the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Daily Devotionals
Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
Johnson Bible College has been affectionately called The Hill for a number of years. Seeing the sparawling forty acre campus now as compared to old photographs from the early 1900's reveals why. J. B. C. was built on a hill originally. Ashley S. Johnson, the founder, set it there to be easily seen. From the White House, the President's home since it was built in the early 1900's, to the old administration building which bears the evidence of the "School of the Evangelists", Johnson's dream was realized.
The Hill has, over the years, rendered the results that many hills do. Behind the current Phillips/Welshimer Building is a pond. The pond is at the bottom of the hill. With a pond at the bottom of the hill can you even begin to imagine what might have happened at any time? I am told that early in the years of the college, when automobiles were not quite as refined as they are now, it was not unusual to have a car roll down the hill and into the pond only to have to be dragged out by a rope and students pulling together.
But, notwithstanding automotive development, I seem to remember a car or two rolling down the hill while I was there. One student's car hit the drink while another's truck cashed in on a tree. Hills can be dangerous if care is not taken.
I challenge you to take a fresh new look at a hill. I challenge you to look again at the hill called Mount Calvary. Look again at its inhabitants one spring day almost two thousand years ago. Look again at the man on the center cross. He is the only one who is there because that is that for which he came. Look again at Jesus as He died there for you and me.
"And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.' " Luke 23:33, 34 There was no accident resulting from that hill that day. The first words Jesus spoke from the cross rolled down that hill to the hearts of believers seeking a Savior. Have you heard them?
'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' Copyright 2010 © Tom Kelley. 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with their complete bio and a link to https://www.studylight.org/ 2) 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.
