Pedestrian God

On Guard

May 20 2014

Read the Proverbs Series from the beginning here.

Proverbs 4:23 “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”

Safes. Locks. Bolts. Tornado shelters. Vaults. Passwords.

We value our possessions and keep the most precious locked away as safely as possible and yet we wear our hearts and our emotions on our sleeves.

Obviously, we don’t literally pin our beating, blood-pumping heart like a bracelet. We would die very quickly. In His wisdom and perfect design, the Lord surrounded our literal heart with our chest bone in order to protect it.

We should take a cue from our skeletal structure when we think about our figurative heart – the one we create phrases about like “that warms my heart,” “my achy breaky heart,” and, of course, “bless her heart.”

Scripture tells us to guard our hearts above all else. We take precautions with our jewelry by putting it in safes. We protect our writings and emails by using passwords. We even use military and police to guard our citizens.

But how do we guard our hearts?

Who and Whose

May 14 2014

When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, he taught me and said: “Your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding; don’t forget or turn away from the words of my mouth.
Proverbs 4:3-5

Live a life that causes your children to gain respect for you and speak words that encourage them to listen. Parenting is not merely dishing out the punishment when children get out of line. That is the role of a disciplinarian. The primary function of parenting is to disciple a child.

One of my closest friends frequently quotes her father’s challenge to her – “Know who you are and whose you are.”

Her father emphasized this so much as she matured that it has become an integral part of her identity.

My Understanding

May 02 2014

Proverbs 3:5-8

I think I just missed my turn. In 5:00 p.m. In Memphis traffic, this realization can ruin your evening. My thirty minute drive home became an hour-long excursion as my GPS said my destination did not exist and my mom reassured me on the phone that if I took a left at the next light I would eventually recognize my surroundings.

The feeling of being on the wrong path is even worse when it involves the way you approach other people. Have you ever realized that you’ve been on the wrong side of an argument? Or that your reaction to a situation was out of line? Have you ever tried to figure out a riddle only to hear the answer and realize that you were obsessing over the wrong detail?

Have you heard this one before? Mary’s father had five daughters. The first four were named:

Na
Ne
Ni
No

Most likely, what is the name of the fifth daughter?

Just For Fun

Apr 30 2014

“My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded. If they say – “Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun!” … my son, don’t travel with that road with them or set foot on their path, because their feet run toward trouble and they hurry to commit murder.”
– Proverbs 1:10-11, 15

How do your feet respond to different situations? Probably not a question we consider daily. Last week I saw a mother dash across a room when her daughter began to fall down the stairs. Now she had fast feet.

The same two feet that race outside to play also drag across the carpet when asked to clean up. They can skip and hop and then kick and stomp.

So many emotions conveyed and we pay little to no attention to them.

Fools and Fears

Apr 25 2014

To read this Proverbs series from the beginning, click here.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7

My dad would probably offer a hearty “Amen!” to this familiar verse from Scripture. He owns a small business and has witnessed several of his employees’ “foolish” actions in the last decade.

The top three that I remember are:

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