deeda-zoomlens: Remember
I wrote this on the ten year anniversary...: Remember I wrote this on the ten year anniversary. Seems appropriate to remember the seriousness of that day so many years ago now --appro...
Friday, September 11, 2015
Remember
I wrote this on the ten year anniversary. Seems appropriate to remember the seriousness of that day so many years ago now --appropriate for some seem to have forgotten what we pledged never to forget:
And the planes came tumbling down.
September 7, 2011 at 4:21pm
The day was surely drear as the desert wind yearned to blow. Covering the face of the moon, the red horses rode across the night as the hatching plans were set, their hatred to be be reaped: Firey apocolypse approached. Unleashing inner hounds of hell, rabid like dogs gone mad, they savaged in a drunken spree. Set free to gluttony, they readied themselves before purifying prayer, succombing to forbidden fruits of debachery before the ritual of shaving and cutting hair. Ten years ago, the day was surely drear as the foul desert wind did howl and grow.
September 7, 2011 at 4:21pm
The day was surely drear as the desert wind yearned to blow. Covering the face of the moon, the red horses rode across the night as the hatching plans were set, their hatred to be be reaped: Firey apocolypse approached. Unleashing inner hounds of hell, rabid like dogs gone mad, they savaged in a drunken spree. Set free to gluttony, they readied themselves before purifying prayer, succombing to forbidden fruits of debachery before the ritual of shaving and cutting hair. Ten years ago, the day was surely drear as the foul desert wind did howl and grow.
deeda-zoomlens: Decisions 2015It is hard to keep upright and bala...
deeda-zoomlens: Decisions 2015
It is hard to keep upright and bala...: Decisions 2015 It is hard to keep upright and balanced on the surfboards of our emotions during these charged political and culturally ch...
It is hard to keep upright and bala...: Decisions 2015 It is hard to keep upright and balanced on the surfboards of our emotions during these charged political and culturally ch...
Decisions 2015
It is hard to keep upright and balanced on the surfboards of our emotions during these charged political and culturally challenging times. How do we keep from pressing for our positions for all we are worth, without letting our passions carry us over the top of good judgement and discernment -- or to take the other tact, how do we keep from being a stumbling block by not wanting to be part of the fuss and fury around us, and withdrawing from the fray -- unintentionally becoming a hindrance to right action? -- This much we know -- however we ride the waves between politics, religion and culture, our stance commanded by Jesus is: "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me."
Our challenge is to find and hold a steady moral stance in our daily living of those words as we face this election -- Christians inside a secular culture that is increasingly hostile. Judas got lost there, turning his eyes to the money bags, and perhaps to the poor, instead of understanding the alabaster jar and the value of the Christ right in front of him. Consider also Barabbas: Matthew refers to Barabbas only as a "notorious prisoner" but Mark and Luke further refer to Barabbas as one involved in a stasis, a riot. Robert Eisenman states that John 18:40 refers to Barabbas as a lēstēs ("bandit"), "the word Josephus always employs when talking about Revolutionaries" The Jewish people wanted a physical savior, an earthly king of the Jews. Barrabbas was more of their mindset than were the teachings of Jesus. The two things, how we relate to our government on earth and how we relate to the kingdom of heaven are for some reason very hard for us to separate. It is far easier to fall under the pull of the physical here and now -- easy for the politics of the day to become small idols and then seep into our thinking as biblical motive points. THEY ARE NOT.
We are to keep our balance but separate our steps this way: 'They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod’s followers mixed in, to ask, “Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don’t pander to your students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 18-19 Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, “Why are you playing these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it.” They handed him a silver piece.20 “This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?” 21 They said, “Caesar.” “Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his.”
So here we are, citizens of two worlds that overlap and that are integrally connected. We cannot deny the world and disobey 'Anyone who is not with me is against me..' as the topics of this culture and this coming election bring our faith and our country's moral focus and direction into sharp focus -- and under increasing attack. On the other hand, neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party -- or any other party -- is going to produce our king. Our first allegiance is to our faith -- a bedrock upon which we were blessed to have had our nation founded. Somehow we have to be involved but not ensnared by all the crafty words. In a 'by their fruits you will know them world,' it would be easy to see but in these times it is more likely to be by the media's portrayal of their fruits, and we will be spun a story. We cannot wring our hands and just be mad but soldier on, winnowing as we go. We must get it right this time. God help us make insightful choices that guard our nation and bring Caesar's domain closer to His kingdom working out on earth. May God continue to bless our America.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: Betrayal
deeda-zoomlens: Betrayal: Adam and Eve. Was the first sin pride, or was it betrayal slithering in, allowing the birth of narcissism -- the hard-heart of self-love a...
Betrayal
Adam and Eve. Was the first sin pride, or was it betrayal slithering in, allowing the birth of narcissism -- the hard-heart of self-love and the arrogant face of pride to be the two first born?
How it hurts, betrayal. It is said that you never have to worry about your enemies betraying you; it is only those you trust who have the key to that door. Since the ones you trust the most can hurt the deepest, it's a hard feeling to handle. I don't think God was too happy with Adam and Eve; how He must have felt! The earth would crumble under that sigh. He didn't stop loving, though. He forgave.
What a lineage!
But we are born relational beings -- image bearers! That need to give and partake of loyalty and trust is spirit sewn, not touchable by mankind's fault.
In today's culture, honor and loyalty seem a way of the past. That's true in an ancient way; those traits are as deep as the first breath blown into man. Our subsequent actions and so our DNA opened the door to dishonor and betrayal -- time, tears and troubles BUT our awesome and always faithful, ever loyal Father never gave up on us -- sent His only begotten Son to save us from ourselves -- opening a timeless kingdom with no tears, no troubles and agape love.
That doesn't make the sadness go away now or the tears stop for us, but thinking about it helps. Forgiving helps, too. Let it go.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus C...
deeda-zoomlens:
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus C...: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. ...
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus C...: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. ...
deeda-zoomlens: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Chr...
deeda-zoomlens: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Chr...: Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that...
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed.
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed.
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.
We hustle. We bustle. It is in our nature: Change, go, do, renew. The seasons move. We move. We seek always — variety.
Why?
Is the sky not blue enough? Is there too much sun on a July day? Are the full leaves of August simply calling cards for autumnal shades and the hazy gold of late afternoon September fairs and rolls of hay — just to be enjoyed long enough for the foggy mornings of October and then the red berries and green leaves to shine on November’s darkening days? Just to seek and find the berries and wreaths of Christmas and December, and then in January to blow our breath at the powdering snow — hard rock is the cold that becomes the blue ice of February and turns the blustery kite winds of March into free-zone skies — white clouds sailing above with bright ribbons flying behind, right straight into April when Easter changes the face of the world and spring sets in again with lilies and daffodils — Is the readying of the world so boring with its May bonnets that float lazily in reflections off straw hats and fishing piers in the mirrored waters of June? Is the sky not blue enough?
We circle the sun in our searching for perfection, our love of each jot and title of life’s expressions. Looking for the face of God, we stumble in love with the wrinkles of time. What is behind our yearning? Our change of palates and furniture, of hairstyles, of music, and sometimes even of friends and churches?
The bible says: Ecc 3 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:‘2-8 A right time for birth and another for death,A right time to plant and another to reap,A right time to kill and another to heal,A right time to destroy and another to construct,A right time to cry and another to laugh,A right time to lament and another to cheer,A right time to make love and another to abstain,A right time to embrace and another to part,A right time to search and another to count your losses,A right time to hold on and another to let go,A right time to rip out and another to mend,A right time to shut up and another to speak up,A right time to love and another to hate,A right time to wage war and another to make peace.’
After those well loved verses and for a long, long, long time the Quester broods over the smoke and dust, the worthlessness of life, the endless change that leads to nothing until finally this thought hits him:
18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.
Then again comes his melancholia: Ecc 6 1-2 I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn’t let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It’s more of what I’m calling smoke. A bad business.
3-5 Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I’d say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living.
6 Even if someone lived a thousand years—make it two thousand!—but didn’t enjoy anything, what’s the point? Doesn’t everyone end up in the same place?’
Fortunately he hits on insight but he does not quite see his own focus or pinpoint what he is seeing when he says,
7′ We work to feed our appetites;Meanwhile our souls go hungry.’
Over and over his sad tale comes back to this: ‘All it amounts to anyway is smoke. And spitting into the wind.’ He meanders, changes with the mood and the wind until he comes across a few more thoughts worth keeping:’13 Take a good look at God’s work.Who could simplify and reduce Creation’s curves and anglesTo a plain straight line?14 On a good day, enjoy yourself;On a bad day, examine your conscience.God arranges for both kinds of daysSo that we won’t take anything for granted.’Then from in-between comes the motivation for his wanderings, his hithers and thithers, his going up and under– the ins and outs — looking for meaning inside the meaning, looking for changelessness — looking for God. his anguished search, his pain explodes here:’23-25 I tested everything in my search for wisdom. I set out to be wise, but it was beyond me, far beyond me, and deep—oh so deep! Does anyone ever find it? I concentrated with all my might, studying and exploring and seeking wisdom—the meaning of life. I also wanted to identify evil and stupidity, foolishness and craziness … what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I’ve tried to make sense of life. But the wisdom I’ve looked for I haven’t found. I didn’t find one man or woman in a thousand worth my while. Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.’After many wise sayings and some silly surface thoughts, our seeker ends his wonderings, his wanderings of the heart, in this way: ‘9-10 Besides being wise himself, the Quester also taught others knowledge. He weighed, examined, and arranged many proverbs. The Quester did his best to find the right words and write the plain truth.11 The words of the wise prod us to live well.They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together.They are given by God, the one Shepherd.12-13 But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this:Fear God.Do what he tells you.14 And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.’Before Adam and Eve by their desires and pride brought time into our world, everything was the moment –and the moment was not– and was all — regardless of anything called time or change. God’s children, His creations, were with the Trinity. After Eden, dropped into time — into birth and death, we seek our home that is heavenward — a beauty and completion that is now changeable to us –set away from, beyond anything that we can imagine.So we seek greener pastures, we seek better lives, we seek brighter days, we seek inside all the aspects of everything, looking for the whole and never able to conceive it. Until we leave this splintering of perfection and see it for shattered desires, pieces of the whole pulled into different and often time slanted directions, we discover, live through, dodge, try to understand and even hunt — change.To go inside change is to leave linear time –cataclysmic. It requires the faith of a caterpillar becoming the butterfly, not seeing itself as the glorification happens, but being inside it — becoming.The bible says:“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”[1 Corinthians 15:51-42]“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Romans 12:2]“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” [1 John 3:2]Eventually our change natures, our butterfly selves, longing to see home again and the face of our God will find this:“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” [Revelation 21:1]“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” [2 Corinthians 3:18]Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows James 1:171 Peter 1:3 Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay[imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.
Cherish the moment. Cherish the prayer: It is the closest soul-breath we have this side of forever — this side of home again our blessed Lord, the glorious I Am That I Am.
Monday, August 10, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: The waiting game. Sometimes it's hard, right? ...
deeda-zoomlens: The waiting game.
Sometimes it's hard, right? ...: The waiting game. Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but every...
Sometimes it's hard, right? ...: The waiting game. Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but every...
Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on Jesus Christ revealed. Set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. We hustle. We bustle. It is in our nature: Change, go, do, renew. The seasons move. We move. We seek always — variety. Why? Is the sky not blue enough? Is there too much sun on a July day? Are the full leaves of August simply calling cards for autumnal shades and the hazy gold of late afternoon September fairs and rolls of hay, just to be enjoyed long enough for the foggy mornings of October and then the red berries and green leaves shining on November’s darkening days? Just to seek and find the berries and wreaths of Christmas and December, and then in January the powdering of snow that becomes blue ice days of February and the blustery kite winds of March? In March, before April and Easter change the face of the world and spring sets in with lilies and daffodils — readying the world for May bonnets that float lazily in reflections off straw hats and piers in the mirrored waters of June? We circle the sun in our searching for perfection, our love of each jot and title of life’s expressions. Looking for the face of God, we stumble in love with the wrinkles of time. What is behind our yearning? Our change of palates and furniture, of hairstyles, of music, and sometimes even of friends and churches? The bible says: Ecc 3 There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: ‘2-8 A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.’ After those well loved verses and for a long, long, long time the Quester broods over the smoke and dust, the worthlessness of life, the endless change that leads to nothing until finally this thought hits him: 18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.’ Then again comes his melancholia: Ecc 6 1-2 I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn’t let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It’s more of what I’m calling smoke. A bad business. 3-5 Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I’d say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living. 6 Even if someone lived a thousand years—make it two thousand!—but didn’t enjoy anything, what’s the point? Doesn’t everyone end up in the same place?’ Fortunately he hits on insight but he does not quite see his own focus or pinpoint what he is seeing when he says, 7′ We work to feed our appetites; Meanwhile our souls go hungry.’ Over and over his sad tale comes back to this: ‘All it amounts to anyway is smoke. And spitting into the wind.’ He meanders, changes with the mood and the wind until he comes across a few more thoughts worth keeping: ’13 Take a good look at God’s work. Who could simplify and reduce Creation’s curves and angles To a plain straight line? 14 On a good day, enjoy yourself; On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days So that we won’t take anything for granted.’ Then from in-between comes the motivation for his wanderings, his hithers and thithers, his going up and under– the ins and outs — looking for meaning inside the meaning, looking for changelessness — looking for God. his anguished search, his pain explodes here: ’23-25 I tested everything in my search for wisdom. I set out to be wise, but it was beyond me, far beyond me, and deep—oh so deep! Does anyone ever find it? I concentrated with all my might, studying and exploring and seeking wisdom—the meaning of life. I also wanted to identify evil and stupidity, foolishness and craziness … what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I’ve tried to make sense of life. But the wisdom I’ve looked for I haven’t found. I didn’t find one man or woman in a thousand worth my while. Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.’ After many wise sayings and some silly surface thoughts, our seeker ends his wonderings, his wanderings of the heart, in this way: ‘ 9-10 Besides being wise himself, the Quester also taught others knowledge. He weighed, examined, and arranged many proverbs. The Quester did his best to find the right words and write the plain truth. 11 The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. They are given by God, the one Shepherd. 12-13 But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. 14 And that’s it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.’ Before Adam and Eve by their desires and pride brought time into our world, everything was the moment –and the moment was not– and was all — regardless of anything called time or change. God’s children, His creations, were with the Trinity. After Eden, dropped into time — into birth and death, we seek our home that is heavenward — a beauty and completion that is now changeable to us –set away from, beyond anything that we can imagine. So we seek greener pastures, we seek better lives, we seek brighter days, we seek inside all the aspects of everything, looking for the whole and never able to conceive it. Until we leave this splintering of perfection and see it for shattered desires, pieces of the whole pulled into different and often time slanted directions, we discover, live through, dodge, try to understand and even hunt — change. To go inside change is to leave linear time –cataclysmic. It requires the faith of a caterpillar becoming the butterfly, not seeing itself as the glorification happens, but being inside it — becoming. The bible says: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” [1 Corinthians 15:51-42] “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Romans 12:2] “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” [1 John 3:2] Eventually our change natures, our butterfly selves, longing to see home again and the face of our God will find this: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” [Revelation 21:1] “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” [2 Corinthians 3:18] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows James 1:17 1 Peter 1:3 Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay[imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you 13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed. Cherish the moment. Cherish the prayer: It is the closest soul-breath we have this side of forever — this side of home again our blessed Lord, the glorious I Am That I Am.
The waiting game.
Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but everything in the world seems to whirl at us with warp speed.
We push. We press. We figure this way and that. We go up one road and down the other, only to find ourselves in deeper trouble or at least very unknown territory, many times with heretofore unknown people who have become problems instead of helping to solve them.
Part of us says, 'To be a good steward we have to do our best to help ourselves.' Another part of ourselves says, 'Listen to that bit about the lilies in the field.' What to do? Where is the balance point?
Sometimes when we look back on situations we can see that if 1 and 2 had not happened exactly the way they did, then that coveted 3 would not have been the same outcome. We would never have known that that the first instance would have occasioned the second one, but there it was and then that life lesson or life completion became smooth and 'right.'
Other times we look back and see spaghetti -- a rolling ball of half measures and long strings all piled up together with no rhyme or reason apparent and nothing holding any of it together except a unifying sauce on top -- just a surface coating that does not really bind for long. Maybe we are not far enough away from that instance to see how the pieces fit, or maybe we tried so hard that we blew it and whatever that outcome might have been is taking a completely different route -- perhaps to a similar end, perhaps not.
As I sit here on the edge of decisions myself, let me remind all of us that we only need one roadmap; the bible tells us many things:
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them.Mark 4:9
Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."Exodus 4:11Psalm 94:9
Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?
The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
Proverbs 25:12
Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.
Sometimes it's hard, right? We know we should 'wait upon the Lord' and we do try to be patient, but everything in the world seems to whirl at us with warp speed.
We push. We press. We figure this way and that. We go up one road and down the other, only to find ourselves in deeper trouble or at least very unknown territory, many times with heretofore unknown people who have become problems instead of helping to solve them.
Part of us says, 'To be a good steward we have to do our best to help ourselves.' Another part of ourselves says, 'Listen to that bit about the lilies in the field.' What to do? Where is the balance point?
Sometimes when we look back on situations we can see that if 1 and 2 had not happened exactly the way they did, then that coveted 3 would not have been the same outcome. We would never have known that that the first instance would have occasioned the second one, but there it was and then that life lesson or life completion became smooth and 'right.'
Other times we look back and see spaghetti -- a rolling ball of half measures and long strings all piled up together with no rhyme or reason apparent and nothing holding any of it together except a unifying sauce on top -- just a surface coating that does not really bind for long. Maybe we are not far enough away from that instance to see how the pieces fit, or maybe we tried so hard that we blew it and whatever that outcome might have been is taking a completely different route -- perhaps to a similar end, perhaps not.
As I sit here on the edge of decisions myself, let me remind all of us that we only need one roadmap; the bible tells us many things:
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah hath made even both of them.Mark 4:9
Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."Exodus 4:11Psalm 94:9
Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?
The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
Proverbs 25:12
Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.
Matthew 7:7-12(AMP)
7 Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; [c]keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent?
11 If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and [d]advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and [e]advantageous things to those who [f]keep on asking Him!
12 So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets.
Isaiah 55:8-9(AMP)
8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Brothers and sisters, '
Isaiah 40:31(KJV)
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
'
Patience is
The word patience in the Hebrew is “qavah” which means “to wait for, to look for, to hope, or to expect.” All of these words in themselves are very descriptive of patience. In the Greek, it is used most often as “hypomenō” which means “to remain, to abide, to preserver, endure, or to bear bravely and calmly.” Again, these words fit nicely with the word patience and so if we see what the word patience could mean throughout the Bible, we could say that, biblically speaking, patience is: waiting for, looking and hoping for, expecting, persevering, enduring, bearing, remaining and abiding. If you see how God is patient, particularly with us, you can see that He is the epitome of patience.' http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christiancrier/
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Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.”
The idea of being “still before the Lord” to “wait patiently for Him” is a command in this Psalm. Here we are seeing the patience when we regard the one who is prospering and “carries out evil” meaning that we must bear this and remain steadfast for all will stand before the Lord to give an account someday (Rev 20:11-15) and it will not go well with those who have not trusted in Christ. This is what we are “waiting for, looking for, and expecting.” God is just and as a just Judge, all will be made right. We must leave judgment to God and be patient and not allow our impatience to get the best of us vengeance is the Lords (Rom 12:19).
James 5:7-8 “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
Once again we are told to be patient “until the coming of the Lord” because even a farmer must be patient and not seeing the unseen seed the farmer knows that its time will come and so he or she is patient in this sense. The patience James talks about is the patience to be waiting, expectantly, on the Lord’s coming, which James emphasizes twice and every time you see something mentioned twice, God wants us to see its importance.
Revelation 14:12 “Here is a call for the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”
Even when you are persecuted, we should rejoice (Matt 5:12) because they persecuted Jesus, even to death, so don’t grow weary in doing good (Gal 6:9) because “at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” and not giving up is enduring patiently. In Revelation 14:12 John is writing that the patience of the saints is equal to that of keeping the commandments of God and their faith in Christ. Obedience is not easy and we can’t keep them perfectly but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t strive to obey them and it takes patience with ourselves and with others.
Romans 15:4-5 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.”
Here Paul ties in patience with reading the Scriptures that we “might have hope” and a lack of patience could be a lack of being in the Scriptures. I don’t know how often I have counseled with someone about their quick temper and I ask them, did they begin the day with the Scriptures and with prayer? Are those an everyday thing for you as Jesus said we must ask for our daily bread, each and every day? The Scriptures have the power to change our attitudes and the “washing of the word” (Eph 5:26) is part of our sanctification.
Romans 2:6 “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.”
Every Christian today will be rewarded for their works on earth. We are not saved by works but a faith that saves works. Good works are a natural byproduct of our faith. The patience in well-doing must be understood that the glory, honor, and immortality will not come until He returns with His reward for us. We may not be rewarded as much in this life, although obedience frequently produces better consequences, but patience is more easily retained when we live with the end in mind.
Proverbs 25:15 “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”
When I read this I thought of the employee in dealing with their employer who through patience might be persuaded. Solomon writes this in conjunction with using a “soft tongue” so the idea is that with patience, a soft voice and gentle words, someone can more easily be persuaded to make a decision or a choice that you want them to make. It’s interesting that the author said that “a soft tongue will break a bone” but we could read it in the Hebrew vernacular as being “a soft voice can break a bone” or with gentleness and respect, even a strong bone (hard headed person or a difficult decision?) can be persuaded but only if accompanied by patience..that is, sometimes it takes a lot of time.
First Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”
This last verse is particularly special to me because after we admonish the idle (lazy?), encourage the fainthearted (fearful?) and help the weak (in the faith and the elderly?) Paul tells us to do these things patiently. I have never failed to gain understanding from an elderly person who may take longer saying something but it is worth the wait. I visit nursing homes and they frequently speak a little slower but like gold is formed over longer amounts of time, these nuggets from these seniors are so valuable because experience is a good teacher and they have a lot to tell. Also, for those who are fearful, have doubts about their salvation, and may lack assurance, it may be because they are new in the faith and it takes time to grow in the faith so patience is not only a virtue, it is a necessity with the very young or new believer and with those who are our elders.' (Jack Wellman)
Thursday, August 6, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: Tell me the way to go home.The pen is mightier t...
deeda-zoomlens: Tell me the way to go home.
The pen is mightier t...: Tell me the way to go home. The pen is mightier than the sword but oh how terrible is that blade, swinging its threat across the doorway t...
The pen is mightier t...: Tell me the way to go home. The pen is mightier than the sword but oh how terrible is that blade, swinging its threat across the doorway t...
Tell me the way to go home.
The pen is mightier than the sword but oh how terrible is that blade, swinging its threat across the doorway to our tomorrows! In vulnerable haste we use our words, as children, to ward off the evil, to push away the monsters under the bed and replace them with bonkety-bonk pings and the happy notes of automated panoramas -- a safe fantasy world, replete with Disney's familiar songs. Where do so many of us go on vacation? Disney Land or Disney World. WHY?
The world is not safe and we want to go home. Home is happy. Home is a full belly and a future as big as the sky. Home is Mama and Daddy, ready to give agape love and exact righteous justice. Home is icecream and/or chicken soup when we are sick. and all the TV we can watch or games we can play, rolled up and tucked into our favorite blanket, right at our favorite spot. Home is all the time we want to climb trees, read books, shoot marbles, color our books, dance in the wind, share secrets with a friend.
Home is invulnerability: Home is childhood.
In fact, home is childhood even when our emotions take our memories and change the order of things. Not everybody had Ward Cleaver for a father or June for a mother, or the Brady Bunch mom, dad, and Alyce, or even Eddie's Father. Not everybody lived in Mayberry or on Walton's Mountain, and moving on, not everybody had The Cosbys or even Hannah Montana.
We all lay claim to them, though. Almost in the same breath we can exhale an excoriation of our parents and the outdated, barbaric way they raised us -- and before we have time to inhale, we can become teary eyed reminiscing over Christmases and Thanksgivings, or be doubled over in laughter, remembering that time that 'we' did this or that -- those years when we felt an integral part of the unit that itself was integral to our heart and to our very identity.
Such a oneness with our temporal creators can send adopted adult/children on lifelong journeys to find, to reach out and become a known part of the people with whom their actual DNA is shared. There are no perfect earthly parents, but whatever our circumstances we are wired to seek parental approval, to follow their patternings, etc until our own identities are formed enough to take on that mantle ourselves and become an anchor in our our unit, as mom or dad -- guarding and teaching, loving and nurturing our own children.
Some adults get stuck in the life passages of childhood. They deify their parents and do no growth on their own. Others ride the road to rebellion long after they have outgrown their teenage years and end up attacking authority in general. So many of our emotional aberrations come from not going smoothly through the developmental process of children in relationship to our parents. The severity of those 'hangups' goes all the way from minor annoyances to serious emotional problems. Both Freud and Jung went in circles around the edges in archetypal thought about parents and children, but neither one understood the true ancestry and the utter purity of the relationship.
Our longed for parental home, our wish fulfillment come true of Cinderella's righteous outcome, or of Peter Pan's inner struggle with childhood, is not really filled with animated images -- even those of the Lion King -- not unless that king is Aslan. Let us treasure our parents on this earth and know that one day --as true family-- we will be with them again in their home and ours in the land of light, in the land of no tears, in the land of the Lamb.
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
The fulfillment of our deep ache and longing for childhood home, the exquisite agony of the artist, the drive to be number one, or even that problem between Cain and Abel as it had to do with sibling rivalry -- the spectrum of our driving forces across the board, stems from the need to reconnect with our source.
Our physical parents are our earthly stand-ins for the spiritual. Even when in earthly terms we probably have to change our memories a bit to make our childhood years and our own family's reality fit with our heart's desires, our common and instinctive need is to please our parents, to find righteousness, solace, and direction there, to find all abiding love and understanding... and on and on... Our childhood and our true home is glimpsed in Eden in Genesis and as adults in our Heaven Home in Revelation.
The monsters under the bed can be dispersed with the light of our Christ's love. Do we worry about the strength of the pen, of our words, not being as strong as the sword? Let us remember this: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' John 1:1 -- Are we still looking for the way to get to home? Try this: '5Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.7"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."…John 14:5-6
Between this world, that can be scary even to adults, and our safe haven in the next, how should we proceed? What has our Father left as our protection? Try this (there is even a sword of our own!) :
10In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].
The pen is mightier than the sword but oh how terrible is that blade, swinging its threat across the doorway to our tomorrows! In vulnerable haste we use our words, as children, to ward off the evil, to push away the monsters under the bed and replace them with bonkety-bonk pings and the happy notes of automated panoramas -- a safe fantasy world, replete with Disney's familiar songs. Where do so many of us go on vacation? Disney Land or Disney World. WHY?
The world is not safe and we want to go home. Home is happy. Home is a full belly and a future as big as the sky. Home is Mama and Daddy, ready to give agape love and exact righteous justice. Home is icecream and/or chicken soup when we are sick. and all the TV we can watch or games we can play, rolled up and tucked into our favorite blanket, right at our favorite spot. Home is all the time we want to climb trees, read books, shoot marbles, color our books, dance in the wind, share secrets with a friend.
Home is invulnerability: Home is childhood.
In fact, home is childhood even when our emotions take our memories and change the order of things. Not everybody had Ward Cleaver for a father or June for a mother, or the Brady Bunch mom, dad, and Alyce, or even Eddie's Father. Not everybody lived in Mayberry or on Walton's Mountain, and moving on, not everybody had The Cosbys or even Hannah Montana.
We all lay claim to them, though. Almost in the same breath we can exhale an excoriation of our parents and the outdated, barbaric way they raised us -- and before we have time to inhale, we can become teary eyed reminiscing over Christmases and Thanksgivings, or be doubled over in laughter, remembering that time that 'we' did this or that -- those years when we felt an integral part of the unit that itself was integral to our heart and to our very identity.
Such a oneness with our temporal creators can send adopted adult/children on lifelong journeys to find, to reach out and become a known part of the people with whom their actual DNA is shared. There are no perfect earthly parents, but whatever our circumstances we are wired to seek parental approval, to follow their patternings, etc until our own identities are formed enough to take on that mantle ourselves and become an anchor in our our unit, as mom or dad -- guarding and teaching, loving and nurturing our own children.
Some adults get stuck in the life passages of childhood. They deify their parents and do no growth on their own. Others ride the road to rebellion long after they have outgrown their teenage years and end up attacking authority in general. So many of our emotional aberrations come from not going smoothly through the developmental process of children in relationship to our parents. The severity of those 'hangups' goes all the way from minor annoyances to serious emotional problems. Both Freud and Jung went in circles around the edges in archetypal thought about parents and children, but neither one understood the true ancestry and the utter purity of the relationship.
Our longed for parental home, our wish fulfillment come true of Cinderella's righteous outcome, or of Peter Pan's inner struggle with childhood, is not really filled with animated images -- even those of the Lion King -- not unless that king is Aslan. Let us treasure our parents on this earth and know that one day --as true family-- we will be with them again in their home and ours in the land of light, in the land of no tears, in the land of the Lamb.
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
The fulfillment of our deep ache and longing for childhood home, the exquisite agony of the artist, the drive to be number one, or even that problem between Cain and Abel as it had to do with sibling rivalry -- the spectrum of our driving forces across the board, stems from the need to reconnect with our source.
Our physical parents are our earthly stand-ins for the spiritual. Even when in earthly terms we probably have to change our memories a bit to make our childhood years and our own family's reality fit with our heart's desires, our common and instinctive need is to please our parents, to find righteousness, solace, and direction there, to find all abiding love and understanding... and on and on... Our childhood and our true home is glimpsed in Eden in Genesis and as adults in our Heaven Home in Revelation.
The monsters under the bed can be dispersed with the light of our Christ's love. Do we worry about the strength of the pen, of our words, not being as strong as the sword? Let us remember this: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' John 1:1 -- Are we still looking for the way to get to home? Try this: '5Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.7"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."…John 14:5-6
Between this world, that can be scary even to adults, and our safe haven in the next, how should we proceed? What has our Father left as our protection? Try this (there is even a sword of our own!) :
10In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].
11 Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
13 Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].
14 Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,
15 And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.
16 Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].
17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.
18 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).
Ephesians 6:10-18
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: Best Friends.Daybreak steps inside the veil of le...
deeda-zoomlens: Best Friends.
Daybreak steps inside the veil of le...: Best Friends. Daybreak steps inside the veil of leaves; the morning mist, sliding through the willows, is long shadowed and light laye...
Daybreak steps inside the veil of le...: Best Friends. Daybreak steps inside the veil of leaves; the morning mist, sliding through the willows, is long shadowed and light laye...
deeda-zoomlens: Best Friends.Daybreak steps inside the veil of lea...
deeda-zoomlens: Best Friends.Daybreak steps inside the veil of lea...: Best Friends. Daybreak steps inside the veil of leaves; the morning mist, sliding through the willows, is long shadowed and light layere...
Best Friends.
Daybreak steps inside the veil of leaves; the morning mist, sliding through the willows, is long shadowed and light layered — floating blue and green, in lazy spheres around the loons as they take their ablutions. The little fawn pauses behind his grey boulder, one foot stepping out of the island fog, a dog barks an echo across the way, the great blue heron silently goes about his breakfast hunting.
Suddenly, bacon is on the air. In the blink of an eye the island home is bare, save for the campfire and the two boys, clanging on their pots and making wake-up noises.
They make houses out of their sleeping bags — and then castles and forts, tussling. Sticks are for marshmallow ends and then they’re way-markers for lost sailors, finding the dangerous trail home. When the basketball seems to stare, one of them remembers Wilson: Giggles have them bent doubled — holding their ribs for air.
Laughter floods the chipmunk nooks and squirrel nests alike; happy is the day that boy songs play their tune in the safety of Indian Paintbrush, Trillium, and every now and then a perfect pink Lady Slipper.
Two heads, side by side, lying very uncomfortably on rocks, find pictures in the sky. Cloud visions — angels and horses, cars and Super Heroes. And Jesus.
Harold stuck his thumbs through his belt loops and glared, “You did not either!”
Jim picked the perfect stem of Johnson Grass and stuck it in his mouth, drawing up his knees, as he kept right on looking up, “I did, too!”
Harold kicked the dirt. He whistled. He found a pine cone and threw it, then circle back with, “OK, then, swear on it!”
The Johnson grass moved just a bit between Jim’s front teeth. “I don’t swear.”
In mid huff and puff, Harold stopped short, “What? Since when? That’s cold stupid.”
Jim shrugged a smile, “He said not to.”
Harold’s head popped round as his palms hit his dramatically furrowed forehead. “Who said not to what?” There was just a bit of swagger with some spit for exaggeration, “You’re just being a jerk cause I saw the best horse.”
That was when there was the big smile that stretched right through Jim’s freckled face. “Nope! You can see all the best horses. It’s OK. I get to see Jesus everyday.” He cocked his head and squinted an eye, “He doesn’t like me to swear, though, so I stopped. I bet he would like it if you stopped, too.”
Grabbing this piece of clothing and that bit of the chocolate stores in a right hurry to pack up and leave, Harold was stopped short again, “Me?” Jim just looked over at him and twirled the grass. Harold shifted from one foot to the other, “What do you mean you see Him everyday? How? You got magic eyes?”
Rummaging in his own rucksack was quick enough. Jim pulled his kindle out of the roll, touched it to open on the bible and handed it over. “Tell you the truth, I don’t really know how, but if you start reading this everyday, well — it just starts to happen.”
At that Harold drew back his hand. The kindle dropped to the ground with his snarky tone words, “Oh, so you mean it’s storytime imagination! You still watch Mr. Rogers re-runs, too?”
Freckled face Jim smiled again but shook his head. “Hey, man, He said for you to try it. — I don’t see him with my eyes, you know.”
“You’re totally freaking me out,” Harold stamped a couple of feet away but looked into the trees, as if to catch a glimpse of something ….
Freckle face bounced Wilson Harold’s way and pointed to a splash in the water. “Good for you to get freaked out every now and then, or what’s a best bud for? How bout we come back tomorrow and bring some fishing poles?”
If uncomfortable stares could make communication happen, Wilson and Harold were for all the world having a conversation. “Yeah, well…” He bounced Wilson hard back over to his buddy. “Fishing might be OK… but… hey, Jim, it’s just, this is weird and anyway, I thought I was your best friend.”
Freckle face nodded and laughed, ‘Nope, that’d be Wilson!”
The ice fell off of Harold’s face as Jim split a chocolate and looked over the trail towards home. “Hal, that friend part — it’s the same thing I said to my dad when I found out. I was scared I was going to lose him, but I didn’t lose anything; I just got more instead. Guess that doesn’t make alot of sense right now but it will.”
The two of them got the bedrolls tied and were tending to the fire in silence until Jim looked up at the sky and pointed at a picture cloud again, “Another horse!”
He kept on tying and straightening, adding, “Praying makes everything easier to understand. It’s talking is all it is. My dad and I do it together at night now and Mom is starting to join in, too. I been wanting to talk to you, but it didn’t seem the right time until today when… well, today.”
Hal whistled. Hal walked ahead. Hal slowed down. Hal bounced Wilson. Hal blurted, “Well are you going to loan me that old kindle of yours or not?”
Jim tucked it inside his buddy’s bag before he took his turn home, with an easy, “See you tomorrow.”
Hal headed toward his cut to the side road home and nodded, “Yep, uh, maybe I’ll see both of you.”
Freckle face Jim smiled.
Jesus smiled, too.
Monday, August 3, 2015
deeda-zoomlens: ALL LIVES MATTER. STAND UP FOR LIFE.In the beginni...
deeda-zoomlens: ALL LIVES MATTER. STAND UP FOR LIFE.In the beginni...: ALL LIVES MATTER. STAND UP FOR LIFE. In the beginning, God...... What do we need, more verses to show and tell us what our Father think...
ALL LIVES MATTER. STAND UP FOR LIFE.
In the beginning, God......
What do we need, more verses to show and tell us what our Father thinks? Do we need more words to shield us from the pc barbs of today's death culture -- aka abortion, and the for profit business of selling little livers and kidneys and hearts? What will it take for our eyes to see these murdered babies as our little brothers and sisters? These slaughtered images of our Father and our God. The innocents, lie broken and crushed on the sacrificial altar of mammon and feminism.
On the other end of the spectrum the money grubbers are frothing at the mouth for euthanasia. You know, we are outliving our usefulness to the tax base. I mean, if we keep getting older and the tax base keeps shrinking, our families might even be forced to care for us -- just the way our Lord said they should. This beautiful miracle called life, at either end, is fragile -- coming and going through the passage of time. We have all been there or we would not be here now. We will all get there eventually. In the in-between, we have a chance to make a difference. Stand up. We are our Father's works of art. Treasure every minute of the living, from the womb to the tomb.
I leave you with words from the bible, our go-to book on all things right, on all things good, on all things important, on all things -- period. Please think on them; use them to help others see. Use them to help open someone's ears. Use them to help soften a heart. USE THEM TO HELP SAVE A LIFE.
ALL LIVES MATTER
The sanctity of all human life
It proceeds from God Ge 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.;
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.;
Ac 17:24-2624 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,…
The sanctity of children’s lives
Jer 1:5 "I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."
Lk 1:41,44 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44“For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 45 “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”
Injury to a pregnant woman is serious 12 "So I will send fire upon Teman And it will consume the citadels of Bozrah." 13Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead In order to enlarge their borders. 14 "So I will kindle a fire on the wall of Rabbah And it will consume her citadels Amid war cries on the day of battle, And a storm on the day of tempest.…
The sanctity of old age
The old are to be respected Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Leviticus 19:32
Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.
Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.
Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Proverbs 15:20
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
Proverbs 30:17
The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
1 Ti 5Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, 2the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them" (Psalm 139:13-16, NKJV).
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of heaven! For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world He chose us to become, in Christ, His holy and blameless children living within His constant care" (Ephesians 1:3-4, PME).
ALL LIVES MATTER. ALL AGES MATTER.
Make your voice heard: STAND UP FOR LIFE!
http://blog.maplestreetchurch.com/all-lives-matter-stand-up-for-life/
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