micro-psalm 85

i did not, Father, choose

a nomad’s life; however

as soon as i settle

my old body in a fine place

You grab me by the hair

(as it were) and remove me,

uproot my feet before they

can grow into a yard

Wayside Chapel Daily Devotional 1st March 2024

3/1 Exodus 25:8

8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

God has always planned to be in our midst, but it has to come about through a proper relationship to truly be all He means it to be. The tree of life was in the midst of the Garden. The tabernacle was in the midst of the tribes of Israel. Wherever two or three are gathered in Jesus' name (Matthew 18:20), He promised to be in their midst. But let us go one step further. Jesus promised that if we love Him and keep His word, He and the Father would make their home in us (John 14:23)!

Do you see a pattern from the macro to the micro? We see it in creation too. The heavens declare His glory (Psalm 19:1). The earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3). The church reveals His glory. (Ephesians 3:21) And you and I should be filled with His glory because of His presence in our midst. His presence in us can only be possible if we are made holy. His holiness will not tolerate evil in our heart. The tabernacle is a picture of how that problem can be overcome.

All the illustrations in the tabernacle of Moses are to help us understand that God wants to be with us and in us, but we must be holy. Every piece of furniture and every ritual teach that God will provide a way for that to be possible. It all points wonderfully to Jesus, to justice, to mercy and love. God wants us to understand His heart. The tabernacle is His illustration of what He had planned so that we could grasp the need for Jesus to be our atoning sacrifice. And the end result is God making us His dwelling place, His home, forever.

Consider: How gracious of God to take us by the hand and show us picture after picture, so that when Jesus came we would understand why He had to die for us. Look deeply into God's illustrations to understand what God has done for us.

#DailyDevotion Despite The Lies Of The Devil, Blessed Are Those Whose Quiver Is Full Of Children

#DailyDevotion Despite The Lies Of The Devil, Blessed Are Those Whose Quiver Is Full Of Children Psalm 127 If the LORD doesn't build a house, it's no use working so hard building it. If the LORD doesn't protect a city, it's no use to guard and protect it. 2It's no use for you to get up early and go to bed late, O you who eat the bread of strenuous labor, for surely He gives to those He loves while they sleep. 3Behold, children are an inheritance from the LORD; His reward is a fruitful womb. 4Like arrows in a warrior's hand are a man's children who are born when he's young. 5Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them: He will not come to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the city gate. If there was ever more clear evidence of divine providence in this world I'm not sure where it is. Certainly there may be one, but this passage is very clear, unless the LORD builds a house you can forget about it being completed. If the LORD doesn't protect a city in war it is going to fall. This is not always to say the LORD favors those whose houses He builds and cities He protects, though this would apply to ancient Israel and Judah. However, the LORD at times builds up different dynasties and protects certain cities because it fits in His overall plan to do so. We know He lifted up Egypt to show His glory there when He delivered His people from them. He raised up both the Assyrians and Babylonians to discipline His people. It would appear He raised up the Greeks to spread their language for the purpose of spreading the Gospel and the Romans for the purpose of giving a time of peace for that Gospel to spread quickly. Unless He reveals it to us, we only can look back and see it in hindsight. But as God's holy people who have been called to faith in Christ Jesus we have this certainty of divine providence in our lives to bring us and preserve us in our salvation as Paul tells us in Romans 8, "28We know that God works all things out for good for those who love God, who are called according to His plan." The second verse stands in parallel to the first. However, it is more on a micro level, to us individually. It encourages us not to be anxious about our daily bread. Jesus' teaching on not being anxious in Matt. 6 certainly fills this out. While not encouraging laziness expecting the LORD to take care of us, it tells us there is a time for work which the LORD will bless, and we can rest at night trusting in this word. Some translations have, "He gives sleep to His beloved" while a few have, "He gives to His beloved while he sleeps." While I personally like "while he sleeps' ' it seems from the Hebrew the gift is sleep itself. Trusting in the LORD to bless the work of our hands means we need not work early or stay up late, or not get sleep because we are worried. Instead we can sleep trusting in the LORD's providence over the work of our hands. Verses 3-5 tells us the blessings of children, lots of children. It goes against everything Planned Parenthood has deceived the world into thinking, that we have too many children. The world following the deceptions of the devil and his crafty lies tries to tell us not to bring children into this cruel world. Children however make this cruel world a better place. Our LORD Jesus Christ loves children. They are the type of those who have faith in Him. Children are never a curse but they are a blessing to us. Sure, you may not be able to have the most expensive vacations, or give the most costly gifts to your children if you have many, but the LORD will bless us when we have them. It is best to let the LORD determine how many children are the right amount for us. For it is He who opens and closes wombs. I can't tell you how sad it is when couples who believed the lie back in the 30's, 40's and 50's who only had one or two children. One child dies before the parent. The other child hates the parents and has nothing to do with them. They die alone, but thankfully not truly alone. They at least have the LORD Jesus with them. But had they been open to the LORD's blessing, they could have been surrounded by children and grandchildren. We have a promise from the LORD, "Happy is the man who quiver is full of them." He doesn't lie. Merciful God and Father, grant us faith in Your providence so we may sleep well at night and be surrounded by those who love us at this life's end. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article

“Glimmers” based on Psalm 10:1-14 and John 10:11-16

You may already know this, but sheep are the vulnerable adults of the animal kingdom. They are epically poor at making good decisions. Left to their own devices they will eat themselves to death, because they just don't know when to stop. Because of their woolly coats, which weigh them down when wet, they're picky about where they drink. They're vulnerable to predators, and can get lost easily.

It is because they are so vulnerable that the role of shepherd is so important. It is probably because they are so vulnerable and in need of help and support that they come to know and rely on their shepherd.

It is probably because we're all sometimes vulnerable, and can make bad decisions, and have particular needs we can't easily meet that the metaphor of God as a Shepherd makes sense. Well, that and the Bible was written when agricultural metaphors were the most easily available and understood ones ;)

This passage from John fits easily into the explanations we have of the 23rd Psalm, where God is a shepherd. Here, Jesus is the shepherd, right? And here it is explicit that the care the shepherd gives is being willing to run INTO danger to protect the sheep while others would choose to run away. And the shepherd is the one the sheep know and trust, and no one else is. Lovely.

Perhaps my favorite part of this passage is the end where Jesus claims there are other flocks who also listen to his voice, and it is his intention to bring them together. That sounds right- that there are others who also know love and also are loved and that Jesus is able to offer care for more individuals than we might have thought possible.

I adore, too, the intimacy of the passage, the reminder that a shepherd and their sheep KNOW EACH OTHER well, and know each other's voices, and respond to each other. That fits, because humans and sheep are all mammals and mammals are all about connecting to each other.

It leads me to wondering about how it is we experience that kind of intimacy with the Divine. God, we say, is everywhere in everything and always around us and always available. Yet, not every moment of our lives feels saturated with the Divine, and quite often we're too busy doing other things to connect. Or maybe God feels farther away and the connection is harder to come by.

This week I've been thinking about the reminders of God and God's goodness that glimmer in the world and help us remember to connect. I've been thinking about it because I spent a week at camp and the whole week was just one big glimmer of wonderfulness and love, of being wrapped in creation and there being spaciousness to connect with wonderful people, and time to savor it all. But, it turns out, I came home from camp and reality as I usually experience it hit me … well, pretty fast and pretty hard and I was disoriented.

Because usually my life involves bearing witness to a lot of pain, and a lot of our society's brokenness and when I came back to that with my guard down it HURT. (Which is also good, I think, but that's for another day.)

And yet, my guard needs to come down sometimes. And sometimes I need to take a walk with dear ones and marvel over the many colors of mushrooms growing in the woods, or watch a beaver swim with a big branch, or just sit and watch a rainstorm come by from a dry porch, or talk about scripture with people who just love it. (Camp. WOW.)

So I've been thinking about joy, and where to access it. And I've been thinking about hope and where to access it. Because I don't think that the injustices of the world or the pain that humans experience are about to stop, but I don't want those to be the ONLY things that get my attention.

And that's where “glimmers” come in. I shared this on the church's Facebook page:

Did you know about glimmers?

Glimmer is the opposite of a trigger. Like a micro moment that makes you happier, a little moment of awe, something that makes you feel hope. Once you start looking for them and embracing them, your life feels so much sweeter.

I'm actually going to take that a bit further though. I think a glimmer is a glimpse of God, or God's love, or God's goodness, or God's desire for us to live full and abundant lives. And they're reminders that we can trust in God and God is with us – like John says.

So I've been watching for glimmers. Baptism is ALWAYS one. This baptism all the more so for me, after having had the chance to confirm Chris in the early years of my ministry here. I have been reminded that we have rainstorms AND porches here in Schenectady, as well as sunrises and sunsets and even sometimes stars and all of that glimmers. Good food glimmers. Shared excitement glimmers. Great ideas glimmer. Quiet moments of understanding glimmer. Debbie's fingers on a keyboard glimmer. Maybe it is too obvious, but the stained glass in here glimmers – and it is awfully good to remember to look!!

Once I started looking again, the glimmers were everywhere. Oh, Andrew, I hope you grow up seeing glimmers everywhere every day. I hope your family does too and they teach you to appreciate it. I hope your churches – here and at home – do too and they teach you to appreciate it. And, by the way – all of the rest of you too.

I wish you the capacity to see the glimmers all around you, and the ability to remember they are signs of God's love, and the development of trust in God that can come from it all – so that we all learn even better how to hear and trust God's voice.

Amen

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

August 13, 2023

(Thanks to Joan E. Carey for photo.)

New Post has been published on Andy Bondurant

New Post has been published on https://andybondurant.com/2023/06/06/contemplation-god-in-creation/

Contemplation: God in Creation

A few years ago, I traveled with our church youth group on their annual Summer Camp. You need to understand something about how our church does youth camp…it’s not normal. Like most church camps, we travel to a remote camp location with activities, chapels and sleeping bags. What sets this youth camp apart is what happens around that tradition.

The Ultimate Road Trip

It’s an ultimate road trip. The year I participated, we traveled from our home in the KC suburbs through Nebraska and South Dakota for a short stop at Mt Rushmore. From there we drove across the plains of Wyoming into the open sky lands of Montana. We rode past Billings and Bozeman and through Missoula until we arrived in Glacier National Park. After an unbelievable hike in Glacier, bathing in an ice cold lake and a few nights in tents we headed to Yellowstone and then finally to our camp location in Wyoming.

There are lots of memories that stand out about this journey, but let me share two with you. First, I had never been that far north during the summer. While in Kansas the summer light lasts until about 9pm, in Glacier, it wasn’t truly dark until closer to 11pm. As we drove to our campsite near the park, I kept wondering when it would be dark. I mean not twilight but truly dark. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no city lights, and it still wasn’t dark. 

I wasn’t prepared for this, but it helps explain the immensity of my other memory. We finally arrived to our campsite a little after midnight. It was completely dark, and we were busy figuring out the sleeping arrangements (setting up tents) for the 40 people with us. After unloading a trailer of luggage, food, tents, arranging and setting up tents, and getting the students to their assigned tents with all their luggage (a much more difficult task when dealing with the dozen or more junior high students on the trip), I finally had a moment to look around. 

I heard God in the silence of the night sky

For years I lived 20 minutes outside the suburbs of Kansas City. I regularly spent time beyond our small town lights. I have often seen the stars in the country night sky. This background doesn’t hold a candle to what I saw in Montana that night. The sky was perfectly clear. The best way I can describe what I experienced was the feeling of being in a planetarium. A doom of stars in 360 degrees surrounded me. A group of 4 or 5 of us stood and looked in awe. 

Image by Denis Degioanni on UnSplash

In that moment I experienced God. To put it another way, I heard God. It wasn’t an audible voice. The experience wasn’t some sort of moral lesson for me to pass on. What I heard was the existence, majesty and vastness of God. I knew God is.

Contemplation: See + Be God

The ancients call this experience I had contemplation. Contemplation, among others, is way we hear God. After a bit of study on the concept of contemplation, I developed this definition of contemplation:

Contemplation is seeing God in the world around us and being God to the world around us.

There are three basic ways I’ve seen to contemplate God.

We contemplate God through culture.

We contemplate God through creation.

We contemplate God through every day life.

Contemplation in Creation: God exists in glory

Of three ways of contemplation, I find contemplating God through creation to be the most natural. When we view and study nature in both the macro and micro, it points us to an intelligent design. Because there seems to be an intelligence to the design of nature, then it speaks of an intelligent Designer behind the design.

The Poet-King, David, wrote about his experience with contemplation in Psalms 19.

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.”  ‭‭‬‬

Psalms‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT

Contemplation in Creation: God cares

When I look at nature, I see God. But I don’t just see that God exists, I see that God cares.

Take as an example bats. Yes, the winged, flying bats that get such a bad rap from vampire mythology. It’s estimated that insect eating bats save American farmers between $3.7B and $53B every year in pesticide costs. This doesn’t include the costs on the ecosystem if bats didn’t exist (like the ability for insects to adapt to pesticides). God cares for us by creating bats to naturally suppress insects that would destroy crops and could overrun our world. 

Now think about your own body. Get this, you have between 60,000-100,000 miles of blood vessels in your body. If we were to take these blood vessels out of your body and lay them end-to-end, they would stretch around the world more than three times. God cares enough about you to oversee 60,000+ miles of blood vessels in your body.

Again, David writes about the delicate care of God to put us together perfectly:

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When I contemplate nature – whether it is out in the wild or within my own body – I see God is both glorious and he cares for me. Do you see God in creation?

How to Contemplate in Creation

David makes it clear creation is a natural way to contemplate God. So how do we do it? Here are three tips (and yes, these tips are the same as contemplating God in culture):

1. Ask God to open your eyes.

I’ve made it a practice as I meditate in the morning to ask the Holy Spirit to fill me fresh for the day. As part of this process, I ask him to open my eyes and ears to see and hear him throughout the day. A great first step to seeing God in creation is asking him to reveal himself to you.

2. Train yourself to see God in creation.

For many of us, we’ve learned to compartmentalize the secular and the sacred. We have taught ourselves to that God belongs in his box, and the world belongs in a different box.  We need to train ourselves to see God doesn’t remove himself from either box. 

When you take a walk or you make a road trip (even if it’s just an hour away) look at God’s creation. When you learn something about the human body or the natural world ask yourself what that tells you about God. Determine how it displays God’s glory and majesty, and how it reminds you of his care for you and all of humanity.

3. Share what you see with others.

I love talking about my trip to Montana. I have other stories of looking into the Grand Canyon, running from tornadoes and climbing an active volcano. All of them end with sharing the power, majesty and care of God. 

Contemplation isn’t just seeing God in creation, it is using what we see to be God to the world around us. So when you are having a conversation about your walk in the park or discovery about the world, share how creation points you to the glory of God.

God as creator is both glorious and caring. Do you see God in the culture around you?

04/17/2023 DAB Transcript

Joshua 15:1-63, Luke 18:18-43, Psalms 86:1-17, Proverbs 13:9-10

Today is the 17th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather yet again around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward like we do every day. And our next step leads us back into the book of Joshua. And today we’ll read Joshua chapter 15.

Commentary:

Alright. So, in the gospel of Luke today, we are now turning toward Jerusalem, which is what Jesus has…has told his disciples in our reading from today, we’re going to Jerusalem, and I’m going to be taken from you, basically. And the disciples don't…they don't get it. As…as…as the gospel of Luke tells us they don't understand. And this is in…in part because of their expectations. The idea of the Messiah wasn't like a foreign concept to the Hebrew people. They were waiting for an Anointed One to come and lead them back to God and…and…and get their land back and dedicate it back to God. And…and just kind of diving into that really gives us a true glimpse even of our own world. There were prophetic words that they were leaning on that one day, God would rescue them, that there would be an Anointed One, but from where they sat or where they stood, where they lived, from where their lives were being lived they were in their ancestral homeland, but it was not their land. It was part of the Roman Empire. It was the province of Syria. It was controlled and governed by Rome. So, on the one hand you have Hebrew people that are just assimilating going like this is pretty good. We get all our needs met, everything is good and just try to assimilate. But then there are other people that are trying to worship the Lord God and are separating themselves because of the mixture in the land. And there are other people that are like, the only way this is gonna work, the only way is that there is Anointed…Anointed One that comes and leads us in a military overthrow of Rome pushing them into the sea, getting them out of the land and restoring the land to God. This is the only way they could see like a tangible victory that made any sort of rational sense. And, so, they’re kind of leaning in this direction. And the territory thar Jesus came from, the Galilee region even…even going back into the intertestamental period, the time between the old and the new Testaments, this is an area known for zealotry for rebellion for…I mean, depending on which side of the equation you’re on, for terrorism, for that kind of stuff, for like ambushes and all kinds of skirmishes. And, so, nobody was expecting what…what Jesus did, and it creates a sharp contrast with the way that we think all oftentimes. We think power through strength, respect through strength and dominance when…when Jesus modeled humility, forgiveness, and love, and sacrifice. He conquered the darkness and the power of death and hell by that example, a very different example than a messianic figure that rises up and creates military unrest and becomes a warlord. And that's on a macro level. But if we bring it down to a micro level and kind of put it in our own laps, it's like how we react when the wrong thing gets said with the wrong tone of voice. Like, do we retaliate and start a verbal war, or do we begin to understand that love is a more powerful weapon than any of the disruptions in our lives. Like, Jesus is modeling that love actually does conquer all even if it looks like defeat. The cross changed the entire world, right, including our own lives. Like we are absolutely affected by this If not irreversibly changed by this. And, so, this is our model. And, so, Jesus is telling the disciples this is gonna happen. They don't completely understand what He’s saying. They arrive in Jericho, which is a desert city in the Jordan Valley. This is the way that the journey was often made. Its…it's a desert route, but it's flat land and you’re not up and down and up and down through all of the hills and mountains. So, Jesus is moving through Jericho when a blind man sitting by the side of the road hears that He's coming through. We’ve seen this story before. And he cries out, “have mercy on me, son of David”, and he won't stop calling out, “please have mercy on me. Please have mercy, son of David”, even as everyone around him is telling him to shut up and trying to marginalize and push him to the outer boundaries where he can't be heard. He keeps yelling for mercy. God hears that kind of cry all through the Bible, that humble reaching, that humble longing, crying out, “have mercy on me”. And, so, indeed it gets the attention of Jesus who stops everything. And let's remember, Jesus has told His disciples what’s gonna happen to Him. They understand…they didn't understand, but He does. He understands. And, so, like, this scene, it has a lot of weight when we read it because the weight of the world is on Jesus. He's got a walk up to Jerusalem and be tortured to death and He knows it. Like if you know that kind of knowledge, you're probably going to be very very very distracted. But Jesus stops everything for this guy. And He gets near the man and says, “what do you want me to do for you?” And the man replies, “I want to see”. And Jesus says, “receive your site. Your faith has healed you.” It’s such a beautiful scene. It's such a riveting scene. It's such an important scene in our own lives and it illustrates what we were just talking about, Jesus telling His disciples what's going to happen, and they can't see it. They are blind to it. And what does Jesus say about the kingdom, “for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.” Many expected military uprising and overthrow from the Messiah, but they didn't have eyes to see that forgiveness and love was the way to reconciliation, to putting things back together instead of breaking them down further. That's our role friends in following Jesus along the path of faith putting things back together. And, so, when that thing gets said with the wrong tone of voice and what rises up in us is retaliation, that's the moment of truth right there. Will we return good for evil? Will we respond with love knowing that it's not a week thing, that it actually takes a whole lot more strength and a whole lot more focus to love in the face of it than it does to simply retaliate and continue to break things down further? God's work is redemption. God's work is putting things back together. When we go out into the world and continue to break things down because we don't have eyes to see we’re not helping. And, so, may we begin to get desperate enough for God and desperate enough to see that like this blind man, we will scream out, have mercy upon me, I know I'm blind. I know I can't see, have mercy upon me. And may we hear Jesus coming up alongside of us asking us, what you want me to do for you? And may we respond. I want to see. And may we hear receive your site your faith has healed you. This is life changing things. Like this is transformational for us. We open our eyes and see what's going on and get on board with what God is doing in this world. And at the basest level we can understand that if we’re retaliating or if we’re jumping into the fray and actually breaking things further that's not the right direction. We’re in the direction of redemption and restoration and reconciliation. We’re in the direction of wholeness. We’re moving in the direction that puts us back together again and that we get to participate in putting the world back together. Let's give it some thought today. There’s not a downside here other than maybe our pride, like other than our arrogance, other than things that we have to control anyway. There's no downside. What if we experiment in our home? What if we just take a week and go, I will respond in love. I will respond in love. That doesn't mean I'll become the doormat. That means I will respond and love. I will not further break another thing down in my relationships in my home. That's the place to start, just to see if this is the truth, just to…like we’ve come here to read through the whole Bible and many of us have been through the Bible together around the Global Campfire many many years and the Bible continues to confront us in every conceivable way possible in order to get our eyes open, that we might see so that we might walk the path of wholeness.

Prayer:

Jesus we invite You into this. It's You we need, and You have modeled a path that is a difficult path in the face of the world that we live in. And the fallenness of our human nature and our lust for power and dominance, we see what You were facing. We also see what You've modeled for us, that redemption is the way. Putting things back together, restoring, making things new is the way. And we have to confess that we have participated in tearing lots of things down through our thoughts, our words and our deeds, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Forgive us Lord. We repent. And by saying that we repent, because we can say anything, we’re confessing that we need to go in a different direction and we need Your help to guide us. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

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Check out the Community section. The Community section has different links to the different social media channels that we participate in. And, so, that's a good way to communicate. If you're following along that allows us to...well…that allows us to do lots of things like post words of encouragement, but it also allows us to let you know what's going on. So, check those links out and follow along if you are connected to any of those platforms. The Community section is also the home of the Prayer Wall. And the Prayer Wall is there for us. It's not all over the place. It's there for us as a community around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward every day. And we have to do that. We take the next step forward every day but sometimes the next step forward leads us into situations that we don't know how to navigate or into circumstances that feel like they're gonna crush us. Of course, sometimes we take the next step forward into complete calm and serenity and we’ve come out of the storm. And, so, it's this kind of back-and-forth, the ebb and flow of life together. But that's the thing, together. So often we’re like shouldering these burdens and just getting crushed when we could reach out for our brothers and sisters to just simply encourage us, pray for us, be there with us in it. And that is the Prayer Wall. It's there for us to share our stories and invite our brothers and sisters to pray for us. And they do. And it's also a place to pray. Maybe we’re in that season where things are going pretty well right now, but we know what it felt like to be in the storm. And the Prayer Wall is a great place to go and come alongside those who are in the storm and let them know, I know how you feel, I’ve been through this, you're going to be okay. I'm praying for you. That is the Prayer Wall and that can be found in the Community section, either on the website or on the Daily Audio Bible app.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring God's word read fresh every day and offered freely to the world, if that…if that offering each day brings life and good news and thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Coming soon…

I’m ready to be in a cult, and if bad happens it’s a martyr. You have a door man, and by the door man you have the witnesses and the victim. If the victim doesn’t submit to brothel, then the got is the got, and it would be “dramatic” to where it follows you - and it’s not virtue. “He grabbed my breast, and called me the Agatha of Sicily.” Some woman being a virgin, and she starts talking about God to where the whole building knows about it! Imagine a woman saying psalms in conversation, now you hear this and want to be wicked. The problem is the skin of “the gods” but you are in a cult. The Greeks called the animal headed gods of the Egyptian bizarre and primitive, well I can personify brothel and “the god” is green. It’s a macro micro effect, if the leaders don’t submit - you see Jezebel as Jezebel. It’s means to get money and run off to North Dakota. Now, she hides. Yes

Moments of hope church

#Moments of hope church series

#Moments of hope church tv

They’re a firm hold when everything else is spinning out of control.īut the “weightiness” invoked in the Scriptures describes much more than rote prayers or even “church lady” traditions like dropping off a casserole for someone sick. They hold the weight of centuries, which is palpable in their outdated language. In times of crises, we go back to these basics. Peter’s Square by leading them in the simple prayers that are the first ones Catholics learn through oral tradition, before we can even read: The Hail Mary, the Our Father, the Glory Be. I’m touched by the line from the first reading: “Hold fast to the traditions you were taught…by an oral statement.” When Pope Francis was first elected, he moved the hearts of the crowd in St. What is it about crises that makes so many of us into “old church ladies”? I think it has to do with the “weightiness” alluded to in today’s Scriptures. I’m struck in today’s readings by the firmness and weightiness that the Scripture authors employ in their language. Yet here I was in the hospital, praying with all the “thee”s and “thou”s and thinking, however improbably, maybe I should do a novena. I prefer contemplative prayer to rote “Here I Am, Lord” to “How Great Thou Art” Mass in a school gym with felt banners to Mass in St. It is probably obvious from my reaction to these things that I am not a traditionalist Catholic. In recent days, I’ve appreciated how having a loved one in the hospital awakens what I lovingly call the “old church lady” in everyone-friends are calling on the phone (an exceptional feat for us Millennials) acquaintances are offering to drop off dinner (or, in a more modern twist, offering to order us UberEats) Jesuits are saying Masses for us one Catholic Worker I know stepped away from Maryhouse’s never-ending chores to pray in the chapel my mom even sent me a Mary medal with a prayer straight out of the 1950s: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” (A quick Google search reveals it’s actually from the 1800s, but you get the point.) (I’m okay now!) And, as often happens in moments of crisis, I found myself instinctively reaching for a Rosary, or rattling off decades on my fingers to quiet my anxious thoughts. Last week, I ended up in the hospital, faced with some difficult health decisions. I know exactly why this language stands out to me. From the psalm: “He has made the world firm, not to be moved.” In the Gospel: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees… have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” From the first reading: “We ask you…not to be shaken” “brothers and sisters, stand firm”. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firmĪnd hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,Įither by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.” (2 Thessalonians 2:15) This group gathers together to create and pray over prayer shawls, blankets, and squares that are given by HOPE to others in various moments of life.A Reflection for Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time Learn more about the book at the link above! + Micro Groupsīeing a part of a micro group is a wonderful way to grow together with a few people who are in a similar spiritual place as you! You pick a category and we tell you where to start! Learn more about micro groups. It is a great group for anyone looking to connect with others while talking about what God's grace means for our often tangled up lives. This group will read and talk about the book The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out. This group meets offsite at a home in Voorhees, NJ This group is geared towards those who want to learn more about physical, spiritual, and emotional healing or Shalom people who desire transparency in sharing, and opportunities to pray for others and to be prayed for. This group will be reading the book, To Be Made Well: An Invitation to Wholeness, Healing, and Hope by Amy Julia Becker.

#Moments of hope church series

This group will watch the second season of the series together and engage in conversation about each of us can relate to the lives of the men who said yes when Jesus invited them to follow him.

#Moments of hope church tv

The Chosen is a deeply moving TV series that brings to life the lives of the disciples as they follow Jesus.

micro-psalm 83

i see the leaf-strewn yard,

feel the chill seeping

into the smudged window

and like one neglecting the glass

on the untidy table

remember that i’ve forgotten

how much You are craved

By JonBoy, done in Cali. http://ttoo.co/p/29667

My new favorite micro genre is “wholesome robots just doing their best who live in the woods”. It has two books that I know of, A Psalm for the Wild Built and The Wild Robot and I’m happy to take suggestions for further books on the subject to read.

TAFAKKUR: Part 435

OUTER SPACE: MANKIND'S NEW FRONTIER: Part 2

C) SPACE MANUFACTURE

Although satellite communications and remote sensing are already very profitable commercial enterprises, space manufacturing is thought to have even greater commercial potential. As space is a relatively dust-free, micro gravity environment, it offers a unique laboratory setting for the development and processing of some complicated chemicals, pharmaceuticals, semi-conductor crystals, glass and metal alloys-indeed, production under micro gravity conditions is estimated to be up to 500 hundred times that possible on earth and with a degree of purity unobtainable on earth (Jericho and McCracken, 1986, p.802).The potential market sales for such products is reckoned at around $20 billion annually.

Additionally the relatively uncontaminated space environment is an ideal place for growing crystals used in computers, optoelectronics and ultrasonic equipment; for developing floride glass used in laser and fibre optic applications; and for producing new metal alloys as well as metals of higher purity and structural uniformity (ibid., p.803). In sum, the horizons for potential use of space are immeasurable.

THE ISLAMIC COUNTRIES AND SPACE ACTIVITIES

Our concern is to find out what the Muslims are doing or not doing in the face of the continued progress of the space-faring Christians (NASA, ESA), the Jews (Israel), the Buddhists (People’s Republic of China, Japan), the Hindus (India). It was declared at the beginning of the ‘space age’ that space would be a province all mankind. However, it is apparent that it is only the technologically advanced non-Muslim states who are ploughing in huge sums of money into aerospace technology and enjoying the benefits of the outer space environment. Muslims in general seem unaware of the fact that it is enjoined upon them to keep abreast of the latest science and technology and to be as equipped as the non-Muslims. For example, in Sura al-Mulk, God directs our attention to the Heavens:

‘He who created the seven one above another: you will see no want of proportion in the creation of the Most Gracious, so turn your sight again: Do you see any flaw? Again turn your vision a second time; your sight will return to you dim and discomfited, in a state worn out’ (67.3-4. See also 7.54; 13.2; 21.33; 36.40;51.7; 81.15.)

In the light of this encouragement, the Arab Muslims, from very the beginning of Islamic civilization reached the highest degree in astronomy. While the pre-Renaissance Christians thought the world flat, Muslims realized that it must be round and that it rotates on its axis. The Muslims in the Abbasid period detected many stars and constellations and gave names to them which are still used (See, for more information, Sharh al-Mawaqif and Ma‘rifatname by Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum; also, al-Hayat by Nur al-Din Batruji,d.1185).

Until the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Islamic scholars had been for centuries at the leading edge of study in astronomy as well as other pure and applied sciences. Even as late as the last 19th century, astronomy was an essential subject in the curriculums of the Ottoman colleges. However, some narrow-minded Muslims decried the teaching of scientific knowledge in schools and prevented Muslims from education. Their efforts were one (though not the only) reason for the relative decline of the Oriental world. This attitude degenerated further into the sinister view that any non-Muslim knowledge or equipment makes a person an unbeliever.

Vestiges of this barbarism remain to this day. To give an anecdote: I know of an imam who was recently accused by some peasants of being an unbeliever simply for informing them during a sermon delivered in their village that human beings had landed on the moon.

On the other side, Western propaganda has persistently labelled Islam as ‘backward’ and ‘unenlightened’, and imposed a feeling of inferiority among many Muslims-so that they find themselves thinking-‘The non-Muslims have walked on the moon, while we still walk barefoot on the earth.’ For over a century and a half, Muslims have been deliberately kept behind Western achievements. But the trust (amana) that God has bestowed upon mankind is most particularly the responsibility of the believers, the Muslims. Are we ready to live up to it?

God declares in the Qur’an: Before this We wrote in the Psalms, after the Message (given to Moses ): My servants, the righteous, shall inherit the earth. No one should doubt that one day this truth guaranteed by God’s oath will come true. An eminent Islamic scholar has read this verse to mean that the human stewardship will not be confined to the earth. Rather, those who become the trustees and masters of the earth will also rule over the remotest parts of the skies (Sahin, 1993). Naturally, such rule depends upon qualifications and quality. It is essential therefore that Muslims acquire the qualities demanded by the only Owner of the heavens and the earth. Even, this promise will come true to the degree that Muslims do acquire the requisite qualities (ibid.).

Are the Muslims indeed striving to get the requisite qualities? To a certain degree, yes. After the emancipation from the years of colonization, Islamic countries (particularly Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran) began to educate their own experts in sophisticated technology. But colonization has been followed by a brain drain. Thus, it is reported that there are considerable numbers of Turkish scientists working in NASA’s space programmes.

With regard to space technology, there are incipient attempts by the Islamic countries. One such attempt is the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (ARABSAT). The Charter of the Organization was signed by twenty one Arab States in 1976. ARABSAT is intended to fulfil the aspirations of the Arabs have their own satellite system as a tool for socio-economic development of the region and for bringing about the transfer of technology. The ARABSAT space segment is composed of two satellites launched in 1985 and 1992, and located on the GSO at 19’E and 26’E respectively. But the organization does not have its own launching pads. Hence, it is dependent upon either the European Ariane or the US Space Shuttle. In addition to this, two Turkish Satellites will soon be sent to the GSO. TURKSAT project will be an important milestone in the communication of Turkic and Islamic countries.

Surely, the achievements of ARABSAT and TURKSAT are not promising in terms of scope and infrastructure. Islamic countries need to pool their scientific, technological and, more importantly, financial resources to set up an Islamic aerospace organization. Arab petro-dollars are wasted in Western banks when they could be channelled into this potentially lucrative area. The break-up of the USSR is an extremely good opportunity for the fledging Turkic Republics to collaborate with other Islamic states. The launch pads of the former Soviet Union were set up in Kazakhstan. Today the Kazakhs are waiting for customers. In the CIS, as Mikhail Osin said: ‘the pay of those who build spaceships is lower than that of a floor sweeper’ (Lemonick, 1993). The petrol-rich Arab countries could and should attract the space-engineers of Muslim states to work in the establishment of Muslim space programmes...

In conclusion, unless Muslims are prepared to face up to the necessities of the post-industrial era and to the requirements of a new century by investing their wealth on intellectual property and technology, never will the present Muslims walk on the moon, while the Christians will be left free to exploit the resources of the Universe not for the benefit of all mankind, but their own benefit at the expense of others. But, when God’s promised time due, the Crescent will surely embrace the stars.

What You Can Control-Selah71-CMAW168

S

  Got an email from OnePathPublishing with clarification on an issue I raised last week which is that Jesus, or Yahusha, will return on on 1st of Tishri and when He said that we would not know the day or the hour He was referring to the fact that the Feast of Trumpets is on the 1st day of the month, which is defined by when the moon first appears, to be confirmed by 2 priests and so it's impossible to predict on which day that will be, let alone the hour.

  Luke 7:37-38 "37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”"

Teacher on the radio said we often use this verse about giving to talk about finances, but it's context is right after telling us not to judge and to forgive.  Jesus was providing a foundation for all our relationships and ministries, if we want to experience gods kingdom and see our circumstances really change, we must change and forgive, world teaches we must wait for others to change but if we follow that advice we may remain in bondage forever, we can become a blocked channel or vessel unable to receive the love and mercy God has for us, forgiveness is a gift we give to others and ourselves and we will receive God's best as a result.  

I've seen conflict in many parts of my world.  At the macro level, we see nations in conflict, Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, Israel and Iran and many other countries.   In our country it's right vs left, vaccine mandates vs freedom of choice.  But at the micro level I see conflict within the church even in my own church, within families, I see pretty major conflicts not within my immediate family but in my extended family in a big way. 

In all of these instances, I can see how forgiveness is the solution.  We cant' control others.  We can only control ourselves and one of the best choices we can make is to forgive others.

FM 92.1 on 2/20/22

  Self Help in 2 Chapters

Ps 1 and Prov 3

Today I'd like to read Psalm 1 and next time I'll read Proverbs 3.  IT's a reminder to me that I don't need self-help books, even if they're called Christian.  I need the Bible.

  E

  L

      Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.

Proverbs 23:4-5 - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Proverbs%2023:4-5&version=ESV

      A

https://www.patreon.com/christianmenatwork

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/christianmenatwork

  H

  Jokes

  I have a chocolate bar joke I could tell, but it will probably only get a snicker

      Check out this episode!

10/12/2020 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 19:1-21:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-28, Psalms 82:1-8, Proverbs 25:9-10

Today is the 12th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is wonderful to be here with you as we move into our work week together, spending day by day time…time around the Global Campfire no matter what's going on, releasing, reorienting, refreshing. And, so, let's dive in. We’re reading from the New International Version this week. Jeremiah chapters 19, 20, and 21 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Jeremiah today we…we do get very, very clear perspective on why people would speak against Jeremiah and why they would be upset with Jeremiah. We also get some pretty profound perspective on God's willingness to be as counterintuitive as He wants to be including dismantling what one would think was un-dismantlable. I'm not sure that's a word, but to tear down something that seemed to be indestructible, basically in order to achieve His purposes. That shouldn't be surprising because we see examples of it over and over and over in the Bible.  But we usually try to kinda gloss over and not look at it because it's so disruptive and uncomfortable. Basically, what God is telling the prophet Jeremiah to tell the people, all the people, including the royalty, including the leadership of the country that God's intention is that Jerusalem will fall. Okay, so those inside of Jerusalem who are seeing themselves as God's chosen people even though the prophets have been coming to them and talking about spiritual adultery and idolatry and all of the things including child sacrifice and all of the things, they still at an identity level believe there God's chosen people and that Jerusalem is the footstool of the Lord, like His temple. This is non-destructible; this is God's place and nothing is gonna tear it down. So, the closer they are to that orbit, no matter what they do, the safer they feel. Kind of a “too big to fail” sort of scenario. Of course, we…we in our time…we should be wise enough to know that nothing is like that. Nevertheless, God has made it clear that because of all the goings-on that have profaned what He had in mind in the first place that Je’s gonna tear it all down and He's gonna use the Babylonians to do it. So, Jeremiah is trying to tell the people this in a time where things are generally peaceful and prosperous. And it's only over the course of a couple of decades that these things…like that things heat up. So, the people are against Jeremiah, because he's saying things that they can't…that they don't believe can happen and that he’s just disrupting their good culture and their good peaceful time. And, so, they want to do away with him. And finally, God says, and I quote from Jeremiah here, “this is what the Lord says: See!” I love that because we’ve been trying to do that all year. So, for the Lord to say “see” is like saying, “open your eyes. Have eyes to see.” So, “this is what the Lord says. See! I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.” In other words, you are at a critical crossroads, “Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, or plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live. They will escape with their lives. I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon and he will destroy it with fire.” Okay, that is disruptive if you live near God's temple and believe that it's indestructible, that God put His name there and he would defend it, For God to come and say I have chosen another nation to come in wipe this place clean because I have been warning you and warning you and warning you and warning you about your spiritual adultery about your idolatry about you…you have abandoned me. You have broken the covenant. And, so, now your own actions, the choices you made to walk away, you’re about to reap what you knew the curses of the covenant would be, here’s where it gets really disruptive. God is saying basically you’re at a crossroads. I've put a choice before you and it's a life and death decision. If you want to live surrender to the enemy. Yeah! You see how hard what's being said here is. Not only for Jeremiah the prophet to say it, to deliver the message but for the people to believe it because it sounds utterly wrong to them. It's going to require something that they don't want to do. It's going to require them to take a very big, very counterintuitive, very disruptive step of faith. They're gonna have to believe the word of the Lord through the prophet over what they believe brings them security, their city, their nation. And we will continue to see this struggle as we continue through the…the books of prophecy but specifically the book of Jeremiah as we continue this journey. But it should give us clues, as if we haven't been given them already throughout the entire Bible this far, that when God decides that time is up, that His patience has run out in a certain direction and that wherever mankind would go from that point, will never circle back around to good, only evil, so He is starting over again, that that's going to happen no matter how secure people feel in their environment. So, we could take this on a macro level and just, you know, look into the world and look for the clues but we can take this at a micro level, at a personal level and understand how much disruption makes us squirm, how much the interruption of the status quo makes us angry, how willing we become to focus all of our energy to keep things the same when God is wiping the slate clean because we’re not gonna circle back and we need to restart again. As it turns out in the story that we’re reading, Jerusalem is invaded by Babylon is conquered by Babylon and the city is destroyed. The temple is burned and destroyed the people are carried into exile. Oddly enough, it's from that very context that we will see very soon the most famous passage in the Scriptures right now, “behold I know the plans that I have for you”, right? This is in the book of Jeremiah. And it's within this context of God saying, “we have got to bulldoze. Like we have got to start over, the foundations are fragmented, we have got to start over again.” So, let's ponder that as we move through the weeks ahead, the months ahead, around the world, in our own country, in our own hearts, in our own lives.

Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit we pray into this. We fight what is disruptive to us would, what causes us angst, what causes us confusion inside. We fight these things because they don't feel good. They don't feel right, and we can't see that they're not supposed to. They are escorting us. They are causing us to get up and move and You are willing to continue to make us uncomfortable until we will get up and move because we are not where we are supposed to be. Help us to trust in You, Father, even when it doesn't make sense to us. You are our ultimate source of life. We trust You. So, whatever we’re seeing the disrupts us is different than what You are seeing, and we will trust in what You are doing over what we think. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus’, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here, it’s where the Prayer Wall lives, it's where resources are available in Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, check it out, be familiar. We’re a big…a big family around this Global Campfire so we should be familiar with what’s going on around here. So, let's get connected in any way we can, in any way that we want to. Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, that can be done at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, and by the way if you’re using the app, all the things that I just talked about, you can access all of that, Prayer Wall included, from within the app. Just push the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner. But if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner. And thank you profoundly for that. Or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, it’s the red button up at the top next to the…next to the Give button that we were just talking about. You can’t miss it. It’s a Hotline button, you can’t miss it. So, you can press that button and share from there, or there are phone numbers located in different parts of the world depending on where you are. If you are in the Americas 877-942- 4253 is the number. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. If you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi Howard, I would like to pray for you dear. You have three daughters and you have a mom and you have a wife that you just dropped off for a biopsy. Lord I lift You up my brother. He has all these women surrounding him in his life Lord and every single one is so important for him. And I know that all the family is important for You. So, Lord I pray that everybody’s gonna to be safe Lord. And the boyfriend and daughters and grandchildren, first of all I pray for that Lord. I pray that their just gonna have company a great company and they’re going to be choosing just companions for themselves, saved people as well. So, I’m praying for that first of all. And I’m praying second of all for the health of everybody Lord. I know You give trials. We are so stubborn Lord. We know that You also give us all good gifts Lord. So, I pray Lord that You will open our eyes and we will see what we need to do in our situations, that You will open the eyes of this family and they’re going to see what they have to do in this situation of sickness, isolation. And I pray Lord that You will comfort this family with a lot of good things and a lot of good news Lord, and they will be rejoicing in You and Your will be done Lord. Let us take what You give. Let us be joyful in the day. Pour the joy into that family Lord. Pour the joy in every situation. Let them open their eyes to trust You in this.

Hey DAB this is white as snow in Tennessee except today it’s from Canada. One of the advantages of being a truck driver even though the borders still close because of Covid it is open for deliveries and things like that. So, I came in from Buffalo in New York into Ontario. So, I wanted to say hi to his little Cherry and all those who call in from Canada. And I was thinking that it doesn’t matter where I am, I can still feel close to anyone who calls in and prays through the good, the bad, the ugly. You know, this community is just so awesome it doesn’t matter where we are, we can still be connected. And it’s such a blessing. And just wanted to lift up Terry the Trucker. I pray that you’re granddaughters doing well and recovering and that if you haven’t gone home yet that you will be able to get home soon. You’ve…you know…being stuck in your truck having to quarantine until things are clear. But I just pray that your drawn closer to God through this and just know that, you know, there’s tons of people praying for you and thinking of you. And I just pray that everyone has a blessed day

Hey DABbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina. All right Holy Spirit let’s roll. Amen to prayers for Teagan and Hagan and their parents. Ronald Taylor, thinking about killing yourself brother. You know the enemy is all in…in your call because you got your name out, you said that, and everything else got garbled. So, we know that it’s the enemy. We know that. But here’s the cool thing. You’ve got tens of thousands of people praying for you and it’s like, you know, if…if you’ve never watched It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s an old classic movie, go watch that movie and see the beginning of the movie where all these people are praying and they send the guardian Angel down to help him. So, I can just see that happening for you. So, that is…that is just awesome. Pelham, I love your call about, you know, Joe the Protector who’s calling about Terry the Trucker, you know. See how this works everyone? This is like a pandemic of prayer, this entire society. So, I don’t know. I think that is so cool. Amen to prayers for Samson and his…his getting through college and for those that are trying to get in that class in Samson’s prison there. Amen to prayers for Jaelyn’s mom recovering from a wonderful birth. Darrell from Atlanta, man you’ve got a great voice. You’ve got, you know, you’ve got a voice for radio or something. But I just I love your call about using God’s word as a sword. So, you know, I love that too. Not much time I got left but Paul from South Wales, why follow Jesus 365 man. I just loved your call. That was really, really cool. Now, this call was supposed to be about Joe. So, I got 25 seconds left. Joe, you know, when I first came to Christ God was like, yeah I had this atheist family that I portrayed and God was like all these Bible verses about hey if you don’t leave your family than you’re not a real Christian. That was the enemy trying to destroy my wife, my marriage. They are gonna be…the only Jesus they’re gonna see is you. That’s it. You’ve got a chance with them. So, stick in there, Joe. Love you all…

Hello everybody this is God’s Smile here. I’ve struggled for a day to call in because it’s been really not worth it __. The pain that I live through has been with me since my 20s and I’m 54 but I would say the last 15 years have been very aggressive and most definitely the last couple of years have…I didn’t think these levels would be possible and this is with morphine and morphine based drugs. It still leaks through and becomes overwhelming. I usually get a couple of hours where I can ring in and smile with you and pray with you but it’s less weak, it’s not really, it’s been relentless. So, I’m just trying to get through. And I love Jesus and I sing praises to Him with tears. I will never deny Him, and I trust Him. I’m just finding it so incredibly hard because my __ the pain. Time’s running. I’m going leave it there. Kiss kiss.

Hi this is Radiant Rachel and I am just praising God today on my second anniversary October 7th. And I would like to lift some people up in honor of my anniversary. Dear Lord, I pray that you will surround the community of listeners here and will bless them in their relationships with partners who are seeking you Lord with eyes wide open and hearts wide open. I also want to pray for Howard who called in today from North Carolina. I pray that you will surround the women in his life with your healing power. And Lord you know what each and every one of their needs are. I pray that you will be with them and guide them and that you will bless that family. I also pray for Rebecca’s heart and Skye, her husband from Michigan. I pray for healing over Rebecca for her jaw and neck and spine as well as the seeds that they are planting. I pray that you will send good soil and water for them and that those people will join your kingdom in your name I pray. Amen.

[singing starts] Oh, how wonderful Oh how marvelous is my Saviors love for me. Oh, how wonderful Oh how marvelous is my Savior’s love for me. More. More about Jesus. More. More about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see more of His love who died for me. My Jesus is the sweetest name I know and He’s just the same as His lovely name. That’s the reason why I love Him so for Jesus is the sweetest name I know. His name is Jesus and He’s so wonderful. His name is Jesus and He’s so beautiful. His name is Jesus and He’s so marvelous just to know that He does love me [singing stops].

I read Leviathan, by Hobbes

But only now I understand, out of my experience, unfortunately

That human beings are cruel both in the micro relationships (personal relations)

And macro relationships (International Policies)

We are monsters. We human beings are monsters.

We are monsters to our family. (My family. They are. Evil.)

We are monsters as Chief of States

America does not care about ANY humanitarian crisis it produces.

Biden in August, let the Afghans to die. To consume themselves of hunger. To die slowly a painful death.

You know the face of a starving kid. You watch UNICEF's advertising. This is the face of Afghanistan now.

If the American people stop talking about the USA humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, because of Biden's administration NEGLIGENCE

Half of the Afghan population will starve.

You must talk about it everywhere, in schools, in the news. If you do not talk about Afghanistan, domestically, in USA, like you talked about VIETNAM

Biden administration will do anything.

Do not let the Afghans fall into forgetfulness.

A Nobel prize in the elected Ethiopian government

And this government REFUSED to give humanitarian aid to the Tigrayan. They refused to get in foreign humanitarian help in Tigray. This was a genocide. Out of ethnic reasons.

15 days of hunger in Tigray. No ONU help, no UNICEF, no Red Cross. Ethiopian government didn't let the international help in Tigray. They starved. They died.

Human beings are too evil.

How can we CHRISTIANS allow all THIS EVILNESS in our Governors?

Are our governors actually Christians?

They are, but by what I understand of it, they are as bad Christians as my family here.

Nobody cares about lives in Ukraine. They are just casualties. Casualties without faces.

I have Serbian friends. UKRAINE is already in pain. There was war there already. It was there since 2014.

My friends from ex-Yugoslavia

They have faces

Ukranians have faces, they have hearts, they have life, children. They play music just like me.

How can you, USA, out of geopolitics, the position of America in this freshly reshaped world

RESHAPED BY GOD

How can you threat BLOODSHED in Ukranian soil?

Can't you all understand what GOD is doing?

GOD ALONE?

We servants of God are just tools in His hands.

All governors are tools in the hands of God.

You must attend to God's guidance. Otherwise He will be against you.

Do what God wants. Kiss the Son (Psalm 2)

Terrible thing it is to fall in the hands of the Living God.