Personal Musings

I make a concentrated effort each morning to spend about an hour in the reading of God’s word, personal prayer, and meditation. These private moments provide me with strength for the day, and serve as a reminder that the day granted to me, and which now lies before me, is given by God. A few days ago it was my opportunity to read and meditate on the 46th Psalm. It is a Psalm of peace and tranquility. “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas” (Psa. 46:2). While that verse is certainly comforting, there is another one that particularly caught my attention: “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psa. 46:10). Someone once suggested that one of the chief hindrances to really knowing God is the rush of modern life. We are so busy doing something we don’t see what God is doing.

When I was in the Coast Guard I served two years on board a weather cutter. I enjoyed taking a blanket and pillow from my bunk and lay out on the fan tail at night (that is seaman talk for the deck on the back of the ship), and gaze up at the stars. It not only reminded me of the power of God and His constant watch-care over me, but it gave me opportunity to meditate on many of the spiritual truths that I had learned in my youth. It is an undeniable fact that our world is changing, and not for the better. It would be easy to be anxious, to fret and fear over what shall become of our culture and our nation. If you are tempted to do so, go back to the 46th Psalm and read verse 7: “Jehovah of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” In fact, go back and read and meditate on the whole of this Psalm. Then follow God’s advice: “Be still, and know that I am God!”

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On the lighter side: Pancho was a well-known outlaw to Texans. A lesser-known story involves his demise in a Mexican bar. A tough Texas Ranger had trailed him through the desert and caught up with Pancho in a small village. With both guns drawn, the ranger approached the criminal and ordered him to turn over the one million dollars he had recently robbed from a train. From the other side of the bar a small man said, “Señor, Pancho does not speak English. I am his translator.” The ranger growled, “Tell Pancho I came to get the million dollars he robbed from the train. If he doesn’t hand over the money, I’ll fill him full of holes.” The man translated. Frightened, Pancho told the interpreter the money was two miles outside of town buried thirty paces east of an old abandoned well. The translator turned to the armed ranger and said, “Pancho says, ‘I’m not telling—go ahead and shoot.’” “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…” —Prov. 17:22