Pastor Louie's Devotional Thought of the Day

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Have you ever noticed how often grumbling occurs in Scripture? The descendants of Abraham grumbled while they were being delivered from bo***ge in Egypt. They grumbled about whether there was going to be enough food, and God provides Manna. They grumbled when there appeared to be no water, and God provided water. Then of course they grumbled about Moses and Aaron who were leading God’s people to the land He promised them. Through it all we hear a lot of grumbling – but no glorifying. These people were being delivered, their needs were being provided for, and their leaders were working to facilitate the needs of the people. Where was the gratitude for God’s provision and working in their life???

Fast forward to Jesus’ day. Christ was the embodiment of God’s love to the people. He ministered to hurt, broken, and sinful people with great grace and compassion. Through His teaching ministry people were drawing nearer and nearer to God. He worked in unconventional ways. One time He spit in the dirt, made mud, and rubbed the mud on the blind man’s eyes. Then He told him to wash them in a pool, and he was healed (John 9:1 – 12). On other occasions Jesus healed on the sabbath - boy did that ever ruffle some feathers. No one else was able to manifest the types of miracles that Jesus was performing. Throughout Jesus’ ministry hurting people found healing.

1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. ~ Mark 3:1 – 6

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hurting people were being healed, and some religious people were not happy. These religious people were looking for an opportunity to be offended, angered, and of course grumble. They were more concerned with the Sabbath, than seeing a man who was hurting experience a miracle that would change his life. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, a man’s life was changed, and the Pharisees began plotting His demise. Jesus did not do things the way people thought He should. He did things that no one could. What He was doing was good, but the good was being overlooked.

It is easy for us to see what transpires in this account and become more than a little indignant with the Pharisees. To be honest, we would be justified in doing so. However, a question we should consider is this. Am I a grumbler or a glorifier? Do I have eyes to see the ways in which people are being ministered to and provided for? Or am I more concerned with what is done and how? Jesus being God could have performed that miracle in a different way and on a different day, but He didn’t. How I pray we would have eyes to see the good and glorify Him with shouts of praise when needs are being met, hurts are healed, and lives are being changed.

A question I want you to consider in the midst of the chaos and carnage of this world. Wars, rumors of wars, banks collapsing, inflation/ recession, etc. Are you, in the midst of it all, questioning the faithfulness of God? There is much to who God is, how God works, and what God allows that leaves us scratching our head. His ways are not our ways (read that again). His timing is perfect, but it is not in accordance with our impatience.

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. - 1 Corinthians 1:9

Friends, He has a track record of faithfulness. He can and should be trusted. Reflect upon your life as a believer - where can you see the hand of God? That my friends is the faithfulness of God. He will do what He says, what He promises, and all that is in accordance with His will. Do not allow your eyes of flesh to undermine your eyes of faith. God is faithful.

Growing up, I always wanted people to like me. I was what you would call a people pleaser. Today, while I still strive to do good things for others as we all should, I've come to realize that our main audience in life isn't other people. It's God. Be motivated not by what other people think about you but by what God thinks about you!

Battles: I am not talking about the kind with tanks, grenades, and M4 Carbines. I am speaking of the type of battles we face / endure as we struggle with situations, circumstances, and attacks of the enemy. Over the course of my lifetime, you may have heard me say, “You are either in a battle, coming out of a battle, or preparing to go to battle. Each of us have had some wins and losses in the battles we have faced. At all times we must be prepared the battles rage on.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. ~ Ephesians 6:11 - 18

The question is, how will we respond. Will we be prepared by putting on the full armor of God or whether we will try to face the struggle in our own strength based upon who we are, our abilities, and gifts. It is vital for us to know that what we choose will play a significant role in whether we come through the battle a victor or a victim. Through it all it is important for us to know who the true enemy is – it is the devil and his minions (Ephesians 6:12). That slimy snake has been waging war against those made in the image of God for a couple thousand years. When you read what Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians is there any question that each of us will go through a variety of battles in this life?

These battles come at us in a variety of ways, shapes, and sizes. There are those who are battling to keep their marriage together. While others are battling with a defiant and rebellious adolescent determined to do things will harm them. Then there are those who are battling with sickness, a disease, or health condition that is overwhelming to them. Some, are waging a battle with addiction or addictive behaviors. All of us at various levels are fighting a battle with a sin or sins that we struggle with. Battles are being waged over right and wrong, over justice and injustice, and over whether pineapple should go on pizza (sorry, not sorry).

He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. ~ 2 Chronicles 20:15

Some of the battles that we face are not ours to be engaged in they belong to the Lord. The Lord fights the battle and victory is certain; however, there are those other times in which we will be personally involved in the fight. There were battles in which God worked with His people to bring about victory by His supernatural power (Jericho, Joshua 6). Then there were battles on the way to the Promised Land, for the Jewish people, in which they faced their enemy and were victorious by the strength and power that God had given them.
We live in an America where we glorify independence. We have a variety of mantra’s that encourage independence. “I’ve got this.” “I did it my way.” The self-made man or woman (sorry, I only recognize two genders). When truth be told we are interdependent. Each of us are the benefactor of people who have journeyed with us, taught, mentored, and instructed us. If you are a Christ follower, you are the benefactor of the Holy Spirit that is at work in and through you. To be truly interdependent we must humbly acknowledge that we need God and those He has placed in our lives. I tell people all the time, “I use all of the brains I have, and all of the brains that I can borrow.” I do not believe myself to be knowledgeable enough to know all that I may need to know.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, it is important for you to live with the knowledge that all times, in all circumstances, and through every battle God is present with you (Matthew 1:22 – 23). You will never face a battle alone as a believer – NEVER! Sometimes though we need God working through men and women of flesh and bone as we go through the battles of this life. There is a humility to interdependence that acknowledges we need other people and at times they need us.

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up--one on one side, one on the other--so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
~ Exodus 17:10 – 12

As a man who was raised in foster care a large portion of my adolescent years, I have been the benefactor of men and women who were not my paternal parents who took me in as one of their own. The last foster home I lived in was the Christian Children’s Home of Ohio (CCCHO). A couple named Ma Pat and Pa Tim were my parents for my junior year of high school. They were my Aaron and Hur as I was fighting the battles of abuse, neglect, healing, and addiction. They fought the fights with me, challenged me, believed in me, they loved me, and I am the person I am today because of them and others.

You are going to fight battles; they are a part of this life. Every battle has the possibility of ending in victory. If defeat occurs, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to doing what God wants to do in and through your life. Go to battle prepared knowing that Immanuel (God with us) is ever present in our world, life, and circumstances. Learn interdependence and allow others to come alongside you in the battles of this life.

Questions to consider:

• What battle are you fighting today? How are you doing in that battle?
• Are you fighting a battle that belongs to the Lord? If it is yours to fight, are you allowing God to work in and through you to give you victory?
• Will you commit to being more and more interdependent of others? Are you humble enough to allow others to come along side you in the battles you are going through?
• Will you be humble as God works through you to help another in the battle they are fighting?

Captive: The Jewish people had experienced God’s blessing at a level no other nation had ever known. They like us, were given free will, with ability to choose what they would do with God, His commands, and His expectations. There were times, with the influence of godly leadership, that they chose obedience to God and His ways. Then of course there were times when they chose to do their own thing and became slaves to their sin. Andy Stanley proposes that choices can be the most spiritual thing we as believers ever engage in. Through our choices we have the capacity to do what is right or wrong.

As I am currently reading, studying, and journaling through the book of Jeremiah the prophet warns the nations of Israel and Judah of the impending judgement of God. God will allow His people who have become slaves to sin to become captives in a foreign land by the Babylonian empire. God had protected them from their enemies, He had given them victory over their enemies, and He had set their ancestors who were captives in Egypt free. They were to be His people and He was to be their God.

To better understand how captivating sin can be as our master let us consider for a moment the addict. As one who was addicted to ci******es, I can tell you, those cancer sticks held their sway over me. They were a part of my daily schedule. I drank a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette. I had a meal then smoked a cigarette. I took a break at work, and I smoked at least one cigarette. When I got stressed and full of anxiety, I looked to my ci******es to give me a moment to work through the carnage of the moment. I know, it sounds stupid to me now too, but in that season, I was enslaved by the ni****ne and the light buzz I was given from smoking. There are times when I smell the scent of a freshly lit cigarette and feel enticed to have one. While on most occasions and the smell is repulsive to me.

The Jewish people had been freed from the bo***ge of Egypt with its false gods. At that time in their history their leaders (Abraham, Moses, and Joshua) led them to choose God as their God and to be His people. The parameters for that relationship had been set by God through the Ten Commandments and the subsequent laws given by Him. God who is just set the parameters for the ongoing relationship between Him and the Israelites. They would know His blessing, He would give them a land of their own (The Promised Land), and they would live an accordance to His commandments and Law.

In the season that Jeremiah was called to prophesy the Jewish people were living in the promised land given to their ancestors. The faith of their forefathers did not transfer well from one generation to another. Like their ancestors there were times in which they worshipped the false gods, of their pagan neighbors, as they had become displeased with God, what He was doing, and His timing. Their pagan neighbors had a false god for every season, circumstance, and situation. They had a Swiss Army Knife like religion in which you simply pulled out the god you needed when you needed them. The bo***ge of false gods and their pull on the Jewish people led them to the place where they treated the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob like the god of their pagan neighbors.

The enticement to worship these false gods was strong. They worshipped these false gods by being disobedient to the law given to them by the one true God, and by reveling in sexual sin. God was to be their one and only God according to the very first commandment given to them. Yet in the blessing of being God’s people they took Him and His blessing for granted. They began to do their own thing in accordance with what they thought, felt, and believed. They were gradually choosing to walk away from their God. Jeremiah, the prophet of God, was sent to warn his fellow Jews that their would be consequences. One of those consequences, the land they were given would be taken from them, and they would become captives to the oppressive Babylonian Empire.

Jeremiah warns…

“If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive. ~ Jeremiah 13:17

This message of impending doom and captivity would be realized by the Jewish people. They would suffer the consequences of their sin. How could such a terrible thing happen to a people who had such a firm foundation of faith and belief? I would suggest it was the subversive nature of captivity. Gradually they surrendered their heart and mind to sin and in doing so they became captive to sin and all its evils. They had become captives before they became captives in the Babylonian Empire.

They became captive to sin and its many forms. They became captive to false religion that encourages them to have a god for every occasion. They became captive to their pride and sinful thinking. They became captive to satan and his subversive ways; he had become their master and they were none the wiser of their plight. As Christians, those who have embraced Jesus as Lord (Master) and Savior it would be good for us from time to time to consider what may be holding us captive. What sin are we allowing to persist in our life that we have not repented of or confessed?

The believers at the church in Corinth were encouraged to…

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:5

What thoughts in your life do you need to take captive to make it obedient to Christ?

Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, said...

Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. ~ Jeremiah 8:21

Due to the sin of Israel and Judah, God was preparing to pour out His wrath in every facet of their lives. God's prophet, spoke the truth of what was about to happen. His heart is broken, and he is filled with terror as he considers what will happen to his people.

Today we live in a sinful world, which has rejected truth, embraced sin in all its forms, and have worshipped the false gods of money, success, individuality, politics, etc. and their various religious forms. We learn so little from history. One of the great tragedies of neglecting the Old Testament is we miss so much of the history of God's interaction with humanity. If we would learn one thing from the history of the Jewish people, may it be sin has consequences in the here and now and for all of eternity if it is not dealt with in repentance.

Like the prophet Jeremiah, I am called to preach truth in a world that does not want to hear it. I am called to call sin, sin, and call people to repentance in a world that loves their sin so much more than God. My heart too, breaks over the plight of many due to the consequences of sin here and now.

With what has transpired in Texas, we ought not be advocating politics. We should be mourning the loss of life. The suffering any will endure well after many have forgotten. For those who strive daily to be Christ followers may we be compelled to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a world that needs Him desperately. Our broken world needs the healing power that is only found in Jesus, may we turn to Him. Let us mourn, pray, and be available to comfort those who are hurting. ~ A weeping pastor.

Tumblew**d: A nickname I was given my sophomore year of high school. Having long hair, being short in stature, scurrying everywhere I went and known to be a connection for ma*****na lent to my being given such a moniker. It sure beat many of the nicknames I had been given as someone who is not very tall, at least in my adolescent thinking at the time.

As one who engaged in the communal experience of puff-puff-pass my nickname gave me a sense of identity and belonging in a group known collectively as burnouts. As a foster kid I had become detached from my roots in much the same way that sage brush as it matures, dries out, and becomes brittle and succumbs to becoming a tumblew**d. A tumblew**d has no discernable direction or destination it is entirely dependent upon the blowing wind.

To a large degree that was how I felt, as I blew from one school to another and from one foster home to another. I had no roots. With all that I had been through I was much like the dry and weary land in which I lived – I was dry and brittle emotionally and spiritually. There was a time in my early adolescents when I had put my faith in Christ, was baptized, and God showed me a vision of me preaching letting me know that was intention for my life. In the same way that the tumblew**d becomes detached from its roots, I had become detached from my faith, hope, and God. I truly was a tumblew**d. Life was never meant to be lived blowing from here to there.

5 GOD's Message: "Cursed is the strong one who depends on mere humans, Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone and sets GOD aside as dead weight. 6 He's like a tumblew**d on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows. ~ Jeremiah 7:5 & 6 (The Message)

God being the great gardener that He is has found me a tumble w**d, and miraculously replanted me when I repented of my sin and recommitted my life to Him. This may be impossible in the world of horticulture, but nothing is impossible with God. As we are engrafted to the vine (Jesus Christ) we find our life in Him, and we are sustained by Him and Him alone (John 15). The call is for us to abide in Him.

As those who strive to live our lives as Christ followers, we must know that there are many seasons in this life (Eccl. 3:1). Living in Wyoming has given me a greater sense of perspective as to just how radical the seasons can be. During the summer months it is dry, hot (95 – 103) there is little to no humidity, and the land is parched pleading for the Almighty to graciously allow for some precipitation. Fall does not last long as all that was green rapidly begins to turn brown and vegetation becomes lifeless. Winter seems to choke out all life with its frigid cold (-20 to -25). Thank God for the snow, as it covers all that is dead, dry, and appears lifeless. It is a reminder that though our sins were like scarlet, they can be made white as snow (Isa. 1:18). Although winter seems to persist forever winter eventually loses its tug-of-war with spring and gives way to the chirping of birds, the budding of flowers, and the greening of the grass.

In the same way that there is a radical shift to the seasons; there are a variety of seasons we will endure as Christ followers. Sometimes we will feel like the mighty oak tree with deep roots, tapped into a source of life-giving water, and finding all the nourishment we need—we must know this is what God desires. I must confess there have been times I have found myself stuck in the mire of this dry and weary land once again becoming like a tumblew**d. A tumblew**d that has become malnourished, dry, and becoming fragile. In these seasons we must be alert to the fruit that is being produced in our lives, the fruit stems from our abiding in Christ and allowing Him to produce the fruits of righteousness in our life.

This returning to what I once was, the tumblew**d, stems from my proclivity to try and live this life of obedience, service, and faithfulness in my own strength as though somehow, I can do it on my own. It is embarrassing when I consider how long it has taken me to realize I am totally dependent upon the working of the Holy Spirit in my life. Without Him there can be no living life as a Christ follower. Our spiritual lives will lack the water of life (Christ), that sustains the spiritual life, and we will wither and be blown away in the carnage of this life.

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~ Jeremiah 17:7 - 8

It is vital for us who are striving daily to be a Christ follower to allow the Holy Spirit to continue His work in us. There is much growing, pruning, and nurturing the Father must do in us if we are going to become the person, He sees in us. How I pray our roots will go deep, we will grow to the glory of God, and our lives might bear much fruit.

My prayer for us…

May we know the power and working of the Holy Spirit that strengthens and sustains the life we have been given in Christ. In a dry and weary land may we at all times draw deeply from the water of life and allow Him to produce a harvest through our lives. This I pray, in the powerful name of Jesus.

As the push for normalizing transgenderism for toddlers increases, I would suggest there is a pertinent question that needs to be considered.

To what end?

The su***de rate amongst transgender people is astronomical.

No matter what kind of treatment, surgery, or hormones they receive they never reach a place of being satisfied with who they are/have become.

Their sexual identity as a trans-person is confounding to them. Are they homosexual or straight? Even those in the LGB community have little to no interest in a transgender person sexually.

Once again, I ask the question, to what end???

If you are a parent contemplating changing your child's biological identity, I would ask you to consider the land of confusion, isolation, and pain they will be living in. To what end are you willing to go to help your child embrace their biological identity and help them find their identity is so much more than their gender.

Note there is no hate or malice in this post. What I am asking comes from a heart of compassion, love, and concern. The thoughts that provoked this post stem from the research I had done through my Master's thesis.

Sight: As one who wears prescription lenses, I know things are not always what they appear. My optometrist will show me a line with four of five letters on it and ask me to tell them what they are. If I get it right, he goes to the next line, the lines become smaller and smaller as I can read them. When I am no longer able to read them, the letters start to become fuzzy and undistinguishable. I wear contacts and over time my optometrist has asked me to do different things depending upon how my eyes have changed with age. One night during vacation Bible school, my right contact lens tore, and it began irritating my eye, so I removed it. The remainder of that night I worked with the kids with only my left contact in, and the kids were looking a bit fuzzy as I taught them.

How we see things is often indicative of the lens in which we see things. These lenses are often biases based upon our beliefs, perspective, and a lifetime of experiences. If you are one who pays attention in any way to the news you are aware that what is being presented is often presented with a political, social, or financial bias. It is infuriating when we know that news should be simply the reporting of events, activities, etc. The intent and purpose of news was never to manipulate the audience to think, feel, or believe one way or another.

How many of you believe in love at first sight? I am not sure I believe in such a thing anymore; however, there was a time in second grade I had fallen in love with the cutest girl in my class. She was Greek, and I was Greek. She was smart, and I was Greek. At recess she always seemed to find a way to be around me, or at least that is what 7-year-old Louie thought. If you would have asked me, I would have told you that I was going to marry that girl. Louie and Leah forever, at least that is what love at first sight had be believing. At the end of second grade, she moved away – to Greece. When I was in 7th grade, she moved back, she was pretty, pretty sure she did not want to have anything to do with me. Love at first sight can be dangerous in that way.

One of my best friends is a man by the name of Doug. When I speak about Doug, I usually refer to him as Moses. He could be mistaken for a member of ZZ-Top or a Hells Angel. To those who do not know Doug, he might be more than a little intimidating. He is tall, looks a little rough, typically wears sleeveless t-shirts in the summer, and has relatively large biceps. If you saw him walking down a dark alley you might go to the other side of the street to avoid any interaction with him. If you did, you would miss out on hearing about Jesus, the love of God and meeting a teddy bear of a man who has a genuine love for people. First impressions of people are not always what they are cracked up to be.

Each of us seem to have differing degrees of hindsight, oversight, foresight, and insight. Those who can learn from past experiences and apply that learning to everyday life are said to have hindsight. Anyone who has ever served in a leadership role in any capacity is called upon to give oversight to a group, organization, or department. Foresight is the ability to see how things are progressing and knowing what may need to be done to be prepared. Insight is the capacity to gain a deeper level of understanding of people, circumstances, and systems to enhance one’s ability to serve.

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi’s son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." ~ Mark 2:13 – 17

Throughout Scripture we hear the prophets proclaim, “They have eyes to see, but do not see.” God was at work, He had foretold the people what to anticipate and expect, but when the time came, they missed what God was doing. They had a vision problem of biblical proportions. Only as they repented and returned to God would they ever be able to see what God was doing and what it would mean for their lives. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were amongst those who were spiritually blind. They were scholars of the word of God, but they were unable to see Jesus for who He is. Their biases, preconceived ideas, and notions of the Messiah became blinders that hindered their ability to see the truths in the Old Testament unfolding before their very eyes.

Their perspectives and prejudices led them to see Jesus as a friend of sinners. As though somehow His association with “sinners” would contaminate Him, His life, and His ministry. These were the very people (sinners) that Jesus entered our world to save. The Pharisees were sinners, none of them were sinless, but they did not see their sin on the same level as the tax collectors and sinners of the world. Over time they had dismissed, belittled, and ignored their personal sin as they paid greater attention to the sin in other people’s lives. Jesus is a friend of sinners, because there is no other kind of person in this world.

In this story, here in Mark, the Pharisees could have seen the grace, forgiveness, and love of Christ being extended toward sinners and rejoiced in the good thing that God was doing. However, that is not what they saw. All they could see in that moment was a righteous man, a man who was gathering quite the following, ministering to sinners the Pharisees would have avoided. They had become spiritually blind to what God was doing, what He wanted to do, and to who their promised Messiah would be. They saw what they believed to be the worst in Jesus because that is what they wanted to see.

Do you need to have your sight tested? How would you know? The best way to answer that question is to consider how Jesus saw people, how He ministered to them, and how He loved them. If our sight is not consistent with what we see in the life and ministry of Jesus, we need to ask God to give us a new set of lenses to see others as Christ sees them so we can minister in this world in His stead. We must be sensitivity to the reality that we may have eyes, but we are not seeing things from God’s perspective. We used to sing a song when I was a child with the simple lyrics that said, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above, is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see.”