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