My Papa (the bread man, not the auto-shop teacher — that was Pappeye; us Southerners are weird with our grandparent names, ain’t we?) used to have three favorite tools:

If it was stuck and didn’t need to be — WD-40.

If it wasn’t stuck and needed to be — duct tape.

If it was bleeding and still attached — Noxzema. (Don’t ask!)

Why am I bringin’ this up?

This morning while strappin’ on my “work glasses,” the Spirit hit me with it.

You see, I’ve got two pairs of reading glasses. One came from a real doctor with a prescription and everything. The other came from a store that has a denomination in front of it (I’ll let you guess why).

They’re both tools. When I’m working I need a lot more focus and energy to read… well… everything. And let’s face it, I’m past the stage in life where breakin’ things around my neck is a good idea. Outside the office, though? Less reading, more chance of something gettin’ broken. So the “lil’bit” glasses come out.

Same thing goes for digital tools. When serious stuff needs to happen, I’ll strap a keyboard and mouse onto the laptop. Sometimes I just take the laptop. And sometimes (very occasionally — see reading glasses above) I just do it on the phone.

Where I’m going with this is there’s rarely just one right tool. The older I get, the more I’ve learned that the right tool depends on the situation… and on how much we know.

Never is that more true than in our spiritual lives…

While we were in the Holy Land we learned how, ironically, a kid breakin’ things led to a treasure trove of “new” documents that folks are still pouring over to this day. Those finds are still helping us grow in our understanding of what happened thousands of years ago.

The Bible readings today are a great example of the same story told from two perspectives — both right. One is the more straightforward “just the facts” version; the other comes with a lot more detail. Which one is right for you? Well, the one the Spirit leads you to at that point in your life.

The Bible is awesome that way.

Just a thought from a guy who’s lucky enough to have had two grandfathers that taught him loads… even though he’ll never go for the Noxzema.

Do they even make that stuff anymore???!!!???

Bible Verses

2 Kings 18 / 2 Chronicles 29 (30-31 too if you can!)

Questions

Do you have any favorite grandfather or grandmother quirks you’d like to share? / How about tools you keep multiples of for different reasons? / Any other examples in the Bible like the readings we shared above?