Since my wife and I gave up our landline telephone I have only missed it a couple of time. Both of the times that I missed it was when I was home by myself and could not find my cell phone. If I am around others I can have them call me. Unfortunately that cannot be done if you are alone. When the cell phone is lost, it is lost!

I love it when someone creates an answer to a problem. Recently I learned of a website called at www.icantfindmyphone.com. You go to that site and type in your phone number. It calls your phone and lets it ring. Surprised, I answered the phone and a computer voice said, “It looks like you found your phone.”

Now I am on a search for a website called, “I can’t find my keys.” Oddly, there seems to be no such website. If you want to make a million dollars create that website and make sure it works. After that you can work on one called, “I can’t find the remote.”

You have probably never heard of Michael Stifel but he was a famous man in 1533. He was a German Monk, mathematician, and inventor of early forms of logarithms. It was he who coined the term “exponent.” That is pretty impressive, but that is not why this article is called “Uh-Oh.” To know that you need to read the rest of the story.

Mr. Stifel wrote a book called, “A Book of Arithmetic about the AntiChrist. A Revelation in the Revelation.” In it Stifel mathematically “proved” that the end of the world and Judgment Day would come at 8am on October 18, 1533. Now you know why the title of this article is “Uh-Oh.”

One cannot help wondering what people were thinking at 7:59 on that October 18 morning. We can only guess what they were thinking, but for any Christian living at that time, Jesus tells them what they should be thinking.

“If anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” – Matthew 24:26

There will always be false prophets who think they know when the Lord is coming back but that ought not matter to a Christian. We should live our lives like Jesus is coming today!

The end of the story of Mr. Stifel is interesting and predictable. Because of his prediction, many of the townsfolk did not plant crops or store food that year. As October 18 arrived some people burned their homes and possessions. After the day passed and the Lord did not come, Mr. Stifel had to be taken into protective custody. Villagers outside his cell chanted death threats. That is the interesting part.

Here is the predictable part: After his prediction failed, Michael Stifel did not make any more predictions. I am glad he was able to learn from his mistakes. I hope the villagers also learned and lived each day like it could be the day that Jesus comes again. I pray that you and I live that way also.

Lonnie Davis

The people at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) are famous for the pictures they take. A few years back I stood on the line at the DMV to have my picture taken for my driver’s license. This is an important picture because you have to show over and over and over.

As I stood on the proper line I pondered what I could do to make my picture look its best. At the last instance I had a great idea. My lips were dry so I stuck my tongue out to wet them.

SNAP!

I heard the shutter on the DMV camera. “NO!” my inner voice shouted. The lady took my picture with my tongue sticking out. There was no going back. One cannot tell the DMV to take a second picture because you do not like the first one.

For four years I carried a driver’s license with a picture of me with my tongue sticking out. On more than one occasion a clerk would look at it and say, “Is your tongue sticking out?” I had a good line, “I stuck my tongue out so that when I am pulled over I could stick my tongue at the policeman.” It was a clever line, but I was smart enough not to actually do it.

This story reminded me of Ecclesiastes 10:1, “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” It doesn’t take much of a dead fly in perfume to run the whole bottle. It only takes a moment to ruin a lifetime of hard work. I was careless for a moment, but had to live with it for years. We all need to learn to guard our moments. Life does not come to us a year at a time or a day at a time. Life comes to us seconds at a time. Guard what you do in you seconds and life will take care of yourself.

As the four years term of the old license was winding down I waited with great joy for my new license. They finally sent me a new license. To my horror it had the old tongue-sticking picture on it. All I could think of is “Be sure your sins will find your out.”

Lonnie Davis