Inclement Weather - Sunday Service for 1/30/22 is cancelled 
That saying stuck with Pete over the years and it stuck with me as well. In fact, it inspired me and got me thinking: I suspect each of us has a saying, or a “pearl of wisdom,” or a “Parental Proverb” that our parents passed along to us. I was talking with Brenda Peck about this and she remembers her mother telling her on many occasions, “What goes under the Devil’s belly, comes back over his shoulder.” Which is another way of saying: you reap what you sow.
I have a saying that I remember well from my dad. He used to tell me, “Nothing positive happens after midnight.” Translation: Get yourself home early and stay out of trouble. I found out the truth of that saying one evening. I was in high school and I went out one night with three of my buddies. We were driving home, and I was in the backseat. The moon was full that night and my friend gets the bright idea to drive on Rt. 60 without lights. Please don’t ask me why he decided to do this. Why do any of us do the dumb things we do? Anyway, he cuts the lights off and we could actually see pretty well. Sadly the next lights we encountered were blue lights. A VA State Trooper pulled us over and my friend sheepishly confessed to being a knucklehead. The officer was kind enough to send us home with a warning. As we pulled away I checked the time on my watch. It was after midnight and that’s when the weight of my dad’s statement hit me. Truly, not much positive happens after midnight!
That saying is important to me, just as you have sayings that are special to you. I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor to share our collective wisdom with one another. Biblical commentator Warren Wiersbe writes,
“The past is not an anchor to hold us back but a rudder to guide us. It’s important to remember what God did in the past and to pass this treasure along to our children and grandchildren.”
The Bible certainly does this in the book of Proverbs. We’re going to do a sermon series on the Book of Proverbs within the next couple of months and I think we can have a little fun with the series. So here’s what I’d like to ask of you: You probably have a “Parental Proverb” that’s special to you. If so, email it to me. My email is tkbradbury@verizon.net and please share the story that goes along with it. I hope that we can use some of Bethel’s “Parental Proverbs” to help illuminate some Biblical proverbs. May God bless you and may God bless Bethel Church.
