Posted By: revmaddog
Posted On: 20:03:24 28th Feb 2010The well muscled fellow with the bright plaid sports coat drew out the longest, biggest chrome revolver I have ever seen in real life, a chrome plate .44 magnum, and aimed it at....


February 28, 2010 – The Shepherd’s Journal: The Chrome Plated Magnum .44
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." -John
In the movie Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downy Junior as Sherlock, and Jude Law as the ever faithful Watson, what sets the hero apart from every one else is his incredible powers of observation. People are amazed at what Sherlock Holmes is able to see, but Sherlock is even more amazed at what his friends and colleagues do not see.
Lynne and I would often take a break in the afternoon by stopping at fast food joint at 4 in the afternoon. We chose this time because the restaurants were usually deserted, especially the fast food joints. In Waycross, Georgia, the best place for a pop and coffee break was The Burger King. We were sitting down at the booth with or little tray of refreshments when I noticed something really peculiar. There were, including myself, 5 men seated at tables all around the restaurant. There were 3 men seated alone, one at each windowed wall. There were two men in the middle of the restaurant. 4 of the men had suit coats on, but the older gentlemen next to Lynne and me in the middle of the restaurant did not. I was in my thirties, the older man next to me was in his late 50’s, and the three gentlemen in suit coats seated alone by each of the three walls were in their mid to late twenties. Two of the young men were trim and athletic looking, like military men, or police cadets, with dark conservative suit coats. The third man, slightly older, had a bright plaid suit coat, the type that you would see on a salesman in a used car lot. He appeared to have spent a lot of time in the gym lifting weights, for his suit coat seemed to bulge with muscles.
“Do you ever remember seeing this many men this late in the afternoon sitting alone?” I asked Lynne. The older gentleman in the table next to us turned and agreed that it was highly unusual. I will return to this story in a moment.
We walk though our world busily wrapped up in our own affairs, and we fail to see the details of clues all around us that there is another world out there Like a wind blowing through the trees, we see the leaves move, even though we can not see the wind, and we know from that observation there is wind.
“I tell you the truth. No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." -Jesus
The beauty of weakness is it makes us very teachable. Put a pebble on a sprout. The sprout is too weak to lift the pebble, so it quickly learns to go around the pebble as it struggles to lift itself into the light. Social scientists are amazed at the capacity of the young child, from newborn to toddler, to assimilate huge amounts of language, from scratch, seemingly effortlessly. Strength and pride do not walk with learning.
Since, in this physical world, there must be birth before there is life, it is correct to assume that we must be born again to have a spiritual life. Sadly, because of pride and arrogance, many leaders are blind to these simple truths. They are the “blind leaders of the blind.” –Jesus How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born! How can this be?" we often ask, just like Nicodemus asked Jesus.
The truth of God’s Word lights our steps of logic with the light of truth, like step lights in a darkened theatre. But many lights of truth are right among us, in nature, in the universe, and in our lives, readily observed by even those who are not acquainted with God’s Word. The highest order of life is human life, not because we are more intelligent than any other creature, but because of the necessary care we give to our children. We have the highest survival rate of all the species. Our children are protected in the womb until the right time, and then they are ‘born’ into the care of a loving mother, and hopefully also a protective father. This whole process is a teaching tool by the heavenly Father, pointing to where we have to begin in our life. We must be born again. The process involves humility, dependency, a crisis experience, a new life, learning, growing, being brought up by the Heavenly Father, and a godly Church, feeding on the breast milk of the stories of God’s Word and the testimonies of the Church.
We need to open our eyes and see that there is more than just the normal drumbeat of life going on. There are other forces at work.
Back to the Burger King. The older man, along with Lynne and myself were commenting on the unusual amount of men in a Burger King on a week day afternoon. As we were talking, I could see a pearl painted pick up truck pull into the parking lot, and a sports car zipped in next to it, and opened its gull wing door towards the pick up.
Suddenly, police cars from both sides, perhaps 7 or 8 altogether quickly crowded around the two expensive cars, and uniformed police officers jumped out of the squad cars, their guns drawn. Most remained crouched behind their cars, guns pointed at the sports car and the pick up, but several men ran to the car, pulled the occupants out, and quickly cuffed them. The three men inside the Burger King that were by the windows also crouched down as they drew out weapons, and the fellow with the bright plaid sports coat, drew out the longest biggest chrome revolver I have ever seen in real life, a chrome plate .44 magnum, and aimed it in the direction of the suspected drug dealers, for by now it was obvious this was a drug bust. Lynne and I and our unnamed friend sat wide eyed, stunned, our mouths gaping open.
Take a careful look around you, my friend. There are forces, both of evil, and of good, that are at work even now. We are not privy to all the planning, but we can see the results. Some lives are being destroyed. Others are being redeemed. Have you been ‘born again?’ Can you hear the rustling of the wind in the leaves?
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