Mark Spruill

This past Saturday, my son brought home a little puppy who is quickly wagging and nipping her way into our hearts.  Last night we elected a new president.  It’s bizare to think about, but I wonder which of the two events that happened this week will effect my life more?  Of course I know the presidential choice is a much bigger decision than our decision to adopt a puppy.  The president of the USA affects the whole world.  But that’s not really the question I asked.  My question is which will effect me personally more?  I really don’t know.  But I’m trying not to underestimate the power of the close by, everyday little things; how they effect me, and the effects I can have on others.  I probably will never make even a small impact on the world… But I can make a big impact on my neighbor.

I’m sitting on a plane, waiting on a guy to finish making a repair, so we can take off.  He’s “fixing” the problem with . . . tape.  It doesn’t even look like duct tape. It looks more like packing tape.  Is it just me, or would it make you nervous to fly on a plane that was just repaired with packing tape?

For some strange reason, it reminds me of the pregnancy test I saw for sale at the Dollar Store.  I don’t trust million dollar airliner repairs done with packing tape any more than I would a pregnancy test I bought at the Dollar Store.

Some things just don’t fit well in the philosophy of the-cheaper-the-better. I want my doctor to be the one people pay a lot to get.  I want my airline mechanic to use the best, not the quickest or cheapest method to repair the plane, and if my girl feels she needs to take a pregnancy test, I certainly want her to pay more than a dollar for it. 

Some things are too important to take the easiest or cheapest route.  I can’t tell you how to know what those things are, but I can tell you to be on the look out for them.  

“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13‭-‬14 NET http://bible.com/107/mat.7.13-14.NET

​I’m sitting in the middle seat of a B757, enduring a 4.5 hour flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. Somewhere one or two rows back from my luxurious accommodations in seat 40E, a young child has been crying or whining for most of the trip.  I can relate.

The kid is uncomfortable, tired, board, and he doesn’t understand what is going on.  The parents try to console the child.  Daddy holds him tight.  He provides food and drink.  A blanket.  Tries to entertain at times.  Other times, he is stern, letting the child know he needs to quit whining and crying.  Still he screams and complains, spouting a high pitched call to “Daddy” then screaming unintelligible baby objections for all the world to hear.  It doesn’t solve his situation.  It only makes him and those around him more miserable. 

Eventually, our 4.5 hour trial will be over and things will be good again.  I’ll get out of my cramped middle seat and the young child will be back home with his toys.  The kid will stop crying for awhile and the Father will smile.  He knows His child does not understand.  He foresees the day when His child grows up and learns to endure the trials with patience and grace.  But for now He loves him anyway.  And works to get him ready for the next middle seat.

A car with teeth?

I saw a car with teeth.  Well, not really teeth.  Just the semblance of teeth.  They weren’t real teeth and they didn’t work like teeth, but they looked like teeth.  I took a picture.  Now, when you look at the picture, you can see a car with teeth.  Well, not really.  You really see a picture of a car with a semblance of human teeth.  To see an actual car with real teeth would be very inriguing, and I guess, quite rare.

I want to be a real Christian.  Not a picture of a Christian containing some semblance of a Christ-like attribute.  A real Christian, with teeth.