Deaf, Dumb, and Blind...

There was a song, and if memory serves me at all, it was named 'The Pinball Wizard'.  It has been a long time since I have heard it, and memory is a poor staff for me to lean on, however...

 Have you ever felt like someone who is locked in their own world because they can not communicate?   On occasion most people have days that we feel like the Pinball Wizard--deaf, dumb, and blind. Living as it were in a world that goes on its way around us, and we're not able to move past a certain point. Like a bad dream, that doesn't end, it just goes on, and here we are--stuck.

The radio announcer Paul Harvey often used to tell a modern day parable called the parable of the birds  at the Christmas season.  The story goes that a man's wife and family went every year to a Christmas eve celebration at their church, but he decided he just couldn't go.  He couldn't believe the God becoming man story...  On Christmas eve after he bade them farewell a flock of birds flew against the side of his house during a snow storm.  He put on his warm clothing, turned the lights on in his warm barn, and attempted to shew them into the warmth and safety of the shelter, but to no avail.  After trying many different approaches he decided they were afraid of him, and if he could only become a bird in order to show them the way, to let them know he meant only good to them...
(the full story can be found under paul harvey parable of the birds).

2Timothy 4:16  "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge."



Paul before Nero--what a distressing situation to be in, and all forsook him.  This was not the the way he had envisioned his trip to Rome.  Yet as with Joseph in the Old Testament it looked to be a bad situation, but God used it for good. 
2Timothy 4:17  "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
As the Apostle had written some time before--"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." 2Corinthians 12:9  The Lord stood with him and strengthened him.  Apostle Paul had the blessing to draw nearer to Christ, the word of the Gospel was preached, and the Gentiles had the blessing to hear it. 
2Timothy 4:18  "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  And at the last Paul was preserved unto the heavenly kingdom. 

Sometimes as we travel through the pea soup of life we become so wrapped up in the everyday living we fail to see the large panorama of events.  Communication is valuable to a point, but like the Pin Ball Wizard sometimes we have to close out those who would distract us from our focus, and watch those whom we allow to influence us. 

As with the parable of the birds, God is always wanting the best for us.  He doesn't want us to suffer needlessly.  Some things that happen are like the polishing cloth and an abrasive paste.  They make the finished product into something much more valuable.  It brings out the best in our character.
1Corinthians 3:13  "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."

Like as the Apostle Paul was tried by difficult situations often in his life Christians are as well, and we must stay the course.  We must be faithful.

Revelation 2:10 "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Halelujah~ what a Savior!

Never Die

I'm listening to radio commentator.  I've come in at the middle of his speaking, and am not sure exactly what his theme was, but...

Quoting author Jack London a few weeks before his death:
"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”

But  modern day people are encouraged to do just that--prolong their days and merely exist.  People are afraid to live; to think; to dream.  They seem content to sit in front of the tube living their lives vicariously through people who are paid actors--people who memorize lines and spew them out like they are real--or through sports heroes, or...  Without much thought they just accept what is told them. 

Hebrews 9:27  "And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;"

What is life?  Is it merely the breathing out and in of the body?  Is it merely going through the days of our life that are numbered to us?  Is it a job, a home, a family?  What is life...

Luke 12:15  "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth... 22)  And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23)  The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment."


Luke tells us that life isn't the things which we posses in this life, it isn't what we eat, or what we shall wear.  Yet how many people go about their daily lives striving for things?  They strive for food--which is a necessity to some extent, and yes clothing is as well, but...


  
"If your clothes have any name on it except your own, we can't afford it."  I used to tell my children.  I told them that half serious, and half joking.  In my day (younger) a brand name would often indicate quality...in these days it is often just a status symbol.  It indicates a person has more money than sense.


An acquaintance recently sent me a group of pictures.  One picture shown was of Hitler's officers in 1939.  They were dressed in their uniforms sitting at a long elegant table with nice place settings.  The next picture in the series was of three modestly dressed young children sitting at a small child sized make shift table with some sort of cloth covering it.  The heading on the latter picture was: "Christmas dinner of cooked cabbage, 1931".  Any history buff would understand at least part of the stories behind both of those pictures.  I would rather be one of the three impoverished children of the second picture than affiliated with Hitler and the first picture.

 
Striving--striving after the wind. 

 

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.”  G. K. Chesterton

Quite a few years ago now I found that it seemed as if any time we made more money, some one took it for taxes, or it got sucked away in some fashion.  I determined that making more money did not solve our problems.  Being the thinker that I am, I decided that what I needed wasn't more money.  I needed to learn to live cheaper.  We have always kept a garden, so some of the other things we did were taking it to the next level.  We are country folk, so we got some laying hens, a milk cow, and even raised some of our own hogs.  We changed some of our habits in order to live better, and it improved more than our money situation.  Our family became closer in several ways.

James 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

We know this life won't last forever.  We know that neither sorrow, nor joy will last forever.  Yet, sorrow makes joy much sweeter, and the combination makes heaven more anticipated. 

The test comes when we find we can say as the apostle Paul did in Philippians 4:11  "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

1Timothy 6:6  "But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7)  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8)  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."

The reality is that our body will die, unless our Lord Jesus comes again before that happens.  Our body will not last forever, but we will never die.  The real question is, where will we live forever?  How comforting to make our peace with God, and know that there is a place waiting for us in heaven.  As we live our days it is necessary to really live those days, and make a difference while we are living.  So praise God, and live well now and forever.  Hallelujah, what a Savior!

What Difference Does It Make?! (part two)

What difference does it make?  Ask history.  History will tell us that any society that embraces such deviations from man/woman relationships also embraces the end of their society.  We can point to a Biblical example of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis nineteen.  We can point historically to Rome and Greece as well.  When the family structure began to fall apart, when the women began their decent away from goodness, and men began their decent away from moral principles, the society began their sure demise.

I'm taking a short sashay, a small aside here.  I ask the Bible class teacher, "I know people who aren't necessarily what we would call Christians, yet they have a very good marriage.  So, since they aren't Christians how would you explain this?"  (Now here's an aside from the aside.  When I speak of a 'very good marriage', I don't mean that they get along well.  I mean that although they may get along well, they also have the other attributes of a good Christian marriage.  For example, they uphold the traditional values of the husband being the head of the home--the bread winner--financial manager, etc.  She as a good homemaker, taking care of the children, managing her home finances etc.)

"Well," the teacher answered, "there are Biblical principles that when applied to a situation whether the ones applying them are Christians or not--those principles still work."

The people who condemn Christians as closed minded because they don't accept deviations, because 'what difference does it make' haven't looked into the mirror of the past societies.  I don't want to go snooping around in other folks' sordid or unsordid life styles, however looking into the mirror of the past gives us a window into the society of the future.

 God created intimacy to be between one man and his one wife.  God created Adam and his Eve (not Eves).  Genesis 2:24  "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." And Jesus says in Matthew: 19:4  "And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5)  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?  6)  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

The past tells us that any society that becomes obsessed with sex is doomed.  First it's a little not being quite satisfied with the mate you have, maybe a little extra-marital fling, a little bit of looking where you shouldn't be.  Going aside, outside the lines, blurring right and wrong--usually it doesn't seem all that bad.  I mean, what difference could it make?  At first people and society will put on the brakes, but soon there is no stopping point and it's a down hill rush.


It may have begun with the desire to relax marriage and divorce laws, as in no-fault divorce.  Adultery used to be the only reason for divorce, now--adultery is about the only reason that you can't get a divorce.  At one time a woman exposing a slender ankle was considered risque (in olden days a glimpse of stocking was thought of as something shocking, but now heaven knows...).  I'm sure we have a naive view of olden days, but we certainly have come to the --anything goes-- part.  Pornography is a sickness that we don't seem to be able to rid ourselves of.  Back in my youthful days there was the risk of venereal diseases, then std's, and now we have all of the above plus AIDS.

When we ask God what His opinion is of these perversions he calls them abominations.  He tells us not to even go there--and God is quite plain about it--perhaps even what some would call closed minded.  For all the flapping that has gone on here are some ideas for consideration:

Our society has for the most part been led to believe that adultery, fornication, pornography, homosexuality, and many other deviations are quite acceptable, but they aren't.  People that are in a life long monogamous--one man one woman relationship are still healthier and percentage wise happier than any other relationship.  Even in a male/female relationship if the parties aren't married there is more unhappiness, more violence, more problems.  There are so many fallacies surrounding same sex relationships where would a person begin?  Homosexuals supposedly should have the right to love their 'love'.  Problem is their definition of love isn't the same as straight people's definition of love.  Their definition of a relationship is different than a normal definition.  A standard same sex relationship doesn't usually consist of only one partner and one partner only.  During any relationship they may have several also runs, and during the life span one person usually has anywhere from 100+ all the way to close to 1000 partners.  They characteristically die earlier from self inflicted diseases such as AIDS. They have higher rates of suicides and violence in their relationships. 

If a doctor tells a patient that over-eating, over-drinking, or some life style habit is going to kill them, does that make the doctor a hateful person?  Does it make the doctor unjust, bigoted, or whatever  other hateful name--does it make the doctor anything but a messenger of truth?  The truth is that there are some things that are just flat wrong.

It is wrong for men or women to act in an irresponsible fashion.  It is wrong for people to bring children into this world and abandon them--but far more insidious for them to create a life with no intention to care, nurture, and love that life as the precious soul that it is.  Or as many do nowadays, discard human life created in the image of God as if  it were trash.

 Most people want to eat and drink healthy food and beverages.  They want to breathe clean pure air...if you were to take someone's water and begin to put just a little dirt in it, and hand it back to them--would they drink it?  If you asked them what difference does it make?  Would they see that just a little dirt in their water, or their food, or even in the air they breathe--doesn't make any difference?  Most people would not want to live in a cesspool.  Most people don't want to live in a world where they are afraid. 

There are no better principles, no better standards on which to base your life and your society on than God's principles found in the Bible.  Those principles are the difference between living in a pure society and a cesspool.  What difference does it make?  What difference does it make?  It makes all the difference in the world...and in the world to come. 

What Difference Does It Make! (part one)

Some time ago then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while being questioned about the Benghazi debacle made the fateful statement, "What difference does it make!"  Much criticism has come her way for that fateful statement. In life we each have moments of --what difference does it make-- and our relationship to that statement comes with the context in which it's made. 

I would like to believe that I am a writer, that I am an intelligent thinker, but of all of these things that I believe, it is most important that I know I am a Christian.

Because of the supposition that I am a writer I do quite a bit of research for my writing.  In researching things I often come across things hard to wrap my mind around.  A few years ago I came across a somewhat prevalent philosophy stated by some young --I would call them scoundrels.  The philosophy was that they didn't need marriage.  They had several women that would come and take care of their needs--be it clean their house, prepare food, or ...other.  And if for some reason the woman came up pregnant--well she could just go on her way and take care of the situation in whatever way.  It was none of their concern...what difference did it make?

Another prevalent philosophy is the one of living together...trying it out, seeing if as a couple they fit.  I mean, again, what difference does it make?

As an intelligent thinker I ask myself, what difference does it make?  We have heard Proverbs 14:34  "Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people." for many years.  Often when people talk about the sins of our nation this is the verse that is used, but let's stop and consider a few things.

In a recent conversation I had another person reply to a statement --"I just don't think the Bible is the best way to live--why, what do you think people need it for?  You think people would be walking around stabbing one another with out it?"--  I don't know what la la land that person lives in, but even with God's moral code people are stabbing one another, knocking people out, and much more.   And no one has ever come up with a better moral code than the one God has provided.  As an intelligent thinker--what difference does it make?

 Jamestown was begun with young single men looking for gold and treasure.  They believed all they would need to do was walk along the beach and pick up gold and treasure.  So they came, some with their servants, but it didn't work out well for them.  The English investors found that men with families made much better subjects for building communities.  God could have told them that--matter-of-fact he did back in Genesis 2:18  "And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him..."  Genesis 2:23  "And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24)  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

It is not good for man to be alone-- Some people say that marriage was for 'procreation'.  To bring children into a home environment, and according to their way of thinking, since we now have birth control they can shack up and just be fine.  Marriage is passe, just live together for your own pleasure...  However narrow minded it may seem to these folks that isn't what God said it was for.  Reread Genesis 2:18, God said 'it is not good for man to be alone'.  Marriage is for companionship for men and women, for love as well as having a 'help meet' for life.  It is a committment to love and honor your helpmeet.  Some 'one man, one woman' unions are blessed with children, some are not, but they can still be a strong building block in the community.

Recently there have been many 'flaps' centering around the narrow-mindedness of people of faith who  quote scriptures supporting the view that anything that veers from the 'one man, one woman' doctrine is wrong.  Because I believe that I am an intelligent thinker, one of the questions that I ask (again) is --what difference does it make?

Take a look around, just pause for awhile and look around.  Just as the woman back up a few paragraphs tried to dismiss the Bible and God's standards as passe with a ridiculous remark, when we dismiss God's standards for people's lives in any area we create havoc in society in  general and individual lives specifically, and it moves beyond ridiculous into horrendous. 

There have through the ages been both men and women who have kicked against their lot in life.  Within the last hundred years give or take a few years, women's rights and women's liberation has become popular.  Now, I'm not saying anything about injustice and basic human rights for either men or women.  There are times when basic human rights need to be upheld, when in the name of mercy and justice these rights need to be protected no matter if one is rich or poor, man or woman, weak or strong.  God means for women, children, the poor, and weak amongst our communities to be protected and cared for.   Sadly, women's liberation was not meant to help or protect women and children, and indeed it has not done so.  It has only torn down and destroyed much of what God put in place as a hedge and a protection for women and children. 

A few generations ago people threw off all traces of integrity.  Like a super nova flinging off fingers of light in every direction, people of the 1960's suddenly rebelled and questioned the bedrock of our foundations as a society.  Questioning is not in itself wrong, but apparently there either was no one with answers, or the rebels didn't have enough sense to discern what the right answers were.  People are their own worst enemies in all too many cases.  They are victims, but they are victims of themselves. And what difference does it make?

"I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too!"
(Tilbury speech, 1588. See section on The Spanish Armada)

Even Queen Elizabeth I acknowledged in a sense that she as a woman had her limitations.  Many is the time women of today have been encouraged to believe they can do it all.  They are super women.  They can bring home the bacon, and fry it up in the pan...but this mentality has left many women trying to juggle home, children, jobs, finances--by themselves as single moms.  No longer are they considered the fair sex to be protected and cherished, they are something to be used and tossed away.  To be continued...

A Man Had Two Sons...

Matthew 21:28 " But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. 29) And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went. 30) And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31) Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."

This parable touches me deeply for some reason.  Is it because I have sons?  Is it because I have learned so much from each of them.  Lessons learned --often-- the hard way, by all of us.  I believe it is something deeper.

Motives.  What motivates people?  Some folks do things to gain things from other people.  Maybe their motives aren't pure and simple.  As in --if I do this for them, they will do this for me...or I'll get this in return. 


Some people are motived by money, some by love/feelings, or perhaps by honor and doing what is right.

"How did that make you feel?" the doctor asks me.
Funny you should ask...
How do certain things make you feel?  And how do you react?

Have you ever believed you were right?  Absolutely right?  I remember being young, and in being young I had a lot of answers.  There is the truth: "When I was young I had all the answers, now I'm older, I realize I don't even know all of the questions."


We aren't told the motives of either of the sons only the heart of the reason.
 
 Jesus has just rebuffed the chief priests and elders who demand "by whose authority do you do this?"  Telling them that if they didn't believe John was sent by God, they wouldn't believe Jesus either.  Then he uses this parable to show them the difference between pride and humility: the difference between love and duty.

They understand that the first son did the will of the father, and that the one who said, but did not do-- did not do the will of the father.  They got the gist of that, but not the application. So, in verse thirty-one and two Jesus gives them the meaning, and goes on to tell them another parable:

Matthew 21:33  "Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country..."

Matthew 21:40  "..When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 

Jesus tells the parable of the unrighteous husbandmen to further illustrate the contrast of the situation.  What is God going to do with those who reject his son?  Those who refuse to see the Saviour as the Saviour, and these chief priests and Pharisees judge rightly when they answer:

Matthew 21:41  "They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons."

 Somewhere they miss the application of what their response should be.  Then Jesus quotes unto them Psalms 118:22  "The stone which the builders rejected Is become the head of the corner..." At this point they finally get the point, and they are not happy.

Matthew 21:45  "And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46)  And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, because they took him for a prophet."



What does that mean to you?  Or to me?  It gives us two options, since actions speak louder than words in this parable...
                       Option number one: "I go, sir."  Or Option number two: "I go not." 
 What these chief priests and Pharisees failed to understand was that Jesus is more than just a prophet, he is the Son of God. They were so filled with themselves they didn't heed what he was warning them of, that unless they accepted him they would lose their place that they were so proud of. 
We today can do the same thing.  We can fail to understand that while, yes, we can in this life say, "I go not," some day we will pay the price of all who fail to honor God and His Son in this life. 

While we enjoy the benefits and blessings that God bestows on all inhabitants of this earth as Matthew 5:45 says, "...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust."  We all enjoy these blessings of good things that come into our life, if when we end this part of the journey still saying to God, 'No thanks, I won't go,' then those blessings will cease.  There will be no more the presence of God, nor of his goodness.  Only the evil will be left. 
Don't let 'I go not," be your final answer.  

Halelujah, what a Saviour!

'Fast Food'?

"What are you doing with that?" I ask as my son grabs a distressed old convenience store cup out of the trash on his way out the door.
"Well," he says, "my cats are out of cat food so I'm taking them some."
"Funny," says I, "when I was young we never fed our cats any cat food." (We only gave them milk from our cows.) "Maybe they'd eat more mice if we didn't feed them cat food..."
"These cats sit around and meow at you if you don't give them cat food.  I think they must put msg in it," he says rueful-like.

People occasionally speak about 'the good old days'.  How good the food was, not just good tasting, but good and healthy for you...They often speak as well about how much better things were --back then.
 I have noticed though, it is what a person grows up with that more often trips their trigger.  I don't care for instant potatoes, or instant anything. I had real potatoes and real food when I was growing up.  I know of people who are so used to the fast food approach that is what they like--the other stuff tastes off to them. 

John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Quite a few years ago I taught a children's class in which one of the lessons was on patience and waiting.  For example, we mix up our cookie dough, put it on the pans and into the oven, but we still must wait for it to bake...

Where did we, the nation of America go?  Many are lamenting the demise of what is often termed the greatest country.  America has often been seen as the country that is 'on the go'.  The country of 'If you build it, they will come'.
So was it just yesterday, or last year, or even six years ago that America began slipping down the tube? 
I enjoy history.  I enjoy reading, writing, and the research as well. It seems a strange twist that life continues to funnel these things into my files--information that points to several sources of our current problems.
Horace Mann had many things going for him.  He was raised in poverty, very little education other than being self-taught, yet, amazingly enough he overcame these obstacles, became a lawyer, served in the Masschutes House of Representatives, and Senate, and was appointed Secretary of Education...

In the beginning of this country the early founders believed that an education was a necessity and they sought an education for their children in order that their children could learn to read the Holy Scriptures.  By the time that Horace Mann came on the scene in the early 1800's apparently, education was coming up short.

 We began homeschooling in the 1980's, and our youngest child finished a few years ago in approximately 2008/2009.   When we began homeschooling one of the assignments for my children's history class was that of writing reports.  They would choose a person and do research, write a report, then read their report to the rest of the children.  Some of the reports covered Jamestown leaders i.e. John Smith as well as Plymouth Plantation and their Separatist leaders.  However, by the time our last son was given the assignment we could no longer find (in our local library) information on the Pilgrims, or any of these people.  What happened in the twenty plus years?

Many people back in the day of Horace Mann castigated him not for untiring work in education reform, but the type of reform. There were several issues, and many fought his work, but in the end he had the power and authority of the government behind him.   In some cases he had children marched to the school house in front of guns, and in some parents actually snuck in and 'rescued' their children from the school house.  As is usually the way through bullying he finally had his way. The irony of it all...were parents against education?  Hardly, but this is a key--parents have often felt that their children were their property, not the property of the state.  It was the parent's duty, calling, election to make sure their children were educated, and properly educated.  Not the state, nor the government.

Horace Mann and his ilk are held up as doing good for the welfare of the children and society.  He was the perpetrator of the idea of 'removing religion' from education...just teach them 'principles' of religion he said.  You can't teach principles of Christianity with out Christianity itself and have the principles work.  A good read is John Taylor Gotto's: "The Underground History of American Education". 

This is an eye-opening subject, one that needs investigating.  There needs to be not just a waking up and wringing of the hands, but a look at what made us great because that is what will make us great again.  Amidst the chaos there are too many voices of the ignorance.  It is difficult having studied American History to understand how a person can honestly believe that America was not a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles.  History series such as "Wallbuilders" by David Barton, and "The Silencing of God" by Dave Miller, PHD, document our religious heritage.  But public schools have taken our actual history, and substituted a different version.

What happened to America?  Read these, and watch the videos.  You will come to a greater understanding of how we have went from a nation of over-achievers to a nation of dumber than rocks.  It didn't happen overnight, but it has happened by purpose.

We have become a nation that prefers fast food, a nation of 'give it to me, and give it to me now'.  When sex and pornography became a right and a god, why are we shocked that homosexuality followed along?  When murdering babies became acceptable will we be shocked when killing people of any age for one reason or another is acceptable as well? Birth defect? Age? Health problems?  No one and nothing will be exempt..

You see, when God is no longer the standard for moral decisions; you substitute human wisdom for moral decisions. 

When we forget that Jesus said, John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."...and so many of the other things Jesus said...those principles that should have been taught along with the religion...we've forgotten way, way, way, too much.

Who Am I?

"I am a stranger in this place;
I've got a name, but I am just a face,
Sitting in the background, taking up space,
I'm sorry, but I guess that's just my case..."  (taken from a poem by B. Westphal)

A face without a name...or it could be a name without a face.  Day by day do you meet the same people?  Same people at work, same people at the convenience store, or grocery store, or wherever you may happen to visit--do you ever wonder who are they?

Quite a few years ago, I would take my Grandfather to town two or three times a month.  On our excursions he would get his hair cut, get groceries, and run errands that needed done.  Occasionally he would sit in the van as I or someone ran into a business establishment.  He enjoyed immensely watching people come and go on their errands.  Most of them were indeed faces with a name, but they weren't faces or names known to him. 

In Bible class we have a game called, 'Who Am I'.  I have a little figure that I hold up and read descriptions about.  For example, the questions might run like this, 'I am the son of Nun.  I was one of the two men that left Egypt with Moses that entered the Promised land.  I led the people into the Promised Land after Moses died.'  After each question I pause, if the class answers the question and tells me 'Who Am I' (in this case of course it's Joshua) I put the little figure down and move to the next figure who has a separate batch of questions.  The children like the challenge, and it's a good way to review.

Many is the time I've heard preachers use examples of lives from the scriptures.  I remember the first time I heard a preacher use these examples: Abraham was a liar,  Joshua had a faith problem, David was an adulterer, Peter denied Christ (or he had a language problem)...there were several of these examples thrown out for our examination.  The point was that these people were not perfect and God used them even though they were not perfect in his service.

Now, I agree, these people were just flesh and blood.  The scriptures don't hide the fact that they had their faults, but the scriptures don't dwell on the faults of it's heros.  The scriptures just tell the story.

 Has anyone amongst us not told a lie?  Maybe not an in your face life changing lie--maybe not even a totally untrue fact, but perhaps it just moved the facts around a little--lie.  Who amongst us has not on occasion thought within themselves: You want me to do WHAT Lord?!  Or some such thought-- in this place on these questions.  I ask myself, what would God have us focus on in these situations? The weakness of God's servant, or the triumph of that same servant? Yes, I know it could be just splitting dandelion fuzz, but...

Elijah is a prime example. 1Kings19:10  "And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. "

Again in IKings19:14  Elijah responds with, "And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."

He is in this account running away from the wicked Queen Jezebel--running as it were, for his life.  We know of course that the Lord tells him in1Kings 19:18  "Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

We know that Elijah recovers from his weak moment and just a few chapters later he confronts the wicked King Ahab and prophesies to him concerning not only the King, but his wicked Queen Jezebel again saying:
 
1Kings 21:20  "Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah. 21)  Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel: 22)  and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat... 23)  And of Jezebel also spake Jehovah, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. 24)  Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat."

In casting back in my mind I find myself at times in the same situation as my Grandfather.  I enjoy watching people come and go on their errands.  I don't know what thoughts ran through his mind, but  for myself I do wonder what these people are thinking, what their lives are, where they are going.  Some of them--most of them--will continue on their life's journey.  Many will never stop to consider who they are, or where they are going.  If you were the roving reporter on the street, stopping people and asking them these questions, most would think you were strange...at best.

'Who am I, and where am I going'--?  Christians must be concerned with these questions, not only for themselves, but for other people their in lives. 

I remember a book we used for ladies' class.  It used Job's wife as a negative example of something we wives should not do, or should not be like.  Several years ago someone said in reference to Job's wife, "I surely hope that of all the things I've ever done or said, in the end people don't choose the negative thing(s) from my life that I've done or said to remember me by."

I must agree whole-heartedly.  I don't want the times I've fallen--spiritually--to be the things people define me by.  I don't want my weakness to define who I am or where I am going...or where I have gone.

I am on occasion reminded of Joshua, the great leader.  After the defeat of his army at Ai, he is sure that the children of Israel are about to be slautered by the local people.  He has fallen on his face before the Lord.  He says in effect, 'We're gonna die!'  But Jehovah says to him:

Joshua 7:10 "And Jehovah said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face? 11)  Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them:"


We know the rest of his story.  He got up.  He finished his task.


Halelujah!  What a Saviour!