5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100:5 (NKJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
My great-grandmother, Linnie Lee Whiting Massey, was an incredible lady. She was born in 1886 and lived until 1982. Among many other fascinating pursuits, she was an expert on babies and was also a midwife. Back in the old days in rural Arkansas County, if a baby was on its way and there wasn’t a doctor nearby, the expectant mother would send someone to “go get Miss Linnie.”
When my sister’s first baby was born, Granny Linnie Lee was giving us child-care advice: “Don’t ever forget that babies get thirsty. Mothers always just give their babies formula, but that doesn’t help the baby when she’s thirsty. You’ve got to give these little babies some water.” 
My sister Cathie and I have often recounted that saying to one another as we have taken care of our own babies. As you can imagine, we gave our babies water to drink. In fact, it seems like when we left the hospital with Spencer, they gave us some little baby bottles of water that were sterilized and ready to go. All you had to do is screw a nipple on one and give it to the thirsty little tyke. Everybody back then knew you had to give water to little babies.
Well, flash forward 30-some years into the present. Now that I’m a stay-at-home-grandpa, I’ve been informed that the rules have changed. Imagine my shock to find out from the present-day-baby-care-experts that it’s no longer necessary (or safe) to give water to babies. (It messes up their electrolytes or some such thing.) I’ve abided my son’s and daughter-in-law’s wishes, even though I’m not totally convinced that drinking water is bad for babies.
All of us who have cared for children know that scientists and doctors are forever changing the rules. My mother told me I was “a good baby” because I slept on my stomach the way the doctor said I was supposed to. (I guess today’s doctors would say I was a very bad baby.) You don’t have to listen to the news long to hear that the experts have changed the rules again. In fact, we’ve come to expect that the rules will always be changing.
In a world full of change and turmoil, it’s good to have some things stay the same. One of these permanent things is God’s Word. The Psalmist says, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89)
And what a comfort it is to know our Saviour is eternal and unchanging. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
May our trust in these truths be unchanging as we live another week for our Lord.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 32 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He recently retired after 28 years as a Mississippi public schoolteacher, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his new grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in a brick house in town (where we had a bit of snow again this week.) Their kids include Spencer (age 26), his wife Madeline (age 26), and Seth (23), and his wife Leanne (age 22). You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
