The long and the short of it...

Hey, it's been a pretty fine week! We had some great company during this past week, Eric, a good friend, and classmate waaaayyy back in High School, visited the other night, thanks Eric! Then, there was Vicky, another from school days, and a good friend of my wife, Cari. They had a pretty tight-knit group back then, which included another classmate, April, and her sister Dawn. They all visited us this past week! Wow, were we getting blessed real good! They all got out for a visit with another of their group, Lloyd, who was another classmate of mine. It had been many years since they had all been together... pretty neat!

So, what does that have to do with ScriptureSticks?... Well, it does, I think... but, mostly I was just thinking about these old (as in the past) acquaintances and how they touch our lives. One most important common bond is that every one of them are Christians, and they all had an impact on me, especially when I was unsaved.

As I was giving thought to old friends, I worked away on some ScriptureSticks. Some of them had been requested by Dawn and April. Two of them, I reflected, were the shortest and longest sets of scripture verse that I had ever had the pleasure of placing on a ScriptureStick!

John 11:35... Jesus wept.

2 Peter 1:5-7... For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

(That second one barely fit on a BIG ScriptureStick! Whew!)

After finishing up on the sticks, I came downstairs, and got my Bible out. I spent a good hour this evening, just trying to get to know these scriptures a little bit better. Reading them... reading "around" them, to put them in context. I know, for sure, that although I got a lot out of this mini-study, I could study these scriptures all night, or all week, and still not have their meanings completely revealed to me. But... the point that I'm eventually getting to is this... Scripture was placed in front of me, and I felt the need to investigate further. I wondered about it... I was curious. ... ... ...That is exactly the hope I have in this little ScriptureStick ministry! That Cari and I will place Scripture on hiking sticks, and the sticks will be read, or hopefully fall into the hands of the unsaved. Our prayer is that the unsaved will wonder about the Scripture they read, and be compelled to seek the Word. It is also our hope that Christians who have a ScriptureStick will be emboldened to share their faith in Jesus Christ with the unsaved... that the ScriptureStick might be the conversation starter... Hey, neat stick! What does that say on it?

So... that is the long and the short of it... as they say.

Which means that it is really, really late right now, and time to ask God to Bless you all, real good! Thanks go out to all you friends that stopped by for a visit! Anybody else out there that I havn't seen for a bit? You're all welcome to stop in for a visit! G'Night, and God Bless!

Stickman