Another Broken Egg Cafe

It’s mid-morning in an up-scale and growing part of Georgia north of its big city, Atlanta. I came down here to pick up new glasses, ordered after an exam several weeks ago, but adjustments are necessary and the lab technician won’t be in until later. Rather than make another trip, I figured I’d hang out. I like breakfast. And I like hanging out in coffee shops. There are few places that I frequent, though, so I’m always up for a new experience, if the price isn’t outrageous, which is getting to be the norm these days, and if it looks like I can get an omelet that is without meat but more than cheese, I up for it. Too many places serve a veggie omelet that is just pepper, tomato, and onions. So here I am at Another Broken Egg Cafe.

I sit down at a table with a view of the coffee station, which is okay. There are lots of windows that look out into the parking lot that surrounds the small shopping plaza in which this cafe is located, just down from the optometrist’s office. WiFi is available, so I set my MacBook Air next to my Bible. The Bible is the one that I keep on the dash of the truck that is in a nylon cover proclaiming “This Book is Illegal in 53 Countries.” I ordered unsweetened ice tea. I stopped drinking coffee several months ago, and don’t really miss it, which is a bit odd. While sweet tea is a southern specialty, unsweetened with lemon suites me just fine. I ordered the veggie omelet: spinach, tomatoes, portabella mushrooms, and goat cheese, served with seasoned potatoes and an English muffin. All this at an acceptable price. The service is great here, the folks friendly. On the walls that aren’t windows, there are various framed posters that copies of floral paintings. There are a few framed posters with spoon collections displayed, and one that has a fork and a spoon enclosed in a deep frame that must be four-feet tall. I suppose the decor is Chic Country. There are a number of tables that have couples with older kids. School hasn’t begun here, as it has where I live. Several business-types are here, too, one with others that could be clients or perhaps just friends. At least four tables are crowded with women. They could be on their way to work, or just having a meal out after dropping kids at a pre-school or day camp. For the stay-at-home moms, next week will be the beginning of their real summer break.

The omelet is served quickly. It is good. The seasoning is subtle, lacking the zest of other places. But it’s good. The potatoes are mildly seasoned, and though they are okay, they are really just frozen potatoes heated. The eggs did taste real, though. I was totally disgusted at an IHOP one day when I learned that the omelet is made with batter from a carton, not actually made from eggs broken and stirred. I only learned this when I asked the waitress if I received the wrong eggs–my wife had ordered the fake eggs with her omelet. We’d eaten at IHOP several times, and this was the first time the omelet was so bad. It may have been a new change, or just the way it was cooked. It was not good.

That reminds me of this ma and pa diner outside Oklahoma City. It wasn’t a fancy diner, but served good eggs and great homemade hash browns. The woman behind the counter of the small place was the owner. I suppose it was her husband back in the kitchen. We got to talking and she told me that one time she hired a cook to help out. It didn’t work out, though. The guy came from the fast-food school of cooking and hadn’t a clue how to cook a real egg. It makes me wonder about ordering eggs over easy at a chain restaurant. Do they come frozen, too?

It feels like I fit in here in Another Broken Egg Cafe. I’m wearing western-style boots and a long-sleeve, plaid shirt. It’s not that there are others dressed this way. It’s the diversity of patrons. Some are plainly dressed. Women in shorts, and some guys in a beach-style attire. There’s two men in suits. One guy has a camo hat on, and looks like he drove up in his hunting truck. Only a glance in the parking lots says that others clearly drove an audi or BMW or something more fancy. A person’s car is no indication of wealth, however. The guy in the truck probably owns it, while many folks with fancy cars just rent them. Oh, yeah, it called “leasing.” While one couple with a baby sits by the widow, eating with strained faces and not really talking, all the rest look happy, smiling and talking with their breakfast friends. Ordinary people on an ordinary day, in more-than-ordinary restaurant in northern Georgia.

And not one person has read the cover to my Bible, or given any indication of having done so. And not one person has asked me about it. It’s time to go.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Love one another

How about loving those who torment and persecute you, too. Is it an easy task? Maybe it helps to consider what the Apostle Paul wrote, and how Matthew Henry interprets it.

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

Philippians 1:28

“He exhorts them to courage and constancy in suffering: And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, Php_1:28. The professors of the gospel have all along met with adversaries, especially at the first planting of Christianity. Our great care must be to keep close to our profession, and be constant to it: whatever oppositions we meet with, we must not be frightened at them, considering that the condition of the persecuted is much better and more desirable than the condition of the persecutors; for persecuting is an evident token of perdition. Those who oppose the gospel of Christ, and injure the professors of it, are marked out for ruin. But being persecuted is a token of salvation. Not that it is a certain mark; many hypocrites have suffered for their religion; but it is a good sign that we are in good earnest in religion, and designed for salvation, when we are enabled in a right manner to suffer for the cause of Christ. – For to you it is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe, but also to suffer for his name, Php_1:29. Here are two precious gifts given, and both on the behalf of Christ: – 1. To believe in him. Faith is God’s gift on the behalf of Christ, who purchased for us not only the blessedness which is the object of faith, but the grace of faith itself: the ability or disposition to believe is from God. 2. To suffer for the sake of Christ is a valuable gift too: it is a great honour and a great advantage; for we may be very serviceable to the glory of God, which is the end of our creation, and encourage and confirm the faith of others. And there is a great reward attending it too: Blessed are you when men shall persecute you, for great is your reward in heaven, Mat_5:11, Mat_5:12. And, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him, 2Ti_2:12.” Matthew Henry.

We are to know two things, if nothing else: first, though we suffer trials at the hands of others, are persecuted beyond what we feel is fair or deserved, those who contribute the our suffering are worse off for it that we, for they are marked for ruin; second, our suffering, when enabled to suffer for the cause of Messiah, marks us for salvation in Messiah. We are blessed; they are damned.

English: oasis (Algeria) — Oasis in Algeria (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As we look our tormenter in the face, can we imagine him or her in hell seeing us in Heaven? Probably not. But imagine it this way. Imagine a small park in the middle of the desert, an oasis. We sit upon green grass beneath tall trees. A breeze blows cool air over us. We sing songs, dance, and talk with Y’shuaJesus, who is always present on our oasis with us. Outside the edge of the green is brown sand. It is dry, hot, horrid. An unrelenting burns the skin of those marked for ruin, for damnation. Through baked eyes they look into the oasis they can never enter. Through parched lips they call for help. We don’t see them anymore, but for all eternity they see those they’ve mistreated, tortured, persecuted.

When we are maligned for the cause of Christ, we do best to turn our anger upon the one is causing the torment–the devil and his rebellious minion. Our struggle is not, as Paul has said, against flesh and blood, but against the rulers in the dark realm. . .

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Woodpecker, Two Cats, and Two Dogs

This weekend, while sitting in the back yard, I saw a woodpecker hunting for food along the trunk of a pine tree. His red head, a sharp contrast to his black body, moved back and forth wildly as he plunges his beak over and over into the bark of the pine. Then he’d move to another spot and repeat the process. His hunt for food went on and on until perhaps he noticed the bird feeder hanging near the tree. He hopped over to it, and began pecking for his food in the holes along the tube-shaped feeder.

While his pecking action served him well in the pine, and probably fed him seed at the feeder, it also caused seed to fly all over as he forced his beak into the soft seed. If other birds had witnessed this, and could think it, they’d have thought, “how vulgar is that fellow.”

Now the cats. We have two of them. The first, Tabby, was about six weeks old when we took her in. She’d been abandoned. We also took in a puppy, Brandy, at the same time. These two were raised together. Tabby is part Maine coon, and makes quite a scene when we take her into the veterinarian’s office. People love her, but always point out how big she is. She’s huge. . . for a cat. Tabby also has an interesting habit of expressing herself in what is nearly a bark, or as close as she can come. She’s been around Brandy nearly eight years now, and perhaps considers herself more dog than cat.

Two years ago, we took in a German shepherd/husky mix, Sina. While she “talks” as though she were giving a warbled whine, she also will occasionally bark. This is the nature of the husky that is within her.

The three of them are funny when the doorbell rings. The two dogs head for the door, while Tabby makes a straight run for the downstairs family room. She’s decided she’s big, but no match for however is at the door.

A month or so ago, we took in another given-up cat. Violet is about two years old and her previous caretaker couldn’t care for her any longer. Violet is small, and walks around the house carefully. She also has a very cat-like meow. She doesn’t bark like Tabby.

The woodpecker and Violet both act according to their true natures. A woodpecker is meant to peak at trees. Taken out of its environment, to the feeder, it continues to peak as if it were in a tree. Its his nature. Violet, too, speaks with a voice of a cat. “Meow,” she cries. Tabby is different. She was so young, and not long around other cats, that she’s adopted the strange habit of speaking in an bark. Now Sina is really interesting. The longer she’s been around Brandy, the more often she will bark rather than “talk” like a husky.

The Apostle Paul spoke of the nature that we have within us.

. . .put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24

Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. He wrote to a people who’d not been raised in Jewish tradition and custom. They had formally been Gentiles, heathens, pagans. They were like the woodpecker and the cat Violet. The Ephesians had previously had a particular nature, an old self as Paul pointed out. This was to be a former life, something in the past, and to be put aside. They were encouraged to put on the new self that is created in the likeness of G-d. Tabby, on the other hand, grew up around an animal of a different nature. She accepted that barking, not soft meowing, was to be followed. Sina shows me that even in a short time she is able to adopt new behavior when around a different breed of dog.

The People of G-d come into the Biblical tradition in one of two ways. Either they are born into it, as Jews, or they are adopted into it, as Gentile Believers. For the Jew, it is only a matter of believing that Y’shuaJesus is Messiah that has come, and will come again. The Jewish people were awaiting a conquering Messiah when Y’shua came, died, and rose to Heaven. The Jewish people still await that conqueror. For the Jew to be complete, the Jew must recognize the dual role of Messiah: the suffering servant, Who lived, died, rose; and the conquering Messiah Who will come back to Earth to cleanse the wicked and to rule with justice. Their eyes and heart will be toward Y’shuaJesus as Messiah.

The Gentiles came to understand and find salvation in a Messiah who came to suffer and pay the bond that must be paid to come reconcile themselves with G-d. Formally Gentiles, they must also come to realize that they are now, as has been said, grafted into a domesticated tree. They are not the tree, but grafted branches among the natural branches, the Jewish Believers in Messiah Y’shuaJesus. As such, formally Gentile, Believers come to acknowledge Messiah Y’shua as Lord and Savior and coming King, putting off their former selves and practices of the heathen world.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Wonderful Sail Yesterday

Yesterday, I went out to the lake to sail. I stopped on the way to pay a bill. When I arrived at the marina, despite forecasts of wind, there was nothing. Then I realized my phone dropped from my pocket while paying that bill. I drove back to the place, retrieved my wallet, and thought, “No wind. Why bother going all the way back out.” I drove toward home, yet turned on to the highway toward the marina without even realizing it. So I figured, “Okay, let’s try anyway.” On the way, I did see some tree tops moving and some waves forming on the lake. The wind was coming up.

That’s not the first time things like that have occurred to me. I’ve taken the “wrong” highway, ending up in the same place I was suppose to be, only by a different route, and only realizing it when I entered the destination from a different place than I’d recalled from the last time there. I knew it was the right “wrong” way, and wondered what was on the other route that I was prevented from taking: an accident that might delay me? an accident waiting for me? Don’t know. Some things just work out the way they do. Things happen.

At the dock, Cassandra, a Cape Dory Sailboat, was looking pretty good, despite needing her teak oiled and some yellow jackets buzzing around the mast. I’ve sealed off the places they used to build nests, but now they’d found a place under the mainsail cover that apparently suited them. Without ado, I cranked up the motor, cast off the lines, and backed out of the slip. The slip is located deep within a cove, off the lake. The water was calm, mostly clear, and I really wondered if it would be worth it going out. I motored slowly toward the mouth of the cove, rounded the shoreline, and was surprised to see another sailboat on the water, full sails, and moving along just fine. As I entered the lake, I could feel the wind now, coming out of the west. The cove is well protected from that direction, which is why it appeared not to be any wind at all.

Soon I shut off the motor, removed the sail cover, which made the few remaining yellow jackets take fly to another haven, and went forward to the mast where I raised the sail. Returning to the cockpit, I sheeted in the mainsail and began to slowly move ahead. Unfurling the jib to it’s full size, I gained further headway. Though the wind was light, under ten miles an hour, I easily made between three-and-a-half to four mph heading southwest about forty-five degrees off the wind. The light wind had very little gusting, and I easily trimmed the sails to point high enough to clear two small islands off to port, my left, and proceed up the lake toward Three Sisters Islands.

The wind began to vary in strength, and Cassandra responded, heeling about 15 degrees and leaping forward nearly to full hull speed of six miles per hour. This lasted five minutes or so and she would settle back down as the wind slowed. This process repeated many times along our route. An occasional gust or change in the direction of the wind did little to disturb Cassandra’s drive toward the islands, though it had me pulling in on the sheets to trim the sail a time or two. We went on this way, remaining on the same tack, that is with the sail to port and wind to starboard, to the right off the bow, for nearly two hours. Finally, we changed direction, tacking and rounding about near the island, then steering a course back toward the marina.

The entire time we were out, dark clouds moved slowly overhead, with only a few gaps where the sun could pop its head through to say, “Hello.” Only a few fishing boats hung around the shores, and one family towing kids on a tube behind a small powerboat sped happily past. One large cruiser moved quickly across my bow, leaving a large wake, which Cassandra bound over as if she were a horse jumping a fence. Or perhaps Cassandra was dreaming of the ocean, and the waves offshore. I think she wants to sail the seas, and only hope she’ll take me as her crew. The other sail boat I’d seen earlier came nearby once and we exchanged greetings as he rounded a buoy I’d just pasted, perhaps preparing for a race or just having fun. His two small children, bundled in life jackets, stood along the stern rail, and waved.

The sail, yesterday, was peaceful. It’s often like that during the week days, unlike the weekends when so many boaters are out. The clouds made it feel a little cooler, too, blocking the intense rays of the sun. It was a nice morning. I like the water, both lakes and ocean. I like being on the water and I like being in the water. I always have. There’s something soothing about the water. Water is unpredictable, too, untamed. Yet it brings me back to a peaceful place where I find a measure of refreshment. Spending some moments such as those yesterday, sailing, open my ears to hear what the Lord would speak to me through the His words recorded by the Apostle Paul so long ago:

I [Paul]therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of

the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Off on a Tangent & The Pond

The week before last, after writing about rain, I read a news article and took up the charge of writing about its subject. Then I left for a week’s holiday with my wife’s family up North, in Yankee Country. We celebrated Fourth of July together. Returning, I took up the topic at hand. But it wasn’t going anywhere. It seems like I just got off on a tangent, leaving the Spirit of G-d back in the rainy day somewhere.

Earlier this morning the day began with some blue sky and spoke of a sunny day, despite the weather forecast. Now, a couple hours into the day, it is heavily overcast. The NOAA weather forecasts have been close to accurate lately. As foretold yesterday, lightning and thunder closed out the day and lots of rain soaked the garden quite nicely. Even the pond filled to its maximum level.

The pond’s been in about a month now. It isn’t a large pond, really. Oddly shaped with the widest part about ten feet and about twelve feet in the longest. At night a chorus of frogs belts out a tuneless song. Tadpoles swim below the lily pads, some now growing legs. They will soon join the chorus, adding their voices. Eventually we plan to add gold fish to the pond. We’ve added some bog plants, sitting on a shallow ledge that encircles the pond. Bog plants sit in water, with their soil just below the surface. Three lily plants are on another lower ledge toward the middle of the pond. Before the fish, though, we need to drop a large flat rock on a ledge so that it hangs over the deepest part, which is about four feet deep. This will provide a place out of the sun for the fish to stay cool in the summer, and to hide from herons that will feed on them. Also, we are still getting the pond’s natural balance to take hold. At first algae bloomed filled the water with its green haze. I added a bit of natural bacteria to the water, and it is collecting in the filter. A pump forces water through the filter. The algae cleared rapidly as the bacteria decomposed the dying blooms. Algae remains trapped in the filter now, and the bacteria keeps it from getting out of hand. The water is clear, though now we can see the bottom and some leaves and such that have fallen in the pond. We’ll have to clear that stuff too.

Outside the pond, along one side, we planted herbs that will last through the winter, mint and oregano. There are other plants along the other sides. They, too, will last through the winter, to rebloom in the summer. My wife says the garden is done, now, and we can sit on the deck and enjoy. But by this time of year that is nearly impossible; the no-see-ums and the mosquitoes are thick out there. The spring is still the nicest season down here in Georgia. The cool nights prevent the bugs from getting bad, and the warm days carry over to the evening hours making it quite pleasant. Next spring, then, we’ll enjoy the pond as we’ve enjoyed the rest of the garden.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

It’s Raining Today

When we were kids, growing up in California, we would sing on the school bus. On rainy days, we’d sing “Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Again Another Day!” I don’t know why. I’m sure we just didn’t appreciate the rain. Maybe it’s that rain so often has a negative image, like the expression, “Rain on my/your/our/the Parade.” Folks up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, must be getting pretty sick of rain and its associated flooding. But down here in Georgia, the soft rain this morning is appreciated. Not only does it cool things down somewhat, though making it more humid, it waters the ground that has gone without for a week now.

Sure, a perfect rain would begin in the late evening and continue softly dropping an inch or so until the early morning hours. It wouldn’t interfere with the daily lives of millions of folks all scrambling to make it to work on time. A fresh rain like today will leave the roads slick for a while today. Yet, while I empathize with commuters–been there, done that–I still love to watch the rain gently fall on the garden. I don’t mind walking in the rain, either. Except perhaps those sudden downpours that drench despite rain jacket and hood. No, I do not carry or use an umbrella; that’s just too English. I’m of Good Welsh stock on my Mother’s side, which means I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and don’t have blue blood; I have, indeed, music in my soul and poetry flowing through my veins.

Rain is water. And I love water. While it isn’t the source of life, as many scientist like to say, it is certainly essential. Humans can go many weeks without eating food, and some, like me trying to lose twenty pounds, can go many more weeks. But we need water to exist. Like in three days we’ll perish if we don’t drink of water. We dry up.

We dry up physically without enough water. We dehydrate. If you pinch your flesh between two fingers, softly gathering the skin together, then release, it quickly moves back into shape. When you are dehydrated, your skin just stays puckered for a while. Dehydration dries us up, and makes us weak. There’s a spiritual correlation to dehydration. It’s worst than physically drying up. Like a the skin test, spiritual dehydration makes us pucker up, too. Our demeanor is sour, agitated. We wither, like a plant in the sun, drooping over spiritually. There’s a saying, “One Week without Prayer makes One Weak.” Prayer, the Word of G-d, praise and worship, thanksgiving, it’s all fellowship with G-d. Without that, we dry up.

That’s pretty much what kept happening in Israel, during the Temple Days. The people would forget about G-d and things would begin to go terrible wrong. They’d listen, at last, to a new Judge or a new king, and return to the LORD.

We don’t live in a theocracy, though. Once upon a time in America, we were a Christian nation and while we’ve had many and varied denominations, we worshiped the same G-d, the G-d of Israel. Those days are gone now. Some say that’s a good thing. But even then there was no one leader that we all looked toward that would lead us back to G-d if we strayed too far away. The secular government, while made up of Christians, mostly, had separated the political from the religious. We have a history of this separation of Church and State. And it’s really worked out pretty well. We don’t yet have a political ruler that also tells us how and whom to worship. That’s good thing. But it also leaves us with out a shepherd to call our attention, our focus back upon our Lord.

How do we get back into right communion with G-d after staying away? What will prompt us, remind us? For jsut like dehydration can come upon us easily on a hot day, we can move away from our Lord easily to, without even really noticing it until we’ve drifted a ways.

Water.

great rain skirt — Photo credit: gregglesworth

When we pour a glass of water, crisp, clear water, we should think of G-d. We ought think perhaps of the well outside Shecham where our Lord Y’shuaJesus asked a woman for cup of water to drink. When it’s raining, it can remind us of the Living Water that the Lord said he’d give to all who ask of Him. A pond or pool or lake can remind us of John who baptized in the Jordan River, or of the pool by which a crippled man awaited healing. The sea reminds us that the Earth is covered mostly in water. We must be moved by the ocean’s power, majesty, and vastness. Our minds must turn to our Creator, reminded that He, too, is all powerful, majestic, and everywhere and close at the same time.

Water. Baptized in water. Baptized in Spirit.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Yearning for Eden

Yesterday and the day before, by mid-afternoon, a brilliant sun pierced the clouds that had hovered over our heads here in Georgia. Similarly, the sun broke through what might be my clouded thinking. I’d been thinking, and wrote, about renewal, a refreshing wind of the Spirit that blows upon us now and then. I’d not thought there was anything we could actually do to bring upon us this Spiritual Bliss. Yet maybe there is something that will contribute, be pleasing to G-d such that He brings us into His Rest, even if just for a sampling of the Rest we will enjoy with Him eternally.

It also occurred to me that there is a desire within us all to enter into this Rest with our Lord. I don’t suppose it is thought of like that to most people, though. This desire is a yearning that is born out of a tearing away within our souls, within the soul of humankind. It happened way back when. . .

. . .the LORD God sent [Adam] out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23,24

As a people, we’ve been trying somehow to regain the loss of Eden. When us older folks look back on the 1950s and say that those were simpler times, safer, filled with harmony, we are longing for Eden. Eden is Paradise. It is a place in which we put aside our daily lives of toll and receive for free the fruit of nature for which we don’t have to work. It is Rest for our lives.

This yearning for the Garden manifests itself in many ways. One of them is thrill-seeking adventures. Whether that takes us to the highest mountains or the most distant shores, makes no difference. It is yearning after some peace. It is an itch that we try to scratch through various ways, yet always it returns, unsatisfied.

Eden’s call prompts us to metaphorically clasp our hands to our ears. We drown of at least dull the sound with various addictions: alcohol, drugs, sex, even power and money, and more.

We see the yearning for Eden in the dreams of utopia. A place where people live in harmony with one another, a place of peace. We sse it in what once took place in America, a flight of city folk migrating into rural areas to get away from the hustle of a non-sensical (in my opionion) way of life with its constant demands and its constant hassles.

This yearning affects those of us that don’t acknowledge the Lord Y’shuaJesus just as it affects those who do. But we, as Believers, have been granted a time weekly in which we can participate in G-d’s Rest: The Sabbath.

In their booklet, The Sabbath: Entering God’s Rest, Barry & Steffi Rubin tell of us about the traditional practice of observing the Sabbath. No, not going to church on Sunday, but the real Sabbath, the G-d ordained Sabbath. The day the commemorates the Rest G-d observed after creating the world. It begins a sunset on Friday night and continues until sunset Saturday night.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Genesis 2:1-3

And the LORD said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you.

Exodus 31:12-14

Okay. I can hear your objections. We are Christians. We come under the New Testament. This stuff is Old Testament Law. Y’shuaJesus said He came to fulfill that Law. Am I right? Of course. That’s what you think. Is that really what G-d thinks?

Well?

Throughout Israel, Y’shuaJesus called people to Follow Him. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath to pray and to teach. The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, went on the Sabbath to the synagogue to pray and to teach. And got thrown out of a few, too. True, the vision of the Sabbath that the Pharisees held was not exactly the vision held by our Lord.

The Sabbath is a day we purpose to set aside. Not only do we put away our daily toll, but we complete our weekly work BEFORE the Sabbath. Begin by setting aside Sabbath to do good. Not Sunday, mind you. Set aside Friday night until Saturday night. Try it!

Do it! See if you can put aside the Sabbot from Friday night until Saturday night, dedicating it to the Lord. See whether or not you are blessed for it. I know you will be.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Springtime for the Heart

4-2010- 064 — Winter in Georgia
by Wil Robinson

Winter is long gone; so too spring. It is now summer. Yet there are heavy clouds that obscure the sun. It doesn’t have to be winter to just feel like it. The sky looms darkly over Georgia like an anvil ready to drop on our heads at any moment. Yesterday, showers with lightning and thunder, then out of the darkness followed bright sun and blue skies. The seasons are confused. Looking outside, the temperatures may be in the 20 C range but it appears like more like 20 F. Are we depressed? Are we sad? Do we just feel like crying? Do we even know why? Perhaps prompted by the weather, what we see though the window, we stare at the state of our nations, our people, and we mourn like Jeremiah mourned.

His people were far from G-d. And to this he wrote:

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Lamentations 1:16

Looks Like Winter — A Glooming Perspective
by Wil Robinson

Jeremiah had cause to weep. Things hadn’t gone well for his people. G-d felt very far away. And his people had distanced themselves from Him. And He allowed disaster to strike. And perhaps as we look through our own eyes, we see a world not much different than his. We as a people are distant from our G-d, too. Here in America, there are many that cry out to the nation to repent and turn to G-d before it is too late. It’s another Welsh revival that we seek. Or a revival like the Azuza Street Revival. We want the Spirit of G-d to fall upon us and lead us as a nation back into being a Christian nation. We want the 1950s back, were life seemed some how simple. So we mourn, too, like Jeremiah.

And we see what might be signs of revival, like what started down in Lakeland, Florida. It was suppose to be a move of G-d that had begun in Toronto, Canada. People flocked to the church services looking for a “blessing,” looking for the Spirit of G-d to fall afresh up them–like the praise song goes. People yearn for something from G-d. We want to somehow “feel” His presence.

There are movements afoot that capitalize upon this yearning, too. They seek to build a peaceful kingdom here on Earth. If we just do this or that or have love and tolerance then. . . Then what? If we are honest with ourselves we can look at these movements and see the fallacies within them. On the surface they appear to promote a Christian revival. At the least, they promote a “modern” Gospel with a “modern” Messiah. Hummmmm. A New Age Gospel for a New Age. If we could all just get over the exclusivity of the old notion of one savior, one Christ, they tell us. We need to broaden our minds, our thinking. This is a darkness that engulfs the world today. Perhaps this is the mourning we feel. Naivety passes. We face a world of chaos as spoken of in the Book of Revelation. We are not building a new and peaceful world. We are seeing the first stages of chaos and the coming of G-d’s wrath that will cleanse the world in order for Y’shuaJesus to come and rule as Lord and King over a Kingdom that He will build.

We need to see clearly, despite the darkness that engulfs our tiny world, which is the limitations of our perspective. Y’shuaJesus, the Light of the World, shines brightly upon our hearts as He chooses.

There is for the people of G-d, to the people whom G-d has chosen and written their names in the Book of Life, continual renewal, a refreshing in and by the Holy Spirit of G-d. We don’t go to church to find it. This revival isn’t something for which we can pray. It is something that G-d, our Heavenly Father, drops upon us at His pleasure. This is the Springtime in our relationship with our Lord, when we feel anew His refreshing breath, His Spirit falling upon us. . .

Springtime for the Heart
by Wil Robinson

We are renewed in Praise. We acknowledge acts of kindness, wisdom, and truth previously unseen. We acknowledge that even during those troubling times our Lord has been right beside us, urging us onward. Have we not heard the angels singing “Onward Christian Soldiers. . .” Praise is the acknowledgement of what G-d has done, is doing, and is going to do.

We are renewed in Worship. We find a deep and utter sense of who our Heavenly Father is, and Y’shuaJesus, and The Holy Spirit. We find ourselves and our place in our Lord. We worship for Who He is.

We are renewed in our Gratitude and Thankfulness. We begin to understand, to see through the vale that has distorted our vision. The troubled pieces of our lives seem less disjointed, less terrible, more just stepping stones to get us into a place in which we are engulfed by HIS PRESENCE.

We are renewed in our Purpose and our Mission. We begin to sort out where in Messiah we are at the moment. We begin to recognize where we are going, where He is taking us.

We are renewed in Holy Fear, the Awe of G-d Almighty. Our Father invites us into His house, through His library, and on to His back porch. He shows us His backyard. The Lord Y’shuaJesus comes to sit next to us while we are in our own home. We are speechless. There is nothing we can say. We just experience Him. We are lifted up by the Holy Spirit and carried upward, beyond the Earth and its woes, toward Heaven, toward the Throne of the Living G-d. We begin, so slowly, to understand. We gain some perspective. Revival is the springtime of our Lord that invades our heart and makes us a little more whole.

Springtime for our Hearts.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

You are Not Allowed to Do That!

They were all eyes and ears. They monitored the doings of the people about them. They cast angry looks toward anyone who might dare to commit an infraction, or what they perceived to be wrong. They are self-appointed critics. The speak out at any opportunity, pointing out the sins of those they encounter, those they choose to hate. They are Accusers.

They are the liberals in America pointing fingers at people for doing what is, to the liberal, wrong, which is just about everything a liberal doesn’t like. They are conservatives pointing equally judgmental fingers at anyone whom they don’t approve. Some are worse than others. All have some basis they think gives them the right, the mandate, to be an accuser.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids–blind, lame, and paralyzed [waiting for the moving of the water;] [for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and stirred the water: whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.] One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.“

John 5:1-10 (emphasis added)

Now here’s the thing: “It is not lawful. . .” What they are saying is, “It’s not me telling you that you that you are not allowed to do that, it is (insert some reference here)!”

Standing upon some ruling, some law, they point there fingers saying, “I don’t judge, but the law says what you are doing is unlawful.” How many times have I heard some Christian say that he doesn’t judge people but the Word of G-d does? Too many. And yet who am I to say that he wasn’t appointed, like Jonah or Elijah, or whomever else, to point out the wrongs he is shown by Almighty G-d Himself?

How do we respond to accusations of wrong doing? To the credit of the newly healed man in the Gospel of John, he didn’t say “@$#%&$ Off!” Rather, he, according to Matthew Henry, wanted to give credit and glory to the One Who healed him, though didn’t know the man’s Name. He said, “He made me whole.” Eventually, the healed man learned the Name of the One who’d healed him, and told the Jews. Matthew Henry points out that while done with a mind to give glory to Y’shuaJesus, was like “throwing pearls before swine.”

Some points come to mind while reading the Word this morning, and reflecting upon it. One I led with, that too many people are self-appointed judges, regardless whether or not they are liberals or conservatives, or Chistians. Worse, I’m right there along with them. I have a very bad habit of pointing out the driving faults of most every one on the road, especially when my kids are in the truck with me. My excuse is that I want them to notice the wrongs so that they’ll know to do right. And I certainly get there attention when my hand goes to the horn, and it blasts away at some unwary offender. Yet, I’m just acting in the self-appointed role of accuser. Just like too many other people in this angry, volatile, ready-to-explode country, world.

But there is a more important point, easily overlooked when I get off on to a tangent. This newly healed man said, “He that made me whole. . .” told me what to do.

Thank You, Y’shuaJesus, for making us all whole in You. May we be bold and stand firm in You when accused of wrongs. For this newly healed man obeyed the One who made him whole. He stood, picked up his bed, and carried it away. In essence, his reply to those who accused him was, “I do not do it in contempt of the law and the sabbath, but I am obeying a greater law than the one you cite, for the One who healed me is greater than those laws.” (paraphrased from Matthew Henry’s Commentary) This man obeyed G-d.

Y’shua was accused of breaking the law, too. Many times. On several occasions he referred to scripture to support his action. He pointed out David’s eating of the showbread, of the priests’ slaying the sacrifices, and of the people’s watering their cattle on the sabbath day. Eventually, when accused of healing this man on the sabbath, Y’shuaJesus goes higher and alleges the example of His Father and His divine authority.

Another point: Y’shuaJesus was a radical. Why not just come back another day. That man had been there 38 years, so another day wouldn’t hurt. Then Y’shuaJesus wouldn’t have caused this man to “break the law” and carry his mat. Y’shuaJesus wouldn’t have broken the law, either. Well, why did Y’shuaJesus heal the man on the sabbath?

The other day I heard someone on the radio speak of the gentleness and kindness of Jesus. This authority on Jesus said Jesus wasn’t a zealot. I sorta figured he meant that Jesus just walked around Israel doing nice things for people, patting the heads of children, talking to outcasts, eating with sinners. Okay, so sure, Y’shuaJesus did those things. But that just isn’t ALL of the things Y’shuaJesus did. And to imply that it was, is to undermine the Word of G-d. It borders on deception. It also marks a man as not truly knowing Y’shuaJesus.

Maybe the Lord was just plain tired of the self-righteousness of a stubborn people who prized the “Law” over the people for whom the Law was given. Perhaps Y’shuaJesus wanted to stir up some trouble to make a point. I’m sure it got the attention of more than one person when He went into the Temple, in an act of fury, and drove out sellers and money changers. This gentle Jesus was also the One Who called Pharisees white-washed, empty tombs, vipers. Hum. Not so very gentle. Y’shuaJesus was a very dangerous man, one that the religious establishment knew would cause them distress, one that would undermine the all they’d done to get along with the Roman rulers. Y’shuaJesus was a rebel.

Y’shuaJesus didn’t come down from His throne to bring a temporary, carnal peace. He came to die violently for a true Peace that is eternal, offered to all. Well, to all as long as they believe that Y’shuaJesus is Lord and Savior. He said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. . .” Hummmmmmm. That’s “hate” speech, isn’t it? I mean, He excluded a lot of people who follow the universalist religious views. And humanist who believe humanity is god, as well as New Agers. Well, let’s not go there, shall we.

The One Who healed me made me whole. Thank G-d. Blessed is the Name of the Lord Y’shuaJesus.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you and yours today and tomorrow, as we long for His coming. . .

Conversion of Samaritans

Returning to the New Covenant, I am reading the Book of John. Yesterday, I cam to the portion of chapter four concerning the conversion of Samaritans. I am struck especially by the final paragraph, provided as a summary of the events.

Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

John 4:39-42

First. Who are Samaritans? According to BibleStudy.org, “Generally, a Samaritan would be an inhabitant of either the city or region of ancient Samaria. They occupied the land formerly belonging to the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The city was purchased by Omri, the sixth king of Israel (885 – 874 B.C.) and named Samaria after the name of its owner, Shemer. Over a period of time the entire northern kingdom of Israel was also called Samaria (1Kings 13:32, Jeremiah 31:5).”

It is a Samaritan that Y’shuaJesus gives credit to for helping a mugged traveler in the story of the “Good Samaritan.” It is also the Samaritans that were opposed to, and wanted to sabatoge, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the temple in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, who returned to Jerusalem from the Captivity around 539 B.C.

So there’s certainly some history between the Samaritans and Israelis. Enemies, of sorts.

Second. The woman spoken of first met Y’shuaJesus while at the town well. She was amazed that a Jew would even speak to her, let alone ask for a drink, which meant drinking out of her pail. That would have been considered “unclean” to the Jews. In the dialogue that took place between Y’shuaJesus and the woman, the woman’s faults were revealed to her by Y’shuaJesus. Instead of running away, hiding, hating the bearer of this information, she saw something entirely satisfying. She could unburden herself the this man. And, no doubt, she didn’t feel the wrath of disapproval, but of a loving Spirit to which she could cleave, to which she could find some healing and rebirth.

Matthew Henry wrote that “One would have thought His telling the woman of her secret sins would have made them (the Samaritan town’s folk) afraid of coming to Him lest He should tell them also of their faults, but they will venture that rather than not be acquainted with One who they had reason to think was a prophet.”

“Many would have flocked to one that would tell them their fortune, but these flocked to One that would tell them their faults,” wrote Mr. Henry.

Third. The most import part of this story told by the author of the Book of John, it seems to me, is in this that the town’s folk told the woman: “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

We can talk until we are blue in the face, out of breath, crying out our testimony of Y’shuaJesus as Lord and Savior, but until the crowd of unbelievers is willing to hear the Master speak, there is no new faith. Conversely, if we hear a testimony about Y’shuaJesus, the person giving that word must have been with Y’shuaJesus, must have heard Him speak, must have been in His presence, or that word is empty.

Y’all have a wonderful week. Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .