The Bible and Life

[1] My own personal experience.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

The Sliding Sharpener

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

The Sliding Sharpener

I was lying in bed very late in the evening. Everyone else in the house was fast asleep. My bed was next to a window to my left. Straight ahead was a closet. To my right was a large wooden bookcase, clothes cabinet and desk combination. Next to me was a stereo on top of a small cabinet.

The room was dark except for the faint glow coming off the stereo. The room was dark, but there was plenty of light to see everything, especially when your eyes had adjusted to it. I always used the light off the stereo as a makeshift nightlight.

I was lying there when I heard a scraping sound on top of the wooden desk. Hearing this sound, any sound, coming from my normally quiet bedroom was unnerving. I looked over at the desk, and watched my pencil sharpener moving across the desk!

The desk was made of wood, I elevated it slightly to the back to keep round pencils from rolling off. So this pencil sharpener was sliding uphill! The pencil sharpener was of solid steel construction, it was square shape. I had it as a teenager, but I have never seen one since. It was solid steel and was heavy.

It was physically impossible for this heavy solid steel pencil sharpener to slide across the wooden desk! But I laid there and watched it happen! I didn’t see anything that would cause it to move it. But there it was slowly sliding. It moved very slowly, but the sound of steel against wood made it seem faster.

I watched it slowly slide until it reached the edge, then drop down to the shag carpeted floor. I was paralyzed with fear as I had seen the impossible. It dropped to the floor and stayed there. I laid awake for over an hour until I fell asleep out of physical and emotional exhaustion![1]

William James Roop

[1] My own personal experience

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Love That Makes You Cry!

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

My wife and I have been volunteering at the Purple Lemon thrift store and food bank, for about a five months now. It's a blessing to work in the Kingdom to bless others, especially in this particular time of need.

Below is the picture of the front of the building. It's located in Berwick, Louisiana. Thursday through Saturday is when the thrift store and Cafe are open. The food bank is open on Thursday mornings.

They have none perishable foods on shelves. The produce gets put on tables in the middle. It comes off the trucks from major grocery stores, donating produce that they can no longer sell.

Volunteers unload the trucks and stack the produce on the tables. The produce is mixed together, so we need to sort it all out to organize it and to see what they have available that day.

The people in need, already lining up, come in at 0930 in the morning. We line them up inside, in the back of the thrift store, which is up front. We never know how many volunteers or food recipients will show up. This Thursday we had 75 families arrive for food! The cut-off is 80 families. Luckily we had a lot of volunteers show up as well!

Everyone got some meat, vegetables, fruit, chips, canned food, baby products. Most are appreciative, some are a bit standoffish. But we believe that the Lord is pleased.

The last lady had a family of nine. Some were her kids, some were her sisters kids, she had just received custody of them. Because she had a large family and that she was the last one, we loaded up her basket!

As we blessed her with an abundance of food and love she started crying! As she pushed her basket around the tables, we filled it up for her. She cried the whole way around! We'll love you till you cry!

William James Roop

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

What Is Worship?

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is a quote from William Temple, a great Christian who lived from 1628-1699. I hope that it will be a blessing to you.

"Worship is the submission of all our nature to God.

It is the quickening of our conscience by His holiness;

the nourishment 0f our mind with His truth;

the purifying of our imagination by His beauty;

the opening of our heart to His love;

the surrender of our will to His purpose- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for what self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin."

William James Roop

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Baby Dedication Poem

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

Here is a baby dedication poem that my old church pastor, Arless Glass, used for years. I've heard him say it to parents over baby's for decades. This morning he passed away to be Jesus in Glory. So I decided to share it with you.

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and appreciation, he learns to find love in the world.

Children learn what they live!

William James Roop

Friday, April 28, 2023

Tin Can Fishing

Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!

I was listening to my mother tell stories one afternoon about her ancestors in central Wisconsin. She has very fond memories of her grandfather John. He lived for about thirty years on the family dairy farm where my mother grew up.

She shared with me how after the evening supper, grandpa John would walk to the lake to get the boat ready and dig up some worms from the barnyard. My mother would be in the house washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.

When she was done, she would run down to the lake and get on the boat. They were ready to go and row out to a good spot. They both fished with fishing line tied to wooden poles. No modern fishing poles back then in the 40's and 50's. But grandpa mostly just used a tin can for fishing. It was also called "Hobo fishing."

Grandpa John would put a worm on the hook for my mother, and he used a daredevil lure. My mother has that same lure framed and on her wall. When they caught a fish, and they always caught fish, sometimes many, they wrapped the fishing line on a tin can to reel in the fish.

That's how poor country people fished back in the day. There was no need for all of the fancy equipment that they use today. The simple ways still work! If you enjoyed this story consider following this blog.

William James Roop