Would you not agree, that it is amazing how many of our superstitious ways revolve around death, hell and the grave? A few decades ago, I attended a writer’s workshop and the facilitator gave the class a list of subjects to write about. His instructions were that the students had to also include research as to how the superstition evolved in the first place. The teacher also said that us attendees would also grade each of the student’s presentations.

It was at that moment that I looked across the class room and saw a classmate put his hand to his mouth and yawn. Some silly superstitious girl mouthed,’God bless you’. I quietly smiled to myself and said, that’s it! That’s what I’m going to write about and I will entitle my paper ‘The Yawn Reflex’.

Okay, I’m not going to give you 10 helpful bible verses about superstitions, but I will allow you to read my paper on yawning and sneezing.

“The yawn reflex”

Today, we believe that it shows good manners to cover your mouth and to say excuse me after a broad and noisy yawn. Well, originally, good manners had nothing to do with it. In the ancient days, it was believed that the Devil made a person yawn so that he could gain access into the body and cause that peron grave danger. If that person is observed yawning he would say excuse me because he knew that yawning was contagious and would cause the second person to yawn, too. Thus putting that person in grave danger. So the first yawner would say ‘excuse me’ for putting that person in grave danger. The Hindu people would snap their fingers three times to counter the Devil antics.

The Medical doctors tell us that yawning can be due to sleepiness, exhaustion, shallow breathing or observation. Also, one of the first exercises that a new born baby performs is to stretch and yawn after its body breathes in fresh air. Medical scientists believe that there is a yawn center in the brain that is activated by our lungs and under certain conditions cause us to yawn.

Moral of the story:

Proverbs 3:5-7: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.“

“Now take sneezing“

How many “Gesundheits” does a person get after sneezing? And do you know what it means? Well it means, “God bless you.” The custom of asking God’s blessing initiated with early man who believed that the spirit resided in the air and since we breathe air in to our heads, it stands to reason that the spirit resided in the head. A sneeze would accidentally expel the spirit. So a person would ask God to put it back. The act of bowing towards the sneezer was also counter-magic. For it meant, “May your soul not escape.”

Moral of the story:

Romans 12:2:  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The Climax:

Now imagine being in a room filled with sneezers and yawners. This combination of guests could be fatal. Don’t forget, a yawn gave the Devil access into the body and a sneeze could expel your good spirit. Thus leaving your body defenseless. The spirit of the Devil would be exposed out in the room trying to gain entrance into someone else; Gesundheits being shouted aloud from across the room; some guests bobbing up and down towards the sneezer; and the yawners approaching others and saying I’m sorry, I’m sorry for infecting you. What a hilarious scene from an Austin Powers movie.

(Leave with a big yawn, cover your mouth and say excuse me. Next, give out a loud sneeze. After the audience responds with Gesundheits say….Oh, Well.)

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Jonah was so mad with God that he tried to commit suicide. He was so depressed that he left the city and climbed a hill where he sat out in the hot sun near a small bush. God caused the bush to grow large leaves that shaded Jonah all day and acted like an umbrella. God also sent a cool breeze to calm Jonah down. Soon Jonah fell asleep and when he awoke the next day the plant had died. Now Jonah was really mad at God.

God could read Jonah’s mind and knew how angry Jonah was with Him. God spoke to Jonah and asked him why he was so concerned about a little old plant that Jonah had not even planted or watered. Why was Jonah acting so hurt that the plant had only lived for one day and then died? God was wondering what was the big deal?

Jonah could not answer God. He did not know why he felt that way about a little old plant. Then God said to Jonah, “Just as you are concerned about that little plant, I am more concerned about that great city called Nineveh. It is a town that has more than 120,000 people and a lot of animals in it. At first they did not know Me. But now they know right from wrong.” God asked that arrogant, misguided man whose thoughts were only of an insignificant plant, should I have not taken pity on Nineveh and saved them?

God taught Jonah a very important lesson. To draw people to Himself in order to offer them eternal life, God will use messengers to speak the word, mammals and nature to challenge doubters, plants and animals to protect fools, and the Holy Spirit to convict stubborn hearts. The universal message here is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

The End…

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Hello…Hello…Hello…to all my followers out there in cyberspace. Yes, I have deputized all of you guys to claim the title of a cyber-deputy whenever you take it upon yourself to share any of my conversation blogs with your acquaintances. I am particularly hopeful that you will want to share this week’s blog because it will be the beginning (Part One) of me relating the entire Bible story of Jonah and The Great Fish in several weekly parts.

In June of 2003, I had an opportunity to teach the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale to a group of young married couples. I had to do some serious praying because I knew that in order to maintain their attention and attendance for the next four weeks, I would have to call on the Holy Spirit to instruct me on how to deliver the moral of the story: God’s universal message of how He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believed in Him would obtain eternal life.

Knowing that each family had multiple things that demanded their attention: like jobs to contend with, small children to care for, household chores, intense time for bible reading and unexpected situations clamoring for their attention… my job was not going to be easy. So, like I said, I had a little talk with Jesus and told Him all about my problem. As I started the chapters, I became excited as the Holy Spirit began to help me paraphrase the verses by incorporating colloquialism phrases used in casual communication. (This method of storytelling would allowed the students to actually become Jonah and to relive Jonah’s experiences with God.) The students even suggested that they participate by performing some role playing of Jonah’s actions.

FOCUS:

• God is Ruler over all the universe
• God is Judge over all the universe
• God is everywhere in the universe at the same time
• God controls nature, events and people everywhere all the time

INTRODUCTION:

The Bible story about a prophet named Jonah helps us to better understand Who God is and all that God is capable of doing. This Old Testament story is about Jonah’s disobedience and how he tried to run away from God and do his own thing. Because of Jonah’s action God made a fish perform like a submarine; a warring nation resemble a crying baby; a plant evolve into an umbrella and an arrogant man stripped of his contrite heart. God did all of this to show love to the world and to show Jonah that God is in control of everything.

PROGRESSION OF EVENTS:

A prophet is a man or woman selected by God to receive His divine message and then go and share the message with others. Sometimes the message is good news and sometimes it is bad news. Which ever it is it doesn’t matter. The prophet still has to deliver the message even if it means the people will get so angry that they will want to kill him.

(Part Two to be continued next week…)

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Dear Readers of this blog: Please permit me to ask you a very personal question: Have you ever catalogued any of your prayers to the Almighty? Like, perhaps in a scrapbook or diary or just in a plain spiral notebook. And, did you record the answers you received…if any? Well, for this week’s blog a strange thing happened to me. As I was surveying my book shelf, I ran across a scrapbook chucked full of daily prayers concerning world events and situations for the entire month of March, 2006!

As I leafed through it I recognized it as a theology study assignment I had to complete in one of my classes while attending The School of Ministry sponsored by Covenant Church located in a city in Texas, where I was a member. Our professor had just informed the class that we would be embarking upon our first mission trip at the end of our first academic year, and we would be responsible to finance all of our own expenses for air travel. The church would provide expenses for room and board. The classes’ assignment was to draft our first donation request letter that we would send to our family and friends and request financial support for this venture.

Our teacher explained that as future international missionaries, there would be lots of times in our work for the Lord that we would have to solicit funds from abroad to complete many mission related assignments, projects, and tasks in our sphere of foreign mission services.

So, on March 18, 2006, the Holy Spirit directed me to compose my first donation letter that was to inspire others to dig in their pockets and contribute to my deep passion to become one who is sent by God to the uttermost parts of the world. So, this time, I upped the ante..I went to God humbly with a bouquet of Bluebonnets, Texas state flower. I thought just an olive branch would not do.

March 18, 2006

Dearly Beloved Family members, Friends and Well-wishers;

Please forgive me for the long delay in between my last update correspondence to you as to how I am learning how to mature in Christ.  Well, since moving here, I have enrolled in the School of Ministry sponsored by Covenant Church.  In addition to my theology studies, the first year students are given an opportunity to round out their first academic year by participating in a short-term mission trip.

After prayerful consideration, I know I am called to once again team up with follow missionaries and go to Latin America to assist in as many ministry activities as I can.

As the Lord leads you, I would love to have your support in my carrying out this worthwhile project.  I have enclosed a brochure explaining the many programs that are in need of yours and my prayers and support.

Can I count on you to help me contribute to make a world of difference in someone's life.  Covenant Training Institute is very well known in this state for its outstanding curriculum for missionaries.  I am really excited about this opportunity to serve.

Upon my return from the mission field, I will send you my newsletter and pictures of the work the Holy Spirit is doing in those countries.

Please read all of the enclosed literature, follow the instructions and return the tear-off to me.  If you have any questions, please call.  Whatever your contribution, it will be graciously and gratefully appreciated.

Your personal World Missionary and friend.    

MY prayer to you…(Written sometime in March 2006)

Dear Lord: There are a lot of missionaries presently serving in the mission field and a host of others who are preparing to depart on missionary trips. My home church currently has the Driscoll family ministering in Mexico. And a team of us will join them from March 11-18, 2006. A few months later, I will be a member of a mission team dispatched to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. According to Your will and Your ways, please keep all of us safe in Your arms. That’s my prayer in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Scripture Lesson: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11-12)

(*) NOTE: The funny cartoon pictures and captions were added for emphasis for this blog.

(*)(*) NOTE: Now that was a bit over the top…don’t you think.

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Hello to all my followers and visitors to this blog site. I profusely apologize for being a day late (Saturday) on publishing my blog. As you know, my mantra for my website is http://www.tgif…..which translates “thank God it’s Friday”. The rest of the identity is “masterminds.com”. Those words mean that my Master (God), uses my mind to communicate with Him.

I found it necessary to communicate this to you at this time because last week I experienced a very difficult and stressful time in the hospital and now that I have been released with a favorable report, I feel that a very heavy load has been lifted from my heart. So I asked the Holy Spirit to help me communicate with Him. Honestly, His reply was, let’s laugh together. So, below you will see what He suggested.

Gospel Quartet this is the funniest thing I have seen in a

I’ve got him, Jesus. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. Covid wont touch us.

“I believe in wearing a mask. He doesn’t.” “We don’t believe in wearing masks!”

————————————————————————————————-

4:29NOW PLAYING Just click “playing” and listen to a most humorist rendition of a song sung by young boys. It will bust your belly.

After obeying the Holy Spirit’s advice, I felt much better in spirit. My spirits were lifted and filled with joy in my heart. Our Lord wants His children to be happy and full of peace and stability. In every situation in our lives, we must learn to live by the aide of the Holy Spirit. Why,, because He gives us the courage and hope in every situation and also He reminds us of God’s undying love.

Today, I feel much better. And I hope these few moments of laughter has caused your day to be much better, too.

See you next week…God willing… and the creek don’t rise. (*)

(*) Note:

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The expression “…the creek don’t rise” is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. It is sometimes thought that the word “Creek” instead refers to the Creek Indians, but this is unlikely.^[1][2]

Classic versions of its use tend to be along the lines of “The good Lord willing, and the creek doesn’t rise”—i.e. “If God so wills, and as long as intense rain does not wash away bridges or parts of dirt roads, or cover roads too deeply for safely following them.” It may take the form of real or mock dialect, in variations like “… Lor’ willin’ an’ th’ crick don’ rise.”

Scripture Lesson: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.com every Friday for a new post from the Master’s servant manager…ME!