I hope you weren't offended

I just had to laugh at myself a couple minutes ago. I'm sitting in my office this morning and the phone has been ringing nonstop so far. Most of the calls have been for Tom, but that's not all that important. What is important was that we got a phone call (actually 2) a few minutes ago and Tom was on the phone himself. So as I picked up the phone, line 1 picked up. Well, being the courteous chap that I am, I quickly switched to line two to answer the phone only to be greeted by the dial tone. I thought, "That's odd", and went on my way, as Tom continued his conversation. A few seconds later, we got another phone call and I did the same thing, getting the same result. I'm thinking, "What's going on here?". That's when it hit me: Tom's talking on his cell phone and I've been hanging up on this person thinking I was doing someone else a favor! Oops! (Insert embarassed, red-faced emoticon here). So, if you (whoever you were) are a frequent reader of my blog and couldn't get in touch with whomever you were calling at the office because someone was hanging up on you, I hope this clears things up a bit. No offense, I'm only human!

Proverbs 7:6 says is an incomplete sentence in most translations and doesn't make sense by itself in others. This starts a longer section that tells the story of a simple minded young man who gets secduced by an adulterous woman (I told you the other day that Proverbs spends a lot of time talking about adultery!). There are many things that we could say about this subject here. The verses leading up to this tell of loving wisdom like a sister, tying reminders of it on your fingers, and writing the words of wisdom on your heart. The purpose of this is to protect ourselves (this is especially true for the guys, but girls can apply it too) from when we're tempted by adultery, fornication, or anything closely related to that. There is a constant connection in Proverbs with the gaining of wisdom and holding sin at bay. Listen up guys! We really need to learn to take God at his word as we live out our lives. Do this: the next time you feel tempted, whether it's to do something you know isn't right or to look at someone in a way that you know you shouldn't, ask God for his wisdom. James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." If you do, the Lord will provide a way out for you (I Cor. 10:13). Take it! If it works, try it again next time. I think that we will find that if we really desire to do what is right, then there will be no reason to ask about this not working. Stay away from her house, brothers! We'll all be better off for it later.

Deadline for CIY Discipleship Conf. is Sunday, Jan. 9.

Later...