Why Does It Matter?

He remembers what the squall was, but his mom and dad never even had a clue. Not even when the event took place. There is nothing quite like the experience of your sixteen-month-old child getting in touch with his terrible two's four months early.

We were in town for a doctor's appointment and stopped for a quick lunch. As he tells it today, our toddler didn't want something we'd ordered him for lunch, and we all know how that can turn out. I always predicted that son would be an opera star. He had lungs...

We are in the midst of a physical manifestation of a spiritual battle at this very moment. Satan has been using women ever since Eve to accomplish his goals of weakening and destroying God's kingdom.

The women of the early suffragette movement encouraged loud noisy exchanges, so perhaps they would applaud the current shenanigans of the current crop of feminists. I can tell you, that just like my boy pitching his fit in the restaurant, these women are much like a loud rude child throwing self on the floor in a tantrum.

People who applaud the breakdown of moral restraint are minions of Satan, and there are many.

I've heard of a show—I'm not sure if it was a television show or a movie on television. However, the show was set back in a more Andy and Mayberry era of simplicity. That was where it started but not where it finished.

It also runs in my mind that it began in black and white with a simple loving family living and functioning as it would have in the nineteen fifties. A Leave it to Beaver scenario, but as the different members moved into more sinful, modern thought and away from simple ideals, it moved into color from the original b & w. The ultimate message was until sin enters the scene we aren't real, we aren't living.

What poppycock that is. Since the Garden of Eden humanity has had sin with all its struggles and heartaches. Eve didn't understand what the phrase 'ye shall die' meant, but it was her sorrow to experience the first murder and death when one of her sons killed his brother.

She lost not only a beloved son, but the murderer was sent to wander away from his home, likely never to return. She lost both sons.

I do not believe that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislature, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance.

Jane Addams

At one time men strove to become better human beings because they wanted to be worthy of the love of good women. I don't know that women asked to be put on a pedestal, but it wasn't a bad thing. 

It isn't bad to strive to be a better person. It isn't bad to inspire another person to be more noble, not self-righteous, but humbly righteous. 

The problem is that under that system, a woman had to have a higher moral standard. It is a burden, and our current system doesn't encourage high moral standards for anyone.

Like spoiled children pitching a fit on the floor, we're told to do whatever makes us happy. It doesn't matter what the right thing to do is, our only criteria is our own happiness.

I've repeated this quip several times. It's a snippet of conversation: 

"Men have made a mess of things long enough, I think women ought to have their try at being elected to office and running things."

"One thing I've found in observing things in this life is that there isn't any difference between a corrupt man or a corrupt woman."

This goes back to the Jane Adams quote above. It hasn't taken all that long to see how that works. The more power women have the more corrupt they become.

And truly, there isn't any difference between a corrupt man and a corrupt woman... in this day and age they've tried to make even the bathrooms the same. 

It's time to wake up for all of us. Not just women need to crawl out of the mire. Christians need to, if not get back on the pedestal, at least wash up and clean up. 

Act 2:36  "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

Physical Issues of a Spiritual War

Several years ago a speaker was being interviewed on the radio, and he used quotes from an article that went like this:

“The gist of the article says: There is a quiet subculture out there...  I came across a number of men—who have decided not to marry.  The reason?  Women are no longer women.”

The article suggests that, apparently, men have a genetic disposition to be masculine. In today's culture people call it toxic masculinity. But their manly instincts are to care for, protect, guide their households. In short to be the MAN of the family. We are told that women today do not want manly men, and according to the speaker being interviewed, some men do not want manly women.

 We hear a relentless barrage about the war on women, but what is this war?   What do women want?  Birth control?  Job equality? Is it abortion at any stage on demand?  Or do they want to be men?  Even as a woman, I don't know what these women want. 

The war on women is like an old fashioned false front building. It is tall and lofty from the front, but nothing behind it.  I have said on numerous occasions—“in our society, you can tell a man to stand up, sit down, turn around, and shut up, but you cannot tell a woman anything.”  

If you tell a woman she needs to do something to be pleasing to God, even Christian women will tell you why those things do not apply to them. Ninety-eight percent of them will say, that doesn't apply to me. 

However, here's a news flash—The war is not against women, not against men, but against God.  

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman...”  

We know that the serpent/Satan beguiled Eve into thinking she was missing something since she was not allowed to eat of the fruit.  God was cheating her, so she ate, “and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”

Why did Eve eat of the fruit?  She wanted something she thought she just had to have.  This is feminine nature.  Women want to change things.  They want to be taller, shorter, thinner, fatter… It is a never-ending list that spells discontent.  

1Timothy 2:14 “and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression:”

Why did Adam eat of the fruit? He wasn’t tricked or beguiled. Did Adam look down a long corridor of eternal life and decide that he could not live forever (eternal life) without Eve (now that she would die)?   The scriptures do not reveal his reason for disobeying, but we know what their fruit bore for them… and for all of humankind. 

Satan is subtle and effective using social media to sell the ideas to women that create discontent such as: “Have it your way…” or “You deserve a break today,” or “Why wait, you can have it all now, or "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle…”

Ephesians 5:24 “But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything.”

Christians focus on the second half—wives be in subjection—  of course, we can't do that in today’s society.  Men have been relieved of the burden of the position of the head of the family but...

The sad reality is Christ as head of the church has followed in the same manner. Christ has been relieved as head of the church just as husbands being the head of the wife. Very few, in fact, revere Christ as head of the church. Yes, they honor him with their lips, but their heart is far from him.

Satan is still using women to accomplish his agenda. Instead of looking for validation from other women, or validation from their jobs and from things of this present world, women ought to be looking to God for guidance to what's right and pleasing to Him. 

God as an omniscient, omnipotent Creator knows what is best for us. The church must return to its first love.  We don't want to continue along the lines that we are currently going down. We wonder why we are losing our influence in the world. We wonder why we are losing our children, and we wonder why we are losing the battle against Satan.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”   

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Fishers of Men

"We cannot force someone to hear a message they are not ready to receive, but we must never underestimate the power of planting a seed."

Mark 1:15  "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 16)  Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. 17)  And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18)  And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. 19)  And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20)  And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
21)  And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught."

How can we add to this? Jesus the master teacher, the master in every way, teaching the message. Yet, all that heard him didn't obey. Yes, many came out to follow him: 

John 6:14  "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 

15)  When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone."

John 6:24  "When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
25)  And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
26)  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."

How many fell away and how many eventually returned?  God knows. He knows their names, he knows our names.

No, we can't force someone to listen to the message or to understand and obey the message. We are sowers only, the harvest isn't ours to discern.

1 Corinthians 3:6  "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7)  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." 

The Father's Eyes

We don't exist as God does. Like the eagle aloft on the wings of the wind, soaring and riding the air currents, God is above all things. 

I wonder how other people live without doubts. For some reason no matter what my age my unbelief clouds my judgment. Oh, ye of little faith wasn't said only to the early disciples/apostles. Yet, I don't believe I am alone in this matter of guilt. Doubts make many of us ineffective. We need to see with clear eyes of faith.

Even when we KNOW that God answers prayer in three ways: Sometimes he says, 'yes', sometimes, 'no', and sometimes, 'wait'. It is in His time, not ours. And there is the rub. The fly in the ointment. We truly are God's children, and like children, we want what we want right now. We need to see with the clear eyes of faith and without hypocrisy.

Matthew 7:3  "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4)  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own eye? 5)  Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

There isn't any hope for us. No, not that we're hopeless, but we know better, yet we don't. What should we pray for? Maybe I've at last acquired some wisdom, but I'm not keen on patience.  I don't want patience. Every time I have prayed for patience I've gotten trials and tribulations. Yes, we need to wait in patience, but what we need more are the eyes of the Father. 

God's eyes see eternity, but may He as well remember (as it is written in Psalms 103:13)  "Like as a father pitieth his children, So Jehovah pitieth them that fear him. 14)  For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." 

Jeremiah 29:11)  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.12)  And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13)  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14)  And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah..."

Remember us for good, oh, Jehovah. Remember our lives here are short, and as Jacob told Pharoah, "And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, ... few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Genesis 47:9  

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Broken Cisterns Without Water

Modern amenities and my early life don't go on the same line. I have often written about our water situation at my grandparent's farm. The only 'running water' we had was when we took a bucket down the hill to the well, pumped it full, and ran back up the hill with it. 

That was our drinking water. We thought that was a clever joke, but that was the way it went.


In the early days of this country, the proximity of the distance between water and the house was important. Water is a necessary component in our life, and it's crucial for a good life.

John 7:37  Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.38)  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.

Also in John 4:6 it reads:  and Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7)  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 

This, of course, is the springboard for Jesus' exchange with the Samaritan woman in which he tells her "Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14) but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life." 

Water, so very important and crucial. Besides our well at the bottom of the hill, we also had a clever way to save rainwater for soft water for household use. There was a system of drain pipes to catch and direct rainwater from off of the house, through a drain spout, and into a large, underground cement tank. It was completely tight, not accessible except by a cement lid that could be slid off the twelve to maybe 36 inch top. This large underground cement tank was called a cistern. 

In the spring, after a snowy winter, it would sometimes be overrunning. I'm not sure how many gallons of water it held, but it was several hundred gallons. We had a house pump that pumped water from this cistern into a nice sized three to four-foot sink that drained into a bucket. The water that came from this cistern we used for bathing, washing dishes, washing clothes— anything that you would use soft water for today. We did not use it for drinking.

During some summers our water situation was iffy. When we didn't receive rain (semi-drought), both of our water sources became scarce. My grandmother is remembered for her words of wisdom, and some of those words went: watch the water. Which meant 'our supply is low so do not waste the water'. We knew the worth of water back in those days. You didn't just turn on a faucet and voila' there it was. The drinking water was carried to the house. Even the soft water had to be pumped and carried.

John 4:15  "The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw."

Jeremiah 2:11  Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. 12)  Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah. 13)  For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

This nation needs to turn back to the God on which our foundation has been built. We need to stop floundering between broken people who think they know something and want to impose their broken philosophy on everyone else and the fountain of living water. Broken cisterns will not hold water. They are useless not just in the drought but all year long.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

We Don't Always Know

Life is a journey. Day by day, step by step, we make many choices along the way. Our aim should be to live each day without regrets. To live and do the right thing. 

But life happens along the way, and there are some choices that lead places we never foresee.  

Psalms 5:8  "Lead me, O Jehovah, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; Make thy way straight before my face."

I'm not just squeamish about heights, I flat don't do them. So, I'm in Jamaica, and the first few days some of us are tying rebar columns for the building we're working on. Then I get the news that we will next be working on the roof of said building. 

I'm thinking to myself, what a revolting development this is. I've done mission work in other countries, but I've never been asked to work on a roof—like climb a ladder and etc. 

Yes, it is a flat roof, but it has edges, and then it has a drop. Since, however, I didn't travel all this way to sit and watch, I took it real slow, going up a few rungs at a time. Getting used to that and finally, I got to the top step. Some kind soul helped me make the transition onto the roof. 

And we were in business. We were still tying rebar, but it went on the roof. There are several things about building in places that must be hurricane and earthquake proof. Or as close as possible to it. There is a lot of rebar and concrete in one of those structures.

I'm sure I've said this before, but we spent two weeks working there, and one of our co-laborers was a new Christian, by the name of Jerry, with a last name I wouldn't try to spell, who came from somewhere around the east coast. 

 Just as Jesus' apostles were a conglomeration of unlikely souls, these mission situations pull together a number of improbable cohorts. When you look at a person, you make judgements, and that isn't bad, it just isn't very often accurate. 

Yes, you can come up with a close appraisal of different aspects of a person, but there are gaps. This new Christian currently was employed as a salesman of some sort. He wasn't a big bulky guy. On the contrary, he was slight of build, under six foot tall, and somewhat wiry. What you couldn't see was his character and... 

"If you'd told me when I was eighteen that I'd ever be working on a roof, in a foreign country, I'd a told you, you were as crazy as a loon," I tell Jerry as he and I are spacing and tying rebar on the roof, preparing for the concrete to be poured the next morning.

He laughs and tells me, "If you'd asked me what I'd be doing at this stage of my life, I would have said I'd be working in some dive on an island somewhere in the Pacific." 

Unlikely people in an unlikely spot. Life's journey isn't always the smooth path we think it will be. As my mother used to say, 'Figure long and figure wrong.' We can plan and plan, but God still rules the nations. 

 Psalms 27:11  "Teach me thy way, O Jehovah; And lead me in a plain path, Because of mine enemies. 12)  Deliver me not over unto the will of mine adversaries: For false witnesses are risen up against me, And such as breathe out cruelty. 13)  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah In the land of the living. 14)  Wait for Jehovah: Be strong, And let thy heart take courage; Yea, wait thou for Jehovah. 

Psalms 43:3  "Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, And to thy tabernacles." 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Changed Forever

"You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."

"Now Ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep. "
The Gambler, Songwriter, Don Schlitz

That's some advice. 'Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.' Life is like a gamble, and often we are like the gambler, or we feel like the gambler.

The gambler in the song had learned more than he wanted to in life. There is some wisdom in the rest of the chorus: never count your money sittin' at the table—don't get arrogant or foolish. There are some things you need to keep to yourself. People aren't all that honest in the 'gambling' scene. If they can take what you have, you may well be running for your life.

To people like myself, who aren't particularly good poker players, we don't understand how it is possible to win with a losing hand. However, someone who is experienced, someone whose livelihood is and depends on being a winner more often than being a loser does know how.

I admire George Washington Carver and Madam CJ Walker. These two were born at a time when the cards were stacked against them. Yet they did well, often relying on the leading of the Lord. They persevered and through diligence and hard work made a success of their lives.

Luck of the draw? That's what it is sometimes referred to as— sometimes it is. Most often it has to do with a mix of being at the right place at the right time and applying a bit of elbow grease and gumption. As anonymous said, "The reason most people do not recognize an opportunity when they meet it is because it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like Hard Work."

Lives can be agreeable or disagreeable, but as the saying goes, life circumstances are temporary. Enjoy the good times when they are pleasant, be thankful for them. Endure and learn from the problems and tangles, but take heart because they are temporary.

Character— good character is forged in the trials of life, and are made by the constant exercise of making right decisions. Life is made up of costly decisions. Some people will choose to win, some will choose to lose. It depends on us and how we play our hands.  

Ecclesiastes 8:6  "Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 7)  For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8)  There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it."

Ecclesiastes 7:1  "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."

Hallelujah! What a Savior!