It Will Never Be Enough

You know that voice in your head?

The voice that says you are not good enough.
The voice that makes you feel guilty for not praying enough.
The voice that makes you feel bad for not reading the Bible enough.
The voice that tells you that no matter what you do, it will never be enough.
The Voice is right.

No matter what you do, it will never be enough.
No matter how much you read your Bible, it will never be enough.
No matter how much you pray, it will never be enough.
No matter how good you are, you will never be good enough.
The Voice is right.

You need to do more good works if you want to be sure that you’re saved.
You need to pray more if you want to be sure that you’re saved.
You need to read your Bible more if you want to be sure that you’re saved.
You need to try harder if you want to be sure that you’re saved.
The Voice is wrong.

The Voice is telling you the truth and telling you lies at the same time.
The Voice doesn’t care if you do more, pray more, read your Bible more, or try harder.
The Voice just wants to take your focus off what saves you.

Your good works don’t save you.
Your prayers don’t save you.
Your Bible studies don’t save you.
Your best efforts don’t save you.

God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, is the only thing that saves you.

When Jesus defeated sin and death, He defeated the Voice.
Don’t believe the lies the Voice tells you.

Keep trying, but remember that no amount of effort is enough to save you.
Keep reading, but remember that no amount of reading is enough to save you.
Keep praying, but remember that no amount of prayer is enough to save you.
Keep doing good, but remember that no amount of good works is enough to save you.

Whatever you do, never lose faith…

Faith Will Always Be Enough.

K-12 Meat Co.

Photo of a building labeled K-12 Meat Co.

This place always creeps me out a bit when I drive past it. What exactly is a K-12 meat company? Is it the place where they send the really bad kids that the school systems can’t handle? I’m not sure I want to know the truth behind this place after all.

Food And Pizza In One Place

Photo of Estes Park Brewery advertising that it serves both food and pizza

Good to know that the Estes Park Brewery offers both food AND pizza. What exactly is the pizza made of, if the people serving it don’t consider it food? Is it a cardboard cutout? Or did they just have one too many samples before putting up their signage?

Meet Me In The Feference Section

Photo of books in a thrift store where the sign for the section says "Feference" instead of "Reference"

If you ever go to the thrift store by the interstate in Conway, MO to look for a reference book, be advised – this is as close as you’ll find. But really, what good seller of used books doesn’t have a “Feference” section? Perhaps they should have consulted the Fictionary for the proper spelling.

30 Is The New…60?

I’ve heard people say “30 is the new 20”, but apparently AARP and Beltone never got the memo. I’m not too sure how true that saying is, but apparently to these two companies, 30 is the new 55 or 60.

I could take it personally, but I prefer to view it as being recruited. I may not have ever been recruited by colleges looking for the top athletes, but by golly AARP and Beltone must think I am something special if they are starting their recruiting pitch 25 years before my eligibility begins.

Slippery Soapy Slope

Have you ever noticed how ridiculous the names of some products are? I was in the soap aisle the other day and was amazed at the odd names of some of the soaps. I don’t know why I never noticed it before, but I’m beginning to think you can call your product anything you want as long as it has semi-attractive packaging and proper marketing.

Some of the names aren’t too bad – Ivory, for example, brings to mind an image of purity and spotlessness. Even Irish Spring is understandable – a spring seems like a nice, refreshing place to get clean…although I’m not sure why a spring located in Ireland is any more refreshing than a spring located anywhere else. Still, I appreciate the fact that if I ever venture across the pond to the land of leprechauns, I can anticipate what it will smell like and prepare accordingly.

On the other hand, some of the other soap names are just odd. For example:

Caress
This just seems completely inappropriate and a bit creepy. When you stop and think about it, it’s a bit surprising that this soap has never had charges filed against it for sexual harassment or something similar.

Dove
Is this a soap made specifically for ornithologists? Maybe it has a specially formulated scent that will not drive away birds, so that they can be more easily observed and studied. I assume it’s kind of like hunters pouring deer pee on themselves, but with prettier packaging and marketed almost exclusively to women.

Lava
I realize that this soap is meant for tougher jobs, but lava? Really? Has anyone ever had hands so dirty that the best solution is to lather  them up with the molten liquid from a volcanic explosion? I think I’d rather just have slightly dirty hands that have been Caressed.

Lever 2000
Umm…what? How did a person even come up with this name for a bar of soap? Were they attempting to use this particular bar of soap as a lever to catapult themselves into the 21st century? I’m not sure what else the 2000 could possibly mean outside of trying to sound futuristic, but if that’s the case, this bar of soap needs a updated name. Lever 2100? Or maybe Lever 3000 to sound even more futuristic?

The longer I looked, the stranger the names seemed. What other oddly named bodily cleansers have you seen?

Things I Think…I Think

I think Starbucks that are located inside a grocery store should be called “Storebucks.”
Get it? Because “Storebucks” sounds like “Starbucks” and it’s located in a grocery store. And “Grocery Bucks” is just confusing and awkward.

I think it’s funny that PBS is just “pubes” without the vowels.
I’m sure that one day this kind of stuff will stop being funny to me…but that day has yet to arrive. I guess it could also be “pabes” or “pobes” but neither of those make me chuckle.

I think sheep that live in places where it rains a lot should be extra strong.

Being a wet sheep is a workout – all the rain soaks into the wool makes the wool heavier, which forces the sheep to get stronger as they carry the rain soaked wool on their backs all day. Not to mention all the mud that they inevitably have to walk through. I imagine sheep in wet climates probably look like they are on steroids compared to regular wimpy sheep.

I think the term “Certified Pre-Owned Cars” is funny.

Why “certified” instead of just “pre-owned”? Are car dealers constantly having to prove to people that the cars they are selling have previously been owned? Are they being accused of selling people new cars at pre-owned prices? Is it happening often enough that they feel the need to have pre-owned cars certified so people won’t think they are getting too good a deal?

What do you think?


Capped Or Retractable?

Capped Or Retractable?

Why would you choose to carry around a capped pen rather than a retractable pen? The only possible reason I can think of is so you never have to worry about the pen accidentally being clicked and stabbing you in the leg…or somewhere worse. I’d say the odds of losing the pen cap are just as good as the accidental leg stab. At least if a retractable pen gets clicked, it can always be clicked back; the only way to lose the retractability is to take the pen apart and remove the spring. If you lose a pen cap the pen is going to dry out and become unusable, but only after covering everything near it in ink. I guess they both have their advantages, so it’s up to you to weigh those advantages and the disadvantages and make the choice that best suits your needs and danger tolerance.