Saturday, January 28, 2012

Hog It



When my son was about three years old, I would sing him a song each night as he went to bed. One evening he requested that I sing - - "Hog it."

I asked him again, “Which song?” and he repeated; “HOG IT.” Tell me a bit more please. "You know mama, the song we sing at church “When we Hog it to heaven."

Yes, I did sing his favorite song that night and I also wrote about this in his baby book.

As a child I remember hearing the song “There’s an all seeing eye watching you.” In my imagination I envisioned a BIG EYE watching me with no face or body and it scared the living daylights out of me.

Children aren’t the only ones who misunderstand when something is said, and often some of the Christian songs we sing seem strange to those who are new to the faith.

image courtesy photobucket
My husband was 18 when he received the Lord and began to attend church. He knew very little about the Bible or Christian language. The word “Saved” was something you did to help a drowning person. To him Calvary meant the ARMY on HORSE BACK, but before long he came to appreciate that Calvary was where Jesus died and gave his life for you and me. His understanding has improved greatly with study and teaching.

I am actually very happy for the modern Bible translations where a non-believer can read about Jesus in everyday language.

My New King James Translation has all the words “thee and thou” and other out of date words changed to help with understanding, and is perhaps my favorite Bible.

What ever Bible is your favorite, it is always good to check with the Message Bible or other versions found at Bible Gateway   It is there you will discover several translations so that you can compare scripture for enlightenment.

If you are preparing a Bible Study, it will be helpful to view this or other sites that offer information so that your hearers will leave understanding exactly what you told them.

Thinking back to a class we took on how to prepare a sermon, the simple outline is this:

1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them!
3. Tell them what you told them!

Keeping it simple, one thing I always want to remember is that when we HOG IT - - To Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVh687Kcnbo

This post is linked to Deidra’s Sunday Jump Tandem

9 comments:

Sheila said...

What a day, indeed!

"Hog it" to heaven...it reminds me of the child who dutifully rose, put his hand over his heart, and said, "I led the pigeons to the flag of the United States of America..."

Lyla Willingham Lindquist said...

Just slipping in from Deidra's. Oh, I remember some of those old Sunday School songs. Sometimes they still give me a little shiver... If only I'd known then what I know now, or should I say what I'll know a year or two from now!

I do love to look at a text in different versions, just to get a different eye on the meaning. Just the use of one different word sometimes is all it takes to set me thinking.

Patricia said...

"Hog it" - precious. There is a church in our little community that has an eye painted on the wall behind the pulpit. It's really very creepy...and distracting!

What a day of rejoicing it will be!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Lori @ My Evident Faith said...

What a fun and poignant lesson. ~Lori

floyd said...

Kids are too funny! We still laugh at the time our middle wanted to know the difference between straight A's and crooked A's! Our little one thought the French were called the Frenchians! I love it!

I always like to refer to the words in Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic when I'm doing a Bible study and I have at least three different Bibles surrounding me. I like to think I look like a mad scientist, I probably just look like I'm mad...

Anonymous said...

Even now, I often have to ask my kids what the lyrics are in a song on the radio. Hog-it is just so cute. And remembering we all interpret things differently and being patient is oh so important as we walk out our faith.

Laurie Collett said...

One day many years ago, on a family shopping trip, my husband was chatting with the store clerk and said he was retired Navy. Our 5 year-old son looked at me in shock and said, "I didn't know Daddy was retarded!"
May the Lord open the eyes of our understanding as well as the ears!
Thanks for the great post, and God bless!
Laurie

Patricia said...

Hog it... how adorable! Just tell it!! Such a wonderful story.

caryjo said...

One of my biggest concerns about all the various Bible translations... as flexible as I've been for many years ... is that memorization is much more difficult. I still try to memorize KJV, although I modernize some of the words, just as you mentioned in the NKJV. I'm usually an Amplified person, but sometimes the Lord has me read all 13 versions I have for a while... usually one NT book at a time. [I haven't read Message much, b/c it seems too modernized (although many of my friends don't see it that way and they are wonderful, so I must just be too picky). I do remember that back in the late '60s/ early '70s when LB was being published, people were saying the same thing.]

But the Word is what's important, period. And however it fits into our hearts, and feeds us, that's what's important.