YOU ARE THE B-E-S-T BEST!

  By Michael L. Alumbaugh © 2023

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,”~ Eph 5:25

 Ah, February! Who could ever pass through the year without first celebrating Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Washington’s Birthday, Valentine’s Day, Leap Year (occasionally), and, Oh! Did I mention Valentine’s Day?

 Oh, I celebrate Goundhog Day a couple times a week at breakfast time throughout the entire year. My Bride usually fixes me an egg or two over easy, a sausage patty and toast, pancakes or waffles. I just love eggs with a good piece of sausage! George Washington probably loved them too.

 But Ah, Valentine’s Day! The box stores are usually packed with Valentine paraphernalia from Thanksgiving from the previous November until the “Day After” sales. Ugh! But sometimes an item actually hits the mark that shouts “I Love You, Sweetie Peetie!” but generally, at least for me, it all seems a bit superficial.

 Oh, I make her a custom-made Valentines card with something special in it or on it. But she is one awesome Bride and I always feel I miss the mark with that. But there’s one thing I do, well, we do, not just on Valentine’s Day but throughout the year that gets us stoked! It’s singing our favorite love song.

Now, there’s a song, “Virtuous Woman”, that Buddy Greene wrote a few years after we married that I love. The lyrics describe my Bride to a T! It’s based on Proverbs 31 and reads:

 A virtuous woman came into my life
The crown of her husband, an excellent wife
She gives me more than I'll ever need
This virtuous woman, a blessing indeed

So skillfully busy with the work of her hands
Tending her household and all it demands
Clothed in her strength and her dignity
My virtuous woman, a wonder to me

And Jesus wants me to love her
The way that He loves me
Sacrificing my own desires
Attending to her needs
As He does for me

Beauty is empty and charm a deceit
But her steadfast love is a treasure to me
No words of contention, no thorn in my side
Just a virtuous woman, my beautiful bride

My virtuous woman, what a treasure to me

Now, before you start thinking I’m all mooshy gooshy and sentimental, think again. I love that song but our mantra, our all-time favorite love song is a bit less romantic yet says it all! And when we sing it in a duet it brings lots of smiles along with a few guffaws.

 I learned it in grade school where our 8^th grade class sang it for our commencement program. Then, years later, after our first two children were born, I sang it to my Bride in our new home, probably on Valentine’s Day, or our anniversary, as a surprise. She fell in love with it. Now we sing it together to each other at home, in the car, at parties and even at church (to a rather limited few).

 The lyrics vary, depending on who is posting it on-line. The author seems to be unknown. But we still sing it with zest, gusto, broad smiles, sparkling eyes, clasping hands and doing a little dance together. It’s called “The Zulu King!” and goes something like this;

 Oh the Zulu King with the big nose-ring
Fell in love with a sweet young thing
And every night by the pale moon light
Through the forest they would swing
Oh a hug and a kiss for the Zulu Miss
Underneath the bamboo tree
And wherever they met

They would sing a duet

And it sounded like this to me

Barumph (toot toot), barumph (toot toot),
barumph tee dee ah da-y

Barumph (toot toot), barumph (toot toot),
barumph tee dee ah day

  

Ohhh, We'll build a bungalow big enough for two
Big enough for two my honey,
big enough for two
Walla Walla Walla
Then, we’ll get married, how happy we'll be
Underneath the bamboo, underneath the bamboo tree,

 

If you'll be M-I-N-E mine, I'll be T-H-I-N-E thine
And I'll L-O-V-E love you all the T-I-M-E time
You are the B-E-S-T best of all the R-E-S-T rest
And I'll L-O-V-E love you all the T-I-M-E time

 

Ohhhhhh, We'll build a bungalow big enough for two
Big enough for two my honey,
big enough for two
Walla Walla Walla
Then, we’ll get married, how happy we'll be
Underneath the bamboo, underneath the bamboo tre-e!

 

So, Happy Valentine’s Day! Husbands, love your wives! Wives, love your husbands! Woohoo!

 

     Dig a Little Deeper: Eph 5:2, 28, 33; Col 3:19; 1 Peter 3:7: Pro 31:10-31

Published in the March 2023 issue of Black River Times 

BE ON YOUR TOES!

By Michael L. Alumbaugh © 2023 

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” ~ 1 Peter 5:8

I’m always amazed at just how easily we are taken in by the tempter’s snares. We see the content offered and think “Hey, that won’t hurt anyone.” or “Wow! People will think I’m ______!” or “No one will ever know if I do it just this once.” etc. But as the old adage goes, “Give him an inch, he’ll take a mile!”

We walk through life as if yielding to temptations “just this once” is “No big deal!” But it is a big deal. Those yieldings add up fast! In fact, they’ve become so much a part of us that we don’t even notice them anymore.

They’ve become “blind spots.” We don’t even see them. They’ve made us numb. That twinge of guilt no longer affects us. We’ve become deaf. We no longer hear the Holy Spirit’s still small voice yelling “RUN!” attempting to redirect us. All these have weakened us to the point that our resistance to the next snare is almost non-existent. We just keep getting pulled a little bit deeper into the mire.

Admittedly, we’re so accustomed to our sinful ways and practices that we begin justifying them instead of killing them as commanded in Col 3:5-8. We make excuses like “Oh, that’s just my personality type.” or “I came from a broken home.” or “That’s the way I’ve always been.” or “Lots of people do that.” or “Hey, God forgives, right?!“

Dr. Howard Hendricks once said, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” The Bible is God’s instrument to direct us away from sin and into fellowship with Him. Yet our old nature remains resistant to daily Bible reading, meditation, introspection, and application. The outcome: we’re blind, numb, and deaf to our sin.

 I remember hearing a story from Dr. Hendricks about his lack of observation. It resonated with me as to how I was dealing with my blind spots. He and his wife were traveling through their hometown of Dallas. Passing by a very familiar sight, he said, “. . . sweetheart, did they just add that to the top of that building?” His wife “roared!” and replied, “We’ve been driving by that for 20 years and that’s been here!” Did he see? Yes. But he hadn’t observed.

Are you on guard? How many ploys of Satan have you fallen for lately? Have you become blind, deaf and numb? Do you now justify your failures and make excuses? Those are the very things that weaken your walk with Christ and your effectiveness in reflecting Him before others. Remember, the devil a created being. He’s not omnipresent or all knowing. He learns from us! He’s just waiting for his next opportunity to pounce!

So, surrender those compromises to the Lord. Confess and repent of them. Get back into the Word. Hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Then, as it says in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” In your daily walk “Be on your toes!” God has promised to never leave or forsake us. We should do the same with Him.

     Dig a Little Deeper: Jer 17:9-10; 1 Cor 10:11-13; 2 Cor 2:11, 4:4; James 4:7; Ps 119:11