by A. A. Neale

I'm a tinkerin' old fool. I may not know much about it, but I'll raise the hood, take apart the radio, and, even at my advanced age, peek inside the computer's innards. Maybe it's just plain curiosity, or maybe a secret desire lurks in the old ticker to fix the world, but give me a screwdriver and pliers and stand back, because I'm at it.

I can't tell if I've saved more money by tinkerin', but I've enjoyed it. Except when I have to call the repairman, and he gives me one of those "I-wish-you-hadn't-messed-with-this" kind of looks.

Not only do I tinker with my own appliances and purchases, but at the slightest hint I'll tear into my neighbor's little item as well. (I have two that will still talk to me.) I get itchy fingers when something isn't working just right.

Other people are tinkerers, too. Among them were the Corinthians. Except they started tinkerin' with something that wasn't theirs AND that never needed messing with to start with.

The good old apostle Paul slapped them on the hand. "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7, NKJV). He had just told them that they shouldn't tinker with the Sacred Text, not to "go beyond the things which are written" (v. 6). Why was that? One reason was because the gospel wasn't theirs, it didn't belong to them. They weren't any different from any other congregation and couldn't boast that what they had was original with them.

You just don't tinker with what isn't yours, especially when it doesn't need fixing. Now I'm still learning that lesson about appliances, but I hope I figured out that when it comes to the Perfect Plan the Lord sent down from heaven, we'd best leave it as is and do things just like he said to do them.

The Corinthians, to get back to our verse, had begun to glory in men and their high-falutin wisdom. And that led, as it always does, to some bad teaching as well. So they got immorality in the church, and abuses in the Lord's Supper, and legal cases in the courts, among other problems.

Before we shake our heads at them, we might take note that the modern church has done pretty much the same. We've got some big-name britches writing and speaking around the country and off in other countries. They look good, and sound good, and make us feel real good. Never mind they're not quite dead center with the gospel. Besides, we tell ourselves, who's got it 100% right anyway?

So Mr. Paul's words come back to slap our tinkerin' fingers. Who's gospel is this, anyway? Mine? Yours? Theirs? Then why have we taken spiritual screwdrivers to God's purchase to play at will with a perfect System? In some quarters, it's the Corinthian church all over again.

Now there are some folk who just refuse to walk around oogling at Personality Junction. They know that what they've got isn't theirs to tinker with. They have figured out that, no matter who we are, even if we're the great apostle Paul, we're no more than "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (verse 1), and that's how everybody ought to consider us. Another minor detail: the big requirement for a steward is to "be found faithful" (verse 2), not to be an original thinker, or a confounded tinkerer.

Some of those old fools are still around. And I'm thankful for that.

by A. A. Neale

A good friend of mine used to say that politics and government were a "necessary evil." The politicians were crooks, and government existed just to milk you of your hard-earned money, but at least, he would say, they're a little bit better than anarchy.

I beg to differ. According to the good Bible, government is ordained of God, and kings and governors are "sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well" (1 Peter 2:14). Politician is just another word for public servant, government people who make the machinery of bureaucracy work. And for all its bad name, bureaucracy, like government and politicians, is a necessary ... good.

Why, then, do we call necessary evils those things that God has given us for our good? Unless it's a lack of gratitude on our part and the upcropping of that old tendency to complain about God's merciful provisions for his people. Just as when Israel belly-ached about that bread of angels with a wonderful taste given to feed them in their trek across the desert.

There is no such thing as a necessary evil. If it's evil, it was never necessary. If it's necessary, it is not an evil thing.

Make up your mind which it is. I'll just thank the good Lord above for his mercy and wisdom when he gave us politicians and government. Even when the other party's in office.

by A. A. Neale

You're thinking that I must have gone mad. My good wife tells me the same thing at least once a week, but I'm in my right ole noggin. I don't claim to remember everything, but two and two still make four.

I am thankful for war. Yes, thankful for war, and I can be so for at least a couple of reasons. Try them on for size.

Right off the bat, I am thankful that war, at the present moment, represents government fulfilling its God-given responsibilities. The so-called secular ruler is "the minister of God to thee for good," says Paul in Romans 13:4. As such, "he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

No government is perfect, I'll grant that, just as no marriage is perfect. (How goes yours at the moment?) But marriage and government, not to mention the church, are both created and blessed by God for our good and peace on this earth. And in the present crisis, as terrorists and other similar hoods, misguided by false religion, threaten the peace of citizens in many countries around the world, our government (and maybe yours too, if you're not from the U.S.) has taken steps to combat this plague. So I am thankful for that.

Please don't carp about how bad a job it's doing, or how it ought to do things differently. You might even be right, I don't know, but neither of us is in the hot seat, in the place where decisions must be made and carried out. So I'll just refrain from pointing fingers, thank you, and give thanks to a good God who has people in charge of the nation concerned about these matters. I'm thankful for war, because it means robbers of our peace will not have free rein to wreak their havoc.

I'm also thankful for war, because it reminds me of the perfect peace and safety awaiting us beyond this world of strife and suffering. Obviously, war is no good thing, and only a crazy mind would argue that point. (See, told you I hadn't lost it.) The atrocities of war are unspeakable, and combatants often come back from the front tightlipped about what they went through. So as I wind down the long years of a blessed life on this earth, the description of that heavenly city becomes ever so dear.

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

My friends, I am ready, ever so ready, for the former things to pass away. And I am thankful for war, for it serves as yet another reminder of the depravity of this world and its hopeless condition that can never be remedied by science or technology or peace treaties.

I suppose those are two rather different sides of the coin, but they both can make me thankful for war and grateful to Almighty God who put us here on this earth to prepare ourselves for a glorious and oh-so-peaceful reign of joy and plenty at the Master's side.

Yes, I am thankful for war.

by A. A. Neale

Two brothers. Winner Lane is 44. Loser Lane is 41. Their father was a baseball fan, says a sister, so he named the son Winner. Then came another son. To complete the pair, he became Loser.

But Loser is no loser. He's a successful police detective in New York's South Bronx. And Winner hasn't lived up to his name. He's committed a string of petty crimes.

In this case, Loser is the winner, and Winner, the loser.

Something like the first being last and the last coming in first, isn't it?

How many people have been given all the advantages, only to throw it all away? And how many others who never got the good breaks went on to great success?

How many Christians were raised in godly homes sold out their birthright for a pot of soup? And how many pagans discovered the unique treasure of the gospel and sold everything they had to acquire it?

How many hard workers discovered that personal efforts don't wash with God? And how many shifters stumbled onto grace and spent themselves in holy obedience?

How many got tagged as the winner and threw it all away? And how many were branded as losers only to come out on top?

The difference? Attitude. Decision. Focus.

For good or bad, these internal switches ignore advantages and disadvantages to direct the individual toward his established goal.

So it doesn't matter whether you're name is Winner or Loser. Matters more what you've decided to become.

by A. A. Neale

Today Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the world in a balloon. The millionaire adventurer drifted across the Southern Hemisphere to avoid problems with unfriendly countries. With good weather and an uneventful ride, he completed his trip in 13 and 1/2 days.

"The best flight is not the most exciting flight. This flight has been boring," mission controller Joe Ritchie told the Associated Press.

But the first five weren't boring. Fossett made five earlier attempts in six years trying to be the first soloist. He kept on until he made it.

My life may be boring, and it may have its exciting moments, but the the challenge is getting there. I'll even be the first to have lived MY life. Surrounded by friends, well-wishers, and fellow travellers, I am still, in many senses, a soloist. No one can go it for me.

I may crash and burn on some of my attempts. But I will start over again. I know what I want to accomplish. I know how to get there. I know where "There" is.

I want my picture in The Heavenly Press with the joyous news that this insistent adventurer has finally completed his charted course across the face of the world to reach his destination. Not an end, but a beginning. Not merely a conclusion of many years' hard work, but the flowering of a new life.

Congratulations, Steve Fossett. I'm right behind you.

". . . obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls" (1 Pet. 1:9, NASB).