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.

Ask yourself this question.

A couple of weeks ago  my wife Kay called me from a tire store near the house. She had just recently put four new tires on her car and one of them was already going flat, so she took the car there to make them make it right.

After being told about the problem of the brand new but leaky tire, the attendant asked her a very curious question. He asked, "Are you sure it was flat, or did it just look like it was flat?"  Like I said. Very curious.

Kay was more than just a little offended at the man's question. It was a little condescending. It was as if, just because she was a woman, that he thought that maybe she wasn't smart enough to know a flat tire when she saw one. Before it was over he probably wished he hadn't asked.

Now if that guy had asked me that same question I probably would have had a question for him. Something like, "Can you tell me what exactly is the difference between flat and just looking flat?"  I mean, when you really think about it, what kind of question was that? It would be just like taking your clothes to the cleaners and having the person that worked there asked you if your clothes were really dirty, or did they  just look dirty. Where's the difference? Just address the problem!

Kay and I got a few good laughs talking about all this afterwards. But later on it got me thinking about something else that is no laughing matter at all. The differences between flat and just looking flat, or dirty and just looking dirty are small if not nonexistent, but think about the huge difference between  saved and just looking saved. Now that makes  a world of difference. Enormous difference. An eternity of difference.

To avoid the kind of problems the guy at the tire shop stumbled into, we should probably refrain from asking this question of another person, but maybe we should ask it of ourselves. Do I know Jesus, or do I just think I know Jesus?

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

Is there a doctor in the house.

We watched an episode of that TV show called "House" yesterday. You know that show right. Its that medical drama with a lot of interesting characters in it that makes for rather good viewing.

The episode I'm talking about was centered around the maternity ward there at the hospital. All of the new born babies there were getting sick. Very sick. Deathly sick. All of the doctors were in a race against the clock to identify what it was that was infecting  the babies so that they could give the proper treatment to them.

As it always goes on that show, the doctors put their minds together and came up with several different educated guesses.  Based on the visible symptoms, they administered their treatments. The first two or three were wrong. Near the end they figured it out.  Just in the nick of time of course. Everybody loves a good drama.

Watching that show I couldn't help but think about the one sickness that all of us were born with. Male and female of every ethnicity share a common birth defect that does not spare a single person.  Each and every one of us since Adam and Eve are born with sin.

Much like that TV show some of the most educated among us have put forth their guesses as to how to address this sin problem. At best, however, they can only treat the symptoms.   All of us will carry a sinful nature along with us throughout our entire life times.

Lucky for us there is a cure to the sin that we were born with. The cure is Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus walked among us some 2000 years ago. Just in the nick of time? Not really. He was always around. I guess God knows that we all love a good drama.

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

A gift selected especially for you.

I guess when I think about it, this happens every year just about the time that school starts. It's like some kind of alarm clock goes off in the heads of all of the kids and they just can't help themselves.

I'm talking about how yesterday my son Nolan was looking at, and making suggestions, about what he might want for Christmas this year. Already! I suppose that I should be somewhat grateful that at least he is giving us plenty of ideas. But in August? I better get used to it.

The thing that really got me to thinking was not how early that he started thinking about his desired gifts though. It was the kind of things that he wanted that made me scratch my head. Some of the technology that these kids want these days is nothing short of amazing. It wouldn't do me any good to own some of these things. I wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to begin to operate them.

Not long ago I needed some help with my cell phone and I knew just who to ask. It's like these kids today were born with some sort of electronic device in their hands. If you ever get frustrated with anything that has batteries in it and buttons on it, just ask a kid.

So it is with gifts I suppose. It is the same way with men and women. What's good for one may not be so good for the other. A gift should play to the talents of the individual that receives it.

This fact is no surprise to any one of us. That is how God works, to be certain. He has given different gifts, different talents, and different blessing, to each and every one of us. Some of us can sing. Some of us can play music. Some of us can teach. Some of us can preach. What matters most is that and when we put them all together that we can all give praise The Giver.

• Main
• archives
• Albums
• Links
• Admin
• Send us a story!

• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-November, 16th
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-November, 9th
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-November,2nd
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-October, 26th
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-October, 19th
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-October, 12th
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-September, 21st
• Deacon's Diary for Sunday-September, 14th

• archives [52]
• General [1]

• RSS 0.90
• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom