"And A Partridge In A..."

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

Our teaching today speaks of accepting and following God’s plan for life on Earth. The Ten Commandments are an easy way to remember the things of His plan. More than mere guidelines, God commands these things. And for those that ignore them and go their own way, God will judge and not honor their choice to replace His plan with their own. Our human plans will always be self-serving rather than serving God and ministering to others. 

Our teaching today tells us of the foolish partridge bird, sitting on his nest but not hatching the eggs. Is that not the purpose of sitting on the nest? Hatch the next generation, feed and nurture them to leave the nest, and repeat this Godly cycle.

Genesis 1:28 records the first and second counsel that God gave to Adam and Eve: "Be fruitful and multiply, AND replenish the earth..." The first is to grow the population, and the second tells us of the importance of feeding that growing population. In this wild untamed earth, the third counsel was given in the same verse, "...and subdue it." Learn the seasons and times by the stars of heaven as they move through the sky each year. Planting, Growing, and Harvest Seasons are all right there. (Genesis 1:14)

The birds follow God’s counsel instinctively and multiply their numbers...

except for this partridge in the lesson, who will not hatch his young. His kind will die off, yet he flies and eats, and distributes the seeds of what he eats. For a man to follow the partridge’s example would mean extinction! Multiply, replenish and subdue is God’s counsel to make things work here on earth. Leaving one undone means God’s system collapses for the species, except for mankind's ingenuity.

If we each had to grow all the food that we ourselves consume, then a simple vegetable garden out back just wouldn’t cut it. “But we have food markets now! Yes, we do, and their owners are among the richest families in the country! Man will always be willing to supply what others cannot supply for themselves... for a price. How far our culture has strayed! 

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 

do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." 

~ Matthew 7:12 ~

O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

Happy Thanksgiving Week! Though it is a non-religious holiday, it’s a day when God’s grace was and is evident. From Google we learn that “The event that Americans commonly call the ‘First Thanksgiving’ was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. This feast lasted three days, and—as accounted by attendee Edward Winslow—it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.” 

As in the Book of Esther, nowhere is God mentioned, but the work of God is evident everywhere in the story of that first Thanksgiving feast. People came together to work and grow a harvest that would sustain them. Pilgrims and Native Americans combined their efforts for the sake of life in the New World. 

Sins Of The Fathers

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

Among my initial assignments in ministry was to reach out to one local Jail Inmate who was to be transferred into a State Prison. Word of mouth spread, and within two years, I received referrals to about 500 State Prison Inmates. My electric typewriter and copy machine were busy printing up newsletters with Bible Studies and words of comfort and encouragement to for both male and female Inmates. Teaching tapes from my Senior Pastor followed.

What I learned was that most all were incarcerated for the bad choices they had made, not for their “criminal minds.” Educated, or lacking in education was not the issue. More often than not, they had (sometimes inadvertently) surrounded themselves with others that seemed to lack direction and discipline. 

Tough Love

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

Many State and Local Prisons had a program known as “Scared Straight.” It combined the efforts of Social Services, Faith-based Ministries, and each State’s Department of Corrections. Young men and women who had several low level arrests were “recruited” into a prison, where Inmates and Corrections Officers would present a very real experience of what it’s like to live behind bars. 

The testimonies of inmates in particular were frightening as they related their own experiences of mental, physical, and sexual abuse from different prison factions to the “recruits.” Scared Straight was a program designed to deter individuals from a life of crime. 

Take A Stand!

Bobservations Column
By Pastor Bob Lawrenz

The headlines in the media affirm scripture:  from 2 Timothy 3:13 - "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."  The proof of this verse is in the fruit of the lives of many of our elected officials, and those that put their stamp of approval on ungodly acts.

It seems that more leaders of various organizations than not, government officials, and yes, even members of the clergy are being brought up short, and being directly charged with criminal offenses.  It comes as no surprise that the public has become disenchanted on so many levels with corruption running rampant in every echelon of our culture.