The Answers Are Simple, If You Know Them.


                               By Phil Scovell






          As I entered high school, my first  science class was taught by a
     man by the name  of Mr. Rubinking.  The first  thing I quickly learned
     about  this  man, was  that he  enjoyed  teaching and  he  enjoyed his
     students as much as  he enjoyed teaching.  The second  thing I learned
     in Mr. Rubinking's science class was the way he gave exams.

          "Every three  weeks," he said,  during the first week  of school,
     "we  are going  to have  a test.   This  test  will be  made up  of 10
     questions and  the exact answers  to these  10 questions will  be from
     your text book reading assignments for that period  of time.  A day or
     two before the exam, I will tell you what each question is going to be
     on  the exam.   Furthermore, I will  even tell you  the exact answers.
     Just to be on the safe side, I will also tell you the exact page where
     the answers are found.   I want the answers I give  you from the book.
     If they are not exactly as reported  in the book, and if they are  not
     exactly as I  have explained them to  you, you will get  that question
     marked  wrong.  I will also ask  if you have any questions about these
     answers that we will always go over a  day or two before the test.  If
     you do exactly as I have instructed  concerning my exams, you will get
     a perfect grade for this science course."

          Only being  about 14  at the  time, I  figured this  guy must  be
     telling the truth.  So, when the day  came to review the 10 questions,
     I wrote down, word  for word, the answer he gave for each.  I included
     the page numbers and that night, looked them up and read them from the
     book.  Guess what?  I  got 100 percent on every single test  and a big
     fat A for my grade at the end of the school term.

          During  the early days of 1982, I began asking God some questions
     for which  I wanted, truly  needed, answers.  I  discovered something,
     back  then, I am  often reminded  of now.   His answers are  always so
     simple, a child  could understand.  "What about  theology?" what about
     it?  You think explaining theology is  a problem for Jesus?  Oh, sure.
     You can make  it as complicated  as you wish.   You can  add a lot  of
     religious practices, rules and regulations, personal principles, daily
     exercises, governing policies,  and denominational laws, if  you wish.
     You can  even assign a day of  the week to go to  a building made with
     hands, sing  only certain songs,  read from only certain  Bibles, burn
     scented, or unscented, candles or incense, kneel before specific types
     of  statues, where robes, suits, tithe, pretty shoes, and even carry a
     large print  Bible to  church.   For that  matter,  you can  sacrifice
     animals, cut your skin, and bow down to idles made of wood,  clay, and
     stone, if that's what you want.   The problem is, however, these types
     of things have  a tendency to distract us from His eternal presence in
     our life instead of bringing us closer.  Why don't we just do what the
     Teacher says and let Him grade our sincerity?
     

     Safe Place Fellowship
     Phil Scovell
     Denver, Colorado
     Mountain Time Zone
     WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.COM

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