Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is THE chapter in the Bible that completely praises God's Word. Its 176 verses present statements about the incredible nature of the Creator's love letter to His Creation. Synonyms such as word, way, law, statute, precept, decree, command, and promise as well as their plural forms are in nearly every verse. Only five verses -- 84, 90, 121, 122, 132 -- don't contain one of those direct references listed above.

Some of my favorite praise verses are in this beautiful chapter are...

18. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

24. Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors. 

89. Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

164. Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.

171-172. May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees.

May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.

There are a multitude of reasons for praising the Lord. One of the greatest of these is His Word.

Psalm 19:105...a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
[photo by Ray Fragapane on unsplash.com]

Corel WordPerfect

When speaking of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of all mankind, Hebrews 10:14 (MSG) states..."It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people." Hearing that verse in the audiobook devotion to which my wife and I listened this morning made me think of another scripture. John 1:1, 14 (NIV)..."In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." Not only are those two passages very powerful and promising, but together they bring back memories of a special time in my life.

Amid the struggles of the current pandemic, it seems appropriate to think back to another horrific time in America. The year was 2011! The tragic occurrences of 9-11 temporarily interrupted the start of the best years of my educational career. Just a couple of months before that infamous day and with my wife's encouragement and support, I was hired as an assistant professor of education at Martin Methodist College (MMC) in Pulaski, TN.

After teaching high school English for 10 years and serving as a school administrator for 14 more, I was ready for a change. I found a near-perfect fit in the next 16 years at MMC. Today I look back after the first three years of my retirement and remember many of the joys and challenges of that transition into higher education. One major change that I resisted for quite a long time is the topic of this short blog.

Do you remember your first word processor? I had been using Corel WordPerfect as my word processor of choice for over a decade ever since joining the cyber generation in the Nineties. As far as I could tell, I was the only professor at MMC who wasn't using Microsoft Word. That posed lots of communication issues. As much as I might have hoped, the others weren't going to make any change to help the new guy. Believe me I tried to persuade them. It was my opinion that WordPerfect was much more user friendly. Being the new kid on the block with no seniority, I convinced no one. After a few years of muddling through, I finally made the transition to Word. It wasn't easy or fun. But this aging dog learned all those new tricks.

I am still using Microsoft Word. WordPerfect seems like an old friend I haven't seen for 15 years. I still spend lots of quality time in God's Perfect Word. If Corel WordPerfect were thrust upon me today, I wouldn't have a clue where to begin that new relationship.