Things Could Be Worse--At Least He Could Get Back Out
I will never forget the great Baptist preacher Ramsey Pollard relating his first experience officiating a funeral service as a young pastor. He served a country church and was called on to officiate the service of one of its members. The usual apprehensions filled his mind. Seminary had not prepared him for this basic pastoral task.
Somewhere he had read that the officiate was to walk in front of the casket and read Scripture en route to the burial place. Having successfully navigated the service itself, he proceeded out the door in front of the casket to lead the funeral procession to the adjacent cemetery. Opening his Bible, he began to read words of comfort in referent tones. So engrossed was in he reading that he failed to see the looming cavity of the gravesite and promptly fell foot-first into the six-foot hole!
Panicked by the mortifying thoughts of being in a grave and the obvious embarrassment of his misstep, he scrambled out quickly and began to run. He related that he was grateful a deacon caught him as he was climbing a fence trying to escape. The deacon urged him to return and finish his funeral duties. Pollard said that had he not, he probably would still be running.
*Call me weird if you must [stop it]!, but I like reading funeral sermons. These messages by design deal with the big questions in life--the ultimate questions and the difficult questions.
Hey, on another note, here are some upcoming blog entries for This Lamp:
1. I am finally going to get back to my series on my favorite translations. Still remaining are my thoughts on the Good News Translation, The Wycliffe New Testament, and the Modern Language Bible. Following that, I will briefly touch on my honorable mentions and follow that with some closing thoughts about the state of Bible translations in general.
2. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to present it, but I plan to show you my humble little method for marking and taking notes in my wide-margin NASB. I've given a couple of you similar invitations. The invites are still good.
3. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a NIV Archaeological Study Bible. I spent the entire afternoon today with it, in fact, and took quite a bit of notes. Expect a review soon.
4. I will write an entry explaining how to create an ongoing men's Bible study using the TNIV Strive Bible.
5. In a comparative review, I plan on examining together two different reverse interlinears that have been released this year, their strengths and weaknesses, and the value and pitfalls of reverse interlinears in general.
6. Kathy and I will go see a movie on Labor Day and you can expect a review soon after. I'm pushing for The Wicker Man, but I haven't quite convinced her. I used to do lots more movie reviews than I do now, but money and time have been tight lately.
And that's not including what other miscellaneous ideas pop into my mind. Stay tuned...