life

Poor No More, Praising a Prescribed Purification Petition, Luke 1-2

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… and when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Jesus was, is, and is to come.

Jesus was born as prescribed – a Holy Healer for our sick sinfulness – a LIGHT to enter the broken dark world – a Savior Messiah for Jews and Gentiles – a Child of God – and God as a child.  And Jesus came as a substitute for sacrifice – fulfilling the law of Moses as required – like a lamb, Jesus became the atonement for all.

And as prescribed in the law of Moses, from Leviticus, Jesus was circumcised after birth. Jesus was raised in the traditional ways of the time. Mary and Joseph were faithful true to the Lord, despite their poverty. And the Lord made accommodations for the poor – providing for them: 2 small birds instead of the more expensive lamb.

Mary was needing ritual purification after childbirth as prescribed too: Now when the days of her [Mary’s] purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Yes, allowance for the poor – instead of a lamb, they were able to bring a small sacrifice. And isn’t that all of us – we are poor in spirit and poorer in the contrast to the almighty fulfilment with God – and so we have been gifted this Jesus, a substitute to bring us closer to God – to purify and to petition – and this we PRAISE. WE ARE POOR NO MORE!!!.

Poor no more – we are to be Praising a Prescribed Purification Petition – Jesus came to complete us. “He exalted the lowly” – by becoming even lower than the poorest people and lifting them all up. We have the glorious Victory in Jesus.

May this we praise.

Amen

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Leviticus 12:1-8 The Lord said to Moses,  “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

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Luke 1-2 NKJV – Dedication to Theophilus –  Here is a Bible Gateway link listening: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/bubb/nkjv/Luke.1 or reading:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201-2&version=NKJV

Luke 1-2 NKJV
Dedication to Theophilus
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”  And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

The Song of Mary
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

And Mary remained with her [Elizabeth] about three months, and returned to her house.

Birth of John the Baptist
Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.

Circumcision of John the Baptist
So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.” But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zacharias’ Prophecy
Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,

As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,

Who have been since the world began,
That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:

To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Christ Born of Mary

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

***
Circumcision of Jesus
And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Jesus Presented in the Temple
Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

***

Simeon Sees God’s Salvation
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Anna Bears Witness to the Redeemer
Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

The Family Returns to Nazareth
So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

The Boy Jesus Amazes the Scholars
His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

Jesus Advances in Wisdom and Favor
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

NOT SPEAKING speaks VOLUMES, especially for “About to meet Jesus-ers”

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I have had times when I could not speak – a few times – lost my voice and for a stretch about 25 years ago I held up a sign that said “Howdy” and carried a notepad to communicate – for like a month! I recovered from that ailment – but weird. Then there was the time in college, freshman year, for “morgue hours” – which meant we couldn’t converse in the hallways during exam study time – final exams – time for quiet – so instead I carried a sign that said “Howdy” and maybe “good bye” and waved it in the hallway because I couldn’t not be a social person!

So – when I am not speaking – well that says volumes. Also when we do need to communicate that old adage is: “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Well, the Lord even tells us to HOLD THE TONGUE – because it is the most vile part of the body – the evil it could speak is worse than anything…  Imagine then “not speaking” and remaining quiet to people whom we don’t get along with – might speak more volumes – at least it keeps the peace. 

Not speaking but visibly shaken and who knows – Zacharias (from learning about him as that time’s chosen priest to do the sacrifices in the temple – recorded in the gospel of Luke, chapters 1 and 2)  came out from the temple as if he had seen AN ANGEL!!!! HE DID! His NOT SPEAKING spoke volumes to these “About to meet Jesus-ers”…  We don’t know what Zacharias told those people later, through writing on a tablet – but he certainly would have had a lot to write about! He surely motioned the size of the angel if his hands could expand that wide!  And Luke, the physician and writer who interviewed all the people he could after Jesus was arose from the dead and during his travels in the early days of the church, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, recorded these amazing wonders of what was happening at the time of Jesus’s birth.

We do know Zacharias doubted what the angel Gabriel spoke of – that he would become father to the great prophet John the Baptist – in the footsteps of Elijah, and he doubted because of his wife’s old age that she was barren. But the angel told him God had a plan – and then the angel told him that he would not speak – lose his voice. Then we know later, that as soon as he was later filled with the Holy Spirit – in naming his son John, set aside for greatness, Zacharias spoke again – singing praises for God. He was not silent forever – but his NOT SPEAKING – and knowing his experience – was volumes enough to his soul – and noticeable to the people.

And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”  And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house.

Also noticeable was and is that Elizabeth retreated and hid when she had conceived – but she did praise God by saying that He took away her shame for previously being barren all those years – Elizabeth praised that the Lord did that – that the Lord had a plan – and we know that it was for her – and for her child – and for the world of people. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Can we imagine being quiet and praising God? Can we imagine that we only get a glimpse of this plan that the Lord has and even if we can’t speak of it right now, or have troubles right now, we can await the greatness that is to come – and we can also recount when the Lord has been faithful to us in the past and know that our perseverance will help.

We can speak volumes without words – so imagine if we choose the right words at the right time – and let the Lord through the Holy Spirit fill our mouths “at the right time” – let the Lord answer in our heads before we speak it to others – not calculated but cautionary for cause. Let us find the time for not speaking and for speaking – especially for the people who need to see Jesus in us…  If they don’t know Him, may our actions speak to His Life and Love. May we be dedicated to Him.

Amen

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James 1:19-20 NKJV 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.

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James 3 NKJV
The Untamable Tongue
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Luke 1-2 NKJV 
Dedication to Theophilus
Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”  And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

The Song of Mary
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

Birth of John the Baptist
Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.

Circumcision of John the Baptist
So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.”

But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called.

And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zacharias’ Prophecy
Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Christ Born of Mary
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

Circumcision of Jesus
And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

Jesus Presented in the Temple
Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Simeon Sees God’s Salvation
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Anna Bears Witness to the Redeemer
Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

The Family Returns to Nazareth
So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

The Boy Jesus Amazes the Scholars
His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

Jesus Advances in Wisdom and Favor
Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Luke 1-2 NKJV – Dedication to Theophilus –  Here is a Bible Gateway link for listening: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/bubb/nkjv/Luke.1

or reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201-2&version=NKJV

A Daily Double of Life and LOVE

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“I’ll take ‘LIFE’ for $500, Alex”- ‘DING‘ – “It’s the DAILY DOUBLE!” — This could be a fictional scenario on Jeopardy, the TV game show, but you could consider it a reality. Life has a daily double every day. Not necessarily double meaning – but a DOUBLE VIEW of how you look at life…

In the TV game show, a ‘Daily Double’ means your bet is the opportunity for twice the amount of money. You might win or lose depending upon your knowledge of the category. Hopefully you win – and you win double. Hopefully you are smart enough for the answer.

Now, what about NOT a category but about the real “game of life” or how one approaches it. Is life a gambling lifestyle? or is it knowing about life journey in a hard way – or maybe we sidestep trouble all the time? Do we really know about life? Do we? 

We DO know a lot about life’s ups and downs, we DO know our physical aches and pains too, we know mental joy or relief or anger or anguish, anxiety and apprehensiveness, depression and doubt. Yeah and even though we know these things both personally and in others, do we know how to navigate and when to sit on the sideline and rest? When to “take life by the horns”  – pull up our bootstraps – or ???

Well, what if life was DOUBLE – like a DAILY DOUBLE of circumstances???  Well, IT IS! We don’t have to be smart to know this answer – the ANSWER is LOOKING ABOVE.

We have life here on earth – but in spiritual realms – there is a whole lot of life going on – AMAZING – we have NO IDEA the amazing arena of the Spiritual realms that surround us – and “Angel Armies”. A Spiritual battle for good over evil, light over darkness, hope over holding us back. The Spiritual realms fight for our right – not to party – but to be mentally WITH God in Spirit and Truth without a distraction to the daily grind of life. To FOCUS ON THINGS ABOVE – is to know that we are NOT alone in life and that we best redirect the grasp of this world to gaze at the right and righteousness of God.

Paul would remind a church set of folks whom he dedicated, the Colossians, to put off being obsessed from all the things of earth – including the bad things of immorality – and then also put on the good things of obedience, “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another…“, – and especially forgiveness in love:  “if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

Paul would remind us to “put on LOVE” – and this is the state of knowing how Heaven looks at us – how Jesus looks at us: in LOVE – and for us to take on that DAILY DOUBLE of choice to look at the world in LOVE and be peaceful… “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” 

So – our focus on above and the LOVE – means we focus less on this earthly mess – except to try to bring LIGHT to the situation – to bring HOPE – to help encourage best living – in love – in loving – in life.

A Daily Double of Life and LOVE.

AMEN

……

Colossians 3:1-17 NKJV – Paul writes a letter to the church urging them to improve, focus, hope…

Not Carnality but Christ – If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Therefore put to death your members [not people but distracting ways] which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Angel Armies are good to Google search – 2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV of Elisha and his servant seeing that the battle is with the Lord more than with our human earthly means: When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

and Psalm 91:11-12 NIV to know God commands His angels to guard and protect believers, the psalmist says: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

and Revelation 12:7-10 NIV: Archangel Michael fights and defeats the devil. John sees: “Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down….'”

Abundant Life – Not Perfect Nor Simple, John 10:10 and 25

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Had a GREAT birthday – activities and dinner with the kids – fun fun – and I made it fun mentally for myself – it is good to be busy and good to count blessings…

The trunk and treat at a school that my friend helps with – that was fun – the kids cleaned me out of candy and rock painting – and it was non-stop for those who wanted to make slime and do another experiment…  it was fun – and I have no idea why they do competitions but this one I won 3rd prize – cute trophy – loved helping the kids (of all ages)…

Pop Pop Pop – I was shocked at the end of the 2 hour event that they were popping the balloons – when i was a kid, well those balloon displays were the best thing a little kid could share in – the balloons were sufficient for play – life was much simpler then…  pop pop – I thought it was a shame but at the same time everyone was under a time crunch and well you have to keep moving…  these people did a lot of work – and everything from a bounce house to treats to crafts to hot dogs – wow…

And what a blessing that my mom sent me presents too… simple and nothing major – but I do remember my mom, when I was a kid, let me have those balloons from the fun events we had… ah memories…

Making new memories now with my own kids – my dinner with the kids and the presents that they gave me were wonderful because I feel like they are “adulting” and moved up in the world and aware…  that is my best present … I also saw them (each separately) “adulting” with grown up and work decisions… it was not easy for them to be in those conversations but it was real and real problem solving…

Life is not guaranteed easy or perfect or simple  it is not… It is not the goal to work into wealth even though we like the cushion of comfort. Life is about loving – about love from God and for God and for each other – and in that realizing to count one’s blessings and being OK with being OK… An Abundant Life is not material things or people you hang out with – it is not even sunrises and sunsets – it is life IN the Lord – from the Lord – thru the Lord – counting blessings that He provides – and praising Him – only Him – for all that…

Abundant Life is a life lived close to God – what’s more to life than that???!!!

Amen

and so for my birthday 10/25  – the John scriptures of 10 and 25

John 10:10, 25 New King James Version

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
…
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.

Praying Vegas – Slaying Vegas – Staying Vegas – LOVING VEGAS

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I prayed “Lord Willing” – HE WAS !!!  I got there for my mini-vacation with so many activities including the down-time (which is never enough)…

I prayed Vegas, you could say that I “slayed Vegas” in knowing now what works and doesn’t work for me, and there are many aspects that I will stay in Vegas-mode, in my heart… but yes, I was so grateful to get home too, to my family, to have beautiful coolness mornings, summer bugs, and a refreshing rainstorm the other night that was just truly northeast late summer weather… Today here will be 80s and I plan to do errands then get to the beach to refresh my ‘ahhhhh’, yes – relaxation – home but also remembering home is where your heart is – and it should always be with the Lord…

I have so many things to be thankful for this week, YOU HAVE NO IDEA… honestly, I have no idea too, I could never wrap my head around this all, and our lives here, because the Lord gives us SO MANY things beyond our comprehension. Including and especially HOPE. 

“Slaying Vegas” is a new book! Many wrote chapters in the new book about making the best and truly all the women who wrote chapters have been “slaying life” – “slaying Vegas” – meaning living with gusto, giving it all they got, making the Vegas landscape a better place, and inspiring women and all along the way…  It is empowering to see women empowered. “Slaying Vegas” is available on Amazon…  There is my promotional plug support!!!

I also want to shout out another Vegas transplant – one that brought sunshine into my heart and palate – HANDEL’S ICE CREAM!!!! Yes – this is a company from Ohio – and there are some franchises out east – but now I found that they found them in Las Vegas – oh the joy of the 4 scoop sampler for less than $7… Took the desert of Las Vegas and made it into the dessert of the day… Oh – the blue cookie monster ice cream – there was none lost none wasted for the 4 year old ate it all and even the whole cone…  yum and fun… 

And yeah – that is what half my vacation was – even though evenings were for Vegas thrills, – the mornings were also blessed – being with a 4yr old, and an 18-month yr old and sitting on the floor and playing blocks – and chicken nuggets and making a cheese quesadilla for the little girl, just like I made 20 years ago for my oldest…  Yes, time with kids reminded me how long ago I had mine – and oh it reminded me of the kids back home who are now both over 21 – both driving – both adulting – and how time flies… We raise kids and then we raise adults…  And we should take time to BE with the kids when they are little – because it makes THEIR childhood more idyllic to have love – and yes get ice cream and yes play in the dirt and then a hose in the backyard (and THANK GOD I can still get down to sit on the floor at their level)…  And our trip to the McD’s playground inside and our trip to get a haircut for the 4 year old – amazing – (that is what pleases a grandma all the world around: a haircut!) – and seeing joy in making a connection with the hairdresser (from Ohio too like the ice cream). And yes our other trip to Dairy Queen near the Hoover Dam in Boulder City – with chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream – yum (all while keeping the kids in the car – remember those days?) – and our trip to see the blue caboose of the old time railroad from our car windows (not getting out of the blessed Air Conditioning at 116F)… and playing in a dirt pile at the construction corner – and seeing the kitties  – and vacation is being a kid as an adult (with your own money now and ability to buy ice cream) and seeing the blessed newness in their eyes and in your heart. Being on vacation means changing your mindset too. And accepting a new season of life for temporary. And making memories that last longer than the photos. Yeah – that is what vacation can be…  Memories…

And my 7-11 trips were a blessing – walking 2 blocks in the cooler mornings while seeing the mountains were a highlight too – because I built a nice rapport with the cashier and told her all about the neon and the show to see Donny Osmond – and the Hoover Dam – and the everything…  I also needed someone to share with and she was it… God provided…

This is the “staying Vegas” part of my story – because it is hard to transplant oneself into a dry arid environment like the Las Vegas desert without bringing the need to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t and what you bring home in your heart and what you leave behind and what “staying Vegas” even means… To “stay” means what? Sure, we can have that concept of slaying vegas, but STAYING? well – it means ADAPTING…  Vegas is truly a place where you have to adapt – adapt to desert living – adapt to new places – adapt to new people but they are likely transplants themselves – adapt to new roads and ice cream places too – and a 7-11 big gulp of lemonade instead of my convenience store – yes adapt to everything – but all in all, know that God is here too…  And that is what I asked myself the first day – where will God reveal Himself to me here – and in the majesty of the mountains I saw His Handiwork – and in the curiosity of a child I saw His Joy – and in the ice cream I saw the Father of God who pleased – and in the Grandma? “Mimi” – well, I saw the Love of God… 

YES – Grandmas who will move their whole lives cross country to LOVE on their grandchildren are GOD’S LOVE –  all and all… This is LOVING VEGAS to a whole new level. LOVE that is a sacrificial LOVE is what love is all about.

So – I saw God on this trip – and God was and IS: LOVE.

Amen

“SEEK ME”, Faith Flourishes in Ocean Grove

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I knew it was the best opportunity to ‘escape’ to Ocean Grove, NJ. 

I wanted to know that I allowed myself ‘a decompression day’ from everything – which still allowed me to be connected (my new cellphone works great) and be in the super duper frame of mind to look for the presence of the Lord. AND THE BEACH TOO… plus excited that my friend joined me, she has moved so it’s good to see her when I can, this was her first visit here so I connected her with this gem of Ocean Grove, ‘God’s Square Mile’…

Driving 7am, started my day with catching up with one of the recordings of an online sermon from a great church – the pastor had a message about Joshua 1, Faith and Obedience… “Don’t just listen to God, DO WHAT HE SAYS”… and then after a great moment sitting on the beach at 8am (with a great parking spot) writing my morning blog, and attending half of a boardwalk church 9am service with a guest missionary sharing on college campus ministry, I made it up to the great Auditorium with revival vibes, met my friend for 1030am service, and guess what? the scripture was for the sermon? Joshua 1… WOW, it’s like God chased me to have me hear these messages and scriptures and connect with the people also who needed to hear… If there’s nothing else in my life, and there is, I know that the Lord makes me a connector of people… 

I nestled into what I figured would likely be a different take on Joshua 1, “FEAR NOT”, but fear not I was thrilled with the amazing message, structured in his own way, he was a natural speaker and leader and had the funny story at the beginning to engage the group… (about the hallmark movies, and I immediately sent his sermon link YouTube version to a couple friends who are hallmark movie junkies)…

FEAR NOT! I highly recommend his sermon, it touched my life and my friend’s life and I will tell you the punchline of not the joke but the message: “the opposite of fear is not courage, but FAITH…” the sermonist spoke about irrational fear, how that is evil and overtakes us, whereas the Lord gives us natural, healthy fear, that keeps us safe, but we have to be weary of that catastrophic irrational fear… 

I had to go up to the sermonist after and share my photo of my stick figure of when Jesus pulled me out of the water from some irrational fear… Yeah – and he was able to chat with my friend as well – very nice opportunity to chat… 

Well, also ran into old friends of mine and someone I consider a new acquaintance friend of mine – she runs the bookstore Hub and we chatted about blogs last time after I wrote one on her wifi (and my phone was broken but I got to log onto my laptop inside and outside her store at the beginning of vacation at the beginning of July) – and this time (end of July) she recognized me and we chatted again – it is good to meet Godly people – she wrote a children’s book about the spiritual history of Ocean Grove – using Genesis 1:1 as the Founders did – and this was founders day week – and camp meeting week…  It is – life is – the world is – our faith is – all started by God – because IN the beginning was God.

Ah – the little cottages there and the ice cream and porch of that place and then the beach – ah…  Love Ocean Grove… When I buy the beach tag I consider it a church donation – it is so good to be immersed in the Lord’s blessings there. And the Ocean was low tide and warm enough to take a dip – no real swimming for me that day but book reading – and reading about Peter from “A Fragile Stone” – my beach book – authored by Michael Card the singer – a great read as a book and a great ‘read’ on Peter – how Jesus worked with Peter and also called him friend…  Peter like us fragile and yet strengthened by the Lord and His mission for us.

Ah – time to roll home but not before I took a moment to charge my phone, computer (no I didn’t ever get to work on it – that is OK) and recharge some more faith via singing at the pavilion at 4pm before driving home, the songs I all new – both contemporary and classic and wow it was like the Lord knew to keep me in Praise mode… He did – He does…

Well, enjoy the day and get out there and FEAR NOT – no irrational fear – just day by day, hour by hour, live the life He leads us on..

Oh – the best reinforcement of this all came from my new acquaintance friend at the bookstore – who decided to get thru the roadblock of her blogs and social media and everything marketing by hiring an outside doer company and stay in her creative mode and let them do the marketing – she said she had prayed to the Lord about all her questions of life and direction (“especially at her age” she said – retired a few times from previous paths”  – and THE LORD essentially said to her: “You’ve been seeking answers, NOW SEEK ME”…   

YUP – Seek the Lord first – and let HIM lead…

YUP…

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

Ocean Grove sermon: “FEAR NOT” starts at the 40minute mark in the link – YES REALLY WORTH LISTENING TO!!!

Joshua 1:1-11 NIV

Joshua Installed as Leader

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’”

Remembering a Great Lady and One of God’s Tribe!

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My neighbor passed away. She was ninety-one years and had been full of life until her slow decline… Three years ago I think, she had broken her hip twice and her house flooded and I don’t know how many other things. And that’s when her family decided to pull her out and put her in an assisted living facility which she absolutely loved. Three meals a day and bingo and manicures and physical therapy and socialization!!! She never looked back. She lived life in the present and seemed to let the past stay in the past…  Yes, even when she left her house, most of her stuff was left behind which did get donated, except I kept her green towel and she gave me some statues and a big bowl. And of course lots of laughter and great memories. She was the first neighbor we met years ago now.

She also was Jewish and although I didn’t see her practicing holidays much, we talked about God all the time being in charge. I did come across a Jewish scripture book when I cleaned out her house. Her house is gone and the new house replaced it and a new family… and that’s the way life goes… We are here but for a moment. What is remembered is our wonderful fun loving tribes of folks and I’m so grateful I got to be in her tribe and that of my neighbors.  

Now, being of the Jewish faith, Jesus, fully man and fully God, was also from a tribe – the tribe of Judah, Jesus called “The Lion of Judah”. The tribes of God – they are pillars of regular people being chosen to do big things for God – including be fruitful and multiply the children of God. The 12 tribes and then Jesus took 12 disciples. 12 is a good number!

The tribes (from Abraham then Issac then Jacob) were set into the world by the 12 children of Jacob – from 4 mothers – children including Joseph and his dreamcoat (for which my first VBS this year is about) – and then Moses coming from that tribe to pull them out of Egypt some 400 years later (for which my second VBS is about) – imagine that 400 years is a long time – and imagine that God has known all these things for from before forever ago and way past forever from now – it is unbelievable but God knows His Plan. And He knows the plans for us too – so enjoy the people you enjoy – make peace with your neighbors and you will be blessed – take time to be in the moment  – and enjoy life…

And may your own tribe thrive!!!

Amen

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Genesis 22:14-18 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Retired? Retredded or Rethreaded

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Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

My friend who is moving has worked her last day at her office! I wouldn’t say she is retiring but moving to different work because the work she’s gonna go do over there – far from here – is to help raise her grandkids. She is so talented she also could work anywhere…

I don’t know about my retirement but think that when one retires, you can think of the ALL things you could do!!! Or when you retire, think of the things you DON’T need to do… and give up unpleasant things to do. I think I just need a vacation personally, give my brain a chance to think… but wow if I was retired, THINK of the THINKING you could do! OR NOT!

AND THEN I THOUGHT RETIREMENT COULD BE LIKE RETREDDING… When you retread a tire, it is not retired, just given new life with the same core. Then new veneers of rubber help keep the truck running on the road.

When you retire as a person, like my friend is, you’ve go to keep moving! 

Some push the pedal to the medal and speed forward, some put their pedal pushers on and kick back.

Yesterday I was at a home improvement store getting rocks for painting, not for vacation bible school or a school class, but for my work friend for a nice activity of writing encouraging messages.

Dr Randy came up the aisle and help load these heavy bags, eight in total. just chit-chat, but seemingly of a retired age. I surmised that he was keeping busy. Then when he asked me what school the rocks were for, he started to tell me that he was a professor and taught college courses at 2 local prestigious universities. Then I said why are you here? And he said I gotta pay the ex-wife, and we both laughed… he’s got a full marine pension… this man certainly can keep busy. And i’m sure he is a blessing because works hard, plus he is hassling in a good way and advising all the younger workers…

It’s good when we keep our retreated retired wheels on the road.

What about fishing? Is everybody says “gone fishing” when on vacation or retired. Well when you decide to keep working for the Lord in His fishing of men, you can work your whole life AND in retirement to RETHREAD and reweave and reinforce the nets. You can still keep going… 

And on your retredded tires, you probably have lots of work for the Lord, He puts more gas in the tank, your tank, our tanks….

Yeah, let us keep on the road for Him.

Lord knows where the Lord will take us!!!

Happy retirement my friend.

Blessed retredding!!!

Amen 

Proverbs 19:21 – the Lord’s Purpose, 10JUN 

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Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Purpose – if we say we are driven by purpose – let us put ourselves in the proper seat – the passenger – because God’s Purpose prevails and therefore it is best to let Him Drive – because He is the owner of not just the car but the roads and the houses and the hills and the cows on the hills and the stuff made from the stuff on the hills.

How a West Side story CD figures into His Plan is mind-blowing if only to know that He likes to shake you up sometimes and remind you of HIS PLANS – not yours…  

We must PLAN to follow HIM – plan to look for HIS PURPOSE…

I am busy – that is not a curse but a blessing. I am OK – being busy is a blessing that keeps on blessing. I am a sharer of time and resources, a connector of people and concepts, a sanguine personality Hippocrates would say of the small section of human population, I am a “Campaigner” aka the 16personalities website based upon the Myers Briggs psychology tests, otherwise known as an ENFP. The source material says the Campaigner is a personality type with “the Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Prospecting traits. These people tend to embrace big ideas and actions that reflect their sense of hope and goodwill toward others. Their vibrant energy can flow in many directions.”

Yup – that’s me – I was raised this way and made this way – it does get tiring but I’ve never been so blessed to see a role for my life…  And yeah – to sing God’s praises too that He keeps me in this life.

I’ve written blogs for work and here – and connect my many experiences – purpose-driven means you never run out of experiences. (I am longing for the vacation experience too, LOL). Well yesterday there was a connection I made from a work blog talking about the Foster Kids that we are helping with decorating birthday boxes – and this person saw at work about our help for foster kids in homes – providing them a birthday box of items to celebrate them – we get to color the items and write inspirational messages – we get to help kids we don’t even know…  I was amazed when this person I newly connected with at another site (another state) told me about a child in the Foster system and the struggles of more kids than homes available to give them homes. I also read that a Campaigner personality person is more likely to be the person who adopts kids. Well, I thought – well I am not planning to adopt any little kids but I’ve always been appreciative to be with these big kids who are “work kids” – I could be like the Grandma to them – which I have taken on as a mentality for years – be bright – be brief and be gone is the toastmaster’s motto for giving speeches. Well, grandmothers hang in the picture longer.

Grandmothers – I was cleaning out from my friend’s yard sale all the paper accumulation from being a mom of 3 – all the elementary attendance awards etc – kids artwork – papers for report cards – volumes and volumes – and I loved seeing the cards that said – “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!” – I was thinking of that little girl in the foster care system – how much her life is different right now. And I know that my friend needs to get to her daughter (grown up) and grandkids as she moves cross country. HOW MANY WONDERFUL GRANDMOTHERS EXIST THAT HELP THEIR GRANDKIDS!!!! There is purpose in my friend’s moving – purpose in her kids lives and to so many whom she doesn’t even know yet.

THAT’S ALL OF US – YOU TOO – PURPOSE – THE LORD’S PURPOSE – SO KEEP GOING!!!

And then in the pile of stuff – after I had just been thinking of the Tony Awards and wouldn’t it have been nice to have some good old time Broadway ballads like West Side Story on the show – nearly less than an hour later from that thought – in that box of paperwork – was a new unwrapped CD of West Side Story – original cast – I mean what are the chances – in a 30yr old box of papers…  What are the odds…  There is no odd that could encompass that randomness of not random… I think the angels in the realm of this world like to throw in a reminder here and there that WE ARE NOT IN CHARGE – that GOD IS IN CHARGE – HIS PURPOSE will prevail.

We are to step one day at a time – and encounter the people He needs us to be with.

Lord – today let us keep walking in step with you and do the random things that remind us that YOU ARE IN CHARGE – let us look for purpose of plan and planning – prodding and plotting – poise and performance – and playful purpose too…

Purpose – God’s Got it for us!!!

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Amen – I mean AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus says Don’t Worry, even about the Math of Life

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It is a joy of math, yes math… I’m a forever nerd of course, loved math club in high school and the awesome topics in a club format was a no pressure tickling of the mind, fun from fractions to fractals… Get your pens and pencils out… Protractors and straight edges. That was 40 years ago now, wow. I just used basic math, just now, to figure out how long ago from my age. Basic math of figures, different than the basic math of figuring out life.

Can we figure out life? (And I’m not talking about the number 42 from the hitch-hikers guide to the universe, nerds)… Life tells us things but Jesus says “Don’t worry” – even about the math…

But math is something you do, you need, you figure out with teaching tools AND RULES. So when my youngest started to get serious interested in furthering education, I started grinning ear to ear, heart string to apron string. It’s not about cutting an apron string but myself being strung along on this adventure to further education to jump into life – to have a future.  But oh I have to take this ONE DAY AT A TIME, I’M REMINDED BY THE LORD, take life one day at a time. AND it is NOT my college experience but theirs. (and they have to take it one day at a time too!) 

SO, before I can jump in delight on any upcoming trip(s) to visit the place(s) or rush to buy my college mom sweatshirt, first we must do math! Oh, there’s a math placement test. OH MATH!!!!

My youngest asked for my help to brush up on learning. I’ve never been SO HAPPY to be a mom-nerd, nerd-mom in my life. It’s like I can’t help you in teaching you how to cook but I CAN discuss fractions and show the old school basic division AND all the tricks of the trade to simplify fractions and do algebraic equations. But the basic truths I’ve applied mathematically, that I would have learned from years and years of nerd-time, like flipping a fraction when dividing became not good enough of an answer to “WHY” not just “HOW”. Hmmm, a high school grad’s question from something they never absorbed but was rote memorization for me, that is tough to teach. And 40yrs later I can’t remember half the why’s (thank God for Google), and only a part of the hows.

Do we feel like we have been relearning the how? In math and life? We all are. Sometimes one just has rules to KNOW and apply. Sometimes we just live life in the basic figuring out of being blessed without understanding all aspects of God’s complex plan. 

Figuring out life is more than basic math, it is complex, we don’t always know the HOW. BUT WE DO KNOW THE WHO!!! 

THE WHO IS GOD!!!! 

Not “WHO is God?” but “God is WHO”. God Himself, who is a mathematician too (of course He is looking at how complex and rule-following patterns are like swirls in a sunflower), God is in charge and will take care of us – not to worry. Need to figure out life? Just rely on God – LOVE is the answer – the solution for the problems. Love was there from before time – and before math.

Math done for real life is everything from money to cutting an pizza. It comes down to figuring out money often as one of the life skills we apply. We do need to pay the rent and put food on the table, yet we worry obsessively over things and not the basics.

Jesus said don’t worry about the basic math of life, just live it. 

Jesus said JUST LOVE – don’t hate – Just live – don’t die – be still and still be.

Jesus says “Don’t worry” – even about the math of life…

I urge the reading of Matthew 6:19-34 NIV – where JESUS KNOWS THE MATH AND MEANING OF TREASURES OF LIFE OF LOVE – JESUS KNOWS THE HOW AND WHY AND ‘DON’T WORRIES’ OF IT ALL.

We number our days – and count on HIM…

Amen

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“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”. Psalm 90:12

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Matthew 6 – Jesus teaches:

Treasures in Heaven
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Do Not Worry
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Which War are We Fighting? Keep Praying! 2nd Corinthians 2

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In my recent travels to Canada, the probably only frowning face I encountered was at the orthodox church where I went to purchase candles to light in memory of my friend. Yes there was sadness in reverence of the mini service going on for remembrance of people who have passed away, but the frown on the one lady behind the counter became that classic grumpy frumpy face known universal, saying: “10 dollars minimum” to tap my debit card. So no, not upset of me being unknowing of customs like covering my head in the building for the service, but of customers covering the service fees for the banking transactions (trust me I was thrilled that I saw the tap machine like at every restaurant and gift shop). We are fighting an economic war more than anything in earthly life, aren’t we – universally.

Yeah, which war are we fighting, being disgruntled with – Spiritual? or with Sanctions for earthly living? I quickly grabbed more candles to bring myself to 10 dollars minimum, and donned the scarf borrowed from the very sweet lady who was blessed to see me visiting. See it is better to humble ourselves and keep fighting the spiritual war with prayers and praise and the power of Jesus. The war we wage against evil is continuous in all our heavenly and earthly realms. We must keep praying to fight that war by LOVING, by watching, by being in the right place to be the nice person and the friendly face of forgiveness and grace. 

So, no I was not put off by that grumpy face – which you know as well – that is the price of customer service often – the customer always thinks they are right and they aren’t. It was OK. We must be aware of our customs and that since we are covered by grace from above we are covered by grace to each other. 

Covered and covered. I got the candles and the LIGHT for them. I was covered in grace with my nice scarf borrowed and covered in humility for being able to enter the beautiful sanctuary as a foreigner and covered in hope with the LOVE of Jesus which we all shared. And with extra candles I added extra prayers.

And oh the lilacs – not native to this area but still smelling sweet – are like us – here for a short time – not native to this earth but of heaven – and still smelling sweet by the covering of Christ – “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” 2nd Cor 2:14-17

Let us keep fighting God’s War in prayer and praise and BELIEVING! 

Amen

Yeah Gratitude, and Chips Too

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I thought about the chicken salad all morning yesterday – well, I think of chicken salad all the time anyway – but this day I needed an easy lunch, coming back from a trip over the weekend, I spent no time prepping lunch or meals for the week  – so a quick trip to a food convenience store was already in my plans. And yet I wasn’t sure – dill pickle chips or no chips – well to be determined… Lunch (and life) is more interesting with chips – don’t you think?

So, a needed break had just found me – and I went to go get lunch – the right time surfaced and I had just transferred some “blessings bags” to my friend’s car – one subaru to the other – she helps with a group that helps those on the margins – and these blessings bags came from my neighbor – they were a gift from girl scouts earning their bronze award by getting donations and assembling them – all I did was move the bags from one friend to another… It’s good that folks make these bags, hope bags for sure. For the people who donated and who made them and who will get them – we can know that a transfer of love occurs – gifted and received in a spirit of gratitude. 

At the store, the parking was the toughest I ever could have had – but I got one – and backed it in – to the applause of the driver next to me – whew…  but my pride of parking was just silly – that isn’t being through the fire – however my timing was surely the Lord’s because my pride and self-centeredness melted just then, with an interaction with a man asking for change to get something to eat. He was well dressed, not typical of those asking, he did look like his struggles melted his pride enough to beg. And in our brief conversation, what struck me as more sad than physical hunger was his answer to my question if he was able to do anything for Easter. He said no, that “each day is not different from any other” – “well, but some nice church people brought some good food” to him, “that was nice”. Yeah, I appreciate those nice church people too in my life. I appreciate the realization of faith-found generosity is a fruit of the spirit.

I got my chicken salad, I don’t boast about getting him something, it was just a natural feeling of offering, and when he asked if he could get chips too, I said sure, chips too. I think chips make life (and lunch) more interesting and I have an interesting life, no doubt. I felt grateful about having a choice to make and hope in choices. I felt grateful also in this week’s work anniversary. Work has allowed me to provide for myself and family and others in joy. in spontaneous joy.

I’ve been hearing this theme of GRATITUDE all week – first of course for Easter – the most important day of realization for the victory by Jesus for our sakes. Easter is for our jealous God’s sake too, so that He can pull us close, forgiven and forever fortunate. The pick me up for tired selves is gratitude, gratitude that God cares and saves, saves AND cares.

There are many songs of gratitude of course we could sing – and I just heard a new one – written by Brandon Lake – “Hard Fought Hallelujah” – with a lyric that rings true for many who know it is both their hard fight to survive and rise and for God’s hard fight to rescue them and all. For a person realizing each day is a battle: “the struggle keeps me honest – and it breaks down the walls of my pride” – and another lyric for each day is a victory:: “faith isn’t proven like gold till it’s been through the fire”… 

I can’t say that I have had a hard fought battle, I haven’t, I just have had a fortunate existence despite some foibles and frustrations. That conversation in line and it was his face which humbled me most, that “no day stands out” – “no different existence” day to day. That’s what humbled my pride, brought near tears, refined realization that everyday is something different to me, spontaneous me. I’ve got a dill pickle chip dusted life of spicy flavor and crunch everyday…

Gratitude is choosing praise too. Thank You Lord for refining reminders to keep faith eyes open. enjoy the day, for this IS the day the Lord has made!!! Enjoy life – and lunch…

Amen

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Here is a song “Gratitude” – really great… heard on american idol, Breanna Nix & Rylie O’Neil – “Gratitude” as well as Brandon Lake (and Jelly Roll) with multiple song videos of “Hard Fought Hallelujah”:

Walking the Cross for the Lord’s Lost

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Yesterday, Good Friday, on our annual trek around town carrying a big cross between churches, a pastor speaker challenged us to think about whom we were walking for. We were surely walking in witness of our trek, remembering the way of Jesus, but were we able to walk “in spirit” for the marginalized, wrongly accused, and ignored people. I do pray justice in mercy for downtrodden folks  This walk specifically however I thought to myself that as I was walking enjoying the comradery of Christ-followers that perhaps it was best that I frame my mind in prayer for others without this knowledge… I decided I would walk for the LOST.

LOST. Pray one day that they will find that they were found. 

I myself being awake and aware now 10 years, I best find myself to pray mercy of those asleep in faith like I was. I pray for the prideful and even angry, those bothered and bitter, the ignorant and arrogant, the LOST. I pray for their Easter to come, to see the light, to rise from their earthly graves.

What does it mean to be lost? Spiritually lost? I didn’t understand until I was found. There surely are millions of skeptical cynics out there, not just bliss ignorance but vengeful dark mud-stuck lost. May we see one day they prayerfully become sincere seekers. As I am THANKFUL to be found, I cry tears of salvation in JOY, so let me spare a Jesus Tear for these lost. 

In the Revolutionary War cemetery on our trek, one of our stops, I learned they found very little of the 248 yr old remnants during excavation performed just 30 years ago. They weren’t moving dissolved caskets, just cataloging what was lost now “found”. The land was swamp marsh and “to dust” (mush, mud, dust) so these soldiers returned, lost in flesh but not in memory. The cemetery was unmarked and long lost. Thankfully they had records of written stories of the burials, then they decided to look hard during the whole area’s excavation for development. They found shifted soil with detectors, some artifacts, and structural 4-deep placement. They had known the recruited hospital was nearby, not far from the battlefield but also entrenched in fever episodes of the day. The clues were ready to be picked up. Bur the soldiers had already moved on. The cemetery found but the soldiers gone. We pray them found.

How can we walk for the lost? By leaving trails, traits, teachings behind. By shining the light forward. By great commission continuation. By shifting the soil under others from dry or rocky or thorny into good. Shifted soil makes for a shifted soul and then joyful memories. Pray for the lost and pick up a cross with a shovel attachment and look to find those who need a little shifting. 

We pray to keep walking and keep walking to keep praying. 

Amen 

Blessed in the Bloom, Matthew 13

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Rain now but blooming soon – and forever…

This writing is #206 of over 2000 now – a great reminder to keep blooming because you never know who God has to put in your path and you theirs…

I appreciate now that I was 10 years ago realizing that God put these thoughts into my head – it was up to me to move my fingers faster and capture them..

Thank You God for making me and making us BLESSED IN THE BLOOM…

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God Wants YOU in HIS Bouquet in Heaven, 08July2015 #206

I’d like to take the wonderful opportunity to say thank you to God for placing such certain people in my path. I have and had so many wonderful people to learn from, pull the best characteristics from each one into my bouquet of life…. Blessedly more amazing people, than terrible people… But I learn from those folks as well… Learn to delineate the good from the bad traits within each person (because we all have both), the roses from the thorns, the grain from the weeds.

Matthew 13:29-30 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

When God choose me, and when God choose you, He let all the seeds grow, grain and weeds alike… good grain people and weed people/temptations (planted by the evil one). When it is time to harvest, the weeds are set aside and burnt… And the best in you will be taken into the barn of God… into HIS eternal kingdom!!! Yes, you see God let those bad habits grow like weeds alongside your best grain characteristics. He dare not pull the weeds that intercalated into your being, entangled all around you, because the grain of who you are is/was not yet mature, it is/was not yet firmly rooted in good soil.

When you are mature enough, which does not depend on your age, God will call you louder by name… God will lead you to Jesus… maybe others will cajole Him to come into your house and raise your life spirit like Jarius’ daughter (Luke 8:41-56)… Maybe you will cry out in painful screams of angst… When God says it’s time to wake up, you sometimes snooze thru the alarm, then angrily realize you weren’t ready to get up but God called you anyway. When you wake up earlier than the alarms, it’s refreshing and peaceful to see God coming for you, and you can be ready and waiting for HIM. You can work on your root growth deeper and obey his Word.

Before harvest God says: it’s time to get right with the Lord…. It’s time to start pulling those weeds within you, so hold on tight to your roots planted in ME… God’s harvest of the good in your crop will become easier and less painful if you cooperate with God and not work against him, if you identify and start eliminating the weeds in your life… If you dig deep and get to the roots of these vice-causing traits and clean out your soul.

It’s ok if you can’t get out all the weeds or invasive roots out before God takes you, it’s ok because God knows any harvest, no matter how small is still pleasing (Matthew 13:23). God will take you as you are. Be grateful and let God bless you with HIS joy.

God sees the Jesus within you, and takes you for HIS bouquet of heaven. God loves you and will keep you forever…

AMEN

Rest in Jesus, Who Calms the Storms, the Lamb Slain, Revelation 13, Mark 4, Isaiah 53

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A tiny poem:

Whatever you do, don’t worship the beast, not even a little, not even in jest.

Don’t let the devil nip at you, don’t let him disturb you in your rest. (IN JESUS).

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And that’s true, isn’t it? We tend to joke around. We have a tendency to jest about ourselves as being bad. We both forget God’s mercies and we think “I’m not worthy” – Well, God says you ARE WORTHY to be saved – that is why Jesus is the Lamb Slain from the Creation of the World. Let us not let the evil one confuse us. We are worthy because of Jesus.

If we stand strong in our faith and demonstrate faithfulness – then perhaps others will see HOW important faith is – for them to take it seriously too. SO don’t play with fire, don’t jest with the joker, and don’t give the devil anything to latch on to. Jesus wants us 100% reliant upon Him, and not fear evil – even unto death. 

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” That’s what Jesus said as he calmed the storms… 

Isaiah foretold that we would have trouble in this world. “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” – because the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world BEFORE it all went down. And Jesus Came so we will rise up again. Just like waves of the water. Don’t let the Devil rock your boat in between. Rest with Jesus. Rest IN Jesus. Rest because of Jesus.

Remember the Isaiah 53 scripture: “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.“

Amen

Rest in Jesus, our Lamb. Keep living LIFE in His Peace.

Amen

Mark 4:35-41 NIV Jesus Calms the Storm
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

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Revelation 13 NIV The Beast out of the Sea

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Behold the Lamb of God Rising Above the Storm

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The roar of the storms passed us – actually we flew ABOVE them yesterday – what a way to pass a storm by rising ABOVE it. Really for us it was just the wind and not like the tornados of the south – God bless those people. Let us pray the fierceness of the LIONS of March were going out in a storm… And let us pray the Lamb of gentleness to remain – weatherwise and comfort-wise.

John the Baptist (recorded in the apostle John’s gospel) recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God – even though He had not known Him to recognize Him by sight. Therefore the Holy Spirit – the same that made John leap in His mother’s womb – leapt in Him as this was prophesy moving into motion. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Remember Jesus chose to follow this storm system of living in a fierce world that was not ready for Him – not recognizing Him – and loving the people all the same. Jesus could would and did RISE ABOVE THE STORM.

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

So, let us remember (also on this St Patrick’s Day) – a prayer attributed to the Irish but universal to us all: Numbers 6:24-26, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

And let us remember the LAMB OF GOD has come to give us PEACE.

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, JESUS.

AMEN

John 1 – King James Version

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the Baptist]. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?

John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus

St Patrick’s Prayer

Surviving the Lion’s Den

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I ventured out to the park in the sunshine for I felt like I was emerging from a winter hibernation, even though I have not been hibernating. Felt like a long winter (it wasn’t) and a long week too, even if it was only Wednesday. The park meant SPRING and I could use some SPRING IN MY STEP returning. I appreciated some of the beautiful first flowers of spring – not looking delicate like snowdrops, but these were precious and hearty and BOLD yellow treasures low to the ground. (bold, new, and not eaten either, but enduring)

Emerging in SPRING is like SURVIVAL with new and renewed life. Emerging from a Lion’s Den of danger or gloom, harshness or harm, such the classic of the Lord’s pattern for us all. Life after Death. Maybe not a dying death at all with His protection. Classic Jesus jumping in front of the lion for us. SAVED. 

Classic Jesus is also allowing us to be bold in witness about life in the midst of trouble. And WOW – I just read an online article that led with “Sharing Jesus in the Lion’s Den” – when I know that I have been writing this whole first half of March about lions mentioned in the bible… Wow, it’s about a brave witness to Jesus who ventures to the middle of the tense protests demonstrating about the middle east war, blockades and forever bad situations. It’s a sad strife of this life we have seen years upon years. This person stepped into the Lion’s fight not just the den. BRAVE. 

The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

I know it’s not normal to be so BRAVE, but Jesus is not normal but extraordinary and Jesus is fully powerful God, and His Righteousness and Strength combined with His Compassion and Love, give us the ability to emerge dangers, to Shine Boldly, and to Love in a merciful way. Daniel is our example to keep faith. Daniel worshipping the Lord in a public way even when forbidden escaped the punishment and told of the Lord’s provisions. 

Worship Forbidden? If we are allowed to worship, let us remember those who couldn’t and those who still experience opposition, and pray them Daniel’s commitment and Jesus’s Presence and Protection. 

Let us therefore be BOLD like the image of SPRING FLOWERS in the waning Lion of Winter and LET US SHINE, let us EMERGE and even enter new Lions’ Dens of tough activities, knowing Jesus takes us only where He is willing to go. 

And Jesus IS EVERYWHERE. 

Amen

—

Daniel chapter 6 in the Den of Lions

It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent. Finally these men said, “We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.”

So these administrators and satraps went as a group to the king and said: “May King Darius live forever! The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” So King Darius put the decree in writing.

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?”

The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

Then they said to the king, “Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.” When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.

Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, “Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.

At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”

Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”

The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly!

“I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.

“For he is the living God

    and he endures forever;

his kingdom will not be destroyed,

    his dominion will never end.

He rescues and he saves;

    he performs signs and wonders

    in the heavens and on the earth.

He has rescued Daniel

    from the power of the lions.”

So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

—

Article about sharing faith:

https://calvarychapelmagazine.org/articles/sharing-jesus-lions-den?utm_source=Calvary+Chapel+Magazine+Updates&utm_campaign=42

Pondering Pauses

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Ah… Pause…

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

My friend and I took photos of each other sitting on the bench, looking out at the water, pondering life… but honestly it was just the briefest of pauses, not even a minute each. Looking at the photos now gives us the time to ponder the moment and the lack of mayhem just then, but we quickly moved on as we were walking around the small lake with the scout campers.

We pondered just that moment that we got to sit, we could see the marvelous glory of God’s creations, sky, clouds, trees, water, creatures, sunshine, even mud (snow certainly had melted off there). We each ponder differently, but surely the instant we groaned in a sigh of relief was a prayer of praise that we made it there – the whole THERE – there as in: we got to camp, we got outside, we were alive, and ESPECIALLY with the acknowledgement of BEING BLESSED.

THANK YOU LORD FOR BLESSINGS AND FOR US KNOWING THAT YOU ARE THE ONE GIVING BLESSINGS. 

It was the briefest of sitting down and oh what perfect bench support for our backs, that’s what we chatted about on the bench, that support, we both needed it with bad backs and with sleeping on floor mats. We both needed it, the SUPPORT of life, better backs to live better, and God’s backing to live best.

… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be…

That’s ponder worthy: God has our back. God loves us to hold us close.

Thank you Lord, for blessings known and unknown. May I ponder YOU all the days of my life. 

Amen

Psalm 139:13-18 NIV 

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.

ALIGNMENT With God (and from my hip pain), Malachi 1-4

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My hip and back physical therapy has been instructional, corrective, and strengthening. I need them all. If I don’t work them and strengthen, I go downhill.

ALIGNMENT!

I surely have less pain, more mobility when my hip is in ALIGNMENT, and the now old tear can heal. This is after I only slightly injured my hamstring, 3 months ago now, in a UNIQUE way of catching myself from falling. So, when I am OUT OF ALIGNMENT, from an anterior rotation of the hip with muscles and ligament damage that don’t keep it in check, then there is PAIN. Yes, out of ALIGNMENT, is what I can slip slowly into, during the week by normal life wear and tear, or enter out of ALIGNMENT quickly by mistakes, like falling. I can tell by the uncomfortable nature of sitting and walking. It’s not bad pain, but nips you, in the butt, if not “nipped in the bud”, prevented by ALIGNMENT!

FITTINGLY, my last book to read and write about of the Old Testament section of the Bible, a many years process to walk with the Lord, is Malachi, the scripture is all about ALIGNMENT with God.

Malachi reminds, like all the Bible does, to pray and listen, trust God, and actively live Godly lives.

We are to make a sacrifice of praise now, like a favorite Paul Balouche worship song, we are to also make a sacrifice of the “me me me” attitude.

We do not make a sacrifice of unblemished lambs but now we make PRAISE for the Sacrificed Unblemished Lamb of Jesus, ransomed for you and me, for our sins, for grace and mercy to be back in God’s Forever.

AND The Book of Malachi has much to teach about ALIGNMENT, and especially LOVE. For God’s Love is His motivation and means.

We are to LOVE the ALIGNMENT! And we are to love God and love one another as KEEPING IN ALIGNMENT WITH GOD, WHO IS LOVE. 

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…

Yes, and when OUT OF ALIGNMENT, things go bad… That is us in REAL LIFE WEAR AND TEAR, or by our quick mistakes that result from our lack of focus and exercise efforts… and that’s reminiscent of the wandering and wondering of peoples (Israelites and Judah-ites old and new testaments) and those in corruption as detailed in Malachi.

Really, we are human, all of us go off the rail or fall asleep in our faith at times. When I am feeling better in my hip, I slack off on my exercises, it is natural for us. I (we) get complacent. Same is often true with paying attention to God. We get lacking in our focus, we run ahead or slow down too much, and we stop the most crucial aspect of faith (and physical therapy): it is in the STRENGTHENING!!! 

We are to stay calm, collected, and in ALIGNMENT with God. 

We are to remember to keep the faith, be strong from the Lord in especially our weaknesses. We are to keep in ALIGNMENT, and especially “when the going gets tough”, not lose focus. The beginning of wisdom is to get wisdom and have the awesome fearful awareness of God being ALMIGHTY.

The Refiner’s fire purifies and the result is a stronger purer faith…

But to you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…

One last message I got from reading though the whole old testament and new testament, is that we know how this story ends, in a new beginning, in glory. Therefore I (we) in tough times, in the heat of the frying pan of life, have no right to fly off the handle. Yes, act, but not without consulting God.

God wins, Jesus has already overcome. 

Amen

—

Malachi 1-4 NKJV 

Polluted Offerings to God

The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

Israel Beloved of God

“I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, ‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’

Polluted Offerings

“A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’

“You offer defiled food on My altar,.but say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, ‘The table of the Lord is contemptible.’  And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, Is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, Is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?” Says the Lord of hosts.

“But now entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us. While this is being done by your hands, Will He accept you favorably?” says the Lord of hosts. “Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.

“But you profane it, In that you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled; And its fruit, its food, is contemptible.’ You also say, ‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,” Says the Lord of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; Thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?” Says the Lord. “But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished – For I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.

Corrupt Priests

“And now, O priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, And if you will not take it to heart, To give glory to My name,” says the Lord of hosts, “I will send a curse upon you, And I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have cursed them already, Because you do not take it to heart.

“Behold, I will rebuke your descendants And spread refuse on your faces, The refuse of your solemn feasts; And one will take you away with it. Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, That My covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord of hosts. “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me and was reverent before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, And injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, And turned many away from iniquity.

“For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have departed from the way; You have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base Before all the people, Because you have not kept My ways But have shown partiality in the law.”

Treachery of Infidelity

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, For Judah has profaned The Lord’s holy institution which He loves: He has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob The man who does this, being awake and aware, Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, With weeping and crying; So He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. “For the Lord God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously.”

You have wearied the Lord with your words; Yet you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil Is good in the sight of the Lord, And He delights in them,” Or, “Where is the God of justice?”

The Coming Messenger

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.

“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.

“Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years. And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien – Because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts.

“For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’

Do Not Rob God

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.

The People Complain Harshly

“Your words have been harsh against Me,” Says the Lord, “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the Lord of hosts? So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.’ ”

A Book of Remembrance

Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him.” Then you shall again discern Between the righteous and the wicked, Between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

The Great Day of God

“For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” says the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” says the Lord of hosts.

“Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

From INSIDE the Whale, Jonah 2 Too

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The weather was so horrible yesterday for driving, and with all my errands plus commute, I clocked my time in the car in hours. When I got home, I was happy to be home. Living on a hill, I simply ignore everything going on outside. An occasional wind gust caught my attention otherwise I was not thinking about it, yes in a zoom call and then watching a TV show which is outside reaching me, otherwise IN is IN. Oblivious to the outside, until I laid down for bed and over my head out the window, I saw the moon beaming… The storm had passed and I was reminded of looking out. But quickly was asleep.

This is when I realized that my day, our experiences, are like being INSIDE the belly of the whale. Like Jonah do we have insight from being INSIDE the whale? Yes, I was protected inside the belly of the whale of my house, earlier surely protected in my subaru with great tires and traction, protected in my building looking out, and protected in my own mind with knowledge that God is in control. Even the zoom conversation of the crazy news did not deter me from knowing God certainly knows what is going on… (really we must be watchful but not frozen in fear)... When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord…

Oh – fear frozen? Jonah was not frozen but stuck, yeah. Was he fearful? Well yeah! Jonah must have been, but in his many days of adventure, I bet he thought about God being in control, I’m sure he remembered that terrible ship tossing and turning, and being in the water with no hope there. So, was Jonah grateful for the whale?

I don’t know about bellies of whales, but I wonder if Jonah had opportunity to listen for the whale coming up to the surface for breathing. Maybe that sound was like me seeing the moonbeam, a sign of hope in the darkness. 

How often we are in the belly of the whale?!!! Rescued but still in danger, transportation in scary surroundings but not yet there. With hope but still seeing hellish times around us. Closing the door to ignore outside, only to see the outside invade our minds… Thinking we need a bigger whale, with breathing room. We have One = our lives realizing God is in control.

Yes, we are in a whale of a delivery from sin and death to salvation. This whale gives us the moment to say Lord, please rescue me.

When we feel like the walls of the whale and gastric juices are going to destroy us, remember it was the Lord who SAVED Jonah and brought him to his appointed duties THROUGH the awfulness of the mix. Remember, we too are still in this crazy life and times mix, listening for that breathing hope… And are we clinging now to the whale or wanting to be regurgitated into our days to get us to see the people God wants us to see, to do His work, which might be delivering a message of warning or of deliverance. 

Was Jonah grateful for the whale or the whole rescue from his fear and from his disobedience? Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. Well, in hindsight YES! Was Jonah thankful for seeing the light after his time in darkness? In hindsight yes, and surely in the moment. In foresight perhaps too, because despite surviving the ship tossing and despite surviving the whale adventure, Jonah STILL had to do the original tough job up in dangerous Nineveh.

Don’t we have a ‘whale of a tale’ of how God pulled us out of the sea, but maybe we are still in this whale? Or maybe we have realized that regurgitation and now, we are IN our dangerous Ninevah, speaking of the SALVATION of God, of the KNOWING of Heavenly Hope.

If we have a whale of a tale, of warning or hope, it is certainly that we should have HOPE,  AND THEN SHARE THAT HOPE.

Salvation is of the Lord.

Amen 

—

Jonah’s Prayer and God’s Answer

Jonah 2 NKJV

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.  And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol [Hell] l I cried, And You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.

“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.

“Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”

So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Slowed Down Homebody-style Peace

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It’s not just that I DON’T NEED anything shopping-wise for Black Friday, it’s also just so nice to be HOME, day off… No shopping for TVs, no electronics, no groceries, no fuss…  Even the red subaru in the driveway contented to rest, was more decorative than driven with the rain bringing down bright matching red leaves on it. Gorgeous. 

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday. I am SO THANKFUL for home, my crew being here.

New stuff we ate, but of old-time homebody classics of turkey, stuffing, cranberry etc. A mixture of easy store-bought mixed with homecooked – that’s the homebody way.  I pulled out a picnic table red gingham tablecloth so not traditional, but one from my grandmother’s farmhouse, to pair, not matching at all, with the dishes from my other grandmother. New food, old structure, memories made smiles in my heart. 

Just like the food mixture store and made, yesterday, I have old-school technology around me today plus new technology – it’s a mix. Yes, conveniently new technology does exist in this house (I am writing on my phone), but homebody joy is making it all work to make life more slowed down easy, at least for one day. 

So, no Black Friday shopping needed today, even if it just a click away. We went old school yesterday with finding the old VHS player and watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Great Pumpkin – easier than a streaming service! Nice… In that old school search, I also found the DVD player and TV antenna insignia box that we got years ago, and yes this morning I hooked it up.

So where is my devotion in all this? It’s that the Lord gives time to ponder… Sitting here, I am finding time in my pondering to be close to both joy in isolationism on a day of escapism from commercialism, and that the kids are asleep, and that there is more pie in my future. 

So I will – hope you will take some peace today to yourself.

Tomorrow is another day, and a weekend at that, and so tomorrow we will ponder some more… in the meantime I ponder homebody-style. 

Thank you Lord for the pondering and the peace…

And the pie...

Amen 

—

From Psalm 34:8-14

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 

Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Someday Soon: See the Light

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A poem to wrap up the week where we finally had rain, the thankfulness season is upon us, the winter comes and short days, yet there are areas which get no daylight at all so we should be THANKFUL for we still have so much! And someday soon God will be our LIGHT – there will be no darkness at all…

A poem first and after that is a song I heard just this week: Someday Soon by Crosby Stills Nash and Young, last album Looking Forward…

Have a blessed day and weekend everyone!!!

See the Light

Help us Lord, hold us tight.

Not freeze our efforts from earthly pain or plight, 

But help us to continue, to fight the good fight.

Help us Lord, to SEE YOUR LIGHT. 

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Darkness need not be at night.

Darkness is the lack of seeing Your Insight.

LIGHT is surely a GLOW to KNOW, YOU’RE SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE FUTURE, RIGHT.

Help us Lord, to SEE YOUR LIGHT. 

AMEN 

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Song : Someday Soon 

CSN&Y version:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FH-86taoS1I&si=E8YniUhCG-kdERrH

Lyrics

Someday soon

You will see by the light of day

That someday soon

All your worries will fade away

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Keep holding on

To the love that has made you strong

And someday soon

Heartache will all be gone

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Someday soon

I hope good things come to you

And someday soon

Hope your wishes all come true

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Keep holding on

To the love that has brought you here

And someday soon

Darkness will disappear

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When life’s too hard to bear for you to take it

Have faith in what you do

You’ve got to tell yourself that you can make it through

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Someday soon

You will get to be your best

And someday soon

You will finaly get some rest

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Keep holding on

To the love that came your way

And someday soon

Shadows will fall away

Jesus, Call Our Names

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What a way to be an ENCOURAGER today!!!! Worked as a water table volunteer at the marathon…

At the start of the 5 hour shift, I raked empty cups towards the trash and out of the way of the runners getting water. Then served water with a hoop and holler as we were mile 24, just 2 miles away from the finish. After we finished at mile 24, I was humbled and energized at the 25 mile point with that water crew to do the macarena and electric slide in encouraging the runners who were after the sweep team, so no medal, but still going to finish. It was encouraging to see the young student volunteers. It was a blessing to yell my heart out.

ESPECIALLY cool that most the runners had their names on their shirts!!! Fabulous.. we can’t all run, but we can be cup fillers! Spirit cups! I had no idea most would have names on their shirts. Catching a glimpse of faces, smiles, etc was really good. 5000 volunteers, 50000 runners.

Cool…Fun…Blessed…

I was inspired by the helpers who came to the sides of the walkers… And as for the t-shirts, they spoke volumes in supporting causes, people, life. Again, the names were great, it was SO personal. We could yell their actual names and if there was no name just cheer “you got this”. Or teams like “Fred’s Team” or Team Italia… Many easy names and some not so easy, I didn’t want to mispronounce, that’s important and you had to appreciate one shirt which said “Mari not Mary” – we all like to be known as us, our unique selves don’t we, proper spelling and annunciation.

Thank God, God knows us, not just our names but everything… Yes, God knows both the earthly given name and a new name reserved for them in Heaven. Some people think they have to throw the “Hail Mary” to get to Heaven, but Jesus is already making them a spot at the dinner table. Jesus, call our names!!!

Jesus knows the name to call each person. Jesus said to John in Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”

We have a marathon of life, we need to listen to Jesus calling and calming, take His Water to our use. Surely we can hear our name in His Spirit. We can know He knows us. And perk up a bit or a lot when called.

Keep running my friends, walking too.

Amen

Dust In the Wind – Daniel 2 part 2 – The Dream

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“Dust in the Wind”, the 1977 band Kansas sings, “all we are is dust in the wind.”…  “Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky…” Well, not even they do, but the earth and sky certainly have been around longer than people, and us, who are but traveling in the world, temporarily.

Prophet Daniel and others were in Babylon, where God promised they as an Israelite people would have a temporary stay in captivity. Must have FELT like forever, under a ruling kingdom with ever changing rulers, but even the rulers, like all old testament kings, came and went. (We should remember out times also will be temporary and like the weather, change soon enough. Dust in the wind, us too, we should live life fully meanwhile.)

Partially STRONG and partially brittle, that’s how Daniel described a kingdom in a dream by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, whose mind was troubled and could not sleep. Daniel actually interpretted the dream without being told it, so had a DIVINE relationship and revelation by God’s actions.

Knowing this was being sent as a message from God. Daniel stated:  “the God of Heaven will set up a KINGDOM that will NEVER BE DESTROYED, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself ENDURE FOREVER. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”

Wow! Daniel not only got out of a tough situation himself, but spoke of a Sovereign God Whose Kingdom will ENDURE FOREVER! Earthly kingdoms would come and go, but there is ONE of God’s Hands, made by God, to direct our devotion to. This was shared not just to settle down the king, but to show all the people (then and now) the HOPE of our ALREADY ALMIGHTY God, who formed us from that dust.

Let us make the most of the dust today, and rely upon the rock-solid God, Who reigns the Kingdom forever. 

Amen 

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Daniel 2:39-49

“After you, another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.

“In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”

Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.

Call to Worship – Shore and More

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It’s great to remember to “walk by faith and not by sight” – a scripture sign that I saw in Ocean Grove NJ last night, along with beautiful light too… The light of living well (and abundantly too)…  JOY…

At the shore escape, I sat on the beach in the shade reading… reading about Heaven (great little book by David Jeremiah) and reading about Fanny Crosby, songwriter and child of God. Truly Fanny Crosby, blinded as an infant, gained spiritual sight in INSIGHT of the HEART to be a poet and hymnist of the mid to late 1800s, living in the LIGHT of Jesus’s Way. These people in this era experienced faith in revival in the cities and here at the shore. Fanny, like me, like us, can visit and live in the experiences of the waves of God’s Love more numerous and powerful than the ocean waves. Waves of the ocean and of love, like we experience in Grace and Mercy. We must let it wash over us to understand.

Fanny Crosby wrote in an early hymn lyric:

“More like Jesus would I be.

Let my savior dwell in me.

Fill my soul with Peace & Love.

Make me gentle as a Dove.

More like Jesus as I go.

Pilgrim, in this world below,

Poor in spirit I would be –

Let my Savior dwell in me.”

And isn’t that the central core of LIVING BY FAITH? Less of us and more of Him. To be poor in our spirit ourselves and let Jesus lead the way. AND WORSHIP THE LORD because He calls us too – and because our Sprit aches for acknowledging Jesus.

Less angst, more acceptance. 

Less worldliness, more forever thinking.

LESS US, MORE HIM.

Less demanding, more giving. 

Less profiting, more prophetic. 

Less put-off, more praise, even in pain. 

“Be Joyful in Hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  Romans 12:12

Jesus praised His Father as we should… The praise of the Spirit dwelling in us is greater than anything we could produce. Let us take the moment to embrace the grace, and sing out God’s Glory in song and spirit. Let us let the Lord lead our day and way.

Amen

Jesus Slept His Peace

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“Whenever I’m afraid, I put my trust in You.” Psalm 56:3

It was probably the most human and Godly thing Jesus did, SLEEP. I’m sure He ate, we know He pained at the walk to the cross, got angry, wept tears… And the daily activity that both shows His humanness, getting tired, AND His Godliness, trusting God our Father had everything under control, was an ability and necessity to SLEEP.

In our VBS story of Jesus calming the waters, we play-acted with tarps as a boat and water, using some of the crew to run around and be the loud storm, and the other half the scared disciples trying to wake Jesus. Was it just thinking that the disciples were to trust things, Jesus slept through the storm – or was it Jesus was just SO TIRED and/or this was the only opportunity to rest? I wonder if it was a natural storm or one cooked up by the creator in chaos of the world to shake the situation. 

We DO live in a broken world. For all it’s beautiful ways, there’s still brokenness – (and I’m not just talking about the fun breaking of water balloons, which we used again (now that’s a miracle invention!) as items in our parachute storm play) – but brokenness in our lives, attitudes, and lack of peace.. . Brokenness showed interestingly intensely to me yesterday admiring the pollen and sunflowers outside my house. The small bees were attacking each other, maybe stealing the pollen, it was aggressive and sad. There seemed to be enough pollen for them all, but the three bees just tugged at each other like the little kids fighting over a toy.  Brokenness. 

Well, I found some peace in sitting outside the camping tent (both prop and games storage tent) in between sessions. And that kind of peace is but a fraction of the peace that Jesus promises us- to trust in Him now – and to live in Him forever.

It’s a piece that storms will come up, but Jesus will wake up, command them to stop, even scold us for not trusting. If Jesus could trust BOTH the Plan (and the Play-out of it all happening) AND trust forever and a day of God’s Sovereignty and control, and still be human in a broken world, then we too can just rest a moment in peace.

Peace… get it, hold it, give it, love it.

Amen 

PS – the blue jello snack they had was the best ever…  I’d eat up that sweet water and sweet calm of Jesus anyday!

PPS – someone saw me inside after our outside games and said: you look like you have been thru the ringer out there in hot weather – but honestly it was shady enough, calm enough, and peace enough for me…  Summer is for loving it!

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41 NIV

Scatterbrained

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A poem from a position – I am in a mode of being scatterbrained. 

Scatterbrained

I realized my problem, especially these past few weeks, I’m feeling totally SCATTERBRAINED!!!

Partially particularly feeling drained, 

But partially ALSO being ENERGIZED by random thoughts in my brain’s new terrain.

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My “to-do” thoughts are MANY, feeling broken up yet they SHOULD shine like a rainbow through the rain.

The light once white is clearly colorly fractured, and yet also fogged up from beaming nicely in my scatterbrain.

It’s like I’ve taken many a bend in the tracks of my thinking train.

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I’m fine though, don’t mistake me, I’m fine even as I complain.

I know how to retrieve what’s missing in my scatter brain. 

I have to remind myself to find that focused narrow lane.

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It’s Jesus I need. JESUS, His Peace I RECLAIM. 

He as WHOLE LIGHT completes any missing colors lost down my mental rainbow’s drain. 

His blood recovers any missteps too, from which I should have known to refrain.

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Jesus bring me back to less mental pain.

You Lord ARE the Promise to get us out of the rain.

There is nothing for which Jesus’s Forgiveness won’t pertain.

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My loss is my gain if Jesus Hope I retain. 

Remembering Lord, YOU LEAD, YOU REIGN.

Help me see Your clarity, I request this for my scatterbrain. 

Amen 

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Jesus said “to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Luke 9: 23-25

Envy

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“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Proverbs 14:30

This proverb should be examined deeply. Envy rots the bones. 

Envy is big no-no commandment-wise. Envy can poison us – an evil egging us on in humanness. Envy from anything we want but don’t get.  Envy happens for stuff we get yet not appreciate enough as sufficient, always wanting more. Envy keeping us from realizing complete life is not here on earth anyway. A want over a need, a get over a gift, a desire over a satisfaction. 

Sometimes we then realize our eyes were bigger than our stomachs in life, and now that we can’t use the excess, it rots. Better a little and appreciate it, than too much and resent it. This goes for demanding attention, forcing an issue, and even purchasing too much easily spoiled food at the market. Rots…

A heart at peace, however, brings LIFE. Love is perfect, love does not envy because all needs are met in God, most importantly to be with Him. Life is forever, no envy, no boast except in Him. Live with Him within. 

Love brings realization that we can live without, because we live with Him within.

Peace comes from love, and us living in peace, in the Lord’s peace, brings the life we would dream of, not the envy, because when you realize you have the love of God, the forgiveness through Jesus, you are in peace, nothing left will even come close. 

Nothing but Love. 

Peace of the soul.

Amen

“There was Jesus” sung by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton 

LYRICS:

Every time I tried to make it on my own

Every time I tried to stand and start to fall

And all those lonely roads that I have travelled on

There was Jesus

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When the life I built came crashing to the ground

When the friends I had were nowhere to be found

I couldn’t see it then but I can see it now

There was Jesus

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In the waiting, in the searching

In the healing and the hurting

Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces

Every minute, every moment

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it

There was Jesus

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For this man who needs amazing kind of grace (Mmm)

For forgiveness at a price I couldn’t pay (Mmm)

I’m not perfect so I thank God every day

There was Jesus (There was Jesus)

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In the waiting, in the searching

In the healing and the hurting

Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces

Every minute, every moment

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it

There was Jesus

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On the mountain, in the valleys (There was Jesus)

In the shadows of the alleys (There was Jesus)

In the fire, in the flood (There was Jesus)

Always is and always was

No I never walk alone (Never walk alone)

You are always there

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In the waiting, in the searching

In the healing and the hurting

Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces

Every minute (Every minute), every moment (Every moment)

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

Even when I didn’t know it or couldn’t see it

There was Jesus

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There was Jesus

There was Jesus

There was Jesus

1 Corinthians 13:4-12

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, 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.

Empathy, Ezekiel 24

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Empathy is an experiential expression. Sympathy they say is from the brain, feeling sorry for a situation but EMPATHY is knowing it from the heart. 

Dealing with death is one situation we all know, and how we feel it for others is either sympathy or empathy. It’s personal and we can let our hearts feel empathy at the same time we use our heads to demonstrate sympathy, without over-stating that we know exactly what the others are going through. Each person relates uniquely to their journeys. Our comfort to them is to say we know it is unique to you. Our ultimate comfort is to demonstrate that we know that the Lord is in control and we expect eternal life with Him – thus making this transition to death just an eyes closed, eyes opened event.

The Lord set up an extremely unique situation for his servant and prophet Ezekiel. The Lord sent an extreme example of demonstration of trust in the Lord, He asked Ezekiel to only groan quietly and muffle the customary rites of mourners. This was when the Lord stated Ezekiel would lose his wife, the sweetest thing in his life, “delight of your eyes”. This was understandably a tough loss, and the Lord understood the mourning, but outward-facing He wanted Ezekiel to demonstrate solidarity with the Lord’s teaching. And the equivalent response when he told his fellow Israelites that the area of Jerusalem would lose their sanctuary, it would be desecrated, a place where they had convened with Holy God, and had been a stronghold of pride. Ezekiel told the community to trust and know God’s actions were God’s – showing His power with purpose. Life would continue but not without judgement.

So first, Ezekiel demonstrated the demands of the Lord, to groan quietly for himself when his wife died, a witness to knowing God’s power and ability to act. God said: “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead.” 

Then God said: “Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword. And you will do as I have done.”

Ezekiel could only speak when directed, and that was a sign from the Lord too: “on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

It was an UNIQUE path of the judgment of God to cause the exile of 70 years and demand back the ongoing trust in the Lord – as these people of Jerusalem had drifted too far, and were to be carried away in exile. The Lord’s plan is unique to Him. He promises to provide a restoration and prophets prophesied of this for the future, but for this moment, this was judgement.

Final judgment will come to us all one day. The Lord will have gathered the found and the lost will be lost. We should have empathy for the Lord’s pain as well as partake in it for the loss is forever when people, His children, are going to lose in a second death, and not know eternal life. We also need empathy for the lost of this generation, for we too once were lost but now are found. We were blind but now we see.

So let us set aside sympathy and even apathy for our generation of lost, and have empathy for them and the Lord.Let us strengthen each other.

All children are God’s children, image-bearers, and held captive until they realize the freedom in Jesus. Pray chains to fall. Pray God’s knowledge comes to them all.

Amen 

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Ezekiel 24:15-24

Ezekiel’s Wife Dies

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.

Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us? Why are you acting like this?”

So I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection. The sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword. And you will do as I have done. You will not cover your mustache and beard or eat the customary food of mourners. You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep but will waste away because of[a] your sins and groan among yourselves. Ezekiel will be a sign to you; you will do just as he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’

“And you, son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, and their sons and daughters as well— on that day a fugitive will come to tell you the news. At that time your mouth will be opened; you will speak with him and will no longer be silent. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Freedom, Death, Life – A Beach Day Foray

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Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22 KJV

I know not to be playing on the rocks, but I was free to sit on them, these massive piles in the ocean. I needed to warm up, in the sunshine. Yes! YES, I SAID WARM UP! Warm up as the beach ocean breeze brought 65 degrees water temp into the heatwave, and so it was NOT nearly 100 degrees like at home, 1 hour away, but perfect 75 to 80, except in the shade, chilly! The clerk at the store said enjoy yourself – we all need some time to ourselves – AMEN – and for me this was my reading day.

What a treat! BEAT THE HEAT! The pier brought cold air up channeling it like a cave wind – and people under it were wearing sweatshirts while reading – yes sweatshirts – I brought my books too – but I moved out a bit – to under my umbrella. I think this is my new favorite beach – instant shade with the pier – free parking – and signs of God everywhere.

The rock outcropping next to us did not move, but the people could and the waves did. The lifeguard came to warn a small boy to get away from the rocks. It is the crash that is dangerous – and this is in life too – the flip flop washyness – best we stand firm in our faith and trust in the Lord. Here is another translation of psalmist David’s scripture: Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22 NIV

Not shaken – Not moved – and we are cared for – that is what my scripture card said – and what a perfect day to bring my summer reading books – about the Rapture: the Great disappearance – interesting and so is the second coming of Jesus after the millennium. The Rapture – the time when the dead in Christ will rise to the Lord first and us (if we are still alive) will rise next. And it is said people will wonder where we went. SO, if we leave these books and our bibles around – perhaps people will realize what happened – and trust in the Lord Jesus too – ready for their opportunity to meet him and accept forgiveness.

Cared for! and yet we are people in this world not without debate, and thus the second book suggested to me I will read too – when AT THE BEACH for this summer. Yes imagine that – there are differing of opinions of God’s end times for the earth. All I can tell you right now is just be ready for any scenario – and know that we GO with Jesus and therefore we will OK in the forever-run.

The saying is: those who are born once, die twice. and those who are born twice – die once. yes – so with a born again spirit in Jesus, we won’t die the second death – and thus we WILL be OK in the forever – and so therefore don’t fear the first death – or the rocks to be bashed against – or fear much of anything. 

So feel the righteousness of Jesus as the wind inside the empty sails – the anchor holding up the umbrella – that pure gift of perfect to cover our imperfect – better than sunscreen – and so at the beach DO wear sunscreen and a hat and stay in the shade if you can – but accept the foray into the world – the tough world – knowing Jesus is with us. And let us pick up our freedom live in His Grace. 

Amen

His blessings are all around us! 

Amen

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The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2

Tough Talk, Ezekiel 23

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God presented through Ezekiel some TOUGH TALK about the terrible flawed status of His people. He lays it out flat again in chapter 23 – an analogy of a country, a land, a people gone rogue, this time described like an adulterous woman with no scruples. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Sisters in SIN.

Disgusted and defiled, the nasty life is just the beginning for these peoples, the Lord stirs up her (calling the countries as adulterous women) former lovers (being the neighboring warring countries and people) to bring her down even more. It is using the evil that was forged by the people to eventually take them down a notch. Ezekiel rails against this for the sake of God AND the people.

Of all people, people set aside by the Lord, they wandered again and again, with years of history of God showing His Power. Yet “They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children…” A horrifying practice but one that is not unheard of in certain cultures, including in the old testament. Terrible but thought to be “with the times” to please gods. 

Terrible is any sacrifice or devotion to non-God gods. Granted that it was hundreds of years since Moses’s time – even David’s time, but God expected them to remember and recount the blessings of following God – and the lost wandering of not.

We too need to remember the times we have been blessed by God – and of all acts – we need to remember as being covered in the blood of Jesus to accept and repent our sinful ways and ask forgiveness and clean-up – ask for a way forward out of our lost ways. Ask Jesus to be OUR Way, Truth and Life.

Ezekiel called out the issues. 

We know the issues.

We are to know our God as a God who has seen past all our people’s issues and given us a path forward.

Let us take Jesus’s Hand and keep walking – OUT of the valley of the shadow of death!

Amen

Ezekiel 23 NIV 

Two Adulterous Sisters

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.

“Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.  They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

“But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.

“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side – the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.

“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s cup a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. You will drink it and drain it dry and chew on its pieces— and you will tear your breasts.

I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices, for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.

“They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup and put on your jewelry. You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and olive oil that belonged to me.

“The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; drunkards were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads. Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’ And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

“So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

42 – But What Was the Question?

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42 is the answer, to the intersection of life, the universe, and everything – WOW- the god-like computer spit that out after millions of billions of computing power years – but what was the question? I appreciate old nerdy references. And this one is for the movie: “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. And even though I can visualize the scene of placing a fish in one’s ear to hear languages translated, I acknowledge this was not my nerdy obsession, it was my brother’s. Still it’s a cult classic funny intellectual film. I am glad I am old enough to know the references and pick it out in a set of stickers…

Nerds…

And the scene with the answer “42” really does come up with the god-like computer (a colorful spouting hole in a cave wall) saying: “well… you didn’t actually tell me the full question.” yeah…

RIGHT! We all have to be asking the RIGHT QUESTIONS and not just taking any answer without our own computing. SO how do we know what is the right question, let alone the right answer? 

Here, at least for our faith, the Scriptures, the Lord, and the Lord’s people writing for the Lord, can give us truly a PATH to any question in our faith: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.”  

WE MUST MAKE SURE – Make sure we are FIRM IN FAITH. Read our bibles, double check people’s truth with God’s Truth, don’t ask cheap 70’s lighted cracks in rocks – but depend upon and stand upon The Rock.

How? Peter gives this advice too, from years of wisdom hyperspeed-taught to him by the Holy Spirit after years of walking, he is now knowing: “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.”

WHY? “keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

WHY? “For if you do these things, you will never stumble”

BY BENEFIT OF?  “having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

THEN WHAT? “you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Oh… The “answer” of life is continuing it in God’s Heavenly Kingdom… The “answer” to every question is Jesus (that is always the safe Sunday School answer)…  The “question” to how to live life is following Jesus. He knows the Way – being the Way the Truth and the Life. 

The expanded question is… Why wouldn’t we want all the God wants for us? I want this, and pray you do as well. Confirm one’s election sure. By God’s Divine Power, Peter surely did have this education, and so do we.

Amen to the Answer!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, Your Holy Spirit, and God Our Father Almighty! God, Three in One. (This would make a great sticker wouldn’t it?)

Amen

———–

2 Peter 1:3-11

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.

Lord Have Mercy, Ezekiel 21-22

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Tough going – but tougher not going – that is both the readings and the writings about doomed Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s many many chapters – but the toughest is the Wrath of the Lord against this lot of sinners and ignorer-ers and armies raised for destruction – that is tougher to see than anything to read – and God means it!

A friend was watching the Hallmark Channel – loves that they all have happy endings – I don’t watch those shows – I know and understand the genre – but I am not going to watch them – and I am not going to sugar coat my readings of Ezekiel – it is TOUGH going reading – and yet I can look at it and say “not me” – WELL… We should not say that – because WE ARE the Ezekiels the Lord needs today. We should all say “maybe would have been me” – “maybe still me” – “maybe things that I hide and don’t let others see”  – “BUT LORD FORGIVE ME!” – “Lord, I need You, Lord have Mercy. YES JESUS, THANKFULLY!”

Jesus is the Mercy we all make for in a plea.

In the writing of Ezekiel – handed down from the Lord – he talks about the sword coming against the nation of Jerusalem from Babylon – the king himself getting a false omen appearance that the Lord is putting into his hands – the Lord using evil for eventual good.

The Lord pouring wrath and yet making a path.

This path will restore their walk – but for now? Jerusalem must suffer and let Ezekiel talk.

Amen and here is talk of the Lord’s punishment (again).

Many chapters of the beginning of their end.

Lord have Mercy.

Amen

Ezekiel 21-22
New King James Version
Babylon, the Sword of God
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, preach against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel; and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am against you, and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off both righteous and wicked from you. Because I will cut off both righteous and wicked from you, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north, 5 that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it shall not return anymore.” ’ Sigh therefore, son of man, with a breaking heart, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes. And it shall be when they say to you, ‘Why are you sighing?’ that you shall answer, ‘Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,’ says the Lord God.”

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord!’ Say:

‘A sword, a sword is sharpened
And also polished!
Sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter,
Polished to flash like lightning!
Should we then make mirth?
It despises the scepter of My son,
As it does all wood.
And He has given it to be polished,
That it may be handled;
This sword is sharpened, and it is polished
To be given into the hand of the slayer.’

“Cry and wail, son of man;
For it will be against My people,
Against all the princes of Israel.
Terrors including the sword will be against My people;
Therefore strike your thigh.

“Because it is a testing,
And what if the sword despises even the scepter?
The scepter shall be no more,”

says the Lord God.

“You therefore, son of man, prophesy,
And strike your hands together.
The third time let the sword do double damage.
It is the sword that slays,
The sword that slays the great men,
That enters their private chambers.
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates,
That the heart may melt and many may stumble.
Ah! It is made bright;
It is grasped for slaughter:

“Swords at the ready!
Thrust right!
Set your blade!
Thrust left—
Wherever your edge is ordered!

“I also will beat My fists together,
And I will cause My fury to rest;
I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: “And son of man, appoint for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to go; both of them shall go from the same land. Make a sign; put it at the head of the road to the city. Appoint a road for the sword to go to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah, into fortified Jerusalem. For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver. In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, to call for a slaughter, to lift the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound, and to build a wall. And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

‘Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the Lord God:

“Remove the turban, and take off the crown;
Nothing shall remain the same.
Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted.
Overthrown, overthrown,
I will make it overthrown!
It shall be no longer,
Until He comes whose right it is,
And I will give it to Him.” ’

A Sword Against the Ammonites
“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach,’ and say:

‘A sword, a sword is drawn,
Polished for slaughter,
For consuming, for flashing—
While they see false visions for you,
While they divine a lie to you,
To bring you on the necks of the wicked, the slain
Whose day has come,
Whose iniquity shall end.

‘Return it to its sheath.
I will judge you
In the place where you were created,
In the land of your nativity.
I will pour out My indignation on you;
I will blow against you with the fire of My wrath,
And deliver you into the hands of brutal men who are skillful to destroy.
You shall be fuel for the fire;
Your blood shall be in the midst of the land.
You shall not be remembered,
For I the Lord have spoken.’ ”

Sins of Jerusalem
Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Now, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. Those near and those far from you will mock you as infamous and full of tumult.

“Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you. In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow. You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

“Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you. You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

Israel in the Furnace
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury on you.’ ”

Israel’s Wicked Leaders
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’  The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.  Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

You are My Planner, My Holy Planner

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New song lyrics for ‘You are My Sunshine’ – based on the crazy volume of activities I have had this weekend – yesterday and Lord-Willing today. Disassembling and moving furniture, group activities, helping at a friend’s with recent knee surgery, outside and inside work, church and church meetings, shopping, baseball game, assembling furniture, laundry and more church stuff – and seeing how they all fell and will fall into place… it’s all good stuff, but hectic and yet the activities don’t fall, like a tetris pieces in a game, the weekend activities are a blessing of blessings,  God fits them into place because He can see ahead. I even place my trust in Him to un-pick things not so fruitful.  ‘Find out what pleases the Lord!’

For us it’s a crazy volume of intricate activities.  Well ALL GOOD things are from God, right? (That includes sleep too!) So timing of life, people in our path, etc. So if things work out – it is all God, and listening to His suggestions before it becomes a mandate of crashing dates. Isn’t it better to watch Him fit things – and work at it – work at the listening!!!… ‘Find out what pleases the Lord!’

BE THANKFUL!!! (and be thankful for Monday too – some of us get to sit and work, whew!)

Here is my new lyrics Of “You are My Planner, My Holy Planner”… could write a lot of these verses! 

You are the Planner, the Ultimate Scheduler.

You make things work out, un-busying fray.

You’ll ALWAYS know Lord, when I will need You.

Please don’t take my sanity away.

…

You are the Knower, the priority Sorter.

You weigh Your scales, Lord, upon my day.

You’ll make things GOOD Lord, Your knowing Way.

Please don’t take Your Light away. 

Amen

—–

Ephesians 5:8-20

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—

James 1, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

Trials and Temptations
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  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.

Listening and Doing
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

You are My Sunshine

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“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You’ll never know dear how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

Love hearing my mom’s voice singing this song when I was a child… I had a great childhood in hindsight, but it’s always us remembering an awkward time with icky teenage stuff, perceived mental rough, life hassle enough, and sometimes age old bluff. I’m SO glad to have it past me. I’m SO glad to be a grown up, but wish for those summers off, the sunshine, the hope of fun.It got summer real fast here in the northeast. I’m not complaining but WOW took me by surprise and my strawberries are done, peonies spent. Spring sprung then skedaddled. Wow. My garden peas planted in hope were a critter crunch for their comfort, I got none, except one, an accidental pea in the flower pot. It grew and developed and I was surprised as it gifted 2 pods full. Yum. 2 more await. Next year I will try to remember to plant this way. I never learn to adapt, but maybe next year.

It’s the sunshine which makes us warm in spring, hot in summer, or hopeful all winter long. We long for sunshine, then we jump inside air-conditioned houses. Hmmm… Whatever happened to shade? Shade in summer is the opportunity to enjoy both. We need to remember to adapt and explore the sunshine but be protected too. What burns us also welcomes us, grows fruitfulness, and lights our way. It’s great except when it’s not. 

Can we brace ourselves against the bad attack of sun? Plants do. I guess that’s like life. We need to embrace and brace. We need to adult and child. We need to live and live. Oh, not live and hide but live and live.

Live and Live.

There’s living in all aspects of life. 

I complained about hectic life this past week, but I saw a strange sight Friday night, a bus at the train station, with transit authorities, people including kids standing to the side. I thought, I don’t think this is vacation, I really think this is an immigration caravan into targeted cities, maybe not. Or if it’s a search, thats sad. If it’s a broken down bus, that doesn’t usually happen at the train station. I guess I really don’t know, will never know, but I thought of their embrace of a hopeful life even on the move. Then I thought of how blessed I was, how routine life really is, how I do have stuff, a ride, and options. I have a next spring, summer, sun and shade possibilities, I have a lots with many less unknowns than these people. I can see my sunshine and I can step into the shade too. I will always be OK. I’ll know that life lives on…

I can live life in a full capacity – and yet rest to recharge my battery.

God knows, God will lead, God will protect and help us embrace the grace as well as the race. We must keep going and keep knowing.  

Life is for living. We should live it. Remember to step into the shade, the intimate God coverage of life. Live, and live it up. Try to even enjoy in the moment. Sunshine today, God always. 

New lyrics:

Lord, You are my Life-shine, my only Life-Line. You make me happy when lives are in array. You really know Lord, how much I love you. Please embrace me and lead me today. 

Amen

—

Psalm 25 – New King James Version – A Psalm of David.

To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

O my God, I trust in You;

Let me not be ashamed;

Let not my enemies triumph over me.

Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed;

Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

Show me Your ways, O Lord;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day.

Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies. For Your name’s sake, O Lord, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, And his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, For I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my pain, And forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many; And they hate me with cruel hatred. Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.

Redeem Israel, O God, Out of all their troubles!

God Fronts our Blessings

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The Lord goes in FRONT of us, not just behind… He covers us where we are going BEFORE we get there or even start to go there, and I’m not JUST talking about Salvation, which is the MOST important coverage we have, and which gives one HOPE. On our most harried days, may we continue to remember He has thankfully already GONE AHEAD and has covered us with His Blood.

In addition, He went ahead FOR us and FOR all BEFORE the world was even begun. He went ahead to get us to see the proper path. And He went ahead so we could see the LIGHT that He IS.

So my EARTHLY EXAMPLE of a witness to “GOD KNOWS BEST”, is of God going in FRONT of my finances (we all need this): I SAVED instead of spending my tax refund – not knowing what for, but knowing maybe I needed it set aside.  Maybe that’s not unusual for you folks, but it IS unusual for me!!! Especially as I WAS going to get some things fixed around the house and had the quote even. But/and then I just had this INTERESTING weird but PEACEFUL feeling that I should wait… WAIT… not for something bad but for something SHIFTED IN PRIORITIES… Not the want but the need… Oh to always remember we must follow by faith not sight. (Sometimes I do wonder if we prepare more for something bad then we prep for something GOOD… Yet, GOD HAS MORE GOOD PLANNED FOR US THAN BAD).

Anyway, I remember and say that the Lord does NOT drop the other shoe on us, and EVERY DAY with Him by our sides and all around and ESPECIALLY in FRONT, we are told NOT to worry… so I tucked the tax return away and waited.

Well, my tax return spending plan got a changed focus for sure… especially as my daughter’s graduation dinner approached, then to my car’s new tires $ and what-not$… and that normal $tuff, not bad, but $$$ little and big. Like sneaker$ for my son and then grocery $hopping for the returned graduate. And THEN, OH LORD, $omething not terrible, but $till an issue: the “UH-OH” of my paycheck being shorted… WOW… oops… oop$… Shorted monie$… this is the 1ST TIME IN OVER 25 YEARS for me! $hoot! It must have been a glitch – not specifically the sabbatical hours as they got entered, but something glitchy and forgotten coming back from the sabbatical. Ugh…

Yes, I got not paid for the regular hours, over half of them not paid… BIG OOPS…  How unusual for me to see this on a Saturday too, but NOT unusual for us to feel this gut feeling that God put a wait on my actions months ago, holding onto the tax return.  How could I know, but God was in the know and flow, God is the good and the go… oh…

God FRONTED me the money I needed and before I knew I needed it. The tax return (where I have always put in extra each paycheck as my house-fix savings for the last 20 years) is an earthly way where I have seen my prayers of COVERAGE yield fruit. The tax return became a cover of my back and front…  happy earns!

I know they will fix this. I am not worried, I am thankful. Even HR and my boss were emailing on the weekend. I made no stink but just an “uh-oh” email, in which I actually wrote (a work email) of this witness of the Lord. If there’s anything we can do while waiting it is is PRAISE. 

I know that not every foible, mine or others, will get fixed in this lifetime. I’m just grateful that the Lord could be giving us a heads up before we’re even looking… If there’s a fronting of blessings, why not be listening to the God who made it all happen.

Well… I will walk in faith today I pray,  and watch things go His Way. It’s all going to be OK. 

I thank God for bills which means life is happening. I thank God for work which means I can do stuff. I thank God for family I can take care of. And I thank God for Him, for His FRONT COVERAGE of LOVE. 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”

Amen 

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2nd CHRONICLES 20:14-22

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’”

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”

As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 

Detestable, Desperate, Despicable but Deliverable

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It shows the depth of deception and indecent activities of the land of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16 – easier to listen to than to read (link below) – a land of people who forgot the blessings and guidance from Abraham to Jacob to Moses to Joshua to Judges to Kings David, Solomon, and kings/kingdoms divided – a land of people following God who forgot to keep following Him, now living with their scathing condemned condition for the adulterous prostitution of life that they carried out, there’s no sweet coating these accusations as the Lord, calling out the building sinfulness of Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s time. 

Condemnable but Coverable by Covenant. The people would feel the shame of their bad shape, God saved anyway because God stays His same sane Love in a land of chaos life.

Finely adorned and adored became detestable, broken covenant, broken commands, broken attention, all seen by God, bringing God’s Wrath, Fury, and Anger – but God delivers a Deliverer, as Promised, in a New Covenant, Whom we know will come in Jesus. Jesus Won. It was Done.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed…”

Ashamed but Saved.

Detestable, Desperate, Despicable but Deliverable.

Done.

Amen

Listenable Link

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Ezek.16

Ezekiel 16

New International Version – UK

Jerusalem as an adulterous wife

The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.

‘“Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.

‘“Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

‘“I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewellery: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace round your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendour I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.

‘“But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favours on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty. You also took the fine jewellery I gave you, the jewellery made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them. Also the food I provided for you – the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat – you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.

‘“And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

‘“Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square. At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbours with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity. So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct. You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.

‘“I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute! When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

‘“You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favours. So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favours. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.

‘“Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood, therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewellery and leave you stark naked. They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers. Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.

‘“Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?

‘“Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. Your elder sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

‘“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

‘“However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbours and the daughters of the Philistines – all those around you who despise you. You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord.

 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’

Memorial Day prayers – Life and all that…

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Ah – Memorial Day weekend – oh how I feel like resting not working, but I know that my yard calls to me – will do that first and then later – maybe – will tackle the garden – but not yet – that bug has not quite bit me – but the flower beds do… Flowers are traditionally planted on Memorial Day weekend – for the living and for the fallen.

Oh how unbelievable war is – and this Memorial Day we honor those who have fallen in war – we remember all of our loved ones no longer with us – it is time for flowers and parades. Parties and picnics too…  And even my old friends camping in Gettysburg this weekend are doing civil war reenactments…  We have a nostalgia for the past. However we have failing memories of the present, we really do. If our news cycle is spinning somewhere else, we forget about the current challenges – I certainly do…

A friend asked me, at work, to help with making a thank you for some children in the Ukraine to boost their spirits – to thank them for gifts that they made our site which were their way to say thank you for some donations – including cleaned up equipment donated to a school. These children are the future and we forget the hardships there and practically everywhere – not everyone forgets but if I forget then others must forget too…  So for me to be the “photographer”, this was the smallest slice of my energy to send prayers and well wishes to those kids in war. Lest we forget that EVERYONE needs our encouragement.

And it IS easy to forget far away places when it is so beautiful and peaceful in our pockets of peace here. Just like last week, when in the center of the city, when I helped with a community garden, the peace was punctuated with birds chirping – having the airspace and trees to roam. Our children too need these places, places like schools and clubs, neighborhoods and church activities…  We raise our kids and then we forget about the other kids…  I don’t know the answer to this but to keep praying… We can’t fix the world but we can fix-up the small places we live in. We can pray-forth the people we can’t touch.

Another prayer would be for those times that we must put distance and not closeness into our lives – for people whom we purposefully don’t have contact with – and know it is for the best – everyone has long stories of these times. And this “healthy” separation of life brokeness can only be placed into God’s Hands. Thanking God for the buffer and asking His forgiveness for the fracture – and knowing there is good space in buffer of space and time and moving on…  Another reason that we need God Himself to be our healing force – we can’t do it ourselves and there are times we don’t want to do it – but one day – if not today – and often it is not today – God’s forgiveness will reign.  We can try to tap into that if we can’t muster it ourselves.

And a last prayer (for this blessed quiet morning) is for the acknowledgement of the challenges that the Lord has gotten us over in the past and therefore we must remember He will get us through the ones in our future – near future and distant future. He will heal wounds, He will preserve peace with a restoration and not a quick fix, He will rule and reign and return. All knees will bow.

Let us bow our hearts in praise, hurt, humility, and hope. Where we can only fathom peace, God IS Peace.

God bless ALL!

Amen

Exile Yourself Ezekiel – Ezekiel 12

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Do you ever feel like you’re living as an example to others? To aware of others watching us in normal life and to know we are Christians by our love. It’s our living out an exile here on earth, apart from complete reconciliation with the Lord which will complete us one day. Showing not signs of the times but LOVE. God is love, so to show love, mercy, kindness is to show God. We can show the future of reconciliation even if the world is not there yet.

In Ezekiel’s time, He also had to show the future – but a harsh one for disobedient Jerusalem-living Israelites bound for Babylon. He had to work his calling as an example. Ezekiel play acted out the prophecies, not just speak them. 

‘They will know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine and plague, so that in the nations where they go they may acknowledge all their detestable practices. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

Interestingly, as God calls Ezekiel ‘Son of man’, Jesus calls Himself that when He came. Jesus demonstrated the love as well as the authority as well as chosen exile into a broken world, until the time God appointed the fulfillment of the Scriptures and Jesus being raised from the dead. It is forgiveness fulfillment’s finest hour.

The fulfillment of a Savior came, and Jesus will come again and fulfill the rest of the prophecies – all in God’s Timing. The remnants are in place, the gathered are gatherable. Let us live out our time as knowing we are LOVED… and keep moving too.

Amen 

—

Again, love David Suchet, who was a TV actor in BBC dramas, a good way to listen to the scriptures: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Ezek.12

Ezekiel 12

The exile symbolised
The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

‘Therefore, son of man, pack your belongings for exile and in the daytime, as they watch, set out and go from where you are to another place. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious people. During the daytime, while they watch, bring out your belongings packed for exile. Then in the evening, while they are watching, go out like those who go into exile. While they watch, dig through the wall and take your belongings out through it. Put them on your shoulder as they are watching and carry them out at dusk. Cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have made you a sign to the Israelites.’

So I did as I was commanded. During the day I brought out my things packed for exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I took my belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulders while they watched.

In the morning the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, did not the Israelites, that rebellious people, ask you, “What are you doing?”

‘Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: this prophecy concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites who are there.” Say to them, “I am a sign to you.”

‘As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.

‘The prince among them will put his things on his shoulder at dusk and leave, and a hole will be dug in the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land. I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. I will scatter to the winds all those around him – his staff and all his troops – and I will pursue them with drawn sword.

‘They will know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine and plague, so that in the nations where they go they may acknowledge all their detestable practices. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water. Say to the people of the land: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: they will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. The inhabited towns will be laid waste and the land will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”’

There will be no delay
The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: “The days go by and every vision comes to nothing”? Say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.” Say to them, “The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfil whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’

The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, the Israelites are saying, “The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.” ‘Therefore say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: none of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.”’

Just a Heavenly NYC trip and Heaven on Earth – Ezekiel 1-3 Visions and a Call

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There’s no comparison between my NYC trip yesterday and what Ezekiel saw as MAJOR glimpse of hope, and a MAJOR revelation of heavens opened when he was in exile in Babylon, BUT there IS something to be said for LIVING in the MOMENT (good or bad)… and trust me, yesterday was GOOD!!!! And something to be said for being embraced by a group of people who don’t have to embrace you but do so – so wholeheartedly… These work-sabbatical people that I am with for 4 weeks surely know how to roll out the red carpet, the passenger vans, the NYC taxis, and the food…  WOW – what a blessing to feel like a team that tries hard to team together!

Thursday’s NYC and the whole trip was the BEST EVER team building I think I’ve ever been on… A 7AM start from work, on a private van bus to the Big Apple! And an amazing scavenger hunt along the way! We were headed to a scientific conference (yes really this was work with team building attached) with many, many vendors and fun ‘swag’ to pick up at the booths. These conferences are fun to dream about new equipment and new procedures, sure, but you don’t know how exciting M&Ms in a tiny metal can look, and pens and pens for ‘swag’ crazy… The vendor interactions were fun too, the last day of their event and the vendors were open to our giddiness, helping satisfy scavenger items like ‘juggling’ or pretending to wear a bowtie held up. There was even a booth from my own company – so my own people seeing that I am energetic nuts! I gave them a business card to hope they realized I was really an employee. They gave away a stuffed firefly advertising a luciferase experiment! Now that is the LIGHT-hearted fun…

Unbelievable delicious brunch and dinner at two different New York institutions (and brought the leftovers home). And singing seventies and eighties music so fun (New York New York – Staying alive – to Last Dance) all the way home… I LOVE my sabbatical so much, I love learning but I can’t even express how much I LOVE these people for the fun and how much they have embraced me as a visitor for these 4 weeks! This was just week one! And yes, it is really unreal how we are similar era folks, knowing the song era, but especially the science too. And we know that we are blessed!

The embrace of hope for yourself is immense when you are navigating this world, from work, life balancing, etc. Finding Heaven on earth is awesome beyond measure. The people, food, sights, especially comradery… Then can you (or really immeasurable to even imagine A GLIMPSE of REAL HEAVEN?!!!  Well, Ezekiel in the Old Testament book after Jeremiah and Lamentations, tells us unbelievable sights!

There was a scavenger hunt item (and you had to take photographs for proof) for “someone broken down” – so we saw a truck crushed and burned but people ok. We saw the burnout – we spoke to the man who said his truck was burned – but he and his dogs were OK – We loved on those little dogs including Hershey – and then we got back on the bus van – we were not broken down and we kept moving…  Situation different but a little fraction of the same in Ezekiel’s time, Ezekiel WAS broken down. Peoples (not listening to God) caused peoples from Jerusalem and those folks from the remnants of the Israelite tribes swept away to Babylon, Ezekiel was taken in the first wave. Ezekiel was bummed out, burnt out in sorrow, but OH, he SAW the LIGHT!!! Ezekiel saw VISIONS of GOD! He knew that exact moment, had been counting the days surely, he saw a windstorm and fire and creatures IN the fire, winged, four-faced creatures, a sight! Under the creatures with legs that glistened like gold were wheels that moved with them – with their spirit, over the creatures was a sparkling crystal vault and a THRONE! WOW! Now – on my trip to NYC I did see the Crystal Ball in Time Square – in a quick turn and take a snapshot while hoofing it to the east side – and I saw beautiful Waterford Crystal in the Irish Restaurant – but Ezekiel saw CRYSTAL VAULT coming from Heaven – with a throne and wow!!!!

When the creatures moved, Ezekiel heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. AND he heard THE ALMIGHTY! Oh my – can’t even imagine the situation and yet the few chapters of Ezekiel are SO DESCRIPTIVE – see below. 

Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord, fell facedown, heard the voice: “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”  The Spirit came into Ezekiel and rose him to his feet. WOW! Ezekiel was tasked (as a son of man) to go tell rebellious people (also broken down) to repent and listen to God. Well, imagine the bitterness that Ezekiel had to face – especially after this glimpse of God and yet God gave this Ezekiel the wherewithal and fortitude to carry out his work. The scroll of instructions even tasted of honey and filled him – filling him with the spirit.

There are many times we DO have a glimpse of heaven on earth – that working together – that comradery – that fun – AND THEN there is the JOY of working for the Lord – sharing LOVE and HOPE – being filled with the Spirit and moving fast (although not as fast as those creatures with wings and wheels)…

I don’t know what each day brings – but we do have the opportunity to find the good in it – even on bad days – and let us remember the GOOD days – and really really good ones… And let us remember that Heaven will be EVEN BETTER…

WOW – no scavenger hunt clue will find me into Heaven – because we ARE the scattered and God is scavenging US – just like He was scavenging the peoples of His flock – for years… I will read more later about Ezekiel’s work – but for now, let us keep keepin’ on…  Let us roll with a fraction of the Holy Spirit Wheels – and at least STAND UP like Ezekiel.. It may NOT be ‘Heaven on earth’ always but let us keep going anyway – let us get moving – and let us say WOW!!!!

Amen and PLEASE READ BELOW = and there is also the first few minutes of this video which details the bible story for Ezekiel…  worth the watch…

Keep rolling my friends! Head the Call – Until the “Last Dance”…

Amen again…  here is the video of Ezekiel:

Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision

In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was on him.

I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”  As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.

He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious people; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.   And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”  So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.


He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them. You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel— not to many peoples of obscure speech and strange language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 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.”  

Ezekiel 1-3:11

Lord of All, The Green Tree cut down on Good Friday

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Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I can’t find my own words for Good Friday – and I don’t need to – but I can find the walk and the witness – the work and the wailing – the wounded and the whatnot…   And that is all in the WORD… I need to hear from Jesus this Good Friday – gratefully He has much to say – including how it had to go down this way… Fulfillment and Forevers – planned forever ago for the forever in our future.

Jesus said: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Matthew 26:53-54

It HAS to go down this way. 

I have (below) cut and paste (from the benefit of Bible Gateway . com) from all the four gospel sets of scriptures in that day – but not necessarily all the words that were shared. The succinct few paragraphs glued here mean a LifeLine of a LifeTime.  And the answer to the question of WHY – is that God Rescues. A mocking man may have said: “He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:43) But in the answer truly of this question is YES – GOD RESCUES BECAUSE HE WANTS TO – HE DOES WANT TO – GOD WANTS US – God rescues US – and God does that by sending Jesus to the death instead of us. And Jesus accepts this in love.

In this season of love and day of remembrance – let us keep the green life of Jesus alive and share of the Lord – because the days are coming when people will have darkness and cold and DRY…  For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Presented below are the best words to know – bind to our hearts – and share. Keep hydrafed in His Love. Let us this Good Friday hare what is so good inside and because of what is so bad from this day. That God so loved us that He sent His only Son to SAVE.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

Amen – and please read below: 

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Matthew 26:47-56 Jesus Arrested

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

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Matthew 27: 32-61 The Crucifixion of Jesus

As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus – From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

The Burial of Jesus –  As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

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Mark 15:16-47 The Soldiers Mock Jesus

The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers.  They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.  It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

They crucified two rebels with him, one on his right and one on his left. (So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”) Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!”  In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus –  At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.” Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

The Burial of Jesus – It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

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Luke 23:28-56 

Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The Death of Jesus – It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

The Burial of Jesus – Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

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John 19 16-42 – The Crucifixion of Jesus

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus – Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

The Burial of Jesus – Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

You Have to Play the Cards Life Gives You.

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Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

I enjoyed the day yesterday, even if I didn’t understand it all. I stepped through it one BINGO number at a time, one moment at a time, one step at a time. I had many moments to think, all day. I had work, worked from home, but first wrote my devotions. Then hit the news of a bridge collapse, BIG one, and videos plus speculation, news conferences etc. Then I shut the news off. I worked on what I could work on. I thought about it occasionally as I stepped through my day, which was blessed ordinary and extraordinary but far from an ordinary day. I worked, laughed, ate, pondered, prodded, purposed, planned, put aside my schedule (which honestly I saw how God cleared curiously for me to be in new places), and pondered again. I had much time to meet up with God moment by moment, which is unusual, and yet always wonder where I misstep. I did feel blessed by my company and moments, even if I didn’t understand them all. Jesus wants us to walk through the day in His Way – listening to Him. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

At lunch I was talking about a bridge between Jesus and us – independent from the earthly bridge that fell down but will be rebuilt – but isn’t that what Jesus experienced? a knock down for the lift up… A fitting Holy Week thought… Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Wrapped up work and took some time off to get the cat to the vet (an ordinary thing on an unordinary day). In the evening it was interesting playing BINGO with my friend at the fire company, just plain fun as a fundraiser, but wow it is WORK! Fast paced and mega boards given. I’ve been here only once before. I mixed myself up a few times. Accidentally, I called BINGO once (it was a coverall nor regular, oops), and I enjoyed the time with my friend. I was an observer of people and their routines, who they knew as regulars and what little things made this a regular scene for many. I enjoyed thinking about my Dad and Mom in our BINGO days growing up catholic and the required work at the fundraiser if you had kids in the school. REQUIRED. My Dad called the numbers maybe once a month and mom sold cards, and I hung out to work the concessions – with those candy bars and glass soda bottles.  Fun but yes a true reflection of how money influences the world. It is a tool – may we always use it wisely. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

It was my Dad’s birthday yesterday too, was I tickled when his birthday showed up? Yes. But was it proving some connections in the universe? Nah, because I already know connectiveness for the universe. I already know life pops up like BINGO numbers, but you don’t always have them on your card and you just try again. I know that with God there are no coincidences. There are some games you sit out, to take a ‘bio-break’ or stretch or take a concession visit. There are some hecklers in fun. There are rules and rituals that are invented and confusing, but most people here understood them. There was lots of money spent and lots of money won. I bought a dollar snack and thought – this is enough. My cards were enough (too much actually). My time was enough. My moment was enough. I felt not stuck in time but sitting inside it and outside it at the same time. I didn’t win BINGO but I didn’t care – I already won life with a good family and with the Good Lord. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

In life – we have ordinary non-ordinary days. Like BINGO, you have to play the cards that life gives you – you have to make the most of it – you have to know Who (God) makes life livable in good and bad – and God is also good at the same time reminding you that life on earth is temporary and worldly. Oh how we bridge to the real life in Heaven? Oh, Jesus. Yes… One day at a time, one number at a time, one step at a time. One Savior always. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Play the cards the Lord gives – and call out to Him for numbering your days… Enjoy Life…

AMEN

Paul to the Colossians 3:1-17

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 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.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Led to JOY – Riding the Oscar Mayer WIENERMOBILE!

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What a crazy blessing – after my Sunday Sermon which was sharing that we need to be ready to meet whomever God wants us to meet this day – to Follow Jesus – I was home icing my sore back when my friends called me up “out of the blue” and say they couldn’t believe it – but the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was actually in our neck of the woods! WOW – And so they picked me up – and we all swooped up into the fun for the surreal flow of the day. It was so good, it was like the Lord was leading the Way – HE IS!

Our fun was also our amazement – and the 2 Hotdoggers crew were as nice as nice could be – and bonded immediately with my friend whose dream it was to do that job – travel around – and spread JOY! YES! Meat-ing the two Hotdoggers was the best and experiencing the rest was wrapping the “BUN of FUN” around the real amazeMEAT of the moment. May the special sauce of Love surround these young HotDoggers in their travels – for them to remain safe! 

YES, ALWAYS an amazing story for my friend of my same age, a partner in silly fun, who has been blind since being a teenager but always wanted to drive this Wienermobile! Well at least she got to ride in it! The connection she made with the two Hotdoggers crew was fabulous, and she went back to bring me to meet them because there’s a funny history of me confusing the Peanutmobile and Wienermobile, oops. ANYWAY, this was FUN! And certainly only a very few people get to ride!!! Aren’t we blessed! One of the last people was Drew Barrymore – and she was in tears to see it.

I knew this was a divine incident of JOY – I KNEW God orchestrated this – because when Jesus says: FOLLOW ME – He walks us into the good times just as much (actually much more) than the tough days.  THIS WAS A GREAT DAY – JOY IS IMMEASURABLE AND APPRECIATED!

They named us ‘Little Links’ and ‘Tailgate’ and our dear mom-mom ‘Sizzlin’ and even ‘Ketchup’ for her guide dog, plus me ‘Hot Diggity Debbie’, we were blessedly connected with our new adopted daughter drivers, hotdoggers ‘Chlo-Wienie’ and ‘ChilliCheeseMC’!!! Sweetest of college graduates, in marketing, picked from thousands of applicants, now in their one year stint as JOY ambassadors! WOW, 9 months so far. Blessed beyond Wienerwords! RELISHED THE FUN!!!

They spread JOY. People love this. I felt amazed to be a small part of riding along – like earlier that day I gave a sermon to Follow Jesus, with a benediction to go out and meet the people He would want us to meet, but I COULD NEVER HAVE ENVISIONED THIS! The connection was so easily fostered by my fun and loving friend,  and after we heard that we would ride at the end of the shift – we went into the grocery store and got them gift bags of snacks and coffee gift cards, it brought them nearly to tears. They enjoy this opportunity but rarely get home. I am glad we were able to share this love – but it is really all my friend’s enthusiastic love – which of course is from the Lord – because God IS Love and Life.

Loved the people’s faces with lots of car horns honking and that great jingle as their horn! “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener!” Started in 1936, oh how the people loved looking at this sweet ride. Well – I can only say that every day may we hop on the sweet ride of excitement – one step at a time. Keep on rolling!

Blessed on this Jesus Journey to share in the JOY!!!

Hot Diggity Dog!

A Shell of Self, a Rebuild for Reconciliation

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I stood in a shell of a room, at my neighbor’s house, being redone, stripped down and tons of fresh drywall, fresh extra insulation too, awaiting plaster and paint. After post-chimney-fire renovations, that wall and the whole room gets a fresh start in a near 70yr old house. I loved the big window. I want that type of window in my house (custom made, they said) as I want to redo a few spaces, including that window, but they are not really super pressing. But yeah maybe just that window with the tax return…. Hmmmm…

Why does God rebuild us into “A NEW CREATION“? To update us to the latest model? No. He simply wants to strip down our characters to the beams and frame that He made us with, inspect them, and reduce the decay, He wants to increase the heating and cooling efficiency, and put in a workable window into our souls. He can vent us better that way, because He can let our steam out. God can see in and see throughout because He is the only Light illumination needed. We can be seen increased in glow, for HIS Shine goes through the window of our hearts. We can also close our windows (and walls) like Armor of God, and know we are safe inside. He puts in the anchor points for tethering our extra new siding. We are blessed to ask for these improvements and for the extra layers of Him. “to be further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life”… These things to keep us marching through the world. To SHINE!

Maybe I will replace that window of mine this spring. That window leaks and maybe because the whole wall needs to be redone, it might be the right time to work on it. Not a dream of upgrading just to upgrade – but in actuality improve function, to stop the losses and to gain the warmth. Yes, my old room model just improved, because I already know God bought me new insulation, HIM.

Praise God for the fix-me-up.

Amen 

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5  NKJV – Assurance of the Resurrection

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

The Judgment Seat of Christ – Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Be Reconciled to God – For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him

Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV – The Armor of God – Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

It’s LIVING Tears Springing Forth

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It’s 2 months since Christmas today, that was like ancient history, dried up memories too. (Except I just realized my Christmas lights are still up, oops). Everyone is now looking towards SPRING. My recent lunch with friends was next to a beautiful garden center, teeming with life. What isn’t joyfully teaming and fresh with life is in the phase of gearing up waiting to bud. It was filled with hydrated living greens and pinks and yellows as well as carefully preserved dried mosses and grasses. The garden center embraced us in a sweet garden hug just like our friendship does with each other.

Yesterday I had a great church gathering, also with new and cherished old friends, we are God’s family even if we just met. So yesterday it was not lost on me that I had a few duplicated seeings of scriptures. Hmmm… I could say that’s so cute ‘by coincidence’, but I know better. God is a LIVING Moving God. God is speaking His Word, but not just for crafting a goosebumps response, but causing a listening in the moment of His motivating and His buffering Way. GOD’S GOT A POINT TO WHERE HE IS POINTING US. He both hugs us with life, like that garden store did, AND He leads us in ways unknown but steady and sure, like the water that flows through the plants. His Living Water flows through us. Where we bud is up to Him. Sometimes we even bud out in Living tears. Living Tears Springing Forth. The right moving Spirit moves us too. God’s Timing. God’s Hydration. If we prefer to stay silent, even the rocks will cry out. We shouldn’t stay silent. We should not be cold when God’s warming us. (We also shouldn’t put a light under a basket to hide it).

Both these duplicated scriptures from yesterday (replication for God to give me a theme day) speak volumes about WHOLENESS and LOVE, about seeing in part now but in whole later. Sometimes, like the garden shop needs water, our Living Water knows to soak us in Spirit, and give us excess for later: excess to spill out in tears if called upon. Even succulent plants know to store up their water, so we soak in these scriptures:

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 1 John 4:12 NIV

Expression in part can be in tears – Jesus had them, why wouldn’t we? 

Now God’s Love is not always a path of cushy ease, there are tough times. There’s pruning in our lives, like the winter vinedresser of the Lord knowing best, to make us stronger and more fruitful come spring. Sometimes we feel the JOY, but also feel the uneasiness of doing what we feel is His calling over ours. God says: Stay being led. Stay in the moment. Stay on the path. Keep walking. LOOK UP, not at the world. Understand there’s a mission bigger than just for you, but through you. Go there… 

A song that a friend shared speaks volumes for this. From the band FFH “What it feels like” – the lyrics: “To find out that if I accept my brokenness, I get more of me, I get all of You”  – Amen to that!  – “This is what it feels like to be led.”

Yes! It’s not always, nor should it be for us to do God’s work for favor or affirmation by people. It is an embrace of fellowship yes, but a path of His calling not ours. And so we walk the path. Flow the Living Tears in Hydration. Accept that “in part” is all we get to see now, but someday we will see and know IN WHOLE. 

If Spring is anticipated just around the corner, imagine how AMAZING God’s Kingdom will come…  Let us keep blooming and budding forward!

Let us share our Living God Love with the world who is desperately parched and in need.

Amen

“What It Feels Like” – lyrics – FFH

So this is what it feels like to walk the wilderness

This is what it feels like to come undone

This is what it feels like to lose my confidence

Unsure of anything or anyone

–

So this is what it feels like to walk the desert sand

This is what it feels like to hear my name

To be scared to death ’cause I’m all alone

But feel love and peace just the same

–

This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

‘Cause I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

So this is what it feels like to be led

–

So this is what it feels like to just fall apart

To be totally unglued

To find out that if I accept my brokenness

I get more of me, I get all of You

–

And this may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

So this is what it feels like to be led

–

So this is what it feels like to just walk away

From everything I thought kept me safe

To depend just on You for every meal

And find that it’s better this way

Oh, it’s better this way

–

This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

‘Cause I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now Like I do right now

This may not be the road I would choose for me

But it still feels right somehow

And I have never felt You as close to me as I do right now

–

So this is what it feels like to be led

This is what it feels like to be led

Oh Lord! So Funny! 

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Oh Lord, 

Why are my dreams so funny? 

The storylines could make box-office money.

The cat was singing ‘Hooray for Hollywood’.

I bet no one would believe it, but she COULD. 

And the family was doing random amazing feats,

But no one SIMPLY would take hold of the cat trying to escape under our feets.

.

Yes these dreams are seemingly stage productive,

But why so mentally unproductive?

Or maybe dreams are just to say,

LIFE IS FUNNY IN ITS OWN WAY. 

.

I don’t know Lord, 

At least the cat was hitting good chords…

But for me, 

I’ll wake up to see,

That I DON’T have to finish that crazy scene,

My morning, my life, my day, is wiped CLEAN. 

.

IT’S A FRESH DAY.

TODAY, EVERY DAY.

Put down the duress.

Put down the stress. 

Start today knowing it’s no longer:

‘Hooray for Hollywood’, but

‘Hooray for God, He could‘…

.

Thank You for LIFE, Oh Lord!

Maybe I should not worry about my dreams or living on my accord.

I’ll just watch, listen, and hope for Your direction. 

(And I’ll make the most of today’s life-movie projection.) 

AMEN

.

Rolling!!!

Puzzle my crab, my world, my life

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Oh… they say if you don’t smell a smelly foul smell, then the hermit crab is still alive. Scary to see body parts strewn about, but he will eat them later. Crazy. Crazy to watch a molt of a hermit crab, especially not so hidden this time as apparently I don’t have deep enough cover, but the crab this time chose the underneath gap between water dishes. Freaky weird. (and I never know how the crab is going to pull itself out of this one – but so far he always has….)

One of my puzzles in life is wondering how God pieces it all together. I don’t believe we are to know or need to know everything, so don’t worry about what is not our job to worry about.  One can marvel, yes!!! Think if God just populated a world with done items (people, animals, plants, places) is inconceivable enough, but we have a living moving system, and growth, new creations, aging situations and spiritual life and growth independent of physical. It’s a marvel, it’s a puzzle of life, especially when someone only sees loose pieces.  (and we never know how the Lord is going to put ourselves as a civilization or people or individuals together forever – but so far we are still here – He has and always will have it ‘together’…)

My mom’s jigsaw puzzles from her birthday were printed by Walgreens on these nifty sticky-backed frames. They looked great pieced together, even from the backside, but that’s not the point. The puzzles were and are to be taken apart to reassemble and that’s the fun part in itself, plus the time to sit and do them. It’s a favorite activity of many, and one that others don’t even want to think about.  I like them, but don’t have time nor make time for puzzles when I feel that I am already puzzling life. There’s nothing wrong with a good puzzle, and the addictive nature leads to sharing and lending puzzles with each other. Instead of “let me see what’s on TV” (junk) – it’s “let me work 10 minutes on the puzzle.”

God’s puzzle for our lives is both vibrantly beautifully shown and then other aspects are hidden to us sometimes when we need to find new light to illuminate it – and other times pieces are hidden until looked for – some pieces may be withheld for years – some puzzles seem too easy but that is the Lord’s way too. Nothing is too hard for God and nothing is impossible – if He says it fits (or fits good enough for now) then He can make it work.

IN OTHER WORDS – LOOK HOW GOD CAN MAKE YOUR LIFE WORK  – IN THE HERE AND NOW AND IN THE FUTURE – IN THIS SMALL SECTION OF THE SMALLEST TIMEFRAME OF THE LARGEST PUZZLE OF THE LARGEST LIFE ETERNAL. 

GOD puzzles us with His world but in whole, He wants us to know He has everything under control – no puzzle for Him – all answers – all known. Let us depend upon God for the KNOWN. And work on the puzzle too – in His Time.

Can we just wait until He puts the pieces together? (the crab and the world and our lives?) I hope so.

Praise You Lord for having it all!

Amen

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Matthew 19:25-26 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Well, Wait and KNOW – Jeremiah 37-40

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A cute puppy was running around at my friend’s apartment complex, they said to let it run, but I thought maybe we should have held onto it and called someone, or if there was a neighborhood association… hmmm… they said let the puppy run. I pray the puppy got home, he was not there when we left the apartment, someone must have taken him in. And we saw the animal control van driving around. But that was tough for me, I wish I could say I’ll wait and see, but I will never know this outcome. Except for this assurance in my heart that the puppy is alright. I have to trust in the system and in the Lord. 

It’s like when we don’t feel well, after surgery, in therapy, we wait and see. When we await news at times, we wait and see. But for us waiting on the Lord, we wait and KNOW, plus that wait and see, because we have to KNOW God means what He says. He has rescued us before! And for us, we are to KNOW it will be OK, eventually,  BECAUSE GOD SAID SO… Even if it seems like forever from now.

(And if God warns of consequences, steer away from His Wrath please).

I’m reading an intriguing section of Jeremiah’s story – not a soap opera because it’s got REAL abrupt events and real consequences for the people of Jerusalem that don’t listen to God. The king of Judah didn’t listen but he did ask Jeremiah to pray and he did tell the officials of the Babylonian plan God had. Jeremiah went to take care of business locally, but was arrested, imprisoned. He was freed by the king but watched and fed, but then others who heard his prophecy about Babylon wanted him done away with. The king took his hands off the situation. The annoyed officials threw him into a cistern well…. WELL,  I never would want to wait and see in a well, but Jeremiah had to. A stuck situation. That same king allowed the rescue of Jeremiah, people who sent merciful pieces of old clothes to give support and comfort under the arms over the ropes. He was pulled back into a semi-safe situation, not free, but not stuck in the well.

Then the king started to listen to Jeremiah, who continued to hear from God,  and be protected by God. But the king was not so fortunate and a horrible capture by the Babylonians was terrible for his family and the king gruesomely was blinded. 

Jeremiah was protected, not harmed by Babylonians. The one who was also protected was the Cushite, Ebed-Melek, official in the royal palace, the person who pulled Jeremiah out of that cistern well. The lift-er and the lifted both survived captivity. “But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah’s story continues, including being allowed to live with his people for a time.  He had to show trust in the system and in the Lord. 

What about our wait? Do we wait and see or wait and know? God blesses the lifted and also the lift-er. We can endure not a prison on earth but a wait until the new kingdom. There will be others, at a certain day post rapture, who will need to hear and know about God who protects, and rescues after a tortured life. We will have to wait and see at that time… Not a soap opera but a prophetic fulfillment of God’s Plan. We have to trust in the system and in the Lord. 

Well, We will Wait and Know. (meanwhile, keep asking the Lord for the mini-rescues too. Know He provides. Amen)

Amen 

—

Jeremiah 37-40:6 NIV

Jeremiah in Prison

Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’

“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”

After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”

“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”

King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’ And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”

Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.” So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”

Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’”

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you: “‘They misled you and overcame you – those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.’

“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

The Fall of Jerusalem – Chapter 39

This is how Jerusalem was taken:  In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon. When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah.

But the Babylonian army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

The Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard carried into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city, along with those who had gone over to him, and the rest of the people. But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: “Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.” So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes. But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

Chapter 40

The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had released him at Ramah. He had found Jeremiah bound in chains among all the captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being carried into exile to Babylon. When the commander of the guard found Jeremiah, he said to him, “The Lord your God decreed this disaster for this place. And now the Lord has brought it about; he has done just as he said he would. All this happened because you people sinned against the Lord and did not obey him. But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.” However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.”

Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go. So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land.

Wing it, but on a Prayer

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I looked up “winging it”, a phrase I often use as in “I will just wing it” – yeah I say that, but one only feels comfortable doing that if you prepped somewhat. And we often open our mouths when we could never know enough about a situation. If we “catch wind” of something – we could pray on it, right?

I didn’t know the origins of “winging it”, so I googled it, which brings many reputable references: It comes from the theater, “to wing it”, it is to prep in the wings of the stage, study up, but not quite prepared. The wings themselves are named for the winged stage panels that were stored there (Italian origin hundreds of years ago)… and of course it’s about the hiddenness of the theater wings… off stage and unseen. (Who likes to hide in the wings huh? Even if much work is done there.)

What about us, do we stay off-scene? How do we venture into life? Is it a play over and over again like “Groundhog Day”? But remember that Bill Murray’s character was allowed to or ended up changing the pattern, if ever so slightly, each time. He was brought to learn something – even if it was that the weather was unpredictable but life was not. We could do that too – change it up a little each time. And “winging it” is the option to rely on what we DID learn in the wings, and praying on it all for the rest of the way. I will “Wing it” on a Prayer.

I think when we pray, it’s like the warmth of our hearts and the movement of the Spirit that lifts the whole situation. You could request a prayer time and time again to be lifted up, it starts its own turbine.  Recently a friend, just out of surgery, asked me to throw up some prayers for her, and I immediately humorously thought of NOT the baseball type of throw, after surgery… Well,  prayers all around.  And it’s always that the currents of prayers are from those that are formulating from the depth of the Spirit in us, a feeling placed in us to bring up and to bring us up. It’s God’s Way to start His own air/prayer currents – for lift – for reaching – for catching. I know that the Lord isn’t waiting lofty on high for the prayers, He is on the ground, starting to blow them around. 

“Livin’ on a Prayer” – Bon Jovi sings. I think that could be true every day when we step out that door, or even hide in our PJs under the covers. We are asking for help, as we should. There is no wrong in asking God for His Right Way to deal with a situation.  In other words, God knows the best way for us to approach the current day (haha funny, current day and current blowing Way). We would never leave the wings of the stage without the lift of God – Yes, let those angel wings move like the army they are intended to be. We would never get to stay in the wings hidden, because those situtaions themselves are scenes that are movable on a temporary stage of earth. And God sees everything. 

So keep moving today, on a wing AND on a Prayer. “Rise on the wings of the dawn.” You will always have God’s Lift. God knows where to go, blow, flow.

Amen 

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Psalm 139

For the director of music. 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 close.

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.

Jeremiah, Show Us the Hope

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If you think your life is busy, oh my, look at Jeremiah… prophet, public prophet, even got published with a God-sent scribe to help him. I took a screen shot of the Bible Project’s story board, it’s intense. So much for so many years! (Video link below).

I don’t race through reading these chapters and I sometimes feel stuck in so much of the deep narrative, but if God can keep His wandering workers working, I can keep keeping on learning… so these 7 minutes of video cliff notes are a Godsend, we now understand where God is placing Jeremiah in time (siege by king Nebuchadnezzar, towards the 70 yr Babylon exile), and yet we understand the timelessness of the prose (lessons for them and us now), and we learn the definitive process to God taking His Own Time to bring about His Word, to teach and work among His people, and to prepare us all for our Savior and His Restoration. Yes, there is a definitive answer, the Messiah, coming, came, and will come again. This is a truth all throughout the scriptures and in life.

“For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel…  

“I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; … 

“This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.”

Jeremiah is the writer of HOPE and judgment, and of course of timetables for Israelites in exile to Babylon AND for their return. Jeremiah is the poster child of prophets. He has got a lot going on (and I didn’t even get to his section of his Egypt imprisonment yet).

But oh, to stop and absorb this chapter Jeremiah 33 – it makes my slow progress reading take a moment to say ‘Ahhhhh…’ just like climbing a summit and looking across the landscape… Jeremiah 33 speaks of past, present, future – and especially about the Messiah… it brings old testament connections to Jesus in both introduction to them of great hope and continually explaining intricacies of the journey.

“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.”

Life is a journey. I’m glad to say God, in Love Everlasting, is taking us on ours.

Let’s keep reading, walking, believing.

(And hitting those summit times of understanding God’s promised Forever).

Amen 

Here’s the video:

Here’s the chapter of 33’s HOPE! It’s not just 33 and a third, it’s a record for forever.  (thanks Bible Gateway for the text)

Promise of Restoration – Jeremiah 33 NIV

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.

“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’

“This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,

“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good; his love endures forever.”

For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

“‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’

For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

Her Life Was a Sermon

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(One of many processing writings for my friend’s passing and her services)

For my friend’s funeral mass, the priest’s sermon was heartfelt, we could tell. The section of the sermon when my tears started, was when he essentially said: “[How can you give a sermon at a time like this. Our words are not as important compared to the sermon that her life taught us – taught us as an example of an authentic Christian – we have so many excuses for not coming to church – the weather, too busy, etc. But she attended even if she DID have the proper excuse of I’m not feeling well [because she was SO sick failing in health for years], she totally had the right excuse for not making it to church, or had the right for asking for help – but she was here – she came to explore her faith.]” He continued, “[she teaches us how to love Christ – believe in Christ – how to go towards eternal life. That should be our goal in life – how to save our souls – embrace “the One Whom God has sent” as Christ states in the Gospel]”

He continued: “[Brothers and sisters, pray for her to pray for us to have the strength in life that she had even thought she was weaker than us.]” – [“She never gave up- use her as an example – to remember the most important thing in our life, the salvation of our souls”] – “[may God bless her soul, may her memory be eternal]”

Tears and goosebumps for she surely did live a life working hard in love. I spoke to the priest at the luncheon (warm and inviting and soothing in smiles and laughter) after the solemn service (filled with singing, incense, prayer and traditions) and the cemetery internment (crisp cold with true sunshine and blue skies, the earth uncovered from the precious layer of snow). The priest recounted of the many times offered to come to her, but she came to church… “[She asked ‘how can I help you?’… when it was us that should have been helping her…]” I was blessed to see the admiration of her faith by him. I was and am so appreciative of the church family to bring their traditions to the families, support the family, the people around our luncheon table so gracious in sharing. The luncheon meal of pork, rice, soup, homemade desserts, which was as delicious as it was heartfelt, and prepared by the classic wonderful older women of the church, well it was a wonderful experience for gathering.

I’m so thankful for the example of my friend.  I’m truly touched by her life of faith… Some have sent me sympathy cards even but don’t worry about me, I’m hearing her (in my head) of her sighs of relief, of her enthusiastic voice cheering me on, and so please pray for her family – their loss is great – a mom, an organizer, a love. She was a witness and lived her life as a sermon. She had trouble in this world – but she believed that Jesus has overcome it – and He had and He has – and especially for her, I surmise her now perfected faith, which was an ongoing process, now being 100% in Jesus – no more condemnation in Heaven when Jesus has done all that He has.

None of us are perfect, but when we are perfecting life, Jesus handles the perfection, we handle the life of believing… This I truly beautifully believe. 

Amen Amen Amen

It’s All a Blur

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I wanted a photo of a sign that said “No horses on bridge”, but I moved my arm and it’s all a blur photo-wise. Trust me LIFE is all a BLUR too. 

I would know, being old enough and yet young enough that there’s many things that have changed in my mere few decades. To me, my young age sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t feel like a lot. You too? So I say it’s like a blur, but with crisp moments that seem like yesterday and wish would return like tomorrow. (Then again glad others are gone, water under the bridge.)

The bridge. Can you imagine a time someone would have walked a team of horses across this rennovated but once 1800’s metropolitan country-ish bridge, between cities now, or be tempted to cross even with car traffic because this bridge was then and now convenient? Can you imagine a time someone would have owned horses for transportation and work let alone pleasure, or would have even had a place to go on a horse, would have even had enough time to ride a horse???… I can imagine that for THEN but not for now. Time is a blur.

Look, I didn’t even have time for a proper photo as traffic stopped and then decided to go. Another time I had plenty of time stuck in the middle of the bridge for a day photo of the awesome trusses. Every rush hour this FREE (once toll) bridge is packed. Trust me the horses would have had a faster crossing on foot on the sidewalk! No, no one walks across on the sidewalk anymore either! And I’m old enough and young enough to say “Remember when people walked to work, school, groceries?”… yeah life’s a blur. 

Bumpy rides seem smoother in hindsight.

I crossed the bridge driving my daughter to and from her internship. I loved the time chatting in the car, backed up traffic or not. I appreciated the time making the most out of Christmas, open and closed in a short month,  I’m holding onto it longer, to appreciate one day at a time because that’s all I could handle and because we ALL don’t know about tomorrow let alone next year. Lord willing yes or no, just go with the flow. 

So, also this week I was picking up my outside knocked-over neon nativity decorations after a windy wet storm. There was a ten dollar bill blown up the hill, sitting in front of a king! Wow, a king that delivers! And I thought what would Jesus’s family have used those gifts for, of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh? Were they symbolic gifts? Practical gifts? Both? And what should I spend this 10 dollars on?! It’s cool, but 10 dollar 50 years ago would have bought a lot more! What would it be in Jesus’s time? Things change. Jesus doesn’t, but times do. I will think about this ten dollars – perhaps it like taxes and toll bridges are needed to be paid and the Lord provides that too (just ask Peter and that fish). Isn’t it good that Jesus paid the price for our toll toiling life bridge to Heaven too?

What doesn’t change? That time moves fast. What shouldn’t change? Our opportunities to say thank You Lord, whether in pain or in peace, it’s JOY in the Journey which fills our praise. 

If we take it one day at a time, we can lock in and focus on the One True Sure LIGHT that is Jesus! We won’t have a blur but will see Him clearly, leading us!

Keep Shining Lord.

Be unblurred.

Amen 

Eclipse-mode, Can We See Jesus’s Crown? 

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Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.

Something that bugs me healthwise is this bout of tennis elbow, bleh… not bad enough to stop my activities but not good. It’s minor painful sometimes, but annoying mostly. But I shouldn’t complain if I don’t do anything about it. I’ll survive. There are much worse illnesses suffered all the time. Someone always has it worse.

It’s an opportunity moment that I’ve been thinking about “crowns”. The coronavirus (still rearing its ugly head) has a ‘crown’, the sun has a corona too, fire licks on the surface. And there’s a total eclipse coming in April, the NASA website says: “We can’t normally see the corona ­– the Sun’s outer atmosphere – because the Sun’s surface below it is so much brighter. But during a total solar eclipse, the corona becomes visible, offering unique opportunities to study it.”

Hmmm…. the crown visible… unique opportunity to study... hmmm… let us think about Jesus.

Maybe our pain and suffering feels like an eclipse, but it is an opportunity to praise.  Paul (in Romans) spoke about present day suffering,…. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”…. YES, in our suffering we can focus our vision to see the crown of Jesus, SAVING US, healing our souls now and our bodies one day. . . And if we aren’t in eclipse mode, the brightness of the sun (and all earthly bling of brightness) will overshadow (opposite of a shadow) our sight of the Crown. we need to see that Crown of Jesus.  Perhaps we forget in our earthly life of HOW glorious Jesus is as Lord and Savior. Perhaps in our dark clouds, our pain and suffering, it is an opportunity to block all the sun and just see the GLORY. GLORY that is coming and realized now. Perhaps we need clear cold nights in life to remind us to pull closer to the One Shining life in us. Life now and Life Forever.

Jeremiah was on a mission, a job, to share God’s Word with wayward Israelites. He needed God’s protection and promise. He ached for the people who didn’t hear. Jesus did too… ached tears and called out to save us from our sin. A crown of thorns chosen to bring the Crown of Glory to save us. We need to see this Glory and share this HOPE. And with hope is healing, awareness, perseverance. 

And we should never forget that God, in His Plan, will bring forth the day of the second coming of Christ, and we best be ready, with eclipse glasses and hearts afire, for we will see the Glory of the brightness of Jesus coming. That crown of Him as our King will ring and angels sing. 

We will be healed too…

Let us Persevere!

Keep an eye to the sky!

Amen 

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Jeremiah 17:14-17

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.

Indeed they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!” As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You. Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. 

A Panegyric of Praise, to Abba Father

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If God be for us, who can be against us?

A new word I heard many years ago: PANEGYRIC pan·e·gy·ric \ˌpa-nə-ˈjir-ik, -ˈjī-rik\

Heard this word from a friend who has now passed away. He said I was writing a panegyric – opposite of a negative diatribe – but positive towards the Lord. Like a PANEGYRIC.

Noun: something (such as a speech or a piece of writing) that praises someone or something; a eulogistic oration or writing; formal or elaborate praise. A panegyric is a formal public speech, or (in later use) written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and undiscriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical.

How could I not be or say a panegyric to tell how my friend was wonderful to me. He has now passed, and his services had the most touching tribute photo, him at the park, ready to play basketball, and converse with the folks. He was a true character, friendly to all, wanting to engage them in conversation. 

I also appreciated hearing others praise my friend. His friends and what a wonderful tribute by his son – who said how much support he felt from his father. I look forward to chatting with my friend once again in Heaven – oh what a glorious time that will be.

Prolific writer Paul (probably also a prolific talker) instructed: walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2

As children of God, we too could, would, should be prolific praisers of our Lord who gave Himself us as the best offering – the best He could be. And like Jesus, children of God, we also could walk in the way of love and be loving and sure. And as children of God, we can sacrifice and not complain (if possible, we are only human after all) and walk in the Way of the Lord – with the Lord. We best to keep our mouths shut of complaints and instead open them to PRAISE of how the Lord is seeing us through a certain situation. As Children of God, we can praise by saying: Abba Father we need You, need Your help, need Your Spirit to help us walk.

At the service, a dear friend and pastor spoke from Romans 8 (excerpts below) – speaking how we are in no condemnation when we are in Christ Jesus – who himself made us free and acceptable as an offering to God. And we are to be patient in our infirmities – and realize that nothing we have none of the suffering compares to the GLORY of God and where we are going…  “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

I have praise for my friend – but truly truly make a PANEGYRIC of PRAISE to the max for our God, our Father and our Friend, our Deliverer and our Dear Hope.

Amen

Romans 8:1-31 KJV

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Blessed is the One Who Trusts in the Lord, Jeremiah 17:5-10

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When God says what He does not like, He is also saying what He DOES LIKE, what He blesses and blooms, and allows to grow in well-being like a tree near water. The tree reaches the water easily as it is near the stream. We, likewise, will be blessed by staying close to God. Blessed are those who trust in Him.

And a reminder, again through the prophets, that we are fallible humans, so trusting in human beings and corruptible notions will get us in trouble, we will live a dry existence, not lush. God keeps calling us back to Him, He wants us totally to trust in Him. Many times we are warned to guard our hearts and don’t let them be swayed away, don’t let our hearts convince our heads to follow in, guard the emotions, and trust deeper, God deeper, to the roots of our being.

Jeremiah reminds us, as he instructed the Israelites:

This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:5-10

Amen