My aunt and uncle had a missionary family visiting. When the missionary children were called in for dinner, their mother said, "Be sure to wash your hands."
If you have ever done any navigating by the use of map and compass, you know that magnetic north isn't true north.
I suppose most of us know that magnetic north is slowly moving.
I wonder how many know that earth's magnetic poles actually flip every million years or so.
Apparently we are about due for another flip.
While the poles are reversing themselves there may be a time when there is more than one north or south pole.
How is that for confusing!
A church planter named Len Sullivan writes about one of his experiences in prayer:
In the mid 1980s, my family moved to northern Saskatchewan to start a church. As a church planter, part of my support was funded by the local mission. Most months were difficult financially.
One week in April, when the ground is still frozen and snow-covered, we were down to only a few dollars in the bank. Our usual reaction to that need was to look for our own solution. This time, however, in a stroke of faith, I went before God and told him that we needed eggs, bread, and milk. I would wait upon him.
At our session this past week I opened the meeting by reading the same passage from Amos that was read for us this morning. At the conclusion of my reading, one of your elders said in humor, "I am really looking forward to when you stop reading Amos at us."
I am glad that someone was listening and understood the gravity of what Amos is saying. And I don't think it was any picnic for Amos either. He was away from home, away from his livelihood, and preaching an unpopular message to an unfriendly crowd.
But he said what he needed to say, and it has been preserved for us right down to the twenty first century, and that is an incredible fact on its own.
The Plumb line of God...How do You Measure up?
Amos 7:1-17
Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a friend visited Fields' hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, "I'm looking for loopholes."1
By contrast, a number of years ago my mother and my mother-in-law were both visiting our home. It was an afternoon and the two were quietly sitting in the living room, both reading their Bibles. Our youngest daughter who was about ten or eleven years of age at the time caught sight of this and replied, "they're studying for their finals".