Value in life and beyond

Recently, I found myself saying and doing things Sy (pictured above) did. When I think about it, I realize how much his life had affected mine. The long and insightful conversations we had and the many things he taught me have changed me. He has been gone now about two years and I find that I think of him often. He wasn't the only person in my life, however. Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles and many, many acquaintances have contributed to what I am today. I guess all this came to a head when I heard of someone who had lost a baby just short of her due date. Why would God allow such a thing? What value did that prenatal life have? I turned to the Scriptures for answers and centered in on these passages.



Genesis 3:1-4 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) (3:2) Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made. And the serpent said to the woman, Has God truly said, Eat not of every tree of the garden?
(2) (3:3) And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
(3) (3:4) but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.
(4) (3:5) And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die!


Genesis 5:5-31 Complete Apostles' Bible
(5) And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
(6) Now Seth lived two hundred and five years, and begot Enosh.
(7) And Seth lived seven hundred and seven years after his begetting of Enosh, and he begot sons and daughters.
(8) And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.
(9) And Enosh lived one hundred and ninety years, and begot Cainan.
(10) And Enosh lived seven hundred and fifteen years after his begetting of Cainan, and he begot sons and daughters.
(11) And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.
(12) And Cainan lived one hundred and seventy years, and he begot Mahalalel.
(13) And Cainan lived seven hundred and forty years after his begetting of Mahalalel, and he begot sons and daughters.
(14) And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.
(15) And Mahalalel lived one hundred and sixty five years, and he begot Jared.
(16) And Mahalalel lived seven hundred and thirty years after his begetting of Jared, and he begot sons and daughters.
(17) And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.
(18) And Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch:
(19) and Jared lived eight hundred years after his begetting of Enoch, and he begot sons and daughters.
(20) And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.
(21) And Enoch lived one hundred and sixty-five years, and begat Methuselah.
(22) And Enoch was well-pleasing to God. After his begetting of Methuselah, He walked with God two hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.
(23) And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.
(24) And Enoch was well-pleasing to God, and was not found, because God translated him.
(25) And Methuselah lived one hundred and sixty-seven years, and begot Lamech.
(26) And Methuselah lived eight hundred and two years after his begetting of Lamech, and begot sons and daughters.
(27) And all the days of Methuselah, which he lived, were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.
(28) And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-eight years, and begot a son.
(29) And he called his name Noah, saying, This one will cause us to cease from our works, and from the toils of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord God has cursed.
(30) And Lamech lived five hundred and sixty-five years after his begetting of Noah, and begot sons and daughters.
(31) And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and fifty-three years, and he died.


Satan is a liar! No surprise here! But this short list demonstrates one thing; human beings die. Whether they be good or bad, they die. Every life that is lived (no matter how short) testifies that Satan lies. Untold deaths have occurred since the first human was created and its up to us as human beings to think about our lives and ask ourselves whether we are attempting to live life as God wants us to or as Satan does. There was an old TV show called "Truth or consequences" and I think the title sums up the choice. Sy taught me what true friendship was like and the little baby that never saw the light of day showed me how much someone who we have never even met can be loved. The lesson learned from all those we have known show the value in life and beyond. I know, because I have thought a lot about that unborn child and my friend Sy lately and so their lives live on in my memory and that memory makes me smile. And even one smile is a valuable thing indeed!

Rethinking language

How did you do on this little test? I was able to do it after a little bit of trying, just as long as I went S-L-O-W-L-Y!!! I have to confess I did make a couple of mistakes though, but eventually I went through the list without mistakes. I guess we are hard-wired to do things a certain way and only with difficulty can we change. As time goes on we become more and more settled in our ways, which explains why youngsters have no problem learning a new language, but older people do. Which brings up the question: Why do we have different languages in the first place? Read on to see the answer from the Bible.

Genesis 11:1-9 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) And all the earth had one language, and one speech.
(2) And it came to pass as they moved from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
(3) And a man said to his neighbor, Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire. And the brick was to them for stone, and their mortar was asphalt.
(4) And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth.
(5) And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built.
(6) And the Lord said, Behold, there is one race, and one language of all, and they have begun to do this, and now nothing shall fail from them of all that they have undertaken to do.
(7) Come, let Us go down and confound their language, that they may not understand each the voice of his neighbor.
(8) And the Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city and the tower.
(9) On this account its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confounded the languages of all the earth, and then the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.

Arrogance and pride are the culprits and God the corrective force. Recently, I had heard that scientists claim to have traced our current languages back to one original. Nice of them to tell me, because I have known that since the first time I read through the book of Genesis. I think its interesting that there seems to be a trend towards a one government world and that a "new" international language called Esperanto has been introduced.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

Hey, but that's just me being a little paranoid. It would be interesting to see if God would confuse a one language Earth a second time. I guess we will just have to wait for Jesus to return to find out!

Contentment

This little kitten is a picture of contentment! Happiness is written all over its face; but, I wonder what it is thinking about? Since I don't speak "kitten" I will have to guess. My best guess is that it is enjoying the "now" and reveling in its comfort. But, what do we revel in? This passage from the book of 1 Timothy is a springboard for thought.


1 Timothy 6:6-12 Complete Apostles' Bible
(6) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
(7) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that neither can we carry anything out!
(8) But having food and clothing, with these things we shall be content.
(9) But those desiring to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many senseless and harmful lusts which sink men in destruction and perdition.
(10) For the love of money is a root of all evils, of which some by aspiring have strayed away from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
(11) You however, O man of God, flee these things. But pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.
(12) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses.


The acquisition and hording of money can be a bottomless pit, an obsession which is overpowering and can be the ruin of a life. Paul talks about Godliness and the pursuit of Spiritual things as the correct goal. I think he is right! The things of this world belong to this world and because we are only here for a short time, their relative value is small compared to spiritual blessing which endure forever. Think I am wrong? Look at the kitten once again; this little fellow doesn't own anything, but is just enjoying life. Maybe we should as well; and prepare for the life after life as well. Contentment forever; what a thought!

The world will be perfect someday!

This picture was chosen not because of the sunset; although it is beautiful. But because of the beautiful tree in the center of this idylic setting. At first I thought of the garden of Eden and then I focused in on the last book of the Bible and came to this passage.



Revelation 22:1-5 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) And he showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
(2) In the middle of its street, and on both sides of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
(3) And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants will minister to Him.
(4) And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
(5) And night shall not exist. and there shall not be a need of a lamp and of light, because the Lord God shall illuminate them. And they shall reign forever and ever.



This second "Eden" is the completion of all things. What was wrong has been made right, completely! God has fully restored fellowship with man and the world is right again. True, it has taken a long time and the cost was God's own son, but it has been paid in full; its done and over. And this picture reminded me of heaven's beauty and the good things to come. I was a little down today and this picture helped a lot; God always does that, HE makes a path to joy when there seems to be none. So, when I saw this picture, I felt I was there and when I read this passage from Revelation, I felt the same. Today IS a wonderful day and the world will be perfect someday!

Bent reality

Its not a picture, not a drawing, not a reverse image of a photograph; its folded paper! OK, I have heard of origami, but at the end there are shapes, not a flat result. How? I do not have one clue; no idea, whatsoever! But that it can be done, amazing! I have been doing this "blogging thing" for about a year now and what is surprising is that I am still being surprised!! I am all of 60, so I have seen quite a few things, lived in quite a number of places and I still see something new, almost on a daily basis; life is good!! When Paul penned this passage of Scripture, I think I can safely assume that he surprised quite a few people. Here is his eye opener.

Ephesians 3:1-11 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles--
(2) if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
(3) how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, just as I wrote before briefly,
(4) with reference to which, when you read, you can understand my insight in the mystery of Christ,
(5) which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
(6) that the Gentiles should be joint-heirs, and of the same body, and joint-partakers in His promise in Christ by the gospel,
(7) of which I became a minister according to the free gift of the grace of God which was given to me according to the working of His power.
(8) To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
(9) and to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the mystery, which had been hidden from the ages in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;
(10) that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies,
(11) according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Today, when we think of Christianity, it is not Judaism that comes to mind; because its a Gentile world. But, the first century church was predominately Jewish in background and for the most part it was a members-only affair. Then, this message is revealed (here and in the book of Acts) and things changed, really changed. The mystery was revealed, hope was given to all and eternal life the result for those outside Judaism. Those of us whose background does not include a Jewish upbringing, may have some problem appreciating the wonder of this message, but to those from Judaism this would have been almost beyond understanding. How God could do this must have seemed impossible, but every day contains the impossible become reality; if a mere mortal can bend paper to look like a picture and the end result is flat, imagine what the creator of the universe can do! But, don't think about it too long, you will probably just wind up with a headache.

What filters through

I miss upstate New York; the trees are so different in Florida. So, when I saw this picture I indulged in a bit of nostalgia. As I continued to look at it, I realized that we are all on the road through life and where we go and what we do is determined at least in part by the amount of light we let into our lives. Light (from God) is hampered mostly by ones heart, but also by the life we live. Read on to see how Jesus dealt with the problem.

Matthew 13:1-23 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
(2) And great crowds were gathered together to Him, so that He got into the boat and sat; and the crowd stood on the shore.
(3) And He spoke to them many things in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
(4) And as he sowed, some seed fell alongside the road; and the birds came and devoured them.
(5) But others fell on the stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth.
(6) But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away.
(7) But others fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them out.
(8) But others fell on good ground and it was yielding fruit: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
(9) He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
(10) And the disciples approached and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
(11) He answered and said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
(12) For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he shall be in abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
(13) Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
(14) And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: 'Hearing you shall hear and by no means understand, and seeing you shall see and by no means perceive.
(15) For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn back, that I should heal them.'
(16) "But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
(17) For assuredly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and they did not see, and to hear what you hear, and they did not hear."
(18) "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
(19) When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand, then the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed being sown beside the road.
(20) But the seed sown on stony ground, is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
(21) yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. For when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
(22) But the seed sown in the thorns is he who hears the word, and the anxiety of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches chokes out the word, and it becomes fruitless.
(23) But the seed sown on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

The light I am referring to is the word of God and although you might be the most persuasive speaker and present what God has said in a magnificent manner, if the hearer isn't ready or capable of really hearing, then they just don't get it. Why, because they focus on other things and can't understand, or they don't wish to internalize it or they are preoccupied by daily living. Any and / or all of these things create an overgrowth of foliage which reduces or blocks what God has said. One last thing; you really have to want to hear; what filters through into your life from God is up to you and so is what you do with it. Jesus just tells it like it is and gives you a choice, its up to you! Anybody have a tree trimmer?

Let the light shine

Its amazing to me how few people have seen black and white TV. I grew up with it and still enjoy watching some of the older shows like "I love Lucy" or "Gunsmoke" or "Mayberry RFD". Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my color TV a lot, but somehow black and white "feels" right. Its like trying to read a book on a computer versus a book that you can actually hold. Honestly, I love electronic equipment but sometimes the simplest way of doing things is the best. That's what they make pencils for, remember. So, when I saw this simple black and white picture I enjoyed it because of the way the light forms patterns with the walkway beams. God has a way of doing the something similar; of weaving a web through time using people to accomplish his chosen task.

Matthew 1:1-21 Complete Apostles' Bible
(1) The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
(2) Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.
(3) Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.
(4) Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.
(5) Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
(6) and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.
(7) Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.
(8) Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.
(9) Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.
(10) Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.
(11) Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the captivity in Babylon.
(12) And after the captivity in Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.
(13) Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.
(14) Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.
(15) Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.
(16) And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
(17) So all the generations from Abraham till David were fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon were fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ were fourteen generations.
(18) Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
(19) Then Joseph her husband, being righteous and not wanting to make her a public example, purposed to put her away secretly.
(20) But while he was thinking about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take unto you Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.
(21) And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins."

Look at all the people God used! All these led to ONE PERSON at the right time in the right place with the right stuff. God took his time and provided a way out of sin. The above picture is beautiful and the pattern interesting, but the light that God uses has heavenly inspiration and beauty beyond description. Don't see the light, well, it was in the faces of all those people and eventually Jesus himself. As beautiful as the picture is, I like God's work better; people really do matter more than shadows!

Love and many colors

Let's see; there is: light blue, dark blue, pink, Salmon, black, grey, rust and white. Did I miss anything? Dark grey and dark red are the only exceptions. Sometimes when you look at things and keep looking, you see more and more and more. I am sure an hour from now I will see something I missed, but that's the way life is. All the colors in this beautiful landscape picture reminded me of Joseph in the book of Genesis.



Gen 37:3-10
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.
4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.
5 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.
6 He said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf."
8 His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words.
9 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me."
10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to you to the earth?" WEB


Joseph was a favored son and that always means trouble in a family. But, he was a favorite of God as well and HE had a mission for him. Joseph's coat of many colors was the symbol of his favored status and its no wonder his brothers were "less than happy" about it; but his dreams were the stuff of dynamite. They revealed the future, a future the whole family was incensed over. In a way, you can understand their resentment and why this turned to hatred. However, God used even that to save a nation, so all turned out well. I like the parallel between the many colors in the picture and Joseph's coat; both are a reflection of love; God for this world and Israel for Joseph. I just wish I knew how many colors were in that coat...

The broken glass of life

I "know" this picture was probably doctored by photo shop, but how, that I don't know. In the real world, when glass comes apart it doesn't make nice symmetrical pieces. When something is broken, there IS A MESS. Life is like that; when troubles come, they tend to make a mess of everything, with a lot of jagged edges that hurt. But what if we could avoid troubles in the first place and understand what to do if they begin to appear. Reflect a minute about this and consider this passage from the book of Job.



Job 28:12-23
12 "But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding?13 Man doesn't know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.14 The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me.'15 It can't be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for its price.16 It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, With the precious onyx, or the sapphire .17 Gold and glass can't equal it, Neither shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal: Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies.19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.20 Whence then comes wisdom? Where is the place of understanding?21 Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, And kept close from the birds of the sky.22 Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'23 "God understands its way, And he knows its place. WEB




You can't buy wisdom and understanding. As the years roll by, age teaches you a few things, but genuine wisdom comes from God. People come up with all sorts of theories about life, but there ARE REAL ANSWERS; all you have to do is to open HIS BOOK and LEARN. Sound simplistic, perhaps; but show me another book with more wisdom in it and I will be glad to read it. In the meantime, God can do something men can't; fix the fragile glass-like lives of sinful men. How? Let me tell you about a good friend of mine who has helped me. Can you guess his name.... starts with a "J".

One very stupendous sandwich

When I saw this picture, I said to myself "yum". Wouldn't you know I would spot this on my first day of a new diet. Sometimes things just happen, I guess. Diet aside, this is one very stupendous sandwich! How would one go about eating it? Certainly no one that I have ever met could open their mouth wide enough to accommodate this little jewel. So, I guess if you really wanted to eat this it would have to be done piecemeal. Just goes to show you that everyone has their limits. Oddly enough, this passage from the book of Galatians came to mind.

Gal 2:11-21
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned.
12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they didn't walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?
15 "We, being Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners,
16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
17 But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!
18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.
19 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
21 I don't make void the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!" WEB

Why grace instead of law? Because no one could keep the law perfectly, that's why! Like the sandwich, it could be dealt with in parts, but reality is that we all make mistakes from time to time. So, grace was given by God because he understands us and allows for our shortcomings. That being said, I just came home and its time for my supper, so I have to say good morning for now; and relax, if I have a sandwich, its going to be a small one.