It is one of the preacher or teacher’s public speaking nightmares. And it happened to me yesterday morning between Bible class and worship services. I had no clue until I began to be approached by multiple members. My wireless mic was “hot,” and I was visiting with several people and, true to form, I was having plenty to say. As far as I know, I said nothing personal or embarrassing, but after I was informed of my amplified voice I began thinking back to who I spoke to and what I said. My private conversations were being broadcast throughout the auditorium, foyer, nursery, and beyond.

​The Bible gives us some insights into what the day of judgment will be like. How much is accommodative language and how much depicts what it will be like is something we must leave until we are there. Yet, there are some statements made that are not open to interpretation. Solomon writes, “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Ecc. 12:14). There is appointed a day when “God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:16; cf. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10). Jesus taught, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mat. 12:36-37). Clearly, the words we speak—even those which are not public—are subject to the universal judgment at the end of time.

With that in mind, I want to be more careful to control that hard-to-tame tongue (cf. Jas. 3:2ff). Lying, gossiping, complaining, bitter, slanderous, angry, malicious, backbiting, or jealous words can flow freely, especially in private conversations. I may think I am covered by the cloak of secrecy or privacy, but how would I speak if I knew that everything I said what being broadcast for everyone to hear? If I could think of my speech in that way, how much more positively would I speak of others, of my own circumstances, of the church, and of my God?

Yesterday was good for me! If all of us could experience an unplanned moment like that at least once, it might cause us to reflect on what we are saying when we think that those around us can’t (or won’t) hear. It might help us live soberly, righteously, and godly in view of the end.

Our recent Bible Bowl focused on the first 10 chapters of 1 Corinthians.
​Our youth contestants challenge adults in this friendly competition.

I live in the direct path of the 2017 Solar Eclipse that is scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon. Those of us living in the path of this eclipse have been bombarded with facts about the eclipse, warnings to protect our eyes, protective eye-wear being sold on every street corner, and a host of other interesting facts and tidbits about solar eclipses.

But one of the things that has captured my fascination the most is how “we” are able to determine the exact time of the eclipse; down to the minutes and seconds.  We have been informed when it is coming, how long it will last, the width of its shadow, and the exact time when the next eclipse will take place in Tennessee, 236 years from now.  Who ever figured all this out? It’s so complex. It involves trigonometry, solar declinations, Besselian elements, angles, radii of the penumbral and umbral cone, and a host of other things of which I have no understanding. Yet, tomorrow afternoon, this event will occur as predicted.

While you can and should be amazed at the knowledge mankind has achieved, don’t overlook this observation as we observe the eclipse tomorrow. As amazing as it is to predict this event, how much more amazing is it to have been the cause of it? How much more incredible is it to have created the heavenly bodies, and sustain their place in the universe so that such predictions are possible?
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Tomorrow, if you are fortunate enough to live in the path of the eclipse, don’t let your fascination with nature overshadow your awe and wonderment of God who spoke it into existence! The glory does not belong to nature, but to His nature! Give it some thought.