It’s not that hard to serve the Kingdom, TRUE.

As we love – we serve – we surely all do.

And remember, God makes sure your skill sets will find you.

.

We don’t serve for praise.

It’s not our ego we should raise.

To serve the Kingdom, it’s our hands which should raise.

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To Serve is to be Still and Still BE.

To Serve the Kingdom is to be FREE.

To Serve is to THANK THEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Let us Serve the Kingdom and tell others we learned the clue,

let us be inviting everyone to JESUS, to help everyone through.

Let us be blessed in Him, me and you.

Amen

A sound that filled my soul, all our ears and spirits, were bagpipes at our friend’s funeral. At first I looked into the sanctuary for a bagpiper, but it was a recording. Ah, but then the real live bagpiper came, ‘OUR bagpiper’, a personal bagpiper for her, you could say. Our church family spreads wide beyond the sanctuary’s zipcode and this bagpiper is the son of a friend bagpiper too. We do travel home here for funerals these days – many good souls that the Lord is calling home. Even if many of us find ourselves in other earthly church homes, me too, this particular church family of God’s “be the church” extends far and wide, eternally-linked and into Forever.

Really, aren’t we living for Forever? That’s what Pastor spoke of, in a beautiful service, ‘death is not the worst thing to happen’. Forever awaits.  And it’s going to be HEAVENLY – WITH GOD. 

Our bagpiper (or someone up front) said: “One last time…” – meaning a gift for our deceased…  and yet I thought is it a last time or a “lasting time”… Yes, many years we enjoyed seeing her beam at the bagpipes being played, which I remember at her Grandson’s wedding. She was beaming and blessed. That was a “lasting time” – because it was and is filled with memories.  And the other items that people spoke about her enjoying included this last trip to Canada that her sons talked about…  It was a “last time” but a “lasting time” as it is filled with memories. 

Our friend lived a long-term long time, she was 97 and full of serving in Spirit, from like Forever ago… She served the Lord AND the logistics of the Lord’s work, and she served smiling. She had a “forward look” into mission work and moving the Word of God into the world. She now lives in a “Lasting Time”…  Forever. Forever starts now – let us remember that too..

Forever, I thought, sitting in the pews with Forever friends, that Forever in Heaven must include bagpipes, right? 

How earthly things could be just a “last time” for like final “Amazing Grace” bagpipes at a funeral, but then we must play and pray our lives for the longing of the music of a “Lasting time”… that’s what’s so AMAZING about GRACE – God’s blessing of forgiveness to bring us home.

We love music now, just imagine the music of Heaven awaiting… 

Amen and Amen…

To be more like Jesus is more than just to be kind.

It’s biting your lip when you really DO mind.

It’s finding purpose even in the daily grind. 

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It’s listening and gifting your time, even if you’re spending your own dime.

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To be more like Jesus is to be willing to serve.

To serve even if it gets on your last nerve.

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It’s when you think it could be a perfect day

but things don’t go your way.

And you have to appreciate the circumstance anyway.

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We struggle to find the good,

when we are bothered under the collar, hot under the hood.

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From an ideal, humans DO stray,

And yet we are called to NOT “call it a day”…

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But maybe the best thing you can be.

When there’s all this negativity, 

Is to be Jesus in a Jesus Way,

and put the GOOD back into the day.

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It may be frustrating, but life is for forgiving.

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Adding Jesus, cloak over shirt, cheek over cheek, 2 miles for one.

Serving not only 99, but serving and saving just ONE.

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That is the best and God-righteous way, 

The Only Way,

Making Jesus’s Way matter MOST today.

Be the Jesus in THIS day.

.

AMEN

I’m pretty sure we sleep to declutter our minds, repair our bodies, and give our guardian angels some down time from running around with us.

Every day is a new day – every day is a fresh day. Each moment even can be a fresh start if we choose. And yet even a particular day can be a day to snooze and sure, we will get back to the real world the following day – snow days with no snow are a thing…

No matter how busy, how crazy, how awesome or how rotten each day could be, each day resets you fresh, so TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FRESH  

SUNDAY I had “extra” time and prepared entries of cookies flowers and whatnot. Then MONDAY, I raced around for the timing of submitting these Ag Fair items that I rushed at work, not really rushing in traffic, then when we got there, it was an hour WAIT, WAIT WAIT WAIT over an hour at the late 6pm hour, wow… It was a new computer system, none of us could complain really because 1) nothing we could do about it, 2) none of us preregisted as we could have, 3) we were in the shade of a beautiful evening, and 4) waiting for computer system things is a first world problem- nothing earthshattering for our lives.

My biggest JOY, was that even an hour such in line, I was WITH MY DAUGHTER, who has entered items for a dozen years now. She loves the Grange Fair too, and it is best that she has grown up to learn when not to complain… that’s priceless… Later, we picked up dinner and I appreciate all those times I bit my tongue with her being a teenager, to keep the peace. People in my life, around me those teenage years said: “she’ll come back around”  Yes, after a phase of growing up and growing through teenager-ness,  she did. Yes. 

Yes, in life it is important to pick your battles, pick up your cross not of sub-servience but of a higher-calling, of service in the servant-way Jesus taught us by His actions and words.

When we try to be like Jesus, that means: Be a help and know the hope. Be patient and know there’s a process.  Be careful and speak confidently in love. Be human with God inside to shine light even through tarnished treasure.

That’s not always us, Jesus is perfect but we are not. We know we are complainers, fidgety, whiners as humans and even sometimes if it’s not something we have “right” to complain about, we still do. Now, we have “needs to vent” – we have human steam to blow off… Maybe that’s why it’s good to take a walk when one is upset, because then the wind blows away grief. Maybe that is why each day is FRESH. 

Fresh Days, today and tomorrow will be another one too.

Each day, shine Jesus just a little and it will mean a lot!!

Jesus is the best FRESH we got!

AMEN

Why are we so surprised?

Is it chaos or a common change?

Surprised when the driest summer becomes the wettest?

Surprised when calm becomes chaos and flips back again?

Surprised we can’t see the future, even when we ignore the signs of the times?

Surprised?

Surprised to be surprised?

Don’t be.

Life is chaos in construction – changing chaos one day to calm…

Calm yourself in Chaos. Will we rise again? As long as the Lord lives, and He does, then we will – we must – we can…  Ask them dry bones. Israel struggled and strayed – but the Lord is the One with Breath to Give.

And Ye Shall LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amen

Ezekiel – surprised for them dry bones? 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 KJV
The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. 

Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.

Know it – Doesn’t matter if you can’t see it – I’m talking about God’s purpose for you – for this day – for this moment – for your life – for His Plan. 

God knows, even on the days that feel like a funk to us, God knows what is going to be in His Plan for us. Trust Him. . . Trust the down and the up. . .

Know it!

Some days we blow it.

But:

Some times we don’t show it.

And:

We might never know it.

But:

God’s love will flow it.

Know it.

Grow in it.

Answer to it.

Accept it.

Get it.

Live it. 

Love it.

Show it.

Flow it.

Amen 

Psalm 138:8 The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Excerpts from Proverbs 14 and 16 NIV

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Whoever fears the Lord walks uprightly, but those who despise him are devious in their ways.

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known.

My wisdom says to listen to wisdom – and my ears remember that the Lord has MANY things for me to do – especially listen to HIM. Wisdom is wise. Listening is learned. Hope is heard. Real is real. We have to listen to the Lord. And we must be patient to listen and obey.

Here are proverbs from me – hopefully from wisdom – hopefully in hope.

There is not enough time in the day but there is eternity in our lives.

The world doesn’t know to tell you what it needs, but it is ready to show you when you put God-vision glasses on.

Our lives are not for safety but for salvation.

Our walk is for wondering and working.

Our “the buck stops here” comes after the buck is given to us to spend or lose or save. Invest or divest. Give it to the Glory of the Lord and find rest.

Our hope is in the Lord’s hope in us.

I work by the Lord’s work in me.

I live by the life the Lord gives me.

I love because He is Love.

I am because He is.

Amen

There are many more to write – but only time to live… keep living…

Amen Amen

It makes me amazed driving through the country land how beautiful, how preserved and how beckoning it is to be lived on and yet not defiled. To be gifted in usefulness – as God had intended it to be – to give forth without having to be worked hard – to be like Adam before the fall – to be partakers in the amazing life God would have us live.

There is still a lot of land as I discover joyfully when I drive up and down these beautiful states, oh the land in this summertime with sufficient rain certainly can give forth…  and I believe Jesus will return “premillennialism” and reign 1000 years on earth – I’m glad that there are still beautiful fields to be enjoyed. (This is my hope to travel and see great sights during this time – but honestly, the knowledge of what is to come is to give us HOPE HOPE HOPE in the Lord – and what is restored… We will be here (somewhere here or in heaven) to see The Lord’s Promises come to fruition.

The land will give forth… For His Sake…

Ezekiel wrote for the time that Israel would return to her land and God would see that the land itself would be able to prosper – and the people prosper – and to be set as an example that the Lord Himself was in charge and to be trusted and to be revered as Holy. He gave hope not just to the people, but to the mountains themselves. And He gives us all hope in the returning of Jesus. In the locking away of Satan and in His peace. We are not to gloat in this. We are not to party or shop until we drop. We are not to exploit the land. We are to worship the Lord in His coming in addition to knowledge of the Lord’s first coming. We will see things set right, so let us not say it is for OUR sake, but for the sake of His Holy Name.

Amen 

Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’

—–

Ezekiel 36

Hope for the Mountains of Israel
“Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The enemy said of you, “Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession.”’ Therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander, therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns that have been plundered and ridiculed by the rest of the nations around you— this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, for with glee and with malice in their hearts they made my land their own possession so that they might plunder its pastureland.’ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I speak in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.

“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will cause many people to live on you—yes, all of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of people and animals living on you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I will cause people, my people Israel, to live on you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you will never again deprive them of their children.

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because some say to you, “You devour people and deprive your nation of its children,” therefore you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, declares the Sovereign Lord. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

Israel’s Restoration Assured
Again the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by their conduct and their actions. Their conduct was like a woman’s monthly uncleanness in my sight. So I poured out my wrath on them because they had shed blood in the land and because they had defiled it with their idols. I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered through the countries; I judged them according to their conduct and their actions. And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.

“Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.

“‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel!

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Once again I will yield to Israel’s plea and do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as sheep, as numerous as the flocks for offerings at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals. So will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

—-

1 Thessalonians 5 – The Day of the Lord
Paul wrote: Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

But when thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, Matthew 6:3

I know you aren’t supposed to talk about your gifts to people and organizations. Scripture says just GIVE without giving a boast about it. Technically, hide your giving from yourself even… Yet the opportunity I had this weekend beget the biggest smile and joy – was just too awesome not to share – so I’m sharing. (But I didn’t tell my mom, lol)…

When you give, give from the heart and give from being smart and give to fill in a missing part.

I gave a person, yes a stranger, who was a vendor at a local festival, one of my well-used beach umbrellas – for her and her daughter to take to the jersey shore. We started chatting about stuff, which is always appreciated at low key events with time to spare. My mom had just gone in the store and even though she is even more chatty than I, she opted out of this conversation… My mom also probably felt this vibe of me being too chatty, but it was ok… Well, our conversation about summer turned into a conversation of birthdays and that the woman’s teenage daughter was a fan of the TV show “Jersey Shore” (she said “don’t judge, lol”, LOL). well – a “coincidence” – I had just been to the shore, just the day before. The woman said her daughter had never seen the ocean but longed to do so… to go experience and explore the shore… It is a little far away, 5-6 hrs or more for them, not just a day trip, from this area. (I understood that from growing up without a beach). And so she said when the daughter was presented with the choice between an adventure birthday family trip to the shore or a regular party, the daughter chose adventure… Cool… Shore is Cool…

I privately thought, well yeah I could get another umbrella much easier than this woman, me being so close to the shore now. Half the time I use my friend’s anyway. So I snuck back to the car (not really sneaking) to get it and bring it back, slightly stealth from my mom seeing the exchange, under stealth from telling her too for no good reason except I just didn’t want that conversation of “you got too involved in that”… well, mums the word..  that’s why I have to tell someone, it’s good to have a blog!!!

The JUMP FOR JOY from that teen daughter, whom happened to be there across the field, was IMMEASURABLE and a testimony to JOY in the experiences and anticipation of LIFE. It was worth it. An umbrella love. In the moment. She beamed and JUMPED for JOY when her mom called to her and held up the umbrella… Cool…

It’s not just that we chatted nicely like you would at these country down-home festivals (I was at 2 of them this weekend), and not just because of our chatting about Christian camp meetings, and not just because of the added expense of an umbrella to their trip already, it was simply a great small birthday present that I thought I could add into the mix of their adventure. Right place right time to make an impact. 

Yes, I had just been at the jersey shore the previous day under my friend’s bigger umbrella. I thought here of being in the moment that I could add a tiny bit into a mix of fun, even though I know they could have rented one or bought one… It is an umbrella love of life – and of all people who enjoy life. I love the beach and how close I am to it. I told them about the lighthouse to climb and the differences in the boardwalks with amusement parks and those without. I know the energy and even milestone of seeing the ocean, which we never grow tired of, and the JOY OF LIFE. . . Would you give an old $10 umbrella too? Umbrella love for a birthday? I think so… cool.  

Jesus was with His people who were listening intently when His mother was trying to pull Him out of the crazy congested scene. It’s probably less criticism and more concern of Jesus in DEEP: “But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” Mark 3:33-35

Isn’t that showing and tapping into an UMBRELLA LOVE, Jesus showed and has love that covers better than an umbrella – it covers like a rain soaked seeping in love… Strangers in the room to each other and Jesus’s family – but not to Jesus. Strangers for us are only strangers here as we will see them in heaven for shore… Jesus said “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” – YEAH… Yeah, Jesus knows them all: “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.“

Cool.  

Shore felt good to share some umbrella love too….

AMEN and thank you Jesus for leading the Way of Love

It’s not just the water, it’s the beach, the calm, the connected unconnectedness like phones available but not needed… Ahhh… the early morning holds warm weather coolness and the cool hot knowledge of the heat back inland building that made this feeling of salvation from a summer scorcher possible. Relief. Real… Right place right time… It was a short trip but blessed to be there…

Right place right time. Like driving somewhere just after the thunderstorms roll out. Cool 70s after 90s nonsense. It is best to just be – especially wherever you are…

Amen – and…

A poem…

Summer weather to explore… 

Hear God’s ROAR at the shore…

Trouble no more… 

Worries left back at the back door…

A respite of life to restore…

Beach time is blessed to be shore…

Forgive me Lord, the shucks of corn were for my convenience, only 2 of the 4 got shucked, but the motion and unknow of it must have aggressively aggravated the neighbor across the street from the public pull off… He couldn’t have understood what I was doing – composting – but maybe it was my aggressive looking toss… Maybe my loud music – I had no idea there even was a house across the street.  Technically this was loitering longer than he thought appropriate – my respite was not appreciated. He only saw the toss I guess, assuming garbage… It was the intention known vs unknown or known and disregarded or regarded… Well, I don’t like confused conflict so I drove away, actually drove opposite and then quickly turned around to drive my own way, more stealth. Calm after confusion. Escape from excitement.

Somewhere this matters but actually doesn’t.  Assuming garbage of holding onto guilt not needed, for I feel like the Lord knows my intention… pre-composting simple corn shucks… Awww shucks to the situation, and shucks to garbage grumbling… but awww thanks to the Lord weighing the heart… (the other guy’s too)… Assuming garbage is not good for anyone.

You look at the heart and Yours is purest – we hold out for Your grace…

For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

A poem:

I’m sorry Lord for the throw unknown.

I’m sorry for his yelling made from his grown.

Assuming garbage but composting the good is Your known.

I’m asking forgiveness from mind preoccupation and now my moan.

I guess I understand a little more for what you felt when on earth you did roam.

Accusation of inaccurate assuming. Motions that mirrored in muddled mayhem. Simply nothing to simple moan..

You endured the pain and yet the gain is Your Throne.

Now I’m glad to be safe at home. 

I’ll be more cautious in my unknown.

I will be cautious to look twice before I have thrown.

Mentally in my “oops-s”  I have grown.

In You, Lord, my real mess ups are known.

In You Lord, we will continue to live to roam.

Your vision of forgiveness makes us feel safe and at home.

Amen

Lord, forgive my humanness 

I DID…

Lord, forgive my worldliness

I AM…

Lord, forgive my lack of focus

I WILL…

…

Lord, please provide 

I DID – REMEMBER?

Lord, please provide 

I AM – LOOK!

Lord, please provide 

I WILL – HOPE.

…

Lord, LEAD 

I DID – Reflect. 

Lord, LEAD 

I AM – Watch.

Lord, LEAD 

I WILL- Know.

…

LORD, I KNOW 

LORD, I GROW 

LORD, I PRAISE

…

AMEN 

“You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

Ezekiel 34 digs deep into God’s care – God’s knowledge of how we behave as humans – and God’s desire. God wants His people to know He is their Shepherd. God wants Israel to know they are His People. Ezekiel speaks for God who is telling His flock directly to have hope, hold on…

This is calling for those times in about 600 BC and also for now – so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land… “

Yes, God is speaking of Israel coming back to His Land for them and of their regathering – and of their hope – and ours.

God also sets forth the issues that the self-indulgent are bringing to the scene – God is against those who take advantage of the weak and who live for themselves. God will do the judging Himself. God will punish (and therefore we won’t have to do the punishment – LET GOD HANDLE IT!)

God’s servants serve God’s Flock – as God chose David, God would continue to serve His people by providing a Shepherd – yes David and then from the lineage of the house of David we know Jesus came to be Shepherd and servant to all – ready to bless all who would hear – all who would call Him Lord – ll who would be a sheep to His Shepherd.

Old Testament wisdom – brings this up again and again – God will protect and provide – He simply wants the people to know that He is Shepherding them! God as Shepherd will find His flock: For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.”

May we continue to believe and know this Shepherding – may we learn from God’s requests of the people of Ezekiel’s time and not be those who trample others. May we then be the sheep of His flock.

Amen

Ezekiel 34 NKJV
Irresponsible Shepherds
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”

‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.”

God, the True Shepherd
‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”

‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing. Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. Thus they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people,” says the Lord God.’

“You are My flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

“In the 12th year” – God told them there would be a captivity and fall – that it would be 70 years in all. It would take a while to accomplish the maneuvering of the peoples into place – the captives and the captors, the war-ravaged and the warriors… So – as prophesied, the cherished Jerusalem would fall, and as prophesied and urged, it was important to “Stay the Course”, wait it out, be ready for God’s next move. That is SO TRUE for us today too. We best continue to open our mouths FOR the Lord rather than drop our chins in astonishment of the times. 

Don’t Gawk, Walk. 

Ezekiel had to stay the course prophesying, even if God told Him that the people might ‘smile and nod’ at what he said but then NOT do the work God wanted.

The people would NOT be obedient but times would come when they realized a prophet had been there with them. Those are the people whose jaws would drop.

SO let us NOT drop our chins, mouth open but empty, let us praise God as we travel ourselves thru His predicted times, and still be working. If we get to the end of this set of times, then let us know that we knew that Jesus had come and will come again – and put our hope IN the Lord. Let us try to work at explaining where our hope is rather than where our complaints are.

In our “x” year, we don’t know the time – Let us remember these times when the bible was saying PAY ATTENTION…

Ezekiel’s call was to tell them all.

With Jerusalem’s fall and all, he stayed the course.

Amen

——-

Ezekiel 33:21-33

The Fall of Jerusalem

And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been captured!”

Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the man came who had escaped. And He had opened my mouth; so when he came to me in the morning, my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

The Cause of Judah’s Ruin

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, they who inhabit those ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’

“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You eat meat with blood, you lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? You rely on your sword, you commit abominations, and you defile one another’s wives. Should you then possess the land?” ’

“Say thus to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and the one who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and caves shall die of the pestilence. For I will make the land most desolate, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.” ’

Hearing and Not Doing

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Masks?!!! 

When I look overwhelmingly at the graduated college kid’s stuff PILED from coming home, now re-attacking it to sort and pare down, I stopped to MARVEL at the mom-made homemade COVID MASKS (and ones supplied by the college). Remember those? LOVE the fabrics… LOVE the playful or elegant ways to keep walking… 

Ancient history now in my life 4 years ago (4 yrs ago was prepping for a 2nd year return of a 5 year program, she got nearly all semesters on campus, thank God for her education and life experiences). ANCIENT HISTORY now in my mind, and maybe in hers and probably yours too. TIME FLIES!!!

It was a moment in time, WE GOT THROUGH IT, think Psalm 23 in miniature.  College survived and we survived college, now we move on (still got to deal with the pile, lol)… When I think of 5 years of college, the PILE(S) IS WORTH IT… When I think of the FUTURE, the past was powerful in saying KEEP GOING! Power through and THRIVE!!!

Now of the future, how can we think of anything but the blessings of KEEP MOVING… “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”.

Amen!!!

—

Psalm 23 KJV

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Ezekiel’s Call

Came because God knew Jerusalem would fall.

Ezekiel called upon Israel to worship ONE God not fake gods, not at all.

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Ezekiel’s Call

Spoke God’s Word after a muted squall.

No one but God’s specific special messenger was up to Ezekiel’s Call.

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Ezekiel’s Call

Was a warning to them all.

They said the way of the Lord is not fair – but don’t forget it is HIS righteousness which forgives sins big and small.

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It is all of our jobs to hear God’s Word – in our own Ezekiel call.

It is our blessing to have the Grace and Mercy God showers on one and all.

Thank you Ezekiel, for answering the call.

Amen

—

Ezekiel 33:1-20 NKJV

The Watchman and His Message

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

The Fairness of God’s Judgment

“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’ When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

“Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways.”

“This is it!” And with that, the Titanic sank, Rose and Jack kicked hard and they rose to the surface of the cold Atlantic (which was so sound-studio calm I couldn’t believe it). This movie ship sink was the worst cinematography and graphics I ever saw in a movie from this era. Star Wars 20 plus years earlier was SO much better, I believed in those ships! The rest of the movie was beautiful, the stately ship was/is still superb, even under the sea. And the souls… sigh…

It was a late night youtube find, I watched the movie in fast forward in under an hour, having never saw it. It was sad, poignant and stark. It was beautifully written and I understand it was a hit. I thought so interesting at the end that Rose did not disclose her real name, choosing Jack’s name in defiance and in love. She turned her face away from the evil fiancé too, he never found her and we know she was free of his controlling grip. She turned away from the fall – to rise to a new life. No idea what the blue sapphire represented either as it was tossed into the sea except maybe she finally gave away the hurt of that sour relationship to gain the healing of the good relationship with Jack that never could continue. I liked the last scene of their kiss, Jack and Rose. Together forever. I appreciate that her name is ROSE.

I wouldn’t even write about this movie or goofing-off escapism, except for the SCRIPTURE, yes the scripture of Revelation 21, in a recitation by a tearful fearful clergy man with kneeling accepting petitioners who never got to a lifeboat (most of the passengers didn’t get a limited life boat). These scripture-saying, believing-believers did, however, get in the Life Boat of the Lord. “…and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

Lord Almighty. 

“God Almighty”, is what the unsinkable Molly Brown, played by Kathy Bates, would say looking at the carnage in motion from her lifeboat. It was sad, it was sad too the perceived guilt of survival. I can’t even imagine the realness.

But I can appreciate the scripture, and the belief, and the hope despite despair and despair despite hope. What would we think, to sink or rise?

That’s why through life, sinking we must RISE – and know this scripture, perhaps commit it to memory – and say God Almighty, we are SAVED. 

In the movie – Rose but in real life we RISE and one day we will have ROSE because God Almighty had RISEN.

Sweet….

Amen

—

Revelation 21:1-4 (V2 not in the scene) 

V1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

…V2 not in the scene: And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

V3 “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

V4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

AMEN AMEN

I knew the storms were coming. I’m a weather radar junkie, but I also could see the cat’s expression – ten minutes before the front, she was already alarmed, ready for hiding in the back of the smallest space she could find – but rather stuck with me on the couch – looking at the windows…  cool…  summer… power and intensity. 

Now the storms have passed, the heatwave broken, and ‘regular’ summer back.

I wonder in the book of Ezekiel if the Egyptians and the Pharaoh understood the intensity and sincerity of God’s decree against them. I wonder if they were alarmed when hearing about the coming wrath of God. Hid or didn’t – I would guess they didn’t. And did Ezekiel’s fellow Israelites have ears perked knowing this big situation would go down and watch like the radar or hide or best, listen to God to what they should do. They were in exile and were told to wait it out. I know Ezekiel told them to know the storms would pass. God’s mercies fresh in the times to come. But they best keep their ears perked!

We always know that God means business – and we should also know that in preparation to His doing His business, He advertises what He will do – and He tells whom is going to do the work needed too…  There is no bigger sense of “You are going down” given that than to Egypt in this section of the book of Ezekiel – Egypt is being prophesied against. Egypt also will become the spoils for the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzer, hook, line and sinker. 

And when God is talking about Pharaoh with the fish of the river to stick to one’s scales (twice) – the Lord knows His punishment will be severe and purposeful – to let folks KNOW He is God. The river and all in it are God’s and Pharaoh making himself a god-like ruler doesn’t mean he was one.

God said so then showed so, with Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar ready to ruin Pharaoh. 

The chapters devoted to this crush (chapters 29, 30, 31, 32 link below) are a sense of many years of war. And reinforcement of the truth that God DID bring the Babylonians over Egypt. Now with ears perked, hearts petitioned to listen, may the Israelites (and we) know God is Sovereign. 

Amen 

—-

All 4 chapters 29 to 32:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+29-32&version=NIV;NKJV

Ezekiel 29 – Proclamation Against Egypt

In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I am against you,
O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers,
Who has said, ‘My [Nile] River is my own;
I have made it for myself.’
But I will put hooks in your jaws,
And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales;
I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers,
And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales.
I will leave you in the wilderness,
You and all the fish of your rivers;
You shall fall on the open field;
You shall not be picked up or gathered.
I have given you as food
To the beasts of the field
And to the birds of the heavens.

“Then all the inhabitants of Egypt
Shall know that I am the Lord,
Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
When they took hold of you with the hand,
You broke and tore all their shoulders;
When they leaned on you,
You broke and made all their backs quiver.”

‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’ Indeed, therefore, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and among the cities that are laid waste, her cities shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries.”

‘Yet, thus says the Lord God: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms; it shall never again exalt itself above the nations, for I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations anymore. No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turned to follow them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.” ’ ”

Babylonia Will Plunder Egypt
And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw; yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre, for the labor which they expended on it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God.

‘In that day I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”

Ezekiel continues to warn the waring neighbors of Israel (during the Babylonian times – circa 600 years before Jesus came as a baby to earth) – and Ezekiel reminds us and them that Israel will be gathered – the people come from all the nations to where they were scattered. They will be the saved ones – and they shall know that God is the Lord and the Lord is God.

Lest we forget too – God is the Lord and the Lord is God.

Amen

Ezekiel 28:25-26 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbors who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Here is the handout prepared for VBS about Peter – Jesus – and our red cabbage experiment – I always know that paper lives longer in people’s sight than emails… floats around the car – gets thought about before being discarded…  The Word is for sharing!

Jesus IS our friend – Jesus IS God and He came to teach us about God. “Greater love has no man than this, then to lay down His Life for a friend.” This is a scripture from John 15:13. This same gospel of John in chapters 19-21 tells us the story of how Jesus came to earth to die on a cross – and Jesus came back to life – this act would cover us in God’s Grace which is forgiveness.  Jesus came to share forgiveness for sins which allows us to be with God forever. “Our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Romans 5:11.

Our Imagination Station experiment was of red cabbage (purple liquid after boiling in water) juice changing colors of a plant pigment by a change in pH (more or fewer Hydrogen and Hydroxide ions from treatment with acid (vinegar) or base (baking soda). This plant pigment is called ANTHOCYANIN and it is one of the protector molecules that helps protect plants from too much sunlight energy. The main molecule of chlorophyll causes the reaction of photosynthesis to occur (which makes energy-storage molecules (like glucose and starch) and oxygen from the sunlight and carbon dioxide). Anthocyanins and other pigments (like carotenoids and xanthophylls, etc) are part of the surrounding structures inside the plant cells and inside the chloroplasts. Anthocyanin is important to be around the chlorophyll. The red cabbage has a lot of these anthocyanins and it comes out when cabbage is boiled (you can do this at home – just be careful with the hot water!) To the cabbage juice, we added acid (vinegar) and base (baking soda) to change the color of purple to a variety of pinks and greens and blue… It was easy to change this color back and forth. The science is in the pH change. The acid or base addition makes the structure of the purple color pigment ANTHOCYANIN change. The structure reflects color to our eyes in a different way and it is a fast change.

Our friend Jesus had a very special friend, Peter, who was so sure he would not let Jesus down. But when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter followed and yet Peter did not admit that Jesus was his friend. Peter hid in plain sight – even lying about knowing Jesus while he was looking directly at him. Peter was scared and his courage changed so fast – fast like our experiment – that Peter denied Jesus even before he could think about it – three times. Our experiment with the purple cabbage anthocyanin is like Peter flip flopping, being wishy washy. Peter changed. Blessedly Jesus does not change and still loved Peter – just like He loves us.

Jesus died but then came back to life on the third day – a holiday we call Easter. Jesus showed Himself to Peter – called for Him by name – and brought Peter back to being His Friend – Jesus never left Peter and Jesus never leaves us.  Jesus will always Love us. Jesus is our friend.

We may sin or deny Jesus – but Jesus does not change, and HE WILL ALWAYS LOVE US.      Jesus is our friend!     Our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Romans 5:11.

Day 2 VBS so much fun!

A dance party, a lesson about Peter and Jesus being his friend and ours. Our Imagination Station experiment included changing anthocyanins from red cabbage from purple to red pink or blue green by adding vinegar acid or baking soda base. It reflects how easy Peter had changed from defending Jesus (in the garden) to how he got scared after Jesus’s arrest and hid in the crowd scenes. Peter changed with fear, but Jesus’s love never changes and still loved Peter, as He loves us.

Jesus reconciled Peter with Grace. He extends to us the same grace.

Jesus opens friendship with God!

That your, our, Joy may be Full, walk in the Light.

Let our fear leave – take flight.

Let the Lord’s Righteousness make us Right.

Walk in the light as He is in the light.

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If our trust is seen by day, what do we do at night?

Let our trust in Jesus set us right.

Be willing to understand life through a view of His Light.

Walk in the light as He is in the light.

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If life is a take-down, should we put up a fight.

We know the future – the hope – the forever – right?

Calm ourselves and hold on tight.

Walk in the light as He is in the light.

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The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin – Jesus understands our plight.

Our forever secured due to HIS MIGHT!

Walk by Faith and Not by Sight.

Walk in the light as He is in the light.

Amen

—-

1 John 1 – New King James Version
What Was Heard, Seen, and Touched
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.  And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Fellowship with Him and One Another
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

My friend is in her last hours, we think. All we know is that it’s the Lord’s timing, not ours. Not ours, maybe partially hers, as we probably have hold-out power, from our experience knowing others when they were “ready” to pass. All throughout hospice and before it, we have known that she is a loving follower of Jesus, so especially now I’m sure she is taking her cues from Him.

God’s got a plan. God’s purpose has a timing. God loves us too much to not help us through life and death and life again. 

Perhaps that is what or why people holding on, in hospice, pass when they pass. Perhaps it is both at their time determined by God and also when (and especially so) someone here on earth has to ‘let go’ of the person and especially completely put their trust in Jesus. Waiting on a prayer – includes the Lord waiting to hear someone say: ‘I trust you Lord, that I will see her again in Heaven.’ Yes. Holding on, that a person is becoming more believing – that one soul already saved helps save another. Iron sharpens iron – so prayers help praying.  The saved witness all the Way.

Saving Grace is to be embraced.  “He who does the will of God abides forever.”

When I saw my hospice friend’s smile, one week ago now, it was a ‘happy to see you’ smile. When I think of how the Lord must help her/us in final days, I’ll say that I pray we have that inside smile to say: “Happy to see you Lord.” 

And when we say ‘I trust You Lord’, and let go, no matter when/what the day, I sense the smile of Jesus greeting His little children as friends, as souls, as saved. 

I believe in the Power of Prayer – the connection of closeness – and the embrace of Grace. God is waiting on a prayer… from us.

May the Lord rest our souls – in His Time – He knows the Way it all goes… May we all TRUST and KNOW.

Amen 

———-

1st John 2:5-8, 12-14, 15-17

… whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

—

I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.
I write to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
Because you have overcome the wicked one.
I write to you, little children,
Because you have known the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,
And you have overcome the wicked one.

—
Do Not Love the World
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

AMEN AMEN

It’s still a memory even if it is from a faded photo. So I took a few pics of the photos with my phone, these were the treasures of the day in my sorting and cleaning at the farmhouse. These late 1970s early 1980s photos were the first era of color photos, and color doesn’t last long from that era… it’s not just 70s style of browns and oranges, it’s that plus the yellow of fading. My childhood is fading, at least 50% of any documentation is in 35mm slides, so any real photos are appreciated, yellow or not.

These are not surprises – my family took MANY photos of me and my cousins, of my Grandma and Grandpa,  Aunts, Uncles, and parents. And we went EVERYWHERE – zoos and state fairs – farm markets and curiosity places. I know these photos show the people and the era of the times, yet these photos are of forgotten days – I don’t have specific memories of THESE events, maybe because I went to SO MANY – and honestly how can we remember even a fraction of our childhoods. I know that we celebrated MANY birthdays but these pics, even with me in them, are new to me, yet confirm what I already knew – my family was and is great and we had great childhoods.

One memory that popped back up was eating picnic lunches from the truck of the car – the sandwiches baloney or peanut butter and jelly, drinks, napkins, maybe chips – all in that styrofoam or red cooler – classic 50 years ago. We travelled inexpensively then – often starting early and sometimes brought pillows to rest. I remember fractions of these times but with these things vivid. So with delight I saw many travelling kids this past holiday weekend, even a similar scene last Sunday at a park with kids eating snacks, sitting in a hatchback. Plus the car next to me at the gas station had their hatchback open, a little boy enjoying a snack. These are the memories in the making. I smiled and he smiled back – the whole thing made me happy. Home is where the Joy is.

I can not understand how the Lord knows everything about us – when we don’t even remember a fraction. I know that the Lord IS God and we are not. I know that it is not faded in memories that He suffers when forgiving our sins – it is like a solid coat of His blood that washes us over – cleans us up – and restores us to pure. It is not faded memories but the KNOWLEDGE of whom we SHOULD be – CAN be – ARE – when viewed by the wholeness that He brings us.

I think that we are not judged by God for faded glory – but judged by God to restore us to WHOLE – to all colors of our beings by Jesus adding His restoration touch.

I also believe that He already knows what type of sandwich we like and He has that in that trunk of His in Heaven – the banquet table where we feast WITH Him – oh what an adventure THAT will be…

Amen

From Psalm 139 of David:

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

It was the fresh memory of my neighbor’s chimney fire the previous week which sparked my actions without second guessing to help my troop leader with the smoldering ashes from the fireplace, it wasn’t a big thing to do, but it had to be dealt with. We leave the place better than we came. Plus it was a great use of leftover lemonade anyway. A double plus was the best “cartoon character” of the weekend: the Smokey the Bear massive sign, which I passed 6 times during this camping trip. It was invaluable to remind me and teach new campers that you don’t leave things to chance. “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” !!! Yup!

And plus plus plus, the girls were watching, they learn by watching. So even though I thought we could go hiking one more time, I found myself digging through a trash bag of plastic spoons, uneaten French Fries, plates, and the occasional lump of blackened coal/wood, cooled down in a soup of lemonade. Yeah, the ashes thought to be cool were not. No, not a problem to dive in, cleanest trash I think I ever picked through (and you know I love trash picking). There was thinking time, since we were safely outside, so I had grabbed old reuse of reuse big aluminum trays from my car, the type from sterno use and we dumped the trash into those to douse with lemonade (the girls said ‘where did she get the tray?’, ‘she’s science debbie, that’s why she has them’… funny…well at least they didn’t call me trash picking debbie…  But there’s treasure in that trash! 

Teaching moments!  Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Realizing a teaching moment, I paused holding a carbon ash chunk at the end to explain that wood burns back to carbon chunks. In other situations, diamonds also come from carbon, carbon that is stressed, pressured, compressed and made of the same molecules just realigned. The scouts looked at me weird, but that’s normal, and I’m serious, there’s diamonds in the rough of every moment we have on earth. The teaching moments alone, me and our troop leader saying we aren’t worried about trash sifting, we aren’t worried about getting dirty (especially knowing that at home the shower, the washing machine is awaiting), and that we aren’t afraid to look at a situation for its advantages over disadvantages. (Just wash your hands later!)

That’s looking for DIAMOND DAYS, diamond moments, in the rough, awaiting to be dug into. Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust. Burnt charcoal-ed in life, even the worst days in our lives can be found looking for the support of the treasure of the Lord. Even completely taken down here on earth we are renewed in.Heaven to meet our Savior Jesus who covers us white as snow… 

Our Lord God realigns our dust into wonderfully made creations, then we become dust again. God makes us His Valentines. We celebrate and remember that He loves every piece of our dust, even if we are humanly crumbled on earth.

Time is short, on earth, at camp, in life, so let us make the best of every diamond moment. 

Smiling in the coal is life’s goal. Dig for those Diamond Day moments everyday!

Amen 

—

Psalm 139 Of David

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit. Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,  if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand when I awake, I am still with you.

If only you, God, would slay the wicked!  Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

—-

Genesis 3:17-19 (The fallout from the fall.)

To Adam God said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ – “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Find PEACE, Move Thru Your Mountain, #576, 04Aug2018

I’m in a more peaceful spot, I’m back to reading my Michael Card “Imagination series” on the gospels – Mark 11 – that classic scripture of “Have faith in God – I assure you if anyone says to this mountain: ‘be lifted up and thrown into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen it will be done for him… therefore I tell you all things you pray and ask for – BELIEVE that you have received them and you will have them… and whenever you stand praying if you have anything against anyone forgive him so that your father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing…. But if you don’t forgive neither will your father in heaven forgive your wrongdoing.”

Michael Card reminds us that it’s a lesson on believing in personal prayer and focusing on forgiveness… Jesus said forgive. We can’t go anywhere or get over any mountain if first we don’t forgive others.

It’s summer, its variable hot weather, I know it’s going to be cold again way too soon… so I need to enjoy today before it goes away… my prayer today includes some healing of my hustle and bustle life – ask the Lord to forgive my preoccupation with myself – my prayer is to pause in prayer…

I long for the feeling of camping… Yet what am I longing for that I don’t already have? The freedom of not worrying, of leaving it all behind? Don’t I have that in Christ, ALREADY? I do but I forget that ALL THE TIME!… I pray for the freedom of being back in a place of nature and harmony with the world, of sitting quietly. Don’t I have that now? I do if I actually stop blocking my own PEACE… So will I achieve it? Christ says that I can.

It is quiet in my house at 6am, and I can open windows,  I have a window of opportunity for knowing peace… I can be quiet and listen to the morning birds, I can “Be Still” and hear the rustling of life moving… it’s just started raining, now pouring, the birds even hush…  my house can be considered a big tent… If I think in peace, then can I find peace and harmony inside my own tent? Can I move my mountains blocking my own peace? 

Yes, I can move myself into PEACE.

Yes. I can Be Still and pray to not miss witnessing the peace that’s already here… I can pray to God to forgive my own mountain that blocks His peace… I have obstacles, yet I know they are nothing that God can’t handle… He already knows that He can handle them, and He is, so can I remember to rely on Him?

Christ assured us that we can move mountains, He was standing on a mountain when He said that, and then He moved – moved forward on foot – moved forward in the plan… So, in our prayers we are to believe that we have already obtained what we are praying for… then we have to move thru that plan too.

We can overcome obstacles by prayer, we can let God handle the obstacles for us.  We can believe in what God has ALREADY done… we can pray for God to forgive our doubtfulness in His plan… then get over ourselves, and move forward… we still have to walk over and thru the plan…

My Prayer:

Do I believe in God? I do.

I believe I ALREADY have seen His faithfulness in me.

Do I believe in Christ? I do. I can learn His ways and I do believe in His power…

Can I move a mountain? Not without Him. Has He already moved mountains for me? Oh yeah….

Will He move the next one? Believe in His power and watch what happens…

Will we be required to work thru our mountains? Of course.

Is there peace to be found? YES. I believe in His PEACE, do you?

I believe that you believe too. Thank you for believing too.

Amen

Sledgehammer, 24OCT

Beginning again… Beginning fresh each day… New or Renewing faith… Paying attention is key to the renewing of one’s calling from the Lord to follow Him… Oh, there are MANY doors wide open, quite a few cracked open… Perhaps too many doors it seems for us to choose from…
Perhaps we are perplexed at the array of opportunities to share our faith – which door to enter first? Step away from some as others also seem to pull on us? Select certain times in each? So many opportunities to share the Good News – so little time… So now what?
What if instead of dilemmas and separate directions, God chooses us to look for a plan – His plan – a plan that doesn’t exclude opportunities… Proceed with wisdom, look for God’s guidance, listen…
Perhaps there are tools already laid out in front of us, which we ourselves must take action with… Perhaps these tools include a sledgehammer and a chisel…

What if so many doors are open because it’s our job to knock some holes into the walls between those rooms – what if it’s our job to connect the rooms…

Sledgehammer?… well, maybe test the wall first and use a small chisel and a listening device and start digging, poking, aerating, and then decide whether the situation is ready for a sledgehammer… Perhaps others will join you on both sides and hand break away the barriers… Let God’s plan drive the process… He’s the one with the big picture plan.

I’m talking about combining different areas of your life callings and making less barriers and more common spaces between situations… Can you think of any rooms within in your life callings? Sharing faith at work, or in school situations, or in public – like the hallway of a medical building? With a crowd of scared kids on a camping trip – telling them angels are watching over them? Or ordering a bagel and chiming into the conversation behind you where this guy says to the hysterical women in the other end: “Give it to Jesus…” then when you agree and call out to him in line, he hands you the phone and you also try to calm the distraught woman….. “Give it to Jesus”… Opportunities… Sharing… It’s about being aware in the present…

Grab your sledgehammer, see how the light peaks thru the holes?.., these walls disappear and the global church connects where it didn’t before… Then hands are free to join across the barriers… The voices too…
Jesus gives you the tools, so that you can find the way… “It is in your power to act”. The way is sharing in new ways… The way of the Lord is the way of wisdom.

Open the walls… Let the barriers fall… Pray for wisdom…
Pray for the wholeness of God’s children.
Pray.
——–

Proverbs 4:5-7 Get wisdom, get understanding;  do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;  love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Proverbs 9:10-11  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.

Proverbs 3:13-14, 19-22, 26-27  Blessed are those who find wisdom those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold… By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place… by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,  preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, …. for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.  Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.

Michael Card lyrics:

The Way of Wisdom starts out
With a step of holy fear
And it makes its way alone
By every good word that you hear
It has to do with passion
And it has to do with pain
It has to do with One
Who has both died and rose again

I have a backlog of writings in my head from being “off the grid”, this is the first stemming from retreating to an AMAZING event, the Walk to Emmaus, I would encourage you to think about joining a walk sometime, I was BLESSED to get to know yet another great faith family that wrapped their love around me! And yet another array of pairing of fellow disciples called to work out in the messy world.

This writing topic had to wait in my head, but God found the right opportunity to get it back out, while I was quiet, 6am camping…

—–

It’s a Messy World, 21OCT 2017, #494

Bear!!! I’ve not felt that level of fear in quite a while…

Bear!!! My friends and I saw him at the same time that he saw us, he was just wandering like a deer would, apparently accustomed to our voices, probably smelled the smores, actually going for the bread the neighbor left out for him (oh!)… We were close enough to see his face… And he saw ours…. My fear couldn’t have been more real. My whole brain focused on “how do I get to that porch?” – he watched us – I envisioned him charging at us – but no, he went the opposite way – he ran scared too… I got to the porch of the cabin – Thank the Lord! But, then I didn’t want to leave the porch – even though I really wanted to get back to the campfire – but oh the fear…. it was a big bear! A real bear!

None of us at my friend’s cabin for girls’ weekend had been that close to this bear before, but I’m told he’s a regular traveler to the yard… Yeah crazy… The balance of co-existence, always a trade off for being in bear territory but a rare opportunity to stand around a campfire with the girls, it was a blessed escape off the grid, making new memories and decompressing life…

It’s a messy world... There are many tradeoffs for living in the world that we endure while we move thru life, but this particular event was also a reminder of the balance of living in the natural world, a world which could get dangerous… Bears are native and repopulating this and many regions. They were part of the natural balance of the woods before we, as industrial Americans, starting taking over every postage stamp-sized parcel for “safer” living, and we as Americans have both over-gleaned the natural resources and “sanitized” the heck out of life…

It’s actually amazing that bears can return to our wooded areas, just like there also are gators in Florida backyards, we barely remember that our ancestors lived in respectful fear of the natural world – with many more of these beautiful creatures…. They also maintained knowledge of what plants to NOT eat, they had to think about survival too, we don’t really experience that level of survivorship…Essentially the world, the natural world, was a messy world…

A week ago, I had another treat of a camp scene… a blessed time away, as a pilgrim at the Walk to Emmaus retreat. A series of faith education talks over multiple days of being with God, focusing on His love, His plan for everyone, His plan for us. Three days I was blessed to be able to be phone free, time management free, and embraced by a new layer of supporting fellow travelers. We are called to be disciples – we are travelers on this journey of faith and sharing – where do we start? – what do we bring? – who will we meet? The retreat was blessed time but really a regrouping to re-enter the world as disciples… Yes pilgrims on continued voyages thru the world… a world that we are “in” but not “of”… (John 16:17)

It’s a messy world.

The first series of the presentations stuck with me all weekend, and probably forever, yes, reminding us that “it’s a messy world” but we are called to be disciples in this messy world.  Jesus came during a messiest of messy time – we should remember that ours is not necessarily messier, it is just different messy – killings, devastating poverty, human trafficking, serious afflictions from substance abuse to fatal diseases taking their toll…. Whew…. Jealousy, greed, hate and probably the most insidious of ancient and modern-day plagues: APATHY… Whew… Isn’t that also one of the hardest affronts to overcome? Yes, APATHY… It’s a messy world. Many choose to ignore as much as possible rather than work for better life for all…

We are pilgrims – we are disciples – we are called to serve – to spread the Good News… How will we enter this world everyday – what are we going to do about our own attitudes, our history, our baggage, our self-serving drives? How will we accept our commissions?

Jesus said: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20

And Jesus knew that even He was not taken seriously in His hometown, they all had to hit the road:

Jesus said: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home. He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Mark 6:4-11

Did the disciples have fear? Do we? How will we keep continuing to step out into this messy world of ours? – how we will remember to not let it paralyze us? – how will we put all our life concerns into a global perspective? Surely we will pray and try to obey. One step at a time…

We cannot and should not sugar coat the world just to live above the fray. We are continually called to remember to pick up the phone…  Jesus is calling, He says “Follow me”. We are to step out in faith and bring a friend. What’s your plan?

Bear! I was frozen in fright, but I had a plan, I was focused on getting to the porch and instinctually (although foolishly) thought about out-running that bear, but I knew to go slow. The others simply waved their hands – oh and they tried to grab their phones LOL – and he ran off – whew – safe for now – they returned to the campfire quickly…. I wanted too as well, but it took me a bit longer to be brave – to get off the porch – but I did – and I became ever vigilant for the bears return… I learned new fear and courage, I faced a fear that didn’t disappear by sugar coating it. And then as a team we all watched each other’s backs… As we should – for bears while camping as well as for the pitfalls of life…

Jesus needs us to walk with Him, He’s forever here with us as He gave us the Holy Spirit to be another guide “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.” John 14:16

But we have to get off the porch…  It’s imperative that we grab for Him, pick up our tools (which are our God-given gifts of talents) and then use our skills and take our crosses to bear, and keep moving… We acknowledge the weight bearing we must take on for our mission, the directions known and unknown… And those bears of the world’s problems we are called to face… And we step out in faith…

Perspective – it’s crucial to remember the scale of our problems (and maybe they are or aren’t as horrible as we think when we put them into perspective)… We think of the scale of our more unfortunate neighbor’s problems, the world’s problems, and God’s problem… God’s problem is that not everyone knows Him or knows of HIS love… We are called to work on His solution, suspend our agendas and work on His… called as disciples to step out into the messy world with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit…

The fear understandable, the commission great, the world messy…

God does not call the equipped but He does equip the called…

Go with God. God bless you fellow disciples.

Amen

I may have the agility of a mid-80’s teen playing video games like I was in the arcades, but that built upon 70’s and 80’s pinball playing – gaining much agility and knowing timing with the much waiting for the right flip of the flipper. And so, let me mention those flyswatter battles growing up, wow – I learned timing and severe strikes. Splatttttt! Flies are annoying, sorry Lord as I know you made them too. Did you make them to annoying? We are just in a broken world.

The severity of Splatttt now has been traded in for a much more ‘efficient’ action with handheld vacuuming which leaves no residue – and this is the heroic effort of mine to calm these city kids of mine, who didn’t master the swatting techniques like I did. We were getting a new flyswatter every year at every agricultural or state fair. Of course it was entertaining as we swatted flies at the farm house, and oh yeah, sure, we got tired of swatting unsuccessfully – but we TIRED of the flies even more.

A clear ‘TIRING’ of a bigger situation was the TIRING that the Lord had for the TYRE situation – whose battle warriors were continually like flies drawn to the rotting of the situation of wayward Israelites wandering jusr as bad as in Moses’s time. Tyre said “AHA” when they saw the teardown of the Lord’s set aside special place of Jerusalem. And did the Lord get the small flyswatter out against Tyre? NO – he brought in the “big bazooka guns” (well swords) from King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, against Tyre. BOOM! 

“I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

“you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”

The Lord once again showing that He knows all that goes on and goes down – and that He is Sovereign. 

There will be more takedowns and a vacuum to clean up the mess – but for now, Ezekiel is simply in this phase of proclamations against those against listening to Him.

Let us NEVER tire of listening to God.

Amen

—

Ezekiel 26-27 NKJV

In the eleventh month of the twelfth year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’ therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against you, Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishnets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations, and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: From the north I am going to bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with horsemen and a great army. He will ravage your settlements on the mainland with the sword; he will set up siege works against you, build a ramp up to your walls and raise his shields against you. He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and demolish your towers with his weapons. His horses will be so many that they will cover you with dust. Your walls will tremble at the noise of the warhorses, wagons and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city whose walls have been broken through. The hooves of his horses will trample all your streets; he will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground. They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea. I will put an end to your noisy songs, and the music of your harps will be heard no more. I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread fishnets. You will never be rebuilt, for I the Lord have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands tremble at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and the slaughter takes place in you? Then all the princes of the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and take off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled at you. Then they will take up a lament concerning you and say to you:

“‘How you are destroyed, city of renown, peopled by men of the sea! You were a power on the seas, you and your citizens; you put your terror on all who lived there. Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your fall; the islands in the sea are terrified at your collapse.’

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you a desolate city, like cities no longer inhabited, and when I bring the ocean depths over you and its vast waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the earth below, as in ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, and you will not return or take your place in the land of the living. I will bring you to a horrible end and you will be no more. You will be sought, but you will never again be found, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

A Lament Over Tyre
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning Tyre. Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea, merchant of peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“‘You say, Tyre, “I am perfect in beauty.” Your domain was on the high seas; your builders brought your beauty to perfection. They made all your timbers of juniper from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; of cypress wood from the coasts of Cyprus they made your deck, adorned with ivory. Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail and served as your banner; your awnings were of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah. Men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen; your skilled men, Tyre, were aboard as your ailors. Veteran craftsmen of Byblos were on board as shipwrights to caulk your seams. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to trade for your wares.

“‘Men of Persia, Lydia and Put served as soldiers in your army.
They hung their shields and helmets on your walls, bringing you splendor. Men of Arvad and Helek guarded your walls on every side; men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; they brought your beauty to perfection.

“‘Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver, iron, tin and lead for your merchandise.

“‘Greece, Tubal and Meshek did business with you; they traded human beings and articles of bronze for your wares.

“‘Men of Beth Togarmah exchanged chariot horses, cavalry horses and mules for your merchandise.

“‘The men of Rhodes traded with you, and many coastlands were your customers; they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony.

“‘Aram did business with you because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple fabric, embroidered work, fine linen, coral and rubies for your merchandise.

“‘Judah and Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith and confections, honey, olive oil and balm for your wares.

“‘Damascus did business with you because of your many products and great wealth of goods. They offered wine from Helbon, wool from Zahar and casks of wine from Izal in exchange for your wares: wrought iron, cassia and calamus.

“‘Dedan traded in saddle blankets with you.

“‘Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers; they did business with you in lambs, rams and goats.

“‘The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your merchandise they exchanged the finest of all kinds of spices and precious stones, and gold.

“‘Harran, Kanneh and Eden and merchants of Sheba, Ashur and Kilmad traded with you. In your marketplace they traded with you beautiful garments, blue fabric, embroidered work and multicolored rugs with cords twisted and tightly knotted.

“‘The ships of Tarshish serve as carriers for your wares. You are filled with heavy cargo as you sail the sea. Your oarsmen take you out to the high seas. But the east wind will break you to pieces far out at sea. Your wealth, merchandise and wares, your mariners, sailors and shipwrights, your merchants and all your soldiers, and everyone else on board will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your shipwreck.  The shorelands will quake when your sailors cry out. All who handle the oars will abandon their ships; the mariners and all the sailors will stand on the shore. They will raise their voice and cry bitterly over you; they will sprinkle dust on their heads and roll in ashes. They will shave their heads because of you and will put on sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and with bitter mourning. As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament concerning you: “Who was ever silenced like Tyre, surrounded by the sea?” When your merchandise went out on the seas, you satisfied many nations; with your great wealth and your wares you enriched the kings of the earth. Now you are shattered by the sea in the depths of the waters; your wares and all your company have gone down with you. All who live in the coastlands are appalled at you; their kings shudder with horror and their faces are distorted with fear. The merchants among the nations scoff at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”

THINK

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T. Thirst

H. Hear

I. Inhale

N. Notice

K. Know

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J. Jesus

E. Exquisitely 

S. Saves

U. Us

S. Souls

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AMEN

Out with the old,

In with the new

A life filled with stuff breaks,

But maybe just the fuse blew.

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Don’t throw away what can be repaired. 

Don’t replace it if the fix is dared. 

Never judge anything or anyone for broken parts, 

Only what is doable and heal-able about their hearts.

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Time softens and yields,

Ignorance forever seals,

Life yearns and squeals,

And Savior Jesus heals.

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The ultimate price Jesus paid.

Not a soul now that can’t be saved.

Pouring healing blood, then rising from where He laid. 

FREEDOM from death, we WALK the road Jesus paved.

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Accept forgiveness, ask for it too.

Repair, restore, and be made ANEW.

Death no longer a compromise,

Walk through the shadows, run, and pray to see the Son Rise.

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Amen

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul to the Corinthians 2:17-21

Choose creativity, over cynicism.

Pick to walk, rather than to wallow.

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Share free time, instead of minding your dime.

Be late or be early, but be present-ful, not resentful. 

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Mine your gifts instead of minding my gifts.

Dare to share BOLD, rather than hoarding your share cold.

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Instead…

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Live life appreciative.

Live life thankful for the gifts from above. 

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Choose faces to lift.

Choose embracing your gift.

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Accepting a Gift to relieve. 

In Him we believe.

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Choose Gifts – ours and HIM.

Amen

LIFE!

Life can be SWIRLY

But isn’t it GREAT to wake up EXTRA early?

Get all the quiet you can – to feel life is less twirly whirly.

Heaven will be orderly like this, right? Mentally and physically clean and pearly?

And so now, appreciate PEACE gifted in God’s Early.

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This week switching gears brought me a different fizzy bizzy. 

My daughter moved home and wow the house is IN A TIZZY.

Thank God it is summer and work people scatter, often only aware of their own busy.

So for me? I won’t complain (too much) and will absorb the renewed expectations of ‘Driving Miss Daisy’.

Thank God for the weekends, my head needs to rest from dizzy.

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And the cat? What about that cat?

She watches, and waits. She wants to return to life being all about her and all that.

I can imagine she’s thinking about summer time outside, spoiling her, preventing serious cat pouting and spat.

So surely I could adjust to my kids’ schedules if I can adjust for the cat.

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Adjustment to our life schedules is usually overdue.

Adjustable attitudes is a MUST do.

God will walk with us all in this life – TRUE!

Take a moment, listen, be still too.

God loves to lead and to hold you.

(and God loves that cat too.)

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Life can be Swirly, 

BUT Forever Rely on God, like a F.R.O.G., don’t instead be SQUIRRELY.

He WILL prioritize! Surely!

I will know He is with us always – and calms the swirly.

Thank You Lord, now and early.

Amen

People who think the Old Testament doesn’t pertain to new life – well that is not true! God is love to those people like He is to us and we can listen to His teachings to all.  Especially that the Lord does not want anyone to perish.

God tells Ezekiel to write down the basic truth – that He is a just God – and that we are all our own persons in His eyes, our sins are our own – and our repentance can be real and for ourselves even if our parents are sinners. On the flip side, we can also go wrong even if our parents don’t. And we can go wrong even when we used to be right. We stand alone in God’s Judgement in each moment. 

Surely we have encouragers and helpers to help us go right – and pray for that ultimate new heart and new spirit. Well God Himself will give it to us.  We also must remember that God wants NO ONE to perish. God Himself set up the system to LIVE. Ezekiel 18 – so clearly a chapter for the ages – For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

I had an opportunity to do something rare – a person was walking a young man and as he waited to cross the street while I was going to turn, I offered him a ride – I know it sounds weird in this day and age but I just felt it was right. It was hot – he seemed well enough dressed and clean – he seemed very friendly and patient waiting for me to cross – i just asked – “you need a ride?” – well sure! He only was going up to the next section of the road but it was a ride that he was praying for – in this heat. I just thought well – then this must be a God thing after all. He said he was praying for a ride and here I offered – he was in a recovery house doing well and I said “God Bless you!” – I said one of my favorite scriptures: “If God is for us then who can be against us?!” – TRUE – and encouraging…  Paul was speaking of God’s many blessings – we can too. God IS for us!!!

We DO know of people who come back to God – who come back to clean – who come back to righteousness and just keep walking step by step. I am SO thankful that God is there each step too – ready to serve us – ready to give that New Heart and New Spirit – amazing and amen…

Thank You Lord!

Amen

—-

Ezekiel 18

The word of the Lord came to me: “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: “‘The parents eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.

“Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right. He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or have sexual relations with a woman during her period. He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. He does not lend to them at interest or take a profit from them.  He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between two parties. He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.

“Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them): “He eats at the mountain shrines. He defiles his neighbor’s wife. He oppresses the poor and needy. He commits robbery. He does not return what he took in pledge. He looks to the idols. He does detestable things. He lends at interest and takes a profit. Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.

“But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things: “He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife. He does not oppress anyone or require a pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. He withholds his hand from mistreating the poor and takes no interest or profit from them. He keeps my laws and follows my decrees. He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

“Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

“But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

“But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

“Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

—

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Psalm 44:22)

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

wHEw… I just saw this – oh look there is capital “HE” in the wHEw – looks like HE, God, Him coming up out of water waves – which are the lowercase “w”‘s – Jesus walks on water and overcoming the world.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

HE RISES above issues, above doubts, above all – He already did – HE AROSE- even if the whole world, sin, death, all were against Him. HE WON WHAT ALREADY WAS HIS.

We say WHEW when we give up the stress and emotions of ‘I have a lot’, ‘I did a lot’, ‘of I made it’, of ‘I’m not sure I can make it’, of ‘life is a lot’, of ‘these waves are rough’, of ‘HELP!’…

Well, wHEw is we are WATCHING and focusing ON Him. See Him walking towards us! See Him already have WON, now seated as the Son.

Well wHEw acknowledges HE did and will get us through.  WHEW to the wHEw – or wHEw to the WHEW!!!

“TAKE HEART FOR I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD“!!!

We have the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, God will see us through!

MARVELOUS wHEw! God is FOR you!

wHEw !!!

AMEN

Romans 8:31-39 KJV 

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

Matthew 8:23-27 KJV 

And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Luke 8:22-25 KJV 

Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

We are told by the Lord to ASK the Lord to help us number our days…  Yes. Number our days and ask for WISDOM to live them…

But if you are like me, I tend to get picky picky picky about how I spend my days and my minutes… I don’t like to waste time unless I am the one who has decided to waste it… Really.

I like unstructured time – especially on a Saturday (and honestly I should take a few vacation days this year to do so) – to simply be in charge of having no charge, to have the energy to not use the energy, to not second guess because I never guessed, to pick what I want to do – which is best when not picking anything…  Yeah. Really.

But the pick of today was 2 fold. Actually there were many many picks – including to end the day with a waterpik! Today, I picked gardening, I picked planting flowers, I picked mowing the grass before 9am – good pick. I picked up the computer to rest – I picked up a shower and the mail. I picked up kale salad and egg custard and bananas – great pick. And I picked up the phone to chat with others – best pick. I also picked to chat with neighbors and friends. I picked to text my kids (new generation I know picks up the messages over the talking). I picked to talk to the Lord – PRICELESS but I did not pick that enough!

Anyway, I excitedly picked up a $20 new shredder – SO EXCITED! and then I JAMMED the shredder – OOPS. it has a great mechanism for knowing the drawer is in or out – BUT not that the drawer is OVER FULL. I did not apply wisdom here. Not the first time I forgot to pick out the wisdom.  I did something similar – 30 years ago – with an in-sink grinder and giant zucchini and no water – but I digress…  I jammed the shredder – THIS new shredder – and then I spent like 2 hours trying to unjam it with no luck. And I STILL have all the shredding to do and no, I don’t want to drop it off in a lockbox.

Now – I didn’t really feel like I wasted the money or the time – and you do get addicted to the picking… I did pick outside in the beautiful weather – and I DID have the time, I thought.. The cat was out in her tent too. And I was blessed as I picked up the phone a few times while picking the papers out. I picked and picked until it got dark – and  it IS particularly good to be outside as the nicely crosscut paper is now everywhere – hmmm…

Anyway, I picked how to use the time – but did I pick to apply wisdom? Probably not – but I did pick to discuss it with the Lord about how stupid I could feel but decided to not pick up that self-criticism – I simply applied thanks to the Lord for this harmless incident reminding me that I am SO fallible… 

I picked a second more delicious treat – crabs – garlic crabs – I picked inside this time – I meant to pick outside and enjoy messy yum fun –  I picked them up last night at $4.50 each – I got 4 – 2 is enough for a meal that takes 2 hours…  I meant to pick them up to eat early – but I picked and picked that shredder until I was almost picked out – but then remembered I had to pick at the crabs. I traded fruitless picking of jammed paper to pick the delicious crabs – same picking – different result. 

And there is the WISDOM here – SAME PICKING MOTION – DIFFERENT RESULT. I could pick the day and pick the time and pick the place – but I SHOULD let God pick out the best wisdom for the moment. Number our days Lord and/but don’t make us count the minutes as wasted. There are times to be picky about time = and times to just be pickled in joy that we have the time to pick. Teach us to number our days Lord, and/but pick out the peace from the adventure too. 

Pick your battles rather than let your battles pick on you.  APPLY WISDOM.

I would pick again tomorrow – maybe – I do have more crabs and I do have more outside stuff planned – and you know the cat will want to go outside again. And so for that shredder, it is a challenge I will pick up until the Lord says: Put it down. Maybe pick up a new thing – maybe just let the Lord pick it – YEAH!   And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Amen – and tomorrow is another pick day – God’s Way.

Amen

—

Psalm 90 NKJV – The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty – A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep.
In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.

For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Thank you, Lord for Saturday Sounds, Life is teeming all through Your Grounds.

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But I’ll rest a little more instead.

Rest my head,

Feel my Soul being fed.

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Monday will bring new changes,

My schedule surely rearranges.

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Sunday will be my Sabbath day of rest.

Time with You Lord, You are the best. 

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Saturday too.

I’ll spend with You. 

I love to see Your View. 

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In Your Word I can read and I can write 

and I can really REST in Your Sight.

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And soon Saturday activities are abound.

I want to work in the garden, work the ground.

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Shopping and life stuff,

I’ll take time for myself and for fluff.

But my best thought, Lord, is that You are Enough.

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So first I’m in PAUSE mode, to hear these Saturday Sounds, I’m confessing.

May we all dream of the time when we DO feel and see ‘Heaven on Earth’ as Your Amazing Blessing.

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Amen 

“Self care” is dangerous because it can become a self-indulgence SNARE.

But SPIRITUALLY AWARE is when you knowingly choose to realize you are ALREADY under God’s Care.

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It’s a completely different life pace,

When you step in God’s already won race.

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It’s not putting ourselves here nor there,

It is listening INTERNALLY for guidance to be SPIRITUALLY AWARE. 

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So don’t blindly chase

What you think is a safe space.

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Be weak to feel His Strong.

Accept healing in His righteousness covering of wrong.

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Become dynamic and be determined to recognize, 

That you are God’s child and you delight in His Eyes. 

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Know Him, the gift to focus on things above. 

Know blessings to know God’s Love.

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Choose GOD’S CARE.

Be SPIRITUALLY AWARE.

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Amen 

—

Psalm 119:27-32, 41-48

Cause me to understand the way of your precepts, that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds.

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness;  I have set my heart on your laws.

I hold fast to your statutes, Lord; do not let me be put to shame.

I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.

…

May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise; then I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I trust in your word.

Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.

I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.

I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.

I reach out for your commands, which I love, that I may meditate on your decrees.

It has been Planted, but will it THRIVE? OH Lord, help us help Your Word Spread… Help us not get in the way of teaching Your Way.

OH EZEKIEL 17, There is so VERY MUCH to unpack in this one chapter. Wow! We are a broken people, aren’t we? Ezekiel spoke of Jerusalem Israelites foreboding capture to Babylon, but as even Jesus, in Matthew 15, points out, then and we see now, life continues to have situations of the hardened hearts that are defiled, the people who have become corrupt. Wow.

No doubt this is why James 5 (Jesus’s brother) reminds us to STRENGTHEN our hearts, the Lord is coming back, soon. We have no time to waste, we have to deal with the grumbling and keep going…It’s no wonder that we are asked to NOT scuttle for divisive issues, but also we can’t stand idle. 

For us to also flourish, we need Jesus’s guidance and vine-infused faith strengthening to bear fruit. We need to be Psalm 1 trees, grounded in the Word. 

Psalm 127  brings us the truth of God’s Sovereignty – unless God builds it, it will fail.

Ezekiel 17 presents that the Lord choosing what will THRIVE – and a tree without roots will wither – we without the Lord won’t either (dry branches into the fire scripture).

Ezekiel records and speaks to the crucial aspect of God: He is IN CHARGE!  ‘All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish’. – ‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’

Ezekiel calls out the wishy-washy unfaithfulness. And so does James.  Let us be in the Lord’s Plan, not losing precious time to preach and reach.

AMEN

—

Listen:

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Ezek.17

Ezekiel 17

Eagles and a Vine

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell it to the Israelites as a parable. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders.

“‘He took one of the seedlings of the land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.

“‘But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water. It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.’

“Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots. It has been planted, but will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it—wither away in the plot where it grew?’”

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Say to this rebellious people, ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Say to them: ‘The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king and her nobles, bringing them back with him to Babylon. Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land, so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty.  But the king rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?

“‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke. Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives. He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant. I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there because he was unfaithful to me. All his choice troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the winds. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken.

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.

“‘I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’”

—-

Psalm 127:1

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

—-

Matthew 15  NIV – UK

That which defiles

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’

Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honour your father and mother” and “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is “devoted to God,” they are not to “honour their father or mother” with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”’

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.’

Then the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?’

He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’

Peter said, ‘Explain the parable to us.’

‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them. ‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.’

—James 5 

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Patience in Suffering

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

The Prayer of Faith

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

—

Psalm 1

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

—

James 1:1-20 – NKJV

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

Profiting from Trials

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Loving God Under Trials

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Qualities Needed in Trials

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Elijah knew when to run, but I was happy to just walk away…

I LIKE the TIME that GOD HELPS ME me THINK. 

Today I witnessed a fender bender scrape. First I thought I could keep going but then I thought maybe I should stop in case he needed a witness, even though it looked pretty clear to me: the driver in the back is always at fault. Wasn’t even in my lane, but I stopped anyway. So in minimum processing time, I decided to stop. Yes, they stopped. I stepped out and the back party (offender) stepped out and was questioning why the guy in front stopped (um, because he was merging and had a yield).  The window of the front car opened, and the guy was not pleased. Just quiet. The offender in back kept yacking: ‘Why did you stop so fast? Why didn’t you just keep going?’ Honestly I could see there was no sorry coming, just arguing when you’re trying to put the blame on somebody else. But then I smelled the fumes of a somewhat legal illegal substance from the front car. These days it is sad, and dangerous. So I thought: even if the cops could be called, that the front driver (not in the wrong) was probably not gonna call because… Hmmm… 

I got the sense that it was time to walk away. I did ask, of the front car driver, if he needed me to stay (like as a witness) and he waved me off, gave me a thumbs up. I walked away.

Good. I walked away.

It’s like that Kenny Roger’s song: “you got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run.” – I never felt like it was time to run and I was never in fear. I just processed fast that it was probably best to go. Probably they worked it out without my presence. I felt as though the Lord was helping my gut reaction, that it was time to go. Thanks Lord.

I do believe the Lord gives us times to ponder, then times to make big decisions, and TIME TO WALK AWAY, making no decisions except for letting another day worry about those later decisions... (ps the Lord will be there in the future to help too.)

There are other things and times where I had to walk away. And there will be in the future too. I appreciate we have the Lord’s counsel, especially when we don’t know everything going on. 

That’s life. We don’t have to make every decision. We certainly should take it one day at a time. We don’t have to solve every puzzle. We don’t have to even put all the puzzle pieces out on the board. We simply need to just listen to the Lord: “Where am I supposed to be today? Now? And where am I NOT?.”

Thank you Lord, TODAY, for the ‘yes, be here’, and especially for the NOT.

AMEN

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY – to listen to God.

AMEN 

—-

Psalm 32 of David. A maskil.

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

—

Elijah ran – God helped. 

1 Kings 19:3-10

New International Version – UK

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty….‘

They will be my people and I will be their God.”

The Glory of the Lord moved – but completely withdrew NOT! 

God, through Ezekiel, told the Exiles A LOT!

The disobedients remaining in Jerusalem were prophesied against, one even died on the SPOT!

Even though that bad guy thought he was the meat in the pot, God said he was NOT!

God said to the exiled remnant that they would return to Jerusalem and remove the items that made the people’s faith ROT.

The Lord raised Ezekiel to witness the rot, the spot and the not.

Ezekiel said God would help those Whom He loved A LOT!

Amen – for Ezekial 11 that’s all I got.

Again I find this chapter is well received when listened to – by David Suchet:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Ezek.11

Ezekiel 11

God’s sure judgment on Jerusalem
Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. The Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. They say, “Haven’t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.” Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.’

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and he told me to say: ‘This is what the Lord says: that is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. 6 You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.

‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: the bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you. You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.’

Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell face down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?’

The promise of Israel’s return
The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, “They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.”

Therefore say: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.”

‘Therefore say: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.”

‘They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.’

Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God.

Then the vision I had seen went up from me, and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.

Jesus gives us strength, let us go with the flow.

We didn’t know If the plans we made would have been a go.

Maybe sometimes we worried about the stuff that was “touch and go”…

SO if we did succeed – perhaps it was even really good – so, well good things are from God, right? SO…

So APPRECIATE whenever God states:

We don’t plan to fail – and in everything Jesus will help us grow.

We succeed and well, we give credit to where credit is due – Jesus is IN THE KNOW.

Overcome the World – Jesus did – He went with HIS FLOW.

So we too – must overcome the world and today’s woe.

Amen and Let’s GO!

Jesus made it beyond John the Baptist’s understanding of this amazing opportunity – to baptize the One who was actually baptizing him in Spirit…  But Jesus said – we are doing this to fulfill God’s Righteousness…  And God sanctioned and blessed the moment – YES – so who are we to not go with God’s daily life Flow!!! Matthew 3:13-17  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

I AM a God-made ME

I am not supposed to flee

God looks (a Psalm 139 hunt) seeking me

In all, He sets me free

Free to be a better version of me

Free to express in me His Holy Thee.

For Christ asks to SHINE His Light through ME.

I am to put aside my dampening of His Glory.

I am to REDUCE my needy “I need to self-inflate me”

I am to clear some of this busy and burdensome rat-race activity. 

I am to spend time listening to His Plea – to SHINE more humbly.

Like Paul, my hope, unashamedly, with all boldness, is that Christ shall be magnified in me.

So, as Maya Angelo speaks unabashedly:

“Stand up, you are a child of God” – yes – wholeheartedly.

And make the noise of praises and worship excitedly.

And resist the devil so that he will flee.

Asking God for His WISDOM which He will give generously.

Perseverance is the fight to hold fast to Jesus Who is holding fast to me.

I am THE GOD-made ME

A cool part of the devotion-journaling journey, at a prayer gathering I attended, was to prune a spider plant, but instead of casting to the fire for unproductive dryness, these branches were making new offshoots and are to be replanted and grown. Easy for a spider plant because it doesn’t even need soil that much, it just grows and grows.  But yes, even better for me to plant it in it’s most healthy nutritional soil… 

Our lives, grown, fed, watered, pruned, cared for, loved… God does this pruning thing in love so we can bear MORE fruit, as stronger branches reach further, and good fruit makes good seeds… God’s got ideas for us with Him, we are to know then that they involve us! We need to know that He never leaves us.

So like plants, SOME plantings and plans are easy, like this spider plant just begging to get it’s shoots to other places. Some plantings are HARD, tough to nurture and are constant care-needy… Some won’t take in this lifeline but the effort still teaches and reaches…

God’s plans, plantings, and waterings are God-gifted and we know God wins, so we should soak our soul and soil in Him, watching the results in the spring and summer after our winter weather woes…

So let us regroup to fruit… We may feel pain in pruning or we may feel a burden lightened – either way Let Us Go God’s Way…

Amen

Jesus speaks:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:1-17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:17-18

No Sugar Coating – a HARD pill to swallow – the people of Israel were gone off the deep end and God was having none of it anymore… “Doom has burst forth” – WOW !!!

Written by Ezekiel: And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

It would be a hard pill to swallow for the HARD HEARTS – but the people themselves weren’t even listening. Ezekiel had to play act many years of graphic depictions of the doom – God even sent Ezekiel a vision of his throne departing Jerusalem and the temple to go to Babylon – see chapters 10 and 11 – God was going to leave the building…

So here in chapters 7, 8 and 9, God was clearly telling Ezekiel the hard bad news and that there was no hope for the people in the people getting their acts together – He Himself would move out and there would be no more guidance than what had already been given. Ezekiel’s call to writing is similar to the verbal warnings that Jesus gave when He walked the earth – no signs to be given than what has already been given – like Jonah’s warnings, the people need to LISTEN. Jesus spoke of people not listening to Solomon any more – that wicked generations will essentially become more wicked… Yeah…

The glimmer of hope is real in Ezekiel’s time – but it is that but only a remnant would be saved and carried thru to the next generation and generations… Not the place but the people. There are MANY more chapters to this book – just like we have many more chapters to our lives.

May we listen and not have to take the hard road like the people of Ezekiel’s time – but take the easier path of being led and following… Listen, Obey, Heal, Hope, Help…

Amen (and to be continued…)

(and always a reminder to watch the bible project depiction of the story line…

Ezekiel Chapter 7 – The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: “‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land! The end is now upon you, and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare you. I will surely repay you for your conduct and for the detestable practices among you. “‘Then you will know that I am the Lord.’

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Disaster! Unheard-of disaster! See, it comes! The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. See, it comes! Doom has come upon you, upon you who dwell in the land. The time has come! The day is near! There is panic, not joy, on the mountains. I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look on you with pity; I will not spare you. I will repay you for your conduct and for the detestable practices among you. “‘Then you will know that it is I the Lord who strikes you.

“‘See, the day! See, it comes! Doom has burst forth, the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed! Violence has arisen, a rod to punish the wicked. None of the people will be left, none of that crowd – none of their wealth, nothing of value. The time has come! The day has arrived! Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller grieve, for my wrath is on the whole crowd. The seller will not recover the property that was sold – as long as both buyer and seller live. For the vision concerning the whole crowd will not be reversed. Because of their sins, not one of them will preserve their life.

“‘They have blown the trumpet, they have made all things ready, but no one will go into battle, for my wrath is on the whole crowd. Outside is the sword; inside are plague and famine. Those in the country will die by the sword; those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague. The fugitives who escape will flee to the mountains. Like doves of the valleys, they will all moan, each for their own sins. Every hand will go limp; every leg will be wet with urine. They will put on sackcloth and be clothed with terror. Every face will be covered with shame, and every head will be shaved.

“‘They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin. They took pride in their beautiful jewelry and used it to make their detestable idols. They made it into vile images; therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them. I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile it. I will turn my face away from the people, and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
They will enter it and will defile it.

“‘Prepare chains! For the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence. I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. When terror comes, they will seek peace in vain. Calamity upon calamity will come, and rumor upon rumor. They will go searching for a vision from the prophet, priestly instruction in the law will cease, the counsel of the elders will come to an end. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards I will judge them.

“‘Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”

Chapter 8 – Idolatry in the Temple
In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy. And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there. And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.

He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Chapter 9 – Judgment on the Idolaters
Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”

As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.

Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’ So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.”

Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded.”

Time to get back to our storyline of Ezekiel… what an interesting life and call… this time Ezekiel is EZ-ily going to look like He is on a mission, but if it were to happen these days, we may doubt this unusual behavior actually being from God – BUT IT IS – and since it IS written as so, it IS from God… GOD SENT PROPHETS IN THE DAY. here God makes it clear of His knowledge of His unusual level of punishment… Jerusalem has behaved worse than even the nations around her (defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices), and it is AWFUL in God’s sight. It’s pretty unthinkable what will happen, HARSH, that even God remarks at the cruelty to be demonstrated by broken people and inflicted upon them, so much that God says this level of punishment is necessary but won’t be repeated. The Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations.

Ezekiel was told to shave his hair, both beard and head, with a sword edge, sharp as a razor, and physically weigh portions of his hair and do special specific signs with each portion.  One third placed here and there… signature acts to represent  how the Lord ‘myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword‘.

I really can’t conclude much more than just taking all this in, understand the moment and realize how powerful God is and that He means what He means. When we live on the razor edge, God brings out His sword. The Sword of Truth is something that we have from God Himself being the Word of God. There’s nothing more sharp or piercing than the Word of God in our lives… Let us all be faithful and listen.

Amen 

There’s a really good spoken scripture on ‘BibleGateway’. I LISTENED to this chapter,  read by David Suchet, who is a famous actor with a wonderful accent, and I can understand his inflections of voice. It’s a great way to listen to the Bible.

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Ezek.5

God’s Razor of Judgment
“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.

“Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.

“I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.”

This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Acts 1

…

The Ascension to Heaven by Jesus had little pre-hype, but more than all the Height.

Remember the ASCENDING FLIGHT will have a matching descend, and JESUS WILL PUT THINGS RIGHT! 

The awe-worthy future return seemingly ready for a fight, but Jesus has the same saving Grace and JESUS will be putting day victory into night. 

Jesus IS the Light! THE LIGHT!

Jesus will be a Great Sight. We will all know His MIGHTY MIGHT!

So how can we now sit tight? By trying to be doing God’s Will, alright?

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to make our hearts RIGHT. Let us ask the Holy Spirit’s help, so that all may see the LIGHT.

GOOD NIGHT. 

SLEEP IN THE LIGHT!

It Doesn’t Have to be that Deep, 

 a test the waters conversation with God we should start to steep.

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To be with Jesus, it’s a simple Yes,

 not a PhD dissertation, nor graduation address.

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It doesn’t have to be that deep,

 although it comes from one’s deep soul, really deep.

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It can simply be a statement: ‘Yes’

 and ‘I want to learn more, I confess.’

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Jesus collects the tears we weep.

 From His mouth, our ears should steep.

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And to feel the full Mercy Blessing Bless,

 We need to believe in Jesus for FORGIVENESS.

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So let us make Jesus and His Word be the company we keep.

 To start a relationship deep, let us make that continual PEEP.

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Let us continue to believe and let us say: YES!

 And in faithfulness, KNOW He is the Lord Jesus that we confess.

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And now we can reap goodness from our deep.

AMEN – and AMEN to Keep Deep.

—-

Ephesians (a letter from Paul to strengthen that church community) chapter 3:14-19

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

—-

Psalm 1
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. 

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

If one would compare our life to that of Ezekial – I would say we are BLESSED… Ezekiel was tasked at being exposed – let us say EZ-posed – for over a year – living on the street – prophesying. and Ezekial had to symbolize the future of the Israelites who were turned away from God for years and years. And it wasn’t pretty.

Our lives could would should instead symbolize and exclaim God’s Goodness and Grace and especially His Salvation. We should symbolize and materialize His Joy – would could should –  provide justice like Jesus would for the ostracized – we could walk humbly – we should show how we love mercy – modeling Jesus with our forgiveness passed to others…  We are of His Children who should “get it” by now… We must realize and proclaim that Jesus came as our sacrificial lamb for God’s Plan.

Ezekial’s symbolism and prophecy to demonstrate? Ugh – not so pleasant… The book may be EZ Ezekial to read and understand – but the harsh symbolism of what was to come for those people, who disobeyed Him, for years is down right scary – both as the receiver and as the giver.  Ezekial – protected by God – is being asked to live it out tough – God asks Ezekial to live on the ground for over a year – and next to a big slab of clay that portrays the siege of Jerusalem. Ezekial does get to eat but he has to cook his food over dung – and live a life totally EXPOSED… Ugh…  No thanks, I would rather do my job of writing and speaking and singing of God’s Grace and Mercy, thank you! We live in a time after Jesus came and will come again. But Ezekial had to witness the rebellion and as tough as it was to be a prophet to people who didnt want to listen, EZekial is known to comply – God bless him!

390 days – a day for each year of Israel’s disobedience. plus 40 days for each year of Judah’s rebellion. God was warning and telling them what He was going to do – cut off the food supply – and woe to those who didn’t prepare and believe. 

What about us – do we prepare and believe? Are we living a life exposed? We should be EZ-posed and so obviously EXPOSED to show that we DO TRUST GOD – we DO have JOY – we DO love mercy, kindness, goodness, and live sharing all the fruits of the spirit. If we have trouble in this life, we should remember the words of Jesus who said “I have overcome the world” and keep shining His Light. 

If anything – we should model how we approach the Lord – EZ-posed with hope and thankfulness – with fear for His Almighty Power – and talk of His faithfulness. He has done GREAT things… 

Let us live exposed in His Glory. Pray for those who do not yet realize He IS a Loving and Forgiving God.

Amen

—
Ezekial 4 

“Now, son of man, take a block of clay, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering rams around it. Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.

“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.

“After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.

“Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself. You are to eat it during the 390 days you lie on your side. Weigh out twenty shekels[b] of food to eat each day and eat it at set times. Also measure out a sixth of a hin of water and drink it at set times. Eat the food as you would a loaf of barley bread; bake it in the sight of the people, using human excrement for fuel.” The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”

Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”

“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow dung instead of human excrement.”

He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.

—-

Psalm 126

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

A good and faithful kitty servant, ready to bite my toes.

Ever watchful as You, Lord, reminding me to wake up and write your prose.

For whom!? It is not I that knows.

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Only known by You.

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It’s not about me or my rest and my sleep.

It’s about prayers and encouragement for people out in the deep.

People in the world that You keep.

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Loved by You.

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Right now my world is full of pollen, which keeps my allergies hollerin’.

I find this the worst for my toleran’.

My sneezes and my coughs are trouble.

Add those night sweats, makes life’s annoyances double. 

How can I harvest sleep from rubble?

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But somehow I do.

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I don’t understand the system of my health.

But I know Lord that I truly have life from your wealth.

Our inner workings are so stealth. 

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Who knew?

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So I will somehow praise in my stumble. 

Because I knew eventually my praise will be double.

My thorns but Your Grace is enough over my trouble.

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You are truly True. 

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For now I will sit and watch my toes.

I will sleep when I’m not in tossing and turning throws.

And I live fine enough, everyone and I knows. 

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I do.

 .

So let the Kitty purr and stare.

Let my brokeness make me aware.

Our life in part now, to Your WHOLE, there is no compare.

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I love You.

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Thank you Lord for the toes, prose and who knows. 

You knows. 

In You Lord, life goes…

.

TRUE. 

.

Amen 

—

1CORINTHIANS 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, 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. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Surely many of my memories of camp, a walk to Emmaus weekend where I was blessed to serve on team, will fade for now, resurface later – thanks for letting me share…

I know life goes fast, is OK to reflect in part – life doesn’t give us time to fully unpack everything on this side of heaven anyway, and life on the other side, in Heaven, will have us forever praising. The praise song in my head is “the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace”. If we process only in part now, we still know and proclaim His Glory.  All the time… God IS good…

I like my little (and big) memories from camp. I’m liking to call them my “Camp Crumbles”, little memory pieces that remind me of the love and joy.  Sustenance and over the top sprinkles of love.

The food was rich and nourishing, tasty and plentiful (always is at camp). I took home one ziploc bag of physical “camp crumbles“- I unpacked that right away for sure – a mixture of one big piece camp coffee cake slice, one biscuit top that I really couldn’t finish then, and added one big brownie. And blessedly now I have been sprinkling them as Crumbles, from harsh transport, each morning on my oatmeal. Tidbits for taste. Sweetness for savor. Crumbles not intact but still tasty. Today is the last of it, but I ALSO received the leftover pretzels, the crumbled broken ones that I mentioned as my favorite ice cream topping and then I got to take home.  Ah, the salt and the sweet. (The pretzels have helped me with my allergies, something different than cough drops to clear my throat).

Spiritual fulfillment is tasty, clears the way, walking by faith too… Perhaps we can continue to taste these snack-size crumbles of experiences all throughout our lives to sustain us until we sit in Heaven to feast forever. Salty and sweet. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

I ALSO remember tiny bits of camp songs, the light of the morning sun, and those birds chipping too. Oh, the sound of the creek waterfall resonating God’s power, and I remember tidbits of time for the quieting of my thoughts, I will try to remember the peace, even as it slips away from me time to time. I will try to sprinkle that peace back into my life, like these Camp Crumbles onto my oatmeal.

In remembering a tidbit of the fun -but nervousness – of finding one’s nametag at the camp farmhouse dinner table, I have been thinking – perhaps this is reflective of having our place at the Lord’s table: IT IS RESERVED and PERSONALIZED and ALREADY THERE. He will find a place, yes,  calling us. Yes, camp gives much to contemplate about us and God forever.

And now, with my last day today to eat the camp crumbles back at home, with morning oatmeal nourishment, today will be the TWIX mini chocolate which is smooshed. In this, I am to remember, Lord, that as squished and smooshed our lives seem to be, YOU DO NOT CHANGE and that You are just as much here at home just as You were at camp. We may be clouded and falling asleep sometimes from knowing You better, but here You are in the finishing crumbs of life. And of those crumbs, of eating some of those pretzels just now, I looked up and saw the best sight. On top of my kitchen cabinets are three Lenox statues with the most prominent one in the front: You and me – You Jesus and me Jarius’s daughter – being awakened from sleepy death into forever faith. Ah… He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).

I’m now up and awake Lord,  thanks, and am forever praising Your WHOLE and getting to share my part..  crumbs from You are part of Your WHOLE!

Amen

Salt and Light

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-16 NIV

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? Psalm 113:1-6

 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” – “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. Matthew 15:25-28

A devotion written for our fellow Walk to Emmaus weekend folks – and for any experience where we have taken that time to get away and have a spirit-filled experience.

—-

I don’t know about how much you unpacked from camp, about the experience, but I find that so much stuff has gone deep, not ready to surface until later, not all at once.

Unpacking an experience like we had on a 72hour agape-filled walk with Jesus takes a while. Much to unpack, or not. I didn’t even unpack the actual stuff except my dirty life laundry and those clothes too. The rest is still piled on my kitchen chair… Piles of love, agape items, notes and whatnot. I’ve no time to unpack and sort it yet. The rest of the emotional and spiritual stuff is still there piled too. I’ll get to some, the rest…. hmmm….

So much.

I like to think we individually want to REFLECT the experience we have had, from this thought-provoking weekend, like an ability to SHINE it to the world, and imagine us SHINING a “bounce up” of the visual, like from a calm reflection pool in the sunshine. And we do that for sure. And yet, it is not so shiny and smooth on my pond in this world sometimes. Sure the smiling continues inside and out, the songs permeate my brain as I work and walk, people listen to some that I share, but my big chunks of the weekend are still packed deep and have sunk into my pond and my soul, asking to be hydrated by that Living Water, which is seeping, soaking and flooding in, mixing with my whole being. 

It’s alright to let it soak.

We will regather soon, we will reflect and some stuff we will kick out to dry, but mostly we need to remember it is OK to go deep. Sit with it – unpack it as we can – sort it (or not) but hold it and be ready to let some of it go. Treasures are in Heaven – not to burden us here with too much “stuff”, but for now, we unpack slowly. It’s all not buried, lost, but hydrating. It will expand and fill our souls for years to come.

Let us let our experience SOAK in the Spirit… God sees ALL clearly. God will sort it all out for us, in His Time. 

Amen 

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He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:1-3

Amen and Amen and Amen, Again and Again and Again.

Of the thousand-millions of Holy Spirit activities, BOTH witnessed and in invisible angel-army realms, over the four days in my time at Camp (for our Walk to Emmaus weekend which is for spiritual growth and church leader development), God included one ‘just special for me‘ witness – so that I would see it and say WOW – WOW What’s Our Witness? Mine is that God’s in charge and has things that knock my socks off – again. 

My whole awakening, over the course of 6weeks in December 2014 to Jan 2015, including unbelievable “God sightings” crazy coincidences, right people at right times. My dry soil seeds hydrated and burst to blooming all at once. So whom am I to not see these jaw-dropping little miracles now. I have MANY of them written up in my awakening writings (which were email format before I put them in blog format months later, now over 2000 writings in 9 years). 

And this most recent God sighting was CLASSIC GOD… I was just minutes away from giving my prepared talk for the event, including discussing my awakening in short detail – making sure to mention that I was/am like Jarius’s daughter raised from dead faith, where Jesus said “she’s simply sleeping” and woke me gently. AND THEN, as I flipped through a book I had donated to the book table, demonstrating to a new friend of the cool set up of scripture and commentary of a Michael Card book (gospel of Mark from the Biblical series), and guess what page I opened? Right to Jarius’s daughter. Boom – I needed that – no matter my nerves I put my rendition of my talk into His Hands – this was for His work not for my comfort or not. We are His Witnesses – whom are we to hide it.

It was something some would call coincidence yet we know there are NO coincidences with God. Treat or trial – thorns too – God says My GRACE is ENOUGH and then some… Some would say a God-sighting yes, and I would say “Yes, Lord, YOU ARE IN CONTROL – and You like to remind me” – cue the acknowledgement of the angel armies in hidden sight. AGAIN… Yeah…

Funny House – I appreciated the talks before mine – and my talk was number 13, one of many fun numbers in my head for God and me – so in talk 12 the pastor-presentor spoke about the example of a house for stages of grace: Prevenient Grace (before we knew it – on the doorstep of the house), Justifying Grace (Just as if I’d never sinned – like being in the door frame), and Sanctifying Grace (you are completely inside – having chosen to walk through the door)… WELL, I told our speaker that God set up my ‘house example’ of Grace like a FUNNY HOUSE, and those days of unbelievable God sightings, the strikes to my disbelief system, THE CHRISTMAS FLOOD, found me holding onto the door jam while God tipped the house and shook it until I had no choice but let my fingers go and LET GO, right into Grace-acceptance, fall right… from asleep to a ‘sanctified faith’ – yeah God, I got it now… 

Jesus sees us, comes to us, wakes us, tends to us as His sheep, and His Holy Spirit grows us up to His Children. Child-like WOWs – still growing in grace – ever approaching His throne – being nudged to live a life that God wants us to live – WITNESSING…

God’s got this – again… Amen

Amen

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Mark 5:34-43

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

I was already thinking about the bag of pretzels and the cream cheese in the back of my car before I pulled out of camp (a 4-day time for me to help others in a closer walk with Jesus on a Walk to Emmaus weekend). And the cream cheese and chocolate snacks called to me more and more as I drove one friend then another friend home. The chocolate was eaten well before I left the back roads, and satisfyingly wanted as we left utopia-like situations back to the real world. Chocolate would have melted anyway, best to partake fast!

The back to reality wasn’t tough on my car or my life, but mentally tough on me for those first few hours, just not getting where I WANTED to go, especially the thought of back tracking my path driving adding an extra hour, IT WAS TOUGH until the last dropped-off friend reminded me about the truthful generous aspect of life with others in Christian living that lends itself into a saying that I on occasion hear: ‘it is about one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread‘.  Ah, yes, I had lost a bit of that bread-hunger-FOCUS in my crush of reality after a dreamy 72hour weekend filled with God in action, where my cup runneth over. I was then the beggar begetting anger until I remembered GRACE and not throwing away my peace. It was a reminder in reality to RE-know to thirst for the SPIRIT influx, be satisfied with my blessings, stop selfishness,  and return to SELFLESSNESS. “MY GRACE IS ENOUGH” God says over my thorns… YUP..  

The cream cheese and my frustration waited, I started counting my blessings instead. Especially counting blessings when I saw a car accident that I WASN’T in. Oh those fire trucks, ambulance, and the crushed car in front of me along the second highway. Reality check. Life is precarious at those fast speeds, cars too. Slowdown the harried hurry. Put the peace pursuit back in.

72 hours I had slowed down, with practically no worries, no phone, no car, no hassle, no worries… a life in agape grace… but now was time for re-entering the world… whew…

I wasn’t concerned about home, except for thinking I needed to GET THERE. My son’s concern, texted to me, was that the cat missed me, and birds had pooped on his new car,  hmmm… Not a crisis… “did I have car wash tokens?” No… So it was not like anyone was desperate for me. Yes the cat is SO HAPPY now, on my feet as I write this, and I have recouped much sleep – but then I was lacking that sleep. And I always drive drive drive but life back on the road is not the camp life that only a few hours earlier that had me so relaxed that I worried about nothing.

The CRUSH OF REALITY became me reaching for that chocolate first and pretzels next with the dream of cream cheese – but the best reach (and re-reach) was for the bread of sharing in common Jesus moments, trying to understand how I had the break but now was back in the hassle of the hustle SO QUICKLY. And as I got slightly stuck in traffic, I was reminded that God’s Timing sometimes makes us accepting long hauls. It was OK, I was OK. I calmed my soul and my gas pedal. 

First friend dropped off, then an hour later the second friend got her stuff out of the car and said, ‘oh I have all this bread, I don’t know why they gave it away to me’ – I replied “oh I’ll take it – I’ll take it to work-they eat anything” as I had taken other items myself for work, like skittles and the bagels and cream cheese to reduce the ‘burden’ of excess after camp. WELL, I paused in my pain of reality crush driving when I saw that she handed me 2 loaves of what would have been communion bread, EXTRA… the friend, a spirit-filled soul, stated that clear message: ‘hey, it’s like a beggar telling a beggar where to find bread’… Oh yeah, it’s like continually thirsty for the Lord over the world. Yeah, my spirit cup refilled like my gas tank – I grabbed the cream cheese and my thankfulness and headed home in silence, except for a praise song repopulating my head… “Jesus Jesus, can I tell You how I feel? You have given me Your Spirit, I love You so…”

We MUST see the BREAD of Life over the dread of life. We must feel the Grace over the rat race. We must sacrifice our sure desire to serve ourselves, and serve others – be the Jesus was want to be even to the point of painful gifting – and be doling out God’s grace in the world, knowing how we are OK, thorns and all, applying Grace to ourselves too. We have been preveniently loved and we will be OK.

I recounted my blessings of having the ability to drive, a full tank of gas, and the cream cheese now in my hands with gifted pretzels too… prevenient snacking fuel on the last 45 minutes home… prevenient Cream Cheese and forever THANKFULNESS for God on the journey… whew…

Keep moving… rest… let us get up and do this life journey in the real world again… and share that bread, with all the beggars out there…

Amen and Amen

I gave myself some GRACE and had pre-prepared older favorite posts to re-publish while I was away for the long weekend – a wonderful opportunity to get with the Lord and rekindle that knowledge of how much He loves us. Now I have a few new writings specifically about camp. But first – I had the processing of the time to bury Christmas the Crab back at the same camp and same path that I found him, with a friend, walking during a break.

Arriving at camp early on a Thursday, I thought what a wonderful pre-day to process the Lord’s blessings in my life and especially appreciate a day off, a weekend at camp, friends old and new, and Jesus Himself showing up to bless us and hold us and hear us. Christmas in April – April 25th, new mercies every morning, and before camp really got underway, this is when I had the opportunity to bury Christmas the Crab, who passed away last week. I knew he, yes you can check hermit crabs for he vs she, was not the same after his last molt. I buried him with love at camp where a friend and I had found him, deep in the woods, chilly October, actually found him twice since we left him the first time (oops).  Now, I have placed him back into the ground for closure, just before this NEW opportunity to be at camp, just before new people came to camp to walk their own walk with Jesus. It has been 7 years since I found him – what amazing timing. I am appreciative of the Lord tasking me with the privilege, the mini cohort to my encouragement to children young and old that INDEED, God takes care of the little creatures so much, look how intricate they are made too, so that then He must REALLY love us.

It’s not like people understand the hoopla or the importance, or even non importance, of a little crab, which is fine. It is between God and me, and a few of us. People understand big God’s moments in their lives as a Shepherd calls a sheep, and little moments too. Why would any of us understand even a fraction of the things that happen in our lives at the Hands of God? So it is OK and good and designed that way that you have your own little and big things going on with God – so don’t worry about others that don’t understand you, Jesus does. Jesus understands. 

This was just a small one little thing (although big for the crab which did not belong in the cold October air in the woods). It was a hair on the head moment of miniscule proportions and yet I could grasp in that very moment that God had and has a plan – and this means that if God pays attention to even the smallest creature, He REALLY IS watching us. 

It’s not me thinking about the crab as much as me thinking about God moving. For the life of me, I will never understand most of the things that God has done in my life, I will count my blessings because God has placed me in this time and in this place. We won’t always understand and appreciate every time and place that God places us in, but we can ask Him… Why would we understand everything? Why would we? God is God and we are NOT God.

I think it’s fitting to have put Christmas the crab back in the ground near where I found him. I knew that the Spirit helped us 7 years ago on this weekend walk with Jesus. He helps us everyday. We are filled anew. This chapter closes and another opens. From dust he came and to dust he will return (and us too and yeah, because we won’t last here forever).  He lived a good even if lonely life, double the average time of hermit crabs. And, I will always wonder: “Why me?” to take care of him – and I always will hear from God: “Why not? Why not you?!”

That’s a God thing to share private moments with God. Remember, most people will NOT understand how the Spirit moves between you and God, but He does, so accept the private conversations and walk. And trust – just trust – that the Spirit DOES move with each person too, in His own way, so why wouldn’t your path also be different? Unique to everyone. God says: “Why NOT you?!”…

I buried Christmas and placed a few sticks as a cross. My friend brought some flowers and I placed a whirlygig, nice colorful pinwheel nearby. My hope is someone else to smile, see the colors, and hopefully feel the Holy Spirit move. May we all feel the JOY of the Holy Spirit.

I have. And I will remember these days as blessed. Decolores little colorful Christmas the crab. Thanks Lord for all in all.

Amen 

Feel the Lightning, 03FEB2015

I wonder what people think of my journey – but I don’t worry too much because it is still between me and God of where I was and where I am…

I certainly benefited from preparing my fields for rain and I took some time to contemplate almost everything around me… sure – you could suggest I over analyze everything – but when exciting times are all around, you don’t want to miss out on ANYTHING!

…and yet I wonder if people think this journey was TOO easy – well it wasn’t – yeah sure it was a quiet journey and wasn’t filled with blockbuster movie scenes of tormented pain, tragic losses, marvelous car crashes, health hells… nope – wasn’t like that at all – and I don’t think your journey has to be the “movie of the week” material….  slow and steady wins the race – God’s time and patience – yes, that is my story…  quiet yet moving – filled with grace that was already given.  Before I took Jesus up into my heart, I was half way (well two thirds there – believing in God and the Holy Spirit – and always praising – but this last third, accepting Jesus, was a juggernaut in my disbelief system – a mountain which I have moved now – I feel I am still growing but so so there….

Sure – sometimes we think (I think) that coming to Jesus should have involved a momentous experience – me in the Dukes of Hazard car going airborne  – screaming at the top of my lungs and a miraculous appearance of a 60-foot snow drift – or tractor bed filled with soft hay – to catch us and return us safely back to earth…. and yeah,  I have certainly have heard those tales of awakening –  I was certainly held on the edge of my seat wanting to know more….

Perhaps you did or want to feel a lightning bolt – or maybe you fear feeling a lightning bolt because you don’t want to be changed… Ben Franklin supposedly felt a big lightning bolt during his kite and the key experiment – how brave – how stupid… But then, how did he utilize that info? Whom did he tell? How did he take what he learned into a movement towards the amazing age of electricity?

After we have felt a lightning bolt of faith growth,  what should we do with that lightning? that info? that feeling?  … I bet our friend Franklin did that experiment a few times again  (why wouldn’t he?) he experimented in the country and in the city – I have to think that he kept doing this experiment to have more data….

I can be assured that lighting strikes many times in your area – of course they do. But what do you do with a lightning strike to your faith? Would you make good use of it? Will lightening strike again and again if you need it to?

What if  Benjamin Franklin tied his kite string to a fence and what if he cautiously approached the key… I wonder if he wanted to know what the shock felt like. Some people probably approach the throne of God as they tantalize about the concept of Jesus but they are afraid to touch the key… perhaps they are afraid of the shock – and yet, little do they know, that they would be in for the most energizing boost of all their lives.

Have you felt lightning? I have… I was maybe 20 feet away from a strike – I was outside running between a pavilion and my car… yeah tempting fate and ended up getting too close to the lightning before I was safely in my car.  The heat was unbelievable! The flash hurt my eyes. And the sound was as loud as you could imagine God’s roar… I would not tempt that kind of fate again… well – maybe…

So I went on this unknown journey of faith – I don’t know if I was worried about being struck by lightning… Did I feel the energy in the air?  Yes most definitely!!!  Did the thunderous sound of God catch my attention? You better believe it did! Did it make my hair stand up on end? Oh yeah!!  In my faith journey I was tempted to touch the key… I got closer and closer and I then prayed for the key to touch…  and the key fit into my soul… the energy transferred… the Lord came to me in the most gentle of ways.  I will use my God lightning from here on out to serve God at to give Jesus the honor He is due.

Would you approach lighting?  Don’t let it get so bad that lightning has to kill you – don’t get so dead that lightning has to be used like a defibrillator to wake you up …… maybe you know people who need a jolt to wake up… maybe they or you just need to feel the energy and taste a little zap… you will want that zap again – trust me – you will ask for it everyday…

Would you dissipate all the gained electricity as heat – screaming? Maybe you should be an engineer and hook up the machines and capture that lightning for future use. Only a few are called by terrific heartbreaking jaw-dropping blockbuster-movie lightning strike… and only a few of those people are called to spread that lightning in the form of energy to others.

Nope, my journey was not a blockbuster movie…  there was no direct lightning strike…but yes, I did feel the electricity all around me – and I did approach the powerful energized key….  my excess energy emanates now – not as heat but now as writing and in praise… and in song…

PERHAPS (yes I know the answer to this) perhaps there are many many people who can relate to my story – a quiet story – maybe you are on your own journey to find your own key…

So many people still need to come to terms with their faith –  many people have hearts that need to crack open and yes, they need to feel the energy…

God is Good – feel His energy inside of you… long for that repeat lightning strike…

A piece written in my stages of awakening – so strong that I STILL can hear the pins being struck down….

Strike, 10 Jan 2015

If God were a bowler, he’s rolling a pretty good game right now. Not a perfect 300 score, but I think he might put in some extra frames on me, just because he can, he’s GOD for God’s sake…not a perfect score because I have successfully blocked many a shot, kept a pin or two standing (hot glued them to the lane), and maybe even fudged the score, which I knew He had actually earned….and yes, I took a couple of fallen pins and snuck them back up to standing position.

See the pins are my disbelief system, and lately God’s been rolling quite a few strikes…loud, smashing, pin-splintering strikes. A spare in there on occasion… but that awe-achieving sound of all the pins dispatched… all SMASHING with such force against the lane walls that even the people and pins in the lanes to my right and left are starting to notice.

Some of my pins were not really standing strong…I do have a tremendous belief in the Almighty Power of God… I know He is the maker, the mover and shaker, and he likes to tweak the system in this sandbox experiment He calls Earth….

And God has such a sense of humor… “God never gives you more then you can handle”, the saying goes… “well thanks God, but haven’t I had enough now?” is what many people probably say when they are in the grips of tragedies, uncertainties, and just plain bad luck. Do you believe in fate? Or is life a pop-up round of game show questions? Do we determine our own fate? I think so… God gives us freedom or does God give us just enough rope to…?…… Well, maybe for some people… but if so, then I see him loosening those ropes, cutting them from time to time, throwing an angel in there for corrective action and yes, rolling strikes in our disbelief systems all the time. Strike and collect the pins… bring you back to Godly ways. Maybe it isn’t rope that God has given me… perhaps it is elastic… let’s see how far you can go before I reel you back in… sew you down and correct your belief system….

So why have I kept some disbelief pins up? Why do I re-rack some of them intentionally or innocently? It is not my intention to taunt God. I just like to know things, I want to bring a checklist to heaven and say: “what about that healing? What about that meteor crashing into earth? What about that flood? How’s your angel count? And could you tell me all the rest of your secrets too?” Did you ever wonder what heaven looks like? The thought that it is seven or more layers…and is there a holding pen for babies who didn’t get baptized? Can you refute or prove those things my sixth grade nun teacher told me?… What is the real answer for those times I had to say “that seems like you are making that up”.?. Imperfect man trying to describe a perfect system… Yeah, I don’t buy it all… my shaken belief in man-made religions.

I accidentally, uninformed-ly, mixed up the terms religious and spiritual leader when introducing a now good friend at a women’s retreat… I get it now… and I am more and more a spiritual being too… lifting away from worldly religious trappings, not forgetting my foundations, but building on them, snapping in new spiritual Lego pieces.

Yes, your belief system has to start somewhere, you can’t learn about God in a vacuum. You need religious rigidity at times to click you in, obligate you, to surround yourself with believers and teachers. I am confident that some who disbelieve in religions still believe in God, because of their religious foundations. I felt compassion for one of my grad school advisors who stood strong against the belief in God. I think he might still be at the gates right now saying “oops”. I pray that God let’s him in anyway… a friend once told me that his religious training as a shaman included a belief that when you die, you have to wrap up loose ends and that is why you shouldn’t be cremated…that your soul is tied to your human body for as long as it takes to repent, repair… not exactly like Jacob Marley in Scrooge… but you might have some fixing up to do.  Whether that is true or not, it behooves us to make our peace with people now on earth, not wait to ask for forgiveness, not wait to repair old relationship rifts, etc… Either way I don’t want to be cremated (and I want balloons at my funeral too)… I will try to repair my rifts now. And I will let those people, who are God-sightings in my own life, know how much I appreciate them, right then and not wait. I will try to hug and kiss my parents and my kids physically or mentally each time I say goodbye just in case I or they meet an untimely death. I will try to live and love in the present.

Back to bowling… I don’t know God’s plan but I know it involves me… I don’t know why, when, where he will strike down disbelief or put up new pins for me to follow, to become pillars in my soul… I don’t know how many frames are in this game, how many more strikes I am going to see… either way, I am sure He will keep trying until He and I can faithfully record a perfect score when it’s my time to meet Him.

Note:  This piece is really telling it all…where I was – and OH – HOW I HAVE GROWN!  Wow! 30 essays in one months time after this  had put me right on track and ready to stop being embarrassed about where I was – and I needed to confess this to put it aside and allow God to work on me – and wow has He ever!  Please please please – don’t judge me for where I was – but I hope you can appreciate where I am now and where I am going…  because this has been the most amazing experience for me to know and accept Jesus…  

Lego Christianity, 18Dec2014

I have loaded up my brain and my heart with the tenants of my Christian faith for years and years. I have most if not all of pieces, probably lots of duplicates…see they are like Lego pieces, little snippets of scripture, interpretation and beliefs…also included are fluff pieces, good advice and the trappings of the commercialization of Christmas.

I carry these Lego pieces, but I didn’t snap then in yet. They are there but I didn’t have the instructions or maybe I have been purposely ignoring the instructions of how to put them together in the right order. Or maybe struggling to take them out after placing in them in the wrong order. Do you know how hard it is to undo a Lego piece?

Legos in this day and age are no longer sold as loose blocks, like when I was a kid, but instead they are puzzle kits…combining those plastic model aircraft kits of my youth with easy snap into place segments.

One of my joys of putting together those pieces is when I feel and hear the clink clink clink sound when you root around in this big batch of all the random pieces trying to find that next piece…it’s that activity of finding the right piece…a three dimensional physical “I got it” feeling. Then snap, put it into place.

I have had these Lego pieces of Christianity for awhile; just never felt my brain and my heart were in sync. Been recently pondering Christmas and Christ…I spoke in Sunday school to the kids and mentioned that “Christ is Coming” but really He came two thousand years ago and we celebrate his coming…rather than him physically coming every year. Later I was listening to a CD of an advent service from last year, which included a wonderfully moving and spirit-filled sermon of a friend,  whose spiritual messages I can relate to. In that service I heard another friend, read the interpretation of the first candle of Advent, HOPE. Paraphrasing what she said…”why is Jesus coming every year? He is coming new to so many people each year…” Oh…wish I had said THAT in Sunday school…that does make sense. Lego piece absorbed…add it to the mix.

I am too busy to attend the church service, I am in the building, mostly with the kids…but when I can, I find the contemporary music and meaning so wonderful. I have been lacking spiritual growth…except for when I prepare UMW, VBS and Sunday school curriculum…

… I had been in that spiritual growth drought for so long that when I realized that God was knocking on my brain to make it catch up with my heart, it caught me by surprise. I was preparing months ago my own Sunday school curriculum for a science-based lesson because I didn’t think there was enough science connection in the lesson about Jesus’ stories…about how his stories were used to encourage non-believers to open their hearts to the existence and good of God.

I incorporated (with a cool messy hands-on experiment) the use of a catalyst… And snap…my deliberate disbelief – questioning Jesus actually being God – maybe he was just another prophet with a good publicist – maybe it’s a great group of stories… well, all that crumbled..  my brain cracked open to the possibility that Jesus was real. It dawned on me that if Jesus was real, maybe God brought him to us to be the catalyst for change. More than just a Lego piece absorbed, more like a Lego piece and one of those green square bases to build things on…

This look for more spiritual growth lately is just like when I took biochemistry in college and had to learn it from the book, self taught, because my professor wasn’t good, I find now that I have to seek out and find my own way spiritually… another friend once said you’ve got a library card now go figure out what book you want to check out…

…I have found help… I have meditated on the scriptures presented within the 4 messages that a new friend, who also is a guest sermonist, delivered. The teachings are not cliff notes for the Bible, they are not like watching a movie to teach the Bible, but the sermons are making the Bible come alive in the context of our lives… in MY life.  One sermon on Joseph, one on the great commission… the holy spirit, one on father’s day about “I am the vine, you are the branches” and how God prunes us to bear more fruit, and one on worship:

“Worship, like salvation, is a personal decision. It is an expression of the individual’s relationship with God and it is the spiritual condition of the worshiper that determines whether God is at work. If your worship experience doesn’t change you, you should consider your approach to it. “

John 4:23-24 ”Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

And song, “Come to the Cradle come and find peace..” – that is a big Lego piece.

Lego piece accepted.

While making copies of the CDs of these sermons and the church Christmas music for a couple of friends who also don’t get to sit in church, I was checking Facebook.  I noticed I was added to a group named “church” from a not so tech savvy friend, who likely confused making a group with a grouped friend lists…oh well…. Anyway, a friends’ son, who is a young new scholar-pastor-dad, posts “what is this???” I jokingly replied that its or mutual friend learning Facebook and playing with the Facebook-time-space continuum. Then I clicked his page to see his posts… I read how he was mourning this Christmas by reading the old prophets telling of the coming of Jesus. I didn’t read the whole post at first (which included so much recent world strife, mass murders close to home) and I messaged him to say “why mourning?”

I give thanks for this little nugget that he gave me to focus my mind on…  “What to mourn is the sin and death and injustice in our world, the very reason the world needs a Savior so badly”. I have has done small and large bursts of spiritual growth over this last year, and it is likely not a coincidence that that statement hits me just right where my thought process is today…big Lego piece accepted.

The previous night I wrote a piece called the Christmas Flood. Speaking to how Christmas is a deluge of rain good rain but too much rain, that could flood us and wash away our carefully planted spiritual seeds in our gardens, unless we prepare for the excess rain and protect ourselves… spiritual uplifting, soaking nutritive rain in the form of His message comes from God but only when we prepare for this rain…then we can let it soak in…

…It was me playing with the Legos of Christianity in my head while writing it… But I was forgetting about Advent being a mini-Lent, a time of repentance and prayer not just for ourselves but for others to give up their bad ways…for us and others to realize that we need Christ to come to save the world… we need His example… we need to absorb and portray His example…. then at Easter, realize He opens our path to heaven…but that can’t happen until He comes to each person first… so yes, Jesus is God and comes each year.

Snap, I put the right Lego piece in, the little ones and the big ones… they fit, they are in the right order now. I need to builds more on them…to wiggle them some to make sure I can fit some other new ones in. You can never be done building…

Amen

Butterfly

Lord, I am Your butterfly.

You grew me from a caterpillar. You fed me on Your gifts to nourish me. Your Word opened my ears. I began to change.  I learned.  I grew.

You allowed me to find a safe sanctuary for not resting but for actively changing thru the most amazing series of modifications, inside and out. Within a protected shell I waited. I knew I was changing, but how could I comprehend how amazing this change would be. You knew.

Then you told me to start entering this world again.  I could not remain hidden under the leaves, I had to peer out from my cocoon and stretch and find how to steady my new legs.  All my mass had been shifted and repurposed into a completely different being, and yet my soul, my heart, my mind are still intact – I knew I changed – I knew I was called to take the next step, even if I didn’t know if I was ready…

You told me to fly.

You told me to stretch my wings and feel for the right moment.  You made me capable of everything that I could never have imagined.  You made then remade me.

You made me beautiful.  You made me intricate, complex, strong thru weakness, and capable.

I now can fly.

I can open the gifts of the earthly phase of my life and fly thru the world on Your Spirit. I will be ever watching for danger as well as refuge. And in those peace-filled times I can catch a warm breeze and fly higher and longer – seemingly forever…

I do know that I cannot fly here forever, but you have a place for me eternal – then I will rest….

For now, I will fly.

I will fly and forever tell of You.

I am Your butterfly…

Butterfly, Fly…

Amen

“There are Peepers, Lord!!!!”, 26APR

[FYI – Peepers are frogs in the spring in the ponds. SO LOUD – but you have to be near the water to hear.]

I am screaming in my head while walking up the EXACT same hill where just months prior I had screamed in my head: “The stars, Lord!” – To whom can I call out? Again with no one to talk to – I can only call out to YOU, Lord! Only and appropriately only have praise for YOU – “to whom all is due”

I can hear those PEEPERS, Lord! WOW!

I can see those stars!

There are people too, Lord! I can feel them calling out Your praises tonight, even if I can’t see them.

I know they are praising – after I leave camp I will not hear them, but You can hear them, and that makes me happy.

There are REALLY LOUD peepers, Lord. I am floored at how blessed I am at this very moment – to relive an awestruck moment – to hear Your creation so loud… but Lord, why are peepers SO LOUD??? Do they need to hear each other? or perhaps do we need to hear them loud and clear so that we know that they are from You? – praising back to You?

Why are the stars SO bright, Lord? Do the stars need to shine to each other? or perhaps do we need to see them so bright so that we know they are a sign from You?

Why is the moon SO mesmerizing, Lord? Does the moon need to startle the world? or perhaps do we need to just say ‘I do not know how God does all these amazing things!’

There’s our world, Lord! Why is our world so diverse, Lord? Is the earth for us or is it for You, Lord? – dust to dust with YOU… Can we remember to look for You in our mesmerization?

Do we need to understand the world to love it? or perhaps do we just need to know that You love it? Can we take care of Your beautiful Earth, Lord? Can you help us? Can we take a moment to care? to stare? to see? to listen? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of peepers? I don’t know – but I pray that they will…

Do we need to understand the people in the world to love them? Or perhaps do we just need to know that You love them and we should too? Will Your future children ever get to hear praises out of the voices of people?  Will Your future children get to feel Your love? I know that answer – they WILL feel your LOVE – but of course I pray that they will know it is from You…

Can we truly ever know how much You love us?

Can I simply walk up this hill and know You are with me always? To the ends of the earth? I can Lord – I can!

Can we keep walking with you Lord? We can Lord – we can!

Can we understand that You most simply and most intricately want to show us that You love us! We can Lord – we can!

Can I hear praising peepers again?

Actually I still DO hear those PRAISING PEEPERS, Lord…. Your Spirit placed them in my head – and LORD, THEY ARE LOUD!

 Retreat writing that had to wait until I had the peace-filled time to write… Blessed…

THE STARS!!! 27OCT

Off the grid, out of the way of intrusive light pollution, “Oh, the Stars” – I screamed thru my eyes… I screamed in my head… I screamed up… I reached down and grabbed for my phone… GONE… Nope… Facebook, texts and even faith writings had to wait…

No phone, no Subaru, no glue gun…

This camping retreat was seriously roughing it for me. No collection of stuff, no props… And at that moment not even people to whom I could speak to… at that exact star-gazing moment there was nothing…. but there was EVERYTHING… because I had time to pause and I had time of prayer and I had time for praise… I had only LOVE that I could share – and it was pulled straight UP! Thru the stars shined the LIGHT and the LOVE. Thru me the LOVE went right back out.

Oh, those stars!!!… Oh the praise!!!.. To Whom did I call out?

First I instantly and naturally wanted to send my praise to my friends, I just wanted to share this marvelous observation of brilliant stars, but I had no phone to text, hmmm…. So, to Whom could I really call out – in the very moment?

There was ONE and ONLY ONE to whom I should have called praise – so I did –  I had to call out to our Lord…

Praise worthy for only ONE – God who made those very stars – God who immersed me in those stars – God who immersed me in His LOVE.

The Lord loves us in the moment, and we LOVE the moment because of Him.

“All praise and honor are Yours”

Lord, You are so precious, and You make me want to scream Your praise. You are the ONLY ONE I should and could praise. No one else makes it clearer than You Yourself that it is You who holds us in Your hands. You hold us and keep us inside Your time plan.  I know it’s just all from You opening my eyes to see You Lord renewed in my sight. Your stars, Lord, they fill the sky shinier than diamonds. Your colors, Lord, shine on earth so brightly to call out Your splendor. Your people, Lord, Your people shine Your LOVE… Thank You Lord for all these.

Thank You, Lord, for waking me to see…

To see You in all these things….

Thank You for making me sing out Your praise back to YOU.

Lord, help me to also live Your LOVE thru me and back to YOU.

YOU are THE STARS that fills my eyes, YOU are THE SPIRIT that fills my soul.

YOU Lord are LOVE.

Isaiah 42:5-10

This is what God the Lord says – the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:  “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth…

I love watching “Survivor” on TV – it’s my “rest my brain” time of sort of nonsense TV but good stuff – and couch sitting usually but not always – so it is actually my “just use a whole other sector of my brain” moment for TV watching but especially in strategizing…

Honestly, I don’t have to strategize much in life – I do at work – sort of – well – sometimes yes – and sometimes no – but actually we are strategizing all the time in life… I think leaving it to tv shows which are edited anyway for content, is NOT better and it is really best to just piece life out in life but without fear of getting voted out. Work hard and work the work. It is not like scrambling in Survivor – it is not “running the numbers” of how many votes I have, I just live life to live and go to work and work – work with the people, and see where the work works out… and yes there is lots of God’s work at work too,  just as in the rest of life… Listen to serve and listen to know. God really does help out everywhere in life. If he created the planet the stars the animals and the plants and us – then surely He knows the right next step – surely making many steps is OK, because He is in charge.

There is one other really blessed advice I can give myself- I SURVIVED – SAVED – I didn’t survive a game or a work scenario – I didn’t survive a merger or a mayhem – I didn’t survive a storm or a situation – I SURVIVED LIFE. I didn’t survive due to my actions other than believing – I survived because Jesus rescued. With man it is impossible, with God, EVERYTHING is possible. 

We will have SURVIVED LIFE because Jesus got us and took us and NEVER NEVER will we be snatched out of His Hand… Never means Never – Saved means Saved – Hope means Hope – and Home means Home.

None of this is deserved or achieved – this is GRACE applied and Jesus applying – this is Love.

This is LOVE.

Love is allowing us to be putting the THRIVE into survive: more of Him, less of me, and devotion to God in three. Lord lead me to Thee.

Amen

Jesus said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. John 10:27-30

The Living Stone and a Chosen People -As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1Peter 2:4-10

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirming One’s Calling and Election – His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prophecy of Scripture – So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2nd Peter 1

I remember how faithful God is – I have WOWs of witness – I have hope – I have experienced the little and the big monumental steps of watching my children GROW!!!!!!!!!!  I passed by a yellow sign in a neighborhood and took a photo- Watch Children – well – God has watched over my children and watched over me and I am THANKFUL!!!

Monday night, my son picked up his new car – WOW – an Intense blue one – WOW. And yesterday my daughter told me that she was signing her paperwork for a job offered to her – at the firm where she did a winter internship – and where she has been working each Friday during the semester when she had no classes – working remotely on her laptop doing the click click click of architect programs for a symphony hall restoration project for their water damage. The firm even delivered the laptop TO her – yeah – crazy WOW… Now, one month before she graduates she has her first “real” job.  GOD IS GOOD – HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD.

My son has been working too – over a year now – full time and dedicated and dependable and on time each day…  He will take on the car payments – and his part of the insurance…  I only co-signed to give my credit score dependability to help lower the interest rate (which is outrageous these days but we may refinance later)…  The salesman could not have been more excellent and real and focused on him as a grownup rather than a kid. The salesman and the  finance guy stayed late that evening to help finish the sale of 3 cars – they both covered someone else’s shifts because those people had called out sick.- they showed dependability – we walked out of the place (drove out) at 930 pm, from a 7pm appointment, not bad for a car pickup.

My WOW – “what’s our witness” – is God’s Dependability – God’s blessing to show me that He is in control – God’s blessing to take care of me and my children when I hit some bumps in the road, He had the traction to keep me sane. Now of course it is interesting to say that both my kids are on my medical insurance until age 26 – because we are the insurance that they get into the world OK – we ARE the insurance that God trusted His children to us – we as parents are blessed to see these milestones – and even though sometimes we get the brush-off (I certainly do) – we also get the witness of them growing and maturing…  I called to my son as he jumped in his new car: “I love you” = and instead of the grunt, I heard “I love you” back – first time in a couple years. It is not that I doubted the love and I don’t do things for my kids so that they love me or say it flippantly – it is that I do things for my kids because I know that Love exists deeply and God has blessed me to work hard to work for them – and all….  hearing the love in my ears was good but SEEING the joy in him was really the joy in my heart….

God has blessed me to know that He loves me too…  as His child…  I remember – I remember is a great song to belt out in the car – which I did just after that yellow “watch children” sign. It and “How Great is Our God” were the next songs on my youtube auto-play….  Yeah – True – how GREAT is our God!!!!

Here are the songs – and here as some of the photos…

I Remember – How Great is Our God 

Amen Amen Amen

I Remember by Lauren Daigle https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GLkcuRs6neE&si=TO11uAJ28YA2Uvji

How Great is Our God! by Chris Tomlin
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oIXa7FzmXFE&si=vWS3btzuSRRQtCff

I was sad this morning when I realized Christmas the crab had passed away. And it’s hard to process this, but I know the Lord gave me both the idea and the means to process this too, by writing. He surely gave me the crab to take care of – lost in the woods in October in an area far away from native. This was 7 years ago.

The clear idea for a devotion given to me by the Holy Spirit is probably the most important devotion I could write about Christmas the crab… See, Christmas the crab died without his shell, the shell was nowhere near him even if he had plenty of shells to choose from. He made his way to his water dish vulnerable. I don’t know what he could think, IF he could think, but there was never a time he was without his shell, never. It was as if (if he thought) that he laid it all bare, exposed, open, forthcoming, free, and went to the water… and that’s how WE should be with the Lord, reaching to His water.  OPEN, FORTHCOMING, FREE.

Yes, not only does the Lord already know all, He wants us to lay it all down, leaving it all exposed, and let Him see us hungering for Him, seeking cover in Him only, seeking hope in Him only, and accepting our finality at the end of our days, hitting the finishing line with nothing left in us… We are blessed to set aside our hidden mess.

Another thing I noticed about Christmas the crab was that he was much bigger out of his shell than he was in it. He was agile in the shell and protected, just like we are in the Lord. The beauty of life is that God is watching us inside and out. The beauty of coming to Him unencumbered is that WE lose our baggage. 

Perhaps also we can work on peace with the Lord by being willing to show our pieces into His puzzle, and let us be clicked in.

Goodbye, little Christmas the crab. I will plan to bury you in the same stretch of forest where I found you at camp. 7 years… endless joy from knowing God sent me his way on His Way…

Peace

(As for details, he did not seem well at all after his last moulting to a much smaller creature, darker in color, lethargic. And I have always known Christmas to be so very active…  I thought this morning that I haven’t heard him in a little bit and checked on him. And I always was very neglectful but did change the water once a week. So I thank you so very much for over 7 years of sharing with me of interest and support and love and curiosity and marvel at the works of the Lord. )

Keep walking as if today is a new adventure, and then make it so.

Amen

I purposefully do not read through the bible quickly. It’s so much to absorb as well as savor. I AM excited that I am only down to a slice of pages – in Ezekiel now – hoping it is EZ Ezekiel. I am grateful to be reading and embedded inside knowledge that has seeped into the library of my brain – but really just grateful finding the joy already indexed in my soul. I jokingly said to a friend that God’s waiting for me to finish my scripture readings so He can start the rapture, LOL…

Now there’s debates and theories about the rapture and tribulation and how “it all goes down” (or up. LOL), and I do plan to read into more theories AFTER I read the rest of this Bible, because I know upcoming chapters in Daniel has discussions, in addition to what I already have read in the gospels from Jesus Himself. It’s like we should learn about theories, but as my friend said to me: as long as we believe in Jesus, and keep holding onto hope, let us cling to Him as Lord and Savior, then Jesus will get us through those times. Just be His. 

Ezekiel would probably shake his head at our discussions and debates about heaven because he SAW it – in part – especially the best part of the Lord and the Glory. And then He was DISTRESSED – because he had to then go tell and try to convince all the people that were not listening to the Lord, to LISTEN and OBEY. A hard sell but a have to sell…  Nothing was EZ for Ezekiel…  Nothing.

God did strengthen Ezekiel, and chapter 3 tells of the hardest part – having to endure the roughness of life and the direction of work – the Strong Hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel – but this was a tough sell – and no one was buying… But God said: stand out there as a watchman and keep trying to sell it: “But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

I want to bring this back to our times of pre-rapture – no matter where you stand in the debates and theories – I want us to realize that we must be out there speaking and witnessing and educating. Reading and realizing and retelling. And we should not shy away from saying that the Lord’s Hand is on us now – and woe to those who run away – woe to those who turn away – woe to those who never want to know.

I don’t know about an EZ life – now or in the future – but I DO know that I want to know – I do know that I want to hear what the Lord is saying to me and all. And I do want to stick with God…

Keep reading my friends!

Amen

Ezekiel 3:9-27

The Lord said: I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.” And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place where it was standing. It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other and the sound of the wheels beside them, a loud rumbling sound. The Spirit then lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness and in the anger of my spirit, with the strong hand of the Lord on me. I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.

Ezekiel’s Task as Watchman
At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.

“Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”

The hand of the Lord was on me there, and he said to me, “Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.” So I got up and went out to the plain. And the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people. But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ Whoever will listen let them listen, and whoever will refuse let them refuse; for they are a rebellious people.

“Meet the new boss – same as the old boss…” That is such a catchy lyric from the band the Who.

Do you ever have your head spin from too many things and people drawing your attention? Thus last week for me was such a week of processing and yet keeping going, because God didn’t give me much any time to process it! He tweaked the system because He MADE the system and He puts us on track to keep rolling…  and rolling right along I did…  WHEW!

One of the thoughts I had – in the sea of processing that I could only wade into – was that no matter who is your boss on earth, God IS our Boss – whether we accept that or not.  Meet the new boss – same as the old boss! – YES – because God never changes…  FOREVER BOSS

So keep walking and dreaming. Keep rolling down the road as He tips it less inclined to roughness but inclined to looking at Him… Keep your eyes on things above!

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:10

Amen

One of the sad things that I feel people experience is that they are exiled from their knowledge of a loving God. They know a painful rejection and they know a cold distance because something or some evil blockage prevents them from remembering that God DOES love them beyond a measure. GOD IS LOVE. Punishment for a prescribed 70 years, yet preservation forever, by God’s hands, may come for exiled Babylon-residing Israelites for a couple generations, as a poem in lamentations reveals sadness yet reaching out, BUT EMOTIONAL DISTANCE comes now way too often for way too many people in our day and age who should experience and KNOW the LOVE of GOD – but either reject or revel in their distance. (We should not revel in distance, He is here.) Or they simply don’t know how to find God in the confusion of the world-cluttered views. We pray an opening of hearts, repentance, and acknowledgement – then praise – receiving recognition that we can see Him Holding us close.

If we tear up to know the Lamentations of loss, may we weep in JOY as we remember this RESCUE from the Rejection. May we measure the Love of our Lord immensely immeasurably. You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Well, He DOES love us beyond measure and He’s not angry with us beyond measure, because He Rose a Forgiveness branch of Mercy, a Vine Divine in JESUS. His anger only a moment and mercy forever…

Psalm 30 sings it out – by David years before this time – “Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”

So may we always remember this loving and merciful.God and get through the things we’ve got to get through but don’t turn away and don’t let people or circumstances prevent us from seeing the mercy after the mud, the rainbow after the storm, the homecoming after exile. 

May we tell others too that God is love.

We are reminded by these poems of lamentations that people longed for the Lord, and we finally got to see Him come. JESUS LOVE – vine the divine…

Amen 

—

1 John 4:1-19

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

God’s Love and Ours

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us.

—

Lamentations 5 NIV

Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. Our skin is hot as an oven feverish from hunger. Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music.

Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.

You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

One of the memories I have from middle school, 9th grade, was a friendly competition and serious spar between Mrs. S. in science and Mrs. H. in math. They talked about each other being tough – or warned us about each other – and surely were friends but never hesitated to make use of a good rivalry.  

In classic stories in scripture – we saw Jacob and Esau sparing with each other – a rivalry since before birth – a real legacy to hold onto with property rights and family heritage. These were life-determining struggles, not just fighting for fun like many of our known friendly sparring partners like Mrs. S. and Mrs. H. These were rivalries set up for life – with a good reconciliation in the middle mediated by God when they met many years later…  The switcheroo of family lines and fates had already been put into place however with a trickery by Jacob, and a scheming by mother Rachael too, deceiving father Isaac (remember he was the one son that Abraham was tested to potentially sacrifice, and saved by God)…  it made a difference immediately with an inheritance for Jacob over Esau – but forever God was planning to split two whole nations by their brotherly strife anyway. One quote from a genealogy of Abraham’s states “Esau took wives from neighboring nations who followed idolatry and pagan gods and was the father of the Edomites, a neighboring nation of Israel.” – Aha – that is a term I heard before – as Esau gave lineage to the Edomites. Neighboring to Israel, there were wars to be had years down the road.

Wikipedia states it this way for Abraham – that he was blessed so that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 26:4). God would make of Ishmael a great nation because he was of the seed of Abraham. However, God told Hagar that her son would be living in conflict with his relatives” Ishmael was half brother to Issac and whereas conflicting nations would come from Issac, a whole nation of Islam would spring from the descendants of Ishmael. Wikipedia again states: “According to the Genesis account, he died at the age of 137 (Genesis 25:17). According to biblical tradition, he is the ancestor of the Arabs.Within Islam, Ishmael is regarded as a prophet and the ancestor of the Ishmaelites (Hagarenes or Adnanites) and patriarch of Qaydār (of northern Arabian lands).

My point for this devotion is that sparring tribes and peoples of today were already set in place – already sparing or living in static strife. These bubbled over then like today into wars.  The Edomites (from Esau) are mentioned in the 4th poem of Lamentations – the Israelites were bucketted with warring tribes forever – even now…  Israelites then were being carried to Babylon for some time – pre-described by God to Jeremiah – and the people had to mourn their fate but were told to praise their future – for their future generations…  Us too – we must stay strong for us and for our children and for our hope. They were to TRUST… Sparing rivalries will be here for our earthly time – no getting around it – set up in pre-prescribed ways. We best in all of this not lose our trust in God. Keep knowing (like those exiled to Babylon) that we will get out of this mess of today’s wars, someday…

Here is Lamentations 4 – much strife – but much HOPE. Edomites are mentioned at the end – for their strife with Israel (descendants of Jacob).

How the gold has lost its luster,
    the fine gold become dull!
The sacred gems are scattered
    at every street corner.

How the precious children of Zion,
    once worth their weight in gold,
are now considered as pots of clay,
    the work of a potter’s hands!

Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.

Because of thirst the infant’s tongue
    sticks to the roof of its mouth;
the children beg for bread,
    but no one gives it to them.

Those who once ate delicacies
    are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple
    now lie on ash heaps.

The punishment of my people
    is greater than that of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment
    without a hand turned to help her.

Their princes were brighter than snow
    and whiter than milk,
their bodies more ruddy than rubies,
    their appearance like lapis lazuli.

But now they are blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as a stick.

Those killed by the sword are better off
    than those who die of famine;
racked with hunger, they waste away
    for lack of food from the field.

With their own hands compassionate women
    have cooked their own children,
who became their food
    when my people were destroyed.

The Lord has given full vent to his wrath;
    he has poured out his fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed her foundations.

The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor did any of the peoples of the world,
that enemies and foes could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.

But it happened because of the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
who shed within her
    the blood of the righteous.

Now they grope through the streets
    as if they were blind.
They are so defiled with blood
    that no one dares to touch their garments.

“Go away! You are unclean!” people cry to them.
    “Away! Away! Don’t touch us!”
When they flee and wander about,
    people among the nations say,
    “They can stay here no longer.”

The Lord himself has scattered them;
    he no longer watches over them.
The priests are shown no honor,
    the elders no favor.

Moreover, our eyes failed,
    looking in vain for help;
from our towers we watched
    for a nation that could not save us.

People stalked us at every step,
    so we could not walk in our streets.
Our end was near, our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.

Our pursuers were swifter
    than eagles in the sky;
they chased us over the mountains
    and lay in wait for us in the desert.

The Lord’s anointed, our very life breath,
    was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
    we would live among the nations.

Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom,
    you who live in the land of Uz.
But to you also the cup will be passed;
    you will be drunk and stripped naked.

Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion;
    he will not prolong your exile.
But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom,
    and expose your wickedness.

For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:31-33

Oh yes, I love this passage, I am to live for hope rather than say “I told you so” to wayward folks. or maybe I am to find hope in the loss that I have by my sin and distance from God. Yes, I would rather God be a God of compassion, not a draconian dark mean convicting God. And in my recommitment to reading, the Lamentations poem in chapter 3 is a glimmer and glimpse of compassion, of mercy, of justice by jurisdiction because God ultimately God floods darkness with light. God breaks down a broken system to rebuild it and restore hope.

Lamentations also find me wondering if Jesus, the acceptor of our sins and maker of our salvation, writes what He experiences for us – the gaul and bitterness – the distance…  I know that these Lamentation poems refer to life in captivity in the exile to Babylon – but they speak of hope of the exile our sins cause us from God – and that God does not want us to linger in exile. God gives us the hope to remove our sadness and fill it with gladness: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

When we look at this poem of the destruction and then the rebuilding – we are reminded of hope – we are reminded to keep seeking His Face  – know His Love – and Accept His forgiveness thru Jesus. “You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.’ “ – and the Way to not fear is to accept His Hope over our failings. We must praise MORE than our laments were sorrowful, because we DO know this forgiveness in Jesus.

Amen

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Lamentations 3:1-58

I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light; indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long.
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He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones.
He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead.
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He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
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Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help. He drew his bow and made me the target for his arrows.
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He pierced my heart with arrows from his quiver. I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long. He has filled me with bitter herbs and given me gall to drink.
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He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust. I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
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I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
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Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
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The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
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Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
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For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?
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Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should the living complain when punished for their sins? 

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Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: “We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.
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“You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you have slain without pity. You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through. You have made us scum and refuse among the nations.
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“All our enemies have opened their mouths wide against us. We have suffered terror and pitfalls, ruin and destruction.” Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.
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My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city.
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Those who were my enemies without cause hunted me like a bird. They tried to end my life in a pit and threw stones at me; the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
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I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”  You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
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You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life….