Car Seat (Joe Widick)

Good evening! Lord willing, I am now in Vietnam! Tonight's entry is again from my former colleague/boss/elder/friend/brother in Christ, Joe Widick of Lebanon, Tennessee. Joe often fills in for me while I am out of the country! Keep me in your prayers!

My son and daughter-in-law have been at the Pepperdine lectures this past week.  This has given both sets of grandparents the opportunity to keep their daughter Josie.  I met Josie’s “nanna” at Columbia Wednesday and brought Josie to Lebanon.  Amidst all the excitement of getting things transferred from one car to another, came the challenge of moving the dreaded car seat.  To start with we could not get the car seat out of “nanna’s car.”  Once that was accomplished, I had to get it in our car.  I don’t know who designed all of the buckles and hooks that make the car seat work, but I know they did not have me in mind when they designed it.  For young parents who use car seats daily, there is not a problem.  For me, it was a complicated process of figuring out what went where.  What I knew was that Josie needed to be safe and sound in that seat.   Success finally came and off to Lebanon we went.  I know the value of car seats and tremble to think that our children did not have car seats.  However, it seems there could be a less complicated way of using a car seat.   

As I listen to various people discuss matters of religion, I am sometimes amazed at how complicated they try to make things.  It seems that we want to make it appear that God really didn’t know what he wanted us to do.  As I study God’s Word, I have found over and over again that God has said what he wanted to say and he has said it in such a way that it can be understood.  In Psalms 119:129-130 David penned these words by inspiration; “Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.  The unfolding of your words gives light it imparts understanding to the simple.”   What a beautiful spirit to have!  Is that the same spirit that I have when it comes time to study and know God’s word?  “Wonderful” seems to be a term that tells me it is more grand than I can even imagine.  “Unfolding” lets me know that throughout God’s word there is a story that needs to be told and page by page the writers continue that story.  “Light” indicates to me this story has a purpose that of showing me what I need to know in order to be with God forever and ever.  “Imparts” has the idea of giving me something that I need.  The last four words tell me that this word is not a complicated book that I can never grasp.  I do not look at those four words “understanding to the simple,” as an insult to my intelligence but rather a statement that says the all-knowing God has written a book that you and I can know and use.  Let’s not make God’s word a complicated journey where we wonder about our salvation.  After all there are enough complicated matters in life, like putting a car seat in a car!


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.stevehawley.blogspot.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com