The Plumbline

It is one thing to "know" God exists - it is another to "know" God because you have a deep and intimate relationship with him.  Lots and lots of lost people "know" God exists - they believe there is a God, but they don't have the benefit of relating to him in a personal manner each and every day.  It isn't because God isn't available to them, but that they haven't said "yes" to Jesus' gentle tugs on their hearts to allow him to get close to them.  For many, God is merely some ethereal being who they somehow have come to "fear" - he is off in the great "unknown" and they just know he is there and they don't want to "cross him".  For others, their "closeness" to God is experienced once a week, one hour of time carved out of a day when they "enter" into "God's house".  They go to church - a building - not a community of growing and closely inter-related believer...

Thank you.  Gracias.  Grazie.  Merci.  Dankeschon.  Spasibo.  Whether English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian - all these words express gratefulness, thanksgiving, and appreciation.  There are lots of ways to say thank you, but even more ways to show a heart and attitude of thankfulness! I know when I have given a gift which touches the heart, or one of those gifts I "thought" someone would like, but which bombs pretty badly.  It is like the difference between a new video game or a package of underwear on Christmas morning to my grandson.  One will elicit genuine thankfulness - the other will get the prerequisite "thank you", but it will not be heartfelt!  You know which one is the latter!   It is more in what the heart and attitude display than the words we speak which convinces another of our true gratefulness anyway.   Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks. I kneel in...

Back in the day my dad was a car salesman.  He sold new and used cars - don't judge him!  I remember him periodically bringing some new car home as a "demonstrator" - back when the salesmen were rewarded for their efforts by being able to drive a new car as part of their "perks".  The neat thing about it was that we'd get a new car every six months or so - just because they had to keep the mileage down on the demo models and they frequently changed them out.  One thing people knew for sure when they got one of those demonstrator models was that it had been "road-tested".  It had been put through some twists and turns on our Sunday drives and it passed the test! Today, I don't think this is the trend with car salesmen because I see all manner of beat up automobiles lining the streets just outside the dealership along the row where "staff" have to park!  I don't think the car we drove really mattered to dad, though.  We all liked t...