Happy Saturday!

…and the smoke goes on…the smoke goes on. This morning at 8:45 am Bruce and I put a 13 pound brisket on the smoker. It is now 10:30 pm and it is still smoking. I have one end of the meat at the correct temp and the other meat is below temp. This is the brisket on which we learn. I think we need several more hours and I am in need of a shower. Next time I will buy a smaller brisket. I will also let you know how it comes out.

Tonight’s verse is Acts 16:25 “Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God as the other prisoners listened.”

I may be singing and praying out on the deck if this brisket doesn’t get a move on. Do you think my neighbors would mind? (LOL!)

Have you ever seen the movie The King and I? When Mrs. Anna and her son are approaching Siam, her son is afraid of the people, their dress and cultures. He expresses his fear to his mother. She (Debra Kerr) begins to sing “Whistle a Happy Tune.” This simple song teaches her son to sing to take his mind off of his fears of the unknown and unfamiliar. Do you suppose that was why Paul and Silas began to sing while in prison? Prison is a place of unknown, unfamiliar and most likely unfriendly. It is a place where trust is unheard of and helping each other is non-existent. Prison is a place where a life of fear is a way of life.

Paul and Silas were men of faith in a place fear. So they began to sing. And then the cool thing is that the Word tells us that the other prisoners listened. Here, in this horrid place, Paul and Silas sang hymns. I don’t know if they sang songs of praise or songs that told of the power of God over their confinement or songs of the hard time in which they found themselves, but whatever kind of hymns they sang it was a comfort to those who were listening. Even in their darkest hour they took their situation to God and shared the love of God and the comfort God can bring to those around them.

Max Lucado states in his book In the Eye of the Storm, “At the beginning of every act of faith there is often a seed of fear.” Even after taking the online course on smoking a brisket and reading lots of methods and watching YouTube videos on smoking brisket there was a bit of apprehension as I took that huge piece of meat to the smoker. I know that smoking meat is totally insignificant to Paul and Silas and their experience in prison. And yet, I found myself praying as I checked on this brisket throughout the day and read the thermometer, adjusted the fire and checked on the temp of the meat. The aroma of the smoking meat wafted throughout my neighborhood. I was in unfamiliar territory as a first time smoker. Paul and Silas sang and prayed and their prayers and songs rang throughout the prison giving comfort and hope to their fellow prisoners.

A group of believers in a small room in Jerusalem prayed for the release of Paul and Silas. It was a small group of believers who were fearful and new at this whole belief in Jesus. Here was a fledgling church pleading for help and yet they were a powerful band of believers because all they had was faith and a God who loved them.
Friends, when we are in unfamiliar and unfriendly territory, sing a song of praise, or a song of help and comfort and call upon the Lord. God will take your song, listen to your heart and, if you sing loud enough, you will share the love of God with those around you.

Take joy in the journey and stay in the shade. See you in worship. Love you all. Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.