Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

God’s short shelf

April 11, 2025

In some factories around Springfield and all over the world, you will find the terms short shelf, short material, short stock or some other name that indicates that while the length or size of the product is no longer kept in inventory, there are still uses for it and it is not to be scrapped. As Christians, we need to think about who is on God’s short shelf.

Unlike steel or aluminum, which may be used using small pieces for certain jobs, children are small but will not always be too small to use. Kids grow and will someday be adults. Don’t scrap your children before they have had the chance to show what they can be. Everyone needs a job to do, even if it is as simple as putting napkins or forks, and spoons on the table before a meal. Take the youngsters off the short shelf and give them an easy task. Don’t stop there. As they learn to conquer the trivial, they will mature into teens, which will help.

Often our youth are treated as scrap when they need to be moved from the short shelf to a useful position. Find something that interests them. Middle school students often are left playing video games because an adult did not take the time to educate them on what needs to be done around the house. Older grandchildren can help in the garden, climb ladders to paint or clean, or accomplish many of the tasks that their unsteady parents or grandparents now have difficulty with. The difficult task is motivation. Rewards, not bribes, are useful here. More time spent on the computer, playing video games, or visiting friends on the phone or in person should be earned. You’ve lost the battle by keeping them in the scrap bin when laziness is accepted and not destroyed early.

Those who qualify for senior discounts may consider themselves retired or just tired. The stamina and energy of youth may have waned, but their maturity and experience count for something. One of the best ways to keep the retired folks off the scrap heap is to find their talents. Whether it is auto repair, cooking, telling stories, or just getting on their knees and praying, they are still useful. Advice is often precious in times of struggle, and the best counsel is from those who have been there before you. Don’t miss out on this resource.

The physically or mentally handicapped are often overlooked because it may be difficult to find a place of service for them. Their difficulties seem to be insurmountable. Often, those who are slower mentally are like children. They have enthusiasm and energy that need to be used on simple tasks. Stapling, folding, or sorting papers to lighten some other person’s load may be an answer. Do not look at the weakness of others. Look for their abilities and strengths.

God loves everyone and has called each Christian to service. Find your place, and when you have the opportunity, help someone else to find their niche. We are a body that should work together with Christ as the head.

Computer illiteracy

April 6, 2025

The picture was ancient. Two nice-looking girls were sitting at manual typewriters in a school room. You knew it was old because it was black & white, and their clothes were vintage. My comment to the question on Facebook, “Do you remember this?” was, “Yes, I am the guy behind the two girls.” Slightly out of focus, a young man with horn-rimmed glasses and a white shirt was in the background. He was your typical nerd from the fifties and sixties. You couldn’t see his pocket protector, but I’m sure it was there.

My keyboarding career started that way. Typing class in high school. A few guys. Mostly girls were getting a head start on their stimulating careers in the secretarial field. Today, I am using a laptop to write. That class at Hillcrest is not typing but keyboarding, and it will soon die because no one gets to high school without being able to use a keyboard. Most get that education in kindergarten.

Computers first came to my attention in grade school. It was the Univac that I saw in magazines and books. Then there was the IBM monstrosity that NASA used to compute trajectories for the Mercury missions. I never knew what a computer really was until I saw “Secret Treasures”. Who knew that people used to be called computers? We just called them smart kids.

Our first computer keyboard was on a Texas Instruments device that was smaller than my first AM radio. Then came the Commodore, the Atari, and the 86-format machine. That was the first with minor connectivity and its own monitor. The rest plugged into the TV like your first video game. My first video game was brother Bud’s Pong.

My first purchasing position came with a brush with computing. The owner of the company had been looking into computerizing accounting, purchasing, and inventory control. For six months, I was tasked with designing and assigning unique part numbers for each of our products. I spent many extra hours and was not present when the machines were put into operation.

My second shot at a business in purchasing was again before that location had computers. The corporation had computers at both major warehouses. I was intrigued that their part number system was like the one I previously designed. When we had terminals installed at our branch, I enjoyed the time savings that the system brought.

I was also glad to see the inventory card system be moved out as well as the billing machine. Inventory, billing, and purchasing were done on the terminals. It was several years later before I had a personal computer on my desk at work.

Where does computer illiteracy come into? I am a baby boomer. I’ve never had problems with any electrical or electronic gadget. Currently, artificial intelligence seems to be the problem area. I’ve worked with AI since I used my first digital calculator.

Mechanical calculators used gears, cams, and other mechanical devices to make sums, multiply, divide, and subtract. If you have never seen one, go to an engineering museum. Science fiction writers have predicted that computers and robots would take over our world.

In the late 1990s, some thought that life as we knew it would end on January 1^st of 2000. Computer chips originally could not go beyond 1999. Programmers got with the plan, and we were ready on December 31. Now we need to figure out how to do things on paper again. We may never experience an EMP event that is currently being predicted, but just in case, keep pencil and paper handy.

Boomers go bust

April 3, 2025

As the years and the decades increase in your life span, you will notice that references that younger people do not recognize are readily caught by you and your contemporaries. My contemporaries are the kids of the baby boom. There is a lot of misinformation about this generation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau this group was born between 1946 and 1964. We are 79 to 61 years old. If you refer to those younger or older than this as boomers, you are making an error.

Just to let you know, we are not older than dirt. Our parents were familiar with dirt when they were children. They told us thousands of stories about getting in trouble when they were kids for getting themselves or the house they lived in dirty. Some of us even remember our grandparents talking about dirt before our folks were born.

We do not remember World War I or II, the civil war, or the Roman Empire. We are not as old as God or Jesus. Both have existed for all eternity. We know that you are not as intelligent as we are. Don’t prove to us how stupid younger people are. We try to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Keep in mind that whatever you say to your children about us will come back to bite you in the backside. The generations after you will repeat these fallacies and may someday refer to you as boomers, old fogies, or the ancient of days. We remember using these same phrases on our parents and grandparents.

I look forward to hearing my grandchildren insult their parents the way they criticized us. I remember when I was fourteen and thought that I was smarter than my dad because the highest he went to school was the eighth grade. I hope all of them will get their B.A. as I and their mothers did.

Master’s or doctorates would be even better. I won’t tell them they are stupid if they do not know who or what the Mercury Seven were as long as they don’t roll their eyes when I question who all the current movie stars, TV and music performers are. Even I can identify Lady Gaga. Your children will agree with us that she was just some weirdo.

We hate it that there are a lot of commercials for medications for our ailments, adult diapers, and supplements that are recommended for older people. Keep in mind that in five years the next generation will need to sign up for Medicare and they already can join AARP.

The only way any of you can keep from getting as old as we are, is to die. When President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, we were told “only the good die young.” We know that was not true because we see bad people die in their twenties, thirties and forties. It is tragic, but it happens.

I wish you what parents have hoped for their children and grandchildren for centuries. To live long and prosper. We know where this quotation came from. Do you?

Animalities

March 24, 2025

You’ve never heard of this word? What about doganality or catanality? The dictionary definition is “quality or nature associated with animals.” My explanation is much simpler.

People have personalities. Animals have animalities. Dogs have doganalities and cats have catanalities. For people, the word explains how they act and their characteristics. We often refer to our pets as having personalities.

We want them to be like us. We try to attribute our feelings and emotions to them. Think about what it would be like if we did the same thing in reverse. Cats are said to be stuck on themselves and self-focused. Do you know any people who act like cats? I can think of a few.

Would you describe anyone as being as faithful as a dog? We talk about those who are as clever as foxes or wise as owls. Why not loyalty like a canine. Is every dog as faithful as any others? No, some are trained to be mean or angry on command. This type of education can backfire on the owner or trainer.

Have you ever heard of catting around? Both men and women can have this attribute. Are you doggedly determined to accomplish your goals? Men can be described as the same.

I have read a lot of books over the years about how to communicate in a marriage relationship. “Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus.” “The Five Love Languages.” “I’m O.K. You’re O.K.” These are just a few. These deal with reasons why men and women have difficulty in communicating.

I am in full agreement with these authors. However, I believe that we also need to point out that some people have their own personalities. These peculiarities can make it hard for their spouses to communicate with them.

Even our pets can be different. My cat loves to fight when she plays. Other cats we had were laid back. She is inquisitive and adventurous. We have a dog that can be described as a scaredy dog. He is a good watchdog that is very protective.

Just like cats, some people want to do what they want to do. Some might call this selfishness. Have you heard the saying, “It is like herding cats.” Cats and some people will do their own thing and not ask your permission.

One of the dogs’ dominant traits is their faithfulness. Many believe that this is a God-given trait. We have had several pets over the years, not just dogs and cats but also guinea pigs, gerbils, and many other species. There is something about these two types that is unique. We have had dogs and cats at the same time. They got along fine. Sometimes, it just took time for them to learn how to deal with each other.

The main secret is that they learned to respect and appreciate each other. That is what it takes to be a real family: growing to know who you are as a person and who the other person is. This is called intimacy—not sexual intimacy. It is spiritual.

Conversation and communication are essential to this kind of relationship. Remember that even the most different individuals can become friends and much more. It is work, but it is worth it.

God Said it. I Believe it. That Settles it.

March 18, 2025

On the dashboard of my 1966 Chevy Impala Super Sport, there was a magnet that said, “God Said it. I Believe it. That Settles it.” I put that magnet there in 1974 when the Lord called me to full-time Gospel Ministry. I still believe it.

As I began to start studying the Bible at Southwest Baptist College, I made some decisions about what my world view was. At the time I did not know what a “world view” was. I formed in my head what I believed about God. Then I tried to put it into words. I literally found it in His Word.

I decided that He was the creator of everything. I decided that He and Jesus were the same being and they shared a spirit. I later learned they are a triune being. My grammar check wants me to change that to read triune beings. Grammarly is wrong. There is only one being.

Triune literally means three in one. It is different from a trinity. Trinity is three that become one. Many of the religions of the world that worship multiple gods have a trinity that makes three of their gods into a godhead. This is a syndicate. Kind of like a tribunal of gods. Jehovah God is one entity. The deceiver wants you to believe otherwise.

Jehovah is the only creator of the universe. The concept of multiple universes and different realities is as old as time. That is another lie that we can fall for. The creator of all things made chronological time as well. That is what He said in Genesis. “In the beginning God.”

He designed and executed the existence of everything around us. In that book of beginnings, you see that He said, “Let us make mankind in our own image.” And He did. We are also a triune being. We have a soul, a body, and a spirit like He does.

We call Him Father because His bodily form referred to Him as His Father. We are called crazy when we talk to ourselves, but Jesus showed us it is acceptable to communicate with your soul. You must recognize that you have one. We also need to acknowledge our spirit. He told Nicodemus that he must be born again. That is very confusing. There is a physical birth, but Jesus introduced us to a spiritual birth. Satan was wrong when he told Adam and Eve they would not die. One-third of us is dead when we are born.

Accepting the son of God as our Lord and Savior brings us into His family as His children. We become like God in every sense except we cannot create something from nothing. He teaches us how to recreate ourselves into the image of Him that He wants us to show to the world.

Most of the time I mess that up. I keep trying with each new day that He gives to me. Do you? Are you more like Him than you were yesterday? If not, let’s work on it again tomorrow. Oh, by the way, Jehovah created tomorrows as well. The future, the present, and the past are all part of His creation. Isn’t it wonderful? Every morning you are able to begin again.

Bullies need love, too

March 10, 2025

When I was growing up, I encountered my fair share of bullies. I was a math and English nerd. I had no athletic talents and was literally the proverbial 98 lb. weakling. In other words, I was a bully magnet.

My oldest brother was bullied as well. When he was in the third grade another boy picked on him. One day he came into the house from school with his shirt torn and his nose bloodied, Mom turned him around and told him not to come back home until the other kid looked worse than he did.

He came back about ten minutes later and told Mom she needed to go down the street to our grandparents’ house. When she arrived there, Aunt Mildred told her Kenny had the other boy down banging his head against the sidewalk. If she hadn’t stopped it, he might have killed the other kid.

Mom made a prediction that day that turned out to be true. She said, “That kid will never pick on him again.” It did not just work for him but for my other brother and me as well. I did not have to worry about bullies until I was in seventh grade.

I was in my first fight that year. My friend Vern and I and another kid were in the auditorium waiting until we were allowed into the rest of the building. The other boy walked up to me and hit me in the chest. I hit him once in the face. You should not mess with a kid with two older brothers. He was still unconscious when the bell rang, and we went to class. He never bothered me again.

He wasn’t the only aggressor I encountered in Junior High and both Central and Hillcrest had their share. Not all the people in my life who wanted to push me around have done it physically. I’ve had demanding bosses and business associates who thought I should roll over and let them lie, cheat, or violate laws.

I let them know that I would not be a part of this type of behavior. I’ve quit jobs, in some cases simply tolerated unacceptable behavior in hopes the offenders would learn from the way I treated them, and terminated employees when I had the authority to do so.

This is the best way to put a domineering person in their place. Terminate the relationship. Quit the job. Dump the person who only wants to criticize you. The controllers also need to be shown the door. Be sure to do this before you marry them.

People are all different. Some of us don’t get along. Others need to work on it hard. Then some are never happy unless they get their own way. If they can’t compromise and you don’t want to, think about who the bully might be.

God has shown me some bullies can be tamed by treating them with kindness and patience. You may have to hope that others can be corrected by someone else. Some will never be reached by anyone. Don’t become discouraged. Keep trying.

It is frustrating that our country has decided to reward a bully by making him our chief executive. He is not the first leader who thought he could force his way on everyone else. Adolf Hitler tried it. Germany allowed him to demolish their government and become a dictator. It took the U.S. and most of the world to defeat him. We must remember not to roll over and play dead like some of them did.

Ash Wednesday for Baptists

March 6, 2025

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent. What are you giving up for Lent? Do you celebrate Carnival, Mardi Gras, and Lent? How familiar are most Christians in Springfield, Missouri, with these pre-Easter traditions?

Many pre-Christian traditions were put into the tradition of the Easter season. Even the name Easter is taken from a non-Christian god. Fat Tuesday began as a traditional house cleaning of the meat and other food products that were not to be consumed during Lent. It became a party such as Mardi Gras. The non-Christian aspects of Carnival and other celebrations came from pre-Christian festivals.

Fat Tuesday is 46 days before Easter. This period of fasting and cleansing involves intentionally depriving yourself of meat, dairy, or other foods. This tradition has allowed the celebrants to give up something without fasting for the entire 46 days before Easter.

Many Christians no longer speak of Easter. They celebrate Resurrection Day. Remembering the day Jesus came back to life is more important than bunnies, chicks, eggs, and all the pagan customs that make up the Easter holiday.

Celebrating Mardi Gras or Carnival with its, sometimes, sinful activities before the celebration of the event that is crucial to Christianity seems counterproductive. If you believe that Christ has saved you from sin, why return to it?

Paul tells us that we have been buried with Christ and raised to a new life. We should not intentionally sin and expect God to forgive us. Paul says, “God forbid.” In the Old Testament, the prophets told the Israelites they should make sacrifices to pay for their sins. These sins were not to be intentional. The law was to be obeyed as much as was humanly possible. Jesus came and died because we will all miss the mark.

The sinful conduct before the season of Lent is not sanctioned by Christ even if some churches accept it. I just want all my readers to be aware of what these kinds of actions say to those who do not know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship with a person. This one person is perfect when no one else is. If you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, He has forgiven you for all your sins. Why would you spit in His face by returning to the debauchery of a life that He has led you away from? Anyone who promotes this type of lifestyle is lying to you.

My dream

February 15, 2025

Unlike Martin Luther King whose dream is known to thousands, I also had a dream last night. My dream is literally one I had in my sleep. I was in church. Not Hamlin where I have attended with my wife for over forty years. It was at Immanuel where I was raised and called to the ministry.

Cindy’s name was in the bulletin to sing that Sunday. She was unable to sing. I went to the pulpit. I did not sing for her. I was not called to sing. That church knew that. I read to the church from First Corinthians chapter thirteen.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

This is not the human love that we celebrated yesterday on Valentine’s Day. It is not a feeling. It is not sex. It is action. It is the things we should do but do not. This is what I read to that church in my dream. Standing in their pulpit in my pajamas with no hint of embarrassment or fear.

I ended my song with the last verse of this chapter. ^“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I asked them to join me at the altar and I would introduce them to my Jesus who helps me to love this way.

A perfect love casts out fear we read. I had no fear in my dream as I do when I speak. I did not worry about what this church thought of me. I looked at them with the love of God and asked them to join me in pursuing Him and His love, I know I fail at that often. I keep trying, again, and again, and again.

Can you join me in this pursuit? To be patient and kind. We must put aside everything that makes us human and strive to be more like Jesus. To love the way, He loves and gave His life for us. It isn’t hard. Just ask Him to forgive you as I do, again, and again, and again. It is a daily pursuit. Join me.

A month of love

February 7, 2025

February is called the month of love due to the fourteenth. In past years, I have written an annual Valentine’s Day column. I have decided to spend this month posting as many pieces about love as I can. Let’s begin by talking about what most people think love is.

Ask a dozen people what love is, and you will receive four or five answers like, “a warm hug,” “a puppy,” or my favorite “how you feel about someone.” In my opinion, love is a verb. It is an action. You show love by doing something for someone.

Examples are cooking dinner, doing chores they dislike, and taking them somewhere you do not want to go without telling them you don’t want to go there. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Try it. They’ll like it.

When you love someone, you will be a servant to them. You will do what they need you to do without them having to ask. We usually have two problems in this area. We want them to do things for us that we don’t tell them about. We try to do things for them that they want to do themselves.

I don’t like to clean or do laundry. If you want to be of service to me, come do those. You might want to cook me a meal. That would be fine from time to time. If you truly love me, let me do the cooking. You should help with the things I do not want to do.

Do you understand this? When my wife was a stay-at-home mom, she cooked, cleaned, took care of the kids, and all the other things that a home needs to do. On my weekend off I cooked and helped with everything else. She mowed the yard for me and ran errands I had no time to take care of. We serve each other.

I did not ask her to do all the “woman’s work” because of my love for her. She did not require me to complete all the “man’s work” as well as working 40+ hours a week. We are also DIYers. I know what Labor Day means because most of these holidays were spent working on our home.

We refinished three rooms of oak flooring. Ripping out carpet and painting walls and ceilings. Then we tore up our bedroom, hung sheetrock, painted it, and installed new trim. Before we sold that house, we remodeled the kitchen and dining room which involved installing and finishing two more oak floors. The only room we did not touch was the family room.

We’ve been here for twenty years now. This house needed no work when we moved in. In the years we have been here we’ve painted, laid new carpeting, replaced kitchen backsplash, and other items. Life and love are work. Don’t believe people who tell you they are not.

Love is being there for the person you say you love. It is the ups and downs of the relationship. It is the commitment that you keep to each other. It is refusing to allow anyone or anything to come between you. Love is a verb.

Weather or not

February 3, 2025

Cindy and I celebrated the second day of February in a manner that we have had for years. Yes, it is ground hog day. Not because of some rodent in Punxsutawney, PA that came out this morning and did or did not see his shadow. We ate link sausages for breakfast.

Years ago, I told my daughters that we were going to celebrate Groundhog Day by eating ground hog. I am a man of words. I like to use them to communicate with you. Do not believe an animal that is far away can predict your weather. I could believe that this universe happened accidentally before I could accept that.

There are four meteorological seasons in our world. Scientists who are smarter than I have set these up. Winter begins in December. March starts in spring. Every different part of the country has a Winter or Spring feel. Here in southwest Missouri winter is not filled with snow and temperatures below zero. Other parts of the country enjoy more snow and cold than we receive.

If we ignore the meteorologists and look at what we expect our local forecasts to give us we can see warmer temperatures six months earlier than usual. Where I have a problem with a groundhog in Pennsylvania telling me my weather goes back fifty years. I spent ten weeks there in 1975.

On July 4^th it dropped to 32 degrees in Gifford, PA up in the Allegheny Mountains. In my seven decades in Missouri, I never had a single July below forty. I had to light the heater in my house. This Ozarks boy never needed the heat on in the summertime at home. My hosts warned me this might be needed before they left on vacation.

If you have done any traveling, you know that what is expected in one area is uncommon in another. One December I was speaking to a business associate in Fort Worth. He told me they had an ice storm coming in. I was worried it would be like the ones we have. They can mean days of things being shut down.

In Texas, these storms normally hit in the evening, and the ice melts by the next morning around nine or ten. I could not believe it. I checked that out with other Texans and discovered how usual these temporary ice storms are in warmer climates.

This winter, Texas, Louisiana, and other southern states dealt with days of below-freezing temperatures and snowstorms. Phil could not predict that. The Farmer’s Almanac did not even suggest this possibility. No one knew the frozen north would drop thousands of miles this year.

So, in conclusion, I would like to wish you a Happy Ground Hog Day. For next year, celebrate it by eating your ground hog instead of letting him predict your weather. And remember, it’s all related to your zip code.

Walk With a Servant