My dad lives in Colorado Springs, but he knows I write these bulletins. I can tell when he reads one he likes because I call up my brother or one of my sisters to chat and they will mention mom or dad have forwarded them one of my articles via e-mail. My dad is helpful in my efforts, sending me bulletins from other churches that he has seen and liked.

I don’t usually reprint things from other places, not really a matter of pride or anything like that. I just usually have something else turning over in my mind in the last week’s time that I think would make a good article. Many of the things I get are cutesy, or they come from mailing lists that I suspect many of you are also on, so I attempt to be a bit more original. My main intent is to make you think, just for a minute, about something common and ordinary and see the reflection of God in it. God is everywhere, when we look for him and keep our minds attuned to spiritual matters. But! There’s an old children’s story about 5 blind men and an elephant. One grabs the tail and declares an elephant is like a rope. One grabs the trunk and proclaims it is like a snake. One gets tangled in the ears, and decides it is like a ship’s sail. One gets a hold of his leg, and is convinced an elephant is like a tree trunk. The last man feels his side, and just knows it is like a sturdy wall. They are all correct, of course. They just don’t "see" the whole thing.

We each have our own view of God, based on what we have read or experienced, and while we may be very right we may also be very different in our views. That is how I see God myself: his depth is so great I cannot truly know it all. His knowledge and truths so encompassing I cannot fully appreciate all he knows and stands for. So I try to write simple bulletins that don’t make you think too hard, that aren’t meant to offend or chastise, but maybe I can convince you to look at things day to day in a different way, in a Godly way, to help you focus on God. If I can accomplish that, I have truly done well.

However, back to my helpful dad. He sent me a bulletin this last week. I looked it over, and the article was OK but not stunning, so at first glance I couldn’t figure out why he sent it to me. You have to know my dad, he’s kind of quiet and stern but usually when he speaks he is making some kind of point. He used to be a school teacher, a principal, and a truant officer. If you ever get e-mail from me, you may have seen some quotes from him I heard over and over from when I grew up, that I sign my mail with.

“When you live well within your means, you never need to worry about the Jones… you ARE the Jones!”

Look closer at things that are hard to believe, because “figures don’t lie, but that doesn’t keep liars from figuring”.

“Sin in your life is a lot like rat poison. Rat poison is 98% good stuff, that’s why rats eat it. It’s the 2% of poison that will kill you!”

And my favorite, “Son, if you’re going to be a father then BE A FATHER. A man who is a failure as a father, even if he brings home a million dollars a year, is still a failure!”

So what could he have been trying to tell me? My guess is this. My dad used to harp on us boys about being prideful. Hopefully I never think too highly of myself, and I really try to be a simple, humble servant. But in the bulletin he sent me was this:

A preacher in a certain city received a phone call from one of the members asking for the left over church bulletins. He was so pleased he asked her what she was going to do with them. She said, “Your bulletin just exactly fits my bird cage!”

Randy