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.

Shine on.

It all came about quite by accident. The switch plates out in the boy's clubhouse needed painting so I used the only thing I had laying around. Which just happened to be a can of fluorescent orange marker paint.  It's just a clubhouse so the color didn't really matter. It turned out ok.

That is until it got dark out there. And we turned on their special black lights. Then the orange switch plates took on a life of their own. They glowed as if they had a source of light within them. Very cool! What started out as just an accident turned out to really spiced the joint up!

That little discovery got us thinking and creating other things. Now the walls of the clubhouse have all these fluorescent characters on them. You know, boy stuff. A blue fire-breathing dragon. A green alien and a comet. A bright yellow skull and cross bones. Lightning bolts and the such. All of which look alright in normal light, but they really come to life when the special light is turned on. Somehow they soak that special light up and really shine forth. Each of them are kind of dull and ordinary without it.

Maybe it's just the kid that remains within me, but I found it amazing how the fluorescent paint and the special light work together to create something entirely different. How one is just not the same without the other. How it takes a special paint to reflect that special kind of light.

That little clubhouse discovery got me to thinking about something else, too. Of how we as Christians can get somewhat of the same effect when we cloak ourselves in the fluorescence of the the word of God. When we prepare oursleves in such a way that the special light of Jesus Christ can be soaked up by us and we can really shine forth like He intended us to.

In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows  me will never walk in darkness." In His light we can become something entirely different. That is as long as we are made out of the right stuff.

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

Decisions, decisions.

In Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland there is a very interesting and thought-provoking scene. Young Alice comes to a fork in the road and asks the Cheshire Cat which direction she should take. "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where," said young Alice. To that the Cat replied, "Then it doesn*t matter which way you walk."

That Cat really hit on something. A decision made without an ounce of care doesn't really mean much at all. Without careful thought and passionate internal debate any decision that one faces could just as easily be decided by a simple flip of a coin.

Our lives are full of decisions. Every day we have to make all kinds of them. Some of them are not important, while other decisions that we make will affect the rest of life. While we might be able to get by with a coin flip on some of the simple stuff, the big decisons require great care and foresight.

 One of the words that best describes the art of careful decision making is 'discernment'. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:24, "A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth." It is discernment that you need now.

It's my prayer that all of you will think out your decisions with great care. May God give you the wisdom and knowledge that will take you forward in life. May each of you be blessed with a discerning heart. May you find the right mix of joy and success.

It is also my prayer that all throughout your life that you not only make good decisions, but that you make God decisions as well.

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