From Dear Diary To Facebook And Dr. Phil - POTPOURRI

When I was a young girl a diary was private and personal. No one was allowed to read it. There are no boundaries, no subject is off limit.  Today people air their own and others' dirty laundry for millions to see. What does this mean? Have we become a nation of voyeurs?  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

My Thoughts On The Zika Virus (not suitable for children) - POTPOURRI

The CDC has issued warnings to women who are pregnant and to women who plan to conceive not to travel to certain countries where this virus is running rampant. One thing this horrible virus proves and is made crystal clear, there is a living child developing within the womb.  '...so that they are without excuse."  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Who Moved My Tree – POTPOURRI

Today we had a hackberry tree removed that was crowding the pecan tree. Mockingbirds had begun building their home in the hackberry. After it was cut down, I watched them become totally confused. Such is our lives too when our ‘tree’ is moved. Adjust or self-destruct? CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The Other Man: Accident or Sovereignty? - POTPOURRI

What do you believe? Was there any chance that Orpah would have followed Naomi and not Ruth? Was it possible that Ruth would have gleaned in another’s field and not Boaz’s?  Might the other man have agreed to marry Ruth and not Boaz?  Accident or Sovereignty?  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Follow The Green Line Through Scripture - POTPOURRI

How many siblings in Scripture can you think of that had a bad case of The Green-Eye Monster Disease? What about in your family? Sibling rivalry anyone? CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

So Which Is It: Rich Man or Poor Man? – POTPOURRI

Some say a Christian should be poor. Others say that God wants us to be rich. So which is it? What is the common bond between these two?  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

What On Earth Happened To Miriam? -POTPOURRI

She lived during one of the major transition periods of history. She was a gifted poet and musician.  She was in a leadership position. So, what happened to Miriam? That ol' Green-Eyed Monster got the best of her! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Affliction … Who Needs It! - VIGNETTE

Afflictions come in many forms and different intensities. We all have had afflictions, are having afflictions, or will have afflictions. So, affliction …who needs it?  Turns out we all do!  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

USDA Approved – POTPOURRI

The USDA has much authority. Many Christians are unaware that our freedoms are being removed. Here is an ‘either/or’ principle.  EITHER we are stamped ‘USDA Approved’ OR our approval comes from God. If we choose the latter, expect persecution. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Discontented …Everywhere I Go, There I am! - POTPOURRI

Many people are discontented within themselves Wanting to serve the Lord in some other way, they feel dissatisfied and disgruntled… CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Our Home Is Dust Free … Oh, Wait! - POTPOURRI

As most of us grow older, our physical sight becomes less efficient and we need eye-glasses to help us see more clearly. My prayer for you and for myself is that as we age may we see more while seeing less … CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Dead-Heading - POTPOURRI

To dead-head is to remove old and faded blooms from a flowering plant to encourage new blooming and to improve the appearance of the plant.  We need to spiritually 'dead-head' our old, faded blossoms  For instance: "The way life used to be" or all the "could have beens" , "if only", etc ... or "I can never serve God because of my past" ... Dead-head now! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Observe The Flowers – POTPOURRI

Jesus taught deep spiritual truths by using common everyday experiences to help people understand.  If you Think Biblically, you too, as my daughter and I did, will learn a lesson from the flowers. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Perspective – POTPOURRI

We all have a different perspective (our mental view of facts, idea, etc).  If we are talking about benign issues we’re really discussing our preferences. But on moral issues it becomes a different  story! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

All You Need Is Love … Really? - POTPOURRI

There are three words being used these days particularly in the Religious Arena:  “Unity”, “Tolerance”, and “Love”.  But something huge is missing. What might it be? CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Failure Is Not Always Final - POTPOURRI

What do you think?  Can, indeed, would the Lord use a Deserter? What about a Denier?  Before we cast stones, maybe we ought to move out of our glass houses!  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Does God Ever Get Mixed-Up? – POTPOURRI

After a frustrating disappointment, my husband and jokingly said, “Lace, I think God got mixed-up.  This disappointment was for MEL and LUCY CROUCH, not Mal and Lacy Couch! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

It Is Not Because You Are So Perfect …. – POTPOURRI

I heard a woman quote Ps. 139:17 from The Living Bible Translation. It reads, “How precious it is Lord, to realize that You are thinking about me constantly.”  Do you see anything wrong with this translation? CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

‘Isn’t It A Pity That Youth Is Wasted On The Young’ – POTPOURRI

Have you ever said, “Oh, if I had known when I was young what I know now I would have lived my life differently?”  It is not too late to change the things you can if you are still breathing! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Proverbs 16:3, Is This Verse A Blank Check? - POTPOURRI

Reading this Proverb might cause one to think that The Lord is going to make MY plans succeed and all MY goals reached. This sounds too good to be true ... Is it?  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Accident or Sovereignty?

The car seemed to be hitting every bump in the road, as my wife Lacy jammed the accelerator to the floor. With every swerve in the highway her prayers got louder, “Oh, Lord please don’t let him die!” I stared at the roof of the car and prayed too. “Jesus, I’m your servant and if you wish to take me home now, I totally trust You!”

As I prayed, the blood was pumping from my chest, mixing with the mud that covered my shirt. I was pressing down hard on the one inch hole, trying to stop the rush of red wetness.

Would we make it to the hospital before I passed out from the bleeding? I wasn’t sure.

It all started Saturday morning, August the third. I had a lot of work to do in the yard of our country home near Clifton, Texas. By noon the air was sweltering with heat and the vegetation in the garden was as dry as Post Toasties. Trying to clean up some old brush, I had started burning a pile of dead tree limbs. Because of the arid conditions, I had inadvertently started a small grass fire which required some urgent attention with the water hose.

Nearly blind with sweat in my eyes, and tugging a forty yard section of hose, I started over a small fence when suddenly I lost my balance. An iron stake had been driven in the ground to hold up plants. Now plunging headlong, and face first, I could see that three foot long rusty rod coming up at me! Piercing the air, I could hear my own screams as the one inch round steel tip drove deep into my chest. Bent over and kneeling in the mud, impaled and in excruciating pain, I had to do something fast.

Since I couldn’t budge the rod from the ground, I clutched it as tightly as I could and tugged with what strength I had left. Again more horrible pain followed but the spike of iron was now free from my chest. With blood pouring out I ran to the car, calling for Lacy to start for the hospital. Though it was only about ten minutes away, I reasoned I could be unconscious within minutes if vital veins or arteries were cut.

Not waiting for the attendants to wheel out a stretcher, I walked into the emergency operating room and fell on the table. I had made it! After taking several x-rays, the doctor concluded I was “lucky” that nothing was damaged. A few inches up or down, left or right, the lungs could have been pierced or the heart punctured. By the way, he added, the bar had gone at least five inches deep!

Sometimes in moments like this, our theology goes right out the window. Things are happening too fast, and with the way we feel about such an event, we can even argue it is simply an “accident,” a “happen-stance,” just a “fateful” moment. But gazing up at the operating room lights, I had to reach up with heart and soul and claim what I have taught others for the past thirty years.

And that is, my God is not passive. He is not helpless nor caught off guard. He is not impotent nor are His plans for me, my life and my death, thwarted. If I can teach the providence of God, I must live the same.

Stretched out on my back on that cold surgical table, I forced myself to rehearse all the verses I could remember about the sovereignty of my Lord and Master. I had no guarantees from my God for surviving through that Saturday. He could have designed it whereby that was the day and hour I would be going home! Could I put my death in His hand and trust Him or must He spare me simply because I wanted to live?

Then I remembered the words of James, “you should say, ‘if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” If the Lord wills! And again I quoted to myself Job, “my days are determined, God has set the limits of my months so that I cannot go beyond.”

And as I felt the puncture of the needles and the tug of the stitches closing the wound in my chest, I applied the words of David to me in a most personal way: “My days were ordained before even one of them had come along.” Finally, I claimed for myself from the apostle Paul my favorite verse. Though it is about king David, for that hour Saturday morning, it was mine: “After I have served the purpose of God in my generation, I will [someday] fall asleep, and will be laid among my fathers.”

Why did God allow such an experience? I will never know for sure this side of heaven, but I can give some possible reasons. 1. To help me again realize, and teach to others, how precious life really is. But more. 2. That I am really His servant and He may do with me as He pleases. 3. As well, to remind me of my own mortality.

Sometimes we feel we are going to live in this body here on earth forever. We will not! “Our citizenship indeed is in heaven, from which also, we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform this body of humiliation into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21)

--
Dr. Mal Couch
August 1996

What An Odd Thing To Say! –POTPOURRI

Upon reflection ‘the odd’ thing said is only ‘odd’ from a mere human’s understanding. How grateful I am for the Lord’s patience. I am thankful, as well, that He sees us differently than we see ourselves, especially during times of shaky trust. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Father's Gone AWOL - VIGNETTE

"Then The LORD God called to the man ... "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9)  The same question can be asked today. The walking wounded ... if you listen you can hear the echo of lonely hearts.  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

‘Go To The Ant’ … Or Beetle – POTPOURRI

I observed a beetle struggling to walk. He was barely creeping. Then I saw the problem. He had gotten himself into a cobweb and one web had attached itself to him, along with all the dead bugs that stuck to the web! I drew a spiritual application. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

I Have A Gift That MUST be Unwrapped Today - POTPOURRI

I awake to find a gift given me. My name is on the name card. This gift cannot be kept for tomorrow – it MUST be unwrapped today. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

There's No Shame Working In A "Low-Status" Job - POTPOURRI

Some of God's most effective servants worked in 'low-status' jobs. Take Amos, for instance.  He was a herdsman and a Nipper or pincher of wild figs. Talk about mundane assembly line work! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

The Days of Thorns And Roses - POTPOURRI

Most of us want roses in life without thorns. But this is not the kingdom. Our lives MUST have thorns. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Is Serving The Lord In Sincerity Enough? -- POTPOURRI

What is your answer to this question? Should the Lord be content with one’s sincere service? Something is missing? What is it? CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Think You Might Be In Cold-Storage? - POTPOURRI

Fruit trees must accumulate chilling hours which refers to the number of hours of cold temperatures needed to 'satisfy winter rest requirements and produce a good crop".  Jesus told His disciples, "Come away ... and rest up for a while." Time to chill out!  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN