Deacon's Diary

Deacon's diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

Wish forward.

I wish that I hadn't done that. Or I wish that I had done this. I wish this had never happened. Or I wish that hadn't happened this way. And one of my favorites is, I wish I knew then what I know now.

The chances are that all of you have been there and done that at one time or another. You have looked back at some part of your past and you wished it were different. With the hindsight of the today the mistakes and the missteps of yesterday become all too clear. So clear that we sometimes just try to wish them away.

A wish is a powerful and proper thing. It's a very good thing for us  to have and hold on to our wishes, or to set goals and then strive for them. When used in the right way a wish can be the ultimate tool for motivation. A wish can empower an individual to greatness. When coupled with determination and hard work a wish can take  any person just about any where that person might want to go.

But as powerful as a wish can be, I've never seen one yet that could change a single thing in the past. Those backward looking wishes are pretty much worthless. When we wish that a part of our past were different than what it is, we are just wasting time. While such a reflection may be instructive, that's all it is. A wish wasted away.

Having come to know Jesus at the age of forty, I sometimes catch myself in one of those backwards looking wishes. "I wish I had found Him earlier in life."  Now after studying on this for a time I have decided to change that wish around in the other direction. No longer will I wish backwards. It's better to wish forward. My new wish is to get closer to Him each and every day that I have left.

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

Good as gold.

Michael Phelps. It is a pretty safe bet that all of you have heard his name. You have now at least, after his amazing accomplishments at this years summer Olympics.

Phelps was entered into eight different swimming contest this year and got the gold medal in every one of them. In the process he set a new world record in all but one of them. Eight gold medals and seven new world records. Amazing!

To say that the news coverage of Mr. Phelps has been extensive is quite the understatement. Everything and anything about the man has been discussed. Including his large daily diet, his daily routine, and his entire family history.

The thing that I found most interesting about him was the stories about his physical makeup. He's 6'4" and weighs 195 pounds. His wingspan is 6'7". They also talked about the fact that he has a long torso with proportionally short legs that aid in his swimming ability. He has big web like hands and size 14 feet that also give him a physical advantage. The reports went on to describe him as somewhat double jointed or flexible that. once again. lends aid to his ability.

When you take all that information about the man in, and you think about it, there can be only one logical conclusion. Mr. Phelps was born to swim. That's not to say that he is good for nothing else. I'm sure that he has plenty of other talents that are not so outwardly apparent. But the fact that he was gifted for his sport of choice at birth can not be denied. His accomplishments are certain proof of it. The eight gold medals and the seven world records set would not have been possible if not for these facts.

The most important thing to note here is the fact that Mr. Phelps somehow discovered his physical talents and used them. He is a very good example of what can happen when natural born talents are given a chance to shine. When a person realizes what God has given them and then puts the gifts to work.

There is something to be learned here even more important to us as Christians and that is the need for us to find any of our natural talents that will help us to enrich the kingdom of God. I believe that all of us have some of these kind of God given talents that are waiting to be realized and then used to do the work that God intended for us to do. When a person comes to this realization and then puts his or her talents to work for God, the results are always as good as gold.

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on he back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

Hail Damage.

Back in the month of May we had a hail storm roll through our part of Arlington. It happens in these parts from time to time. After the storm we noticed a little damage to the vehicles in the driveway, but thought that that was the extent of it. I can remember thinking that it could have been worse.

Ever since then I couldn't help but to notice that a lot of my neighbors were getting the shingles replaced on their houses. My first thought was how lucky I must be. The same storm went over our house and as far as I could tell our roof was just fine. No leaking. No missing shingles. No apparent damage at all.

I guess I must be a little 'slow'. It wasn't until the guy right next door got a new roof put on his house that I started thinking that maybe I didn't know as much about roof damage as I thought I did. Maybe some damage is a little harder to see than I thought it was. Maybe I might need to conduct a closer inspection.

It was about then when a contractor rang the door bell and asked if I would like to get a free inspection. Free sounded good, so up on the roof we went. And sure enough, there was a lot of things up there that looked like nothing to me until that roof expert pointed them out and then explained them to me.

Lucky for us, it is not too late to call the insurance company. Lucky for us, All State said our policy covers such damage as this. Lucky for us, the necessary repairs will be made before that damage causes much bigger problems. And lucky for us, some one that knew a lot about hail damage came along to help.

Not unlike that hail storm that came through back in May, the sin in our lives can pelt us on a daily basis. To the untrained eye these sins can seem to do little or no harm at all. We as human beings are real good at writing it off by convincing ourselves that its no big deal. It happens. The problem is, that when left unchecked, the daily barrage of these sins will eventually tear us down.

Lucky for us, it is never too late for us to get the necessary repairs. Lucky for us, Jesus Christ can cover the damage done by our sins. Lucky for us, when  we confess our faith in Him the repairs are made before we face an eternal problem. Lucky for us, The One that knows all about hell damage came along.

Deacon's Diary is a weekly feature that appears on the back side of the bulletin at the First Baptist Church of Avalon, Texas.

Biblical history from the kids.

The following are actual quotes written by children between the ages of five and eleven. (It's quite funny to see all their misconceptions put together.)

In the first book of the Bible, Guinesses, God got tired of creating the world,   so he took the Sabbath off. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark because Noah built the ark, which the animals came to in pears. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night. The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic Genitals. Samson was a strong man who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah. Samson slew the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles. Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to find the ten commendments. The first commandment was when Eve told  Adam to eat the apple. The seventh commandment is "Thou shalt not admit adultery". Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol. The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines. When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta. Then the three Wise Guys from the east arrived and found Jesus in the manager. Jesus was born because Mary had an Immaculate Contraption. St. John, the blacksmith, dumped water on his head. Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says do one to others before they do one to you. He also explained that "Man does not live by sweat alone". It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance. The people who followed Jesus were called the 12 decibels. The epistles were the wives of the apostles. One of the opossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan. St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. Holy acrimony is another name for marriage. A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

God bless all the little children, and give us the patience to teach them well.

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