So yesterday I was chastised by some old gal who didn’t like my “deep south – good old boy writing style” as it pertained to my musing about the consequences of “ignoring the lore”. It seems that I’m wasting her valuable time that could be better spent on addressing the real issues in life through Words for the Day.
Hmmm…Apparently since I live in Dixie, I think slow, am stupid, and cannot entertain the “ivy league crew fresh out of Harvard, Yale, Rutgers, or even Cornell in the vernacular terms of which they are accustomed. Using local color, idioms, and colloquialism in addressing issues like, “Don’t Ignore the Lore” is vulgar at best and unsuitable for civilized consumption.
Well excu-u-u-u-u-u-u-s-e my lingua franca…The only “ivy” I’m used to is poison ivy that I sometimes get while sitting on my deer stand, (it’s really bad if I get it on my fingers and then pick my nose or scratch my you know what). I suppose if you didn’t like hearing about lore yesterday, today you’re in for a real bummer, because today I’m addressing my redneck methodology for “reading the signs”. Every good old boy can read the signs. (So sit back and relax and oh by the way, you can leave the marmalade and Grey Poupon right where it sits and if you would be so kind, could you please pass the jelly.)
Not that long ago a weather station spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading their Doppler radar weather station. An old farmer promptly challenged them to a weather prediction contest. The farmer agreed to only use his trusty farmer’s almanac and his daily observation of his dairy cows to predict the weather. The weather station of course used the National Weather Center, NOAA, NEXRAD, satellites, infra-red technology, their new radar system, and their many meteorologists, (some of which no doubt earned their PHD’s and were cum laude from ivy leagues schools of distinction.
The farmer won the contest hands down.
Gulp!
That old boy merely “read the signs”. You redneck hunters would do well to read the signs of those cows too. If you drive by and notice that all of the cows are bedded down and chewing their cud, chances are excellent that so are the whitetails. Better to wait until they are all up feeding like crazy to head out to your deer stand.
As most readers know I’m starting a worldwide ministry that will be broadcast from good old Honey Lake Plantation Church. At the plantation our short version logo reads: HLP. Just yesterday one of my advisory board members for the church suggested to me that perhaps we could use that HLP logo for the church.
Huh?
HLP – Hope – Love – Peace
Hmmm… That’s excellent and it gives me a weird feeling…Could it be a sign?
As most of you know by now, several months ago I got an idea for writing a novel. It centers around the prophecy “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
It’s a fictional account about how God actually implements this prophecy using various people to spread the word of god and how satan tries to stop it at every turn. As the months went by and I continued to write my book, all the while I kept getting that same weird feeling that God wanted me to do more concerning being a part of actually fulfilling this prophecy and become a very real part of bringing it to fruition, (Another sign?)
I mean someone needs to fulfill it, why not me, you, and others? Are such things only reserved for the super religious elite among us? Wasn’t David a simple shepherd boy? And when Moses was drafted into service to lead his people out of Egypt, wasn’t he an old man with a speech impediment? And weren’t some of the disciples fishermen, and ordinary folks? Was Jesus born in a manger and a carpenter for a while perhaps to indicate in part that no one should claim privilege from their heritage/education and that all people are loved in the sight of God and created to accomplish His glorious purpose for their lives?
Ah, I think so…
Okay, okay – I get the thought process, but reaching people all over the world? Stupid old me? How can a crazy scumbag like me who only found Christ later in life after making a complete mess of things accomplish anything major?
So over the last couple of months I receive the following e-mails from around the world:
From Algeria:
Dear sir
i just received the book today , a gift that i would never forget …..i don’t kniow really how to express my gratitude , all words would never be enough to say how much am so pleased and happy that such a person does exist on earth…
please do tell mister Williamson that somewhere on earth someone does pray for him everyday … he is really God’s mercy for not only people in the states but all over the world ..
i know am nothing compared to all those very important people around mister Williamson but i do have great respect for that so special man , what he wrote did touch me so deep , may god bless him and all his family , and may God give him long life to to bring hapiness to those who are in need of love and smile.
My strong wish is really to meet that great man one day , i’ll save money and do my best to come to the states and shake the hand of that man whom i consider as my teacher because i learnt so , and may be he is not aware but now i know that angels exist and that God’s mercy is all over us we just have to keep faith and never loose hope 🙂
From Hong Kong:
Dear brother Bob,
Good day!
Your message today really draws me close to GOD again admist my worry / mess thought since last evening. I got worried and prayed ……………just praying but where is my faith?
After reading your “keep on smiling”, I truly feel peace at heart.
GOD remind me of his ever-present with us every minutes. GOD know my struggles and always standby me, but sometimes I am too weak to know.
Thanks again for your message.
May GOD bless you with HIS everlasting love and grace everyday!
From Ethiopia:
God bless you more, I am Evanglist at Ethiopia in assemble of God church, your history is perfectly miracle. now want to tell you that please stand next of me to do and expand the kingdom. IN THESE year I want to start new Evanglisation method, that’s 1:preaching out reach,in Ethiopia many are in the hand of devil 2:learning theological college 3:distributing or expanding the word of God through audio cassette. thank you verry much God bless you,jesus christ is alive yesterday, today and forever. hebrews 13:8 please response me call me let us do together the work of our creator. he ill be reward us at the end of the year.
Signs?
Hmmm… I guess with the advent of the Internet the world isn’t all that big after all.
Well short of God taking time out of His busy day to shout at me, “GET BUSY!” and shake me (like my little pup Coopie shakes one of his toys), I don’t know what else God could do to tell me that this worldwide ministry thing needs to get kicking… I’ve read the signs and I’m a-going huntin’.
I hope you too will “read the signs” and become an important part of this ministry that God is sending to us. I wish to thank all of those of you who are already helping and have pledged to offer to become a part of it. Most of all I thank you for your prayers. I feel them and they are needed. As children of God we should differ from the world. The more perverse and depraved others are, the more we should strive to obey God. The Bible assures us that our labor shall not be in vain nor our efforts wasted. We should do our part but importantly realize that we must always depend upon the grace of God, the working of God’s grace in us, is to bless our work.
So shine like a star in this crooked, depraved, and perverse generation and don’t let those ivy leaguers grind you down.
Phil. 2:15
…that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe