Did you ever take a magnifying glass and try to start a pile of dry leaves on fire? I did many times. I was a Boy Scout, but rubbing sticks didn’t appeal to me very much! (g) If the sun shone, we could start a fire with even a very small magnifying glass.

     Now, notice this smooth segue! The function of the magnifying glass was to concentrate and focus the sun’s rays on a pinpoint spot and create heat, one of three elements needed for fire to happen.

      I have the largest battery available in my truck, Tonka 02. I run lots of extra electronic gear and don’t like dead batteries. A few weeks ago, my battery gave up the ghost. I replaced it with the hugest, humonganous battery in existence.

     At night, when I go to my favorite park, I use my huge Tonka battery to power my little radio or tv. It isn’t that I despise the Energizer Bunny, but the cost of 4 D cells at a time really adds up. I hate buying batteries for some reason, so I found a cheaper way.

     None of these uses for my truck battery have worn it down. Now go back three days and listen to my sad story. I had a very hard to get appointment with an eye specialist. I was leaving in plenty of time. When I jumped into Tonka, I discovered that I’d left the key in all night, TURNED ON! The starter grumbled and groaned and ALMOST turned over, but no deal.

     I called AAA, expecting an hour wait or more. Well, in about 20 minutes this young man showed up. I was parked way up on the driveway. He parked his "truck of salvation" on the street. As he walked up, I noticed a laptop computer looking device in his left hand. I figured that he used that to record the event and allow me to sign for the service.

     How wrong I was! I asked him why he didn’t pull his truck in beside me. He said, "Oh, I don’t use the truck for starting vehicles any more. This is my starter". You could have blown me over with a small breeze (not an easy task considering my size!) Sure enough, I popped hood, he attached the two electrodes that snaked out from his tiny little device and, SHAZAM!, Tonka 02 roared to life. I only missed my appointment by two minutes!

     I’d never seen nor heard of a device like that. A close friend told me later in the day that I could buy one beginning at about $67. Wow! Whizbang! Yipppppeee Skippppppeeeeee! Kewl Beans! (these are quotes from kids and grandkids.)

     The principle seems to be that when the device is plugged into household current, it stores electricity. Then, when called upon to start a vehicle (the young man said he’d jump started two school busses that morning), all this concentrated, focused power would do the job.

     Two or three years ago I deliberately quit drawing Life Lessons from my writings. I found that your responses increased dramatically when I asked you to tell me what YOU got out of the Inside Out pieces. Well, I’d like to stimulate your thinking and kick it up a notch or two. Then, please let me hear from you!

     I thought of the passage that talks about His children receiving power (authority) to be his children. We are told that when we concentrate and focus our prayer energy, it works a whole lot better. "Where two or three are gathered..." How about "Where two or three are agreed on one thing..." Yep, concentration and focus!

     Please let me hear your views, observations, and thoughts. Just hit my name in the lower corner of this page.

SOME RESPONSES TO "PAPA’S PIPELINE"...

(This first response is lengthy, but does such a nifty job of sharing still another aspect of Papa’s Pipeline.)

- I was commanded to go to witness to my uncle, who had just found out his cancer was terminal. .I couldn't explain the command, nor could I logistically figure out how, but I knew I had to go. I home schooled our four children at that time; the oldest was nine, the youngest, a year. I explained to my husband that I had to go, and he sat back to watch the trip come together.

     It was difficult to orchestrate. The money that normally came in faithfully each month didn't come that month. I ended up borrowing a car, and the money to put the gas in the car. I bundled the children for the four-hour trip to my uncle's home. I chose to stay with his son and daughter-in-law, and went the next day to talk with him. He wasn't home. It was difficult to update my husband that evening. He had begun to think the "command" was not given, but that I was charging ahead with my own agenda. The baby got sick that night, and vomited all over me, another child got sick as well.

      The next morning, I went again to try to see my uncle, who was, thankfully, home. He proceeded to ask me many questions. I had already recognized the answers from reading Ecclesiastes, which was also "commanded". He listened thoughtfully, then told me he would be making a decision, and he would let me know when he did. I gently pressed, but my uncle was firm,. He said that he would let me know when he came to Jesus.

     I returned to my cousin's house, saddened, and a little confused. Did I follow my own agenda? Was I nuts? Did I really think I had an invitation from God to join Him in the work in my uncle's heart? I drove home the next day, with my children carrying bags, just in case (they were used), and with the gas tank of the borrowed car on "E". My husband was perturbed at my headstrong insistence to go. "Don't you think," he logically reasoned," that if God wanted you to go, He would have made things just a half inch easier for you?" I had no logical answer.

     The call came three months later, on my birthday, so I would never forget the date that God blessed the obedience. My uncle called, and he sounded happily peaceful to tell me that he had accepted Jesus as His Savior. My husband cried, as he recognized God's goodness; I wept, as I realized the blessing that I received. My uncle grew in his faith for four additional months before he was called Home, and my husband and I have since urged one another to listen when we feel commanded. Our is the blessing to receive, as well as to give.

- "Not just material blessings (which, after all, will some day go up in smoke)," WOW, PapaJ.........It's so funny that this particular phrase you had written in your Leaf Blower story showed up right now. Just last night at the dinner table, my hubby and I were talking about the greediness at this time of year. People "Want Want Want."..........He sat there and said that material blessings will some day go up in smoke. When I read this it was as if you'd been sitting at the dinner table with us..............This time of year is when I really think of how greedy a lot of people are, and I try to be the total opposite. Giving Giving Giving. That is what I strive for. I give to charities and I never pass a bell ringer at the store or on the corners when I don't put something in their bin. So many people are homeless and less fortunate, while others are thinking about how much more 'material junk' they can accumulate!!!........It's just STUFF, and stuff will, as you say, 'go up in smoke.'..........It really made me think again how we need to be twice as giving especially at this time of year.......... God bless ya, Jerry, you ALWAYS seem to write the right thing!!!!!....... Coincidence? NAH! There isn't any such thing. We know what and WHO it is!!! Praise Him!

- Howdy, Papa Jerry!! Over the Thanksgiving Holidays I flew to Indiana to visit my mother and other relatives I have there plus some old friends (yes, it is true, I am originally a yankee : ). While I was in Ft. Wayne I went to the mall just to look around and found a place that sold nothing but puzzles. My mother is an avid puzzle fan and I found a beautiful 1000 piece puzzle depicting Noah gathering the animals. While I was looking I noticed that the music being played over there system was a local Christian radio station.

     When I went to the counter to pay for the puzzle, I asked the lady if she chose the music that was being played. She looked at me kind of sheepishly and said, "Yes". I then said to her, "Well, God Bless you." She looked at me and smiled. She said that she had been playing that station for about 2 weeks and had been waiting for someone to say something to her. She had expected a negative response, but was pleased to hear someone say something good about it. She told me that she expects someone to come in and complain about it to the manager and she will have to change the station.

     "I told her, "That won't happen. The power of the Lord was in this place because of her faith and willingness to do something that was not of the mainstream." It brightened her day and gave her something she needed. As I left she told me to have a wonderful holiday, but she said it in such a sincere way, not just in a casual or mechanical manner. To me that is part of your "Pipeline". I call it the "Christian Loop". We were total strangers, but of the same Christian Family. I Iike to say, "Brothers and sisters of the same Father, but different mothers". : ) I felt great because of that brief encounter for the rest of the day, and I bet she did, too. I am also quite sure that if you were to go into that store today you would here Christian music over the speakers. Amen.

- I enjoyed your story on the Pipeline. Hmmm. I would be very surprised if I haven’t figured out who the young man is in this exciting story. God is so awesome isn't He? It is good to hear these kind of stories to encourage those who are going through rough times. You have really had your share of those trying times haven't you? It is going to get cold tonight. Do you have heat in your "cell"?

- Isn't it marvelous how our creator/redeemer takes of us? I read the note from the gentleman that nearly lost his wife to an inept surgery. I think we all can look back at some providence of God, and marvel how He took care of us even when we did not know Him. It's sad to think that there will be those who will reject the gift of His love, our salvation, and will be destroyed in the end. God bless, and may you and yours have a memorable and happy holiday.