THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT

 THANK YOU MR PRESIDENT

My days on earth are numbered; But before I fade away, there is something important I need to say. It may not be important to anyone else; but it's important to me.

 Win, lose or fraud...President Trump. I just want to say thank you for the last four years.

 Thank you for making it cool to be an American again.

 Thank you for showing us that we don’t need to be under China’s thumb anymore economically, or any other way.

 Thank you for one of the strongest economies we’ve ever experienced in my lifetime.

Thank you for all you have done for the minority communities, and the outstanding decrease in the unemployment rate you had.

 Thank you for making it feel good to love our country and to be a proud patriot again.

Thank you for supporting our Nation's flag and the men and women who fought for the freedom that stands behind that flag.

 Thank you for supporting our nation's law enforcement organizations, and understanding how difficult their job really is.

Thank you for quelling the flood of illegal immigration, and bringing to justice the thousands of criminals that flood brought us.

 Thank you for giving corporations a reason to come back to America to make our own products and put Americans back to work.

Thank you for bringing our troops home from endless deployments that presented us with little more than body bags; and for your commitment to strengthen our military.

Thank you for operation warp speed and keeping your promise to bringing the Covid 19 vaccine to us in less than a year.

 Thank you for your never-ending attempts at bringing to the Middle East and your support for Israel.

Thank you for your Tax relief, and thank you for our energy independence. 

Most of all though...

 THANK YOU for taking a damn rotten job that you never had to take!!

Thank you for caring enough for this country to want to try and make a difference.

Thank you for showing America how little Career Politicians actually work for their constituents; and for showing us how much those politicians despise you for showing America how easy it is to build a great nation, rather than rape her to line their own pockets and stock portfolios.

Thank you for allowing us to experience a President that wasn’t a lifelong politician, but a lifelong American.

THE SNAKE IS DEAD, THE HEAD CANNOT BE REATTACHED

I would like to preface this study with a few comments before we start…I’ll start with a question. My question is this; What do we actually know about our salvation? That is not a difficult question to answer as the Christian religion simply puts it as written in John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. But is that really all  there is to it. The correct answer is yes. It is the word of God and the simple act of believing those words in the most humble and truest form of innocent faith is quite enough to make it so. So does that make me a Christian, a true believer? Well that depends, did you really mean it when you said it? 

 In those words, there is nothing of baptism, or of works, or of prayer. But being a Christian has a much deeper responsibility than those words seem to say. As simple as the phrase is, there is much more to it than we realize. “Believing in him” carries with it the belief that “he died for your sin” God came to this earth in human form so that he might die to save your soul” and  “ God promises to remember your sin no more” and That “you will repent of your sin.” And that You will love God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. And thy neighbor as thyself. How is that to be accomplished? Here we have a conundrum. 

There is a decision to be made, and it is perhaps the easiest decision that you ever will be required to make, and quite honestly it is a decision that one does not have to make. No one can force you to make it, and no law says it is something that you must decide. So what is it? Well you know what it is don’t you. We are discussing it as we study this book of Colossians aren’t we. Paul is telling these people of the Colossian church that they must decide who or what it is that they are going to believe.

 

And here it is as simply put as this story. A woman was leaving a grocery store with two bags of groceries, making her way to her car when all of a sudden, a deadly Cobra snake appears in her path, she walks swiftly around the snake which follows her, she then picks up her pace, and the snake also speeds up, chasing her. What has she done to deserve this, she just wants her groceries, and wants to be left alone. Yes, that is what we all want, our desires and needs met, and to be left alone. How best are our needs and desires met? Well, what do you think so far? How are our needs and desires met?  They are met in many ways, and when they are met, we become satisfied,  do we not? Yes we do, satisfying our needs and desires is what life is about wouldn’t you agree? Well, this woman is now faced with the decision to stop running from the snake, (David is facing Goliath,)because she is at her car now. What does she do ? She stops and the snake coils at her feet waiting to strike. This woman is as good as dead if this snake strikes her.(Goliath is threatening David) Suddenly a man appears in front of her with an axe with which he will kill the snake, but the woman is frozen with fear and is not moving. There is a moment of extreme drama as the man says drop the groceries.(David prepares his sling) The woman says but these are my groceries, and I need to have them. Another word from the man. (David makes his move), Drop the sacks, we can get more later. Suddenly the woman drops the sacks of groceries, the snake then strikes at the sacks, and not at the woman. The man cuts the head off the snake. It cannot be re attached. (David then removes the head of Goliath)The snake although still wriggling is dead. The man says Ok lady, you are safe now, I will gather the groceries and put them in your car and you can go, You may have to get more eggs and milk but your life has been spared.  

We just need to let loose of the stuff that is placing our soul in danger, The sins we are in bed with, the desires and needs that we think are so essential, the things we possess and worship. Oh yes, there are still snakes and Goliaths in our world, but the threat to our souls has been resolved, the head cannot  be reattached. The very things that are placing our souls in jeopardy have been removed from us and cannot be used against us Jesus has cut the head off of our sins, they can no longer threaten our souls.

In another instance.... 

Sometimes we have to let go to get back -- give away to receive again. In Exodus, Moses' mother, after three months of hiding baby Moses from the Egyptian authorities, determined that she could no longer protect her child. She made a little ark, a basket covered with bitumen and pitch, put it in the reeds of the Nile River, and hoped that Pharaoh's daughter would find it. She let go of her child, and she let go of her son.

But God sovereignly took care of the details. When Pharaoh's daughter heard Moses crying, she sent a servant to collect him. When she saw him, she was moved with compassion. She took Moses into her own home. Then Meriam, Moses' older sister, who had been watching from afar, popped out and offered, "Would you like me to find a Hebrew woman to nurse this child?" Yes, please.

Pharaoh's daughter then paid Moses's mom to take care of baby Moses. She let Moses go and received him back again. She let go, and she got back.

This is the way of Christ. He calls us - if we have an overemphasis upon caring about what our families think and how our families define us - to let go. He calls us - if we are overly interested in self-definition and looking inward to find out who we really are - to let go. And as we let go and begin looking up to God, we get back and find out who we really are. And we get a real family from him.

Sometimes we have to let go to get back from the Lord.

Faith Grows With Knowledge

Speaking of faith, as probably everyone knows, It takes a certain amount of chance to have faith. Faith is not something one can reach out and touch. Faith is like throwing a pair of dice and hoping it will turn up seven or eleven for a win. Yet you know when you throw them, the dice can come up boxcars or craps. Faith is knowing that can happen.

I went to Monte Carlo once many years ago and went to the Casino. I went over to the roulette wheel and placed a 20 dollar bet on 2 and 22. the wheel turned and it came up 22 and I continued to play, before long I had accumulated 600 dollars. Gambling is a sin I will readily admit, but how many of us do that when we go to the store and buy a lottery ticket? Well I left the roulette table and went to the dice table. My first roll was craps, second roll was boxcars, etc. I lost the 600 dollars. There it is, chance. Perhaps I did not have enough faith. 

We all take chances. And what is faith but taking a chance. I once went to the fairgrounds and in looking at the various ways to have fun, there were two that peaked my interest. One was the house of horrors, with the mirrors and various scary walk throughs which surprise the walker, a scary scene, or a moving floor. The other thing of interest to me was the dodgem cars. You know what that is, get in a well padded mobile seat with wheels, which has a speed pedal, a brake pedal and bumpers all around, and a steering wheel, and you drive that thing as fast as it will go (not very fast for safety reasons), and drive it into another bumper car. (dodgem car) that is why there are so many lawyers today, bumper cars.

 Well anyway that intrigued me, so I paid my quarter and ran to the fastest car I could find and got in. I already knew about the speed pedal, and had faith it would accelerate to my liking. and about the brake, I knew it would slow me down or stop me as applied. and about the steering I was fully aware. (remember we are talking about faith and how it grows with knowledge). So my first inclination was to put all this faith and knowledge to work and drive this "bumper car into the first girl in a bumper car I could find. 

And I did that. It was a pretty girl with long black hair and a pleasant smile on her face until I banged into her car and caused a crash. Just what I was hoping for. That did it. her head bobbed forward and her eyes fixated on me which is also what I was counting on. But this is where the growing faith comes in. My head also went forward as well, but much more so than hers. she was still smiling when my mouth hit the steering wheel. I had to leave the ride when it stopped and put a handkerchief to my bleeding lip. My faith had now grown. When the bleeding stopped, I went back to the ride which now I knew a little more about. I would not hit my lip on that steering wheel again. My faith had grown. The apparatus all still worked the same, I just knew a little more about how it worked.

And before I left Monte Carlo I had improved my luck, but this time taking chances with the slot machines in the lobby where I won about 400 dollars. Faith at work. 

Well Paul knew that the people of colossae were being sold a bill of goods, like at the house of horrors, it was going to be fun, as were the dogem cars, but there was a price to pay. Faith in God's work in Jesus is like that as well. It starts out as an intriguing issue which one might try, and as the trying continues, the growing does as well. Soon it is no longer chance, soon it becomes a way of life. Faith , hope, and love altogether will make it happen. 

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

                                               What makes a good Christian.

We are well into the start of a new year and I want to just remind us all of what it is that we think makes a good Christian in today’s world.

1Co 13:1  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

5  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

8  Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 

11  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

When I was a child just starting school it became evident to me on the very first day that school was not going to be fun. First of all I did not want to go, so my mother walked me to school. Second, I would be away from home, which no doubt my mother wanted.

 I did not want to be away from what I considered to be contentment, security, and safety. I was basically afraid of school. Of course I did not know that at the time, I just felt that I was being punished. Of course I knew I had to go to school, but I was not ready for it.   

I whined all the way there about not wanting to go. I was five years old, I had no real desire to start going to school, I was satisfied not learning anything. Still, my mother led me to the great double doors of my school entry, and opened the doors, led me inside and turned and left. 

I waited a couple of minutes, milling around with the kids in the hallway just outside my classroom, then turned to the great double doors and opened them and beat my mother back home. Crying all the way.

My mother promptly took me back, and opened the great double doors and took me to the classroom door, opened it and introduced me to my first grade teacher. Ms. Hooper. Who immediately introduced me to her rules for tardy attendance. Fifteen minutes in the cloak room. 

So you see, my foreboding feelings were justified. I had dreaded this day for a whole summer and sure enough, my apprehensions were correct, school was not going to be fun.  

I spent the first fifteen minutes of school in the cloak room, being punished for tardiness. Not a great start to an effort that I would spend the next 12 years of my life trying to cope with. 

But in just a few days I had made new friends and came to understand that actually school was not that difficult. It was not all that long that I learned what it is that I was there to do. I was to be a good student, and all I had to do was to learn what it is that makes a good student. 

 

Some of us Christians come into life that way, we just don't like the way things come into and out of our lives, Jesus too was a rebel of sorts, an inconvenient man for many of his Jewish brothers, the teachers  of the law, the Pharisees and the saducees, He just didn't win many friends with the religious authorities. There was always that feeling when one was around Jesus that there was something he was trying to tell us. with Jesus the feeling always seemed to be that one was lacking something.   Jesus was uncomfortable for some of us to be around. I always felt inadequate around him. Like he always knew what I was thinking. But we began to listen to him and he began to make sense, sure there has always been a God, but He was someone that was always remote, way up there on his throne, just an observer who kept records. We would someday have to face him, but not now. How wrong does Satan make us feel?

ON THE JERICO ROAD

          The Jericho Road, Another Perspective on the Parable of The Good Samaritan                                             

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most popular and insightful teachings of Jesus Christ. This parable, was an answer to a question that came to Him from an expert in the law. These Jewish priests and rabbi along with the scribes and Pharisees were always looking for a way to charge Jesus with breaking the Mosaic law

                                                Scripture Luke 10: 25-37

Luk 10:25,  On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27  He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28  "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29  But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor”? 30  In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31  A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33  But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.34  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35  The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36  "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37  The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." 

The story Jesus relates takes place on the road from Jerusalem down to Jericho, about 20 miles of road through mountainous terrain, which travelers of Jesus day either walked or rode their animals when they traveled. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem The Jericho road as it was known, was the scene of many biblical events. From David's escape from the clutches of his son Absalom, and various trips that Jesus made including one when he healed the blind man Bartimaeus. In Jesus day it was a very dangerous place and there was hilly mountainous terrain which made for a difficult journey. And there were thieves and robbers along the road where they had their hideouts in the wilderness which the road passed through, This story told by Jesus includes the dangerous Jericho road as the location for this event. 

Here we read these words and are left to our own imagination as to the events that took place to have left this poor soul in such a near death condition, and just from the events Jesus tells, it is clear that without the help of someone, this man would surely die. Who is the man?.. we do not know...that is open to our imagination.

                                                           Meditation                                                                       

In the parable,...why does this lawyer ask Jesus his second question, "Who is my neighbor?"…. And it is noteworthy that Jesus never answers that question. In the story, the poor victim is beaten and stripped of his raiment,... 

There is nothing about him that can be used to identify him…. This man could be imagined as anyone by his listeners, and Jesus is sensitive to that, Jesus knows his listeners can imagine the man as anyone,...and from whence cometh his help.

Jesus lays out the story and leaves us with the notion of our potential neighbors,...they in God’s own words are to be loved even as we love ourselves

A Pharisee,….a Samaritan,….a Jew,... a gentile, or a pagan… regardless of whether they are followers of Jesus or not….It is not ours to question their beliefs,..are they our neighbors?...

Does Jesus ever say that the injured traveler is the Samaritan's neighbor? No. but he asks which man "proved to be a neighbor."... So the question is not "Who is my neighbor?"... The question is,... "Am I a neighbor?" 

Now the question posed by this lawyer….seems to have been made to convince Jesus that “to love God….is without limits but,... to warrant my love,…..anyone besides God has to meet certain standards before they can be called neighbor

 Of the three men that day,….who had the encounter with the man,… which one... had compassion for him?”...  To whom are we to be a neighbor?... Jesus wants to teach us not so much who is our neighbor…. 

as to make us understand who it is lying there dying….. by the side of The Jericho road,….. the one who it is that needs a Good Samaritan. 

 Are we to choose the neighbor we must love,…. with the possibility to refuse the ones that in our eyes,...are not worthy?... Jesus revolves that question…..

We need only look at whomever is in front of us…. One never can be certain,…. lest there may be a time when,… without warning,...I am the one stripped of my identity and left for dead.

The Jericho Road was a dangerous place,…. we know that because as did the priest,... and the Levite,... one fear they both had,…. was that if they stopped to help,... that would not be the end of it,... 

nor would they be safe while helping this poor man.... It would be a very inconvenient thing,... getting involved in this mans trouble, Besides,…. He may already be dead.

Is the world we live in now comparable to that dangerous Jericho road?…. And as we travel that road... We as born sinners could easily be the unfortunate victim,... felled in this dangerous world by our sins,…. and left there to die in our sins,... stripped of our righteousness, 

We are felled there,... in our sins,... without hope lest there be Jesus... The Son of God,...  the one who sees us there half dead,... yet he sees something in us worth saving,... Jesus it is then,...who takes up our redemption, 

He pours the oil of healing on our wounds and cleanses us with his blood,... saves our condemned soul by taking our sins upon himself,... as he was destined to do,... and at the place of His crucifixion,... 

He gives his life as our security,... and covers the cost of our sin,... and leaves us in good hands,... in the salvation which he provides,... through those with whom he places us,... with instructions to care for us,... at the Inn of our redemption, God’s Church, cared for by His followers…. 

Then it is also Jesus who will return to cover the cost on the day of reckoning…. He has assigned us a place among the righteous….apart from that Jericho road,…. It is Jesus then who saves us,… Jesus is our “Good Samaritan”…We are to be Good Samaritans who Go and do likewise AMEN

WHO IS TO SAY ?

From Habakkuk the third chapter  LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD….. Repeat them in our day,……. in our time make them known;…..in wrath remember mercy….. 

3  God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran…….. His glory covered the heavens…...and his praise filled the earth……….4  His splendor was like the sunrise;……. rays flashed from his hand,……….. where his power was hidden………..

17  Though the fig tree does not bud…... and there are no grapes on the vines,…….. though the olive crop fails………. and the fields produce no food,…….. though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,……... 

18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,………. I will be joyful in God my Savior………..19  The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights……….. 

There is a story about an old New Yorker,... a man of the streets,... one who lived by only his wits…….. and the money he got….. from panhandling……..One day while panhandling at his usual post, he was bothered by the noise of a jack hammer out in the street….. The noise was deafening….so he decided to move from there.

Walking away now,... he was looking for another less noisy spot when he noticed a woman walking across the street,….She was leading a little girl by the hand…. It was obvious that the woman was not watching……. where she was going as she walked swiftly along…... She was reading what looked like a letter. 

As she walked along…. it became apparent that she was so engrossed in the letter…. that she did not notice……... a city bus moving towards them,…..Then as they were about to step into the path of the bus…. The man screamed out but the sound from the jack hammer…. and the hustle and bustle of the morning was just too much,... he could not make himself heard…. 

The woman and the little girl were one moment away…. from stepping right in front of the bus, and being killed,... there was nothing the man could do now but watch….. …...He knew it would be instant death for both ….. But suddenly there happened a momentary miracle.

As she and the little girl were about to step into this coming disaster,….. and while still reading the letter……. a quick breeze blew the letter out of the woman's hand……... and over her shoulder,….. backwards….. She spun around and reached for the letter, the force of her action…... also knocking the little girl backwards.

By the time she reached out for the girl….. and the two of them fell backwards the bus had passed by,……. narrowly missing them……. The woman and the little girl never saw it,….. Neither of them knew……. that they had narrowly missed what would have been certain death…...In an instant a miracle,……. witnessed only by the beggar.  

To this day the man who had seen this miracle happen,…... remembers only two things about the event….. The first memory is a question,….Where did that one spurt of wind come from………. to blow the letter out of the woman’s hand?

The second memory is,…. if the woman had heard his warning shout out,….. she might have looked up……. as she continued to walk into the path of the bus,…...but there was no possibility….. that his screams could have been heard….with all the noise of that morning. 

So indeed the noise was there for a purpose....  The breeze was there for a purpose. And so it was that two lives were spared…. divinely by the providence of God,…. and witnessed only by this man of the street,….. who by the divine providence of God…..Found himself at church the next Sunday….. Thanking God for the miracle he had witnessed…... Who is to say…… That God does not involve himself in the affairs of  His creation.

Rom 8:27-31  And he who searches our hearts……. knows the mind of the Spirit,…... because the Spirit intercedes……... for God's people in accordance with the will of God….. 28  And we know that in all things…... God works for the good of those who love him,……... who have been called according to his purpose.

29  For those God foreknew……... he also predestined………. to be conformed to the image of his Son,………... that he might be the firstborn……... among many brothers and sisters………..

30  And those he predestined,…... he also called;……... those he called, ………..he also justified;………. those he justified, he also glorified……….. 31  What, then, shall we say in response to these things?……... If God is for us, who can be against us? 

The window to the soul

A window to the soul, a look into the soul of only one.
At one time in my life I was a free spirit, doing whatever my fanciful imagination might happen upon. then I learned of my own selfish desires and selfish concerns. A study of some of my acts left me with a disgusting feeling about myself. Why am I so self aware? It came to me from reading and studying the Bible, here is a sample of what I found about myself

Proverbs 30:17 – The eye is the window to the soul

It is often said “the eye is the window to the soul”.  The eyes do communicate various emotions.  Wide-open eyes communicate fear, while a squint of the eyes communicates anger or disgust.  Dreamy eyes are said to communicate love and affection.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught His disciples that the eye is the light of the soul.

Matthew 6:22-23 – “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single [clear; undivided; without hypocrisy], thy whole body shall be full of light. 23  But if thine eye be evil [wicked; malicious], thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Proverbs 30:17 instructs us that a “look in the eye” can tell you a lot about what is going on in the soul and spirit of a man.

Proverbs 30:17 – “The eye [face; countenance] that mocketh [derides; scorns] at his father, and despiseth [disrespect; rejects] to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out [pierce; thrust out; hollow out], and the young eagles shall eat it [feed upon].”

I have studied faces in family photos over the years and been fascinated by the change in countenance of children as they enter their teen years.  The faces of youth Roland and Sadie Whitley grandchildren - circa mid-1960often convey an innocent, unpretentious joy and sincerity; however, those same faces with the passing of years sometimes etch on their countenances an angry, rebellious, squint-eyed appearance.  I have observed in those rebellious eyes a hollow, desensitized soul that is frightening, cold and tragic.

It is that spirit Proverbs 30:17 identifies in a son or daughter who mocks his or her father and despises the mother.  This proverb warns that such a child will inevitably come to a tragic end…rejecting the umbrella of spiritual security and Charles-Manson-2sanity in his parent’s household, this rebellious fool will surely come to a tragic, ignoble end and no one may be there to bemoan such a waste of life.

Matthew 13:15 – “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Someone reading this devotion may fit the description of the son or daughter in today’s parable.  I urge you to open your eyes and ears to your fate should you continue down a path of rebellion and repent of your sin.