The ants go marching one by one hooray! hooray! The marching of the little people is what makes this world work. You see there are presidents, kings, superstar athletes, CEOs of major corporations, and then there is me. There are men of great strength, Hollywood celebrities, super models, great authors, and there is me. So where do you fit into this world? Are you a superstar or a worker bee? Do you run a major corporation or are you just part of life's ant farm? Truth is I like it here on the farm. Just another face in the sea of faces.. and you know what they say.. all ants look alike. I have not polled any ants or bees, but I think the message they have is being about the business that needs to be done, and not being jealous of the queen bees or the bossy foreman of your ant farm staff. So how does that fit in with the body of Christ? Selfless service and simply doing what needs to be done no matter if you are the next Billy Graham, the next church janitor, or a cartoonist! Whether you are the head of a corporation, work in the mail room, or waiter at the local pie shop. What if you are a mom buried with the responsibilities of caring for your preschool children, or a teacher of 4th graders, or a senior widow woman slowed by old age? All one body of many parts, and all parts important. The list of possibilities go on and on.. , BUT what if each of us were selfless? What if we really believed this life was only a stepping stone to eternity in Heaven then what would it matter the recognition, what would it matter our bank account balance? What if we were each faithful in the moment to our neighbors in need, and not worried about our status and recognition in this life? What a life this could be if we were all happy living in God's ant farms or being His little worker bees. God's bugs? what a high calling! Maybe the bar should set a bit higher, lest the classic Hymns for us 'bugs' be The Ants Go Marching One By One, Hoorah! and the Flight of the Bumblebee. note: This is not a call to a life of underachievment where you settle for less than what God has called you, but simply a call to be useful and to serve as God leads in the moments that make up each day. Reality is to be true to who God made us. This makes God smile, and leads us to a place of contentment and success. Blessings Jeff 1/10/2018 Dr. Jekyll and Mr.. Hide (again?)As I roller coaster through the amusement park of life past the sideshows of a bearded lady, the two headed cow and the tattooed sword swallowing vicar I realize again.. LIFE IS A RIDE. My rollercoaster existence leaves me at times exhilarated while other times ready to BARF. These twists and turns in my life do expose my Dr Jeffrey and Mr. Hide (like a less sinister version of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde) personality quirks. I am Dr Jeffrey when all is good, but Mr Hide but rises up as my rollercoaster dips and there is a big bend up ahead. AND yes I did mean to say Mr. Hide (not Hyde).. 'Good grief I am cartoonist not a monster’. My alter ego Mr. Hide unfortunately appears when my -I'm ok facade- is threatened to be exposed by my collection of insecurities, mistakes and bad choices. Better to hide and live to fight another day.. or something like that. Mr. Hide wants others to see me as a success. A man with a career, admired, and a man of status, and dashing good looks. Mr. Hide promotes the illusion that he is confident, funny, never depressed, and has never struggled with substance abuse. Oh there are many other things Mr. Hide hides from others, but you get the idea. Right now as I type I am in one of times I want to hide. An unfair circumstance mixed in with a dash of my special brand of stumbling/bumbling has me unemployed and looking for a hiding place. LOL, I guess sharing it in my blog is not a very good hiding place. I am hurting, and a little panicked, but have determined none of my circumstance surprised God. I am sure He did not slap his forehead and declare.. "Wow, now that's a new one." Anyways, I am putting my trust in my God. I could quote a ba-zillion verses about God's love for me, but I will keep it simple and share Psalm 23. A psalm of David.1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Then to further my 'Hiding Recovery' I belong to a church whose motto is No Perfect People Allowed'. aahh a church made just for me. :) More specifically my wife and I host a Small Group Fellowship from my church with dear friends where I feel 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 rings true.. 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Time to re-assess my need to hide..
While I will be not high-fiving people on the street about losing my job, I also will not travel the rest of my days incognito. May God bless, care, and restore each of you today when life seems to have replaced your highs with lows where you wish to go under the surname of Hide, and then .. hide. Jeff What has been on TV will become a rerun, what has been watched will be watched again, and there is nothing new to watch on TV.. under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 (If Solomon had Cable TV) It is winter here in Minnefrozeta where the sun is down around 5pm, and outside it is as the saints call it 'blessed' cold. So I hunker down in front of the TV to pass the time. I have cable TV so my selection is about 500 (million) channels of HD nothing new under the sun movies, concerts, game shows, comedies, dramas, horror flicks (no), adventures, thrillers, mob movies, history documentaries, or the dreaded 24/7 news (propaganda) channels as pretend I am being informed. Well, this aint working for me. I guess in hind sight I know TV can be a welcomed diversion, but it is too often NOT a source of satisfaction or time well spent. Our cable provider runs a commercial stating they are the future of awesome. Awesome?.. I would settle for it being pretty good. Then to complicate this buffet for the senses sameness, there is the mediocre, and sometimes down right bad. Not only bad quality, but bad content and this flies in the face of the scriptures. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phil 4:8. Hmm, I am pretty sure Paul is not referring anything 'remotely' (insert pun here) to channel surfing. The simple solution is turn the TV off (gasp), and read a book (double gasp).. maybe even more time reading my bible. (double gasp + clutch heart) So it is January, and I am attempting to read through my Bible again. Like most worthwhile resolutions I understand the challenge of seeing it through, but so far so good. Actually very good as the Scripture Reading Plan I am using is accompanied by a short devotional that infuses my day with a truly spiritual focus. Of course there are many other worthwhile things to do also. Start or complete a project, enjoy a hobby (unless it is tv watching), spend time with a friend. There are so many better ways to spend with your time than sampling 500 channels of cable while your brain turns to mush. But to be fair, Solomon did also write .. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace... and a time to see what's on the Tele as I am bone tired after a long day at work and just want to Veg Out. - Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 (or so) - Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 or so (again, If Solomon had Cable TV) May God bless each of you as you balance your life with faith, family, and friends without your TV getting in the way. Jeff 1/7/2018 Wrong Side of Faith (WSOF) -rrGetting up on the wrong side of the bed is a phrase that has come to describe a day gone bad. I would like to modify this with a new phrase ‘Getting up on the wrong side of faith’ (which from now on will be referred to as WSOFs) to describe moments of faith gone bad.
Anytime we tweak God's perfect plan with our 'man divined' <-oxymoron methods we are headed in for a bumpy road. So put down that snake, stop 'redacting' scriptures you don't like, and quit pointing out the 'denominational specks' in the eyes of others all whilst fashioning a light pole in your own eye. Instead .. love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. ..and love your neighbor as yourself. - Jesus Mt 22:36-40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets... which excludes Crusades, Witch hunts, and anything to that requires a snake bite kit. May God bless and use us all in the unique ways He has wired us. May we listen to God's voice, and minimize our bunny trails in ways that honor God and serve others. Jeff 1/3/2018 So Earthly Minded? - revisitedI like the old saying ‘That fella is so Heavenly minded, they are no Earthly good.’ This describes a person is so in to church and ‘churchy’ things that they don’t add much value or function outside of church walls. Over the years I have smirked at a person or twenty that fits that description, BUT I have come to believe the bigger problem today is that too many people are so EARTHLY minded to be much HEAVENLY GOOD. It's just too easy to be caught up in this pace and 'stuff' of life (good and bad) to where God is put on the back burner. Instead of starting my day quiet before God, reading my Bible, and prayerful I often clutter my life with the very real demands of work, family, rush hour traffic, and.. maybe what is on the TV and become simply more EARTHLY MINDED than HEAVENLY GOOD. The real irony is.. When I drift from God is NOT when I am too busy or stressed but instead when life is going well. No immediate worries or concerns so I relax my dependence, praise and appreciation of God to again become so earthly minded. So while I don’t want my life to look as out of place as an Amish folk high rollin' in Las Vegas.. I do want my spirit, and life to start and end with God. A place where my personal faith shows through in all that I do and say. May God bless each of you this day and always with a life in love with God, and a life where God is not fit in around the details of the day. May your life be blessed and USED by God in ways that have both Heaven and Earth in mind. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Mt. 6:10 Be 'Blessed and Used' of course in ways that are BEYOND YOUR DREAMS and all that God intends for you! Jeff 1/1/2018 Go ahead '2018' make my day!Happy New Year wishes from The Back Pew! I hope your holiday season was merry and bright, AND.. I pray you live in a warmer state than Minnesota. - Amen! Since around 9pm on Friday December 29th through 7am January 2nd I am writing this we have had one hour where the air temperature was above zero at a sweltering ONE DEGREE. But I digress.. because today is not about the 'new' Ice Age, it is about Resolutions! So without further adieu let me present the all new '2018 Jeff Larson Resolutions'. Oh they may resemble last year's resolutions.. but these 2018 Resolutions aspire to at least to never run out of gas ..aka broken resolutions. 1. Diet - My four year old granddaughter asked me the other week why my stomach was round. I considered the comeback "Shut up.. your'e short and you spell like a preschooler." but.. i restrained myself as I know exactly why it is round, and she is adorable. 2. Exercise - My once trim athletic physique now resembles a butter sculpture.. in the sun. Nuff said on the 'E' word. 3. Budget - My wife and I have plans to move this year looking for possibly a town-home.. and rumor has it moving costs money. 4. Time for God - The chaos of this world (much of it void of God) as reported on the 24/7 News 'SHOWS' affect me adversely. So it goes without saying more time focusing on God in his word, and in prayer is so much better time spent in front of the aptly named boob tube where brain cells fall to the wayside with every moment in front of my HD TV. Then again if you ask my wife Mary, she would be happy just to add her Honey-Do list to my 2018 Resolutions, but she fears that would doom her list to certain failure. But all smirking aside, no matter if I lose weight, get fit, win the lottery in 2018, and find the fountain of youth, or even fountain of middle age.. what matters most is my heart and attitude towards God. Love God care for others.. the rest is by comparison trivial pursuit. At church on Sunday I heard a great New Year Resolution sermon from Colossians 3. A call to 'Put on the New Self' . 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ... 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: ... take time to read the whole chapter as it is so simple yet so complete in the call to a better way. Dare I say, A Happy New Year. So I do pray that I would love God in word and deed, and my heart be sensitive to others in need like never before. I pray my mind is on things above and not stuck in the muck of the evening news, and my below zero Minnesota. So 2018, I am as ready as I will ever be. To God be the glory in all things. May God bless and use each of you in 2018 and beyond in ways that are BEYOND YOUR DREAMS. Jeff ps : Of course no New Year Resolution list would be complete without a list from my dog Cooper. Just like his master, he is a work in progress. |
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Back Pew - Draw Close to God
116 pages of cartoons of 'Clean Humor & God's Truth' CRITICS ARE SAYING..
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1/11/2018
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