Casualties Into Champions by Gramps Curtis #247
I beat the game. Am I good or what?
But my mind feels empty. My self-pride is gone. A string of words
parade past my eyes - accusing me of throwing away so many hours on
computer gaming -loaded with meaningless addictive goals.
I’ll probably
follow the same path of so many others, who permanently move in with
their parents and secretly mingle in pornographic materials.
Oh how I
hunger to be accepted; to be identified with most any group –
no matter if they’re called a gang or a cult. I’ll get my nose
and tongue pierced to show I’m tough; I can take the pain. But
I’ll soon learn, that, most often, just a small tattoo to show I’m
tough will quickly grow into a fierce unrelenting craving; an
addiction that will destroy the appearance of my body and more.
INK, a favorite
magazine among those in the tattoo world has compiled a list of
several reasons why tattoos have become so popular. At the top of
their well documented list states – the pain of tattooing masks
their own ever-deepening depression. However, it never comes to the
customer’s mind, that someday they will want the tattoo removed,
with great pain and expense.
[Note: Some tattoos
are removed with multiple treatments of grinding the layers of skin
off – usually leaving telltale scars. But the most common method is
laser surgery where the tattoo ink-drops beneath the skin are
shattered into smaller drops that gradually spread elsewhere in the
body.]
It was a
game-changer to my life, in more ways than I could have
guessed. Mattie, the gentle
smiled grandmother from across the street, made her first
appearance into my life on ‘that’ day, asking for my help with a
word search game; “I can’t find the final word of the puzzle I’m
currently working on.”
This puzzle format
is different than all the zillions of puzzles you often see. The
puzzle word list had mostly blank spaces throughout each word. That’s
probably why they were called Unique Duo-Search Puzzles. The word
that Mattie was stuck on, appeared in the list as “SA_ _ _ _ _ON”
(without quotes).
Step one
was to search through the text on the left half of the page.
Together, we found the word in the text and were able to fill in the
missing letters. The word was SALVATION. It is a word I hear some
church folks throw around. The title above the text told me it was a
portion of Bible scripture.
Well, Mattie said
something about her shoulder paining her and that her rubbing lotion
was back home. (that’s across the street). I told her I’d do her
a favor and try to locate the hidden salvation word in the puzzle
scramble. I could then bring the puzzle book back over to her
tomorrow.
“A
strange experience” would describe my returning the
completed puzzle to Mattie the next day. Yes, Mattie’s welcoming
warm smile was there, but behind it seemed quite odd. It was odd in
that she sort-of radiated an unspoken invitation to open your heart
to this silver-haired ‘granny’ who was a super listener. That
is, you had a strong feeling she wanted just to be your sounding
board without any flash back criticism or unwanted advice… those
kind of people are a rare find for sure.
As Max was about to
leave for home, ‘Granny’ handed him a small plastic bag with
three raisin-filled cookies that were still warm from the oven. Max
accepted the cookie gift and stepped toward the door. He spun around
facing Granny and asked if he could return next Saturday and bring
his 12 yr old sister. Max said he wanted his sister to discover there
were more satisfying things to do than spending all day and half the
night texting empty words and thoughts to another person just as
dissatisfied with computing as Dede (Max’s sister).
The next few days,
before Saturday, Granny (that’s Mattie) rehearsed some of her
favorite scripture verses pertaining to youth, young adults, and
those that mentor them. Her list:
= = = = = = =
= = = = = = =
== the job
description of silver-haired seniors. Psalm 71:18
==
a
guarantee of successful
outreach
efforts when mingled with
heartfelt
tears Psalm
126:5,6.
==
description of God the Holy Spirit’s power: Ephesians
3:20
= = = = = = =
Soon after Max and12 yr old Dede arrived at Mattie’s front porch, all three were sipping on their iced Sun-Tea. Max asked Granny, “Why pray if God knows everything; like some church folks, say He does?”
= = = = = = =
Soon after Max and12 yr old Dede arrived at Mattie’s front porch, all three were sipping on their iced Sun-Tea. Max asked Granny, “Why pray if God knows everything; like some church folks, say He does?”
“Max, that’s a great question. It really is. I’ll
have to tell you about a funny little word that I made up. And it has
some to do with praying. That funny word is ‘PRAYzin’. It
helps me remember that real prayer, that pleases God, is more than
just telling Him what we want. Let me show you the shortest chapter
in the Bible. It has only 2 verses that are really easy to apply.
It’s Psalm 117: O
praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For
his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of
the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.
“Max and Dede,
I’m here to tell ya, how more than anything, the Lord Jesus wants
us to praise Him individually and also as whole nations. The 2nd
verse says WHY we should praise Him. And ya know what? When we get to
heaven we’ll be praising Him for ever and ever. So I’m gonna stay
practiced up by praising Him at the beginning of every one of my
prayers.
I
start out by praising Him for His wisdom, and then His
power. Next I praise Him for reminding me about my accountability to
Him and even to both of you. But most of all, I praise Him for His
mercy and love that He demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary.”
Granny’s
texting question began. “Dede, I read in the paper a while
back that some school girls could type and send a text message behind
their back. Do you think that’s really possible? Anyhow, It’d like to see how long it would take you to
type a short sentence that has around 85 characters. Would you try it
for me? Here it is... “Love is the heartfelt sacrificial
attitude or action toward others... that
pleases God.”
“Actually, Dede,
I’d like you to test a few of your friends to see if they are as
good as you are...by typing this ‘Love is...’ sentence. And maybe
at the same time you could tell them about my funny made-up word
PRAYzin. Do you remember? Praying is our talking to God about our
deep concerns and questions about life. But PRAYzin is beginning our
prayers by praising Him for loving us with His wisdom (and
scriptures). And also loving us with His power (like in Creation).
But I especially like to praise Him for His mercy that He showed by
His own shed blood to pay for our sins on the Cross.”
What are we
here on this Earth for? “Dede and Max, we have a super
important job to do. We have a sort-of goal for each and every day.
Our job; our daily goal is to praise the Lord for all His peace,
provisions, and cheerfully serve Him daily. We need to tell others
what real love is. God’s love includes sacrifice of our own desires
to introduce others to our Lord Jesus Christ. And did you know that
as we trust and serve Him, each day, we begin to understand and
experience the Bible’s FULL JOY.”
Learn about
Jesus Christ when He was a teenager. “If you two come over
next Saturday, I’ll show you what the Bible teaches us about Him.
(Luke 2:52) Invite a friend, if you want. And remind me to tell you
about the cat named DAWG.”
~ ~ ~
Three Simple Steps to Become Saved
==
A == Acknowledge you are a sinner.
ALL
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
== B
== Believe that the shed Blood of Jesus Christ is the only way to
be
saved.
The
wages of sin is death* but the GIFT of God is eternal life
through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
== C
== Confess to God you know you are a sinner and call upon
Him
to come into your heart.
For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans
10:13
[
end of this resource ]
