For Jewish and Christian politicians.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the whole government shutdown/slim down thing and found that I have a questions for everyone in congress, especially those that claim to be Christians or Jews. Tell me where in the scriptures, in both the Jewish and Christian bibles, does it say that you should throw the elderly, handicapped, widows or poor under the bus? What chapter and verse is that to be found in?


Did Jesus say blessed are the poor, but only if they are politically connected? Did Paul write that the widows and orphans should be cast aside to make a political point? Where exactly is it to be found in the Torah ( the laws of Moses ) that you are to make sure the handicapped and poor families get tossed out of their homes or sold into slavery so you can prove that you are are not seen as weak by your constituents? You may search from Genesis to Revelations and you won't find it. In fact you'll find quite the opposite.


In writing the laws of the Torah, God directed Moses as to how they were to treat the poor amongst them, everything from leaving the corners of the fields un-harvested so that the poor wouldn't go hungry to not charging a man interest or taking his cloak for any length of time if it was used to assure that loan. In other words the poor should be cared for. Even today in Israel it is still considered a commandment from God, not just a mere suggestion, and they are greatly blessed despite the enemies that surround them.


Jesus in his ministry reemphasized that in all his teaching telling his followers point blankly that they were to love their neighbors as them selves. One of the best illustrations he used was the story of the good Samaritan. While those in power passed the man who was badly injured, afraid of what might happen top them, a Samaritan,who was despised by the leaders of his day, helped the man, even seeing to it that he was taken care of while he was to be gone. He didn't ask the man about his party affiliation, didn't even ask his name, he simply saw a man in need and helped him.


So I am a bit confused as to why it appears that all sides are willing to throw us under the bus when the very principals that the country was founded on would dictate that they should do quite the opposite.


I am not going to get long winded over this because for me it's a very personal and very real issue but I will say that it's going to be very embarrassing for me to have to go, hat in hand, to beg to keep a roof over my head while those who cause the problem get to stay in theirs.


One last thought; How we treat the poor in this country is a great reflection of our national soul, what I see doesn't look good.


Shalom.

A Family of Goldfinches

This morning ,while drinking my coffee, I noticed something very unusual at the bird feeder. There were probably 7 or 8 small goldfinches trying to land on the feeder. It appeared that they really had no clue as to what they were doing or even why they were there. They were trying to settle on the roof of the feeder, the shepherds rod holding the feeder, and even on the wind chimes. A few managed to actually make it on to the rail of the feeder but then they just sat there looking around as if to say”we're here now,now what?” It was then that I realized all of them were young birds, they had no clue what to do because they had never been shown. Then mamma and papa showed up. They landed on the feeder and reached in and grabbed seeds and proceeded to feed the young ones. After they had done this a few times the young birds caught on and started to do it themselves and before they left they were all fat and sassy and I suspect they will be back.
What is fascinating to me is that they didn't know what to do. We tend to think of animals and birds as running on instinct and just doing things automatically because they were bred that way, apparently that's not true in every case. They have to be taught some things because they simply don't know what needs to be done, and who taught them? The parents.


There is a lesson to be learned from this.


Children can't just learn through instinct, they need their parents to be involved and to teach them. If we as parents don't teach them right from wrong how are they to learn?


I'll give a personal example. I taught my children, when they were young, that guns were not toys, they were tools that, when used properly, had a purpose but when not can kill. I taught them how to handle the guns and how to shoot. My wife learned as well and she had never handled a gun before meeting me. Now my kids, both teenagers, will not touch them with out my permission or supervision. I taught them a basic principal of right from wrong.


This is not about guns. It's about our society as a whole.


It's as simple as this. We, as parents, need to get back to being involved in our children lives. We need to go back to teaching them right from wrong and disciplining them when needed. We need to stop letting modern society, via the government or the media in all it's forms, determine what is the best way to raise them and take it upon ourselves to teach them.


If Goldfinches can figure it out so can we.

Now It Shall Come To Pass

Friday was a very stressful day for me. Every three months the VA sends a nurse and social worker to check up on me to see how I am doing and to make sure that my living conditions are good. This always stresses me out. When I got up, I found that my cats had made a mess that had to be cleaned up before someone stepped in it. So in the course of doing that I completely forgot to take one of my meds for blood pressure. I took some for arthritis and made my coffee but totally forgot about the other. Long story short by the time they arrived I wasn't feeling very well but really didn't know why. When the nurse took my blood pressure ,it was so high that she wanted to call an ambulance. It was only then that I realized that I had forgotten to take it. I took my med along with some aspirin and after a few hours it returned back to normal. Basically put I came real close to having a heart attack or a stroke. I have been tired and worn out all weekend and have had a lot of time to think about things going on in the world and on social media.

First of all life is way to short to continuously panic and argue over everything from politics to war. One of the most amazing things to me is to read folks doing battle over the internet over issues that reality says they have no control over. I promise you this: When you are on your death bed the last thing you are going to even begin to think about is politics and, as a well known Christian musician once said ,“when your dead all doctrinal differences come to an end.” Some of you, my friends, need to take a serious chill pill and start looking around at the things that are truly important before they are taken from you.

I am guessing that God isn't going to be asking any of us about how many political battles we won or how many people did we convert to our religious beliefs. I suspect that He will want to know how we treated the poor and the needy. Did you love your wife and children did you give all of yourself for them. Did you honor me with your heart and your actions and not just with your lips? These are the things that are truly important.

Secondly, referring to politics ever so briefly,what the politicians want to happen is going to happen unless God intervenes. If they push for another war in Syria and possibly kicking off WW3 they will do so and we don't have the collective will to stop them. Not to mention the bible would suggest that it's going to happen at some point anyhow.

One of the things that the three biggest religions can agree on is that the end is coming. Islam believes that there is to be world wide destruction in order to usher in a world wide caliphate and some radicals believe that if they instigate it that they will be heroes in the life to come. Christianity believes that there will be world wide calamity and destruction as well before the return of Christ, though it depends on which denomination you are as to just how that happens, and in Judaism these massive wars will end with the Messiah reigning in Jerusalem and Israel will back into favor with God and the world. This,of course,is uncle Iggy's condensed version.

The Old Testament of the Bible has many last day prophecies in it. Much of which has come to pass ,as was foretold by the prophets, going all the way back to the time of Moses. Moses warned the people, just before his death, that if they were not careful to obey God's commands that they would ultimately be scattered to the four ends of the earth. It happened,several times over, in fact. But God also promised that there would always be a small remnant of Jews in the land and that some day, after the people had turned their hearts back to Him,they would return in droves. It's happening. Even as I write this, Jews are returning to Israel,despite predictions by the Catholic church that it would never happen, it has. Better yet is God also told them that when they returned the land would once again be filled with milk and honey and that the barren lands would become fruitful again and it has happened. All the nations that tried to rule there couldn't do it ,but in my life time, the desert has produced fruit. This was predicted it has happened.

I take comfort in this because it also speaks of a time when all of Israel will be united, when all of the tribes are brought out of exile,people who don't even know that they belong to Israel will return, not all will be happy about it, but they will come. It has been predicted it will happen.

There are some other texts as well that perhaps speak of events that are happening today.

Isaiah 19:2 “I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian: They shall war with each other,every man with his fellow, city with city and kingdom with kingdom.

Up until this whole thing with Syria, Egypt was the center of attention as the people have literally turned on each other in two bloody coups in the last two years. Literally brother against brother. It was predicted and it's happening.

One that really has caught my attention is what is known as the “Damascus Proclamation” found at the beginning of Isaiah 17 “Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city; It shall become a heap of ruins.” That's found in verse one. Now I don't know all the history of that region and this may have happened at least once already, yet here it is and just like the Egyptian prophecy it appears that it may just happen soon.

I have been reading many articles and posts on various news and social web sights and one thing is very clear; We have an administration that wants to bomb Syria and an American population by a huge margin dead set against it. I personally am against it. I am tired of endless war and those who seem to want it the most are not the ones who will suffer and die. I have been to war and all I can think is that there has to be a better way to deal with this.

Problem is, eventually it's going to happen. It may not be today or this month but it has been predicted: It will happen. Many nations ,including Russia and the United States,have war ships and submarines just waiting for the first shot to be fired. Syria and Iran has said that they will fire on us and Israel and Russia has made no bones about backing Syria.

Now as I am updating this it would seem that Russia may have worked out something with the Syrians, only time will tell.

So as we see all these things happening I have just a word or two of advice for all my religious friends; Stop going after each other over doctrinal issues and the nuances of wording and start praying for each other and with each other. We are on the brink of world wide destruction we need prayers not lectures on who's doctrines are more Biblically sound. I disagree with you on many issues yet I would rather focus on what we agree on and pray for each other,especially now, then fight and argue.

My friends in Israel, you already know that these things will happen, you are more familiar with it than the rest of us are, I am sorry for what I think is going to come but I take comfort in the knowledge that G-D has you in the palm of His hand. No matter what happens the children of Judah will survive. It has been predicted it will happen.

For the rest of you who have no beliefs or your more into politics then religion all I can say to you is that no matter the party, you can't trust them. If you put your faith in them and ignore the clear biblical warnings, even if it doesn't happen today,please understand the bombs will fall, and you will have no where to turn because you put your trust in the wrong place.

In ending I just want to tell you all that I love you and I pray for the best for all of us. I know some do not believe that we can ever fall. I don't think the Romans believed it either until it was to late. As long as we keep bombing people we can, and likely will, get hit back.

But let me leave you with some comfort, this is a passage that gives me hope for the future of the world even though I know there are dark days yet to come.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills;And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say,“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.”For out of Zion the law shall go forth,And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples,And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God. Hosea 4:1-5 NKJV

What would you ask of G-d?

I read an article recently, written by a Rabbi, that asked the question; What would you wish for yourself over the course of the next year until next Rosh HaShanna? I found it to be a very interesting question because I can name all sorts of things that I would wish for my friends and my family but I don't do so well for myself. I am so bad at stuff like that, actually my wife is too, that we have to buy things for each other even when they are actually needed. So for me to think about what I would wish for and actually have the honesty and courage to ask G-d for is quite an unnerving thought. Because these are the days of awe, when G-d decides the fate of everyone on the planet, culminating on Yom Kippur,I don't really believe that it's meant to be taken lightly. So what would I ask for?

First I would ask for the added desire to live a more Jewish life. I am not Jewish, at least nothing I can prove, but still the pull is there. I desire to live my life more in harmony with the ways of HaShem and the Jewish people and more quickly identify myself with their beliefs. I understand that there are already laws in place for Gentiles but my hearts desire is to be more. That would be my ultimate request.

Then I would ask G-d to help me be a better husband to my wife and a better father to all my children. That is something I have failed at more often then not. Truly I want nothing more than a happy simple life for my family.

Last, I think I would ask G-d for a small home in the country with a plot of land to have a garden and where we could watch nature. I don't want anything fancy, just a place where my family and I could stay for awhile, and my wife and I could grow old together, in our own little Hobbit home.

That’s it nothing fancy. I don't desire great wealth or a mansion, not even better health ,because I know that this life soon passes, and none of it comes with me.

So with that thought in mind,I wish for all of you a happy new year and a blessed year as well.

Shalom.

Mayberry Redneck Style

I have never been a big fan of reality shows. Most of the ones that I have seen have been little more then silly made up drama caused by situations that most people, in their right minds anyhow, wouldn't be in in the first place. There have been a couple of exceptions of a paranormal nature but for the most part I have ignored most of them until now because they are about as realistic as soap operas used to be. Then came Duck Dynasty. I have admittedly come into this particular show late. After getting cable TV installed, for the first time in years, this summer, I became curious enough to watch an episode and then another and another. By the time A&E had aired the 4^th season opener last week I think my family and I had come close to seeing every episode that was available and all of us, from my wife and I to my teenage children, love it. Apparently we are not alone. It has been said that somewhere close to 12 million viewers watched the 4^th season opener making it the all time highest opener for a reality show.

The most obvious question is why. What has made this show so popular that so many people would watch it?

Several thought come to mind, the first being is that it's Mayberry, redneck style. They represent a way of life that most believe has gone by the way side and yet many wish would return. They are exactly what you see on the screen. They are not reading from a script and they are not pretending to be anything else other than what they are and that kind of reality appeals to people. They are a God fearing, Christian family that makes no apologies for who they are and what they believe and they pray. They are genuinely loving and they are funny to boot.

It could be that in this day and age of violence and corruption along with the overall attempts to destroy family values and morals that perhaps, in their hearts anyhow, people are looking for something that truly reflects them and their beliefs. I'm not talking about the beards and the guns, though both appeal to me, I am talking about the core values of family and God. The last 50 years or so we have seen a decline in both because we have let the Hollywood elite and the government dictate to us how and where we are to do both. Can't have prayer in school. Have to keep God out of the public sector and what have we got in return? Sex, drugs and violence on an unparallelled level. Core family values gone by the way side. I think maybe, just maybe, if the stats are true as to how many watched the show, folks are starting to wake up and realize that things can be that way again.

I guess for me though it comes down to their love of God and each other that really appeals. They can disagree with each other, usually in a humorous sort of way, but in the end they are family and you can see it as they all eat and pray together. Even from a distance and time removed I say Amen when they are done praying.

Here is a short passage that I think sums my thoughts up well.

Come let us turn back to the Lord:He attacked and He can heal us;He wounded and He can bind us up. In two days He will make us whole again;On the third day He will raise us up, And we shall be whole by His favor. Let us pursue obedience to the Lord, And we shall become obedient. His appearance is as sure as daybreak, And He will come to us like rain, Like latter rain that refreshes the earth. Hosea 6:1-3 JPS

Peace and Ducks

Predetermined Answers To Prayer

I am going to take a guess and say that the vast majority of you who read this blog are people who pray. Some do not , at least not with conscious knowledge that they are doing so, but I would say when things are difficult we all find our own way to talk to God and to petition Him for whatever it is we are seeking. But what is it that you are really asking from God?

Somebody dear to me just recently died after having suffered for many years from various ailments and diseases. For many years my prayers, and this sounds horrible, was for her suffering to end and to let her die peacefully in her sleep. This person hated being a burden to others but at the same time was a blessing to not only those who helped her out but she was a blessing to many people just by her unerring faith in God. Now what if my petition to God had been answered long before she actually died? A whole lot of people might have missed out on a great blessing.

I think that some of the problem is that when we pray, and petition God, we tend to take “thy will be done” to actually mean “ my will be done.” Makes me wonder how many times a prayer has been answered but those making the prayer didn't realize it because it wasn't the predetermined results that they were looking for.

In the book of Jeremiah you also have a story of a group of Jews, survivors of the Babylonian invasion, coming to Jeremiah and asking him to petition God on their behalf as to what they should do. Jeremiah 41-42.They gave their petition to Jeremiah and stated what ever God tells us to do we will do it. Jeremiah could only take them at their word and went and prayed on their behalf. The problem was, that they already had a predetermined outcome, meaning that they had already decided what they were going to do regardless of what the prophet told them. Their plan was to get as far away as they could and go to Egypt so that they could avoid war and pestilence and continue in their practices that caused them all the problems in the first place. What they should have realized is that they were greatly blessed already by God because they had been allowed to survive when many had been destroyed and they still had the opportunity to prosper. God had influenced king and he had ordered his men to let the people, particularly the poor, to stay in the land to prosper. God answered them 10 days later.

The Lord has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it.’And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which He has sent you by me. Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to dwell.” Jeremiah 42: 19-22

After they heard this from Jeremiah they became angry with him ( see chapter 43 ) and decided that he was lying to them and they headed off to Egypt. In the end ,because they continued in their evil ways, they were destroyed with Egypt and missed out on the blessings of starting over in their own God given land.

So I guess, at least for me, the moral of the story is that you can't ever assume that you know what the will of God is. Certainly you can make your petitions to God and well you should, but you can't assume that the answer that you are seeking, how ever good it might seem to you, is what the will of God is or even where the greatest blessings are to be found. Keep your eyes open because the opposite of your desire may actually be where the greatest blessing is to be found.

Shalom.

Things About Race I Learned From My Mother

There are a few things that I learned from my mother that I hadn't really considered until just recently and I would like to share one of them with you. It's not what she said so much as her example. She didn't hate people. It didn't seem to matter to her what a person looked like or their skin color or their nationality. She admittedly had some issues with gay marriage but she still had gay friends and family members whom she cared for deeply. The bottom line though was she never paid any attention to the outside of a person, she instead looked at the heart.

She some how managed to pass that on to me.

After the Zimmerman verdict,as many of the various talking heads were crying racism, I started writing a post on some of my own experiences as I grew up, but the further I went in writing the more I realized just how lucky I have been ,and it is thanks, in part, to my mother.

You see she never taught me to hate people or to put any kind label on them. I was a sophomore in high school before I even began to understand that there were any issues or labels to be had. I remember one man , in the town I grew up in, calling me a “spic” but it meant nothing to me because I hadn't been taught it at home it so it carried no meaning.

So, as I was writing and recalling the experiences and the friendships I have had, I came to realize just how blessed I have been and still am. Just looking at my FB page I came to realize that I have friends from just about every race that I know of. Black, White, Spanish, Asian, Native American. I have friends and family who are straight, gay, and lesbian. I have friends that are Christian, Jews, Wiccans and atheists. All points of view are represented and I have had the privilege to break bread with most of you at one time or another and even argue the points that we might not agree on.

The point is is that I was never taught prejudice and hate and so it is a foreign concept to me.

It's not a lack of experiencing it, I have, and it comes from all sides, I just simply don't understand it. Why hate an entire race of people because there are a few idiots who cause problems? Why even focus on those few when there are so many others doing good things?

Do you want to stop racism? Here are two suggestions first; Stop talking about it. Stop letting the media determine ,and I mean all forms of the media, determine what is racism in this country and what isn't because to them everything is about race. Second, and this is more important than the first, educate your children, teach them not to hate based on skin color ,religion, handicap,sexual orientation or whatever other category that you can come up with. Teach them morals and that life has value and that all persons, no matter who they are, have the same rights as you do.

If we did those two things it wouldn't take long before our country and likely the world would change.

Thanks Mom.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

It Is Well With My Soul

This past weekend I had a bit of a revelation. Nothing of great import to the masses but one that is important and even very surprising for me.

As some of you reading this may know my family and I moved. We went from quite literally the boonies, three and a half miles out on a dirt road, to quite literally knee deep into a residential neighborhood. This has been the first time in many years that we have lived somewhere that we are surrounded by houses and we can hear the sounds of children playing and see our neighbors as they go about their business. To say that we were very anxious about this before hand would be an understatement. To go from country living to town living has been somewhat of a culture shock but as it has turned out it has also been a good thing.

This past Saturday morning I was singing a song to myself that I hadn't heard in quite awhile, in fact I woke up hearing it and was humming it while making coffee but it wasn't until I sat down outside to listen to the birds and the wind in the trees that I realized what song it was. Once I realized what the song was I also came to realize just how appropriate the song was for me because it was describing just how I was feeling. That song was “It Is Well” Written by Horatio Spafford.

For those of you not familiar with who he was or the song, Horatio Spafford was a wealthy lawyer in Chicago during the latter part of the 19^th century who lost a lot of money after the great Chicago fire of 1871 and the economic down turn of 1873. During that year as well his wife and four daughters left for Europe upon a ship that hit another ship and quickly sank. While his wife survived all four of his daughters were killed. It has been said that he wrote this song on the way to Europe to meet up with his wife and that he wrote it over the very spot that his daughters had died. Horatio Spafford wrote many songs but “It Is Well” is probably the best known of them all.

I have to say that my life hasn't been quite like that. I have never had any great wealth to loose nor have I lost four daughters. I think it's more the idea that storms come and things that we may take for granted can be quickly removed from us with no warning. I remember last winter thinking to myself just how quickly things can change and while I was thankful to God for what I had at the moment, living in the mountains and woods, it could all be taken away in an instant, and then the real moment of truth of your soul and relationship to God really comes to light. Adversity can tell you much.

So ,as I said earlier, I woke up with this song going through my head and I realized the truth to it, it is indeed well with my soul. Despite everything that we have had to deal with, despite having to leave our beloved mountains and boonies, despite some personal setbacks, all is well with my soul.

Apparently I am not alone.

I was telling my wife what was going on and she smiled at me and said that she was experiencing the same thing. She said that she hadn't realized just how much stress we had been living under, where we had been, until we came here and it was gone. What has made the difference? I don't really know. It could be that I am from this general area, though my wife never lived here, or it could simply be that we belong on the coast, or maybe we have finally arrived to a place where God wants us to be, I don't really know, I just know that we have peace and all is well in our souls.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to sayIt is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Blessing And Rest In The Wilderness

I am in the wilderness. Both literally and spiritually. The literal part will be remedied soon as we head off to a new adventure, in a more civilized location than where I have been for a few years now. It's kind of scary, after being in the boonies, to be heading towards a place that actually has more people than deer but we will adjust.

Spiritually speaking though, is another matter. Most people would suggest many things to me, indeed many have, that this is because of my leaving Christianity and that I have become godless. That’s not the case, as this blog post should show, I have more trust and understanding of God than I have ever had in my life so I don't hardly think the argument holds. Instead I would propose another reason for it. Have you ever considered that there might be a blessing to be had in the wilderness? Or that God sends us to the desert to rest for a while?

God took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and out of physical bondage and brought them to the desert, the wilderness. Later on, He met with them at Mt. Sinai, in the wilderness and gives them His commandments and He established His covenant with them. Their time in the desert was actually quite short when they were heading to the promised land the first time. The next time it took them 40 years but still it turned out to be a blessing.

Go look at the 23^rd chapter of Numbers. This is where king Balak is so afraid of the Israelites that he calls on Balaam, the prophet, to curse them, hoping that with a curse he could destroy them. It didn't work. First off God would not allow for Balaam to curse them. Instead, he wound up blessing them. These are a people who have just recently been informed that they are going to be wandering for 40 years until all of them over the age of 20 die. They are despondent and depressed, yet when someone else tries to hit them with a curse they are given a blessing instead.

Forty years go by and all but the two spies who wanted to go into Canaan are dead. The generation that has arisen has had to depend on God for everything during the 40 years of wandering. Their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet swell and He fed them and gave them water, this was a group of people who had wandered in the wilderness and came out all the stronger for it with a complete dependence and confidence in God. When the time came and the order went out to go into the promised land they didn't hesitate and thus the land of Canaan became the land of Israel. More blessings.

Then there is Elijah. This was a man who was quite familiar with living in the wilderness. Elijah tells Ahab the king that there wasn't going to be any rain or dew without his say so (see I kings 17:1-6) and God tells him then to go live out in the wilderness where he would be fed by the ravens and drink water from a wadi. Now it doesn't say how long he was there but the drought itself was three years long and he stayed until the wadi dried up and God sent him elsewhere. My guess is that during that time he was resting, God told him where to go but didn't tell him to do anything so I can only assume that he rested. Later on, after destroying the priests of Baal, he is quite literally running for his life and heads out into the desert (see chapter 19) and he winds up resting and being fed by and angel until he had strength to move on. He then spend 40 more days in the desert before God told him what he needed to do.

Most of the time when we think of spiritual deserts we think of negative things, like a lack of faith or belief and some times it may be that, but I truly believe, based on my own experience and what I have just shared with you that sometimes that’s where you can receive the most blessing and rest.

So, if you are in the wilderness yourself just remember that the ravens are going to feed you, God will provide Manna and water, you will find rest and the promised land is just up ahead.

Ecclesiastes And My Tin Foil Hat

You know I really like a good conspiracy theory. I just love it when someone comes up with ideas and concepts the defy conventional wisdom or fly in the face of what is commonly considered. There is very little that I won't read or give a good listen to if it makes some sort of sense. I would dare say my tinfoil hat is as large as it gets. Having said that I have to say that at some point people need to get a grip on reality.

I go to a lot of different websites that feature all sorts of alternate news, the kind of stuff that you don't usually hear in mainstream, and I have noticed an interesting pattern; Once something doesn't happen they tend to ignore it and move on to the next disaster scenario that they can think of. The whole Mayan calendar date is a fine example of that.

Over the last few years ,leading up to the winter solstice of 2012 , I swear there were new doom and gloom scenarios posted on line every other day. I know that between the Mayans and the idea of a mysterious planet “X” that was supposed to come and screw us all up many different groups and individuals wrote countless books and articles of how to prepare for the end of the world. Yet now that nothing has happened there is a whole lot of silence from those same people.

Today we have everything from the new Pope being the antichrist, to the DHS wanting to start a war with the American people,as well as more ideas and thoughts of how the world is going to end through various prophecies or from alien influence. I am not saying that some of this isn't true, there isn't any real way to know until something happens, but because of the spin that is usually put on things, by both sides of whatever theory, I have found almost everything hard to believe anymore.

So here is my solution and feel free to make it yours.

Life is too short to waste on worrying about absolutely everything so I'm not going to. If the Pope or President Obama is the anti-Christ or DHS starts a war with the rest of us, there isn't anything I can do to stop it. Yes, I can pay attention to what is going on ,and I do believe me, but I can't make it so much of my focus that I stop enjoying the life that God has given me. Which is something that I have done and I know others who still do. Here is a couple of verses from Ecclesiastes that I like to read just to remind me and to make the point.

I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. Eccl. 3: 10-13

Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. Eccl. 5:18-20

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Eccl. 9:9

I could be wrong here but it seems that God , through the writing of Solomon and his life experience, that we are to enjoy this life that God has given to us and not only should we enjoy it we should remember that this life is a gift from God. No where does it say that we should spend out time in worrying about the things we can't change nor should we spend our time racing after worthless things, rather, instead, we should eat , drink, and enjoy the spouse that we have and celebrate the life that God has given us.

So I guess this is my simple solution. I can't change much of anything that is happening or is going to happen so therefore I am going to rejoice, rather than worry, in this life God has given. That is not to say that there won't be moments of banging my head against a wall, but I am refusing to let disaster and doom be my focus. No, I won't be putting my tinfoil hat away any time soon, but I think I'll spend more time on the things that are more important; have aliens actually landed in DC ?

Shalom.

Real Social Justice

There has been a lot of talk, for quite a while now, on sequestration. Who is going to loose what, what programs are going to get cut and just how badly our countries economy is going to take a hit from it. Depending on who you ask, everyone from junior enlisted military personnel, who won't see any raises, to veterans and other disabled persons, having services cut back, are going to feel the pinch. The elderly and poor are going to loose a percentage of their income and hundreds of thousands of employees of government contractors could suddenly find themselves with out work or with seriously reduced pay. Add to that the number of major companies that are seriously considering closing hundreds of stores, because of increased regulations and being forced into major health care increases and you have the potential of thousands more being unemployed. Combined with an economy that is already in serious trouble and is on the brink of collapse you have the potential of a tsunami style disaster. This post is not to blame any one particular party or person. In fact it has little to do with politics at all.

The other day, after my mothers funeral, I stopped in to visit some old friends that still lived in the neighborhood that I grew up in. In the course of catching up one of them commented that they don't know anyone in the neighborhood any more. I was really surprised. When I was a kid growing up we knew everyone on the street. Even today I can name just about everyone who once lived there and, in some cases anyhow, either those who took their place or their grandchildren. We knew everyone. You could guarantee that if you got in some sort of trouble by the time you got home it was already known there, at the same time if someone was hurt or seriously ill everyone knew that as well and once that was known people would go out of their way to help each other out. I remember many times when my grandmother or other folks at church would get food and clothes together to help out others who were suffering in some way. If they had a fire or some other disaster furniture would appear and people would open up their homes until things were fixed and settled. I remember my grandparents basement walls collapsed while we were living with them, the house had old stone foundation and I remember men from the church coming with their equipment jacking the house up and fixing the foundation. There was no talk of who deserved what, or cost, it simply needed to be done and it was. If a farmer was sick and couldn't harvest his crops others pitched in to help. There was no talk of government help, at least none that I ever heard, people and churches simply took care of each other.

It was, however, at about this time that welfare programs started to kick in. We were poor, my mother, a single mom of two boys, qualified for welfare and so we lived on the welfare system, at least until my brother and I were able to get out on our own. I didn't understand much about that at the time this was simply the way things were.

I tell you this so you will understand that I am quite sympathetic to the working poor and the middle class. I understand being disabled and barely being able to keep your head above water but I think we have brought this disaster upon ourselves.

As our society has become more advanced, technologically speaking, we have become more distant from each other. We have our made up social networks and worlds but we rarely actually interact with each other. When I was a kid all of us played out doors. Our families all knew each other because we were either friendly or fighting but we knew who our neighbors were. Today most young people know how to use an smart phone or an iPad but they don't know how to communicate with each other on a personal level.

At one time, if people needed help, there were church groups who could be asked, but many churches have shut their doors and in other cases regulations, that didn't use to exist, keep them from helping those that are in need and so, because there are government programs out there, people turned to the government for help rather then their neighbors.

We ,as a people, could have stopped all the government red tape. We could have said no to them taking over our God given responsibility to each other but we didn't and as we have become more advanced in some ways, we have failed each other and now may be forced to go back to those principals that we should never have abandoned.

God Himself laid out various laws that, if we followed them, would give us the kind of “social justice” that many would like to see, and it would be virtually painless to our society as a whole and would improve things for the poor with out government intervention.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.” Lev. 23:22

“But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.” Ex. 23:11

Just imagine those two laws by themselves being used, you would end hunger in no time. One of the promises God gave was that if they let the land rest and took care of the poor they would still be eating the fat of the land even as they were planting for the next harvest. In other words, they would never lack for food.

“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest.” Ex. 22:25

If that was followed you could likely end homelessness because people could actually afford to get a mortgage. As most of you know it is usually the taxes and the APR that really hurt peoples chances of finding decent housing. Imagine a banking system that didn't charge interest. You could change everything over night.

“You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.”

Lev. 19: 14-16

Our justice system has become such a farce that only the well connected seem to have any chance of winning. A fine example is Monsanto, one of the biggest corporations in the farming world, going after small farmers, who may have inadvertently picked up some of their patented seeds through wind or cross pollination. Every time it goes to court the individual farmer looses because they simply don't have the money to fight the suits. This is not justice. This is Goliath beating up on David. Just imagine though if we used the biblical principals then we could all have our day in court.

The list of laws could go on, these are but just a few of them. The point is that if we had been following these principals instead of letting the government do what we were commanded to do we wouldn't be in the mess we are in. In Israel and Judaism, as a whole, these aren't just suggestions, these are commandments. Some have said that because of these laws Israel is technically a socialist country. If it is its only because the people as a whole follow these principals and laws and from what I understand, they have a high quality of life because of it.

I am not suggesting that we should have government run socialism. I am suggesting though that we as a people can make all the difference if we were to follow those laws laid out in the Bible when it comes to helping the poor and having a fair system of justice. We could virtually end all government programs because we, as a people, wouldn't allow for others to suffer while we could help them.

I believe however that most people will think that this is impossible either because they believe the Bible is a foolish thing , not to be taken seriously, or they actually believe that the government is the only answer. Others do believe in the Bible but they ignore the laws of the OT and have come to believe that only rugged individualism is the way, so the idea of caring for each other disappears.

My simple minded solution is this: We need to take care of each other. Government safety nets are good, but they shouldn't be our only source of help and we as a society need to embrace the biblical principals that I have mentioned then we would have real social justice.

Soon and Very Soon

Soon and very soon....

This past weekend my brother and I, along with other family members and old friends, celebrated the life of our mother and mourned her spark of light and life leaving this world just a bit darker because of her passing.

Life was hard for her. For the past 30 years or so she had battled with various diseases and conditions that eventually led to her liver giving out and her death. I admittedly was a royal pain in her backside from the time I was old enough to cause trouble until the day I left home. Our parting, at that time, was not good but we reconciled our differences and in the end she was my friend.

During her memorial service I learned things about her ,from old school friends and church members,that I hadn't known. It was like hearing about a woman that I never really knew anything about. I found out who she kissed and that she was an excellent student in school. I had completely forgot about her love for poetry and my brother told about the times she would read stories to us before bed just before she would head off to work at night. My own memories had more to do with music. I remember her love of Elvis and the Statler brothers, the Gaithers, Johnny Horton and the Gatlins. I learned to love blue grass and gospel, barbershop and Celtic and eventually sang in a barbershop quartet all because of her taste in music appealed to me so much.

She loved cats and birds. She had multitudes of wolf pictures. She used to write to prisoners, before her writing became to bad and she spread the gospel to anyone who would give her a minute of their time. She didn't just talk the talk, she walked it. Where ever she went, when she was feeling well, she would try to spread some joy and happiness and help others in whatever way that she could and though life was hard for her she did what she could to spread some light.

I am glad that my mother and I reconciled our differences a long time ago. I am so glad that my last memory of her will always be the smile she gave me and the way her eyes lit up when she knew that I was there and her hug. Until we meet again I get to have that memory.

These last few weeks, in many ways, was very healing to my soul. I got to see my mother at the end and get re acquainted with some old friends and family. My brother and I spent a lot of time together just talking and being brothers. It almost seems that my soul finally gave itself permission to heal the old hurts and wounds and bring peace to my heart.

If only all of us could learn this without having to go through the pain of losing someone. Why is it that we feel justified in holding a grudge? We are only hurting ourselves. Why do we waste so much time arguing over politics and religion when neither one is going to stop our end from coming? Wouldn't it make more sense if we allowed ourselves to be wronged and yet be filled with love then having to be right and filled with hate?

I am lucky, several times in my life, I have had the opportunity to reconcile with others, including my mother, and I took it. I have never regretted it. Do it yourself while there is still time because you simply don't know what kind of time is left.

In the Bible, when talking about the death of people, they use a couple of terms that I like real well, one is they were gathered to their ancestors old and full of years or that they were gathered to the bosom of Abraham. That is how I want to think about her, resting in the bosom of Abraham or in the arms of God.

“Soon And Very Soon”

Soon and very soon
I'll be going To the place
He has prepared for me
There my sin erased
My shame forgotten
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon
Brooke Frasier

Isaiah 56 and Sabbath

If you were to hear the word “Sabbath” what thoughts come to your mind?

In the Christian world there is some debate over the idea of the Sabbath, most main stream denominations do not follow the biblical sabbath of Saturday, as do the Jews and some Christian denominations such as the Seventh Day Adventist, because it is said by many that the “laws and ordinances were done away with at the cross” and so therefore the requirements of the law no longer apply. This, I believe, is wrong for several reasons, not just because I am not a Christian and wouldn't believe that in the first place but because its wrong for another more important reason, by not honoring the Sabbath, whether you believe it to be on Saturday or Sunday, you are missing out on a great excuse to stop and rest from the insanity of this world.

The word Sabbath simply means “to rest.” It means that we are to stop doing all the crazy things that we do all week and slow down. It means that this is a day that we should stop and worship God and focus on Him and the world that He has created and the blessing He has given us.

I have been a pastor. I have seen just how hectic “Sabbath” can be no matter what day you keep it and I have to wonder is that really what G-d meant for us when the Sabbath was instituted? I don't think so. Probably the sad part, for pastors anyhow, is that they can miss the sabbath rest because they are so busy they have to take another day off just to get the rest they should have had on the Sabbath.

I also tend to believe that by not keeping the Sabbath we are depriving ourselves from a great blessing.

I know that in Jewish communities that the Sabbath is a time of family and worship and that they literally stop doing anything that might resemble work of any kind, they even make sure that their food is cooked ahead of time so that during the Sabbath all they have to do is serve the food and eat. For them its a blessing and a day of rest.

For us we start with Kiddish(sp?) that's the traditional blessing of the bread and wine that the Jews do to welcome in the Sabbath on Friday night, we light candles and let them burn and we remember the blessings that G-d has given us during the past week. Saturday mornings my wife likes to make a special breakfast for us that is usually large and quite filling. We don't usually rush the process though and many times it will be close to noon before we even eat. After that we may go hike in the woods either outback or somewhere else and just make a relaxing day out of it. We try to leave everything else behind. Its usually the most peaceful day of the week.

I have a friend who is a Baptist minister who believes in the spirit of Sabbath. He doesn't believe that the day is important ,especially for Gentiles, but rather we keep the spirit of the law. In his case as soon as he is finished at the church he and his family go home and they literally do nothing but relax. They eat and play outside but nothing resembling any work is done, they literally rest.

G-d Himself promises us a blessing if we honor the Sabbath and yes that means us Gentiles. Isaiah 56 starting with verse 2-3, 6-8 “Happy is the man who does this,The man who holds fast to it: Who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and stays his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner say,Who has attached himself to the Lord,The lord will keep me apart from His people;...” “As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him,And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—all who keeps the Sabbath, and do not profane it,And holds fast to My covenant—I will bring them to My sacred mountain,And let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be welcome on My altar;For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”Thus declares the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel.

I don't know about you, but for me it fills me with great happiness and brings me comfort to know that my prayers and my sacrifices will be welcomed by G-d because I choose to keep and honor His sabbath and his commandments.

So given my choice between believing that it all been abolished, which I suppose for me is a moot point, or keeping His commandments,especially the Sabbath, I am going to go with keeping them.

Shalom

You Are Unique

Have you ever played the game I like to call “what if ?” You know the game where you wonder about how things might be different if you had chosen to do something different than you did? One of the episodes of “Dr. Who” has Donna, Dr. Who's companion, making a a right turn when she had originally made a left and not only did that effect her life but it effected the whole course of human events from that point on. The episode not only shows how one individual choice makes a difference, but how much one individual can truly effect the course of events and just how unique we all are.

I look back at my own family history and it amazes me just how many things had to come together for my children to even be here today.

My grandparents meeting was pure chance. My grandfather had had a boxing match the night before and was walking to work when he stopped at a farm house for a glass of water, the person who answered the door was my grandmother. What if my great grandmother had answered the door instead? What if he had gone to a different house?

My mother was in love with a man from her hometown, so much so that she wanted to run off with him, but my grandmother interfered, so instead my mother went to Boston where she met my father. What would have happened if she had run off with the other man? My father was here in the United States because Castro had taken over in Cuba, he too had someone in Cuba that he had loved, yet he had no real choice he had to leave. What would have happened if he had stayed in Cuba because Castro hadn't taken over? Luckily for me things turned out the way that they did and so here I am.

What about my own children and wife? When I was 19 I joined the Marine Corp. While I was at the hotel ,that they put us up in, a very pretty young lady spent a good chunk of the night trying to convince me to join her and many of the others in going to the Air Force. I didn't have to go to the Marines at that point because we hadn't been sworn in yet and we hadn't signed any papers so I could have switched. I didn't , but if I had, I would not have ever met my ex and as a result my oldest would not have been born. If I had re enlisted at that time I wouldn't have come home, after my divorce, and would not have run across an old roommate of mine who consequently introduced me to my wife and as a result, years later, the birth of my other two children.

Just using my own family history, what little I know of it, shows me just how unique all of us are. Thousands of years in the making and here we are; there is no one else in the world just like you.

I believe that the spirit in us belongs to God and is from God (how you view God is up to you) so I believe that even if things had been different we would have been born anyhow because really it's not the DNA that counts nor our ethnicity its the spirit of life that God gives that matters.

So next time someone is trying to put you down and tear you apart just remember how unique you are and that you are who you are because of the spirit in you. Whether you turn left or right will make all the difference in the world.