This Week in “Paradise” August 27

Posted on 2012/08/27 by Shawn Thomas

Wonderful Windshield Wipers

A couple of weeks ago, Cheryl had gone to Advance Auto to get a couple of things for her car, including new wiper blades. The original blades on her car were not cleaning the windshield well, so she paid a bit extra to get what promised to be a very nice new set. As usual, one of the helpful folks at Advance put the wipers on for her for free.

But unfortunately, Cheryl was disappointed. In fact, she told me that these new ones didn’t seem to work much better than the old, worn ones. Why had she bothered to pay so much?

Then Friday, she drove us to Lake Charles to pick up a couple of things, and as it was raining, she had the windshield wipers going.   Suddenly, she exclaimed, as she saw pieces coming OFF of her new wiper blades! She couldn’t believe it! She had just bought those, and now they were already coming apart. But when we came to a stop, she began laughing – what was coming off of the blades was the plastic covering of the PACKAGING that was never taken off the blades when they were installed!

Cheryl was excited now. The new blades worked like a charm with the covers off! “It’s like getting new glasses!” she said.

I guess sometimes with “free installation”,  you get what you pay for! 🙂 Continue reading →

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Be Careful What You Listen To!

Posted on 2012/08/27 by Shawn Thomas

Proverbs 17:4 says, “The evildoer listens to wicked lips.”
I think it is significant that the verse does NOT assert that the evildoer HAS wicked lips himself; rather that he LISTENS to wicked lips! In other words, it is not enough for the follower of Christ to just avoid speaking evil, but to determine not to LISTEN to the “trash talk” of others! Do not give the ungodly words of others your attention or interest. It is not a matter of just being defiled by hearing them; you are inevitably influenced by what you listen to as well. Continue reading →

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“What Tested Faith Looks Like” (James 1:2-4)

Posted on 2012/08/26 by Shawn Thomas

     We have a lot of people here at First Baptist Church who are going through different “storms” in their lives right now.  My own current battle with dysautonomia is well-known to most of you.  But I know that I am not the only person in our church who is going through a trial.  Our whole church staff has been hit hard – with illness, deaths in families, family crises. People throughout our church are undergoing trials.  For example, Bro. Kyle told me the other day that just in the choir alone, there are 25 different people who are going through various storms: whether it is cancer, or another illness, or a family trial, or a financial or work crisis – 25 people just in the choir!  In many different families, and in many different ways, our church is going through the fire right now.  I know that many of you would say, “Count ME in that number; I am going through the fire right now too!” 

     That is one of the reasons I am convinced that this Book of James is just the right book for our church right now!  When he writes in his first words of instruction, “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials”, he is writing to people like US!  The first-century Christians James addressed were facing suffering.  There are evidences of that all through the book.  So much of the Book of James deals with how God’s people, those with genuine faith, are to respond to the trials they were facing.  It shows us “What Tested Faith Looks Like”. Continue reading →

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Sing, Sing, Sing!

Posted on 2012/08/26 by Shawn Thomas

Whenever you see something repeated in the Bible, you know it is important. If you see it used THREE times, it is of utmost importance. That is why I perked up when I read the opening verses of Psalm 33 again. NOTICE: the THREE-FOLD emphasis on singing: Continue reading →

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POTS update August 2012: Sunday Challenges & “Hibernation Saturdays”!

Posted on 2012/08/25 by Shawn Thomas

Like many of our church members, I spend my Saturdays preparing for our Sunday services. I have done that previously, but the nature of my preparation has changed since I was diagnosed with dysautonomia or POTS this summer. With a Sunday fast approaching I thought it might be a good idea to give a brief update for my friends, family and church members, that they might know better how to pray for Sundays. I also hope that my experience might help others who are wrestling with POTS feel some “fellowship in suffering”, and perhaps help them deal with the syndrome.

Continue reading →

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Fickle “Fans”

Posted on 2012/08/25 by Shawn Thomas

At one point, Jesus had a big “fan club” in Jerusalem.  Mark 11:8-10 describes how people went “in front” and “followed” (in other words, all around Him, a big crowd) shouting “Hosanna!” as Jesus entered the city on a donkey.  But as we know, His popularity didn’t last long.  Jesus had many “fans” in Jerusalem, but they were “fickle fans.”  Few were the true followers who stuck with Him through the hours of testing which ensued. Continue reading →

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Ways to Praise

Posted on 2012/08/24 by Shawn Thomas

Many of the Psalms teach us to praise God, and in the first three verses of Psalm 33, we are instructed in several means of praise:

Continue reading →

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Rule Thyself

Posted on 2012/08/23 by Shawn Thomas

This verse caught my attention, since I have not always been my same “sweet-natured self” since I have been dealing with POTS in recent days.  Proverbs 16:32 says: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.” Continue reading →

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I Didn’t Roll “Snake Eyes”!

Posted on 2012/08/22 by Shawn Thomas

Proverbs 16:33 concludes: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

This Proverb isn’t just about “dice”.  It is really about two very different, very competing world views: do things in our world happen by chance, or at the direction of a Sovereign Creator and Lord?  This Proverb encourages us to adopt a theo-centric worldview – in other words, to see everything as orchestrated by God, not just “luck” or “happenstance”. 

There are SO many applications for this perspective:

— Stop complaining about your “bad luck”, and instead see everything that happens in your life as directed by God’s hand.

— Don’t dwell on your “bad breaks”, but look for what purposes God might have for what is happening to you.  

— Don’t worry about how events will unfold – either for you personally, or in the world.   If the decision of a little “lot” is in God’s control, how much more the whole course of the world!  “He’s got the whole world in His hand”! 

I know that this scripture applies to me personally too.  I don’t need to bemoan the illness I am currently battling (dysautonomia/POTS).  This did not happen by accident; God has a purpose in it.  It is not that some “heavenly dice” were cast, and I rolled “snake eyes” and got dysautonomia!  God has allowed it, and He has a specific plan and purpose for it.  The responsibility of the person of faith is to believe this; to have the theocentric view of their circumstances that this verse encourages. 

It’s nice to know I didn’t roll “snake eyes”, but that my God is in control!

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A Measure of Your Devotions

Posted on 2012/08/21 by Shawn Thomas

Proverbs 16:20 “He who gives attention to the word shall find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”  This verse challenges us in several ways regarding our daily devotional time in God’s word:

— First of all, it reminds us that our time in God’s word will NOT be unrewarded.  If you “give attention” to it, you WILL find “good” there!  You are never wasting your time by spending it in the Bible! Continue reading →

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