the beach is walking along the shoreline leaving behind footprints of where I have been. These footprints not only tell the story of where I have been but also in which direction I am going. No matter how hard I may try to not leave imprints in the sand there still remains tell tale signs of my passing. Anyone who may come after me can follow those footsteps to where I was going. If they follow all the way to my destination they will know where it was I was heading. They could then experience whatever lay at the end of the trail of footprints in the sand. For better or ill.

As I walked along the shore line I saw many other footprints as well. Tiny footprints of a child as well as footprints of a dog that recently passed that way. The sand pipers would leave behind their tiny claw prints as they darted in and out of the water. Barefooted walkers and those who wore sandals. Each print was unique and had a story to tell.

I would imagine where those footprints were going, what was on their mind as they walked along that seashore. My mind would try to picture the person who left those footprints, where they were from, what they did for a living, how long they had been there. Where they short or tall? Big or small? Rich or poor? It really did not matter because we were both walking along the same pathway heading in the same direction. Continue reading “Footprints Along the Shore” →

Selling the Gospel

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

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This reminded me of a story I heard from someone who attended one of them new mega churches in the area. The story went something like this.

They had a projector and were projecting things on the front of the church and they had advertisements in the messages. Things like worship service brought to you by: XYZ company. I mean we have naming rights on stadiums and schools get sponsors for their sports teams so I guess it just stands to reason that we now need sponsors of our worship services?

I guess it won’t be long until we see Pepsi signs and Cable Network Logos in the church house. The pulpit will be littered with those big sponsor ad signs you see on youth athletic fields and our worship services will be turned into a 30 min infomercial for Christ.

The bulletins or worship slide show will be littered with 30 sec spots for this that or the other thing. Ads for the preachers latest book or audio series just $19.95 cash, check or CREDIT CARD.

No wonder we are loosing the culture war we have sold out to the goddesses of Times Square.

Let Freedom Ring

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

LibertybellProclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X

Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

– Martin Luther King Jr., excerpt from his “I Have A Dream” speech

Tradition tells of a chime that changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.

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The Monday Memo by Steve May

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

HOW HARD YOU GET HIT
2 CORINTHIANS 4:8-9

As a father, I’ve always considered the most important lesson to teach my children is the principle of perseverance — staying in the battle as long as it takes to win, getting back up after you get knocked down, trying as many times as necessary.

There’s a scene in the movie Rocky Balboa that’s about this — Rocky is teaching this lesson to his son, Robert. This is the final movie in the Rocky series; he’s now past his prime (for an athlete), in his fifties, a little punchy, and has just decided to attempt a comeback. Robert tries to talk him out of it, saying it isn’t fair to him, that he is trying to build a life for himself, and he’s tired of living in the old man’s shadow. He tells Rocky how this will hold him back. Rocky says to him…

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are. It will beat you to your knees and keep you permanently there if you let it.

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

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Truth Decay

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Visits from the tooth fairy brought a toothless grin to my face as a child but as I get older visits from the tooth fairy are not as welcomed as they once where.

A toothless grin was cute on a small boy but as a grown man those missing teeth are a tell-tale sign of the advancement of age. I recall being told as a child to brush my teeth in order to prevent the painful consequences of not doing so. Tooth decay was not something as a child I thought much about. Visits to the dentist seemed a waste of time when I was younger but those trips to the tooth doctor for preventive maintenance helped defer tooth decay for many years to follow.

Well those years have come and gone and visits to the dentist have been less frequent then needed and tooth decay has taken its toil on my once pearly whites. Not much to do at this point but have the broken teeth extracted leaving gaps in the pearly gates. All the whitening strips on the store shelf can not restore that which has fallen away from decay.

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