Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb . . . Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday . . . I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found . . . But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.  And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him (Psalm 37:1-2, 5-6, 35-36, 39-40, KJV).

Esther 7:9-10
Haman will always be remembered as the man who was dumb enough to build the instrument of his own death.  He built the gallows from which he himself was hung.  Haman, of course, never intended to be hung from this scaffold, since he had built it for someone else’s destruction.  Initially his actions seemed wise, but the fullness of time proved them to be dumb.  Haman’s tragic acts of stupidity are recorded in the precious Old Testament book of Esther, which is one of the two books in the Bible named after women.
Haman was the chief minister of King Ahasuerus of Persia.  The king evidently was particularly fond of Haman, since the monarch required all of his other princes and officials to bow before Haman.  For some reason Mordecai, one of the court officials, refused to bow before Haman.  Perhaps as a Jew, Mordecai believed that such acts of reverence belonged only to God.  Perhaps Mordecai felt that Haman was undeserving of his obeisance, and since he could not bow in sincerity, he chose not to play the role of hypocrite and violate the dictates of his conscience and his integrity.  There are times when the children of God cannot bow.  We do not intend to be difficult or offensive . . . we just recognize that there are some people, things, and issues that are worthy of our commitment, loyalty time and energy, and some that are not.  The Scriptures identify a number of times when God’s people went against prevailing norms and majority opinion and refused to bow.  Among the Israelites who journeyed from Egypt to Canaan, God’s own were those who refused to bow to the golden calf.  God told Elijah about seven thousand others in Israel who had not bowed knee to Baal.  In the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image.  In the Gospels, Jesus refused to bow to Satan in the wilderness of Judea.  In the New Testament church, Christians refused to worship Caesar.
Often the price of not bowing is persecution, anger, hatred, and misunderstanding.  These were the prices that Mordecai paid for not bowing to Haman’s ego as well as his office.  When Haman personally observed Mordecai’s refusal to bow, he became enraged.  The rage turned into resentment . . . which turned into hatred . . . which ultimately turned into a plan to exterminate Mordecai and all of his people.  If Mordecai was not bowing because he was a Jew, then there ought to be no Jews, Haman reasoned.  They all should be eliminated.  With one swoop Haman could rid himself of everyone in the kingdom who might be inclined to follow Mordecai’s example.
Haman used his favored position of closeness to Ahasuerus and several half-truths to persuade the king to initiate a program to exterminate the Jews.  Haman didn’t identify whom he was talking about, but merely told the king that there were certain people in his kingdom who were different from the others, whose culture and customs were different, and whose ultimate allegiance was elsewhere.  All of this was true, but Haman also added a lie that they didn’t respect the law or the king of the land.  That’s why half-truths are more dangerous than outright lies . . . they contain enough truth to be believed and enough falsehood to be destructive.  Haman proposed that these people be destroyed and offered to pay the equivalent of twenty million dollars into the treasury to cover the cost of his program of genocide.
Not knowing who was involved, Ahasuerus agreed to Haman’s program and issued a decree ordering the extermination.  As news of the decree began to spread, Jews throughout the kingdom engaged in acts of fasting, prayer, lamentation, and deep mourning.  Mordecai clothed himself in sack cloth and stood outside the palace . . . an action that caught the attention of Esther, the wife and queen of Ahasuerus.  Esther was Mordecai’s niece whom he had raised since childhood . . . Esther thus loved Mordecai as a father.  It was Mordecai who had planned and directed her ascendance to the throne.  And Esther herself was a Jew.  Of course, Haman was unaware of all these interlocking relationships.  We never know all the truth or all the facts or all that we should know . . . when we make it our business to traffic in half-truths.  When Haman hatched his plot, he was aiming primarily at Mordecai.  He had no idea that his scheme would reach into the palace, into the king’s very bedroom and heart, for Esther was highly respected as well as loved by the king.
Mordecai sent a message to Esther to intercede on behalf of her people.  Esther was fearful at first because . . . according to the custom of that time . . . any person . . .whether man or woman, wife or servant . . .who entered the king’s inner court uninvited faced the penalty of execution . . . unless the king extended the golden scepter toward that person.  Esther had not been called into the king for thirty days.  Mordecai sent to Esther the message: “Think not that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s house will perish.  And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:13-14).  Esther asked her uncle to join her in prayer and fasting and resolved, “I will go the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
At one time or another God’s children must adopt an attitude that says, “I’m going to do what I have to do, and if I perish, I perish . . . I’m going to stand for right and speak the truth, and if I perish, I perish . . . I’m going to trust God to fight my battles . . . I’m going to claim the promises in God’s Word . . . while others plot, . . .  I’m going to fast and pray, and if I perish, I perish!”
God was with Esther when she appeared before Ahasuerus, and he agreed to give her whatever she asked, up to half his kingdom.  She only asked that he and Haman join her for dinner that evening.  During dinner, when Ahasuerus asked what she wanted, Esther asked them to join her for another private dinner the next day and at that time she would lay before him the matter that was upon her heart.  Haman left the palace that evening feeling pretty good about himself.  He had received two invitations from Queen Esther to dine privately with her and the king.  Surely no prince in the land had more power or influence than he did.  Nothing could stop his rise to power, and no one could prevent him from doing whatever he wanted to do.
As he left the palace, Haman saw Mordecai, who still refused to bow to him. (God's children may be down sometimes, and others may be up . . . but they still don’t bow.)  There was Haman, feeling proud of who he was . . . and there was Mordecai, whose very presence reminded Haman that his power could be withstood and his authority be defied.  Haman went home that night and built a seventy-five-foot gallows on which he would personally hang Mordecai.  He would show that Jew who was boss.  Haman resolved that he would ask Ahasuerus for Mordecai’s life the very first thing in the morning.  He would teach him a lesson for his insolence.
But while Haman was building his offense again Mordecai . . . heaven was building a defense for Mordecai.  While the power of evil was at work through Haman to destroy Mordecai . . . the power of the Lord began to work through Ahasuerus to save Mordecai.  The Spirit of the Lord wouldn’t let the king sleep, and so Ahasuerus sent for his book of memorable deeds of the kingdom.  While reading the record, he discovered that long ago Mordecai had exposed a plot on the king’s life, and he had never been rewarded for what he had done.  Thus while Haman fell asleep plotting against Mordecai, Ahasuerus fell asleep with gratitude for Mordecai weighing upon his mind.
On the next morning both Haman and Ahasuerus rose excitedly from beds of slumber.  One was excited about the prospect of destruction . . . the other was excited about the opportunity for praise.  One was excited about the prospect of doing evil to somebody . . . while the other was excited about the prospect of doing good for somebody.  One awoke with a grudge . . . the other awoke with gratitude.  I’m glad that when others get up early to do evil . . . there is a Sovereign Ruler who reigns over them who is prepared to do good for us.  When others rise to curse, the Sovereign Ruler is ready to bless.  When others rise to defame and criticize . . . the Sovereign Ruler comes to glorify and praise.  When others build their gallows to hang us . . . our Sovereign Ruler reads our names in the Book of Life and is prepared to reward us.
Haman arrived early at the palace to ask for Mordecai’s life, but before he could say anything, the king asked, “What shall I do to honor someone who truly pleases me?”
Since Haman had twice been invited to dine privately with the king and queen, he assumed that the king was talking about him.  Thus he said, “Bring out some of the royal robes that the king himself has worn, and the king’s own horses and the royal crown, and instruct one of the most noble princes to robe the man and lead him through the streets on the king’s own horse, shouting before him, ‘This is the way the king honors those who please him.’”  Ahasuerus said, “Excellent.  Go get Mordecai, and I want you to do everything for him that you have just said.” Haman did as he was instructed and went home humiliated and perplexed.  As he was telling his wife and friends what had happened, the king’s messenger arrived to escort him to Esther’s banquet.  During dinner Ahasuerus again asked Esther what she wanted.  The noble queen asked only that her life and the life of her people be spared from destruction.
The king asked who would dare touch her or lay hands upon her people.  Esther pointed to Haman and identified him as the enemy of her people.  The king was so furious and upset that he left the hall in haste to collect his emotions, while Haman threw himself at Esther’s feet to plead for mercy.  He who had so arrogantly planned the destruction of a whole race of people to settle a personal grudge had the nerve to beg for mercy.  He who used his power and position not for good, but for evil, begged for mercy.  He who wanted to kill the uncle whom Esther loved as a father begged for mercy.  He who lied and schemed begged for mercy.
Just as the king was returning, Haman fell in despair upon the couch where Queen Esther was reclining.  King Ahasuerus thought that Haman was making advances toward the queen, and Haman’s face was immediately covered with a death veil as an indication of his doom.  Harbona, one of the king’s aides, told the king that Haman had just built a seventy-five-foot gallows from which he had planned to hang that same Mordecai who had saved the king’s life from assassins.  Ahasuerus ordered that Haman be hung in his own courtyard from the very gallows that he had ordered built for someone else.  Thus Haman hung from his own gallows . . . he hung in his own trap . . . he hung in his own pettiness . . . he hung in his own greed . . . he hung in his own ego . . . he hung in his own vindictiveness . . . he hung in his own half truths . . . he hung through his own scheming.
Haman thought he was smart . . . but he was not smart after all.  Haman could have been a great man, but he let a little thing like Mordecai’s refusal to bow prevent him from enjoying the honor and glory he received from others.  We’re not smart when we allow little things to steal our joy and prevent us from enjoying the blessings of life.  He could have used his power for good . . . but Haman chose to use his power to fight his own personal battles.  Whenever we use great power and great opportunities for little purposes and selfish ends . . . we’re not smart.  When we don’t care who we hurt as long as our ego is satisfied . . . we’re not smart.  Whenever we set a trap for somebody else . . . we’re not smart, because those traps might trap us in the long run.  Whenever we plan evil for somebody else . . . we’re not smart, because that same evil will come back to us.
Don’t be dumb like Haman . . . be smart like Mordecai and Esther, who knew that the Lord would make a way somehow.  Mordecai didn’t know how or when, where or through whom . . . but he knew that the Lord would raise a deliverer from somewhere.  He knew enough of his people’s history to know that whenever they were oppressed . . . God raised a deliverer.  When they were oppressed in Egypt, God raised up Moses . . . and after Moses, Joshua . . . and after Joshua, Gideon . . . and after Gideon, Samson . . . and after Samson, Deborah.  When they needed prophets . . . God gave them Samuel and Elijah.  When they needed kings to break Philistine oppression . . . God gave them Saul and David.  Mordecai just didn’t believe that God had brought them that far to leave them.  Be smart like Esther . . . who understood that God had placed her where she was . . . not for self . . . but for service . . . for such a time as that.  Be smart like Mordecai and Esther who didn’t have to lay a hand on their enemy.  Instead they prayed and fasted.  For the power of prayer is stronger than any plot conjured up by evil men or women.

The Qualities of Survival
By Charlie Plumb
Several years ago I found myself a long way from home in a small prison cell. As a prisoner of war, I was tortured, humiliated, starved and left to languish in squalor for six years.
It's important that you get a vivid mental picture of this scene. Try your best to smell the stench in the bucket I called my toilet and taste the salt in the corners of my mouth from my sweat, my tears and my blood. Feel the baking tropical heat in a tin-roofed prison cell - not that you'll ever be a POW.
If I am effective in these few moments we spend together, you'll see that the same kind of challenges you face as a teenager, a student, a leader, or a parent, are the same basic challenges I faced in a prison cell: feelings of fear, loneliness, failure and a breakdown of communication. More importantly, your response to those challenges will be the same response I had to have in the prison camp just to survive.
What qualities do you have within you that would allow you to survive in a prison camp? Please pause here, think about this question, and write in the margin of this page at least five different qualities necessary for survival. (If you've written faith, commitment or dedication, you've already broken the code.)
As I worked my way through the first several months and then years of imprisonment, I found I already had a foundation of survival tools learned in life from my parents, preachers, youth leaders, and teachers. And the lifesaving techniques I used in that prison camp had more to do with my value system, integrity and religious faith than anything I had learned from a textbook.
Sound like your life? The adversities you face in your life can be just as debilitating to you as six years in a Communist prison camp could have been to me. Now here's the test: The next time you have a huge problem facing you, turn back to this page and read not my writing but your writing in the margin. You'll find that the same factors you've written here, which would serve you well in a prison camp, will serve you even better in the challenge of everyday life.
 :salut:

COMMUNION ON THE MOON
by Bill Carrel
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon in the Apollo 11 space mission.  Michael Collins third member of the group, was in charge of the command module, essential for their return to earth, which circled the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin landed.  The moon lander touched down at 3:17 Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, July 20, 1969.
Aldrin had brought with him a tiny communion kit, given him by his church, that had a silver chalice and wine vial about the size of the tip of his finger. 
During the morning he radioed, “Houston, this is Eagle.  This is the LM pilot speaking.  I would like to request a few moments of silence.  I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”
“In the radio blackout,” he wrote later, “I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine.  I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me.  In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup.  Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.  Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.’  I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this.  NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas.  I agreed reluctantly . . .”
“Eagle’s metal body creaked.  I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine.  I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquillity. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”

In 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day “of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.”  Here is the text of Lincoln’s proclamation:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven.  We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity.  We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown.  But we have forgotten God.  We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.  Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us!  It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

-- April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer

1 Samuel 25
Facing Weaknesses in Those We Love

None of us is perfect . . . all of us at some time or another must come to grips with imperfections and weaknesses in those whom we love.  The experience of discovering imperfections in the rose that looked so perfect from afar can be disconcerting and discouraging . . . until we realize that when we get close enough to see the imperfections and weaknesses of others they can also see the imperfections and weaknesses in us.  Because our eyes only focus outward and not inward, however, we cannot see ourselves as others see us . . . we can only see others through our own eyes.  So how do we handle the imperfections and weaknesses we see in those we love?  The story of Abigail can give us some insight in answering this question.

The incident in 1 Samuel occurred during that period in David’s life when he was roaming the countryside as an outlaw because an insecure and paranoid King Saul had become threatened by David’s youth, skills, and popularity and had tried to kill him.  David gathered a few men and fled for his life.  During his wanderings David and his men had come across some herdsmen who worked for a very wealthy individual whose name was Nabal.  David and his men had been very kind to Nabal’s herdsmen, providing them protection and doing whatever they could to assist them.  During the sheepshearing season, David requested that Nabal give him and his men some food and supplies.  David did not make a specific request regarding the amount, but was content to receive whatever Nabal had on hand.  David’s request would not have been a hardship for Nabal . . . since the sheepshearing season was a time of feasting and celebration.  Instead of showing gratitude for the kindness that David and his men had provided for him . . . Nabal answered David’s messengers harshly and curtly.  He said: “Who is David?  Who is the son of Jesse?  There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters.  Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” (1 Samuel 25:10-11).  When David received Nabal’s reply, he and four hundred armed men prepared to march against Nabal's household.
   
One Of Nabal’s servants went to Abigail, however, and told her how well they had been treated by David and his men and how rudely Nabal had been to David’s messengers . . .  and that he feared what might befall as a result of his master’s insult.  When Abigail heard of the incident, she immediately took steps to alleviate David’s wrath.  The Bible tells us that she took “two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs” (v. 18).  Saying nothing to Nabal, she sent two young men ahead of her and set out to meet David.  As he was marching to Nabal’s estate, David was saying to himself, “Surely it was in vain have I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good.  God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him” (vv. 21-22).  It was at this moment that Abigail met David with her gift of generosity. 

Let me just observe that so often just at the moment when it seems as if our correct living and doing the right thing seem to be for naught . . . someone comes to us and lets us know that our good deeds have not been in vain.  God has a way of encouraging us at just the right moment . . . just in the nick of time when we are about to give up, so that we will not grow weary in doing right . . . but understand that in due season we shall reap if we do not faint. 

What we can discover are things that Abigail did not do.
First . . . she did not deny that her husband had a problem and that he was a problem. 
Many of us still deny the weaknesses in those we love.  Many of us are still trying to pretend that those we love are not as bad off as they are.  We seem to feel that love requires us to protect and defend those we love . . . even when they are wrong.  But right is right and wrong is wrong and truth is truth.  If your loved ones lied . . . they are wrong.  If they started the fight . . . if they are mean and self-centered . . . if they are drunk . . . addicted . . . if they are lazy or greedy . . . if they have a gambling or a philandering problem . . . they are wrong and you do not need to feel obligated by love and loyalty to uphold them in their wrongdoing.  Before you get in a huff and curse out somebody about your child . . . you had better be sure that your child is not in the wrong.  Before you jump to somebody’s defense and go to war because of what somebody said about your companion, relative, or friend . . . be sure that your loved one is not in the wrong.  It’s never right to uphold wrong . . . even if it is for someone you love.  We do not prove our love by making excuses for people who are wrong.  Our excuse-making, denial, and protection does not alter the truth that our loved ones are wrong.  Our excuses, denials, and attempted cover-ups only make matters worse, not better.  We only confirm and encourage our loved ones to stay the way they are until what is ‘wrong’ gets out of hand.  When you see someone whose problem has gotten out of hand, keep in mind it didn’t get that way overnight and without someone’s help with some covering up and excuse-making.  To fix weaknesses in those we love we must first face them and admit that they have a problem.

Second, Abigail did not assume guilt or responsibility for her husband’s weakness.  Sometimes we believe that if we do the right thing, then others will be touched by our goodness and turn from their wicked ways.  And when they don’t, then we feel guilty because we feel that there is something lacking in our life and love.  If we loved a little more, bent over backwards a little more, perhaps they might change.  Perhaps they will, but perhaps they won’t.
We do the right thing first for our own self and soul’s salvation . . . for we have to die and meet God for ourselves.  Then we hope to help others see the light.  And sometimes they will, but if they don’t . . . we cannot assume responsibility and feel guilty because they don’t respond to our good example.  I’ve said it over and over again . . . people make their own decisions about whom they will serve and the kind of life they choose to live.  You cannot assume guilt for somebody else's responsibility.  You have enough problems of your own to carry . . . don’t add guilt for what isn’t your fault to your load.
And neither can you allow someone to tell you that you are guilty: “I wouldn’t be like this if you were a better parent or a better husband or wife or lover or friend or provider.”  We have to tell people, “You are what you are because you choose to be that way.”  Abigail did not deny that her loved one had a problem.  Abigail did not assume guilt for Nabal’s character.

Third, Abigail did not allow her loved one to destroy her.  The Bible describes her as intelligent and beautiful.  She didn’t let Nabal worry her into an early grave, or cause her to become old, shriveled up, and wrinkled before her time.  She didn’t go off and sit in a comer and neglect her brains and vitality because of his problem.  She didn’t act dumb or try to hide her beauty because of his insecurities.  She didn’t let herself go to pieces or her body go to pot because she lived in a difficult situation.  She didn’t become bitter and mean because she was in a bitter and mean situation or because she was with somebody who was bitter and mean.  She was intelligent and beautiful when she met Nabal.  She was intelligent and beautiful when she married him.  And when he died, she was still intelligent and beautiful.  Instead of letting Nabal destroy her, Abigail continued to develop.
Don’t you dare allow your loved ones to destroy you.  Don’t you dare give the devil the satisfaction and joy of knowing that he has stolen your joy, defeated you, and gotten the victory over you.  I know sometimes that your heart is broken . . . but don’t let heartbreak destroy you.  I know somebody who specializes in mending broken hearts.  I know sometimes that you have more problems than you can handle.  But don’t let your problems destroy you.  I know somebody who is a problem solver.  I know that sometimes your mind is so confused that you don't know which way to turn.  Don’t let your confused mind destroy you . . . Jesus is a mind regulator.

You continue to develop.  If others act ignorant . . . you remain intelligent.  If others act crazy . . . you continue to act cultured.  If others are wasteful . . . you continue to show wisdom.  If others go backward . . . you continue to go forward.  If others go to hell . . . you press on toward heaven.

Freckles (author unknown)
An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.
“You’ve got so many freckles, there’s no place to paint!” a girl in the line said to the little fella.  Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.
His grandmother knelt down next to him.
“I love your freckles.  When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, while tracing her finger across the child’s cheek.
“Freckles are beautiful.” 
The boy looked up, “Really?”
“Of course,” said the grandmother.
“Why, just name me one thing that’s prettier than freckles.”
The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma’s face, and softly whispered, “Wrinkles.”

Here is a little journey into our days:
It is quiet in the early morning -- the sky is still black.  The world is still asleep.  The day is coming.
In a few moments the day will arrive.  It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun.  The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day.  The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding race of the human race.  The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made.
It is now that we must make a choice.  Because of Calvary, we say I'm free to choose.  And so I choose.
I choose love . . . no occasion justifies hatred . . . no injustice warrants bitterness.  I choose love.  Today I will love God and what God loves.
I choose joy . . . I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.   I will refuse the temptation to be cynical . . . the tool of the lazy thinker.  I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God.  I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.    
I choose peace . . . I will live forgiven.  I will forgive so that I may live. 
I choose patience . . . I will overlook the inconveniences of the world.  Instead of cursing the ones who takes my place, I'll invite them to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at how my life is, I will face each day with joy and courage.
I choose kindness  . . . I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid.  And kind to the unkind, such is how God has treated me.
I choose goodness  . . . I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one.  I will be overlooked before I will boast.  I will confess before I will accuse. 
I choose faithfulness . . . today I will keep my promises.  My debtors will not regret their trust.  My friends will not question my word.  My family will not question my love. 
I choose gentleness . . . nothing is won by force.  If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.  If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.  If I make a demand, may it be only of myself. 
I choose self-control  . . . I am a spiritual being.  After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.  I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.  I will be impassioned only by my faith.  I will be influenced only by God.  I will be taught only by Christ.
 
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control -- to these I commit my day.  If I succeed, I will give thanks.  If I fail, I will seek grace.  And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

Everyday we get to choose -- choose well, for our God is honorable and He will honor our choices.  It isn't about money or things, what others do or don't do, it is about us and what choices we make.  And that my friends is our victory.

   Some years ago a young lady, the wife of a missionary, told a hushed congregation about the way she had robbed her employer of thousands of dollars of merchandise while she was a student in Bible school.  She had admitted her sin, sought his forgiveness, learned to paint so effectively that her earnings from painting paid off the debt and led her employer to Christ.  When someone asked how she could be so open about her past, she threw her arms wide and with a great smile said, “When all is forgiven, there is nothing to hide, and where there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear.”   This woman had the assurance of God’s love.  The assurance of God’s love   . . . how desperately we need that.  Do you know the greatest theology lesson of all time . . .
         Jesus loves me, this I know,
         For the Bible tells me so;
         Little ones to him belong,
         They are weak but he is strong.
         Yes, Jesus loves me!  Yes, Jesus loves me!
         Yes, Jesus loves me!  The Bible tells me so.

   Why was this the first song so many of us were taught?  Because it is simple?  Surely, that is part of the answer.  But there's more to it than that  . . . we teach the song of Jesus’ love to young children because its promises are so important.  The understanding that Jesus loves me is basic to what each Christian must believe.  We teach this truth because we know the reality of Christ's love must be planted deep into the very fiber of each maturing believer. 

Sister

I cannot even express how much your words have meant to me in the last few days.
Your words have consoled me. Your words are so uncanny as if you can actually feel whats in my head. Putting this into prospective - will take a paragraph or so. What I really would love to hear your opinion on.

When I was a little girl, as far back as I can recall. Actually I do have memories of being 2 and 3 yrs old. Both My Parents have said to me " There is no way you could remember that" But I do.  I would say something of a memory -  and they would say in astonishment HOW can you remember that, knowing it was true. You were 2 or 3. Because we moved around so much in my childhood. My memories were measured by that time. I am sure that make sense.
Anyway going back to my point.  When I was a child I lived two lives. I lived with my Parents and every summer I lived with my Grandparents. My life with parents was every day "school/life/doing what you do" and every summer my brother and I were sent to live with my Grandparents. My Grandparents owned operated a General Store. My Grandpa built the store himself and it was fully operational. It was very small yet had everything from fresh dairy, meat and veggies - to can goods, Beer and Wine. My Grandma ran the store, she was not only the boss, She was the butcher and head cashier/Accountant and clean up crew. She was everything because this Store was her Life. She worked from 6am - 10pm -7days a week - every day of the year.  One day of the year would she close the store and that was 1/2 a day - Thanksgiving. She would close the store at 1:00. Because that was HER Holiday that she represented and was the Cook for the family. Omg do I miss her Thanksgivings. I started working as soon as I could pick up a duster. So I was in the store at the age of 4 on up. By the time I was 7/8 years old " I was doing inventory and making stock lists mentally" - My Grandma would take us to the wholesale markets for canned goods etc and she would actually rely on Me or my Brother - What do we need? - It was serious business - she didn't play. You put up or shut up. She was never mean though. All the years of mix in between two lives I know has made me a better person. When I turned 12 your brain is not in sync with everything - Being 12 is what it is. But that Summer I went to work for my Grandma and she was just not herself. She had a cold for months. She I had never seen sick in all my life. Never ever. Not even a headache. Well My Granpa was worried about her one night, it was the end of summer. She was having issues breathing. So he took her to ER. They said she had walking pneumonia. She had fluid in her lungs and they drained her lungs. OMG. Well two days later the Hospital called and said they wanted to do more tests. They did. And within One week, my Grandma went from walking pneumonia to a diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer.
All of Us were devastated beyond words. Was a crushing blow to our family. She would not except it. She said No. I am Fine. Her health deteriorated very quickly to the point she could not work in the store any longer. She was put in the Hospital. My Grandpa and Dad hated each others guts - from the day my Dad met my Mother. My Grandpa never trusted nor had one thought of I welcome you ever. They both though had one thing in common. My Grandmother. My Dad Loved HER more so I think than his own Mother. My Dad was a Corpsman in Korea and once was a RN. He had the medical knowledge and 100 percent drive to take my Grandmother back to her house. He knew how to administer injections. Change an IV line or administer a IV. My Grandpa allowed it - Because it was my Grandma's request - I want to go Home. The Doc's said there was nothing to be done but to give her Morphine. She was inoperable. A hospital bed was put in the house and my Dad took care of her - 24/7. No matter what.  All of us were at her side 24/7 - No matter what she needed. I watched her go from 150lbs to 80lbs ..silent. My Brother though Sister - HE was not there. He chose to stay at my parents home. He was 14 and he stayed at my parents house all by himself for over a month. He went to school everyday. He fed himself. He would not come to my Grandma's house.  My Mom would go and check up on him and come back to my Grandparents. My Brother was extremely close to my Grandmother. She and he were like cosmic twins. She was Everything to Him. He was everything to her. He though never saw her in pain, he never was witness of her with cancer.  He at home built a train with track - a full scale model of a small city. He painted each tree and human being that stood on the ground. He painted all the buildings each in intricate fashion. That is what he did to keep him busy while he knew my Grandma was dying. He never saw her until her funeral. He was never able to say I love you or Goodbye. He did not cry at her funeral.  Bringing it up to present date.
My Father and my Brother have not had a relationship in over 16 yrs. They had not spoken in the last 14 years. Not even seen each other in passing. Nothing at all. No voice heard nothing. NO contact. Last year my Father passed away.  I was and have been always my Dad's baby. He and I had our falling outs through the years. But we always came back to each other.  For the last 3 yrs my Dad and I were inseparable. We talked Every day on the phone. Emailed each other. My parents divorced many years ago - I was 34. So the line was divided. My Mother and I have never gotten along, the divorce was a severing. She would say If you talk to your Dad your basically stabbing me in the back ..yadda. I will never forgive you. My Brother however is my Mother's shadow. He is her Son. Within much more than I am not saying - I had not by choice spoken to my Mother in 2 yrs nor my Brother in many years by phone.

Last year, June, my Dad and I were talking daily etc and everything was normal. He My Dad never told me that he had health issues - ever. Never expressed anything. The many times I was at his apt, in the last few months, never saw any script bottles around nothing. No meds to give me thoughts that he had health problems. I did not know he was seeing 3 specialists for his Heart. He died  " Heart Attack"  He was found with the phone clutched in his hand under his body by the apt manager - his newspapers were stacking outside his door so neighbor called the mgr.   
I think this was My Dad telling me that he had passed .. I can't say for sure.
Was on June 10th, I was sleeping it was early morning and I was having this very vivid almost lucid dream ..I was dreaming of a Man with white hair, he was dressed in fine clothing and was sitting in a chair. Not a normal chair. But a chair made of Gold and it was filled with Gems. Was High Backed like a Chair for a King. The Man was surrounded by Beautiful Asian Women dressed in glorious Gowns. There were glistening like Butterfly's or Birds flying around.
He was so at Peace, not self righteous that these are my possessions around me - I am at total peace. It was warm and beautiful - I don't know how else to explain it. 
* I then woke up, and was thinking to myself .. Oh My that was such a dream. It stuck to me. I went down stairs. Let the dog out and fed the cats and was in the middle of making a pot of coffee. My phone rang and I saw on the caller ID it was my Mother. I did not answer it. I kept making my coffee. Well the answering machine kicked in. Her voice that I had not heard in almost 2 years. This is your Mother, I am calling to tell you your Dad Died and she hung up. At first I was like .... I heard that wrong. I didn't play it back. I finished making my coffee and mins later my Daughter called me. I answered and she was hysterical and then I dropped to my knees on my kitchen floor - trying to breath and keep myself intact for my child.  My Dad was gone.

My Brother refused to go to our Father's funeral. They had not spoken in over 13yrs.
A few days ago My Daughter called me and she said - YOU Mom need to help Uncle Mike.  I was taken aback. I listened and she said " Uncle Mike" thinks that Papa * My DAD *  is in his house. His spirit is visiting him at night. She said you know how Uncle Mike is - he does not believe in ghosts or anything of the sort. Well he truly believes that Papa is in his house.

She said that she about a month ago, had a visit from him herself. She said she was in a Dead sleep and she could smell my Father's tobacco and after shave - she said she woke up as if she was in a warm hug.  My Brother on the other hand has gone as far as visiting a psychic - because he thinks my Dad is trying to harm him. My Brother is having nightmares and fright-mares - waking up in hysteria that he is being killed within a war zone. Not War that is of Today. War of yesteryear. My Dad served in the Korean War, not as a soldier but as Medic. My Brother as well served as a Corpsman, yet not in Wartime. He never left the US. He served prior to Iraq.  My brother though thinks my Dad is putting his war memories into His head through dreams. My Daughter told me that Uncle Mike said to the Psychic,  Dad is living in my Sister's house and He visits me at night.  Well My Dad's ashes are in my living room. I told my Daughter if anything " IF" this is not Uncle Mikes manifestation of grief - that he never says Goodbye to the those he Loves while they pass over. It is a sign that he needs to " check himself". I said as well It could be that Papa is visiting him and sending him messages. I said though I don't believe for a minute it is out of malice.

Well that was a very long story Sister - but I had to offer you everything so you could " understand" all of it.  I have my Dad's Ashes yes in my house. He has a plot paid for by his Mother 1950's - family plot/spaces in a local cemetery.  The Burial fee and headstone fee was out of my range. I paid from my Dad's funeral by myself. No aid from my Brother.
I was so weirded out taking my Dad's ashes from the funeral home. I let him ride around in my car for two days. We went to Home Depot, the pet supply store, grocery market..till I was comfortable to pick him up and bring him in my house.  I think its ME holding him " My Dad" I think I am the reason why he is still here. I don't feel anything strange, or other - I feel protection.  That is the other thing - my Brother claims his Dogs can feel my Dad's presence. That they stare at a certain place in his living room and bark as if there is someone there-same place and time - and it never changes.  My Dad has never physically in life been to my Brothers home. He was never invited.

Now as it is today - I don't think I want my Dad's ashes to be placed anywhere. I like him here with me.  One day if I ever go to the Ocean maybe I will consider passing his ashes along. That day will be .......who knows. 
Wanting your opinion on all of this. What is your thoughts.  I saw your posts here. My Dad was very strong in his beliefs. He had full belief in Jesus as his Savior and full belief in God.  He read and had every book on religion ever wrote. Even books on religions he did not believe in. He would always say - How can you judge someone else on their belief's if you do not understand them? How can you stand as self " without comparison " Knowledge is all powerful.
When I went to my Dad's Apt, which was brutally hard for me, He had been passed for 3 days when he was found by a neighbor - I went in on the 4th day - with Vicks under my nose. Oh lord. I went into his personal space. In his private bathroom he had taped to the mirror -

The Jabez Prayer hand written by him many years ago. I have it here with me. I am staring at it. It is so beaten and yellowed and torn up - but it is his handwriting.  I keep it with me.
Not sure if I can read it - its a bit worn.
  The Jabez Prayer is written title
 hand written by my Father
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying " Oh that you would bless me indeed" " and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, And that you would keep me from evil, That I may not cause pain! So God granted him his request.
I chronicles 4:10 ( NKJV)

I would love your feelings on all that I have written. Do you believe Sister that someone Alive can Love another who has passed so much that they can hold them " here" ?
Or do you believe that spirits can transcend themselves between Heaven and mortal.
I believe in Angel Nudges and Angel guides. I think I have had an Angel Guide for my entire life - I don't know who it is though. Someone who passed when I was very young or from even before I was born.

I don't know how to explain it, I know I have an Angel. 
I await for your reply. (( Thank you for reading my Reader's Digest ))
K aka Deenie.



 

 
     

I did not see this before Sister - My Dad was a POW in Korea.  He was tortured like this man. He never spoke of it. He kept it inside. He has told me somethings. He was very vocal about being in Korea when he was drinking. Memories most I wish I could erase, but then if he never had told me .. I would not have had the understanding of him as I learned becoming an adult. When he was finally " Honorably Discharged from the Navy"  he went to seek help from the VA. No room at the Inn. We can though stick you in another State, in a inner city Mental Hospital. He dove right back into Corpsman Mode which was his only defense to survive in this Hospital - His stay in inner city Chicago Mental Ward - for PTSD... um I get angry when I think about it. He was not aided at all. He was tortured all over again. Never once did he ever recover. He just attempted to create a new normal for himself. Sigh.  Sacrifices made by our Men/Women who serve in War ..and come home .. so Sorry we can't help You - But Thank You for protecting our FREEDOM. I will stop here. 

The secret to Warren Buffetts success.. His own words.

"The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean, you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it — it’s not uncritical love; that’s a different animal — but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being."

Warren Buffett

Edward, thank you for sharing.  How true, true, true.  Unconditional love -- to know you can always come back . . .

I like Sister's writings. Keep doing this, please.

Thank you.  I love to share -- I need to do more of it, just needed a little encouragement.   
::HelloKitty::

Please keep writing and sharing with us Sister.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Thank you dear Muffy -- will do, I promise.

The Secret of Our Power to Love
Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit.
Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing.
Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before."
Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love."
The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?"
"Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ."
The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?"
Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything."

G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations For Preaching And Teaching, p. 225.

Judges 14:5-14: Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah.  When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him.  The spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart bareheaded as one might tear apart a kid.  But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.  Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.  After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.  He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went.  When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it.  But he did not tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.  
His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do.  When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.  Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you.  If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.  But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.”  So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.”  He said to them, “Out of, the eater came something to eat.  Out of the strong came something sweet.”  But for three days they could not explain the riddle.
   

Many centuries ago, a young man constructed a riddle for his own enjoyment and for the mystifying of some new companions.  I’ve come to feel that his riddle is itself a surprising answer to one of our most frustrating human riddles.
His name was Samson, and he wasn’t the kind of person you would expect to provide material for philosophical discussions.   We remember him mainly for his legendary strength . . . and also, come to think of it, for his equally legendary weakness.  His ability to dismember small armies with his bare hands or with nothing more than the jawbone of an ass has made his name synonymous with physical strength.  But his inability to restrain his interest in women has left him, as well, with a reputation as a person who was shorn of his strength – literally had his strength cut off.
But that’s another story.  I’m thinking just now of a day when Samson set out to court a young woman in a distant community.  As he traveled through the wild, rugged area, he encountered a young lion.  With his phenomenal strength, “he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid” (Judges 14:6).
Some time later he was traveling the same road, and he came upon the carcass of the lion.  But now he found that a swarm of bees had taken residence there.  In that barren area, where there were very few hollow trees, wild bees often established colonies in the carcass of an animal; the tough, dry hide provided a perfect home.
So the carcass was now rich with honey.  Samson scooped out a generous supply and went on his way, eating as he went.  He even gave some to his parents, although he didn’t tell them its source.  Perhaps he thought their tastes might be more delicate than his!
Then it was time for his wedding.  In those days and in that culture, one of the amusements in the course of a wedding celebration was for a groom to test his fellows with a riddle.  And of course some wagers were involved.  Samson drew on his own recent experience, and presented this riddle:
Out of the eater came something to eat.  Out of the strong came something sweet. (Judges 14:14)
The men in the bridal party weren’t able to come up with the answer.  Not, at least, until they got it from the bride.  But that, too, is another story.  Our interest just now is in the parable that is hidden in Samson’s story.  He found nourishment . . . life . . . in that which had threatened to take life from him.  The lion was by nature an eater, but out of his carcass came something to eat.  Samson found sweetness in what might have been his destruction.  He found honey in the lion.
Blessed are those who learn that there is honey in the lion!  Let there be no question about it . . . on our human journey we’re sure to encounter any number of lions.  Not the kind of wild beast Samson met, but nonetheless fierce.  Indeed, its possible that Samson’s lion would be easier to deal with . . . or at least run from! . . . than the lions you and I have to meet.
Some of life’s lions are capable of destroying us . . . others sharply maul and maim us, leaving us marked for the rest of life.  Some lions challenge the whole populace . . . like war and economic depression.  Those who live in especially rugged places have to meet the lions of violence, poverty, and constant rejection.  Those who live with such dangers no doubt envy others, not knowing that the outwardly comfortable and self-possessed usually have their own lions . . . social pressure, job pressure, nerves, tension, and the menace of superficiality.  And every one of us . . . whatever road we travel . . . has to meet such terrors as sickness, bereavement, death, disappointment, disillusionment.  Every human being, whatever his or her road of life, must face some lions . . . do you have any lions facing you?
Some, faced by their lion, simply give up.  “Why me?” they ask or “Why must life be like this?” Others become bitter.  They clench a fist at life, and take on the nature of the lion itself, turning to prey upon and devour others, just as they have been preyed upon and attacked.  “Life’s tough,” they say, and only the tough survive.  Get the other guy before he gets you.  In world which has its lions, they add to its ravenous, destructive quality.
But others discover the secret of Samson’s riddle.  In the eater, they find something to eat.  In the strong, they find something sweet.  They find honey in the lion.
Believe me, there is always honey in the lion, if only we will look for it . . .  if only we will demand it . . .if only we will contend for it . . . if only we will love it!  Here is one of the most astonishing, unexpected, and miraculous facts of the life we know . . .  we can harvest good out of the destruction and brutality of our experiences.  I don’t want to overstate the case, yet I must speak a strong word . . . sometimes the honey in the lion is the very best, the very sweetest, that life will ever offer.  
Consider what most people would agree is the worst of the lions, at least among those lions which involve much of the human race . . . war.  In a sense, nothing good can be said for war . . . it is a roaring, bestial, destructive thing, reckless of life and scornful of pain.  Yet there was honey in World War II.  Scientists confess that we made greater progress in the development of medicine during those years than would have happened in a whole generation of peace, especially in the development of antibiotics, especially penicillin.  Havelock Ellis, the British author and psychologist, said that there is nothing war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it.  Theoretically, yes . . . but the hard facts show otherwise.  The war made rapid medical progress absolutely essential, and progress we did.     And consider poverty.  The sidewalk philosopher might say, “I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor, and I call tell you that I’d rather be rich.”  Well, I’ve never been rich, but I’ve been poor and I’ve also been comfortable . . . and, yes, I prefer being comfortable.  But I’m thankful for the years of poverty, in my growing up time.  It was during this time I realized something wonderful -- the greatest influences on my life were and are my faith in God, and my parents . . . and growing up poor.  It was here that I learned to read with a passion . . . a pastime which has allowed me to travel the world over, in my mind . . .  a passion that has allowed me pick-up the Holy Word and stand beside the bentover woman and feel her pain, and lift my eyes, as she did, and look into the face of Jesus.  Yes, I have many painful memories of those years . . . but far more good memories.  I recall so many fine people and I recall enjoying the simple pleasures in life -- one not bound by having a television, VCR, telephone, stereo, computer, video games in my own bedroom -- I didn’t even have my own room.  I don’t want anyone to be poor, yet I wish that, in the midst of more comfortable living, we could still get some of the special beauties that I found in poverty.
History has so many dramatic stories of individuals who have found honey in the lion.  The name of Demosthenes (di-’mas-thee-nez) is almost synonymous with oratory.  But Demosthenes had to wrestle with a lion.  He had grand thoughts and phrases, but he also had a harsh voice, weak lungs, and an awkward manner.  What a tragedy to have music in your soul and the hunger to share it with others, but to have a demon in your manner which would make people snicker when you try to share the beauty you feel!  But Demosthenes recited as he climbed steep hills . . . he practiced speaking with pebbles in his mouth in order to build clarity of speech . . . and he spoke against the roar of the ocean to strengthen his vocal powers.  I’m sure, as one professor has said, that a good college advisory system would never have allowed Demosthenes to major in public address.  But Demosthenes became the historic symbol of oratory.  He found honey in his lion.  
We frequently say I can’t do this thing or that . . . but is it really true . . . or do we just walk away from the lion’s of our life . . . or let them devour us?
You know John Milton’s story.  Blind at middle age, he struggled with despair . . .  yet he took solace in his faith.  And in the years that followed, in his darkness, Milton wrote his greatest works, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.  Likewise, John Bunyan wrote literature’s most notable allegory, Pilgrims Progress, not in the comfort of a scholar’s study but in a prison cell.  Beethoven envisioned a career as a concert pianist, but his growing deafness drove him into composition.  Most of his greatest works were composed as his hearing failed, and his immortal Ninth Symphony when he was totally deaf.   There’s not a high school athletic coach with a decade of experience who can’t tell some story of honey in a lion.  One such story, is now legendary.  When Glenn Cunnningham was eight years old, he was burned so badly in a schoolhouse fire that his doctor said he would never walk again.  But somehow Glenn found the honey of courage and determination in his soul, until he was the prince of American track.  I wonder if Cunningham, without his boyhood tragedy, would ever have been more than just an average athlete?
Each time someone polls the American people to name their favorite hymns, George Bennard’s “The Old Rugged Cross” is somewhere in the top half-dozen.  Books of hymn stories report only that it was written at a time of trial in Bennard’s life; he chose never to discuss the details publicly.  But I have discovered, respecting his desire for privacy, that the operative word in the song was “shame.” The song came to him at a time when he thought his life and ministry were destroyed.  A lion of shame threatened to consume Bennard; instead he found . . . and gave us . . . honey.
But it’s altogether possible that you don’t need to rely on a list of examples from history and biography, because you have lived with the lion yourself, and you have found the cache of honey.  A good many of us remember some stunning defeat that looked at first like the end of all dreams, but that proved instead to be the beginning of a whole new kind of victory.  Others of you remember when sickness threatened everything you cherished, but when it was done . . . you had found God in a measure you never thought possible.   One day I visited with a man who has just passed through weeks of personal humiliation.  “It gave me compassion,” he said, “and it carried off a huge store of self-righteousness!”  
But don’t think I’m simply urging you to be strong in the face of adversity.  There’s a limit to this business of a stiff upper lip, gritting your teeth, taking hold of your bootstraps, and fighting it out.  If that was all I was saying, I would perhaps be speaking a noble word, but not a truly hopeful one.  I want you to know . . . that God is the crucial factor in what I want to leave with you.  High resolves and sheer determination are not really enough . . . they may leave you a hard, unsympathetic person . . . no winner at all.
As a matter of fact, sometimes our strength gets in the way of our getting the real honey from the lion.  The apostle Paul was plagued by something he calls a “thorn in the flesh.”  Whatever it was (no one will ever on this earth know for sure), he asked God three times that it might be taken from him.  Each time, God answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Paul concludes that he will “boast all the more gladly” of his weaknesses, because it is through them that the power of Christ is revealed in his life.  This may well be the greatest victory of all, to find honey in the lion of our weakness.
I believe that there is always honey in the lion.  We can always find something to eat in the eater, a sweetness in tragedy.  Nature itself seems to dramatize it, as we derive chemicals from ashes, fertilizer from rot and refuse, healing miracles from mold.  It is as if God were the ultimate economist, insisting that everything in our universe will eventually . . . if we will let it . . . produce good.  When we pursue honey in the lion, life is on our side, faith is on our side, God is on our side.
But we must go after it.  As surely as Samson had to struggle with the lion, (and remember the spirit of God was with him) --  then reach into the destroyer and get his honey, just so certainly you and I will have to go after the honey of life.  It won’t force itself on us.  If we choose to run from the struggle, or if we allow ourselves to be absorbed with the ghastliness of the slain lion . . . we will never get the honey that can be ours.  Some people are so taken with self-pity that they never get near the potential of beauty.  Neither God nor life will make us take the honey . . . it is there for the person who will say, “I believe that in everything, God works for my good.  Therefore I will encounter my sickness, my disappointment, my present defeat, with faith.  There is honey in this lion, and I mean someday to have it.”  
I cannot help being an optimist about life, because I believe in God.  I don’t ask, nor do I expect, that I should escape from life’s issues . . . I realize that sickness, death, disappointment, and a variety of other problems meet us all . . . at one time or another.  But I am convinced to the core of my being that the lion does not need to be a destroyer.  All of life’s lions can be a source of honey . . . if we will make it so.  Don’t ask for trouble, of course.  Common sense tells us to avoid any pain that isn’t necessary, and human compassion tells us to do all we can to save others from suffering.  But if trouble comes . . . no . . . when it comes . . . grasp your lion firmly, and calling – as Samson did –on the Spirit of God, crush defeat in your hands.
Then say to yourself, and say in hope and thanksgiving to God, “Someday I will pass by this place, and I will look again upon this carcass of destruction, this vileness that I wish had never come into my life.  And even if it doesn’t seem possible now, I know that I will find in the frame of this destroyer a store of honey.  There will be something to eat in the eater, and from the strong I will draw something sweet.”  
That’s what I know about life’s riddle. By God’s help, I will find honey in the lion.

self edit:  barehanded

Exodus 4:18-20

At this point in his life the last thing on Moses’ mind, the last thing he ever expected to do, was to go back to Egypt.  After all, Moses had run away from Egypt, and when you run away from something, you have no intention of returning.  You may move away temporarily, but when you run away, you run away for good.  Why did Moses run away from Egypt to begin with when he had everything going for him there?  According to Exodus 2:11-15, Moses had killed an Egyptian whom he had seen oppressing a Hebrew.  After his crime Moses hid the body in the sand, assuming that no one had seen him.  The next day, Moses saw two Hebrews fighting with each other and asked the one who was in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?”  The man answered him with a question that pierced Moses’ heart.  He said, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?  Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known” (Exodus 2:14).  The Scriptures further tell us that “when Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.”  Moses ran away because he was a fugitive from justice. 
We can run away for a number of reasons.  We can be a fugitive because of one or more of the five D’s . . . depression, disappointment, demons, defeat, or defiance . . . or one of the four P's-pressure, people, problems, or prospects; or one or more of the three F’s . . . failure, fear or fantasy (the grass always looks greener) . . . or one of the two M’s . . . mistakes and messes . . . or the one big O . . . ourselves.
One of the enduring lessons of the movie The Lion King, however, is that you cannot run away from who you are.  When you run from job to job . . . church to church . . . and relationship to relationship . . . and have the same problem . . . maybe the problem is the one who is doing the running.   Moses physically ran away.  We may physically try to put some distance or space between ourselves and the source of our irritation.  Or we may run away mentally by refusing to face reality or address the situation.  We make all kinds of excuses and give all kinds of reasons and tell ourselves all kinds if lies . . . so that we don’t have to deal with the situation. We believe that if we can mentally dismiss a situation, then it will go away.
We can run away emotionally . . . particularly when we feel physically bound.  We tell our heart not to feel . . . we try to enclose our feelings in a freezer pack of apathy and tell ourselves that we don’t care.  At least, if we can protect our feelings and vulnerabilities . . . we can put up with what we must without losing our minds and all of our integrity.  We then build a world of fantasy to keep our suppressed feelings from being forever stifled.
Some of us run away by becoming workaholics.  Others of us do it by becoming overachievers . . . to compensate for our insecurity.  Others of us become underachievers . . . because certain things are expected of us.  Others become book-aholics . . . perpetual students always pursuing another career or degree without settling down in any one job or career to apply anything we’ve learned  . . . because that means responsibility.  Others of us run away by becoming codependent or emotionally dependent upon others.  Others of us run away by becoming blame-aholics . . . blaming everything that’s wrong with us or not right in our lives on somebody else.  Some of us run away by becoming misery-aholics . . . have you ever met people who are not happy unless they are miserable?  Some of us run away by becoming super religious or spiritual-aholics.  Whenever I see people who are holier than thou, who condemn everything they don’t like to do . . . or can’t do, and who have no sense of humor, I wonder what they are trying to hide or cover up or run away from.  Some of us believe that if we have a problem . . . we can shout it out.  Problems cannot be shouted out . . . they have to be addressed and solved.  The emotional release might be therapeutic for us and that’s all right as long as we don’t expect the problem to go away because we have had a good time in church.  A good time in church and an emotional release or the anointing of the spirit do not take away problems . . . but refresh you, free you, empower you, and prepare you to deal with your problems.
In the text, Moses had not only run away from Egypt . . . but had been away for forty years when God’s call came to him to go back.  After forty years, Moses thought that Egypt was out of his life forever.  But God’s call to Moses was the wake up call that Moses still had responsibilities in Egypt.  Moses still had a job to do in Egypt.  The people of God were still being oppressed in Egypt.  Taskmasters were still abusing slaves in Egypt.  Moses had struck a blow on behalf of one slave.  Now he was being charged with striking a blow for many.  Responsibilities do not go away simply because we move away and begin another lifestyle.  They do not disappear simply because we have a new love or other interests.  They do not necessarily fade with time.
If there is a baby in your past, if there is a child in your past, you have a responsibility for that life.  A new love, a new life, a new job, a new location, a newfound religion, does not absolve you of your responsibility.  If there is unfinished business in your life, you have a responsibility to take care of it.  For responsibility is like truth crushed to earth and planted in the soil . . . it comes up again.  Many people, like Moses, believe that certain things are gone from their lives forever . . . they ran away and got lost.  But further on up the road, what they ran away from, at a time and place that they least expected it, stood up and stared them in the face.
When God called Moses, Moses gave all kinds of excuses for not going to Egypt, none of which were acceptable.  Things we have run away from will not be put off by excuses when they catch up with us.  Moses eventually said, “Send someone else,” which was most unacceptable of all . . . because responsibilities have our names upon them and nobody else’s.  The things we ran away from only we . . . nobody else . . . ran away from, and thus nobody else can face them.  When certain things track us down, we ask, “How did you find me?”  Easy . . . certain things have only your name on them.
Thus at age eighty, Moses found himself returning to a situation that he had fled from.  He was directed there by God, who did not send him back to Egypt to fail.  Before we return to our respective situations from which we have run we must first seek heaven’s direction.  Don’t undertake the straightening out of a mess or the righting of a wrong . . . without first asking God how to do it.  Good intentions are not good enough.  Good intentions, the easing of conscience . . . provide the motivation . . . but they do not give you the road map for the journey or the strategy for either battle or making peace.  But whatever heaven directs, heaven blesses. To put the matter succinctly, before you return to something that you ran from, pray before you go.
God told Moses that those who sought his life were now dead.  When you pray before you go . . . the first thing the spirit reveals is the right time to go.  The Lord won’t let you go until you are strong enough to face your pharaoh.  When God told Moses that those who sought his life were dead . . . he was telling him that those whom he feared could no longer harm him.  Many times we fear things and people who really in and of themselves are no threat.  The only power they have is what we give them.  The only authority they have is what we give them out of fear.  The only control they have is what we allow them to have.  Nobody can make you feel inferior . . . you have to feel inferior on your own.  Nobody can make you jealous . . . you have to decide to be jealous.  Nobody can make you hate . . . you have to hate on your own.  Nobody can make you mean and bitter . . . you have to be mean and bitter on your own.  Nobody can make you petty . . . you have to be petty on your own.  Nobody can make you miserable . . . you have to be miserable on your own.  You have to decide to give up control of your emotions and of your mind.  Remember that when you are God’s child, the only power the devil has over you is what you give up to him.  But when you pray before you go . . . God will direct you when to go. . . and then God will help you put people in their proper perspective.  Most importantly, God will help you keep yourself in proper perspective because you will understand that you are not weak but strong.
You are strong because God never sends anyone anywhere without giving that person something to go with.  God told Moses to look in his hands.  When Moses looked in his hand, his shepherd’s rod became a snake.  Never forget that what looks ordinary becomes extraordinary in the Lord’s hands.   Water in the Lord’s hands becomes the best wine at the feast . . . ordinary clay becomes a cure for blindness . . . a little boy’s lunch becomes a banquet for five thousand . . . and a rugged cross becomes the means of humanity’s redemption.
Never underestimate what you can do when you are in the Lord’s hands.  When situations seem impossible . . . pray for a spirit of discernment, and look in your hands . . . and you will see the strength of Samson and Deborah.  Look in your mind . . . and you will see the wisdom of Solomon and Huldah.  Look in your imagination . . . and you will see the visions of Joseph and Hagar.  Look in your heart . . . and you will see Jesus’ capacity to love.  Look in your soul . . . and you will feel the strength of your ancestors both in the Bible and out of it who would not be broken by Pharaoh’s lash.  Look in your hands . . . and you will see the Word of God . . . believe it.  Look in your history . . . and you will see your experience of how the Lord has taken care of you . . . hold on to it.
God didn’t send Moses back to Egypt empty-handed but gave him a rod that became miraculous.  When Jacob went to face Esau . . . God didn’t send him empty-handed . . . but gave him herds of cattle to make a peace offering.  When God sent Elijah back to Jezebel . . . God gave him something to go with . . . the assurance that there were seven thousand more who hadn’t bowed knee to Baal.  When Jesus sent the disciples back to Jerusalem . . . he gave them something to go with . . . the promise of a comforter.  When Jesus comes back . . . he’s not coming back empty-handed . . . he is bringing judgment in one hand and rewards for the righteous in the other.  So if God sends you . . . just look in your hands and see what God has given you to go with.
God not only gave Moses a rod, however, but Aaron as an interpreter.  In other words, God didn’t send Moses by himself.  When you follow where God leads you and go where God sends you . . . you don’t go by yourself.  And that’s the most important question . . . Is the Lord with us?  Sometimes God will allow things to happen we don’t understand.  God will say no . . . when we want God to say yes . . . or God will say wait when we want God to say now.  We can’t understand or answer all questions about God and our faith.  But there is one answer we must have . . .  Is the Lord with us?  We’re not worried about Pharaoh’s power . . . we just need to know: Is the Lord with us?  We’re not worried about obstacles or opposition, or disbelievers and doubters.  We just need to know: Is the Lord with us?  We can face anything . . . endure anything . . . withstand anything . . . carry and bear up under anything . . . if we know the answer to this question: Is the Lord with us?  We can return to any Egypt and come out again if we know the answer to this question: Is the Lord with us?
If we pray before we go and take what God gives us . . . we can return in strength to the place we ran from in shame . . . we can return in faith to the place we ran from in fear . . . because the Lord is with us.  God hasn’t brought us this far to leave us.  God didn’t bring Moses from the rocking of his cradle on the Nile River, to his upbringing in Pharaoh's household, to a forty-year sojourn in the desert to leave him.
God didn’t save some of us from a burning hell . . . raise some of us from sick beds . . . strengthen some of us to say goodbye to loved ones . . . help some of us to pay our bills, keep hell hounds and enemies, our foolishness and mistakes from destroying us . . . to leave us now.

Like Fire Cast On the Earth
 
Martin Luther knew that the ice of human nature had frozen things over in his day, most especially he thought, in the heart and mind of a man named Erasmus. To that Dutch humanist Luther wrote the Word of God always puts the world in a state of tumult because it comes like fire cast on the earth. "For the Word of God comes, whenever it comes, to change and renew the world."
 
Nowhere does the fire of God's Word burn off the ice and cause tumult more than in the differences between generations, in the relationships between father and son and mother and daughter. These relationships tend to freeze over into a cool placidity where mother thinks her daughter must be just as she is, or son thinks he must be a carbon copy of dad. Not so, says the gospel. There will not be agreement between mother and daughter or father and son so much as there will be distinction; each will have a proper share of the kingdom of God. God's Word burns off the ice of mutual identification and kindles the fire of proper identity over and over again.
 
John G. Lynn, Trouble Journey, CSS Publishing.

Without the Fire the Seeds Will Never Grow
 
Stretching south for hundreds of miles from Glacier National Park lay a majestic mixture of valleys, rushing streams, and gargantuan mountains called the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Backpackers have hiked there for decades looking for elk, grizzlies and golden eagles. Fortunately the grizzlies stay up in the high country, but a golden eagle may be spotted and the elusive wolverine may be tracked.
 
The Bob Marshall Wilderness hosts some 90,000 packers and hikers each year, most of them in the months of July and August. They must come in either by foot or horseback. No motorized vehicles are allowed. The forests on those rugged mountain slopes are thick with Lodgepole Pine, a tough, hardy tree with cones so thick that only extreme heat can burst forth the seeds. That's where fire comes in. For thousands -- oh, millions of years -- lightning has cracked the big sky out there down to the forests below. (Often the lightning will hit the Douglas Firs, less rugged than the Lodgepole Pines, and a forest fire will begin.) For years, of course, the United States Forest Service fought furiously to put out these fires. More recently, they have adopted a policy of managed fires. They have learned these fires have a purpose. Without them the seeds of the Lodgepole Pines are never released. Without them much of the underbrush and plant life there does not regenerate. The earth needs a fire cast on it or it will die.
 
Jesus, speaking to Peter, that blustery, Lodgepole Pine kind of a man, said, "Peter, I have a fire to cast over the earth, and how I am constrained until it be kindled!" What did Jesus mean? He knew that Peter, like all of his disciples, was a wilderness that needed fire or he would die. Peter needed the fire of God's Word to keep his heart from freezing over and to keep the passion of his soul from cooling down.
 
John G. Lynn, Trouble Journey, CSS Publishing

Peer Pressure
 
Chuck Swindoll tells about a study of teenagers and peer pressure. The design of the study was simple. They brought groups of ten adolescents into a room for a test. Each group was instructed to raise their hands when the teacher pointed to the longest line on three separate charts. What one person in the groups of ten did not know was that the other nine had been instructed ahead of time to vote not for the longest line, but for the second-longest line.

Do you get the picture? Regardless of the instructions they heard, once they were all together in the group, the nine were not to vote for the longest line, but rather vote for the next to the longest line. This left the tenth student being the only one who would be voting for the longest line. Guess what happened. Time after time, this tenth student would glance around, frown in confusion at the way the others were voting, and slip his hand up with the group. The instructions were repeated and the next card was raised. Each time, the self-conscious stooge would sit there saying a short line is longer than a long line, simply because he lacked the courage to challenge the group. This remarkable conformity occurred in about 75% of the cases, and was true of small children and high-school students as well.

It's hard to say no to the crowd. And becoming an adult doesn't make it much easier. You may know the story of the woman who was interviewed by reporters on her 102nd birthday. When asked what was the best thing about passing the century mark, she answered, "No peer pressure!"

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

 ::MonkeyAngel:: I cannot offer your words, as you so are " Awe" to me.
Your words of Peer Pressure triggered this post from me.
(  I refer to School house rock a lot - 3 being a Number that makes a starting Point) 
There are three great divisions completing time--past, present, and future.

One thing missing today, is teaching your child to be accountable, to be part of the world around us. To be given tasks and to be rewarded with praise ( not gifts/monetary dollars) yet for them to feel human emotions. Early On. To build their self esteem. I am self sufficient. I can make up my own Mind. I will not be a follower, I may not be a leader .. I can make my OWN path and feel confident I am doing the right thing.
That is what a child craves today, A child will be able to build upon themselves instead of building a BRAND " what Mass Media wants them to Be"
-- Brilliant Minds come from those who do not fit into society yet are of the exceptions - I wonder how many Brilliant minds were lost along the way ..because they didn't know how to Grow within their emotions along with their inner self + be educated, or find self worth, or listen from within " having a choice of contemplation" Rather than acting on instinct.
--
It scares me in society today, Kids all want to be rock stars or sports figures - and have no clue about how to get there. They deem themselves Rock Star before they can even walk on their own. Their Egos inflated to the highest of high..so when someone forgets to give them ketchup with their fries ..they blow the others head off..with out a thought. Don't you know who I am? Happens in every city from cover to cover all over the US.
Lack of SELF, Lack of Worth, Lack of Understanding, Eyes when You stare into them, They Remain Empty - a chain effect that plaques the youth of even the best of families.
Too many today feel that just because they are alive ..they are to be instant Haves
from day one .. they have no clue, In an Adult World,  what it means to be of the " Nots" so therefore they feel they have no accountability or responsibility in the Society they claim. Which is not theirs to take.  They feel they are above and not beneath ..
God help US, when tasks are asked of them as simple as can you Help Me?
The Media today is destroying minds, creating robots just as you mentioned in your post.
We all stand as individuals - Until we are forced to make a choice. Not a stance every time. But a Choice. One individual that raises the Hand, the unsure follows suit, watching HE/She Must know what is right.. then it Must be My choice Too.

Sister " Knowledge is Power" and we need to bring it back to the fundamentals of living that every child understands. When they Raise their hand, It is personal to them. It may not feel like it at the moment ..its the after that they realize ..
What Did I DO? I never would have if I had only known
It's when those who figure out after the fact it was a mistake ..they never take the stance to raise their hand again ..because they feel It's not my place, my hand means nothing - 
I opt out. We need a Self Esteem Revelation / Revolution for All in the USA Today.
Including Parents. Teachers - Everyone needs to feel what they do and be conscience of their choices ~ because it effects everyone. Always starts with 1 ..which equals 3.
Past, Present, Future 
 ::MonkeyAngel::
Sending My Sister Love
K 
 

Deenie, I so agree with every word you said.  Did you get to read the "Sin of Excuses" yet?
(http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Brandi-Monkey/WEATHER/furby-halo2-1.gif)

Also, I have not forgotten about the question you asked me.  I am still trying to say the right thing . . .
(http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Brandi-Monkey/WEATHER/furby-halo2-1.gif)

Awe .. I once worked with a young lady, her name I will call " Bright Eyes" .. she was covered in freckles from head to toe.. beautiful girl. With BIG Blue Eyes. She told me one day that she has always been proud of her freckles.
She said I love my Freckles. She said when I was really little and I didn't understand them. I asked my Grandmother ..what are all these spots on me and why does no one else have them? 
Her Grandmother said to her .. Its because when you were in your Mommy's Tummy you were so special.. so so special ..that right before you were born all the Angels planned a party and got all gussied up, had their hair done, put on pretty dresses and put on tons of lipstick .. when You were born, they were so Happy and they blew tons of kisses at you.. therefore You my sweet one are covered in Angel smooches ...from head to toe   ::MonkeyAngel::

When she told me that .. I bout fell over. Its all what your told, its all what you make of it, Its all how you perceive it ..  Bright Eyes is a sweet girl with lots of ambition. Not one that I have ever had to worry about.  Her being 2o yrs younger than I .. she is one that taught me many lessons.   ::MonkeyCool::

I tried to find your post you want me to read Sister,,, I can't find it.
When I was 5 yrs old..
I have to add too that my Grandpa had a beagle one of his favorites of many beagles .. His name was Freckles ..  :smt049 he was the sweetest dog ever. He had long droopy ears and the sweetest disposition. His tummy was white covered with dapple black spots that is how he gained his name " Freckles". He was thin by nature, taller than most beagles. Longer legs with a lean body. Long tail. He would sleep in the barn at night and I told my Grandpa its too cold for him to sleep outside. So my Grandpa allowed him to sleep in the basement of his house. We found a Cat that had kittens in my Grandpa's barn.. She had left them. They being old enough though to fend for themselves. They left. One stayed behind. It was a male kitten .. ivory with tan stripes.. My Grandpa would feed him. I think it was because I yelled at him .. Feed him Grandpa. My Grandpa named him Frosty. Soon enough Freckles and Frosty were sleeping in the basement of my Grandpa's house. He took so many pics of them.
They would curl up with each other. Freckles protected Frosty like he was his Momma. Even though Freckles was a male too. They were too Peas in a Pod.  Good Memories.
 I could say more but I won't ..too sad. Nothing that my Grandpa did. I will end it here.
Blessings to my Sister who is a Beagle Mama  ::MonkeyAngel::

Author Saul Bellow wrote about a rabbi who lived in a small Jewish town in Russia. The rabbi had a secret. Every Friday morning the rabbi disappeared for several hours. The people of his congregation liked to tell people that during his absence from them their rabbi went up to heaven and talked to God. When a stranger moved into town and heard this explanation for the rabbi's weekly departure, he was not convinced. So he decided to find out what was really going on. The next Friday morning, he hid by the rabbi's house, waiting and watching. As usual, the rabbi got up and said his prayers. But unlike other mornings of the week, he then dressed in peasant clothes. He grabbed an ax and wandered off into the woods to cut some firewood. With the man watching from afar, the rabbi then hauled the wood to a shack on the outskirts of the village where an old woman and her sick son lived. He left them the wood, enough for a week, and then went quietly back home.
After seeing what the rabbi did, the stranger decided to stay in the village and join the congregation. From then on, whenever he heard one of the villagers say, "On Friday morning our rabbi ascends all the way to heaven," the newcomer quietly added, "If not higher."

COVERED BY THE CLOUD!
By Spencer January
   
   It was a morning in early March, 1945, a clear and sunny day. I was 24 years old and a member of the U.S. Army's 35th Infantry Division, 137th Infantry Company I.
   Along with several other companies of American troops, we were making our way through dense woods, towards the Rhine River in the German Rhineland.
   Our objective was to reach and take the town of Ossenberg, where a factory was producing gunpowder and other products for use in the war.  For hours we had pressed through an unrelenting thicket. Shortly after midday word was passed that there was a clearing ahead. At last, we thought, the going would be easier. but then we approached a large stone house, behind which huddled a handful of wounded, bleeding soldiers who had tried to cross the clearing and failed.
   Before us stretched at least 200 yards of open ground, bordered on the far side by more thick woods. As the first of us appeared on the edge of the clearing there was an angry rat-tat-tat and a ferocious volley of bullets sent soil spinning as far as we could see. Three nests of German machine guns, spaced 50 yards apart and protected by the crest of a small hill to the left, were firing across the field. As we got our bearings it was determined that the machine guns were so well placed that our weapons couldn't reach them.
   To cross that field meant suicide. Yet, we had no choice. The Germans had blockaded every other route into the town. In order to move on and secure a victory, we had to move forward.
   I slumped against a tree, appalled at the grim situation. I thought of  home, of my wife and my 5-month old son. I had kissed him good-bye just after he was born. I thought that I might never see my family again, and the possibility was overwhelming.
   I dropped to my knees. "God," I pleaded desperately, "You've got to do something. Please do something." 
   Moments later the order was given to advance. Grasping my M-1 rifle, I go to my feet and started forward. After reaching the edge of the clearing I took a deep breath. But just before I stepped out from cover, I glanced to the left.  I stopped and stared in amazement. A white cloud – a long fluffy white cloud – had appeared out of nowhere. It dropped from over the trees and covered the area. The Germans' line of fire was obscured by the thick foggy mist.
   All of us bolted into the clearing and raced for our lives. The only sounds were of combat boots thudding against the soft earth as men dashed into the clearing, scrambling to reach the safety of the other side before the mist lifted. With each step the woods opposite came closer and closer.
   I was almost across! My pulse pounding in my ears, I lunged into the thicket and threw myself behind a tree.  I turned and watched as other soldiers following me dove frantically into the woods, some carrying and dragging the wounded.
   This has to be God's doing, I thought. The instant the last man reached safety, the cloud vanished! The day was again bright and clear.
   The enemy, apparently thinking we were still pinned down behind the stone house on the other side, must have radioed their artillery. Minutes later the building was blown to bits but our company was safe and we quickly moved on.
   We reached Ossenberg and went on to secure more areas for the Allies. But the image of that cloud was never far from my mind.  I had seen the sort of smoke screens that were sometimes set off to obscure troop activity in such situations. That cloud had been different. It had appeared out of nowhere and saved our lives.
   Two weeks later, as we bivouacked in eastern Germany, a letter arrived from my mother back in Dallas. I tore open the envelope eagerly. The letter contained words that sent a shiver down my spine. "You remember Mrs. Tankersly from our church?" my mother wrote.
   Who could forget her? I smiled. Everybody called Mrs. Tankersly the prayer warrior.
   "Well," continued Mom, "Mrs. Tankersly telephoned me one morning from the defense plant where she works. She said the Lord had awakened her the night before at one o' clock and told her, 'Spencer,  January is in terrible trouble. Get up now and pray for him!"
   My mother went on to explain that Mrs. Tankersly had interceded for me in prayer until six o' clock the next morning, when she had to go to her job.
   "She told me the last thing she prayed before getting off her knees was this" -- "Lord, whatever danger Spencer is in, just cover him with a cloud!"
   I sat there for a long time holding the letter in my trembling hand. My  mind raced, quickly calculating. Yes, the hours Mrs. Tankersly was praying would indeed have corresponded to the time we were approaching the clearing. With a seven-hour time difference, her prayer for a cloud would have been uttered at one o'clock, the exact time Company I was getting ready to cross the clearing.
   From that moment on, I intensified my prayer life.
   For the past 52 years I have gotten up early every morning to pray for others. I am convinced there is no substitute for the power of prayer and its ability to comfort and sustain others, even those facing the valley of the shadow of death.


From Guideposts

Soldiers Surprising their kids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpohfny7jWg&feature=related

Just A Little Donkey
by Rita S. Beer

Just a little donkey,
but on my back I bore
The one and only Savior
the world was waiting for.

Just a little donkey,
but I was strong and proud --
I gladly carried Mary
through the chaos of the crowd.

I brought her to the stable
where she made a tiny bed . . .
A place for Baby Jesus
to lay His little head.

I pray the world remembers
that special Christmas night
when just a little donkey
carried Heaven's Precious Light.

Footprints in the Snow
Written by Jerry & Sandi Knode

I had a dream one wintry night
as the moon was full and bright.
The snow fell softly on a tree,
that stood alone just like me.
Then a man came walking by
whose caring look caught my eye.
It was Jesus walking there,
calmly in the cold night air.
In my heart at once I knew,
all I'd learned of Him was true.
He is the light in children's eyes
and shining stars in clear night skies,
Life's answer to each hurt and wrong,
the peace we've need for so long.
It was the holy Christmas season,
and He had come by for a reason.
He put a bow upon the tree,
a symbol of His gift for me.
I woke up thinking of my dream,
amazed at just how real it seemed.
From my window I saw the bow,
crimson red on the pure white snow.
Ribbons were flowing down the tree,
like the blood He shed for me.
I was in awe of the bright red bow,
then I saw His Footprints in the Snow.

At the Hospice memorial service for my husband this was read by his nurse. It explained exactly how I felt. I thought I would like to share it.

God saw you getting tired
And a cure was not to be.
So,He put his arms around you
And whispered " Come to Me."
With fearful eyes I watched you
And saw you pass away.
Although I loved you dearly,
I could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
Hard working hands at rest.
God broke my heart to prove to me
He only takes the best.

4Donks, thank you so much for sharing this . . . do you know who wrote it?  Would it be ok if I used it?
For reasons known only to God, funerals are one of my strengths . . . I don't do them like some preachers.  I tell a story from the Bible I think fits that person (even if I have never met them) and entwine it with the person's life.  Some day, some time . . . this might bring comfort to someone else.  But I wouldn't want to use it without your permission.  If you rather I didn't, assuredly I understand.  Again, thank you for sharing.

If it would help someone else that would be wonderful. In the program it was listed as  author anonymous .

I LOVE YOU

Bennett Cerf told this story:
In Java they tell of a young man who spied a beautiful maiden on the high road and followed her for a mile.  Finally she wheeled and demanded, "Why do you dog my footsteps?"  "Because," he declared fervently, "you are the loveliest thing I have ever seen, and I have fallen madly in love with you at sight.  Be mine!"
"But you have merely to look behind you," said the girl, "to see my young sister who is ten times more beautiful than I am."
The gallant cavalier turned and saw as ugly a wench as ever drew breath in Java.  "What mockery is this," he demanded of the beautiful girl.  "You lied to me!"
"So did you," she replied.  "If you were so madly in love with me, why did you turn around?"
God loves you.  When you profess love for him, your eyes must be on him only.  Divine love searches every nook and cranny of our lives.  Love is self-giving for the benefit of the recipient.  It is reciprocal vulnerability.
Turn your eyes to the Lord, and accept his proposal of love.  The world will not be changed by those who know the most but by those who love the most.

A Tough Question

When I meet with a couple in preparation for their baby's baptism, I always ask this question: Have you prepared a will and have you specified in it who would rear your child if you were removed from the picture? Young parents don't like to even think about such a possibility, but life's uncertainties make it necessary. It's a tough question.
Whom do you trust enough to rear your precious child?
God had to answer that question when he decided to send his son Jesus to planet earth. God had to select a mother and a stepfather for his son.

 Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons

There is the moving story of Sister Emmanuelle, in her 70s, who rose each morning at 4:30 A.M. to begin her day as a loving and caring presence among the 10,000 garbage pickers of Cairo, Egypt.  The people with whom she lived and whom she served are considered untouchables “who live in what amounts to perpetual serfdom, bequeathing their trade and squalor to succeeding generations.”
   The garbage pickers maintain their existence by sorting through the city’s refuse that is hauled out in donkey carts.  The ragged men and women and children scavenge for bottles and tin cans to sell, and they feed the garbage to their pigs that roam freely in and out of homes.  Infant mortality in the area is, not surprisingly, 40 percent.
   At 9 a.m. each day, Sister Emmanuelle welcomed some forty children to her hut.  She taught both Christians and Muslims to read and write and helped them learn of the wider world beyond the garbage dump.  Waving aside the swarms of flies that filled the air as enormous clouds, Sister Emmanuelle spent hours visiting her people, carrying a ledger in which she carefully recorded the names and needs of 3,000 families.  She was gentle, but her gentleness hardened to strong metal when she challenged officials and bureaucrats to do more to help the garbage pickers.
   Speaking of her life in the refuse heap of Cairo, Sister Emmanuelle said, “My job is to prove that God is love, to bring courage to these people . . . I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else because here I feel I am giving the life of Jesus Christ to the children.”
   Jesus’ coming is our going . . . our moving out to those intersections which cross the crowded ways of humanity.  His coming is our moving closer in loving ways to give others the life of Jesus and to show Christ forth as God’s gift of grace and salvation for all people.

Called to Obey Love

Kierkegaard has a fable of a king who fell in love with a maid. When asked, "How shall I declare my love?" his counselors answered, "Your majesty has only to appear in all the glory of your royal glory before the maid's humble dwelling and she will instantly fall at your feet and be yours."

But it was precisely that which troubled the king. He wanted her glorification, not his. In return for his love he wanted hers, freely given. Finally, the king realized love's truth, that freedom for the beloved demanded equality with the beloved. So late one night, after all the counselors of the palace had retired, he slipped out a side door and appeared before the maid's cottage dressed as a servant.

Clearly, the fable is a Christmas story. We are called to obey not God's power, but God's love. God wants not submission to his power, but in return for his love, our own.

God moved in. He pitches his fleshly tent in silence on straw, in a stable, under a star. The cry from that infant's throat pierced the silence of centuries. God's voice could actually be heard coming from human vocal cords.

That's the joy of it. God has come to be with us!

James T. Garrett, God's Gift, CSS Publishing Company

Unconditional Love
I don't remember the first time I walked, but I imagine it went something like this: I stood at one end of the room with my mother and my father was a full three steps away. Before that day I could probably do the kind of creative dangling that almost looks like walking, when somebody held me by the hands and shifted me from side to side as my feet barely touched the floor. But this is the day when I will try a real honest walk on my own - all holds barred - with just two eager parents, miles apart, there to cheer me on. So I set out, wobbling at first, stumbling at second, but unmistakably making it on my own from one set of arms to the other. And then I imagine that my father lifted me high in the air with an exultant shout as if no one in human history had ever walked before. Then, after numerous kisses and exclamations, I probably felt like the most loved, most marvelous boy in all the world.

After a time I could walk with more assurance but, for some reason, I didn't receive so much praise. In fact, I can't remember the last time that anyone praised me for walking across a room. So I had to do other things. Simply walking just wasn't good enough anymore. I had to strive to make a splash in other ways, just to get back to that feeling, that feeling of being noticed, of being picked up with a shout of delight, of being valued.

For the most part, we don't have much experience with unconditional love, so we try to create conditions in which we will feel worthy of love. We do not entirely trust love without reasons, so we strive to create reasons for the love received.

And in all that striving, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that my parents did not praise me because of my accomplishments. Rather, they praised my accomplishments because they loved me, and would have loved me if there were no accomplishments to praise.

If parents sometimes have something like unconditional love, a love without reasons, for their children, how much more so does God love God's children? All of our striving to try to win something that is ours already. God values you, not because you have distinguished yourself in some way, but because you are God's beloved.

Martin Copenhaver, Whispered in Your Ear

Finding your voice. That is the theme of the surprise Academy Award favorite movie "The King's Speech." Royal watchers and romantics have focused forever on the king who gave up the throne for the woman he loved, Edward VIII, never giving much thought to the "spare" who replaced the "heir." With a profound stammer and knock-knees, Prince Albert, aka "Bertie," hardly rated a second glance until he was suddenly his country's "second chance" at having a new king.

The greatest obstacle preventing Prince Albert from becoming King George VI was his inability to find his own voice. The movie focuses on how the royal monarch's relationship with a gifted speech therapist, Lionel Logue, enabled a stumbling stammerer to become a beloved sovereign. Logue is self-taught and without credentials. But he utilized the most advanced technology he had at hand to help his royal student. He even used phonograph recordings of the king's own voice so that Albert could truly "hear" himself for the first time.

But Logue also used something more important and powerful: the age-old power of relationship to tune and tone the king's voice. It took years of coaching, learning to trust each other, and building respect for each other, before Logue could declare to Albert "You must have faith in your voice!" But when that point came, it was their relationship that enabled the man no one ever thought would be king finally to respond "I have a voice!"

Do you have faith in your voice? Have you used your voice?

snipped from a sermon by Leonard Sweet

Genesis 45:1-8

As we, children of God, attempt to find our way through this maze of experiences known as life, sometimes becoming lost and confused . . . one thing we must never forget is . . . God has a plan and a promise for our redemption.  Sometimes personal misfortune and tragedy overtake us  . . .  and circumstantial ill winds buffet us.  When we have reversals in our careers     . . . when sickness and disease attack our bodies . . . or when the death angel snatches a loved one from us . . . our faith is sometimes shaken, and we wonder why these things happen.  However, in all that this maze has to offer, let us never forget that God has a plan and a promise for our redemption.    Sometimes we earnestly and sincerely pray, and it seems as if our prayers have fallen on deaf ears.  Our requests are either denied or the answer is delayed, and we feel frustrated and forsaken.  As we experience what can be the frustrations as well as the fruits of earnest prayer . . . we need to remember God, whose pleasure it is to give the kingdom to His children, does not frustrate us unless there is a reason.  Therefore, when requests are denied and answers are delayed . . . let us remember that God has a plan  and a promise for our redemption. 
In life, it seems, we often see the wicked prosper and scoundrels enjoy peace.  The matter of theodicy or the question of suffering, particularly the suffering of the righteous coupled with the good fortune of the wicked, continues to be a very troubling and central issue for a faith that affirms the holiness and justice of an all-powerful God.  Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?  How long will wrong oppress right?  How much more must the good suffer by the design and at the hand of evil?  When is God going to move on behalf of the innocent, the oppressed, the victimized, and the meek . . . those whom God’s Word has said will inherit the earth?  As we face what we consider to be the great injustices and contradictions of life, let us never forget that there is a divine timetable and a divine way of righting wrongs.  Therefore, no matter what happens around us . . . no matter what we see, hear, read, or experience . . . let us remember that God has a plan and a promise for our redemption.  If anyone has questions or doubts whether God has a plan or a promise, I invite you to consider with me the story of Joseph.
Once upon a time in the land of Canaan there lived a man by the name of Jacob who had twelve sons.  Among the twelve sons there was one named Joseph whom he loved more than all the others.  Joseph was the child of Jacob’s old age and was the first son given to him by his wife Rachel, whom he loved more than Leah or any of their handmaidens who had also borne children for him.  As a token of this affection, Jacob gave to Joseph a multicolored cloak.  This caused Joseph’s brothers to resent him and be jealous.  Now, Jacob was not denying his other sons anything in order to do something special for Joseph, for each of his sons had sufficient food, clothing, and shelter for his needs.  Neither was Joseph a threat to their places in Jacob’s heart or the legacy he would leave.  There was sufficient livestock, land, and money to go around . . . and each son, by order of birth, had legal rights to his father’s possessions.  Yet the brothers resented the father’s affection and gifts to Joseph.
We can have our share of blessings . . . and still be jealous of the blessings that God gives to another child of God.  We can have our place in the kingdom  . . . and still be jealous of what we see being done for others.  We can be blessed with talent sufficient for the jobs that we’ve been called to do . . . and still be jealous when another seems to be multi-talented or multifaceted.  We can know and testify to God’s goodness and care for us . . . and still be jealous and resentful when God seems to bless someone else with a little more or in a different way than God blesses us.
To make matters worse, Joseph had a habit of dreaming these strange dreams and then telling the others about them.  He had a dream in which he and his brothers were binding sheaves in the field, and his sheaf stood upright while the others bowed down to it.  He also had another dream in which he saw the sun, the moon, and the stars bowing down to him.  When Joseph told his brothers about his dreams, their resentment increased.  One must be careful in sharing one’s visions and dreams with others.  (Young people, if you want to be something in life, if you want to go places and do things, you must be careful about those with whom you share visions and dreams.)  People who don’t see visions or have dreams . . . persons whose main concern is protecting their turf and doing the same old things in the same old way, will not only not understand your dream . . . but will resent you for what they believe is the arrogance, impetuousness, and foolishness of your dreams.
Jealousy and resentment are terrible diseases because they can cause us to think, say, and do some terrible things.  One day when his brothers were in the fields of Dothan watching over their flocks, Joseph went to them.  When his brothers saw him coming from a long way off, resentment began to build in their hearts.  They said, “Here comes this dreamer.  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams” (Genesis 37:19-20).
Reuben, however, objected to such a foul idea, so they decided not to kill Joseph themselves, but to throw him into one of the pits.  Their plans changed again when they saw an Ishmaelite caravan and decided to sell Joseph into slavery.  They spread animal blood on his cloak and took it to Jacob, their father, as evidence that a wild beast had killed his beloved son.  They sold their brother into slavery and lied to their father.  I’ve never seen or heard of wrong being done without a lie being required to cover up that wrong.  When Joseph’s brothers sold him, they assumed that they had forever ridded themselves of his presence.  However, they didn’t know that God had a plan and a promise for Joseph’s life, and in their act of treachery and deceit, God was laying the foundation for its fulfillment.
Joseph, the object of his father’s love and the victim of his brothers’ resentment . . . Joseph, whose only crime was being a dreamer in the midst of non-dreaming brethren . . . was taken to Egypt and there sold again, this time to Potiphar, a captain in the Egyptian army.  But in accordance with God’s plan, Joseph’s servitude was blessed.  We are living witnesses that God can open doors and make ways out of no way.
Joseph soon became manager of Potiphar’s household.  But Satan will allow God’s children only so much peace before he tries to disrupt their lives.  One day Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph with the desire to know him intimately.  When Joseph spurned her advances and Potiphar's wife was convinced that he would not acquiesce to her wishes, she told her husband that it was Joseph who had made the advances toward her and that it was she who had rejected him.  Potiphar then threw Joseph into prison.  Thus, a second time Joseph found himself an innocent victim.  The first time, his brothers’ jealousy and resentment had caused him to be sold into slavery . . . the second time, a woman’s lust and resentment had placed him in prison.  When Joseph was imprisoned, Potiphar’s wife assumed that she had gotten even.  She didn’t know, however, that God had a plan for Joseph’s life and that God was using her treachery and deceit to bring it to pass.
I can just imagine that there were times during his journey from slavery to prison when Joseph must have asked “why?” and “for what?”  Perhaps Joseph didn’t know that God had a plan and a promise for his life and that all things were working together for his good.  Every setback he encountered . . . every pit that was dug . . .  every trap that was laid . . . and every lie that was told was leading him to where God wanted him to be.  While in prison, Joseph displayed the same leadership qualities he had displayed in Potiphar’s house, and soon he became the head trustee.  People can’t keep one of God’s children down, try as they might.  God’s children will find a way to shine wherever they are.
While imprisoned, Joseph met the chief butler and chief baker of Pharaoh’s household.  They had been locked up because they had done something to anger Pharaoh.  One night they both had dreams that they didn’t understand.  Joseph, having had experience with dreams from his childhood, was able to interpret their dreams.  If God gives us a gift or a talent, God will also open up a way for that talent to be used.  Joseph’s interpretation spelled restoration for the butler and death for the baker.  However, when the butler was restored to his position in concurrence with Joseph’s interpretation, he forgot to tell Pharaoh about Joseph’s case.  People will forget about us once they have arrived . . . once they have made use of what we have to give . . . once they have what they need for the moment.  People will forget . . . but where people forget, God remembers.  If we forget how we have made it, God has a way of making us remember.
One night about two years later, Pharaoh had a dream that he didn’t understand.  He dreamed that seven fat cows were grazing by the Nile River when seven thin cows came up out of the river and devoured them.  The thin cows, after eating the fat cows, were just as thin as they were before.  Then he saw seven plump ears of grain growing on the same stalk.  But another seven ears of blighted grain sprang up and consumed the seven plump ears.  When the chief butler heard about Pharaoh’s dream, he then remembered Joseph, the imprisoned Hebrew, who was a dreamer himself and seemed to have a special gift for discernment of dreams.
When the butler told Pharaoh about Joseph, the king sent for him, and Joseph interpreted the dream.  He said, “The seven fat cows and the seven plump ears stand for seven years of abundant harvest in the land.  But these years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine, symbolized by the seven lean cows and the seven blighted ears.  The time of famine will wipe out the seven years of abundance.  What is needed is someone to oversee the harvest so that grain can be set aside in the years of abundance for the time of famine.”
Pharaoh said: “I perceive you to be a wise and judicious person of integrity.  I’m going to put you in charge of Operation Grain Save, and as such you will have full authority, second in command in the whole land only to me.”  Joseph did as he was commanded, and the seven years of abundance were followed by the years of famine, just as he said they would come to pass.
Sometime during the second year of famine over in Canaan, an old man by the name of Jacob, who had eleven sons at home, went to the grain barrel one day and saw that the supply was running low, for the famine was widespread.  He told his sons, “Take money and go to Egypt, for I hear there is grain there.”  And as the old preachers used to say, “I can see Joseph in my mind’s eye,” as he stood before the storehouse that day, overseeing the sale and distribution of grain, when he saw a caravan approaching him with some familiar faces.  I imagine that Joseph could hardly believe his eyes.  However, before Joseph had the opportunity to react, his brothers, not recognizing him, had bowed at his feet.  As they bowed, Joseph remembered his dream of the eleven sheaves and eleven stars bowing before him. 
If one is a child of God, one needn’t worry about vengeance.  For if we just follow God’s plan, if we only trust and obey, at a time and in a place where it’s least expected, God will bring those who try to destroy us, those who laugh at us, those who mock us, those who persecute us . . . to our very feet.
After he had questioned them and sent them back home, they returned, bringing their youngest brother, Benjamin, back to Egypt.  Joseph invited them all to lunch, and after they had dined sufficiently, Joseph stood up and said, “Take a good look at me and tell me if you’ve ever seen me before.”  I imagine that Reuben started to raise his hand but quickly lowered it, saying, “You resemble . . . you remind me of ... but no, no, it just can’t be.”  I can see Joseph, when he could control his emotions no longer, break down in tears and tell them, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you plotted against and wanted to kill.  I am the same Joseph whom you resented as a child; I am the same Joseph whom you mocked for his dreams.  I am the same Joseph whom you lied to our father about, and I am the same Joseph you lowered into the pit and sold into slavery.  But do not grieve, for I bear you no ill will.  You must answer to the God who preserved me in spite of that which you tried to do to me.  For you see, God had a plan for my life.  God allowed you to lower me into a pit and sell me into slavery many years ago that I might feed you at my table at this very moment.  So it was not you who sent me here, but God . . .who watched over me and preserved me by power divine and made me a ruler in the land of Egypt.”
I’m so glad that God has a plan for our lives.  When we finish playing games with one another and on one another . . . when we finish our politics and schemes, our tricks and designs . . . I’m so glad that God has a plan for each and every one of us.  And what always fascinates me about God’s plan is . . . God is able to take the evil that people design for our undoing and downfall and turn it around so that it works for our good.  Joseph later said to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
I’m so glad that God has a plan and a promise for our redemption  for our lives.  For Jesus came in accordance with God’s plan.  When Satan decided that he would hold humanity captive . . . God had a plan for our redemption.  Wrapped in love, grace, and truth, God stepped across time and was born as a baby in Bethlehem.  He grew into a man who refused to compromise with wrong, and when Satan and the forces of evil decided that they would destroy him by subjecting him to the worst possible death they knew . . . death on the cross . . . Jesus declared that he would take that same cross that degraded others and use it as the pledge for our redemption.  For he said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32, KJV).  The cross that evil used to shame a perfect Christ became God’s plan and a promise for our redemption.
Tempted and tried we’re oft made to wonder . . . Why it should be thus all the day long . . . While there are others living about us . . . never molested, though in the wrong.  Farther along we’ll know all about it . . .farther along we’ll understand why . . .cheer up, my brothers and sisters, live in the sunshine, we’ll understand it all by and by. - from the hymn "Farther Along"

Farther Along - Brad Paisley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvVVvlVKGBw

John 5:2-18

Do You Want to Be Healed?

   The question in this scripture seems a bit strange at first.  Why would Jesus ask a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years if he wanted to be healed?  Why would the Lord ask someone if he or she wanted to be healed when the person was already at the pool believing it would heal the affliction?  Why would the Master ask someone if he or she wanted to be healed when the person had been faithfully coming to the place of healing, day after day, week after week, and year after year?
   Perhaps Jesus knew that sometimes . . . in spite of our actions and our words  . . .  we have secretly given up on ourselves or our situation, and really don’t believe we can be, or are going to be, healed, helped, heard, saved, or made whole. Sometimes we can habitually go through certain actions, routinely participate in certain rituals or procedures, and customarily say certain things without really believing in what we’re doing or saying.  Thus the question “Do you want to be healed?”  helps us to confront ourselves and ask ourselves . . .  truthfully and honestly . . . do we still have the desire, first, for healing . . . and second, do we still have the faith that makes that desire a possibility?  Have we built a tent around our problem that is an temporary structure and implies that one day we’re going to pack up and move on?  Or have we built a house around our affliction that is a permanent structure and says that this spot is the place of our habitation?  Someone has said that we could endure the terrors of hell if we believed that we would one day get out, and that the suffering would only last for a season.  Some of us feel that we’re in living hells because we’ve been like we are and where we are for so long that, short of death, we’ve given up hope of ever getting out.
   There are various reasons for the inherent contradiction between going to the pool, on the one hand, and having secretly given up hope for healing, on the other.  Sometimes our faith is worn down by the sheer length of time we’ve had the problem.  Thirty-eight years is a long time to put up with anything.  Some of us have lived with our affliction for so long that we don’t know how to be any other way but miserable.  We’ve complained about our problems, our ailments, our families, our jobs, and our churches for so long . . . that all we know how to do . . . is complain.  We’ve begged for so long that begging is all we know.  We’ve been crying poor for so long that even when we’ve been abundantly blessed, we’re still crying poor, acting poor, and living poor.
   We’re more inclined to frown than to smile . . . find it easier to criticize than to congratulate . . . and tend to look for what’s wrong rather than for what’s right.  Even when some of us make an effort at being positive, we still end up sounding negative.  A person once looked into the mirror and said, “I’m tired of all of these negative feelings that I’ve been having about myself, about others, and about life.  I’m going to think some positive thoughts.  I’m going to start believing in myself.  I’m going to think all of these positive things even though they probably won’t help me much or do me much good.”
   Sometimes our faith is worn down because of the number of times that our hopes have been raised and then frustrated.  Who knows how many times the man had been brought to the pool with raised hope that he would be healed that day?  Who knows how many times he had been close but not close enough to be the first to step into the water when it was troubled?  It’s hard to keep one’s faith up when we’ve been disappointed and frustrated time after time.
   Thus, to keep our faith from being shattered altogether – we start lowering our expectations.  Hear us as we say, “I’ll give this preacher or this church a chance, but I won’t be surprised if this experience turns out negatively just like the others.”  “I’ll give this person a chance, but I just know that sooner or later she’s going to mess up.”  Some of us have been knowing people, watching people, and living with people for years, and still are afraid to trust them.  “I’ll try this new doctor or hire a new lawyer, but this person probably won’t be able to do any more than the others.”  “My companion and I had a good talk and reached an understanding, but we’ve done that before so I really don’t expect things to change much.”  Well, when we expect little from other people and from ourselves . . . that’s usually what we get . . . and that’s all we’re going to see even when much is happening.  “I’m going to try sending her to a new school or they’re going to put him into another class or she’s going to move to another department, but I’ll be surprised if the results are any better.”  “I’m going to continue praying, even though nothing is happening.”
   First of all – we don’t know all that may be happening.  We don’t know what things God is setting in place.  We don’t know whose heart God is touching.  We don’t know how, when, or where God is working, but know this: God is working all the time.  God never sleeps, God’s watchful eye never shuts, and God’s grace, power, and love never go on vacation.  Second, let us remember that we are not simply instructed to “pray without ceasing” but to pray believing.
   I know it’s hard to be positive in the face of repeated failures and disappointments . . . but hold on to your hope and don’t give up.  If we’re children of God we should never lower our expectations, because with God all things are possible.  We must continue expecting God to do great things and to produce mighty works in our lives.  What we desire may or may not happen, but the possibility is there if we don’t give up.  However, when we lose hope we shut the door in possibility’s face.
   “Do you want to be healed?”  There are some things in life we have to want for ourselves.  Teachers may want their students to learn ever so much, but those students must want to learn for themselves.   Before we criticize the schools too severely for all they’re not doing with our children, we must realize that our children need to make up their minds that they want to learn.
   We must decide we’re going to be something or somebody ourselves.  Mother or father, sister or brother, friend or companion, the preacher or the teacher, can’t make that decision for us.  If we don’t want to be anything, then no matter what opportunities present themselves to us, they will be like pearls before swine  . . . they will be wasted on us and we’ll become nothing.  And if we want to be something and do something worthwhile, then no matter what obstacles are set before us, we’ll find a way to deal with them or God will help us or the Holy Spirit will direct us in how to handle them, and we’ll become something and accomplish something anyhow.  I once heard someone say, “Aim for the moon, and if you fall among the stars, don’t worry about it, because you will still be on high ground.”
   We run from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, use prescription after prescription, and pray for miracles in vain if we haven’t really decided that we want to be healed.  It’s good to have other folks pray for us, but we have to decide ourselves that we want to live holy.  Before we can turn our backs upon temptation and change our lifestyles, we must decide that we are serious about holiness.  We should pray for unsaved or unchurched loved ones, but at some point they must decide for themselves that they want to be saved.  Before we can live clean and sober, free from drugs and alcohol, we have to decide that is what we want to do.
   “Do you want to be healed?” our crucial question challenges us to decide what kind of life we want to have.  The lame man answered Jesus’ questions by saying, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.”  That was a very touching story and an interesting explanation as to why the man hadn’t been healed.  The only problem with his statement was that it didn’t answer Jesus’ question.  The Master didn’t ask the lame man about who did what to him or who stepped into the water before him.  He didn’t ask the lame man about his background, or his past disappointments, frustrations, and failed attempts.  As nosy as some of us are, we might take the time to ask all those questions, but not Jesus.  He asked a simple question that required a simple yes or no answer, and that question was “Do you want to be healed?”
   This day . . . right now . . . Jesus is knocking on the door of somebody’s heart and he is asking one simple question.  We don’t need to give the Lord a lot of answers to unasked questions.  He’s not asking us to give him some long, drawn out, hearts and flowers story about who did what to us, who talked about us, who doesn’t like us, or who won’t work with us.  He is not asking us about how we got into our condition, or how we allowed ourselves to get into such a position.  He isn’t asking us how long we’ve been like we are and how many times in the past we’ve tried to get right, and failed.  He’s not even asking us about how many opportunities for healing and salvation we’ve let go by, and why.  And he’s certainly not asking us about anyone else’s business, faults, and failures.  Jesus sees our condition, knows what we need, and has what we need.  He’s just asking us to give a simple “yes or no” answer to the question he is asking, “Do you want to be healed?”
   Jesus told the man to, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.”  If we want to be healed, we’re going to have to do something ourselves.  The Lord didn’t pull the man up or prop the man up or pick the man up.  He only told him to “rise.”  He didn’t slap the man.  He didn’t even touch the man.  He just spoke a word of healing to him.  The man had to have enough faith and submissiveness to obey Jesus’ word.  He had to want healing badly enough, he had to be desperate enough to obey Jesus’ word even when he was commanded to do what had seemed impossible for him. 
   Do we want healing badly enough?  Are we desperate enough for salvation to obey Jesus’ word even when he commands us to do difficult things . . . some of which seem to be impossibilities for us?
   Jesus told the man to take up the pallet that he had been lying upon.  Those who have been healed ought not be empty-handed.  What are we carrying?  Some people carry bitterness from the past.  Some people carry excuses for not doing more than they’re doing.  Some people carry stones for throwing at their neighbors.  Jesus told us what to carry.  He told us, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
   Take the pallets that once held us, from which we could not rise, and carry them in our hearts as our testimony to what the Lord has done for us.  The sickness, the addictions, the failures, weaknesses, and mistakes of the past, from which we could not rise  – yet become the testimonies that we carry in our hearts about how the Lord can raise us.  We can tell others, “If you don’t believe that God’s power is real, let me show you my pallet.  Let me sing my song of praise.  Let me tell my story of victory.  Let me give my witness about how Jesus saves from the gutter most to the uttermost.”
   Jesus told the man to “Walk!”  Walk by faith.  Walk with your head up, praising and glorifying God.  Some people may not understand why you walk like you do, but you know what the Lord has done for you.  Some people may not believe your witness, but keep on walking, because you know that you’ve been raised.  Walk by the grace of God.  Walk in Jesus’ name.  Walk by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Walk my friends – walk!

John4:5-42
Facing Life after Heartbreak

The time of day was noon and she had come to the well.  But why was she at the well at noon when the usual draw water was early in the morning and early in the in the cool of the day?  That’s when the other women came.  Perhaps that is the very reason that this woman was coming at noon: to avoid the other women, the stares, the whisperings, the cattiness, coldness, and meanness from the old women, some of whom were probably very religious.  This particular woman was not like the other village women.  She had been involved in a series of relationships, all of which in heartbreak, hurt, disappointment, disaster, and divorce.
She came to the well by herself because she was a victim of double pain.  She had pain in her heart and pain from a community that judged her, talked about her, didn’t understand her, and just stayed in her business.  She came to the well by herself because she had mess in her life.  Heartbreak and breakups can harm you.  They can mess with your head and give you a self-esteem problem.  They can cause you to doubt yourself as a man or woman, lover, friend, companion, particularly when you see other relationships that seem to be happy and making it.  Heartbreak and breakups can cause you to feel inferior to others or self-conscious, particularly when others are self-righteous condemning, and arrogant about the lifestyle of a single person.  I have lived long enough to discover that sometimes married people are so hard on some single people not because they have it all together . . . but because they are envious, insecure, and threatened by the freedom of those who are single.  In their heart of hearts they are really not that happy and want to be free themselves, but cannot be because they feel trapped.
Heartbreak and breakup can not only mess with our head, they can mess with our heart and make us overly cautious, suspicious, protective, and paranoid about loving again, lest we be hurt again.  After heartbreak we ought to be cautious, wiser, but not paranoid.  Heartbreaks, if we let them, will also mess with our spirits and cause us to be bitter.  You can recognize a bitter person.  A bitter person extols and expounds the “all men are dogs” philosophy or the “women cannot be trusted because they’ll take everything you have” attitude.
How do we face life after heartbreak and breakup?  Everyone, including those most happily yoked, has some heartbreak.  How do we fix a broken heart?  The first step toward recovering from heartbreak is to get on with the rest of your life as best you can.  The Samaritan woman in our text did not allow her repeated heartbreaks and breakups to stop her from functioning.  She did not become catatonic and go off in a corner and wither up and die.  She continued to live, function, and survive as best she could.  By this time she understood all too well that in the final analysis, nobody was going to look out for herself but her.  And so she did the best she could to make it from day to day.  Though lonely at times, she was still making it.  Though in pain a lot of the time, she was still making it.  Though misunderstood and talked about much of the time, she was still making it.
She knew that whenever she left the house she might run into one of the good gossiping sisters or one of the crass community brothers.  She had a choice, however.  She could either shut herself up in her house and die, or she could face the world and do what she needed to do.  She adjusted her schedule for going to the well to avoid the confrontations she could, but she didn’t stop going to the well.   Life for her had to go on and so she did what was necessary to survive.
How do we face life after heartbreak?  By facing it.  Life has to go on.  Life may be different or lonely or painful, but we still must keep on living.  For, when we stop to think about it, life wasn’t perfect when we were in a relationship . . . if it had been we wouldn’t be trying to handle our heartbreak.  We had problems in the relationships and we have problems after the relationships.  Either way we’re going to have problems, so we might as well decide to be victorious over our new set of problems.
One day this Samaritan woman came to the well with her messy past and met the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Anointed of God.  They began to talk.  They talked about the prejudice that had existed between Jesus and his people, Galilean and Judean Jews, and her people, the Samaritans.  They talked about the nature of worship.  When we really read the fourth chapter of John, we discover that this Samaritan woman and Jesus were engaged in a heavy theological discussion.  Others looked at her and would not expect such a conversation from her.  Her conversation with Jesus indicated that this much maligned woman had a vibrant mind that she wasn’t afraid to use.  If we would fix a broken heart, we must remember that we still have a mind.  Don’t be afraid to use it for something other than self-pity.  If your mind can come up with something to complain about . . . it can also come up with something to give praise for.  If your mind can come up with excuses for not doing . . . then it can come up with reasons for doing.
In the course of the conversation Jesus asked the woman about her present relationship and in so doing she discovered that he knew her.  Even though Jesus didn’t approve of her present life, neither did he reject her.  If our broken hearts are to be fixed then we must understand that Jesus knows and understands how we feel.  “Nobody knows,” you say.  I say, “You're wrong.”  Jesus knows all about our troubles.  He knows about rejection.  Jesus’ own people in Nazareth rejected him.  Jesus knows what it is to be misunderstood by those closest to you.  His own brothers and sisters thought he was crazy.  Jesus knows what it is to be regarded with suspicion.  The religious leaders of his day looked upon Jesus with suspicion.  Jesus would one day know betrayal and denial.  He would know agony as he prayed in Gethsemane.  Jesus would know loneliness like never before when he hung out on a cross to die for your sins and mine.
What I am saying is that we must never forget that we are not alone.  No single person who knows Jesus is ever alone.  We may not see Jesus but he is there.  We may not see air but we know it’s there because we’re breathing.  We may not see our heart beating, but we know it’s there and it’s working because we’re still alive.  We may not see the mechanism of the ear at work, but we know that it is functioning because we can hear.  We may not see the nerve endings under our skin, but we know they are there because we can still feel.  And when dark clouds come, we may not see the sun but we know it’s there, because if it wasn’t life would disappear from the earth.
So as we face life after heartbreak we must remember that life goes on, that we still have a mind, that Jesus understands how we feel and that we are never alone, and that Jesus loves us even when we make mistakes.  This Samaritan woman was involved in a relationship that she should not have been involved in.  Sometimes we make mistakes in judgment.  Sometimes in our efforts to cope with our loneliness and pain we do things we shouldn’t, we become involved in things we shouldn’t.  Jesus confronts us about those.  But he doesn’t reject us.  He doesn’t write us off as hopeless or evil or wicked.  He loves us anyway.
After her conversation with Jesus the Samaritan women ran into the village declaring, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!”  Is this the same woman who came to the well at noon to avoid others, now running into the town as a used-to-be nobody telling everybody about somebody who can save anybody?  My point here is simple . . . if we allow Jesus to work on us and in us, he will give us a new love and a new life . . . a new message and new meaning . . . new purpose and new power . . . a new demeanor and new deliverance . . . new convictions and new compassion . . . new fire and new freedom . . . new salvation and new somebodiness . . . new promise and new praise . . . new beauty and new boldness . . . new testimony and new transformation . . . new righteousness and new resurrection . . . new glory and new grace . . . a new witness and a new work . . . new healing and new holiness . . . new sanctification and new soul satisfaction . . . a new song and new strength . . . a new majesty and a new magnetism . . . a new smile and new sainthood . . . a new vision and a new victory
The woman at the well discovered that Jesus had a word for her.  To face life after heartbreak we must understand that Jesus has a word for us: “Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29-30).
Jesus has a word for us: “You must be born again” (John 3:3). 
Jesus has a word for us: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Jesus has a word for us: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). 
Jesus has a word for us: “I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Jesus has a word for us: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Unexpected Troubles
   The problem with evil is not simply that it causes trouble in our lives, but that often the trouble erupts in unexpected places.  It arises in contexts and from persons, situations, sources, and even issues that we would least expect.  The text of Numbers 12:1-2 is a case in point.
   The journey of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt to Canaan, the land of promise, was fraught with trouble that erupted all along the way.  Soon after their victory march out of Egypt. the Hebrews and the mixed multitude that came out of slavery with them discovered that Pharaoh’s command to get out of Egypt, was only the first step to their becoming a truly free, independent nation.  On the way to their goal of a land of their own, they and their leader . . . Moses, ran into obstacle after obstacle that they were completely unprepared for mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
   To begin with, the Israelites could not take the most direct route to the Promised Land because they would have had to march through the territories of the Philistines, who probably have attacked.  At this point in their journey they were not prepared to fight foes like the Philistines.  Of course, it is a common rule of life that any effort to reach a goal often takes longer than we expect.  Very few people reach their goals by following steps one, two, and three.  More often than not . . . it takes steps one through ten to get where we want to go.  More often than not  . . . we end up taking the long way around to get to where we want to go.  If you are a leader like Moses and you are trying to move people from a familiar past to an unfamiliar future that challenges them to go places they have never been before . . .  expect the journey to take longer than you had calculated and expect to take the long way around.
   Since the Israelites ended up going the long way, Pharaoh back in Egypt concluded that they had become lost in the desert and decided to go after them so that he could reenslave them. He caught up with them at a very vulnerable moment  . . . they were at the banks of the Red Sea and surrounded by high mountains.  When you are trying to go forward or do something worthwhile, expect what you are trying to outgrow or get away from to come after you in your vulnerable moments.  Pharaohs never cease trying to recapture their slaves.  Whether that pharaoh is called racism, sexism, an abusive past, guilt, fear, lust, lying, drugs . . . pharaohs always look for a vulnerable moment to recapture former slaves.
   Because the journey to the Promised Land was taking longer than expected, the Israelites soon ran out of food.  We, too, can expect some shortages on a long journey — shortages of faith, vision, endurance, and patience.  Not only did they run out of bread, they also came to places where the water was bitter or where there was no water at all.  On any journey to any place worthwhile, expect some hitter disappointments and bitter discouragement and setbacks. Sometimes people will present things to you that you just can’t swallow.  And at other times you will find yourself in a place of drought.  You will pray and will receive no word from the Lord . . .  no sign from the Spirit . . . no clue as to what you are to do . . . no inspiration to keep you going  . . . no hiding place from pressure . . . just barrenness on the horizon and emptiness in your soul.  Expect the drought that drains . . . where everything is going out and nothing seems to he coming in.  But also expect that you will make it through . . . for God will step in and give you what you need to keep going step by step and day by day.
   On a long journey expect some straying and forgetting.  When Moses went up to Mount Sinai to commune with God and stayed longer than the Israelites felt was necessary, the people forgot who had brought them out of Egypt and began to worship a golden calf.  On a long journey expect diversions that cloud the vision, along with some stumbling, occasional backsliding, doubting and straying, and some forgetting of who and whose we are and what we ought to be about.  One would hope that we would be true no matter what.  The truth, however, is that when things are taking longer than we thought, Satan will use delay as the opportunity to create doubt, confusion, and conflict within.
   On their journey to the Promised Land, not only did the Israelites have to contend with a pharaoh who tried to recapture them, but also an attack from the Amalekites, who simply decided to make an unprovoked war on the people of God as they moved to the place where God was taking them.  On your journey expect new enemies to rise up and attack you without cause — either because of their own insecurities or because of jealousy and resentment over the ways you are being blessed.
   In the midst of all the trouble that continued to erupt, Moses had to hear the constant whining, complaining, and nostalgia about how good slavery in Egypt had been.  He even experienced occasional rebellion from those he was trying to lead.  On a long journey when the going gets tough . . . expect the doubters, the visionless, the fainthearted, the weak in faith, the lazy who believe that the journey to the promised land ought not involve any sacrifice on their part . . . and the impatient who want things to happen right away to begin to blame leadership. They will complain about the inconvenience involved in pursuing something worthwhile.  When the journey becomes long and difficult . . . expect people to want to turn back and talk about how good it used to be.  Expect rebellion from those who claim they could do it better.
   As Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, trouble erupted a number of times and in a variety of places.  When we take the time to think about those instances and the persons and sources, we should not, however, be surprised.  One could almost expect trouble to arise from those places and sources.  Yet in Numbers 12 trouble arises for Moses from persons we never expect — Miriam and Aaron.
   Surely not Miriam and Aaron.  They were Moses’ blood sister and brother.  Surely not holy, sanctified, Spirit-filled, fire-baptized, tambourine beating prophetess Miriam.  Surely not Reverend, Doctor, Bishop, Archbishop, Cardinal, Moderator, Convention President Aaron, the head of the Levitical priest hood.  Surely not Miriam, Moses’ older sister, who had watched him as a baby floating down the Nile River in a basket and then had interceded when that basket had come to rest at the riverbank in the very spot where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing.  Surely not Miriam, who had babysat, fed, and helped raise Moses.  Surely not Aaron, whom God had given to Moses as a spokesperson when Moses went to Pharaoh with the command to let God’s people go.  Even though Aaron had come up shaky in the golden calf incident, that was years ago.  Aaron had come over on the Lord’s side and had been forgiven and restored to his position of leadership.  Certainly after all this time Aaron had become settled and secure in his leadership and faith.
   With all that the three of them had been through as a family and as leaders, surely at that point on their journey Miriam and Aaron would not be creating trouble and causing confusion among the people.   They had been as close as three fingers on a hand.  Surely Miriam and Aaron would not be causing trouble for Moses . . . say it isn’t so!
   Yes, in Numbers 12 trouble was erupting for Moses from Miriam and Aaron — the least likely source, the most unexpected place.  And listen to the issue they were stirring up a mess over — Moses’ Cushite wife.  For the Bible is clear, Moses had “indeed married a Cushite woman.”  We remember who the Cushites were — the were the people who lived in sub-Sahara Africa to the south of Egypt.  She was a Cushite, a pure black African woman.  Miriam and Aaron had problems with her, but not because she was black.  After all, they were nonwhite themselves.  Perhaps they saw this Cushite sister as a threat to their position and prestige among the Israelites. Miriam, as a woman and Moses’ big sister, probably felt most threatened by another woman in Moses’ life.  Miriam was probably the instigator of the trouble, persuading her weaker brother, Aaron, who at times grew tired of living in Moses’ shadow to go along with her.
   Hear Miriam and Aaron complain: “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?”  Well, what does the Lord speaking to them have to do with Moses’ Cushite wife?  Even though Moses’ wife was the subject of the controversy . . . what Miriam and Aaron were really dealing with was a power play.  When trouble erupts in unexpected places, often what people are fussing about is not really what they are fussing about.  Often people lift up one thing when they are really upset about something deeper, something more sinister and not as obvious.  Those of us who have had to deal with leaking roofs can tell you that sometimes where the stain appears on the wall or the ceiling is not where the leak is.  Some times water has leaked into the roof from some other place and traveled to the spot where the stain appears.  Sometimes the issue that is being discussed is not the real issue, and sometimes the person who is doing the talking is not the person who started the mess.  Aaron may he out front throwing rocks, while Miriam is behind the scenes keeping him supplied with rocks and telling hint where to throw them.  While we concentrate on the rock throwers . . . we had better find out where they are getting their supply of rocks.
   How did Moses handle this particular incidence of trouble that erupted from the unexpected source of Miriam and Aaron?  First, let us note what Moses did not do.  He did not blame his wife whom God had blessed him with for his trouble.  He did not reject his Cushite wife because of Miriam’s and Aaron’s problem with her.  He did not become defensive.  After all, he had done nothing wrong.  He did not get into a fight with Miriam and Aaron.  That would have done two things.  First, it would have brought him down to their level.  Second, it would have drained Moses of time, energy, and attention he needed for his continued leadership of the people. You can’t get to where you are trying to go if you let messes sidetrack you.  The purpose of a mess is to mess you up — mess up your mind so that you can̓t think right . . . mess up your spirit up so that you can’t pray right . . . mess up your vision so that you can’t see straight.
   The Bible tells us that Moses was humble, more so than anyone on the face of the earth. Moses didn’t even defend himself . . .he didn’t even answer his critics.  That’s hard.  You have to be mighty disciplined and secure and have great faith in God not to hit back when you’re being hit at . . . particularly when those throwing the rocks are persons you would least suspect.  Moses continued to be faithful and loving, to mind his business and do his job, and to keep focused on reaching the Promised Land.
   Because of his faithfulness, Moses didn’t have to fight his battles or answer his critics.  God stepped in and did it for him.  Numbers 12:4-9 says:
   Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out you three, to the tent of meeting.’  So the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.  And he said, “Hear my words:  When there are prophets among you, I the LORD make myself known to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.  Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house.  With him I speak face to face — clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the LORD.  Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?̓ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed.

Numbers 12:10-14 says:
   When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow.  And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous.  Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us for a sin that we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.”  And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her.”  But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days?  Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.”

   When troubles erupt in unexpected places, don’t panic . . . pray.  Don’t fight  . . . stay focused.  Don’t become sidetracked . . . continue to serve.  Don’t become disagreeable . . . stay disciplined.  Don’t get testy . . . just trust God to fight your battles and bring you through.  God is still able to silence critics and faultfinders.  God is still able to undo those who try to undercut you.  He can give you victory over those who major in messes.  If you are faithful, when trouble erupts in unexpected places, God will fight your battle, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  God still intercedes for his children. 
   Jesus came into this world as captain of the Lord’s host, and the Holy Spirit came as comfort and guide so that we might know that we are not alone when trouble erupts in unexpected places.

   For a child has been born for us,
   a son given to us;
   authority rests upon his shoulders;
   and he is named
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
                     —Isaiah 9:6

   If we have faith to trust God when trouble erupts in unexpected places, we will be able to say like Moses, “Arise, O LORD, let your enemies be scattered” (Numbers 10:35). Arise!  Arise! Arise!

The Shovel of God
Genesis 14:17-20
When Abram received God’s call to leave where he was and relocate to a place that God would reveal to him . . . Abram invited his nephew, Lot, to journey with him.  Lot accepted Abram’s offer and, because of his willingness to follow Abram as Abram followed the word of God, Lot was blessed materially along with Abram.  The two of them were so abundantly blessed with livestock that the land on which they had settled was unable to provide for their flocks and herds.  Thus strife soon developed between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot over pastures and watering holes.
Abram chose not to live in strife and confusion.  No matter how much one has materially, if one has to live in strife and confusion, arguing and misunderstanding, one can still be miserable and unhappy.  Strife and confusion, arguing and misunderstanding can prevent us from enjoying the blessings of God.  Many persons who have often looked back on times of leanness and sacrifice as “the good old days” . . .  because that was a period of less strife and confusion, arguing and misunderstanding.
Abram, as the bigger person of the two, approached his nephew and said: “Let there be no strife between you and me, between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; for we are kinsmen.  Is not the whole land before you?  Separate yourself from me.  If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left” (Genesis 13:8-9).  When Lot surveyed the land that was before him, that which was on his left was obviously more preferable to the eye.  The land on the left was fertile and well watered, while the land on the right was more sparsely vegetated and barren.  Instead of deferring to his uncle, by whose invitation he been blessed, the selfish and greedy Lot chose what appeared to be the best land, leaving Abram to settle in the less desirable portion.
Lot, however, soon discovered that everything that appears to be the best at first glance is not the best in the long run.  The wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were in the valley chosen by Lot.  Thus, he and his family lived not only in the midst of more strife and confusion . . . but at that time the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the whole beautiful Jordan valley, were under the rule of a mighty warlord by the name of (Kedd’-er-la-oh’-mer) Chedorlaomer.  In time Sodom and Gomorrah, along with several other vassal cities that were also being oppressed by Chedorlaomer, rebelled against his rule.  Chedorlaomer aligned himself with several other kings, put down the rebellion and carried off into captivity a number of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, along with their possessions.
Among those who were captured was Lot.  We do not know how involved Lot was in the political life of Sodom, and we do not know if he participated in the rebellion.  However, since he left Abram to pitch his tent among the Sodomites, he shared in their fate.  As one shares in the rewards of faith when one associates with the faithful, one also must share the punishment of sin and rebellion when one associates with the wicked.
The oaks of Mamre, the place where Abram dwelt, were less preferable than the fertile valley where Lot lived, but at least Abram was at peace there.  The place where Abram dwelt was not as glamorous as Sodom, but at least Abram was free there.  He was free from political entanglements of Sodom, from the wickedness of Gomorrah, and from the rule of  (Kedd’-er-la-oh’-mer) Chedorlaomer.  The agricultural and property values of the place where Abram dwelt were not as great as the land chosen by Lot.  But the blessing of God was upon the place where Abram was, and the promise of God had been given . . . that there was a brighter day ahead.  Sodom and Gomorrah have long ceased to be, but the place where Abram dwelt is still regarded as holy ground.
Word reached Abram that his nephew had been captured.  Lot’s abundant possessions, which had caused the strife between him and his uncle and had led to their separation, now belonged to another as the spoils of war.  Abram could have rightly said, “He made his bed; let him lie in it.”  Abram could have rightly said, “He chose the best part and left me the worst, no better for him.”  Abram could have said, “He’s grown and on his own; he left my household; he’s not my responsibility anymore.”  Or he could have said, “I would like to help him, but I am no match for Chedorlaomer.  Do you expect me to risk my life and all that I have for the likes of Lot?”  Abram, however, exhibited none of the understandably human attitudes of justifiable resentment that can emerge when one has been treated unfairly.  Instead, he picked 318 trained men who had been born in his household, among his servants, and armed them for battle.
The fact that Abram had 318 men at his disposal, and his ability to arm them for battle, indicates that even though he dwelt in a less desirable place . . . God was still abundantly blessing him.  Even though Abram had received the short end of the deal with Lot . . . heaven had made him a winner and had more than compensated him for the ingratitude of Lot.  So don’t worry about people who try to take advantage of your kindness.  Don’t worry about those who seem to get ahead at your expense.  Keep on being nice.  Keep on being faithful.  Keep on treating people right.  God will take care of you as well as those who have wronged you.
After Abram armed the men of his own household, he enlisted the support of several allies and went in pursuit of Chedorlaomer.  When he came to the place where they were, Abram divided his forces, attacked by night, and routed the enemy.  As Abram returned in victory from battle, he was greeted by two kings . . .  the king of Sodom, and another whose name was Melchizedek.  Melchizedek was the king of Salem, which means “peace.”  Salem was believed to be the ancient site or name of the city that in later times came to be known as Jerusalem, the Holy City.  Melchizedek was also said to be a priest of the Most High God, and as such he and Abram shared the same faith.  On his return from battle, Abram was met by the king of Sodom, for whom he had interceded, and the king of Salem, who as a priest interceded for others.
Melchizedek brought bread and wine, the chief products of the land, as symbols to express gratitude to Abram, who had brought peace, freedom, and prosperity to the land.  Melchizedek greeted Abram with the words, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (Genesis 14:19-20). As a response to the blessings of God . . . as an act of thanksgiving, praise, and worship  . . . Abram tithed, that is, gave a tenth of everything he had.
Let us note several points about this first example of tithing in the Scriptures.  First, it took place at a basically early stage in the development of Abram’s faith.  At this point in his faith journey, Abram’s name had not even been changed by God to Abraham.  At this point Ishmael had not been born to Hagar, and Isaac had not been born to Sarah.  At the point at which Abram first tithed, circumcision had not been given as the sign of the covenant.  Sodom and Gomorrah had not yet been destroyed by God’s judgment.  Thus tithing was one of the early experiences in Abram’s developing relationship with God.
Let us not forget that we are never too young or too new to the faith to tithe.  One may have to be of a certain age to vote in church matters, but one is not too young to tithe.  The smallest children can tithe . . . the smallest children can give to the Lord at least a tenth of whatever they have.  Whether one is talking about an allowance or pocket change, the smallest child can give to the Lord a fair, proportionate amount of what he or she has.  We may feel that we need to belong to the church for a certain amount of time before we can begin to feel at home or like we really belong.  But we can tithe right away.  Like Abram, we need to start immediately giving to the Lord the right and proper proportion from what we have.  According to God’s Word, that proportion is at least 10 percent.
Secondly, we refer to Abram as “the father of faith,” but as the first person to tithe in the Bible, he was also the father of tithing.  Moses, the giver of the law, was not the first to tithe.  The prophets were not the first to tithe.  Abram, the father of faith, was the first.  Thus, from the outset, tithing and faith are linked together in Scripture.  We tithe not because it is written in the law . . . but as an expression of our faith.  No one commanded Abram to tithe . . . his was a voluntary gift of faith and thanksgiving.  Thus when we talk about tithing, we’re not simply talking about money . . . we’re also talking about what it means to be faithful.  (Don’t you want to teach your children what it means to be faithful?)  Being faithful is more than a matter of keeping one’s word and standing with the church and the Lord when things get rough.  Faithfulness is more than being dutiful and diligent in exercising our responsibility.  Faithfulness is also rendering unto the Lord a fair and proper proportion of all that we have.  For where our treasures are, there will our hearts be also (see Matthew 6:21).
Third, the fact that Abram tithed means that tithing is of ancient origin.  Tithing is no new doctrine . . . it may be a new concept for many of us, but it is not a new practice.  It is no gimmick thought up by the church or anyone else to raise money.  Tithing goes back not only to the very beginning of our faith . . . but to the very dawn of organized and systematic religious practice.  Abram was the first person to tithe in the biblical record, but he was not the first person to tithe in history.  Tithing, or the giving of a sacred tenth, was practiced by a number of ancient peoples.  Soon after humans began to feel the religious impulse stirring their spirits and beating within their hearts . . . soon after they started calling upon the name of the Lord in prayer and praise . . .  they also started bringing expressions of thanksgiving and faith to God.  At a time so far back in history that no one can identify, men and women started setting aside a minimum of 10 percent of everything they had for God.
Fourth, Abram tithed out of thanksgiving because God had blessed him with victory in battle.  The blessings preceded the tithing.  Abram was able to tithe because God had blessed him with something to tithe from.  Let us not forget that our giving is at best a response to the fact that God has already given to us.  If God had not already given . . . we wouldn’t have anything to give.  We talk about how much we give and how often we give . . . forgetting that God is the first and greatest giver.  God is not some oppressive warlord who takes tribute money from his subjects.  God is not some colonial power who exploits and robs people of that which is theirs to fill the heavenly coffers.  God is a gracious heavenly Parent who has given and sacrificed for us.  The verse of Scripture that some consider to be the greatest in the Bible doesn’t lift up God’s power, justice, majesty, holiness, and righteousness . . . but rather God’s gift to us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God never asks anything of human beings until they have first been blessed and given more than they can ever repay.  The Ten Commandments begin with the words, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2).  It is only after God says these words that God asks obedience from the children of Israel.  God’s requests are always based on his right to ask because God is the first and greatest giver.
Thus, I repeat, our giving is a response . . . we give because we have received.  This doesn’t mean that we are trying to pay God back or buy God’s favor.  It means that our giving begins in gratitude.  We have been blessed, and so we give in thankfulness.  The story is told of a man of modest means who was known for his generosity.  Someone asked him why he gave so much and if he was worried about going broke.  He replied, “No, not at all.  I shovel out and God shovels in, and God uses a bigger shovel than I do.  And God started the shoveling first.”
Let us never forget that we can’t beat God giving.  The shovel of God . . . who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all this universe’s valued jewels . . . is bigger than ours.  The shovel of God . . . whose pleasure it is to give us the Kingdom . . . is bigger than ours.  The shovel of God . . . who is able to supply all our needs according to his riches in glory . . . is bigger than ours.  The shovel of God . . . whose Word has told us to ask and we would receive, to seek and we would find, to knock and doors would be opened to us . . . is bigger than ours.  The shovel that is bigger than ours belongs to the God who said, “Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test  . . . if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing” (Malachi 3:10).
The shovel of God . . . who made salvation available    . . . is bigger than ours.  On Calvary God gave his Son.  Abram may have given a tenth, but on Calvary God gave all.  I’m aware that people say, “When I come to church, I don’t want to hear about money and giving.  I just want to hear the gospel.”  But one can’t really talk about the gospel without talking about giving . . . because at the heart of the gospel is a God who gives.  And because God gives first . . . we too ought to give in thanksgiving.
I know that some of us get weary of giving and tired of hearing pleas about giving.  Sometimes we wonder if we will ever reach a point where we can stop giving.  Well, when God stops giving to us . . . we can stop giving.  When God stops making ways out of no ways for us . . .  we can stop giving.  When God stops being our company keeper when we’re lonely . . . and stops helping us pull together the broken pieces of our lives when loved ones are taken from us . . . we can stop giving.  When God stops giving us grace sufficient to match our trials, strength to bear our crosses, and courage to face our tomorrows . . . we can stop giving.  When God stops putting food on our table . . . when God stops  helping us raise children    . . . when God stops providing for our families . . . we can stop giving.  When the blood given by Jesus no longer avails for our sins . . .  when the eternal flow of God’s love is dried up and we’re left alone against “the wiles of the devil” . . . when the Holy Spirit refuses to give up power for us to be victorious in life and death . . .  then we can stop giving.  But as long as God gives . . . we also ought gladly give . . . and that’s all right because you can’t beat God giving . . . no matter how you try. 
And just as sure as you are living and the Lord is in heaven on high, the more you give, the more God gives to you.  But keep on giving because it’s really true that you can’t beat God giving, no matter how you try . . . nor will God ask anything from you, He hasn’t already given you.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Facing Our Fears
1 Kings 18 & 19
At some point in our lives, all of us face fear.  Some face it constantly.  Many people cope daily with internal problems that are capable of destroying them.  They cannot visualize their problems or understand them, but their problems seem to have them zeroed in.
What are fears in the dark in your life?  Things that go bump in the night and cause us to lose sleep, things that we perceive have the potential to destroy us.  That’s what fear is . . . something that we perceive has the potential to destroy us.  Whether the fears are real or figments of our imagination is beside the point.  If we perceive them to be real, then for us perception is reality.
Fear is fear and if a person is afraid of something or someone . . .  that fear can be just as immobilizing and paralyzing and can have as much potential for self-destruction whether their fear is real or imaginary.  Telling somebody not to be afraid won’t solve the problem.  People are afraid not because they desire to be afraid . . . but because they do not know how not to be afraid.  If they knew how not to be afraid they wouldn’t be afraid.  People who have phobias or fear of certain things such as heights, closed-in places, all animals or certain animals, people in general or certain people, the future, failure, water, flying, driving, storms, death, and so forth, do not want to be afraid of certain things.  They do not know how not to be afraid.
Telling someone that he or she has nothing to fear does not solve the problem because fear has its own logic.  Fear can distort reality, deaden you to common sense, deaden your reasoning faculties and blind you to the truth.  You cannot see things as they are except through your fear.
Telling someone that he or she has nothing to fear but fear itself is good rhetoric but bad medicine, because fear itself is a deadly enemy that can destroy you.
Either we learn to control and live with our fears or our fears will control us and destroy us.  Either we face our fears and fix them or our fears will fix us.  This text is an illustration of this truth.  Elijah had won a great victory for God on Mount Carmel.  He had out prayed 450 prophets and 400 prophets of Asherah, who were Canaanite gods that had a number of followers but no power.  Elijah had prayed fire down from heaven on Mount Carmel, and then had prayed rain down from the same skies to end a three-and-a-half-year drought.  Even though the prophets of Asherah and Baal had Elijah hopelessly outnumbered, and even though they prayed from morning until evening, they had produced nothing but their own perspiration and fatigue.
After the supremacy of Yahweh, the true and living God, had been reestablished, the people who had gathered on Mount Carmel revolted against the prophets of Baal and Asherah.  When King Ahab, who was present on Mount Carmel, told his queen, Jezebel, of Elijah’s actions, she swore to take Elijah’s life within twenty-four hours.  When Elijah heard of Queen Jezebel’s threat, great man of God that he was, and persevering prayer warrior, he “lost it” and ran away to the wilderness.
Let us note two things about Elijah’s flight.  First, many have made much of the fact that Elijah had stood up to over 850 men on Mount Carmel but ran away from one woman named Jezebel.  Logic would say that the 850 men had more potential to destroy Elijah than Jezebel.  Whether they did or not is beside the point.  In Elijah’s mind, Jezebel was a greater threat than the 850 he had withstood.  You can be bold about many things and brave before many foes, and yet cower and panic before one thing.  In other words, you don’t need a lot of tigers in the dark . . . just one in your cage to get you on the run.  People who say that they are not afraid of anything are doing one of two things . . . either bluffing or they just haven’t met the right tiger.
Second, Elijah, who was the epitome of boldness and fearlessness, panicked and ran.  Everybody can lose it at some point.  No matter how many tigers you have faced and withstood in the past . . . the right tiger at the right moment can cause you to lose it.  If you have ever lost control or your composure . . . if you have ever been pushed beyond your limits . . . if you have ever had a nervous breakdown . . . don’t be embarrassed.  Welcome to the club . . . everybody loses it sometime.  At some point, at some time in some way, everybody loses it.   “I thought he was stronger than that.”  He was stronger than that, ordinarily . . . but the right tiger came upon him when his strength was not what it normally is.  “I didn’t think I’d ever see her break.”  When the right tiger gets a hold of you, anybody will break.
When Elijah ran, he ran to the right place.  He ran to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.  He ran to the arms of God.  What do we do when fear overtakes faith?  We run to God.  There at Mount Horeb God spoke to him not in the night of earthquake, wind, and fire, but in the gentleness, comfort, and communion of the still, small voice.  As Elijah felt God’s presence in silence, he was able to express his fears and frustrations.  He cried, “[Enough is enough.  I’ve had it.]  I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I alone am left. [I’m out here fighting this fight by myself.] And they are seeking my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:14).  Fear will make you feel like giving up sometimes.  Sometimes you just get tired of fighting tigers . . . fighting on the job, fighting in the home, fighting in church, fighting pettiness and jealousy, fighting to make ends meet, fighting your addiction, fighting the devil, fighting your fears.  And we say like Elijah, “Enough is enough.  I give up.  Why try anymore?”
What saved Elijah was that when he panicked and ran . . . he ran to the Lord.  Not to another unfulfilling and unrewarding relationship . . . but to God.  Not to another eating or drinking binge or shopping and spending spree . . . but to God.  What saved Elijah was that when he said “enough,” he was talking to God.  Not to another human being who was just as confused and had just as many hang-ups as he had, but to God.
The only way I know how to handle tigers in the dark when panic is setting in and I don’t know what else to do is to come before God and say, “Father, I stretch my hands to thee; no other help I know.  God, here I am, your child.  I can’t handle these fears anymore.  I don’t know what else to do.  I don’t know where to go. I put this fear in your hands.  I put myself in your hands.  I put these tigers in your hands.  You take them because I’ve had enough.”
Now when we go to God in prayer, the fear doesn’t leave right away.  There was a story of a well-known missionary in India who was bowing one night in prayer at the side of his bed when a great python lowered itself from the rafters of his bungalow and encircled his body with its cold and powerful coils.  It made no attempt to constrict, yet the missionary knew that if he struggled, the great serpent would tighten the coils and crush him.  With marvelous self-control and courage born of faith, he went on quietly praying, until at length the animal unwound itself and went back into the roof.
Sometimes as we pray . . . fears will attack us and wrap themselves around us, even as we come before God.  That’s why we need to learn not only how to pray . . . but how to pray through.  There’s a difference in praying and praying through.  Praying is talking to the Lord . . . but praying through is agonizing with the Lord.  Praying through means that you continue to pray until the breakthrough comes, until you know you have the victory.  When you are trying to overcome a fear, you are engaged in warfare.  One battle will not win a war.  You keep fighting on your knees over and over again until you feel the fear release its hold and crawl back to wherever it came from.  To pray through is to be as determined to get your victory as fear is to overcome you and the devil is to defeat you.  To pray through is to say like Jacob when he wrestled with the angel all night long, “I will not let you go.  I don’t care how long it takes, or how often I have to come to you, or how many setbacks I have or how many tigers are in my cage.  I will not let you go until you bless me. I know you can do it.  You have the power and you promised never to leave me.  Now I’m claiming your promise. I’m going to stay right here until my change comes.”  That’s what it means to pray until you pray through.  You pray through sorrow to song . . . pray through midnight to morning . . . pray through tears to testimony . . . pray through weeping to winning.
Elijah prayed through at Mount Horeb and God spoke to him and said:
   Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.  Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha . . . as prophet in your place [and regarding your concern that you are the only one left], I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:15-18)

When you pray through you can face your tigers in the dark.  The story is told of a father whose little girl was afraid of the dark.  She would call for him in the middle of the night.  He would simply stand by her crib and look down upon her.  The little girl, knowing that her father was in the room and his eyes were looking down upon her, would fall to sleep peacefully, all fear gone.
You can face your tigers in the dark when you know that beyond them there is another set of eyes watching over you.  Even though the tigers can see you better than you can see them . . . you have no need to fear because the other set of eyes can see every move they make and can move to protect you.

A Thankful Heart

     In Luke 17:11-19, we read that Jesus healed ten “untouchables” . . . ten lepers.  This incident is not only another example of the healing power of Christ, it is a demonstration of the Master’s sensitivity to human need and his ever-present compassion.
     The sight of lepers was common in Jesus’ day and most people grew accustomed to seeing them.  Suffering and misery are like anything else . . . we can get used to them.  If we see them enough, if we’re confronted by them enough, then we cease to be shocked by them and we learn to accept them as the natural order of things.
     However, Jesus was not so accustomed to suffering and misery and tragedy that he could take problems, injustices, and pain lightly.  Whenever he saw misery, something moved within him . . . his heart was touched and he responded.  He knew that he couldn’t heal everybody in the world, but that didn’t stop him from healing those that he could.  Thus, when the lepers cried out to him, Jesus responded.
     As the lepers followed Jesus’ command to go show themselves to the priest, they found themselves cleansed.  As they followed the instructions of Jesus, they found themselves healed.  It came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed.  Deliverance, cleansing, salvation, and healing come to us only as we listen to the directives of the Lord and obey.  Sometimes those directives may seem strange, but it is only as we, in faith, venture to do as the Lord has commanded and the Spirit has directed, that we are set free from that which once held us bound.
     When the lepers discovered their healing, what was their response?  Nine went their way, while one returned to give thanks.  When the one returned, glorifying God for what had been done in his life, Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten? Where are the nine?” 
     I don’t know exactly where the other nine went . . . the Scriptures do not say.  Perhaps a couple of them didn’t return because they took their healing for granted.  There was no reason to be thankful because they felt that they had been given a raw deal in life.  The disease had been unfairly thrust upon them, so the healing was only what they deserved.  They were embittered about their condition and, because their bitterness was so deep, they were not particularly thankful for their relief.
     There are some people in life who feel that the world owes them a living . . .  they take God’s blessings for granted.  When we think of the unemployed, the destitute, and the hungry, what makes us think that we are any more deserving of the jobs we have, or the food on our tables, or the shelter above our heads, than anyone else?  If we have been blessed, it’s not because we have an inherent right or that we are more deserving.  There are a lot of deserving people who don’t have what we have.  We have been blessed because God has chosen to bless us.  What I am saying is that every good and perfect gift comes from above.  So instead of taking life for granted, we should live life in gratitude.
     There are some church people who feel that if things go right in the church: “It’s what we did,” but if things go wrong: “It’s what the pastor did or did not do.” Some people feel that when something good comes their way: “It’s what I did, what I worked for; it’s my accomplishment.”  But the minute something bad happens, our tune becomes: “Why did God do this to me; why did God let this happen to me; why is God so hard on me?”
     But when we approach life with an attitude of gratitude, we give thanks in all things.  Like Habakkuk, we can say, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be shot in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields yield not meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18, KJV).
     Perhaps not all of the lepers took their healing for granted.  Some probably meant to return to say thank-you to Jesus, but they became sidetracked and never got around to it.  They meant to return to Jesus just as soon as they left the temple.  But they decided to go home first and show themselves to their families.  They decided to go by the old neighborhood and see their old friends, as well as some of the people who had shunned them before.
     When they went home they started celebrating and before they knew it the day was gone and the night was gone.  Before they knew it a week was gone, a month was gone, a year was gone.  Before they knew it  . . . Jesus was gone.  Before they knew it Jesus had been crucified, and they never got around to thanking him.
     They probably didn’t do it purposefully . . . they had the best of intentions.  They meant to thank him . . .  they just became so engrossed in their own agendas, they got so caught up in their own celebrations, they just never got around to it.
     There are a lot of people who will end up in hell because of “meant to” religion.  We meant to visit the sick . . . we meant to ask our neighbors’ forgiveness . . . we meant to say a kind word.  We meant to go to church . . .  we certainly meant to keep all those promises we made to God when we were down and out or when we were sick.  We meant to be a good Christian husband or wife, son or daughter, father or mother . . . but we just became sidetracked.
     We became so engrossed in doing what we wanted to do . . . we kept putting it off.  Then we looked around and our opportunities were gone.  The best years of our lives were gone . . . our children were grown . . . the person we intended to be reconciled with was gone . . . but we meant to do it.
     “Meant to” religion has never done anything but talk.  It has never saved a soul, comforted the sick, or repaired any hurt feelings.  That’s why we must act whenever we get the chance.
     The one grateful leper had to turn back and retrace his steps to get to Jesus.  Perhaps the others were grateful, but they didn’t feel like going through the trouble of turning back to give thanks.  They found it much easier to go on their merry way.  To find Jesus, they would have had to return to the spot and revisit those same places where they were once lepers.  They wanted to forget all about that and so they just continued on their journey.
     It’s easier to continue on our way than to pause and do a little backtracking to give thanks.  It takes a little extra effort on our part to give thanks.  It’s easier to lay in bed on Sunday morning and not struggle with the kids to get them up and ready . . . it’s easier to think . . . I’ll go next Sunday for sure . . . it’s easier to make excuses than come to church to thank and praise God for last week’s journey.  It’s easier to stay at home in the kitchen or in front of the television than it is to get up and go out to that holy place to say, “I thank you, Jesus, for what you’ve done for me.”
     It’s easy to get so involved in our activities that we can’t find the time to serve God.  Some of us don’t want to think about the time when we were outcasts, when we didn’t have much of anything, before the hand of the Lord rescued us.  Some of us have conveniently forgotten all those promises through all those years that we have made to God -- we assume we have plenty of time to make good on them.  Some of us are so far on our way that we think it’s too much to retrace our steps back to Jesus.  It’s easier to just go on our way.
     Yes, a lot of people, for one reason or another, fail to give God proper thanks.  Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten?  Where are the nine?”  Ten were healed but only one returned, but thank God for the one.  No matter how bad things may get, no matter how many turn their backs on God, someone will return to give thanks.
     I’ve found out, as a preacher, that when things get rough and supporters seem few, God always sends someone to offer a word of encouragement.  God always has one who says, “I’m praying for you.  I’ll do what I can.  I’m with you.  I can’t speak for the others, but you can count on me.”
     God always has one.  That one’s name may be Noah, Abraham, Moses . . . it may be Joshua, Gideon, or Esther . . . it may be Elijah, Isaiah, or Jeremiah . . . it may be Daniel, or John the Baptist, or Stephen, or Paul, or John of Patmos . . . it may be a friend named Dennis or a sister named Rose . . . but God always has somebody.  Sometimes God has more than we think . . . as a pastor I have found that out too . . . many more are willing to pray and thank God for the good we do as a community of faith . . . than the one or two squeaky wheels who always need to be oiled.
     Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men?  Where are the nine?  Does only this foreigner return to give glory to God?”  Among the ten lepers there was one who was a despised Samaritan.  There was one who was not only the victim of leprosy, but he was also the victim of intense prejudice and hatred from the Jews.  Yet when the healing took place, it was the Samaritan who returned to give thanks.  Jesus’ own people went on their way.  It was one who was considered a foreigner, the one we would least expect, who came back shouting, “Glory to God, I’ve been healed.”
     Many times God’s choice is the one that we would consider to be the least likely. 
     When God got ready for a deliverer for the children of Israel, God picked the world’s most unlikely candidate: Moses.  A son of Pharaoh’s court, Moses was a former general of the Egyptian army and a murderer who spoke with a stammer.
     When Samuel went to Jesse’s house, God chose David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, who was only a shepherd boy and who was the least likely candidate to be a king over Israel.
     When God was ready for an apostle to the Gentiles he got the one least likely: Saul, a zealous Pharisee and ardent persecutor of the church. 
     That’s why, from the youngest to the oldest, we have to treat everyone right.  Jesus says, “Whoever receives a little child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me . . . :Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea” (Mark 9:37, 42).  Jesus says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least; you have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40, KJV).
     In the church, God’s anointed is not always the one with the squeakiest wheel or the highest office.  God’s person is not always the individual who is up front all the time or the one who gives the most.  God’s person may not say much and may not even get any recognition.  They may not even hold an office, but that’s alright because God knows who these persons are.  Their souls have been set free and their names have been written in the Lamb’s book of life.
     Jesus was thanked by the one least likely.  Often our blessings come not from those we’ve helped the most . . . but from those about whom we have not given much thought.  Often those for whom we don’t think we’ve done very much, are the most appreciative.  Maybe what we did was a little thing to us, but it was a big thing to them.  That’s what makes doing good worthwhile.  The nine may go their own way, never bothering to say thank you, never thinking about how we’ve helped them or what we’ve tried to do for them.  But when the one comes back, we know the kindness we’ve tried to do has not been in vain.  Let us not become discouraged over the nine . . . just thank God that we’ve been able to help the one.
     I don’t know about you, but this is how I approach life.  I may not be able to sing like angels . . . I may not be able to preach like Paul . . . I may not be rich or smart . . . history books may never record my works . . . but if in the course of this life I’ve been able to help one person, then everything’s all right.  If one person has been brought closer to God . . . if one young person has been guided in the right way . . .  if one old person has been comforted in their loneliness . . .  if one sick person has been helped to hold on until deliverance comes . . . if one soul has been saved . . . if one life has been redeemed . . . if one person has seen the beauty of Jesus shining through my wretched life . . . then my living has not been in vain.
     Just think of it!  There is something we can do for God.  Saying “Thank You,” in our prayers gives Him delight.  Can we . . . will we . . . let go and pour forth our thanks?  But even here He must help us.  And so we pray, “You have given so much . . . give me one more gift . . . a thankful heart.”

May Christ Be Born In You
Sue Monk Kidd, in one of her books, recalls her youth and how she would prepare for Christmas. In early December, she would sit by the wooden nativity set clustered under their Christmas tree and think over the last year of her life. She would think deeply about Christmas and the coming of Jesus.

She remembers, one time, visiting a monastery. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas. As she passed a monk walking outside, she greeted him with, "Merry Christmas." The monk's response caught her off guard a bit. "May Christ be born in you," he replied.

His words seemed strange and peculiar at the time. What did he mean, "May Christ be born in you?" At the time she was unsure of what he meant, but now all these years later, sitting beside the Christmas tree, she felt the impact of his words. She discovered that Advent is a time of spiritual preparation. It is also a time of transformation. It is "discovering our soul and letting Christ be born from the waiting heart."
 
King Duncan, Collected Sermons

A True Christmas Story   
             The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.
   When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work.  They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.  They worked  hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
   On the 19th a terrible tempest, a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.  On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.  His heart sunk when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 6 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.  The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
   On the way, he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in.  One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center.  It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall.  He bought it and headed back to the church.  By this time it had started to snow. 
   An older woman running from the opposite direction was  trying to catch the bus.  She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.  She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry.  The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle.  Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked,  "where did you get that tablecloth?"  The pastor explained.
   The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there.  They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.
   The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth.
   The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.  When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.  Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.
   The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church.
   The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do.  She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.  What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great.
   At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.  One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.
   The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?  He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison.
   He never saw his wife or his home again or all the 35 years in between.
   The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride.  They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.
   He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.
   True Story, submitted by Pastor Rob Reid.  “Who says God does not work in mysterious ways?”

Our Lady of Guadalupe

 ::MonkeyAngel::

According to tradition, on December 9, 1531 Juan Diego, a simple indigenous peasant, had a vision of a young woman while he was on a hill in the Tepeyac desert, near Mexico City. The lady told him to build a church exactly on the spot where they were standing. He told the local bishop, who asked for some proof. He went back and had the vision again. He told the lady that the bishop wanted proof, and she said "Bring the roses behind you." Turning to look, he found a rose bush growing behind him. He cut the roses, placed them in his poncho and returned to the bishop, saying he had brought proof. When he opened his poncho, instead of roses, there was an image of the young lady in the vision.

snip

Two accounts published in the 1640s, one in Spanish and the other in Nahuatl, tell how, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531 (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire),[5] the peasant Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen or sixteen, surrounded by light, on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language, Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor, and from her words Juan Diego recognized her as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return and ask the Lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. It was winter and very late in the season for any flowers to bloom, but on the hilltop which was usually barren, Diego found Castillian roses, and the Virgin herself arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.[6] ::santawink::

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

Seahorse, thanks for sharing!
Merry Christmas!
 ::snowmanlaugh::

THE MANGER-MAKER’S WIFE
   Good evening.  My name is Abigail, and although you have never met me before, I come to you tonight to tell you a fascinating story.  Some of this story you know well, others part of this story you don’t know at all, and I pray to Yahweh that all of this story -- the story about my husband Josiah the manger maker, you will remember and may it touch your hearts.   
   The sun was setting over ancient Palestine . . . as it had done so many times before, when I walked to the door of Josiah’s little workshop in the back of the house   . . .  as I had done day after day . . . to tell Josiah that the evening meal was ready. 
   Occasionally I would pause . . . and stand quietly     . . . just to watch my husband who was so often deeply engrossed in his work.
   As I watched him moving around amidst the evening shadows of the setting sun, I smiled looking at his full beard and head of hair which seemed to turn more grey with each passing day.  When he raised his hammer and brought it down accurately and forcefully upon its intended object, I saw the large veins protruding from his hands and neck, and the muscles in his strong arms which had been preserved by years of physical work and conditioning.  They were also loving and tender arms, having held me in what I always believed the most perfect embrace.
   I could remember when his hair had been as red as the rays of the setting sun, which was now casting its final light for that day upon the earth and was bathing the little workshop in an amber glow.  I could remember when the veins were not so prominent in his hands and the muscle tone in his arms was even more sleek.  How I loved this man!  We had more than a good marriage -- we were created for each other . . . and the years had gone by quickly.   
   Again I smiled the smile of one loved so perfectly as I remembered when I had been a fair maiden and had been attracted to this young lad, whom I had met one day as I went with mother to the village well.  I had seen him there with his mother and I often wondered if he would ever notice me.  This particular morning, Josiah’s finger was bleeding.  Someone had left a broken water pitcher by the well and he had tried to rearrange the pieces together.  He had cut himself with one of the jagged edges of the broken pottery.  I went and put a piece of clean cloth on it, our eyes met . . . well, that’s another story for another time.
   For as long as I had known him, he had loved to fix things and work with his hands.  What had started out as curiosity about things that could be carved from wood or made with stone, had turned into a skill and then into a career.  My Josiah, the manger-maker had become a master craftsman and had become known throughout the region for the quality of his work.  He believed that his work represented him, so he always tried to do it well.  He was never out of work because his customers always came back.  There were others who could do faster work and possibly fancier work . . . but no one could do any better work.  Plus, he didn’t charge an arm and a leg for his work, although he could have, he was content to merely make a decent living for me and our two children . . . and do his work well.  In addition to the constant work from old customers, there were always new customers who had heard of the his skill and would come from near and far with work to be done.
   As I looked at him this particular night and thought about our life together, he looked up with a twinkle in his eyes.  The twinkle was always there when he looked at me, even after all these years.  He asked, “Is it supper time already?”  “Yes,” I replied, “time to wash up and come to eat.  By the way, what are you working on so intently? Anything special?”
   “No,” he said, “just another manger.  Reuben, who owns an inn down in Bethlehem, needs another manger.  This new decree from Caesar Augustus, requiring everyone to return to their hometown to register for the census, has brought an unusual amount of business to Bethlehem and to Reuben’s inn this year.  He was telling me that he stays full just about all of the time.  He needs another manger for his guests’ animals.  No, this is no special project; it’s just another manger.”
   The next day, Josiah finished the manger and inspected it, confident that he had done his usual quality job.  This was far from being the first manger he had made and hopefully it would not be his last.  Since he put his best effort into all of his work, this manger, from his perspective was just another manger.
   It wasn’t necessary for Reuben the innkeeper to inspect it too closely, because he knew that Josiah  didn’t do shoddy work.  Reuben knew that the insides would be hallowed out deep enough to hold sufficient hay and feed for the cattle and other animals who would eat from it.  He knew that there would be no cracks in its bottom or sides which would allow water to seep in.  He knew that the manger would be strong enough to take the kicks and scraping from the hooves of the animals who would use it.  This was not the first manger Reuben had ordered from Josiah and hopefully it would not be his last.  So for the innkeeper--  it was just another manger.
   Just another manger -- that’s probably what the yard help thought as they carried it to the stable in back of the inn and found a convenient place for the feeding of the animals.
   Just another superstitious Hebrew -- that’s probably what Pharaoh thought when Moses first showed up at his court with the command that God’s people be set free.
   Just another meddlesome woman who has gotten out of her place -- that’s probably what Sisera and his generals thought when they first heard that the prophetess Deborah was giving courage to the armies of Israel.
   Just another preacher trying to make trouble.  We'll intimidate him and buy him off like we’ve done all the rest -- that’s probably what Ahab and Jezebel thought of Elijah when he declared that the rains would come only at his word.
   Just another woman telling another story  -- that’s probably what you’re thinking when I began to tell you this story.
   We must be careful about how we dismiss and take lightly those who have been made by the Master Crafter.  Never sell yourself short.  Never dismiss yourself as being a nobody with nothing special to offer.  Recognize the fact that you have been made by the Master Crafter.
   Others may treat us as just another person, just another neighbor, just another woman, just another man, just another manger maker . . . but we are the work of the Master Crafter.  We are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 1:9, KJV).   Though we may look ordinary, Yahweh has suited us in our ordinariness for the purposes that we are to serve.  Our insides have been hollowed out so that they can hold hearts to love God . . . minds to serve God . . . spirits that long for God . . . and souls to live eternally with God.  God has given us the blood of  our Messiah to seal the cracks in our lives so that no sin can seep in to destroy what we are within.  We are strengthened by God to withstand the kicks and bruises that others -- Satan and life itself -- give to us.   We are the work of the Master Crafter.
   Making mangers was not a particularly noteworthy calling that my Josiah had . . . however, it was his calling and so  . . . he did his best.  He didn’t allow others to belittle his talents.  He was proud of his work so he did his best.
   No matter how many or how few, how great or how small your talents, if they are your talents, always put forth your best effort.  No matter how great or how small your contribution . . . when it is your time to give, give with thanksgiving, with pride, and with style.  No matter how great or small the occasion  . . .when it is your time to perform . . . give it your all.  We have no need to be jealous of another’s task or talent, gift or role.  All we have to do is strive for excellence in that which is ours to do.     
   My Josiah, the manger-maker had no way of knowing the special use to which his manger would be put.  Thank  God that he was consistent at producing his best.  Thank God that the manger into which the baby Jesus was lain was among Josiah’s best efforts.   Heaven forbid that our Lord would have lain in a manger that proved insufficient for its unexpected blessing.  Heaven forbid that  our Messiah . . . who was born in the meanest, poorest, and crudest of circumstances, would have been laid in a manger of shoddy materials and poor workmanship.
             We ought to always put forth our best effort because we never know when Yahweh will have some special use for our talent, our witness or testimony, or our life. We never know when we will be needed to fill a specific place, serve a special role, or be a unique part of God’s larger plan of redemption.  We ought to always put forth our best effort for we never know when God will visit our lives.
   Thank God that Abraham was consistently courteous to strangers.  On that day when he saw two strangers approaching his tent, he received them with his usual courtesy.  He didn’t realize it, but those two ordinary-looking men were angels on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah to deliver God’s word of judgment.  Because Abraham extended his best self, he received the assurance that God’s word would still come true.  His wife, Sarah, though far beyond childbearing years, would still give him a son, and Abraham would be the father of a great nation.
   It always pays to put forth our best because we never know when heaven will descend upon our lives in search of our best.  That’s why Our Saviour told the disciples: “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day the Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).
   On the night that  our Messiah was born, a manger had a place in the drama of salvation.  Who would have thought that at this particular time and place in history, the Elohim of the universe would have used something as insignificant as a manger? Who would have thought that at such an important point in time, on such a momentous occasion as the coming of the long-awaited Messiah, that something as simple and as small as a manger would have had such a prominent role?
   One could conceive of Elohim using the forces of nature.  Elohim had used rain in the time of Noah and fire in the time of Moses.  During the Egyptian bondage Elohim used all kinds of natural plagues to free the children of Israel.  Yahweh sent the whirlwind for Elijah and Elohim would use the stars to guide the wise men to the baby Jesus. 
   Throughout the Scriptures the mighty, forces of nature are used to accomplish God’s will, but who would have thought that God would have needed and use something as small and as simple, but as important in that place and at that time, as a mere manger?
   One would expect the involvement of human beings in the drama of salvation.  One would expect prophets to foretell of a coming Messiah.  In the event of a child’s birth, one would expect the involvement of human parents.  One could conceive of visitors, even shepherds, coming to see him. 
   When one considers that Our Saviour comes to challenge and rebuke the hold of Satan and sin on human life and destiny, one is not surprised to find an evil Herod plotting to destroy him.  But who would expected God to have needed and used something as simple and as small, but yet as important in that place and in that time, as a mere manger?
   One is not surprised to see the involvement of angels.  After all, throughout the Scriptures angels are associated with God’s special communication with us.  Since God used angels when he spoke in various ways in times past to our mothers and fathers, it would be expected that angels would be involved when God was communicating with us through a Son whom he had appointed heir of all things and through whom God also created the world.  With the coming of God in Our Saviour one would expect to hear angels singing “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men and [women] with whom God is well pleased” (Luke 2:14).  Angels and the baby Jesus just naturally go together.  However, what one would not expect is the involvement of something as simple and as small, but yet as important, at that time and in that place,  as a manger, in this, the greatest story ever told.
   However, at that time and in that place, nothing but a manger would do because the baby Jesus needed some lace to lay his head.  Mary and Joseph and the others would not have been able to hold him all of the time.  The baby Jesus would have been constantly shifted from person to person.  The ground would have been too hard and cold for him.  The forces of nature -- fire, wind, and rain -- would not have been able to cushion the head of  our Messiah.  Angels’ music, while sweet, was not designed to be a resting place for a baby’s head.  Since cribs are not found in stables, the only thing that could serve that purpose was something as simple as the feeding trough of the stable animals -- my Josiah’s manger.
   If God can use something as simple and as small as a manger, then God can use you and me.  We may not be able to sing like angels and we may not be able to lead like Moses, but if God can use something as simple and small as the manger, God can use you and me. 
   There may be others better qualified, with more energy and strength, with more money and influence, but if God is big enough to use something small like the manger of a good craftsman, since we have been made by the Master Crafter, God can use you and me.
   As unbelievable as it may seem, maybe what God needs in a particular situation, to reach a particular person,  is not somebody else but you or me.  Maybe somebody needs to hear us tell our story -- as only we can -- of how Our Saviour lifted us from sinking sand.  Maybe somebody who “knew us when” needs to see the change that Jesus has made in our lives.  Every now and then we can be God’s mangers -- serving a special purpose . . . in special situations . . .at special times.
   It was just another manger -- that’s probably what everyone thought as they dealt with the manger in which  our Messiah was laid.  How could they possibly know that the God of the universe had a special purpose for that manger?  How could they know that something far more precious than fodder for cattle or feed for animals would lay in that manger?  How could they know that manger would be the first resting place for God's unspeakable gift?  How could they know that the angels would sing over that manger?   How could they know  that manger, which looked so ordinary, would be unlike any other manger that had ever been made? How could they know that such an ordinary manger would hold such an extraordinary treasure?  How could they know that after two thousand years you and I are still talking about and singing about that manger?


   Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
   the little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
   The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
   the little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

   The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
   but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes;
   I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
   and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

   Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay
   close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
   bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
   and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.

Did You Ever Wonder Why?

   Why does the Lord do things as He does?
   So often things happen to God’s children that appear to have no purpose whatever and seem so far removed from any reason.  It sometimes happens that sorrow comes to an honest heart that has long been yielded to the will of the Lord and has been making an earnest effort to serve Him and to please Him.  Trouble comes.  Hot tears flow down bewildered cheeks and Christian friends shake their heads and wonder why.
   The history of God’s people shows many such instances.  There is the case of John the Baptist.  Jesus loved this courageous man and paid him what is perhaps the highest compliment paid to any man in the Bible.  Jesus said of John the Baptist that of those born of woman, there had not risen one greater than he.  What happened?  At the height of his ministry this mighty warrior was slain by the weak and evil Herod.  After he had preached only about six months, and at the age of a little past thirty, John died under the blade of a wicked king.
   Why did God allow this to happen?  Those were critical days.  The powers of Hell had set themselves against the Son of God and everything He stood for . . . a baby church would need such men as John the Baptist in the important decades ahead.  From every human point of view it would seem that John would be sorely needed, for there were few so brave and loyal to the Lord as he.  But God allowed him to be killed.  Why?  The answer is hidden in the heart of God, and when we at last understand it, we shall marvel at the goodness of it.
   From our own experiences arise questions that we are not able to answer except by faith.  There is the troubling story of Susan Powell and her children.  Why?
   With our streets full of people who have little regard for others rights or property . . . with jails full of folks whose lives, at least for a time, are twisted and out of tune with the rest of humanity, with other young people following careers of crime and preying like beasts on innocent humanity, with others seemingly hopeless slaves of alcohol and narcotics . . . why should this mother and precious children be the ones to die? Why?
   These questions . . . since the Lord has not considered it needful that we understand them now . . . must be tucked away on the shelves of faith for the time being.  We must realize that we simply are not qualified to judge who is to be left in the world and who is to be taken away . . . or who is to remain sick and who is to be healed.  Such decisions belong only to the Lord, and we must comfort ourselves in the knowledge that God never makes a mistake or commits a useless or ill-timed deed.  If God were so small that all of His ideas could be packed into our feeble understandings, then we would all have to change our ideas about Him.
   But there is comfort for the aching heart in the Holy Word of God.  The Bible casts a great deal of light on the reasons behind God’s actions, and if we will be willing to search the Scriptures, we can find peace for our souls.  If we look at the Scriptures, we can find answers to many of the questions that can never be answered if we only look at people and things in this present world.  Often in the Bible we see that God deals with the very question that we face here . . .why does God do things as He does?
   In the first place, all the ways and thoughts of God are noble and lofty.  Listen to the words of the prophet in Isaiah 55:8-9.
      For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
   These verses tell us plainly that God does not always look at things as we do, nor is He obligated to do things as we think they ought to be done.  God is where He can get a clear view of everything, and He always does things as He knows they ought to be done.  What we think is best and what God knows is best often may be poles apart.
   Now think a moment about this verse.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth!”  What a statement!  How high are the heavens, anyway?  Well, we know that the nearest star is so high that its light, traveling at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, takes nearly four years to reach the earth.  So it must be high up where the stars are.  And God says that as the heavens . . .the stars . . .are high above the earth, so are His ways and thoughts higher than our ways and thoughts.
   Then it is no wonder that God sometimes moves in mysterious ways, and we find it hard to understand why.  God sees it all, and He knows what is best.
             Some friends of mine are the parents of a lovely little boy.  The child was born blind and crippled.  One foot was drawn out of shape, and as he learned to walk, the foot gave him trouble.  A physician told the parents that an operation would probably relieve some of the difficulty, and they agreed to the surgery.
   In preparing the child for the operation, food and water were kept from him for several hours prior to his being put to sleep.  When I dropped into his room at the hospital a few hours before the operation, the little boy was sitting up in his bed, very much alive and active.  He was feeling good except for hunger and thirst, and he kept asking every minute or two for something to eat and a drink of water.  Probably for the first time in his life he had not had any breakfast, and he simply could not understand why.  The experience was an ordeal for his parents.  For all of his life they had quickly and lovingly responded to his every desire.  But now he was calling for food and water and they could not help him.  No wonder tears ran down their cheeks, and tears ran down mine.  And there was no way of explaining to the little boy that it was better for him to be hungry and thirsty for a little while in order that he might be able to walk straighter and more comfortably a little later.
   My heart tells me that there must be many times when God would like to take us into His confidence and explain to us why things turn out as they do.  But like the precious little boy, we just couldn’t understand.  There is no way of getting across to us the real mercy that lies behind the tears of the moment.  But if our minds were as wide as the mind of God, and if we were where He is, we would understand why He works as He does, and instead of being bitter about it, we would fall on our knees and thank an all-wise Father for His care of His children.
   One of the most comforting statements in the Bible is that of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:28.
      And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.   
             You may search the Bible from cover to cover, and you may search any other book from end to end, and you will find few statements anywhere that are as broad and deep and rich as this one.  Hear the verse again.  Read it very, very carefully.  What things work together for good to them that love God?  All things!  What a joyful announcement!  It covers everything within the scope of human experience.  All things!  A loving Father has obligated Himself and guaranteed that everything that takes place in the lives of those who love Him is for good.  That means that every tear, every sorrow, every misfortune, every catastrophe and every calamity, even hurricanes and tornadoes, famines and freezes, depressions and plagues, sickness, pain, disappointment, and even death . . . all things . . . work together, cooperate, move in a mighty teamwork for good to them that love God.
   One day a boy named Joseph went to visit his brothers in the field (Genesis  27).  These brothers, irritated by what they considered to be the young man’s boasting, sold the boy into slavery.  Carried by some traders into Egypt, Joseph fell the victim of an evil woman’s lie and was cast into prison.  But you know the Genesis story, I hope.  God was working all the time, and in just a little while Joseph was next to the king himself in power and honor in that foreign land.  In this position he saved a nation from starvation and brought about the rescue of his own people back in his homeland.  Next to the salvation of his soul, the greatest thing that ever happened to Joseph was his being sold into slavery.  But it must have been hard for him to see it during the first few years of his bondage.
   In this case God made even the brothers’ jealousy to work for good in the life of a young man who loved Him.  The traders who carried Joseph into Egypt were working for him.  The evil woman who lied about him was working for him.  Pharaoh was working for him.  From beginning to end, from Canaan to Egypt, every particle of sand over which his camel walked, everything was working for good for Joseph and the Lord.
   How comforting it is to know that beyond any doubt the man or the woman who loves God is not a creature of chance.  Things do not just happen to such people.  Everything has a meaning, every circumstance and condition a purpose.  The person who loves God is a special object of God’s kindness, and the powers of Heaven are pledged to make all things cooperate as a team for good in that person’s life.  Thus it is that a child of God, one who has opened their heart in tender faith to Jesus Christ, may look up toward the stars, even though in tears, and know that from the sorrow of the moment God Almighty will work out a blessing that will rise in beauty from the wreckage of cherished hopes and broken dreams.  Somewhere, sometime, in this world or in the eternal world of God, good is being done.  God has pledged Himself to make it so. Our suffering is not wasted.  It will bring its ample blessing in due season.
   The Bible strikes another lovely chord in Colossians 1: 16.  In speaking of Jesus, Paul says:
      For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.
   “. . . all things were created by him and for him.”  Every human being . . . every animal . . . every tree and blade of grass . . . every rock and every speck of dust . . . every drop of water and every grain of sand . . . every atom and every molecule in this world or in any other world . . . every angel and every spirit anywhere has been made for just one purpose . . . to bring glory and honor to the name of Christ.
   This is why people exist . . . and more especially the people of God.  They are for the pleasure and glory of God’s dear Son.  Certainly to the true Christian, no greater satisfaction can come than the knowledge that we are being used for the pleasure and honor of Jesus.
   In the ninth chapter of John there is the story of a blind man who met Jesus one day.  Jesus stood in front of the people and gave sight to this man who had been blind from his mother’s womb.  This miracle created quite a stir among the people and a great deal of discussion followed.  The disciples asked Jesus who was responsible for the man’s blindness, his parents or himself.  But Jesus answered that the man had been born blind so that one day he might be used to furnish a bit of glory to the Son of God.
   Think of it!  For perhaps thirty years that poor man had groveled in the dust of the streets, hoping perhaps for a penny or two or a kind word from the hurrying throngs.  During all of his childhood, while other boys romped and played, that little boy had groped his way about the dooryard, lonely in his dark little world.  And why?  For all those years he sat in darkness, unknowingly waiting for Jesus to come by and obtain some glory by giving the blind man his sight.  Years and years of darkness that the Son of God might have a single moment of glory!  But it was enough.  In the long run, when this brief instant of time has been swallowed up in the vastness of eternity, that ex-blind man will know if he does not already know . . . that those years of blindness were not too great a price to pay in order that Jesus Christ might receive glory from his misfortune.
   This brings us to the last thought.  Let us look at Romans 8, verse 18.
      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.
   There is coming a time in the future when God’s child will come into the fullness of their redemption.  No Christian in this world has received all that God has promised them.  Our salvation, though settled and sealed when we place our trust in Christ Jesus, cannot reach its fullness until we put on our glorified bodies in the presence of God.  Now we are justified . . . those who trust in Christ . . . but then we shall be glorified!
   What does it mean to be glorified?  No living person can answer this question.  There is no experience within the reach of living people by which the heart can grasp the meaning of glorification.  It is so wonderful, so out of-this-world, so far above the tallest dreams, that nobody has any real idea of what glorification means.
   But it is coming to every believer.  Now we can only await the boundless thrill of that joyful time and eagerly comfort our hearts with the anticipation of it.  And when that time comes, and God’s children put on their glorified bodies, they will discover in an instant of time that all of the suffering of this present world was nothing when compared to the final victory and the unending happiness of God’s redeemed children.
   As a few flecks of dust are not worthy to be compared to a handful of diamonds, neither will any of our earthly experiences be worthy to be compared to the imperishable joys that will come to us when at last we meet the Saviour face to face.
   For the moment, we cannot always know why God does things as He does.  But one thing we do know.  Our Father is looking out for His child.  And He will allow only those things to happen to that child that will bring blessings in the end.  God is never surprised.  Things never slip up on Him.  He is in control.  As the wise person has said . . .we may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future.

Your welcome Kat_Gram.  I have a healing service this Sunday and will try to remember to post what I say afterward.  Thanks for reading.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

   We believers justifiably and understandably emphasize the healing miracles of the Scriptures.  As we are all aware, the Bible is filled with instances of healing that come as a response to a command or prayer of faith by a believer.  Our problem is that while the Bible is full of examples of God saying yes to prayer requests from believers for healing . . . our own lives and experience are full of examples of God saying no to such prayers.  How do we respond when God says no . . . when as far as we can tell, based on our understanding and reading of the Scriptures . . . we’re saying and doing all the right things?  We are praying in the name of Jesus . . . we are praying in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . and we have invited the Holy Spirit to come.  We have touched and agreed with another believer and have bound the power of the adversary and rebuked the illness.  We have fasted and prayed the prayer of faith, have been anointed with oil, and have laid on hands.  We have prayed believing and expecting . . .and God still said no.
   Let me say at the outset that this is a very difficult message, because I do not have the answer to the troubling questions: “Why does God say no sometimes?  Why are some people healed and others not healed?”  I have prayed for some people, and God said yes.  Yet when I prayed for my own grandmother’s healing, God said no.  God didn’t say to wait . . . God said no.  I find it frustrating, baffling, and painful to visit believers who truly love the Lord and to see them suffer . . .and yet are unable to do anything about their condition.  I pray for their healing, others pray for them, and God still says no.  Then, at other times, when we are about to become completely discouraged, we pray for somebody else for whom only a miracle will do, and God says yes.  We are amazed and awed again by the power of God.  Why are some people healed and others who are just as deserving not healed?  To put the matter personally . . . why are some people healed when my mother, my father, my companion, my child, my best friend are not?  To put the matter even more personally, why are some people healed when I am not?  God, why are you saying no to my healing?
   That was the question Paul was wrestling with in the text.  Paul began this chapter by talking about a momentous spiritual experience he had had in which he was taken up to heaven.  He did not know whether the experience was in the body or out of the body, but while he was there, he saw and heard inexpressible things.  Paul stated further that to keep him from becoming conceited about his experience in the heavenly realm, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, was given to him to torment him.  Now I do not know what the thorn was . . . but I believe two things: it was physical and it was painful.  Thorns are painful.  Paul described this spiritual experience as having taken place fourteen years earlier.  We don’t know when Paul started being tortured by this thorn, but if it was anytime near the experience, he had been suffering a long time.
   As a good believer, Paul took his thorn to God in prayer not once or twice but three times.  Paul repeatedly prayed, pleaded, promised, and agonized with God to heal him, to take the thorn from him.  And guess what?  God said no.  Could God possibly say no to Paul whom he had taken to heaven and to whom he had revealed the inexpressible?  Could God possibly say no to Paul whose life he had turned around on the Damascus Road and whose feet he had put on a street called Straight?  Paul was blinded during his conversion experience.  He was healed of his blindness, but God said no to the removal of the thorn.  At the beginning of Acts 28 we read that Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and was bitten by a poisonous snake . . . a viper fastened itself onto Paul’s hand.  Paul shook it off in the fire and went about his business.  He didn’t swell up and he didn’t die.  The Bible doesn’t even say that he prayed for healing . . . yet he was healed.  He was healed of a snakebite that the Bible doesn’t even tell us he prayed over . . . yet God said no when he prayed over his thorn.
   During his own ministry Paul was empowered to heal others.  In Lystra . . . he healed a man crippled from birth.  In Ephesus . . . he cast out a demon from a tormented girl, and in Troas . . . he restored life to a young man believed to be dead.  Yet his own thorn was not healed.  When he and Silas were locked in jail, they prayed and sang so powerfully that the earth shook, the prison doors flew open, and their chains fell off.  Yet when he prayed about his own thorn, nothing happened.  After God said no to Paid, God said instead. 
   When God says no, look for God’s instead.  God never says no without an instead . . . a substitute, another blessing, another answer, another revelation, another solution, another way.  God said no to Moses: “You will not enter the Promised Land.  Instead, I will transport you across the barriers of time and put you on the snow-kissed crest of Mount Hermon to speak with my Son, Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law, who is about to give his life as a ransom for many.”  When David’s son by Bathsheba was stricken with illness and David prayed and fasted for the child’s life, God said no to David’s prayer, and the child died.  Later, when Bathsheba became pregnant again, God said yes, and Solomon was born.  The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11 that many of the faithful died without having received the promise.  Instead God prepared for them a better country, a heavenly one.
   When God says no, look for the instead.  That’s just a fancy way of saying what the old preachers used to say: “God will never close a door without opening up a window.”  Let me rephrase that: God will never close a window without opening up a door.  Often that which God opens for us and does for us, with us, and through us after a no is broader, deeper, taller, and more wonderful than the narrowness of our request.
   God said no to Paul’s request . . . instead the Lord spoke to him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Why grace?  The Lord could easily have said, “My love (or peace or will or salvation) is sufficient.”  Why grace?  Let’s remember what grace is.  Grace is the unsought, unasked for, and unmerited goodness of God.  Grace is what God does for us without our asking.  We ask for blessings, forgiveness, and peace . . . but grace is what God gives because God is good . . . all the time.  When God says no, God is saying, “I will give you what you need without your asking for it.” When you have a thorn, you may not know what to ask for.  The pain may be so acute . . . the heartbreak and sorrow may be so piercing . . . the burden may be so heavy . . . that you may ask for relief or release in any way, even death.  But remember, even without your knowing what to ask for, God will still take care of you.
   I once went to see a church member who had been hospitalized several times.  This individual was not simply a church member but was a true believer in the Word of God.  We had been praying for him very earnestly.  He went to the very threshold of death and recovered enough to return to church once again to worship, but after that he suffered a relapse and was again staring death in the face.  When I went to visit him in the hospital, he didn’t even recognize me.  I remembered that he had asked the Lord not to take his presence of mind away so that he would not find himself unable to call on the name of the Lord.  So I asked God, “Why would you let him get this way?  His greatest desire was that he have presence of mind to worship you.”  But I think I understand now, the Lord is saying, “Without their asking, I will take care of my own.  Whether this believer has presence of mind to call upon me or not, I’m still taking care of him.  He’s still in my hands.”  When God says no, remember God’s grace is still sufficient.  God takes care of you even without your asking.
   I could end this message here with these words: “My grace is sufficient.”  Just knowing that without my asking, God is going to bless me, keep me, protect me, feed me, and watch over me when I'm helpless is enough for me to shout my way, pray my way, and fight my way to victory.  But that is not all the Lord said.  The Lord also told Paul: “[My] power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  In other words, the Lord says,
   After I say no, not only will I continue to take care of you, but my power will still work through you even in your diminished capacity and weakened condition.  Because you are weak, my power can compensate for anything you lack on your own.  What I will do in you will be all the more glorious and all the more miraculous because you are weak.  I know you desire to have all eight cylinders.  I’m going to leave you with only four, but when I get through with the four you have left, that four will do as much as eight.  My power is made perfect in weakness.
   This Paul, the one who had the thorn that God didn’t remove, wrote or influenced fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, logged more miles in his travels, and established more churches than anyone else in the Bible.  He is quoted more often than anyone except Jesus.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   The great invitational hymn that has probably brought more souls to Christ than any hymn ever written, “Just As I Am,” was composed by Charlotte Elliot, an invalid who was bedridden for fifty years.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   See blind Fanny Crosby writing “Blessed Assurance,” “Pass Me Not,” “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross,” “I Am Thine O Lord,” “To God Be the Glory,” “Close to Thee,” “Savior More Than Life to Me,” and over five thousand other hymns.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   See sightless Milton writing about paradise or deaf Beethoven composing symphonies or near-deaf Thomas Edison perfecting the phonograph.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   When Paul realized all that God’s power could do through him . . . no wonder he moved off “Complaining Avenue” onto “Praise Boulevard” and said, “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Mark 14:3-9

Doing What We Have The Power To Do
   
   It was just two days before the Jewish Passover and the feast of the Unleavened Bread. All of Jerusalem was in the midst of preparation. Anticipation floated in the air and mingled with the aromas of a city that was getting ready to celebrate the most holy of all holy days.  This was the time for the rehearsal of Israel̓s long religious history. There would be feasting and singing and praying. Generations would speak to one another about what it was like when God covenanted with Israel to be God̓s chosen people.  And the nation would remember again how God had promised them a messiah --an anointed one – who would lead them to victory and triumph!
   In the midst of this preparation and excitement, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the back of a colt.  Many people gathered and cheered while others laid their cloaks down to make a highway for Jesus as he approached.  Some waved leafy branches they had cut from the fields. As Jesus rode forth into the city, the people shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!”
   On this festive occasion Jesus was accompanied by his disciples and other faithful men and women who followed him wherever he went. But  not everyone joined the festivities, however.  There were those in Jerusalem̓s religious hierarchy who were afraid of Jesus because the crowds seemed to be spellbound by his teaching. Whether anyone else recognized him or not, the chief priests and scribes suspected that Jesus might truly be the long-expected messiah.  Instead of embracing John the baptizer̓s message of Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy, they were deeply shaken . . .  for they perceived that this Jesus would turn everything upside down-including their status and security.
   Jesus was too dangerous. He interfered with the hard earned relationship that they had slowly established over the years with the local Roman officials. Just when life had become more predictable and bearable, Jesus began to upset the delicate balance of their power and authority by what he said and did.  He eroded their favored positions of privilege by his very presence.  And besides, he had insulted them in public and made them look foolish.  They could not save face many more times, for they continued to be outsmarted by his quick wit and verbal attacks.
   “Beware of the scribes,” Jesus most recently had proclaimed, “for they devour widows̓ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”  There was no question about it, . something had to be done with this man.  If he was the messiah, God would take care of him!  So the chief priests and scribes went about looking for a way to arrest Jesus and kill him.
   During this critical time, the disciples of Jesus seemed to become more confused about his purpose and mission.  Jesus had told them on three different occasions that he would suffer and die.  Apparently they missed the implications of what Jesus meant.  They thought Jesus, who worked miracles, was invincible. Suffering and cross bearing and death surely could not be part of the equation for discipleship.  They protested.  They became anxious. And they argued about who would be given the best place of honor.
   Misunderstood by his disciples and threatened with imminent arrest by the chief priests and scribes, Jesus felt lonely and isolated.  His heart ached for love and companionship. His body must have been tired and weary. Perhaps Simon̓s invitation to dinner should be accepted. Simon the leper had a reputation for his hospitality. It could be that a dinner party was what they all needed to relieve some of the tension that had been building.  It would provide a time for fellowship and refreshment. So he went.
   Jesus went to Bethany and while he was eating dinner at the house of Simon the leper, this woman appeared out of nowhere.  She burst in . . . uninvited and unwanted!  What a brash and dangerous thing for a woman to do. She was breaking the Jewish custom that women were not allowed to enter the dining room when men were present.  As if this was not enough to anger any righteous man among them, the woman did another completely unexpected thing. In front of the astounded and indignant male guests, she broke the alabaster jar she carried and anointed the head of Jesus!
   A solitary figure, the woman was as bold and unashamed as she was tender and compassionate.  Whether the woman had met Jesus before is unimportant.  It was what she did in the unsolicited act of anointing that remains unforgettable.  Apparently she was familiar with his teachings and took seriously the message about the new age that Jesus proclaimed where all the old values would be turned upside down.  Perhaps she had heard about the announcements he made about his own death and the plans of the chief priests and scribes.  Perhaps her faith enabled her to discern the gravity of the situation.  Whatever prompted her action, the woman willingly went against the accepted place of women in her religion and culture, for she realized that the time to do something for Jesus was soon to be no more.  Out of her resources and possessions, she did what she had the power to do.  She poured a senseless amount of precious perfumed ointment over Jesus̓ head. This was not the common, ordinary ointment that was used every day. It was pure nard.
   The cost of the ointment, pure nard, was worth a year̓s wages for a laborer.  Nard, made from flowers of the spikenard plant that grew on the slopes of the Himalayan Mountains far from Jerusalem, was usually transported overland by caravan.  From Egypt to China, this fragrance was found on the cosmetic shelf of any woman who could afford it.  Nard was a very costly item that would never be used in excess.  Mostly it was touched to the skin in occasional and deliberate dabs or driplets.  To break open a container and pour it all out was an extravagant act that verged on prodigality!  In fact, the woman̓s excessive response was not so unlike the extravagant behavior of a father toward his son in a story that Jesus had been known to tell.
   It was the woman, not Simon or the male guests and disciples, who was doing, acting, caring, touching, anointing, giving, and risking.  And Jesus accepted her silent acts of intimacy and devotion with profound respect and reverent silence.  Perhaps Jesus longed for the warmth and comfort of another̓s touch.  Perhaps the cool ointment cascading from his head over his face and neck was like a baptism of sorts.  Perhaps this tender act of mercy brought healing to his heavy heart.  Perhaps, just once, it felt good to receive.  To sit and be passive.  To let someone minister to him.  Perhaps to be cared for and loved was a bairn to his soul.  Perhaps this anointing was an act of emancipation for both Jesus and the woman.  Jesus was not ashamed or embarrassed or defensive.  He did not rebuke or resist or reject her.
   Rather, Jesus affirmed the woman for who she was and what she did.  The response of the disciples at this occasion must have been a disappointment to Jesus.  After all, they had been with him for a long time.  They had heard the words he had spoken about his suffering and death, and yet they did not perceive his weariness and deep sorrow. And as soon as the woman entered the room, they saw and heard only what their culture expected them to see and hear.
   They saw a woman who had spent too much money to do a foolish thing.  The ointment she bought was too costly . . . . too luxurious.  They were concerned about how the money could have been spent to forward their cause . . . so it was high finances and social utility that prompted their berating comments.  They were offended not only by her presence, . . but by her action as well.  To them, it was Jesus who seemed not to understand the gravity of the situation. This was the time to plan a revolution,  . not to sit around and be pampered!  It must have confused the disciples even more when Jesus scolded and rebuked them and then praised the woman and delighted in what she did.  At the moment, they could neither hear his reproach nor see the woman̓s act of ministry.
   Afterward, all the disciples would remember the dinner party at Simon̓s house. They would remember the woman and what she did. They would remember Jesus and what he had told them about suffering and death and drinking from the same cup.  Most of all, they would remember the great price one disciple paid for the ointment she used to anoint Jesus̓ head and the small price another disciple accepted from the chief priests for Jesus̓ betrayal.
   More than to 2,000 years later, we also remember. We remember her because this unnamed woman confronts us still.  She will not let us take the easy way out.  She remains a model for us because she was not afraid to give what was uniquely hers to give.  In remembering her, we are challenged to do what we have the power to do.  It may be only a little that we can do . . . or it may be much.  This is not even the question. To do what we have the power to do is more than enough.  It is everything God asks!

Stones That Easter Rolls Away

   Some women walked through the first light of day.  The darkness of the night and the heavy shadows of the early morning were being scattered.  Soon the mists would be lifted from the hills and mountains.  It is the most beautiful time of the day.  The world is so clean and fresh.
   These women had a problem.  They were going to anoint the body of Jesus of Nazareth . . . who just two days before had been crucified on the outskirts of the city.  A huge stone that blocked the entrance to the tomb.  How would they get in?  They were asking among themselves: “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” 
   When they got there they were greatly surprised.  “Looking up they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very great.”
   Easter, now as then . . . unblocks entrances and rolls stones away.
   Blocked entrances are one of the problems of life.  A huge stone stands between what we are and what we want to do.  That was the problem of those women on the first Easter morning.  They wanted to do the last thing they would be permitted to do for a person whom they loved very much.  But in front of the opening of that darkened tomb was a groove, and in the groove a huge, circular stone . . . it was immense, enormous, gigantic.  The women knew it was too much for their strength.
   That is our problem too.  Blocked entrances!  We would enter upon life . . . but we can’t.  A stone blocks the way.  Sometimes we have the sense of being trapped on the inside . . . we want outside, but we can’t get there.  The door is blocked.  Frequently we feel trapped . . . for just beyond the entrance we know there is light . . . a beautiful spring day with flowers blooming, birds singing, and rabbits munching on sweet grass.  But we are held in darkness.  At the entrance stands the one we love -- seeking to give us light.  We would go . . . but we can’t.  We are trapped in our loneliness.  The pathway to light, life, and the one we could love most is blocked.
   Sometimes we have the sense of wanting to be outside.  Some truth, some joy, some relationship we would enter upon, but we can’t.  We would go. . . but we the entrance is blocked.
   It is little wonder then that Christian faith is concerned about unblocked entrances, and open doors.  Jesus said, “I am the door for the sheep; if any one enters by me will be saved, and he will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).  John hears God saying to the church at Philadelphia, “Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it” (Revelation 3:8).
   There is, in a wonderfully real sense, what Easter is all about.  It unblocks entrances . . . rolls away stones . . . and sets before us open doors that the mightiest powers of earth can never shut.
   What are some of the stones that Easter rolls away?
   First, the stone of weakness . . . you remember how weak, defeated, and frightened the first Easter found the disciples of Jesus.  Just a week earlier on Palm Sunday they had appeared so jubilant, so hopeful, so strong.  But what devastating effect seven brief days had had on them.  The evening of the first Easter found them like frightened children who had fled the streets and locked themselves behind strong doors.  And that’s where Jesus found them -- behind strong doors. They were a spectacle of defeat and hopelessness.  They would enter life again with strength, but they couldn’t. The entrance was blocked by the stone of weakness. And it was very great.  But to their surprise, as Jesus walked in to dine with them, they realized the stone had already been rolled away.  Easter had done it.
   And aren’t we the same -- we have failed in some way -- maybe in ways we could never have succeeded -- so we find ourselves behind the great stone of weakness, like frightened children. 
   But Jesus and his love had moved that tremendous stone and they were back with strength.  They preached with such moving effect.  Easter had released a great tide of power, and they were riding the crest.
   The men of the New Testament often speak of living in the power of the resurrection.  The risen Christ had put within their reach almost illimitable power.  The good news is that Easter has rolled away the stone of weakness so that we may enter upon power.
   Another stone, the stone of doubt . . . do you remember how doubt clouded the first Easter morning?  Mark tells us that when the disciples heard that Jesus had been seen by Mary Magdalene, “they would not believe” (Mark 16:11).  Luke says that when the apostles heard the good news from the women, “They would not believe it” (Luke 24:11).  Of course, Thomas said, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
   Then eight days later Jesus appeared again and showed Thomas his hands which still carried the prints of the nails and his side with its wounds.  In that presence Thomas exclaimed one of the greatest confessions of the New Testament, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).  The light of Easter finally drove away the clouds of doubt from the sky and rolled away the stone of doubt at the entrance of affirmation.
   And isn’t it so in our own lives -- we doubt others, we doubt ourselves . . . we wonder in those deep, silent places of our lives -- will we ever be whole again or maybe even for the first time.  Then something wondrous, miraculous happens . . . and our Easter morning comes . . . the stone of doubt is rolled away.
   Then there is the stone of guilt . . . forgiveness is inextricably tied up with the resurrection.  “If Christ be not raised,” Paul writes, “your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).  What sobering words are these -- “you are still in your sins.”  If Christ is left in his tomb, obviously he is the victim of evil forces.  How then can a dead Christ forgive the guilt that evil and sin made inevitable?  He can’t.  But Christ is risen!  In his resurrection . . . he not only mastered death . . . but also the evil that was responsible for his death.  He who has overcome evil is certainly able to forgive the sin and guilt that evil has caused.
   Revelation 1:5-6 is a fragment of a beautiful early Christian hymn which is an ascription of praise to our risen Lord: “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.  Amen.”
   The risen Christ has freed us from our sins by his own blood.  Therefore he is able to roll away the stone that blocks our path into forgiveness.  But we should remember that our being  forgiven is related to our willingness to forgive. Jesus said if we do not forgive people their trespasses, our Father will not forgive us. This does not mean that we earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving our brother or sister.  But it does mean that by our willingness to forgive . . . we unclutter our lives and open them to the forgiveness of God.
   A beautiful story about a Belgian girl comes from World War II.  Nazi bombers had destroyed much of her town and killed some of her friends.  She went into her church which lay in partial ruins.  The roof was caved in, and the beautiful windows lay in broken pieces on the floor.  She knelt at the altar which was broken in half and began to pray the Lord’s Prayer.  She got along nicely until she tried to say “as we forgive.” She choked on the word “forgive.”  How could she forgive her enemies who had bombed her town, killed her friends, and left her church in shambles. She tried again and failed.  The third time she was no more successful.  She would make a final effort.  And when she came to the great hurdle, a voice from behind her led her on as she said “as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  She turned to see who the gentleman was, and standing behind her was the Belgian king.
   Just so with us.  We find it hard to forgive.  And when we are struggling to say that hard word . . . our risen King leads us on.  “Go ahead and say it.  As you forgive, I will forgive you.”  We forgive and in turn are forgiven.
   Another stone is the stone of death . . . here we are at the heart of Easter faith.  Easter is concerned about death . . . your death, the death of your child, the death of your spouse, every person’s death -- and Easter is concerned about life . . . your life, the life of your friend, the life of every person.  It opens the door to the life everlasting.
   Yet death seems so final.  The voice that was so vibrant is now so silent . . . the face that was so expressive is now so expressionless . . . the hand that was so warm is now so cold . . . the life that was so active is now so still.  Death seems to be the end.
   But Easter affirms life and says that the boulder of death has been pushed from the doorway into eternal life by the risen Christ.
   So Easter comes again to us where we are trapped and assures us that the way to strength, faith, forgiveness, life, and love has been unblocked.  Come, let us go together beyond the entrance . . . it is a beautiful spring day with flowers blooming, birds singing, and rabbits munching on sweet grass.  Come, let us go . . . for just beyond the entrance stands the one we love -- seeking to give us light.

Luke 19:11-27
And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.  Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.   And he called his ten servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'  And it came to pass that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'  And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'  And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'  And he said likewise to him, 'You also be over five cities.'  And another came, saying, 'Master, look, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  For I feared you, because you are an austere man.  You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'  And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.  You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected my own with interest?  And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'  (And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')  For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me."
   This Scripture is so familiar to all of us.  Any believer has read it over one hundred time or perhaps more.  But I ask you to read it again and forget what you think it says, and see if God does not have a fresh insight for your living.
   It is Jesus’ last teaching before His final week in Jerusalem, and so it must be important.  In this story of the nobleman, his citizens and his servants, Jesus presents three very distinctive lifestyles.
   First, there are the people who say, “I want it my way.  I’m going to get all I can.”  This is the attitude of the citizens who are to be the subjects of the future king.  They don’t want him.  They have their own plans.  They represent all those who insist on life on their own terms.  They often succeed because of their very determination to get what they want.  But, having it all on your own terms is a mixed blessing.  Unfortunately, enough is never enough.  That’s how we’re made.  We can have it all, and yet somehow the hunger for power and wealth is not assuaged.  If the object of your life is a great getting – of prestige, wealth, power –  you are the victim of an ever-increasing appetite which can never be satisfied.
   It takes a certain wisdom to know when enough is enough, and to move on to the existential questions of life, questions that ought to plague everybody: Who am I? Why am I here?  What’s the purpose of life?
   The parable Jesus tells here is a timely one.  King Herod had just died and his son had journeyed to Rome to press his claims for the kingdom.  Meantime, his subjects were sending delegations to Caesar saying, “This man is not acceptable as our king.” Jesus is telling a contemporary story in veiled terms.  In the parable, the nobleman was given the kingdom and he returned to slay those who didn’t want him in power.  As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the King and that in the last days He will return to His Kingdom.  No matter what denomination you are – even if you are an atheist, a skeptic, or one who practices any brand of non-Christian religion – it doesn’t change that reality.  Jesus tells us through this parable, “Right now you are free to debate and argue, but when the final curtain is closed, I am Lord!”
   The story of the servant who kept his mina safe in a handkerchief presents us with a second way to live –  cautiously and conservatively.  These are the people who want to go through life hurting no one, breaking no rules and making no enemies.  Their aim is to get through life being good old boys or good old girls.  They’re determined not to consume, but to leave everything the way they found it.  They see life as a picnic area.  Their aim is to pick up all the paper and garbage, leaving the place just as it was.  It seems commendable until we take into account that someone planted the trees, provided the tables, the fireplaces, the restrooms and trash cans.  Simply picking up after yourself is not enough.  You are a parasite on those who plant and build and go and do.
   Beyond that, it’s impossible to go through life disturbing nothing.  You cannot live without breaking some rules, making some enemies, creating a few waves.
   To think we can live in the world using nothing and hurting no one is contrary to what we read in the Scriptures.  The truth is – you only have what you use.  A friend of mine had been keeping notes on sermons for many years.  He had notes from scores of preachers, famous and otherwise; a huge box of them.  He told me, “One day I asked myself exactly what good those sermon notes were.  Anything that was of any use, is now part of my life.”  He took his box of notes and burned it.  He realized the futility of storing up truths that had not been applied to his life.
   The third lifestyle we are presented with in this particular Scripture is that of the faithful steward.  In this story of the nobleman who goes to the far country, Jesus is actually describing His Kingdom, of which He is, of course, the King.  Ten servants are given one mina each (a mina is a pound; a pound is one hundred drachmas).  One drachma was the wage then for one day’s work, so one hundred days’ wages were given to each of these ten servants, to be invested while the nobleman was gone.  We are told only what three of the servants did with their money, and of those three, only the one who increased his investment ten times was praised.  The one who made five pounds was rewarded with five cities, but only the most fruitful servant was commended.  The servant who simply saved his original pound displeased his master to such an extent that his one pound was taken away.
   Jesus seems to be saying that there are only two classes of people – the fruitful and the unfruitful.  The fruitful are alive and reproducing.  It is a powerful injunction that we are to leave more behind than we found.  If we don’t, we have missed the message.
   We are stewards of our lives and of all we have.  The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:1: “Let a man so consider us [those of us who are Christians], as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”  As a Christian, you are more than a steward of your life.  You are a steward of the mysteries of God.  We believe that God loves us, that Jesus died for us, and that His spirit is now available to us.  Those are some of the mysteries of which we are stewards.
   Another one is you.  If you are a Christian, you are someone in whom God lives.  You may look frail and imperfect, but somehow in that earthen vessel is a treasure.  We read in Scripture that all of creation, every known form of life in heaven and earth and the cosmos, is standing on tiptoe to see if you and I, God’s most extraordinary creations, will find our inheritance.  Will we become those unique miracles that God had in mind at our creation and redemption?
   As stewards of our own lives, are we increasing?  We may be fearful, like the spies Moses sent from Israel who came back saying, “We can’t conquer that land.  There are giants there.”  Because of their fear, the Israelites wandered for forty more years.  They did not claim their inheritance.  Later God said to the Israelites: “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you” (Joshua 1:3).  We can claim the day.  The Spirit of the living God is in us.  To be fruitful, we invest our lives, our jobs, our money, our reputations, our security.  Otherwise, we decrease and die.
   We are also stewards of the mysteries of the church, the Body of Christ.  We are the family of God.  Jesus says, “These are my brothers and my sisters, my mothers and my fathers.”  We say to the world, “Come in God’s name.”  But every part of the body, every congregation, must face whether or not it is increasing or decreasing.  It is not enough to preserve what is.  As stewards of the mysteries of the Body of Christ, we need to be investing for the future so that there will be more loving, caring, support, mission and involvement for the next generation.
   How can we claim to believe in heaven if we have so little regard for the potential of life in the here and now?  Perhaps there is no better way to prove that we cherish the prospect of eternity than to take hold of life on this earth with a passion and a gladness.  Those who wrap their gold in a napkin and bury it, while they think of the world to come, show that they don’t have much regard for eternity, because they have so little regard for time.
   So the timid soul for whom I feel so sorry is, in truth, a villain.  And the villain I see in him too often shows himself in me.  On dark days of self-doubt (which are likely to be those days when I doubt the goodness of God), in times when weariness shuts out the sunlight of vigor and hope, or at times when I’ve simply lost heart, I bury the gold.  Usually it’s only for a brief period.  But if life is such a precious thing, then why do I bury it for even a brief time?  Sadly, some people bury the gold for all of their days – not because they’re bad or because they hate God, but simply because they, like the timid soul in Jesus’ story, are afraid.
   I want to do something for that timid soul, partly because I have a picture in my memory of good but inadequate people who are somewhat beaten by life, who can't imagine themselves as winners.  They’ve lost so often for so many years that they can’t conceive of winning.  I want to help those persons who are so timid about life and so doubtful of God and of themselves.  I want to see them break free from their sense of worthlessness or helplessness, so they might fulfill the confidence shown in them by the One who entrusted them with their gold.
   God’s vision for us as workers ought to deliver every timid soul, for now and for eternity.
   Finally, we are stewards of the world, one of God’s mysteries.  God made the world, and so loved the world that Christ died for the world.  The world is ours because we are His and the world is His.  Will there be more justice, more equality, more compassion, more liberty, more opportunity, more peace in the world because we have lived?  If we are fruitful, we will be more tomorrow than we are today, personally, as members of the Body of Christ and as servants of the world.  May our aim be to hear those words of commendation from verse 17, “Well done, good servant.”

Exodus 20:3 - You shall have no other gods before me.

   Do you realize what the biggest issue in life is . . . priorities.  You don’t have to be religious to know that.  We all acknowledge it every day, dozens of times a day.  It is the essence of life for us list-makers . . . we draw up the list of the things we plan to do, then start numbering them in order of priority.  Those whose budget is stretched to the limits stack up their bills according to the priority rule, “Which creditor will be most heartless?”  For some it gets no more real than an order of ice cream: two dips of ice cream, should the chocolate be on the top and the vanilla on the bottom or the vanilla on the top and the chocolate on the bottom.
   Most of us manage our priorities reasonably well at these levels.  Interestingly enough, we also do pretty well at the frightening extremities of life.  If our house catches fire, for instance, we’ll probably decide quickly and incisively about what to carry out and what to leave behind.
   But life itself is a more complicated call.  I have often wondered why Mr. John’s cows get out, why do they wander away.  I have come to the conclusion they just nibble themselves out.  They go from one tuft of grass to another until they’ve gotten out and lost their way.  And that, of course, is what happens in life.  Unless we purposely establish a structure of priorities . . . we will nibble away each inconsequential tuft of decision until life is gone, and we have little idea what happened to it.
   It would be so much easier if life’s ultimate priorities could be established in some climactic moment.  That happens to some people.  In wartime they call it a “foxhole experience” . . . the kind of situation in which life is stripped to its most elemental essentials, and we know what matters most.  That’s how World War II gave birth to Chaplain Cummings’ truism: “There are no atheists in foxholes,” for often even the most confirmed atheists hope there is a God.  Foxhole decisions, of whatever dimension, don’t necessarily hold after the crisis is past, but at least the person can always remember that once there was a time when they looked all of life in the eye and recognized the absolute priority.
   Almost inevitably, of course, that priority is God . . . and if not directly God, some factor of life which the fruit of a God-encounter is expressed.  In a sense, priority is another name of God.  When we draw up our little list of the things that matter most, that which we designate Number One is God.  Whether or not it is God with a capital G is another matter.  But by pragmatic decision, the priority which tops your list or mine will become a capital P because it will be our god.  It is our governing principle, because, whether we like it or not, we become the god (or gods) we worship.  We become what we worship.  Those of us who wish we were better have probably wished that godliness came more quickly, but there can be no doubt about the method.  Godliness comes from exposure – time exposure – whatever the god we choose.  (young Christians vs. other Christians)
   Not only do we become like the god we worship . . . but we also allow this god to determine what kind of world we have (prayer in school vs ACLU) . . . what kind of government we will choose (if we lived in another country that was Muslim, would they change because I am a Christian?) . . . what sorts of persons we will want to rule over us (do they morally have the same standards)  . . . this god determines how we choose our work (will we work for folks who steal from their customers)  . . . how we feel about it . . . and what we will think of our bodies.  And, of course, it determines what we think of people and of friendships and of human relationships.  If my god is cheap, shoddy, and manageable . . . I will treat people the same way  . . . all of which may raise questions about who we profess is our God . . . and who or what it is that we actually worship.  To put it more directly, sometimes we profess to worship the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ . . . but we demonstrate by our conduct . . . that we have quite another god. (Sunday worship is not a priority, giving is not a priority, reading the Bible every days is not a priority, praying for others is not a priority).
   But the point remains the same.  We become like what we worship.  That’s why the ten commandments begin with our relationship to God.  We wouldn’t prioritize them what way, of course.  Ask the average person for the most important commandment, and they will likely choose the one forbidding murder, or adultery, or dishonesty.  But these commandments are all derivative . . . they have no point of issue except as we settle the first commandment . . . that matter of God.  The matter, that is, of our Priority.
   So the commandments begin with God, not because the commandments are religious . . . but because we are.   They begin with God because what we think about God will eventually determine what we think of ourselves, of one another, and of life.  And this means that all the other commandments rest upon this one.  No wonder, then, that when a thoughtful interrogator asked Jesus to name the most important commandment, Jesus answered, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30). Then, with convicting logic, Jesus continued, “The second (which the questioner hadn’t requested) is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:31).  If one accepts, really accepts, Jesus’ first statement . . . we cannot escape the second.  To love God is to be like God, and to be like God is to love our neighbor. (Loving our neighbor is not the same as liking our neighbor)
   Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy, which is a second, expanded statement of the Law.  Two words stand out: one and love.  The Lord our God is one.  Our culture speaks often about split personalities, but in this respect we are not different from any of our predecessor generations . . . we human creatures are always split, unless we find an ultimate focus . . . that is, unless we find God, and focus upon God.
   And love.  We think it is an unlikely word for a commandment, but that’s largely because we usually think of love in an emotional sense.  Love is also a state of mind, a direction of attention and of intention.  In my study of Hebrew words, the sense the Hebrew root implies: “I will give.”  Then the love test is simple: “Do I want to do more for them than I want them to do for me?”
   This means an ultimate kind of giving.  Call it an obsession . . .  a magnificent obsession . . . if it is centered on God . . . a divine obsession.  If God be God, he should have all that we are.  That is only the essence of this first commandment . . . it is its beauty and its glory.  God shall have all of you.  Of course . . . what else would we dare offer to God?  Do we give him what is leftover – of ourselves and our resources.  I just don’t have time to do . . . .   If God is the subject of the sentence, dare anything partial be its object?
   Now the truth is this . . . you and I want to be consumed by someone or something.  We want inherently to be possessed.  Something in us wants to live grandly . . . to give ourselves with abandonment.
   It we are to be consumed. . . if it is our very nature to seek to be consumed . . . we had better choose passionately as to who or what will consume us, because you and I are of such sublime importance.  I am especially important to me, because I’m the only one that I have.  After I have used up me, I have nothing left.  I had better be sure that I choose wisely when I give myself up to a grand obsession.
   Come to think of it, even if God should have me . . . why should it be all of me?  Wouldn’t it be better if I parceled out my substance . . . if I would give God some of my devotion, and give some to sex and success and  baseball and auto racing?
   Well, in truth . . . that’s how life is frittered away.  Remember Mr. John’s cows?  We give it up in little pieces, some of them on  sad absurdities, and none of them worth mentioning in the same breath with God.  If life has hundreds of points, it becomes pointless.  If our lives are to have a piercing quality, they will need to have a single point, a classic directness.  Absolutely nothing matters so much as to center our ultimate commitments on God . . . God, who demands all of us.
   I hope you and I realize, that God’s jealousy toward us is a product of His love for us.  God demands all because we are never fulfilled until we give all to Him.  It is our nature to have a grand passion . . . but unless that passion finds itself in God . . . it will not be satisfied.
   What a measure of what we are!  We declare our worth by what we worship.  Is it money?  If so, what a paltry price we put on ourselves?  Is it physical gratification?  To settle for such is to say that there is no more to us than our blood and guts and glands.  What about aesthetic – to give ourselves to beauty (beautiful home, beautiful car, beautiful gadgets).  In my own prejudices, this moves us higher, but it isn’t high enough, because wonderful as the aesthetic is, it is a cramping, limiting measure for creatures like you and me.  It is only a variation on the ancient peoples who made graven images and bowed down to them.
   What, then, of family and friendship and great loyalties . . . to school or village or country.  Surely these are high callings.  Few things seem nobler than the person who will die for their country or child or friend.  Indeed.  But still, these are not ultimates.  Beautiful as is such devotion, it doesn’t fit the greatness of our capacity.  Such devotion is magnificent as an expression of our higher calling, but it is not enough to be our calling.  Let God have all . . . give to the persons, the values, and causes that we cherish.  But let them be a result of the end, and not the end in itself.
   If we give ourselves to anything less than God, we underestimate ourselves.  The writer of Genesis said that we human creatures are made of the dust of the earth, but we are inhabited by the breath of God.  How pathetic, how absurd, for eternal creatures like you and me to pour ourselves into embracing that which is transient!
   Mind you, giving ourselves to God in such absolute fashion will not diminish our capacity for persons or causes or aesthetics, or even what we call “fun.”  To the contrary, we are better equipped to engage ourselves with the harmonies of life when we have found the supreme chord.  We are more able to become involved in friendship and love, in creativity and grand doing, if our basic commitment is in order.  To love God is not to love life less, but to grasp it with a surer hand, a more sensitive one.  With God at the center of our life and vision, we can see more clearly what is good and beautiful in all the rest of life.  With God as the center, we are most surely what we are really meant to be.
   But this is not the end of the matter.  The more we give ourselves to God, the more we become like God.  The more of us that God has, the more we have of God.  This is the nature of relationships.  If I would have more of you, I must give you more of me.  What is true of our human relationships is even more magnificently true of our relationship with God.
   When I speak of godliness, I do so with some uneasiness, because I’m afraid I might lose your attention.  You may be inclined, on the one hand, to turn off your personal perceptions because you’re sure that I’m speaking of something quite out of your reach.  Believe me, I could hardly do such a thing, because in that case it would be out of my reach too . . . since I’m so much like you.  On the other hand, you may not hear me well because in your mind you have a picture of someone you’ve been told is godly and who seems to you only to be odd or unpleasantly pious.
   I’m sure that the most godly people I’ve known have also been the most likable.  They have a great excitement about living . . . and how could it be otherwise if one see God at work everywhere?  With such a viewpoint, life can hardly be dull.  They also have a remarkable ability to roll with the punches, so that whatever happens to them they find beauty and purpose in it.  Of course, they do, because when we fix our vision on God, we are sublimely confident that a divine purpose underlies all that is happening, and that no matter what persons or circumstances may do to us, or what we do to ourselves . . . God will work with us to ultimate good.
   The godly people I’ve known have also been the most admirable.  In a culture that manufactures its heroes in public relations offices and measures achievements by lines in print or by television sounds bites . . . it’s exciting to find people who evoke our admiration without the aid of a press release. 
   Herein is the genius of the first commandment.  Life must have a focus.  If we live scattershot, we will hit nothing of consequence.  But, of course, focus is not enough . . . the focus must be right . . . else we will invest our extraordinary potential in that which is, at best, trivial, and at worst, demonic.
   The first commandment reminds us, by implication, that we are creatures of eternal worth – of such worth, in fact  . . . that we are capable of talking with the Lord God.  If that isn’t breathtaking enough, the commandment insists that God desires our attention . . . because God (who made us) knows how great our potential is, and how tragic it is if we invest such potential in anything less than the divine.  So God gives us a commandment, that we shall have no other gods before Him . . . not because God wishes to fence us in, but because he wishes to set us free, to give us opportunity to fulfill the capacity of our wondrous ordaining.
   God shall have all of you.  And you, in turn, shall be given yourself . . . and the wonder of fullness in God.

Genesis 3:1-13

The Sin of Excuses

GENESIS 3:1-13: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden: but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
They heard the sound of the LORD God, walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”  The woman said, “The serpent tricked me God and I ate.” 
   
   I am concerned about the second sin.  Philosophers wonder about the first sin, and the average person doesn’t usually keep count . . .  but I very concerned about the second sin.
   Part of my concern stems from the feeling that I may be the only one concerned about the second sin.  And of course it is so subtle.  That’s why so few are thinking about it, which naturally makes my burden all the greater . . . because I witness it every day . . . yes every day, within myself, within our church, in our communities and beyond. 
   But before we go farther, let’s review the circumstances of the first sin, since this is where the whole issue begins.  You remember the story.  Adam and Eve were living in an utterly perfect setting, in a place so ideal that they called it Eden . . . paradise.  It seemed they had everything their hearts could desire.  The only thing forbidden to them was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
   One day a spectacular visitor, the serpent, struck up a conversation with Eve.  We don’t know why he ignored Adam, who was with her (Genesis 3:6), and spoke to her, nor why she carried the whole weight of the conversation.  The serpent raised in Eve’s mind a question about the goodness of God . . . Why would God refuse her and Adam the privilege of anything in the Garden, especially something that obviously must be the most desirable thing there?  And then an  accusation . . .  God refuses you this particular fruit because God knows you will become equal to the Divine if you eat it.
   So Eve was convinced, and she ate.  And being generous by nature, she shared the fruit with her husband, and he ate.  And that was the first sin.
   Of course that story doesn’t satisfy us . . .  it only quickens our curiosity.  What, exactly, was that first sin?  Some have suggested that it was the discovery of sex, because Adam and Eve became conscious of their nakedness and made themselves garments of fig leaves.  But that explanation misses the point, even if it succeeds in making the story more exciting.  The issue was the human desire to be equal with God -- to do what God could do.
   The Bible, in its profound wisdom, portrays the first sin in entirely symbolic language.  If it had described the sin as the violation of a specific commandment, we humans would ever after have thought that act to be the worst sin and probably the only one to worry about . . . and I expect we then would have been unconcerned about all the others.  But the writer of Genesis sharply gives us a picture . . . The first sin is the eating of the forbidden fruit.  It is the basic act of disobedience and disbelief.  As such it is the essence of our human problem.
   This first sin is highly significant because its the first.  But the second sin may, in fact, be more important . . . because we’ll never recover from the first sin so long as we’re guilty of the second.  The scriptures and human experience both testify that God has provided a remedy for the first sin, no matter what it is.  But the second sin can make God’s remedy ineffective.  That’s why it concerns me so.  One might even say . . . that the second sin is the unpardonable sin.  And yet, you don’t hear anything about the second sin, do you?
   Let’s go back to the Bible story to see how it all happened.  After Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit, they became ashamed of their nakedness . . .  but far more important, they became uneasy about God.  So when God came walking in the Garden soon thereafter, Adam and Eve tried to hide.  They must have realized that it is impossible to hide from God, but sin makes us humans do irrational things . . .  sin is never very smart, you know, not even when it dresses itself in sophistication.  “Why are you hiding?” God asked.  And Adam, who had been quite silent in the conversations with the serpent, replied, “I heard you coming and didn’t want you to see me naked.  So I hid.”
   Now God pressed the matter.  “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten fruit from the tree about which I warned you?”
   Adam answered, “Yes, but it was the woman you gave me who brought me some, and I ate it.” And Eve, not to be left bearing sole responsibility, chimed in, “The serpent tricked me.”    
   Now there you have the second sin.  It is even more dangerous than the first, because it prevents our recovering from the first . . . it is the sin of excuses . . . the unwillingness to admit that we are wrong and the refusal to see ourselves for what we are.  Whatever our original sin may be, whether it is lying, adultery, cheating, unforgiveness, ill temper, gluttony, drunkenness, gossip, or murder . . . there is always hope for us.  But when we become guilty of the second sin . . .  the sin of excusing ourselves and of being unwilling to face ourselves . . .  we close the door against God and hope.
   Ah, it brings us to that word we don’t like to use -- repentance.  The world does, indeed, stand or fall with our readiness to repent.  This is true of nations, of institutions, of individuals.  If a nation takes a wrong road and repents, she can recover . . . but if she insists on justifying her policies, she will disintegrate.  It may be a slow process, but it is a sure one.  The prophets called it the judgment of God, but it is written into the very nature of the universe.  Either we face ourselves and repent, or our world falls.
   The same rule applies to institutions.  When investigative reporters revealed that a national charitable organization was paying exorbitant salaries to a few top officers and that money was being used recklessly, the organization could either tough it out or admit it had erred.  It chose to confess its sins, and it survived.  I doubt that the public would have continued its support if that organization had done anything less than make an abject apology to the nation.  But the key word is not “abject” . . . it is repentance.
   Fiorello La Guardia, whose name has been taken by both an airport and a musical, was the flamboyant but effective mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1945.  He was an institution!  But he made mistakes and acknowledged them.  He noted that he didn’t make many and said, “But when I do, it’s a beaut!”  His voters laughed with him, because he knew enough to acknowledge when he was wrong.
   Mistakes don’t destroy us . . . nor will the eternal mistakes called sins . . . what destroys is our inability to face ourselves and confess that we’ve been wrong.  If a child doesn’t do well in school . . . there’s still hope if they will say to their teacher, “I must be doing something wrong . . . I need help.”  But there’s almost no hope for the person who insists on excusing their poor work . . .  the teacher doesn’t like me   . . . the kids make fun of me . . . I forgot to bring my homework home.  Those who make the most of the educational enterprise are not necessarily those with a high I.Q.  The secret is to be teachable . . .  and to be teachable you must be willing to admit that you don’t know . . .and that’s a form of repentance . . .  repenting of ignorance.  As long as we excuse our failure to learn, we frustrate the learning process.
   But even learning is relatively inconsequential compared with the issues of the soul, our very being.  The personalities of the Bible might easily be divided into those who were willing to learn . . . that is to repent . . . and those who were not.  Those two categories could also be classified as the victorious and the tragic.  Moses and Balaam both erred, but Moses repented his way to greatness while Balaam died a fool.  Saul and David were both sinners, dramatically flawed, but Saul exited in tragedy while David was declared a person after God’s own heart.
   One of the current buzz words for not taking responsibility . . . for making excuses for our behaviour is . . . my family was dysfunctional . . . the Holy Scriptures are filled with dysfunctional people . . . some of histories most magnificent human beings have been marked by major sins, mistakes, and dysfunctions . . . yet they have come to greatness because of their capacity for acknowledging their failures.  They are great, in some instances, not in spite of their sins . . . but because of them.  Character grows out of the soil of our lives like a tender plant.  If we repent of our sins, repentance breaks the soil of life so that the plant gets a new and stronger start.  But if we excuse or ignore our failures . . .  the soil of life hardens until the plant of character simply cannot survive.
   I have suggested that the second sin may be what is often called “the unpardonable sin.” The unpardonable sin is defined as the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28, 29), a blaspheming of the Spirit of God.  The Holy Spirit is the persuasive agent in our lives, the power which convicts us of sin.  When we excuse ourselves and refuse to recognize our sins, we harden ourselves against the Spirit’s work of persuasion.  That very act of resisting and hardening is a sin against the Spirit . . . a blaspheming, so to speak, of the Spirit’s work.  If this rejection continues long enough, we come to a place where we no longer hear or sense the Spirit’s pleading.  How could we be more lost than to be in a state where we are no longer disturbed about being wrong?  We come to such a place by the continuing process of self-excusing.
   What experts we are in hiding from the knowledge of what we are!  Adam and Eve set the pattern for us, and we’ve been refining it ever since.  When God asked Adam if he had eaten from the forbidden tree, he had the opportunity to step forward and confess what he had done.  Instead he answered, “Yes, but the woman . . .”  What a courageous soul he was . . . brave, ready to shoulder responsibility!  “It was the woman.”
   And the woman, I regret to say, did no better.  Several differences exist between the sexes, but sin isn't one of them.  Male and female, we have a common facility for excusing ourselves.  While it is often noted that the woman committed the first sin, it must also be said that the man led the way on the second.  And in both cases, the other was all too prompt to follow.  So when Eve saw the blame heading toward her, she quickly said, “The serpent tricked me.”
   But I’m not done with Adam.  His excuse doesn’t stop with shifting the burden of blame to Eve. He complains to God, “It was the woman you gave me.”  In other words, “It’s your fault, God, for so generously providing me with this lovely creature who leads me astray . . . this one of whom I said so recently that she was bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.  It’s your fault for giving her to me.”
   We’ve been talking to God that way ever since.  “It’s the temperament you gave me.  I can’t help myself.”  “My father was an alcoholic -- It’s in my genes.”  “My wife/husband doesn’t show me love . . . I was made a loving person . . . I’ve got to get it somewhere.”  “We’re poor, and we have to sell drugs for money.”  “I don’t have any friends    . . . so I steal to be cool.”  “It’s my lack of talent.  If only God had given me more talent.”  “I’d help keep the church clean or help cut the grass or work on that committee . . . but God didn’t give me enough energy.”
   The truth is . . . we have refined the skills of earlier generations.  Our great learning has given us new ways to excuse ourselves.  Vast numbers use psychiatry and its related sciences to aid and abet their natural inclination to blame someone else . . . we blame our parents . . . we blame lack of parents . . . we blame our neighbors . . . we blame each other.  It just doesn’t cut it . . . at least scripturally.  We make the mess of our lives . . . how to solve that . . . for all of us, that means stripping ourselves of all excuses and making a new start.
   Our knowledge is leading us, it seems, to a veritable epidemic of fault-displacement.  George A. Tobin, the Washington attorney and writer, recalls an acquaintance who excused his various moral lapses by saying, “Well, I’m just the kinda guy who. . .”  All of us have known such a person
 . . . some of us have sometimes been such a person!  But now we have science, of sorts, on our side.  We’re quite sure we can find secrets in our genetic code to prove that we’re really not responsible for what we do.  “What can one expect of a person whose intricate makeup is like mine?” we ask.  “Pastor, you just don’t understand” . . . oh yes I do.  There’s something both perverse and amusing about the fact that some who scorn the idea of a devil, have shaped a devil of their own and have christened it in the name of science.
   The ultimate tragedy of the second sin is that it prevents us from finding God.  The ancient poet cried out in his guilt:
      The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
      a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  (Psalm 51:17)
   God can visit the penitent soul because the penitent soul has an open door.  But God is shut out of the life that covers over its failures with a hard surface of excuses.  The Forgiving One never has opportunity to forgive and restore those who will not acknowledge that they want such a divine Friend.
   When Adam and Eve sinned, a great mercy came into their lives.  God called, “Where are you?”  When you’re trying to run from yourself and from God and from life, that call doesn’t at first seem a mercy.  In his epic poem “The Hound of Heaven,” Francis Thompson describes God as one whom we flee  “down the vistas of the years.”  But kindly and persistently, God pursues us, hounds us, follows after us.
   I imagine a community that has been devastated by a fatal epidemic.  Now a physician comes who has a sure, accessible remedy.  Through the streets of the village he walks, past closed doors, crying out as in ancient Eden, “Where are you?  Where are you?” 
   Some hide in the basements of life and die.  But others sense the mercy in the cry and recognize that as painful as it may be to confess the possibility of their infection, they must submit themselves to treatment so that their lives can be saved.
   Shall we say to the physician, “My neighbor is responsible . . . or  the woman you gave me . . .  or  I was born with a weakness . . . or the environment is against me . . . or the system is bad . . . or who can get well where I live? . . . or she hurt me most . . . or he says he’s sorry about the same thing, over and over.”  No . . . no!  Say, “I'm infected.  Please heal me.  Please make me well.”
   Whatever sin or weakness or inadequacy affects and afflicts us, God offers the remedy.  Only one thing can prevent our getting well.  Only one!  The second sin.  Our innate unwillingness to confess that we need help . . . and on the basis of that confession, to seek God’s remedy.
   Whatever we do with this life, whatever course we follow, let us be sure that we don’t die making excuses.

Genesis 28:18-22 and Genesis 35:1-3


Going Back To Bethel
Keeping Our Promises To God


   It must have been one of the loneliest nights of Isaac’s life.  Jacob, his youngest son, had run away from home.  As he faced the reality of his failing strength and eyesight, Isaac found himself thinking more and more about the inevitability of death with each passing day.  Isaac recognized that part of the preparation for his home-going involved passing the mantle of family leadership and making disposition of his estate between his two sons.
   Esau, the eldest, had certain rights of inheritance that were inherent in his being the oldest.  Isaac consequently prepared to bless Esau as head of the family and as the one who would receive the larger portion of the inheritance.  However, Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, favored their son Jacob over Esau and successfully conspired with him to steal his elder brother’s blessing.  When Esau discovered that his younger brother had cheated him out of both his birthright and his blessing, he swore that Jacob would not live to enjoy the rewards of his trickery.
   No matter what we’re after . . . the way we get it is just as important as getting it.  If we don’t pursue our goals in the right way . . . we might not be able to enjoy them after we have attained them.  Esau recognized that although there  was nothing he could do about his lost birthright and stolen blessing . . . he could do something to prevent Jacob from enjoying what rightfully belonged to his brother.  Esau resolved that when his father died he would kill Jacob.  Rebekah learned of Esau’s designs and told Jacob to run fast and far to the distant home of her brother, Laban, to flee the wrath of his elder brother, and to stay away until Esau’s anger had abated.
   In our scripture we find Jacob by himself in the middle of the night, exiled from home, fleeing the murderous wrath of his brother.  There he was, miles from his home in Beersheba, perhaps on the first long journey of his life.  The journey from home, from the familiar, to new adventures, new ideas, new places, and new persons is always a long and difficult journey to make.  There he was . . . the grandson of Abraham, father of the faith . . . there he was . . . the son of Isaac, whose own life had been spared because of his father’s faith . . . there he was . . .  separated from all that he knew and loved.  There he was . . . on the bleak summit of the Bethel plateau, with his head propped upon a stone for a pillow, looking above him at the starlit sky.  There he lay . . . feet sore, body tired, eyes heavy, mind anxious about his future, heart burdened, and spirit depressed.
   Out there by himself . . . Jacob discovered he was not alone.  Out there . . . while feeling dejected, he discovered that he was not deserted.  Out there . . . away from the reach of Esau, Jacob discovered that he was not out of the reach of God.  As Jacob dreamed, he saw the vision of a ladder or stairway that stretched from heaven to earth upon which angels were ascending and descending.  The Lord who stood above it, told Jacob that one day his descendants would dwell in the land and in the place where he slept.  Jacob received the further assurance that God would be with him wherever he went and would one day bring him back to the land and place where he presently was. Jacob awoke and said: “Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it! . . . How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16-17, NRSV)
   The next morning, Jacob took the stone that had been his pillow and set it up as a pillar, a monument, and consecrated it by pouring oil on it.  He called the place Bethel, which means “house of God.”  There Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you” (Genesis 28:20-22, NRSV).
   Let us note a couple of things about Jacob’s pledge to tithe.  First, Jacob’s pledge was made when he was a wandering fugitive from his parent’s home in search of another place to call home.  His pledge was made when he was at his weakest financially . . . when he didn’t have much of anything . . . when he could least afford it.  His pledge was based on his faith that God would provide him the means to keep his pledge.
   We ought never assume that persons who tithe are necessarily more prosperous and free of debt than others.  We ought never assume that those who pledge to tithe know for sure that they will be able to keep their pledge or that they know how they will pay their tithe.  I would guess that a number of people who pledge to tithe are not sure that they will be able to afford to tithe.  We ought never assume that persons who tithe have their financial situation all worked out.  “If they had my bills, they wouldn’t be tithing,” some might say.  How do you know they don’t have as many bills as you?  Maybe if you had their faith, you would be tithing also!  Many of us pledge when we can least afford to do so.  Like Jacob, many persons who pledge to tithe are financially shaky at best.  Jacob’s pledge was a result of his belief in God's promise of protection and care for him.  Most persons I know pledge on the same basis.  We pledge in faith that God will help us and provide the means for us to keep our pledge.  We pledge on the promise of God that we will be cared for and provided for.  I repeat . . . to pledge is to make a faith commitment, and “faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11: 1 KJV).  The apostle Paul reminds us, “. . . in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what is seen?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:24-25, NRSV).
   Secondly, Jacob’s pledge to tithe was a voluntary act.  Jacob did not tithe because tithing was part of God’s law at that time.  Those who correctly observe that tithing later became part of the Old Testament law might then ask, “Since we are under the new dispensation of grace, does the Old Testament law of the tithe apply to us?”
   Let us note that the first Old Testament tithers were persons who were not under the law.  The first Old Testament tither was Abraham.  In Genesis 14:20 Abraham tithed to Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had (not of his net but of his gross) as an act of thanksgiving to God for victory in a battle. The tithe was holy -- it belonged to God.  The tenth of what God has blessed you with is His -- again I say, it is holy.   In Genesis 28, Jacob pledged to tithe to God a tenth of all he had.  Both of these incidents occurred many generations before the law was given to Moses.  Thus even in the Old Testament the first instances of tithing were expressions of thanksgiving and faith, not law.
   We tithe because the Scriptures identify tithing as an appropriate standard, one way of expressing thanksgiving and faith.  Other standards of giving lifted up by the Scriptures, particularly the New Testament, include that of the widow, who gave the two mites . . . Barnabas, who sold his field and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet . . . and Jesus, who gave his life.  Each gave not a tenth but all.  Their gifts of all, like Abraham’s and Jacob’s gift of the tenth, were given voluntarily, as acts of thanksgiving and expressions of faith.  Let us never forget that tithing is giving, and giving is at its best when it is done not grudgingly nor out of a sense of necessity, but voluntarily.  For “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NRSV).  God has given us so much and been so good to us that we cheerfully give back what God asks.  It is holy -- it is God’s!
   At the close of Genesis 28, we see Jacob, the homeless young man, making a faith pledge to give God a tenth.  By the opening of chapter 35, over thirty years have passed.  We can observe two things.  First, God has kept the promise made at Bethel . . . second, Jacob has not.  Since the time that Jacob as a young man rested his head on the stone in the middle of the night, he had become a very wealthy and powerful person in the region where he lived.  He had settled at Shechem with his large family of twelve sons and one daughter.  He owned herds of livestock, and his land holdings were vast.  God had truly been good to Jacob and had kept every promise made to him.  Jacob, however, had evidently become so comfortable at Shechem that he had forgotten about the vow he had made at Bethel when God had come to him at midnight and spoke peace to his troubled spirit.  He had forgotten his promise to return to the spot of his heavenly visitation and build an altar there.  He had forgotten that he had promised to give a tenth of all he had to God.
   It’s easy to become so comfortable and accustomed to the good life at Shechem that we forget about the promises we made at Bethel.  How many promises have we made to God -- Lord, if you will do this -- I promise, I will do that.  That’s why I believe that every now and then we ought to rededicate ourselves anew to God.  That’s why I believe in renewing our stewardship and reviewing our discipleship commitments.  It’s easy to forget the promises we made when we were scared and desperate, when we were humble and thankful, or when we first felt the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.
   But though our memories are short . . .  God’s memory is long.  God came to Jacob and told him, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau” (Genesis 35: 1).  Jacob then went to his household and said: “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; then let us arise and go up to Bethel, that I may make there an altar to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone” (Genesis 35:2-3).  Not only had Jacob forgotten his vow, but he had allowed strange gods to infiltrate his household.  When we forget our word to God and God’s word to us . . .  it’s easy to become infiltrated by strange gods, strange doctrines, and strange ideas (do I need to name these?).  When we fail to do as we promised, when we disregard our vows, it’s easy to adopt strange ways and habits that are foreign to our background.  When we fail to remember the God of Bethel . . . when we fail to worship the God who picked us up when we had nothing in the day of our distress   . . . it’s easy to start making allowances and compromises and permitting things that we know we shouldn’t.  Forgotten vows . . . to our forgotten God . . . at a forgotten Bethel . . . lead to strange gods and strange ways.  Incorrect and forgotten stewardship commitments lead to shady discipleship.  When we fail to give to God as we ought . . . we start spending our money in strange ways on strange things, buying what we wouldn’t buy otherwise.  When we fail to keep God first in our giving, God also ceases to be first in our living.
   Maybe that’s why the spiritual life of the church is sometimes so poor, and our stewardship has become so shaky.  When the early church had needs, people sacrificed and gave as God had prospered them.  They didn’t give what they didn’t have . . . they gave as God had given to them.  Somewhere we started believing that we needed to get something back for what we gave other than the blessings that God has given and continues to give.  We started pushing tickets, pushing tapes, and pushing shows.  More sins and strange practices have entered the life of the church through some of our fund-raising.  Some of us are going to end up in hell over the things we do under the banner of raising money for the church.  We . . . all of us . . . preachers, officers, church members . . . have allowed all kinds of strange practices to enter the household of faith.  God’s Word comes to us and tells us to put away these foreign practices that are damning the souls and ruining the spirit in the church.  Stop selling some of these strange things that we wouldn’t want the Lord to catch us buying or doing.  Put away some of these strange trips to some of the strange places we wouldn’t want the Lord to catch us going to.  The Lord knows what we are doing in his church’s name.  Let’s go back to the Bethel of sound biblical giving and stewardship where we pledge: “I'll erect an altar in my heart and give at least a tenth of all you give to me.”
   We need not only to return to our Bethels of biblical stewardship and tithing   . . .  we need to return to other Bethels of broken promises and forgotten vows.  Some of us who are walking around healthy, mean, and cantankerous need to remember how we promised the Lord on a sickbed that if he healed us we’d turn over a new leaf and be a better person.  We need to go back to that Bethel and do as we promised.  Some of us as mature Christians who have become too comfortable in our Shechems need to remember the Bethels of our home training.  We were taught to give in the church and to the church with thanksgiving and faith.  We were taught to respect God’s church, God’s preacher, and God’s people.  We were taught to be kind and not to talk about people or look down on people less fortunate than we.  We need to remember what others taught us and what we promised them before they went home to glory.  Maybe, like Jacob, we were wandering around lost in life, confused and lonely, but the grace of God found us and comforted us in the day of our distress.  We made a decision to live for Jesus, but since that time we’ve allowed Satan to steal our joy.  We need to find our way back to Bethel.  Some of us as leaders . . .as preachers and officers, presidents and persons with influence . . . have forgotten that we hold our positions to serve, not to be served . . . to give, not to be given . . . to do God’s will, not push our own program . . . to act in the best interest of the church and not the best interest of our egos or power.  We need to go back to Bethel.
   When Jacob went back to Bethel, God met him there and called him again by his new name, Israel, given to him at the Jabbok, and repeated the promise made in times past.  When we return to Bethel, God will meet us there.  We’ll hear God speak afresh . . . hear God's word in a new way . . . and receive a new vision and a new name.
   We can climb again Jacob’s ladder -- come back to Bethel -- renew your promise to God -- and then trust him to make sure you keep it!
   Jacob awoke and said: “Surely the LORD is in this place and I did not know it! . . . How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16-17, NRSV)

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Thursday, October 4, 2002

http://www.americancatholic.org/features/francis/blessing.asp
Blessing of Animals
(http://www.americancatholic.org/features/francis/gfx/animals.gif)

by Kevin E. Mackin, O.F.M.
 
Snipped

Francis, whose feast day is October 4th, loved the larks flying about his hilltop town. He and his early brothers, staying in a small hovel, allowed themselves to be displaced by a donkey. :)

Shipped


October 4,2012
 ::dogwag::
October 4
St. Francis of Assisi
(1182-1226)

For Francis, creation is good and of Christ because it bears
the imprint of Christ from before the beginning.

https://www.catholicgreetings.org/viewingcard.aspx?cardid=22
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/default.aspx?id=16

(http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo242/Brandi-Monkey/WEATHER/Animation1b.gif)

http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2006/Family.asp

Counting Our Blessings

This month, we celebrate Thanksgiving, a holiday that’s all about recognizing our blessings. Many of us will probably ask for blessings on us and our turkey dinner—without even giving it a second thought. Here are some other suggestions for ways in which we can remind ourselves that we are truly blessed:

Name your blessings. Sometimes even though we may know we are blessed, we don’t take the time to recognize those blessings. Take some time to name your blessings out loud. At dinner tonight, have everyone in your family name one way in which he or she is blessed.

Accentuate the positive. Focus on the blessings you do have rather than those you don’t. For instance, I could have basked in the shadow of those gorgeous giant sunflowers, but instead I focused on the things that didn’t grow.

Write it down. I recently reread Sara Ban Breathnach’s book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy (Warner Books). In the book, she urges readers to keep a gratitude journal where every day you write down five things for which you are grateful. I was surprised at how quickly I started recognizing things for which I am grateful.

Pass the word. If you consider someone to be a blessing in your life, let that person know. Tell your kids, parents, siblings or friends how much they mean to you and why.

Be a blessing. Try to do something nice for someone today. It doesn’t have to be something big. Bake some cookies, give a card with a personal note or a framed picture of you and the recipient, or make a CD of some favorite songs. You’d be surprised how much such blessings will be appreciated.

Recently, I was having a particularly bad week and my friend dropped off dinner and dessert for my whole family. Not only was it a thoughtful gesture, but it saved me from having to cook. And my family and I had a wonderful meal for which we gave thanks!

http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2006/Family.asp

The tragic events that occurred in Connecticut have brought all of us to an abrupt pause.  That is a good thing – we need to stop and look at our world and our communities more often.   More importantly, we need to stop and examine ourselves.  There is and will be much debate about gun control laws . . . there is and will be much debate about how we treat or don’t treat persons with mental illness . . . there is and will be much debate about the media making pseudo-heroes about people who commit these horrendous acts.  Such dialogue is also good.  Yet when horrific events occur . . . where we just can’t make any sense out of it all . . . the proper place to turn is God’s Word.  The truth . . . whether we want to hear it or not . . . is that we as a people have moved away God.
   When we observe the work of the evil one in our lives and history . . . when we observe in the Scriptures, we will see that the enemy, the true enemy is smart.  He has done a lot.  Shortly after the creation of the first man and the first woman, he brought sin into our world.  The jealousy that prompted Cain to kill his brother Abel was his work.  After God purified the world by a flood, Satan sent the pride that caused the confusion among the descendants of Noah at the tower of Babel.  Satan put the lies in the mouths of Abraham and his son Isaac, as well as the meanness within Sarah’s heart and the duplicity within Rebekah’s spirit.  He prompted Jacob’s greed and Esau’s shortsightedness.
   Satan initiated the resentment among Jacob’s sons that led them to sell their brother into Egyptian slavery.  Then Satan planted lust within the heart of Potiphar’s wife, which caused Joseph to be imprisoned.  Satan placed a grievous yoke of slavery upon the children of Israel and then created so much dissatisfaction among them that they wandered for forty years in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land.  He corrupted Aaron, Moses’ own brother, and put a rebellious spirit in Miriam, Moses’ sister, and was responsible for Moses’ anger and impatience, which prevented him from entering the Promised Land. 
   Satan turned Samson’s head toward Philistine territory and was behind Haman’s plot to destroy the people of God during the time of Esther.  Even David, the man after God’s own heart, was not immune from Satan’s treachery.  Satan caused Solomon to act unwisely and deafened Rehoboam’s ear to sound counsel, which ended in the fracturing of the nation of Israel.  Everything that Ahab and Jezebel tried to do to Israel’s religious life was done through Satan’s initiative.  He  so infiltrated the political lives of Israel and Judea that, but for a small and saving and righteous remnant, they almost lost their distinctiveness as God’s people.
   When God’s own Son came into the world, Satan fashioned the cross on which he was hung.  He conspired with Judas to betray his Master and with Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Spirit.  He prompted the persecution, suffering, and slaughter of the early Christians.  He was behind the stoning of Steven, the beheading of James, the crucifixion of Peter, and the banishment of John to the Isle of Patmos.  To take the joy out of the revelations Paul received when he was caught up into the third heavens, Satan sent him a thorn in his flesh.  And, in the book of Revelation, we see Satan establishing his throne in the city of one of the early churches.
   In our day, Satan is no less busy.  All of the great “isms” – racism, sexism, classism, anti-Semitism, Nazism, Fascism, materialsim – all are his handiwork.  The addictions, phobias, fears, poverty, violence, and crimes that oppress the human spirit represent his work.
      When one looks at Satan’s ability to work with and work on the human spirit, he appears to be pretty smart.  Satan knows just what to say and what to do to receive a hearing from the human heart.  He knows what strings to pull . . . what buttons to push . . . what imperfections to play upon to get the reaction he wants.  He knows where the blind spots in our characters are, as well as where the unhealed wounds in our spirits are.  He knows not only where they are but also how to reach them.  More often than not he comes to us indirectly.  He is aware that we would run from that which we would recognize as certain death and destruction.  Therefore, the prince of darkness comes to us an angel of light.  He comes not as evil, but as good . . . not as an enemy, but as a friend . . . not as conviction, but convenience . . . not as judge, but as advocate.  He does not call what he offers sin . . . but refers to it as pleasure, fun, a good high, a good time, an easy way, and a chance to be accepted by the “in-crowd.”  He writes no commandments and requires no commitments.
   Satan doesn’t mind our coming to church or singing in the choir or teaching Sunday School or serving on the Church Council . . . particularly when he is still getting more of our time, energy, and money.  He is happy to share with the Lord because some of his best workers are found and some of his most effective work is done in the church.  We don’t have to walk down an aisle or join him or manifest any newness of life to serve him or come to the altar and pray to him.  We don’t have to change anything . . . we can stay just as we are – live the same old way, talk the same old trash, think the same old thoughts, and go to the same old places.  We don’t have to do anything at all . . . just stay the way we are.
   Satan’s work is immeasurably helped by those who do nothing, see nothing, desire to know nothing, want nothing and hear nothing that might shake up their own little world, which amounts to nothing.  Satan doesn’t ask that we love him with all our hearts, souls, and minds and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Satan is satisfied with our loving only ourselves.  Some of Satan’s best work is carried on by those who only love themselves – their careers, their security, their comfort, their family, and their friends.  Thus, they don’t care whom they have to hurt or use as long as they themselves are satisfied.
   Since Satan comes to us as a friend, he is basically a deceiver and a liar.  Thus, we can’t believe anything he says, for dishonesty is his nature.  Jesus said of him: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).  We must closely examine everything he does.  That’s why the writer of Ephesians talked about resisting the “wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10).  Names to which he is referred in Scripture let us know he can’t be trusted.  Note what the Bible calls him – Beelzebud, serpent, dragon, raging lion, evil one, accuser, tempter, destroyer, the adversary, enemy, slanderer, prince of demons, ruler of this world, prince of the power of the air, and god of this world.
   Satan admittedly has done much, and when it comes to a knowledge of human nature, he’s wise.  Yet, he is still the father of lies.  Esau may have sold his birthright for a bowl of soup . . . Haman may have built a gallows from which he himself was hung . . . Samson may have fallen to the charms of Delilah . . . Ananias and Sapphira may have unwittingly lied to the Holy Spirit . . . but Satan has consistently and intentionally challenged the Word and sovereignty of God.  It is not good to mock God and challenge God’s power over life and history.  Pharaoh did it and saw his armies buried in the watery grave of the Red Sea.  Nebuchadnezzar did it and ended losing his mind and eating grass like the ox.  Beshazzar did it and saw a hand from out of nowhere write his doom upon the wall.  Jezebel did it and was thrown over the balcony into the street, where the dogs licked her blood.  Herod did it and was stricken upon his throne, and the worms ate his body.
   If these servants of Satan’s purposes received such a fate, then neither will their master escape the judgment of God.  The book of Revelation tells me that in the end Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit into which he has cast so many who have drawn him close.  Satan’s kingdom is doomed because God’s Word says so, and unlike Satan, God does not lie.
   Satan is not smart because he has attacked God’s creation.  It’s not smart to believe that God, who made the creation, who gave Jesus to die for it, and the Holy Spirit to sustain it, will give it up and hand it over to Satan.  Never forget that the hand of the one who made the creation is able to maintain and protect it in spite of Satan’s work.  Sin may run amuck in the world, but God was able to save Noah and his family in the ark . . . as well as Lot and his family in Sodom and Gomorrah from falling fire.  Joseph’s brothers may have sold him into slavery and Potiphar’s wife may have been responsible for his imprisonment, but God was able to use their treachery for Joseph’s good.
   It is true that Moses’ error left him on the summit of Mount Nebo without entering the Promised Land, and Elijah’s fear caused him to flee from Jezebel’s wrath, but God was able to transport them through the corridors o time and bring them centuries later to the lonely slopes of the Mount of Transfiguration, where they personally spoke with Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.  Satan may have fashioned the cross for God’s only Son, but early the third day God sent an angel to roll back the stone from the tomb and raise the Son to stoop no more.  In spite of Satan’s destructive work, God is able to care for his creation.
   Satan may appear to be smart, but he has been outsmarted.  In the early part of the last century an artist who was also a great chess player painted a picture of a chess game in which the two players were a young man and Satan.  Should the young man win, he would be free from the power of evil forever.  If Satan should win, the young man was to be his slave forever.  The artist evidently believed in the supreme power of evil, for his picture presented the devil as the victor.  In the picture, the young man’s hand hovers over one of the pieces, not knowing what to do.  There was no hope – the devil would win . . . the young man would be his slave forever.  For years this picture hung in a great art gallery, and chess players from all over the world viewed the picture and reached the same conclusion – the devil wins.  One day a chess player who studied the picture became convinced that there had to be a way out and he knew of one chess player who could find it.  He arranged for the supreme master of chess, and undefeated champion, to view the picture.  The old man stood before the picture for more than half an hour, pondering what move the young man might make.  Finally, his hand paused . . . his eyes burned with a vision of anew combination.  Suddenly he shouted, “Young man, that’s the move.  Make the move.”  To everyone’s surprise, the supreme chess champion had discovered a move that the creating artist had not considered.  The conclusion was changed, the devil had been outsmarted, and the young man was forever free.
   For centuries Satan held our souls in the checkmate of death.  Neither Abraham with his faith, Moses with his law, Job with his patience, Deborah with her courage, Esther with her obedience, David with his military skills, Solomon with his wisdom . . . Daniel with his vision . . . mor Ezekiel with his preaching could break it.  But one day some two thousand years ago, God made a move that Satan hadn’t counted on.  God sent Jesus Christ into the world.  One Friday when he bore a cross up Calvary’s hill, God proclaimed, “That’s the move.  Make the move.” 
(You can goggle ‘devil playing chess’ and see this art work.)

Matthew 4:1-11

The Temptations of Christ

   One day in the village, the carpenter laid down his tools for the last time, closed the door and walked through the outskirts of the village, up the winding path into the hills.
   Far into the night he walked, until he found himself among the caves and rocks of the wilderness with the cry of the wild beasts in his ears.  He had to go there . . . he was impelled to go.  “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
   What does this story mean to us, this account of the Son of Man tempted by the devil?  We may never wholly know, but we have come far enough to know that the temptation of Jesus was a mental conflict He endured in thinking out His plan of action.  He had come to be the Saviour of humanity and the answer to the prophets’ hopes  . . . to bring salvation. 
   To suppose it was merely the temptation of a good man to be selfish, to do an evil thing – is to miss the point.  Every person’s temptation must be interpreted in the light of their life purpose.  Jesus’ purpose was the Kingdom of God . . . to change the hearts of people . . . to bring them to God.  That was the end purpose of His life, and the conflict in the wilderness concerns the means by which He might reach that end and achieve His purpose.  We know also that He must Himself have told this story to His disciples, describing His spiritual wrestling in these simple pictures which they could remember, even if they could not understand.
   If we had seen the temptation, we would have seen no devil, no temple in the distance . . . just a young man alone there with His thoughts . . . day after day wrestling with Himself . . . wrestling with the issues, thinking them through, seeing the shortcuts and tempted to take them and spurn the alluring ways that could deflect Him.  And finally with His mind made up, clear-eyed and certain about the method which must be unflinchingly followed . . . He came out of the wilderness with quiet and calm in His soul, and angels ministered unto Him.  We need to remember He was no long-haired, holy prophet.  He was a strong young man of thirty, the clearest thinker with the most realistic mind the human race has known.
   This invisible encounter between the forces of good and evil, between the truth about life and the worldly lie -- raised the most important question for Jesus and a most important question for us, His disciples . . . How could He win the world, change the hearts of people and bring them to God?   How can we?
   Here in the desert long ago our Lord fought out a battle and with clear perception saw through eternity the problems of life that still perplex and bedevil the world.
   It began with bread.  Almost everything does, so basic is bread to life.  “Command that these stones be made bread.”  Of course He was hungry:  He had fasted many days.  His eye fastened on the small smooth stones of the desert which travelers say look very much like little loaves of bread, and an idea which He called a temptation took shape there in His mind.  Bread . . . that’s a good place to start.  Poverty, hunger . . . feed people and they’ll follow.  They’ll follow anyone who will give them bread.  That’s how many politicians get their votes and how every ruler rises to power.  Feed people and they’ll follow.  It is easy to see why Jesus should be tempted at this point, for He was no stranger to hunger.  He knew what it meant to be poor.  All His life He had seen the haunted look in the eyes of hungry people.  And because He could look into even today . . . He saw the host of the world’s hungry people.  He saw them stretching out into. . . an endless sea.  Mothers clasping puny children to their . . . shriveled breasts . . . fathers tearing open their ragged shirts to show the bones beneath their skin . . . while all around . . . like the moan of the sea there went up the cry . . . “Bread!  Bread!  For God’s sake give us Bread!”  This, He told His disciples later, was a temptation to Him.
   “Answer that cry,” the tempter said.  “Anyone who can answer the cry of poverty can rule the world.  If you are the Son of God, if you have God’s power in your hands, use it to answer the real need . . . bread.  How can you give them God if you don’t give them bread?  How can you make them good if you don’t give them bread?  Feed their bodies, and you’ll get their souls.  Never mind all that other stuff you want to teach them . . . God, love, brotherhood, sisterhood, that stuff.  Who needs it?  Give them what they need.  Give them bread.”  There is a powerful plausibility in this, and, of course, some measure of truth.  Whole ideologies have come into being around the idea that since people are animals and little more, bread is the thing.  That is all life is when you take the trimmings off . . . a hard, grim battle for bread.
   “Feed the people, and they’ll eat out of your hand,” said Karl Marx.  The business world is obsessed with it.  The business of life is business . . .  everything else is trimming -- culture, religion, even morals.  Seek first what you shall eat and drink, what you shall put on, and people will be good and other things will be added.  Even the church, every so often, gets sidetracked in its legitimate concern for social needs and loses sight of the higher spiritual dimensions, and social service becomes religion.  But Jesus rejected this line of thought, sensitive as He was to the physical needs of people.  He knew we could not live without bread.  At the center of His prayer was “Give us this day our daily bread.”  But He saw farther than Karl Marx . . . or others even of today . . . there in the wilderness He saw, with penetrating insight, clear through the problem of the world’s bread.  He saw that it could not be solved by bread alone, that it was everlastingly rooted in the spiritual, that there was no solution without getting the evil out of people’s hearts and no solution apart from some other things.  He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  The need for other words . . . God’s . . . He saw more than two thousand years ago.
   It is becoming a bit clearer to us now.  We must learn some other God’s words, or no bread.  Conservation is one such word, which is just another word for stewardship, the care of the earth which is the Lord’s.  If we continue to blight the earth and waste its resources, we’ll have no bread.  Work is another.  God has ordained that we shall earn our bread with our sweat and our toil.  We do not help people by feeding them or housing them unless we do a good deal more.  They will take your bread, gobble it up, lie down, go to sleep in the sun and be no different and no better.  But give them other words . . . give them hope, faith and self-respect as children of God and they will stand on their own feet and take care of their own bread.  Love is another word.  Laugh as we will at brotherhood or sisterhood, it is getting clearer now that without it we shall have no bread.  If we quarrel over bread and fight each other to get it, we shall destroy it, the world and ourselves with it.  This is no theological battle fought out there in the wilderness . . . it goes right to the heart of the world’s number one problem . . . the problem of bread.  Every day it gets clearer what Jesus told the devil in the desert . . . that man cannot live, cannot survive by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
   “Very well,” said the devil, “there are other ways.  There’s a theory among the people that when the Saviour comes, the Messiah, He will come floating in the clouds, descending in power and great glory upon the temple.  What about that?  Give the people a sign.  Advertise yourself, throw your weight around, let them know who you are.  Show them your credentials.  Cast yourself down into their wondering midst.  That is exactly the kind of magic they’re looking for.  People are as hungry for sensation as they are for bread.  You won’t get far as just a carpenter with nothing but the truth in your hand, especially your kind of truth, this ‘Blessed are the meek.’  They won’t go for that.  But a miracle, a spectacular miracle, undeniable proof, that will get them.  They’ll follow you anywhere if you will give them proof.  Advertise your alliance with the Almighty.  Give them a sign  . . . jump.”  And this, Jesus told His disciples later, was a temptation to Him.
   Are we surprised that He was tempted to impress the people with His power?  Everyone is.  And why not?  If to make people good, if to win them for God a convincing miracle is needed, why not? . . . if it serves a righteous purpose.  Why take the long way around struggling with people’s hearts, if by a turn of His hand, a shortcut, He could storm their hearts and win their allegiance right away by a dazzling demonstration of His miracles?  “Cast yourself down.”  He must have wrestled with this alluring possibility a long time.
   What would we have done if we had all power in our hands?  I imagine we would throw our weight around and let people know who is who and what is what.  But He rejected it . . . having heard in it the voice of the devil, He set it aside as useless to His long-term purpose.  Here in the wilderness, centuries before His time, His clear-eyed moral insight went right to the roots of one of the world’s oldest and most degrading evils . . .  the temptation of people to put their trust in magical religion.
   There are only two kinds of religion . . . magical and moral.  You can trace them all through history.  One looks to God to do things for us, the other looks to Him to do things in us and through us.  Put this down and remember it.  There was no temperament in Christ to leave folks helpless, infantile and undeveloped, and to do for them what they must do within themselves.  Magical religion does not make people good.  It may excite their wonder, but it does not change their hearts or make them better . . . it leaves them where they are.  It often makes them worse, producing the very opposite of goodness, encouraging them to look to God or government to do for them what they must do for themselves if they are to rise up to be His sons and daughters.  And perhaps the worst punishment God could visit upon us would be to answer all our prayers, to break through by miraculous intervention, heal all our diseases, solve all our problems and leave us children, undeveloped.  All through His ministry He was pestered with the question, “Give us a sign,”  and often He was depressed to see crowds around Him goggle-eyed with wonder at His miracles of compassion, while they blithely brushed off the moral meaning of His message.  He did not come to be a miracle man . . . He came to bring people to God.
   This world has always been a pushover for magical religion.  The church itself has been cursed with it . . . with shrines, good-luck charms and hocus-pocus.  What a mixture the church has been in spots, with goodness and superstition coming along together!  It is the kind of supermagic that feeds the hungry for sensation and leaves people no better than they were.  It is a persistent evil -- throw it out the door . . . it comes back through the window.
   So Jesus rejected the shortcuts, both bread and magic.  He thrust them aside as useless to His purpose, and then went on to face the most tempting of all temptations, power . . .political and military power . . . by far the most common foundation upon which all the kingdoms of the world are, and always have been, built.  The devil took Him to a high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world.
   Think of all the ambitious people who have stood on that mountain looking down on the kingdoms, wanting to rule the world: Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler . . . and none of them with an ambition as far-reaching as that of this man in the desert, this Son of Man with God in His eyes.  He saw stretched out before Him the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them.  He wanted with all the passion of His soul to win them for God and to make them subject to God’s will.  “Pray then like this..... Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth . . .” (Matthew 6:9).  He wanted the world to love God!
   “Very well,” said the voice, “you can have it with just a little sidestepping.” The devil knows at lot about kingdoms --  he has been mixed up in them for a long time.  He pretty much gets his way with them.  “But you see,” he said, “what you have to do to get them.  These kingdoms are mine.  They don’t go much for God-talk.  They follow me. They’re mine.  They’re mine,” he said.  “But I’ll make a bargain with you.  Worship me a little, take my way, use my power to get them.  You have the right purpose.  I have the right weapons.  Let’s make a deal.  You haven’t a chance, you know, with your kind of power, righteousness, justice, love, and stuff.  They won’t go for that.  You’ll get yourself killed with that.  The odds are all stacked against you.  Don’t be a fool.  But a throne, a crown on your head, a sword in your hand, a little of my kind of power . . . let’s make a deal, pull together, and the end will justify the means.”
   Now just how much this was a temptation to Jesus we can only guess.  All through His ministry there were those who wanted to make Him king and who wanted to put a sword in His hand and have Him take the way of power.  But how much there in the wilderness, He thought of force as a way to achieve righteous ends, we do not know.   From our knowledge of Him today it seems rather unthinkable that He would even consider it, but there was nothing in that day to make it unthinkable.  To Mohammed it was not unthinkable.  To millions of Christ’s own followers it has not seemed unthinkable.  Think of the Holy Wars, of the conquests under the church flag, of the Crusades marching out to kill in the name of Christ.  It was not unthinkable then, with Romans everywhere.  It was that kind of world.  We only know that He rejected it.  He did not believe that the end justifies the means.
   These are the principles He hammered out, there in the wilderness.  We often wonder what these people mean who think of the religion of Christ as visionary . . . a lovely story for the children . . . a beautiful sentiment . . . God, mother, home and heaven.  The way of Christ is the way of life to which people must turn somewhere, someday, to find the path to their hopes.  “It is written,” He said.  “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”  If you're going to come out where God is, you have to take God’s way to get there.

Numbers 13:1-3, 25-33

“A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”


NUMBERS 13:1-3, 25-33: The LORD said to Moses, "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall send a man, every one a leader among them." So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them leading men among the Israelites . . . .
At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.  And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.  And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.  Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.  The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country. and the Canaanites live by the "sea, and along the Jordan."
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." Then the Men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we." So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size.  There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grass hoppers, and so we seemed to them.”


   Once upon a time there was a man who had the courage to be in the minority.  For a while it looked as if it would cost him his life, but in the end it was his minority courage which made him outlive his contemporaries.  In fact, he has outlived them to this very day, so that his name is still remembered, while those who voted with the majority are long forgotten.
   His name was Caleb, and you’ll find his story in the Hebrew scriptures in the book of Numbers.  You may have the impression that Numbers isn’t a very exciting book, but Caleb’s story is not only one of the most exciting ever written, it is also one of the most instructive.
   When the Jewish people escaped the slavery of Egypt centuries ago, it was with the promise that God would give them a land of their own.  It was to be a land of abundance, described as flowing with milk and honey – which is a way of saying that it would have not only life’s necessities, but also some luxuries.  In time, the Jews were within striking distance of the land that had been promised to them.  They selected a committee to explore the land, to determine their best course of action.  It was a good committee.  All of them were leaders, each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The committee lacked female representation, unfortunately but that was typical of the times.
   At its best, a committee is an ingenious idea.  It gives the opportunity of acting with the wisdom of five or seven or a dozen persons rather than of one.  Every committee is an exercise in democracy. 
   One might say that the writer of Proverbs was endorsing committee action when he said:
      Without counsel, plans go wrong,
      but with many advisers they succeed.
      (Proverbs 15:22)
Something special can happen when several minds interact; one good mind, brushing against another, will often set up such intellectual friction that a full-blown fire is kindled.
   Unfortunately, however, committees seldom fulfill their potential.  Any of us who have given interminable hours of our lives in committee meetings will testify to that.  Often it’s because members of a committee don’t prepare for the meeting, each one assuming that others will carry the weight, or perhaps thinking that something magic will happen just because half a dozen unprepared people have gotten together.
   But usually there’s a greater problem.  Committees tend to make people cautious.  That’s why committees almost never produce startling insights or dramatic action.  They tend, even more than individuals, to follow the path of least resistance.  A certain lethargy is native to committees.  They feel obligated to be ponderous and deliberative.  Often they bow under the weight of their own impressiveness.  Some committees seem to feel that it’s their responsibility to cut an idea down to manageable size.  And in the process, they often leave the idea bleeding and dying.  No one can estimate how many brilliant ideas have been born in committees, or brought to committees by imaginative members, only to be molded at last, by committee action, into a tame, routine, dull, colorless thing.  Who can say how many committee mountains have strained for months to bring forth a molehill idea?
   Israel’s Committee of Twelve made a forty-day study.  They fulfilled their assignments rather dangerous one, frankly . . . and they did it well.  They examined a large area of the land, and brought back samples of grapes, pomegranates, and figs.  The land was rich!  A cluster of grapes was so large that two men were needed to carry it back on a pole between them, as Exhibit A of their study.
   When the committee returned, it was greeted with great excitement.  “The land flows with milk and honey,” they said, “and here is a sample of its fruit.”  But at that point, the majority report turned sour.  “Yet the people who live in the land,” they continued, “are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there” (Numbers 13:28).  Then they proceeded to list other names that terrified  them  -- Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Canaanites -- names that today sound like parties to a comic opera, but to the Committee (or at least to its majority) they were a litany of despair.
   As I read the report in Numbers, I can almost feel the silence settling over the gathered throng.  Children who had jumped and danced at the sight of the fruit of the promised land now slipped into their mothers’ skirts.  Men bowed their heads and their shoulders sagged.  Here and there in the crowd, women sobbed and old men shook their heads in resignation.  These were people who had never known anything but slavery, and some of them were now thinking that they were never intended to be more.  Slowly, an unhappy murmur began to build.
   At this point, our man Caleb began his minority report.  He quieted the people, then said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30).  Immediately the majority – ten of the twelve Committee members! -- answered, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.  The land we explored devours those living in it.  All the people we saw there are of great size.  We seemed like grasshoppers; in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:31b, 32b, 33b NIV).
   Did you notice the inconsistency in that majority report?  It would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic.  The Committee said, on the one hand, that the land devoured its inhabitants; and in the next, they declared that the inhabitants were men of great stature, veritable giants!  You can’t have it both ways, can you?  But they were painfully correct in one specific.  They said they felt like grasshoppers in their own eyes and looked the same to their potential enemies.  It’s very clear that when a person feels like a grasshopper, other people will soon come to the same conclusion.  The image we carry of ourselves is usually, eventually, the image others get.  Each of us is three people: what we are, what we perceive ourselves to be, and what others see us to be.  And what others see us to be is usually closer to what we perceive ourselves to be than to what we are.
   A cry rose up in the camp.  The people wept all that night.  Then they began to murmur against Moses and Aaron, the leaders of the fledgling nation.  They said they wished they had died in Egypt – the land where they had been slaves, and from which they were so glad to be delivered that they had sung like angels upon their escape – or that they had died in the wilderness in which they were now traveling.  Then, suddenly, someone said, “Let’s choose a captain and go back to Egypt.”  Back to slavery! Can you imagine that?
   Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, and Joshua and Caleb, who had offered the minority report, rent their clothing, which was a demonstration in the ancient Middle East of grief and shame.  I don’t know if Joshua was silent at the first reporting, but he was one of the twelve spies, and he was the only one who at last joined Caleb in the minority report.
   Caleb and Joshua appealed to the people.  They said that the land was good beyond description, perhaps pointing again to the collection of fruit.  And it could be theirs, they insisted, if the Lord delighted in them.  It was land, they said, which flowed with milk and honey.  Then they pushed the crucial point: The Lord is with us, so we have no reason to fear the enemy.
   So how did the people respond to this courageous cry from the minority?  They decided to stone them!  They wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua for believing and hoping, and they would choose instead to return to their former condition of slavery, or to die en route.
   It sounds irrational, doesn’t it?  But unbelief makes a person irrational.  There’s a popular idea that insists faith is irrational, and no doubt there are instances where faith is so misused.  But unbelief is far more irrational.  It makes us our own worst enemies.  When we live with doubt and fear, we take sides against ourselves.  What could be more irrational than that?  Only this: that unbelief also makes us line up against God.  Now that, believe me, is irrational!
   So the minority said, “We can do it,” and the majority answered, “We’ll never make it.” And of course both were right.  In the next forty years, the majority proved they were right, and it wasn’t hard, either.  All they had to do was to do nothing, and most of us are good at that.  But the minority also proved, in a little more than forty years, that they were right.  Really, finally, wonderfully right  – a rightness that proved how wrong the majority had actually been.
   I have a great deal of regard for minority reports.  Take American history, for instance.  The venerable American historian John Hicks said that when the American Revolution began, those who wanted freedom from England were doubtless a minority.  As for those who really, measurably supported the Revolution, they were an almost minuscule minority.  During the winter at Valley Forge, Washington’s army was a bare two thousand men, and the people of America weren’t willing to pay taxes to support the cause.  We moderns enjoy what the world hails as American freedom because of a minority, and the dogged devotion with which they held to their minority position.
   The church has a debt to its minority positions, too.  The genius of Catholicism has been its readiness to accept new Orders, like the Jesuits and the Franciscans, who have revitalized the whole body by their vigorous minority energy.  The genius of Protestantism is the spiritual renewal which has repeatedly occurred through the influence of minority movements.  We may not agree with everything that has been said and done by all the splinter groups in Protestantism, but we owe them more than we will ever fully realize, and surely more than we will acknowledge.  When Protestantism had lost sight of the role of faith in physical and emotional healing, Christian Science made it an issue.  Seventh Day Adventists have kept us alert to the issue of religious liberty and to a concern for the Sabbath.  Pentecostal bodies have reawakened us to the importance of the Holy Spirit.  If ever the day comes when Protestantism, or most of it, is united in one large denomination, that denomination had better have room for vigorous minority reports.  If it doesn’t, little churches will soon break off from the one big church.  And if I happen to be around at that time, you’ll probably find me among them.
   I’m not giving a blanket endorsement to minority voices.  My case is for the responsible minority.  I hold no respect for people who are in a minority simply because they want to be different, nor for those who are working out their neuroses in some religious or political expression.  Some minority movements are thoughtless and destructive, and many can see no farther than their own small agenda, until they think their little agenda is the business of the whole universe.  Nevertheless, what organization or what nation can dare to close its mind to the voice of minor segments within its group?  And who can say what potential melody may be found in even the unseemly dissonance of one apparently irrational voice?
   The people were preparing  to stone Caleb and Joshua because they could not hear the melody in their minority report.   Then God intervened.  Judgment was pronounced on the faithless nation.  Not one of the generation that had seen the wonders of the Lord delivering them from Egypt and had now retreated from entering the promised land would never enter that place.   They would wander in the wilderness until all of their adult generation had passed away.  Of the original group, only Caleb and Joshua would ever enter the inheritance which had been promised to all the people.
   So for forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.  Some say the number is symbolic: a matter of wandering a year for each day the Committee had spent in its research of the promised land.  Others point out that forty years is essentially the time span for an adult generation.   Still others argue that the wilderness in which they were supposed to have wandered really wasn’t large enough to contain them for such a long period.
   Those who raise this latter argument know geography better than they know human nature.   I’ve known people who lived all their lives without really leaving “block” in which they were born:  not because they were happy in that block, but because they didn’t have the gumption –  faith, if you please –  to rise up and find a new life.  And I’ve known churches that stagnated, slowly dying, for a whole generation without taking a step forward for God because –  like Israel –  they had to wait for a generation to die off before they could hope to move ahead.  The truth is, it would have been a miracle if the Israelites had gone into the promised land as long as that negative generation was living – much more of a miracle, really, than their wandering for forty years.
   As for Caleb, our saint of the minority report, he saw the promised land.  Of course he did!  How could it be otherwise?  His whole generation died in the wilderness, but he walked in the promised land.  Caleb’s minority report was the product of his faith.  He saw the land after forty years, and possessed it, because he saw it – and saw it in a way ten of his companions could not – when he was part of that Committee exploration forty years before.  Caleb looked, at life through the eyes of faith, and as a result, he saw much more than others saw.  Consequently, he got more out of life than others got.
   People of faith are always making minority reports.  The world around them goes with the times, the fads, the headlines – and yes polls!  But those who choose to follow God in faith always are in sight of a higher goal than the latest stock market report, society column, or public opinion sampling.  They somehow see the purposes of God, even when the noise and bluster of society would seem to drown them out.  No wonder then that one day they get to the promised land!  When you have faith, you’re not willing to die in the wilderness.  You’ve seen God and God’s will, you intend to follow on until that eternal goal has been reached.
   And you’ll be there when it happens.  You can count on it.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/02/nyad-my-motto-this-year-is-find-a-way/?hpt=ac_t2
September 02, 2013


Diane Nyad: My motto this year is 'find a way'  ::MonkeyDance::

Dr. Sanjay Gupta talks with 64-year-old Diana Nyad about her record breaking swim from Cuba to Florida.

Great accomplishment!

Never, never quit!

Hi Monkeys,

I find this inspirational.
My gggg American Revolutionary grandfather would agree, with the author!
Someone saved us from being trush into a world War3, IMO.
 ::monkeyflag3::




Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize
By K.T. McFarland /
Published September 10, 2013 / FoxNews.com

(http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Politics/Obama_Putin.jpg)


In one of the most deft diplomatic maneuvers of all time, Russia’s President Putin has saved the world from near-certain disaster. He did so without the egoistical but incompetent American president, or his earnest but clueless Secretary of State, even realizing they had been offered a way out of the mess they’d created.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/10/putin-is-one-who-really-deserves-that-nobel-peace-prize/#ixzz2eWFF1XZs

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/10/putin-is-one-who-really-deserves-that-nobel-peace-prize/#ixzz2eWEaaDjV

The Mud Is Not Our Home

   You can be going through a rough time, but you don t have to have a rough mind   one without any dreams, determination, hope, or vision of things being  better.  And what is said of a people applies to an individual: Where there is no vision an individual perishes   and possibly his or her children.
   You can be in a state that you can no longer serve the Lord like you would like to . . . or used to . . .. but you don t have to have an unserving mind.  We know the most holy thing we can do for one another is pray -- and you don t even have to arise out of your bed to do that for others.  You may be sickly, but your mind is not.
   It doesn t matter what your "job" is in this life -- you can be a janitor, a waitress, a salesclerk, or a servant and have what some people would refer to as a menial job as long as you remember that a janitor, a waitress, a clerk, a mail handler, or a servant is what you do to earn a living   it is not what you are.  You can have a career that is regarded as a lofty one.  But each one of us . . . we are God s child of character and commitment, intelligence and integrity.  You are a big person occupying a small spot.  Because you know who and what you are, you don t allow your surroundings to determine or to define your self-worth.
   Jeremiah 38:6-13 is a case in point..  The prophet Jeremiah had been imprisoned because he had told the truth.  He had learned the hard way that everyone who claims to want to hear the truth doesn t really want to hear it.  More often than not people want to hear their own opinions and views agreed to by others.  If you want to get into trouble with some people, if you want to lose friendship with some people, tell them the truth.  Most of us go through life deciding between the truth and the politically wise thing to say, between the truth that angers and offends and the truth that is stretched or left unsaid, that consoles and doesn t create any waves.
   Jeremiah was one of those persons who made people nervous because he was determined to tell the truth as he saw it.  Tact was not his thing   truth was. Politics were not his thing   principles were.  Ingenuity was not his thing   integrity was.  Slyness was not his thing   sincerity was.  Game playing was not his thing   genuineness was.  You wouldn t want to ask Jeremiah his opinion of an outfit that was too tight or too gaudy.  He would tell you.  You wouldn t want to ask Jeremiah his opinion of your family or your children.  He would tell you.  You wouldn t want to ask Jeremiah his opinion of you, your lifestyle, or your values.  He would tell you.  And if you were the king, you wouldn t want to ask Jeremiah his opinion of your policies.  He would tell you.
   That was the mistake that Zedekiah, king of Judah, made when the Babylonians were preparing to attack Jerusalem.  Zedekiah was preparing to hold out.  But because Jeremiah believed the judgment of God was upon Judah, he advocated surrender.  Some of the king s counselors and top officials, who had the most to lose, felt that Jeremiah should not be openly preaching a message of surrender and discouraging the hearts of the people and the morale of the soldiers. Thus, they imprisoned Jeremiah   they lowered him into a well with no water and left him there to die.  And Jeremiah sank in the mud.
   Picture Jeremiah, the devoted, uncompromising prophet of truth, sinking in the mud.  Every life spends some time in the mud.  Your faith hasn t really been tried until you have spent some time in the mud.  Read the biographies of great men and women, and you will discover that before they made their great discovery, or wrote their literary masterpiece or musical score, or painted the picture that has carved them a place in immortality, they spent some time in the mud.  Before they were inducted into the hall of fame or accomplished the great feats for which they are known or saw their dreams come true, they spent some time in the mud.  They felt themselves sinking into the mud, where all seemed lost, where they felt forsaken and forlorn, where their lives seemed to be in vain and dreams seemed impossible to attain.  Sometimes life and misfortune put us in the mud.  Sometimes our miscalculations and mistakes, weaknesses, sins, and flaws put us in the mud. Sometimes other people, through meanness or envy, fear or resentment, put us in the mud.  Sometimes Satan s attempts to break our faith and spirit put us in the mud.  Every marriage that survives has some mud on it.  Every friendship or relationship of substance has some mud on it.  Every dream that is realized has some mud on it.  Every career, no matter how successful, has some mud on it.  A faith strong and holy, noble and cleaned up, has some mud on it   mud that clings, stinks, and stains.  Every life goes through the mud.
   See Jeremiah in the mud asking God, "Why do the wicked prosper and scoundrels enjoy peace?"  See Joseph lowered into the pit by jealous brothers   in the mud.  See David playing crazy to save his life   in the mud.  See Abraham lying instead of believing to protect himself   in the mud.  See Noah, the most righteous of his generation, lying outside of his tent drunk and naked   in the mud.  See Elijah running from Jezebel   in the mud.  See Job cursing the day he was born   in the mud.
   See John the Baptist locked up in prison and awaiting death wondering if Jesus is who John thought he was   in the mud.  See Peter cursing and denying his Lord and then going off by himself and weeping bitterly   in the mud.
   Have you ever been in the mud when it seems as if God has turned a deaf ear to your prayer, when living right and doing right doesn t seem to do any good after all?  The harder you try the deeper you sink into the mud, where sin has you and you can t get out.  When you find yourself in the mud, remember this truth: The mud is not your home.  No matter how long we ve been there, no matter how many times weve tried and failed to get out, the mud is not our home.  That is the message that somebody needs to take to straying daughters, wayward sons, fallen wives, and backslidden husbands   the mud is not your home.  Some of us have messed up careers, lost jobs and positions, broken hearts of those who loved us, disappointed those who believed in us   the mud is not your home.  Some of us who are sick have been told by the devil that we aren t worth much and can t be productive.  Dont believe it   the mud is not your home.
   Whenever you find yourself in the mud for any reason, take a good long look at yourself in the mirror and say, "The devil is a liar   the mud is not my home. God can still make a way for me, Jesus  blood can still save me, the Holy Spirit can still work a miracle within me and upon me   the mud is not my home.  I m not dead yet.  I still have a chance for recovery, for wholeness, for healing, for health   the mud is not my home.  If God brought others out, God can bring me out   the mud is not my home.  Even in the mud, God is good all the time. Therefore, the mud ought not be, will not be, cannot be, Im not going to let it be    my home. Amen! Praise God! Thank you, Jesus! Hallelujah!
   See Jeremiah feeling forsaken and forlorn, sinking in the mud.  While he was sinking, however, help was coming from an unexpected source. In the king s household there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a son of Africa, a black man named Ebed-melech, who respected Jeremiah.  He went to the king to plead Jeremiah s case..
   When Jeremiah s own people had put this noble prophet in the mud, it was a black man who went to see about getting him out.  Virtue defends and appreciates virtue.  For Ebed-melech to defend Jeremiah, he had to be virtuous like the prophet. He had to have Jeremiah s integrity and honesty.  He also had to have courage and convictions like Jeremiah.
   A number of scholars have told us that blacks were uncivilized savages during biblical times.  Evidently, they haven t read their Bibles and heard of the Queen of Sheba in Solomon s time, or Ebed-melech of Jeremiah s time, or Simon who helped Jesus carry his cross.  The uncivilized among Jeremiah s own people put him in the mud, but it was a humane, refined, articulate, intelligent, religious black man named Ebed-melech who understood that he was bigger than his surroundings, who tried to get the prophet out. He may not have had the riches of others, but he was not impoverished in his thinking and poor in his spirit. He knew he was God s child.
   Ebed-melech told the king that those who put Jeremiah in the mud had acted wickedly against him.  The king gave him permission to save Jeremiah.  Ebed-melech didn t have any ladders to rescue Jeremiah, so he went to the storehouse and gathered rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes.  He told the prophet to put the rags under his armpits between his body and the ropes.  Then Ebed-melech lifted the prophet from the mud with rags and ropes.  Ebed-melech didn t have any sophisticated equipment; nor did he need any.  He used what was available to him   rags and ropes.  And although his equipment may not have been the best, his rags and ropes were sufficient to get the job done. 
   As a matter of fact, Christianity is a rag and rope religion. We are not saved by some great liturgical act or some marvelous intellectual theory, but by a carpenter s son who spent his life and ministry with people in the mud.  The stinky fishermen and Galilean sod busters who were his disciples were muddy people.  A much married woman at Jacob s well, a tax collector named Zacchaeus, lepers, prostitutes, a dying thief   those he ministered to and saved were all muddy people.  One day on a hill called Calvary he bore a rag and rope rugged cross and died for my sins and your sins.  He came to where we were in the mud and lifted us from grime to grace, sin to salvation, helplessness to hope, failure to faith, trouble to triumph, vice to victory, hell to heaven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXjbI3kRus

David Bowie and Bing Crosby, "The Little Drummer Boy" :)

 ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1:: ::DancingSantaMonkey1::

John 9

From the first day he could remember all was darkness.  For several years he thought the darkness was normal . . . his parents had always been kind to him . . . he could remember his father, holding tightly to his hand as he walked, pulling him this way and that to lead him . . . these tugs had always been kindly tugs showing the guidance and love of a parent.  Every now and then, when he was just learning to walk, his mother would suddenly swoop him up and he could sense a gasp of fear as she grabbed him.  It was only later in life that he realized he was different . . . it was later on that he heard comments from other people. 
   His parents kept him in the house most of the time and he learned where everything was and he could do almost anything he wanted to do . . . his home surroundings were familiar to him so there was never a problem in his own environment. 
   As he was growing up . . . he remembered some days when his mother and father would take him out in the country and just let him run . . . he would fall down in the grass and roll, just like any other child.  Then one day he rolled into a rock and his mother screamed . . . his father picked him up and cleaned and bound his cut and they were very protective from then on . . . no more running freely without their guidance.  They would only allow him . . . after the accident . . . to sit outside in his home in good weather and take in the warmth of the sun.  He became confined to his house and yard . . . it made him feel lonely.  As he sat there n the darkness listening to people go past . . . oh, there where a few who stopped and chatted . . . but mostly he was ignored . . . after all he was different.
   As he sat there in the darkness, he would wonder what would happen to him when his parents died . . . he would have to learn to beg to survive . . . the future looked bleak for him . . . and he had a lot of time just sitting there in the sun to think about life. 
   One day while he was sitting in the yard, he heard voices which he did not recognize . . . it seemed as if some people were having some kind of argument and he heard one man say – “Look Master, there’s a blind man,” and someone asked him, “How long have you been blind?”  He answered, “Since birth!”  Then another voice said, “Master here’s a question that has always bothered me and confused me . . . what is the answer?  Is this man’s blindness a result of his own sin or is it caused by the sins of his parents?”
   There was quite a discussion which followed and the young blind man didn’t quite understand what they were saying.  Then!  He felt something cool being placed on his eyes and he drew back – but something in the kindness of the hands and softness of the voice eased his fears.  The voice said, “Go up to the temple to the pool of Siloam and wash this off your eyes and you will see.” 
   This young man could not believe what he was hearing, and at first he thought someone was trying to play a trick on him.  Then he felt his father beside him and his father took his arm and away they went.  After a few minutes his father said, kneel and wash your eyes . . . so he knelt . . . he felt for the water and splashed it upon his face and rubbed his eyes.  The suddenly . . . he thought he saw some movement and then things began to come into focus . . . he looked up and for the first time, he saw the blue in the sky and the laughing face of his father . . . and be began to shout!  I see . . . I see . . . and when he returned to his house, still overcome with great joy at being able to see . . . the question about who was guilty was still going on . . . that fact that he could see was almost secondary importance.
   Throughout the late part of this 9th chapter of John, there is a theme of guilt:
 what is guilt?  Who is guilty?  Why is that person guilty and what is that person guilty of?
   The disciples begin that argument by assuming someone was guilty of the
blindness . . . Jesus set their minds at ease rather quickly, by saying, “Neither” . . . but the Pharisees continue to pursue the them and immediately changed the guilty party.  They said Jesus was now guilty because he had healed on the Sabbath.  Now that was a pretty weak argument and soon they found that could not win this argument . . . so they merely changed the guilty party . . . they called the young man who had been blind a liar . . . they placed the guilt on him and expelled him from the temple . . . some one to blame for those things they couldn’t understand . . . because they thought they should be able to understand everything . . . they thought it had to be possible to put a label of right or wrong on every act . . . that everything, every person either had God’s seal of approval or his stamp of censure.
   This morning, we come to celebrate the sacrifice of a man who by a single act of self-denial, made it possible for all of us to feel no guilt . . . made it possible for all of us to be free of our sins.  Jesus told the Pharisees that if they had been blind, they wouldn’t have been guilty, . . . but when they claimed to see . . . claimed to know it all . . . refused to listen to the real truth . . . regardless of what they thoughts they knew    . . . their guilt remained.
   Jesus said this so many times in his teachings . . . Jesus came to earth to show us the true nature of God.  And time and time again he seized upon an event to give us a little more insight . . . remember one day when some mothers brought their children to him so that he could bless the, and the disciples told the mother to go away?  Jesus replied, let the little children come to me . . . never send them away . . . for the kingdom of God belongs to people who have hearts as trusting as little children . . . anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get within the kingdom’s gates.
   Remember the day he asked the disciples who the people thought he was . . . and they answered, “The think you are Elijah or John the Baptist or Jeremiah,” and then he asked them, “Who do you think I am . . . and Peter replied . . . You are the Christ . . . the Messiah . . . the son of the Living God" and Jesus replied, "God has blessed you, Peter with such faith.  You are a rock and upon this rock I will build my church.  It is this kind of faith that will sustain a common belief in me, and will cause people to bow down and worship me and remember me.
   Take another look at the young man who Jesus healed . . . throughout this entire chapter . . . the man continues to talk about Jesus . . . he continues to answer questions . . . the Pharisees ask him who Jesus is and he replies, "I don't know" . . .  They ask him again and he says, “He must be from God for one else has the power to do the things that he does” . . . and they ask him again and he says, “He must be a prophet”. And finally in the last few verses of this chapter, Jesus asks him that all important question . . . do you believe in the Messiah?  And the young man answers . . . who is he and Jesus said, “You have seen him and you are now talking to Him."  And  the young man said, “I Believe” . . . simple . . . no theology . . . no philosophy     . . . no great truths . . . believe as a little child . . . have the faith of the size of a mustard seed . . . believe . . .  wonderfully, simply believe.
   Part of that belief is that through Jesus our sins are forgiven . . . part of that belief is that Jesus has washed away the penalty for our sins . . . part of that belief is that Jesus says "NOT GUILTY."   To the Pharisees, he said, "you think you know . . . but you don’t . . . and as long as you stay blind to my teaching, you are guilty . . .  As long as you say you know what will save you and don’t accept me as your Savior, you guilt remains."
   The young blind man . . . who can now see. . . proved to be an outstanding champion for Jesus . . .  he defended him throughout this encounter . . . he was even kicked out of the temple for his beliefs and his convictions . . . but he had not met his Jesus . . . his Saviour . . . until he said in simple faith  "I BELIEVE". 
   AS members of the Body of Christ . . . as professing Christians . . . we sometimes think it is enough to "know" about Jesus . . . to do some work for Jesus . . . to preach about Jesus . . . to sing about Jesus . . . too many people believe happily and gratefully in Jesus as a friend . . . Jesus as a teacher . . . Jesus the leader . . . Jesus the helper . . .  but there is more to Jesus than these things . . .  ask yourself if you believe in Jesus . . . the Savior . . . Ask yourself if you are willing to bow down and worship Him . . . because he has saved you from eternal damnation!  Are you willing to truly believe?
   Others were spending much of their time trying to place this young man’s blindness on his parents . . . he was healed . . . he had accepted it . . . A miracle happened . . . and it upset everyone around except the young man . . . all the others were still trying to place guilt . . . and then the young man met the Master and said I believe . . . so being guilty or not guilty ceased to make a difference . . . you see, he had met his Savior . . . he had fallen to his knees to worship him . . . he had given himself to Jesus . . . completely.  Jesus doesn’t care how we get there . . . Jesus just cares that we do!
   The lack of sight does not mean that light is not there . . . Light reveals the condition of the eye . . . the light of the world reveals the condition of the soul . . .  some are blind, even when they think they can see. 
   Jesus can touch our spiritual vision and bring new life to the dead spiritual optic nerve . . . it is not a question of who sinned.  “For all have sinned, and come short of the Glory of God.”  If Jesus has not touched your eyes . . . your spiritual eyes . . . then you are blind . . . you can not see . . . yet this morning – remember His power to heal . . . even of our blindness.  Ask Him as you kneel here . . . to touch you . . . so when you leave, you too may shout, "I believe."

2 Corinthians 12:7-10


   We believers justifiably and understandably emphasize the healing miracles of the Scriptures.  As we are all aware, the Bible is filled with instances of healing that come as a response to a command or prayer of faith by a believer.  Our problem is that while the Bible is full of examples of God saying yes to prayer requests from believers for healing . . . our own lives and experience are full of examples of God saying no to such prayers.  How do we respond when God says no . . . when as far as we can tell, based on our understanding and reading of the Scriptures . . . we’re saying and doing all the right things?  We are praying in the name of Jesus . . . we are praying in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . and we have invited the Holy Spirit to come.  We have touched and agreed with another believer and have bound the power of the adversary and rebuked the illness.  We have fasted and prayed the prayer of faith, have been anointed with oil, and have laid on hands.  We have prayed believing and expecting . . .and God still said no.
   Let me say at the outset that this is a very difficult message, because I do not have the answer to the troubling questions: “Why does God say no sometimes?  Why are some people healed and others not healed?”  I have prayed for some people, and God said yes.  Yet when I prayed for my own grandmother’s healing, God said no.  God didn’t say to wait . . . God said no.  I find it frustrating, baffling, and painful to visit believers who truly love the Lord and to see them suffer . . .and yet are unable to do anything about their condition.  I pray for their healing, others pray for them, and God still says no.  Then, at other times, when we are about to become completely discouraged, we pray for somebody else for whom only a miracle will do, and God says yes.  We are amazed and awed again by the power of God.  Why are some people healed and others who are just as deserving not healed?  To put the matter personally . . . why are some people healed when my mother, my father, my companion, my child, my best friend are not?  To put the matter even more personally, why are some people healed when I am not?  God, why are you saying no to my healing?
   That was the question Paul was wrestling with in the text.  Paul began this chapter by talking about a momentous spiritual experience he had had in which he was taken up to heaven.  He did not know whether the experience was in the body or out of the body, but while he was there, he saw and heard inexpressible things.  Paul stated further that to keep him from becoming conceited about his experience in the heavenly realm, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, was given to him to torment him.  Now I do not know what the thorn was . . . but I believe two things: it was physical and it was painful.  Thorns are painful.  Paul described this spiritual experience as having taken place fourteen years earlier.  We don’t know when Paul started being tortured by this thorn, but if it was anytime near the experience, he had been suffering a long time.
   As a good believer, Paul took his thorn to God in prayer not once or twice but three times.  Paul repeatedly prayed, pleaded, promised, and agonized with God to heal him, to take the thorn from him.  And guess what?  God said no.  Could God possibly say no to Paul whom he had taken to heaven and to whom he had revealed the inexpressible?  Could God possibly say no to Paul whose life he had turned around on the Damascus Road and whose feet he had put on a street called Straight?  Paul was blinded during his conversion experience.  He was healed of his blindness, but God said no to the removal of the thorn.  At the beginning of Acts 28 we read that Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malta and was bitten by a poisonous snake . . . a viper fastened itself onto Paul’s hand.  Paul shook it off in the fire and went about his business.  He didn’t swell up and he didn’t die.  The Bible doesn’t even say that he prayed for healing . . . yet he was healed.  He was healed of a snakebite that the Bible doesn’t even tell us he prayed over . . . yet God said no when he prayed over his thorn.
   During his own ministry Paul was empowered to heal others.  In Lystra . . . he healed a man crippled from birth.  In Ephesus . . . he cast out a demon from a tormented girl, and in Troas . . . he restored life to a young man believed to be dead.  Yet his own thorn was not healed.  When he and Silas were locked in jail, they prayed and sang so powerfully that the earth shook, the prison doors flew open, and their chains fell off.  Yet when he prayed about his own thorn, nothing happened.  After God said no to Paid, God said instead. 
   When God says no, look for God’s instead.  God never says no without an instead . . . a substitute, another blessing, another answer, another revelation, another solution, another way.  God said no to Moses: “You will not enter the Promised Land.  Instead, I will transport you across the barriers of time and put you on the snow-kissed crest of Mount Hermon to speak with my Son, Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law, who is about to give his life as a ransom for many.”  When David’s son by Bathsheba was stricken with illness and David prayed and fasted for the child’s life, God said no to David’s prayer, and the child died.  Later, when Bathsheba became pregnant again, God said yes, and Solomon was born.  The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11 that many of the faithful died without having received the promise.  Instead God prepared for them a better country, a heavenly one.
   When God says no, look for the instead.  That’s just a fancy way of saying what the old preachers used to say: “God will never close a door without opening up a window.”  Let me rephrase that: God will never close a window without opening up a door.  Often that which God opens for us and does for us, with us, and through us after a no is broader, deeper, taller, and more wonderful than the narrowness of our request.
   God said no to Paul’s request . . . instead the Lord spoke to him and said, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Why grace?  The Lord could easily have said, “My love (or peace or will or salvation) is sufficient.”  Why grace?  Let’s remember what grace is.  Grace is the unsought, unasked for, and unmerited goodness of God.  Grace is what God does for us without our asking.  We ask for blessings, forgiveness, and peace . . . but grace is what God gives because God is good . . . all the time.  When God says no, God is saying, “I will give you what you need without your asking for it.” When you have a thorn, you may not know what to ask for.  The pain may be so acute . . . the heartbreak and sorrow may be so piercing . . . the burden may be so heavy . . . that you may ask for relief or release in any way, even death.  But remember, even without your knowing what to ask for, God will still take care of you.
   I once went to see a church member who had been hospitalized several times.  This individual was not simply a church member but was a true believer in the Word of God.  We had been praying for him very earnestly.  He went to the very threshold of death and recovered enough to return to church once again to worship, but after that he suffered a relapse and was again staring death in the face.  When I went to visit him in the hospital, he didn’t even recognize me.  I remembered that he had asked the Lord not to take his presence of mind away so that he would not find himself unable to call on the name of the Lord.  So I asked God, “Why would you let him get this way?  His greatest desire was that he have presence of mind to worship you.”  But I think I understand now, the Lord is saying, “Without their asking, I will take care of my own.  Whether this believer has presence of mind to call upon me or not, I’m still taking care of him.  He’s still in my hands.”  When God says no, remember God’s grace is still sufficient.  God takes care of you even without your asking.
   I could end this message here with these words: “My grace is sufficient.”  Just knowing that without my asking, God is going to bless me, keep me, protect me, feed me, and watch over me when I'm helpless is enough for me to shout my way, pray my way, and fight my way to victory.  But that is not all the Lord said.  The Lord also told Paul: “[My] power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  In other words, the Lord says,
   After I say no, not only will I continue to take care of you, but my power will still work through you even in your diminished capacity and weakened condition.  Because you are weak, my power can compensate for anything you lack on your own.  What I will do in you will be all the more glorious and all the more miraculous because you are weak.  I know you desire to have all eight cylinders.  I’m going to leave you with only four, but when I get through with the four you have left, that four will do as much as eight.  My power is made perfect in weakness.
   This Paul, the one who had the thorn that God didn’t remove, wrote or influenced fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, logged more miles in his travels, and established more churches than anyone else in the Bible.  He is quoted more often than anyone except Jesus.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   The great invitational hymn that has probably brought more souls to Christ than any hymn ever written, “Just As I Am,” was composed by Charlotte Elliot, an invalid who was bedridden for fifty years.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   See blind Fanny Crosby writing “Blessed Assurance,” “Pass Me Not,” “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross,” “I Am Thine O Lord,” “To God Be the Glory,” “Close to Thee,” “Savior More Than Life to Me,” and over five thousand other hymns.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   See sightless Milton writing about paradise or deaf Beethoven composing symphonies or near-deaf Thomas Edison perfecting the phonograph.  “My power is made perfect in weakness.”
   When Paul realized all that God’s power could do through him . . . no wonder he moved off “Complaining Avenue” onto “Praise Boulevard” and said, “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

bumping this because of the evilnesss of Jodi Arais -- she will always be a poor excuse of a creature.
IMO

 ::MonkeyToot::

Music as Prescription
Samuel 16 : 14-23

   Let’s suppose you have been feeling distressed and fatigued of late and this has manifested itself in some physical symptoms. You’ve been having headaches; your lower back has been aching; and there has been a great deal of tightness around your neck and shoulders.  Off to your family physician you trek, and after she has examined you, this is what she says:  You are suffering from unmitigated stress and I prescribe the following. Each morning when you arise and each evening before bedtime, listen for one half hour to music.

 ::MonkeyViolin::

Genesis 25:29-34

Esau

   Esau, the oldest son of Isaac and Rebekah and brother to Jacob, will always be remembered as the man who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup.  He was a person who made one of the most foolish personal decisions and one of the worst business deals in history.  Despite this fact, Esau was not a total waste . . . he had some good qualities.  Esau was a skilled and cunning hunter, and as such was not totally foolish.  A certain amount of intelligence and ability is necessary to out-think animals in their native environment and capture them in their natural habitat.  Thus, Esau was not totally foolish . . . he simply did some foolish things, made some foolish decisions, behaved foolishly in certain situations, and had some foolish priorities.
   Let us never forget that while none of us are totally foolish, all of us have done, and as long as life lasts will continue to do some foolish things.  All of us have Esau’s cunning and skill in some things and his foolishness in others.  Some persons can make major personal and business decisions with relative ease and then go to a restaurant and have trouble deciding what to order from the menu.  Many times the waiter or waitress will have gone around the table and gotten everyone’s order and still have to wait for such a person to make up her or his mind.
   Esau was not only a rugged outdoorsman and a hunter of great ability, he was also a gentle person.  He was especially devoted to his aged father, Isaac.  When Isaac was old and blind, Esau was gentle with him and responded to his needs.  If Isaac wanted something to eat, it was Esau who would get it.  Esau also had a forgiving spirit.  He forgave Jacob, his younger brother, who twice defrauded him.  First Jacob took advantage of Esau’s physical hunger to secure his birthright.  Then Jacob stole Esau’s blessing from their father.  After many years of estrangement, when Jacob came back home with much fear and trembling, Esau ran to meet him.  Esau embraced Jacob, fell upon his neck, and kissed him.  Evidently Esau, unlike a number of people, could not go on hating and loathing, even when he had been wronged.
   His noble qualities notwithstanding, Esau is most known for his despising his birthright and being foolish enough to sell it for a bowl of soup.  History never tells the whole story of who and what we are.  It always picks out certain actions that it considers to be most important.  Sometimes what history records as significant might be different from how we might want to be remembered.  Therefore, we must be careful about the way we live and what we do – so that what history records will be what we want remembered.  We would want a legacy of which we can be justly but humbly proud . . . one that will not cause our loved ones, our friends, our children, and their children to hang their heads in shame.  We would want to leave a legacy of character . . . that will not cause our names to be associated with sin.  Esau, for all his good qualities, is remembered as the man who was foolish enough to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup.
   Here’s the story:  Once after a strenuous day of hunting, Esau returned home famished and tired and found his brother cooking a pot of lentils.  Esau walked over to the fire and asked his brother for some of the red pottage.
   Jacob said, “Not so fast, my brother.  First sell me your birthright.”
   Esau said, “What use is a birthright to me when I am about to starve to death?”
   Jacob, who understood that promises made when the stomach is empty are easily forgotten when the stomach is full, told his brother, “Swear to me first.”
   Esau swore to the deal and sold his birthright to Jacob, who then fed him.  The Scripture tell us, “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way.  Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
   This incident doesn’t say much for the characters of either Esau or Jacob.  After all, Jacob was not behaving as a true brother.  If Jacob had been a true brother, he would have gladly fed Esau.  True families share with one another . . .  they don’t exploit one another or hold back from one another or mistreat one another.  There are many groups of people who bear the name of family and many persons whose association with us is identified by such titles as “mother” or “father,” “son” or “daughter,” “husband” or “wife . . . sister” or “brother” . . . “niece” or “nephew,” “uncle” or “aunt” or “cousin.”  However, their true relationship is not that of family.  In an hour of weakness, crisis, or trouble . . . when death or sickness occurs . . . true family doesn’t gather around like buzzards seeking what they can get for themselves.  True family doesn’t try to take advantage of or profit from or exalt the weakness of other family members.  Whether we are talking about immediate family, extended family, or church family, there are some things that true family members don’t do to one another.
   Jacob’s conduct was not that of a brother, and he must bear the initial responsibility for this dubious transaction since it emanated from his own greediness.  The final blame for the outcome, however, must rest with Esau’s foolishness and shortsightedness.  He did not have to accept Jacob’s offer, anymore than we have to accept the offers that we receive.  We may not have much control over propositions we receive . . . but we do have control over those we accept.  We can blame others for making certain proposals . . . but we must blame ourselves for our decisions to participate.  We must accept responsibility ourselves for whatever consequences accrue from our decisions.  We can blame Jacob’s greed for starting this matter . . . but we must blame Esau’s foolishness for the way it ended.
   To understand why Esau made such a bad bargain, we must look for a minute at what a birthright meant in ancient times.  Esau and Jacob were fraternal twins.  However, since Esau was born first, he was considered the eldest.  The firstborn or eldest son of a household had certain birthrights.  He received authority and honor and a double portion of his father’s inheritance.  The eldest son often acted as the priest of the family in offering sacrifices’ and the priestly garb was kept for him.  He also received a special blessing from the father.  In this case, the blessing would have included the promise made by God to Abraham, which was passed from one generation to another.
   If Esau had kept his birthright . . . through him, rather than Jacob, all the families of the earth would have been blessed.  If Esau had kept his birthright . . .  his descendants would have been as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the sands along the shores.  If Esau had kept his birthright . . . his descendants would have inherited the land flowing with milk and honey.  If Esau had kept his birthright . . .  Joseph, Moses, Elijah, David, Esther, and other heroes and heroines of God’s covenant people would have been among his descendants.  If Esau had kept his birthright . . . even Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, would have been one of his descendants.  Esau, however, sold his birthright.  And what did he receive in exchange for the birthright that held the key for unlocking the future salvation of humankind?  What did he receive for the birthright that contained heaven and earth, time and eternity in its certain fulfillment?  He received a bowl of soup.  How foolish can one be?
   Someone has said that if we hold a penny close enough to an eye it will block out the sun.  A penny can in no way compare with the sun, and yet, if we hold it close enough to an eye, we will lose sight of the sun.  How foolish it would be to forget about the sun and concentrate only on the penny.  How foolish it would be to act as if the sun didn’t exist because we were captivated by the penny.  How foolish it would be to look at life from the perspective of a penny held too close and miss the sun, which, though far away, nourishes and warms our bodies and turns night to day.  Yet that is precisely what Esau did.  He was hungry and tired . . . all he could feel were hunger pangs, and all he could see was Jacob’s pot of lentils.  At that moment in his life, in that moment of weakness, a pot of soup seemed to be the most important thing in life.  The bright promises of his birthright seemed far removed from the reality of the bowl of soup that was so close.  Esau allowed the present moment of hunger and discomfort to block out the larger vision of life.  He allowed a bowl of soup worth only a penny to block out the sunlight of God’s covenant, which even then was being fulfilled in his midst.
   We may criticize Esau’s foolishness in being so shortsighted, but how many times have we allowed the inconvenience of the moment . . . the hunger pangs for immediate rewards or instant revenge . . . or the temptation and passion of the moment to block out the promise of a glorious future?  How many times have we allowed a penny’s worth of passion . . . a penny’s worth of greed . . . a penny’s worth of ego . . . or a penny’s worth of anger . . . to block out God’s Word . . . which even then was shining upon us?  God’s Word turns our midnights of sorrow into high noons of peace . . . and nourishes us with its wisdom while it warms us with its truth.  It is possible to become so fixated with our present pain and inconveniences that we forget what the future holds. 
   When we’re hungry and tired . . . Jacob’s pottage can look and smell so good that we have difficulty remembering the value of our birthright.
   When those who have hurt us mistake our meekness for weakness . . . Jacob’s pottage of fighting our own battles or handling things our own way can look and smell good. 
   When we have been lied to . . . Jacob’s pottage of getting even or seeking revenge can look and smell good. 
   When we have said no to sin but seem to be enjoying life less than those who have said yes . . . Jacob’s pottage of temptation can look and smell good. 
   When honesty and virtue do not seem to pay . . . Jacob’s pottage of compromise or underhanded double dealing can look and smell good. 
   When we have grown tired of making sacrifices . . . Jacob’s pottage of immediate gratification can look and smell good.
   When we are told that everybody is doing it and we desire to be part of the “in crowd,” then we must think and behave in a certain way.  No one wants to be an outsider; everyone wants to be accepted . . . thus, Jacob’s pottage can look and smell good. 
   When we are told to believe that one time won’t hurt    . . . Jacob’s pottage can look and smell good. 
   However, any time we live only for the present moment of folly, vengeance, or greed . . . without thought for the future . . . we are acting as foolishly as Esau.  Anytime we allow God’s gift of the sun to be blocked by cheap copper pennies . . . we’re doing the same foolish thing as Esau . . . we’re selling our birthright to heaven for a bowl of soup.
   Don’t be foolish like Esau.  Be wise and hold on to your birthright.  Jacob’s soup may satisfy for the moment, but it doesn’t last long.  Esau ate Jacob’s soup – he ate until he had enough . . . he ate until he felt he could not possibly eat another morsel . . . and he went away satisfied.  But the next morning he had a problem: he awoke hungry.  It’s foolish to sell out one’s morals beliefs, dignity, integrity, self-respect, and salvation for that which satisfies only for a little while.  If we hold on to our birthright as God’s redeemed and blood-bought children . . . we will inherit that which satisfies and lasts throughout eternity.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).  He told a group of hungry men and women, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
   Therefore, be wise . . . hold on to your birthright, for we can receive a double portion of the inheritance.  Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2, KJV).  Hold on to your birthright . . . for we have been given authority; Jesus said, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).  Hold on to your birthright, for we have been endowed with honor.  “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people” (1 Peter 2:9a).  Hold on to your birthright, for we can act as priests on behalf of others, for “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16b, KJV).  Hold on to your birthright for we have a special blessing from God: “He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son" (Revelation 21:7).

Genesis 39
Up from Egypt

   When most people think about Egypt in the Bible, they think of the Hebrew slaves trying to gather enough straw to make bricks.  They think of Egypt as a place of heavy oppression and hard taskmasters, a place where it took four hundred years, ten plagues, and a showdown at the Red Sea for God’s people to be set free.
   But that’s not the whole story of Egypt in the Bible     . . . that’s only the Exodus story.  Before there was an Exodus, there was a Genesis.  And before there was a Moses, there was a Joseph.  Perhaps we need to take a second look at Egypt, because Egypt’s place in the Bible has not always been negative.  Egypt is not only about being in bondage . . . it is also about believing until you get a breakthrough.  Egypt is not only about blood, sweat, and tears . . . it is also about blessings, salvation, and triumph.  Egypt is not only about disappointment that leads to despair  . . . it is also about dedication that leads to deliverance.
   Egypt isn’t all positive . . . nor is it all negative.  Egypt isn’t all good . . . nor is it all bad.  Egypt isn’t all heaven, but it sure ain’t hell.  Egypt is the real world, with real people, real problems, and real possibilities.  Egypt isn’t reserved for special folk . . . it is everybody’s place . . . because we cannot get to where we are going without going through Egypt.
   Abraham could not go from Ur of the Chaldees, the place of his past, to Canaan, the place of his promise, without going through Egypt.  Jesus could not go from Bethlehem, the place of his birth, to Jerusalem, the place of his resurrection, without going through Egypt.  And Joseph could not get from his father’s pasture to Pharaoh’s palace without going to Egypt.
   It is Joseph’s story that causes us to take a second look at Egypt.  Even though we may sojourn there for longer than we would like, or we may not like how we got there, or we find ourselves outside the Promised Land . . . Joseph’s story lets us know that in Egypt there is something for us and in Egypt God is with us. Sometimes we have to go through Egypt to see that God is with us.  Sometimes the tables must turn in order to know that whatever blessings we receive come from God.
   Joseph was the favored son of Jacob, the firstborn of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel.  He didn’t work in the fields or pasture the flock.  No, he carried messages between his father’s house and his brothers in the fields.  He had the best clothes, the best chores, and the most love.  And he was a spoiled tattletale who brought bad reports to his father about his brothers.
   But in Egypt the tattletale had a tale told on him by Potiphar’s wife.  Then Joseph’s fine clothes became tattered and dirty from years in prison.  The favored son of Jacob became the rejected slave of no one.
   The interesting thing is that the whole time Joseph is at home living a carefree life, God is nowhere mentioned in the text.  But once Joseph is in Egypt, Genesis 39 tells us four times that “the LORD was with him” (vv. 2, 3, 21, 23), two times that “the LORD caused him to prosper” (vv. 3, 23), and one time that “the LORD blessed . . . for Joseph’s sake” (v. 5). And every time he interpreted a dream, he gave the credit to God.
   It’s not that God wasn’t with Joseph while he was home . . . but perhaps Joseph is like us.  When we have achieved or have been given a certain status . . . when the blessings are coming so fast and troubles seem so far . . . when everything is looking up and going our way . . . there is nothing in our walk or our talk that points to praising God for all God has done.  We are too busy enjoying the blessings, even taking credit for them — talking about my effort, my sacrifice, my hard work, or my idea.  And if anyone were to write the story of our lives, there would be so much of us to write about that there would be no room to mention God.
   Then trouble comes.  We are no longer on top . . . but are scraping the bottom.  We are no longer part of the “in” crowd, because they have put us out.  Nobody is helping us, and we cannot seem to help ourselves.  Yet the blessings still come, the doors are still opened, and the prayers are still answered.  We realize that God was with us every time we thought we were making it by ourselves, and God is with us every time we know we cannot make it on our own.
   An Egypt experience teaches one to testify, “If it had not been the LORD who was on [my] side . . .” (Psalm 124:1).  An Egypt experience causes one to say, “I need thee every hour.”  An Egypt experience makes one sing, “He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.”  For Egypt isn’t just a place of hard times, but the place where one receives his or her healing.
   There is some healing in Egypt because there were some hard times before you got there.  Although Joseph was loved by his father, he was hated by his brothers.  Although Joseph was favored by his father, he was rejected by his brothers. Although Joseph was special to his father, he was sold into slavery by his brothers.
   There is some healing in Egypt because hard times do not end when you get there.  Although Joseph was lifted up by Potiphar, he was lied on by Potiphar’s wife.  Although Joseph was favored by the prison guard, he was forgotten by the cup bearer and spent two more years in jail.
   Joseph did not have to wait until he could leave Egypt to see God at work or for the situation to be turned around.  God provided for Joseph in Egypt.  In Egypt, Joseph married Asenath (As-an-ath), the daughter of an Egyptian priest.  Asenath bore Joseph two sons who would become two tribes of Israel and whose names testify to God’s presence in Egypt.  He named one son Manasseh, which means “making to forget,” because God made him forget all of his hardships.
   Egypt proves to us that only God can make us forget past pain — not a liquor bottle or drugs; not another slice of cake; not more makeup, clothes, or jewelry; not even a new boyfriend or girlfriend.  These things may ease the pain, but they will not erase it.  They may cover the sorrow, but they will not cure it.  They may hide the hurt, but they will not heal it.  Joseph’s pain did not go away when he left prison, received a job from Pharaoh, or gained the respect of Egypt.  The pain and sorrow went away because God gave Joseph what he needed to let the past go. For the love of the father he lost . . . God gave him the love of a Pharaoh.  For the coat of many colors that was torn and sprinkled with blood . . . God gave him fine linen clothes, a gold chain, and a signet ring.  For the loneliness he must have felt in a foreign land     . . . God gave him the love of a faithful woman.  Thus, when the second son was born, Joseph named him Ephraim, which means “to be fruitful,” for God had made Joseph fruitful in the land of his misfortune.
   Isn’t that just like God — to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to turn sorrow into gladness, weeping into laughter, and misfortune into blessing?  Isn’t that just like God — to give hope in despair, strength in weakness, and comfort in confusion?  And isn’t that just like God — to lift us up when we are cast down . . .  open his arms when others have pushed us away . . . give us love when we are lonely, and heal us when others leave us hurting?
   Thanks be to God that we do not have to wait until we reach the Promised Land to get what we need.  Egypt teaches us to say, “All that I’ve needed thy hand hath provided.”  Egypt enables us to believe, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  Egypt causes us to testify, “Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.”  Egypt allows us to say, “If my mother and father forsake me, the LORD will take me up” (Psalm 27:10).
   The last thing I want to tell you about Egypt is that Egypt isn’t just a place of slavery . . . it is also a place of salvation.  For seven years, Joseph saved grain in Egypt’s storehouses.  When famine came, Egypt was the only place that had food. Scripture says, “All the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain” (Genesis 41:57).  Not only was Egypt saved through the famine, but the rest of the world was saved because of Egypt.
   When Israel had spent four hundred years in slavery in Egypt, Moses, who was born in Egypt, reared by Egyptians, educated in Egypt, and a prince in the court of Pharaoh, became the savior of Israel as he led them across the Red Sea.  And when Herod sought to take Jesus̓ life and killed all the baby boys under two years old, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt, and Egypt’s borders saved the Savior of the world.
   Egypt shows us that salvation does not always happen in the places we expect, among the people we know, or in ways we can predict.  Egypt shows us that salvation occurs when and where God acts . . . but most importantly, that it occurs for a purpose.  God does not save us to stay in Egypt.  God saves us to get us out of Egypt.
   Abraham didn’t stay in Egypt but left and kept on going to find a city whose founder and maker is God.  Moses didn’t stay in Egypt but left and kept on going until he met God on a mountaintop.  Even Joseph didn’t stay in Egypt, for when Israel left, they took Joseph’s bones with them as they had promised.  And Jesus didn’t stay in Egypt either but left and kept on going until the people hung him high and stretched him wide, until he got up from a borrowed tomb and ascended to the right hand of God.
   Egypt is the place we have to go through to see that God is with us.  Egypt is the place we have to go through to allow God to heal us.  Egypt is the place we have to go through to know that God can save us.  Egypt is not our final destination, our end, or our goal. Egypt teaches us to say, “Without Him I would be dying.”