Danny's Stories: August 2009

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A Message From Space?

As you look through the Hubble Telescope you view many wonders of the universe. But there is one galaxy 23 million light years away called the Whirlpool Galaxy. Located at its core is what astronomers call an "X" structure. However when you look at it at first glance it doesn't look like and "X" but a cross. In the depths of space a message is sent to us. It's a simple message. "No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) It's an interesting picture deep in space. I suggest another name for it instead of "X" structure. How about "Heaven's Gate"!

Photo courtesy of www.hubblesite.org

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Cornbread

When Kathy and I first got married we lived in a little house on Orange Street in Abilene. We didn't have much. She was working for $50 a week at the Public Relations department at Abilene Christian. I was going to school and working part-time at Gibsons Discount Center.

We didn't have a lot of bills, but it was enough for a young college couple, I was 21 and she was 19, to have to struggle to make ends meet. Our rent was $60 per month and we were paying one of our old high school teachers $50 per month for a used car we had bought from them. I was able to purchase an old window air conditioner for the bedroom. We also splurged after the first six months and got a telephone. The biggest mistake that probably put us in a bind was buying a stereo and charging it. That was an extra $10 per month that we put out. Now days that doesn't sound like a lot of money, but remember to us that was a full days pay for Kathy or a couple of days of my part time pay.

There was one month that we got down to the last couple of days and we were out of funds. The bills were paid, but we had absolutely no money to buy food and it was a couple of days before either of us got paid. We had very little food in the house. There was notmeat or vegetables only a few eggs, a little milk and cornbread. So I remember the night before we got paid the next day, our supper was simply a plate of cornbread. That's it. There was no meat, no vegetables, no desert only cornbread and water to drink.

As I look back I guess we could have called our parents and gotten some help, but we didn't. We could have gone to the church and I'm sure they'd have helped us out, but we didn't. We even had friends that would have fed us, but we didn't ask. We even could have gotten an advance on her paycheck, but we didn't think of that either.

I guess we were college student poor. But you know, I believe that those were some of the happiest times of our lives. Happiness wasn't centered around the things we had or didn't have. Oh we wanted these things, but weren't obsessed with obtaining them. I was going to school to be a preacher. We wanted to share Christ with the world. We had cornbread, but more importantly we had each other.

When our priorities become the things of this world we easily lose focus on the things that are important. Our wives, our husbands, our children, our families are much more important than the physical things of this world. They are our treasures. Happiness comes, not from the riches we can obtain in this world, but from the loving relationships that we can grow with each other.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:19-21

Sometimes in my hectic world I think it would be nice to go back and have cornbread for supper.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Up and Over

Growing up I played a lot of sandlot baseball. In the summer every week we'd get a group together and head to the field behind the old high school building. Sometimes we'd have a dozen or so and other times we'd have only seven or eight.

It was when we had so few that we'd play scrub baseball with three batters and the rest would play the field. It took a lot more running and better play to move around, so the bigger boys were at bats a lot more than those of us who were smaller.

I was short and weighed about 60 pounds in those days. The first time I came to play with the big guys I wasn't expected to do much. During this first game it was my turn to bat. I remember it well. The fielders felt so threatened by me that the infield moved in right behind the picture and the outfield moved in to the edge of the infield sand area. You can imagine how embarrassing it was to see this. Everyone was so close I could have thrown my bat and hit any of them easily.

I was always a first pitch hitter, so when the pitcher threw the first pitch I swung hard. More action took place in the next few seconds than the entire time we had been playing. You see, not only did I hit the ball over everyone's head, it sailed out to where they would have been for any other batter. From there is was a mad dash around the bases for me as the outfielders were racing as hard as they could to get the ball as it rolled toward the street behind left field.

A scrawny 60 pound little kid had embarrassed them all. I can still remember it clearly. The next time it was my turn to bat no one moved in closer. The outfielders held their place ready to catch a fly ball that came their way.

Paul wrote to the Philippians, "I can do everything through Him, who gives me strength." (Phil. 4:13) Failure comes when we convince ourselves that we cannot succeed. If we believe in ourselves even when others don't we can do great things. Take notice that Paul did not say he could do anything, but that he could do everything. There is nothing that I can't accomplish with God on my side.

I was never a power hitter, but good enough with enough confidence that no one every moved up on me again.

Image courtesy of http://www.iloveclipart.com