John M. Braaten

Elizabeth Achtemeier said that one of the greatest errors of young preachers is their desire to tell people that it is very easy to know the will of God. It is so easy, she said, to preach in black and white, to declare either this or that, with no shades of gray in between.

Amos 8:1-12
I’m a baseball fan and this is the middle of baseball season, so I thought this might be an appropriate and helpful story. An umpire named Babe Pinelli once called the legendary Babe Ruth out on strikes. When the crowd booed with disapproval at the call, Ruth turned to the umpire and angrily said, “There’s 40,000 people here who know that the last pitch was a ball, tomato head.”

Contents
“Here Comes da Judge” by C. David McKirachan
“A Little on Edge” by Frank Ramirez


Here Comes da Judge
by C. David McKirachan
Amos 8:1-12

“...there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part....”(v. 42a)

Good morning boys and girls,

Well, how are you this morning? (children respond) If you ask me how I am I would say, “terrific.” I am “terrific” because __________________!

I am curious, who has a sister? (children respond) Who has more than one sister? (children respond) Who is a sister here this morning? (children respond)

On our first visit to Malta many years ago, we stayed in the rural south of the island. At that time there were few hotels and those were situated farther north, in St Paul's Bay and Sliema. The south was agricultural country, where a friend of ours happened to have part share in a "villa". The "villa" turned out to be a small farm house.

Farming at the time was very primitive, with the farmer walking over his field behind a hand-held plough. All has now changed, of course, but then it was just like a throw-back to Biblical times in the Middle East.

The cabins at Mt. Carmel Bible Retreat are small. Most have two small rooms; some have one large great room. There is a tiny bathroom with a utility shower.

Inside each cabin is a double bed and a set of bunk beds, a dresser and a small rod to hang clothes. Linens are provided for a charge and some of us are very grateful to have a ceiling fan.

Our group of fourteen cabins is set along a little walkway. Each cabin is about ten feet apart and each row of seven faces the sidewalk.