driving

I do some of my best thinking, my best planning while driving.

I admit to reading my WSJ in the car. In fact that is about the only time I read that paper. So many of the papers do not get opened. Sigh. Not enough time for all my interests.

This morning a woman honked at me while crossing downtown. I looked over to my right and saw this fairly good looking blonde woman waving furiously at me. She was making wild motions. What I think she meant was that I should "just drive". I guess she saw I was reading the paper and thought I could go faster. Well I was driving with the flow of traffic. I was not driving too close of course because of my reading. But I was keeping up with the green lights that turn as I flow with the traffic. She had little to complain about.

Ironically she was driving over in the bus lane. So my reaction was to laugh at the irony. It was not clear how she reacted to my laughter. But she continued to travel in the that lane and did not pull up next to me again.

Since getting a ticket a couple of years ago for not using my turn signal when changing lanes I have been trying hard to use it at all times. Unfortunately there is no sound when it is on. So I often leave it on after I am done. I annoy myself and probably people behind me. I still forget to turn it off but I am trying to do better. But I still am very bad.

DW wants a new car. She wants it mainly so she can hand he 10 year old Buick to DD. DD wants a bigger car for possible cooking gigs. DD is doing a wedding cake this weekend. She is open for more cooking gigs of most any kind. Anyway DW wants a Camry. She has her eye on a big cup holder center in the middle between the front seats. She has seen a Camry with the interior that she likes. We are hoping to start the ball rolling this week.

Sherlock Holmes

We went to see the new Sherlock Holmes Monday after Christmas at the new downtown theater. I think last year we saw the first on Christmas day or thereabouts. So hopefully we are starting a tradition. Every year on Christmas we can see the new Sherlock Holmes action film.

These are so different that Rathbone/Bruce. They are not based on Arthur Conan Doyle books at all but they do try to stay close to the characters that he developed. We start out with references to Holmes' addiction to drugs.

These are really modern action films set in last 19th century London. And France and Germany just for fun.

Some have said this one was disappointing. I'm not sure why. Unless the creation of two new characters last year was cool and new, people were excited. This year if you expected more well it was not more. It was the same. The characters were the same. The plot had no great surprises. I think I rather liked that it proceeded fairly logically to a conclusion.

Moriarty was perhaps a disappointment.

In one book Holmes "dies" because the author planned this one to be the last one. But because of public desire for more he can back in more book with little explanation for how he survived. They do the same thing in this movie. I suspect the similarity was conscience.

talk for Sunday

I cobbled together a "sermon" for Sunday at the old folk's home while working on the elliptical machine.

I think it is cool, but not long enough. Naturally.

Kenneth

Christmas is a tough time for me. It may be the darkness more than anything but I do know parties stress me. I am trying though.

I'd say all in all this has been a good year. The tree and the lights were up by Dec 8. The Christmas cards were done almost a week early. That is amazing for me. But I have to say my DW and DD gave me a lot of help. Still I had to initiate it all. They did all the shopping and cooking. I hope I did not grumble as loudly this year. I don't think I did but they may see it differently.

As I walked this morning (and discovered a few unpicked citrus trees) I thought about Kenneth. I saw one of those pillar like conifers. I remember when he died someone gave us one of those. We were to plant it over his grave. But I knew we would never return to the grave site. We never do. So I planted it in front of our house to remember. But it did not last long. It never got the size of the ones I saw on my walk. I thought of how after we die we are soon forgotten. I rarely think of Kenneth, who was our first born. He lived three days in intensive care. No one gave him much hope even though he was full sized. We lived in supreme denial until they told us he was gone. He was whisked away. We never got to say goodbye or even hug him. All the time he was in ICU he was full of tubes and wires and under a plastic sheet so we never got to touch him. That part still makes me teary. But also angry too if I let myself get in touch with it.

Kenneth would be 33 in February. I should say IS 33 in February. For I believe his soul is somewhere. Or maybe his soul awaits God's judgment and resurrection. On this earth he never had a chance to sin. However I do believe he was born a sinner like all of us. Like all of us he needs a savior, Jesus who was born in Bethlehem.

Someday we will get to see Kenneth. Praise God for his steadfast love.

Judgment - Revelation 20

[10]And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The devil does not rule over hell. He is punished like everyone else.

[14]Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15]And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is what we think of as hell. Judgment comes on us all at last. Those who are not in God's book are thrown into hell and punished forever. This seems so awful. I think most of wish to say this is poetic, not actually true. We'd like to think this is Semitic hyperbole.

But this is judgment. We are found in the Book of Life because of what Jesus has done for us, this same Jesus whose birth we celebrate on Sunday December 25. We need a savior and God, in the plan he had from the beginning, sent his Son Jesus to be our savior. I thank God and I humbly accept him.

My Christmas cards are sent. We sent fewer than usual. We created a Christmas letter that starts out with a paragraph that feels humbly pompous to me. Nevertheless it is as true as I can make it.

We have had a very good year.

Genesis 45

Joseph reveals himself! The Egyptians are happy for Joseph. They obviously like and respect this man. The brothers are stunned and denial comes big time. Joseph keeps on talking. He has obviously planned what he was going to say when he revealed himself. He already knew where they would live. He knew he would get them all to move to Egypt.

Verse 12 jumps out at me. Something they see with their eyes something about his mouth should be recognizable to them. Is his mouth like Benjamin's in some way. This is not a metaphorical mouth. He speaks of seeing it, not ears hearing it. Details like that I find fascinating.

Genesis 43

So much can be said of this chapter and the whole book of Genesis. Read, ponder, seek application for yourself. Ask questions of the verses that you read and listen to God for answers.

For these people who lived over 3,000 years ago are so like us. I am reading Frank Cross on myth. The book is slow. I probably will not finish it. Cross is trying to force Genesis into a model like Greek myth, for example like the Iliad. In that story there are obviously two levels, the human actions and the actions of the gods. In Greek myth of course there are multiple gods all fighting like humans. God is always in agreement with himself. God works in a unified manner. He does not plot against himself.

Cross tries hard to make Biblical stories like the myths of other cultures. I suppose you can identify with the people in the Iliad. But Genesis is closer to the truth, to the true God.

There are lot of blessings in chapter 43. Jacob blesses his children (v.14) as start off to Egypt to get more food. He releases Benjamin to go very reluctantly. So when they get there Joseph sees all his brothers for the first time in many years.

Joseph's steward acknowledges the blessing of their God on them (v.23). Joseph blesses Benjamin when he meets him (v.29).

Again they all bow down to Joseph (v.26) when he comes home for lunch.

Joseph again asks about their father. They may think it is out of courtesy. But Joseph surely wants to see his father before he dies. Jacob is old.

Joseph is keeping up the ruse. But he breaks down again and cries when he sees his full brother fully grown. When he last saw him he was just a boy. Surely the brothers notice that something is wrong. Some people think at least some of them secretly might have figured out who the Egyptian was.

But Joseph must look much different now than he did when they sold him. He could have a beard now. Maybe it has been twenty years and Joseph is in his 30's.

Joseph may been waiting for them to recognize him. But probably the brothers do not have a clue. Even when they are eating and Joseph has them seated in order by age they do not get it. They marvel at it but it still doesn't connect. They just think it is coincidence.

I can identify with Jacob blessing their travel and their relationship with the man in Egypt who had given them such a hard time. Jacob knows God and knows that he is God's child. He belongs to God. So he knows that he can request things of God. Yet he is fearful. Because the situation is dire he has little trust.

I can so identify with Jacob. I can ask God in prayer. I can ask for his loving care. I can ask for his blessing. But I have trouble being confident that God will act. I am too aware of the situation and how uncertain it looks.

Thank God God is willing to answer us even when we only partially believe. We believe with our minds but not our hearts. We are not totally trusting. Lord, give us faith to be more trusting.

Revelation 14

Well not about the whole chapter because I was struck by verse 4. The 144,000 saints were those not defiled by woman. They kept themselves chaste.

OK. What does it mean to be not defiled by women? Does that thereby exclude those who have been married? What about women? Do we mean "not defiled by men" in their case? Or does this only apply to men? Do you think I am taking this too seriously?


In the next verse we have another qualification: No lie is found in their mouth, they are blameless.

God is encouraging them, who read this, to have patient endurance, perseverance. It will pay off in the end. We will be judged righteous and blameless because of the testimony of the lamb (14:1), the Son of Man (14:14) who will reap the harvest of saved souls and punish those who have refused to listen to the good news (14:6) ad be saved.

I have faith that God will find me (us) among the blameless (14:5).

Weekend doings

It has been very busy this weekend, mostly on Sunday. All day Saturday I worked at the runoff election. All the regular precincts were open. I suspect to try to increase the vote to keep a certain incumbent at large councilwoman from losing. That is a lot of money spent. But the mayor likes her. However she lost anyway to a conservative candidate who has run against her five times, finally winning. She was her own worst enemy.

Sunday I helped at Brighton and did a talk on Habakkuk and the promise of a savior to come. Habakkuk prophesies against people taking advantage of the poor and God tells him he is sending a barbarous tribe to punish Israel by an awful violent invasion. Yet in the midst of it all there a promises of a better time, this is the time of the savior, of God's anointed. It does fit into Christmas in that it explains very clearly why we need a savior, why Jesus had to come. DW says it was negative. I am just trying to do some out of the ordinary.

Then we had Vineyard church and another sermon on giving less and helping deserving charities. We may give money to charities in lieu of gifts, at least in addition to gifts.

The Texans were on in the background. It was nice to see and hear they won again and clinched the playoffs. I felt a little sorry for the Bengal team. A little. But I cannot get into this like I did the Oilers. I think Rice college sports is my first love now. But I prefer the games I play online, they are what I actually invest time in. Watching is not enough anymore.

Then it was off to SJD for the evening service. We had the new priest who never comes in the evenings. I admit to reading my Greek bible and did not hear his sermon at all.

Vineyard had a concert and a posada. I talked it up at SJD but no one came. They had live animals and Nate looked great as Joseph with his very long hair. The posada part was what I was looking forward to. Carlos was very enthusiatic but I could not hear the responses since the doorkeepers did not open their doors. The tamales were great and the kids had great fun hitting the pinata.

Oh, Saturday night after the election, we got 41 people, more than I thought but still very few, I was tired but Marvin was over. We did try to watch "Living Out Loud" our netflix movie. It was weird and hard to understand. What was her fantasy and what was reality? I could not tell and none of the rest of us could either.

Then I made motions to go to bed but was talked into a few games of Boggle. That actually cheered me up a bit.

Oh, Sunday night after posada I got in a two or so mile walk. I planned in to some inclines to get something close to hill work. That was good.

Hello

OK, I've been gone too long. I did write some blogs while on the ship. I was away from computers for a week and I felt that I was in withdrawal often enough.

I fought the flu all the time on the ship but finally gave in to it Monday. All day Monday I was fighting it. After going to a luncheon over at Rice with a IVCF leader I came home and collapsed. I missed my Monday night meeting and slept a lot. I ate nothing for the rest of the day. Well almost nothing.

Fortunate today I felt much better so I went to work and got mostly caught up.

To all my readers, merry Christmas!! God loves you!!

Genesis 40

Thank you to those (few) who responded. At least some do read sometimes. Thanks.

In Genesis 40 Joseph is in jail. He interprets two dreams correctly. I wonder if this changes his perspective of dreams. If you are going to say that a dream predicts the future you can see that these dreams are fairly easy to interpret. But I would never be so bold as to tell someone their dream predicts the future, would you?

This the second set of two dreams that involve Joseph. Perhaps two dreams makes the idea of prediction more reasonable. The first pair are his own. He implies when he tells them to his family that they predict the future. He doesn't exactly say so when he tells his family. But their reaction shows that they do understand that he is telling them what he thinks will happen. He uses the dreams to make his point. Joseph is telling them what will happen or better what might happen.

These dreams are what got him into trouble. His brothers sold him into slavery. He is now in jail, a man without a country. He has no rights, no family. He is all alone. Yet God has been immensely involved in his life.

Now that he has successfully interpreted two important dreams, foretelling the future, not as some soothsayer, but as one who listens to God and gives God the glory, does he take his own dreams more seriously? At the time when he was telling the dreams to his family I wonder if he really believed that it would come true. He was really just a child when he had the dreams. I suspect he had little idea of what the dream really meant and how the family would react to it. But now he might be more encouraged that God would really arrange to have his first two dreams to come true as well. He may be more secure in God's vindication of his life.

Even though the cup-bearer forgot all about him he is more secure in God's role. God will use all his trials and finally bless him mightily.

As we have trials and set backs let us pray that we will be like Joseph. We pray that our setbacks will turn out to finally work out in our favor. We must be positive and patient and let our setbacks be excuses to enter into sin.

weekend

I am so remiss about this blog. I figure no one reads it so who cares?

Yet this is great for me. I am doing talks at Brighton once a month and other times I am doing short inspirational talks. So this exercise is great for me.

Saturday I got to see Rice football. Rice won!! It was great to see.

Sunday I had three services. Well 2 1/2. I went and helped lead at Brighton. I help the music leader since he used the piano and you really cannot lead singing at play unless you have a microphone, which we don't. Then a lady named Dee did the message. I ended up helping her with the message. We started late because DW and I were late. We ended early too. I felt a little like we cheated them. But we stayed and greeted and prayed for them. Some are in poor health. And we had a lower attendance. I wondered if the flu was going around. Four of us took the place of the Jones. Also the piano player Hugh brought his wife and three small children. The women at the old folks home turned into grandmothers for a while. Most of them liked the energetic little ones.

Then I went to half a service at Vineyard. I got them for the announcements and the wonderfully practical sermon by Harry. This the third and last sermon on finances. Today it was about saving and spending. He had some wonderful examples. He have a funny anecdote about he and his wife arguing about buying makeup when they first got married. I can relate.

No local football Sunday. I missed that.

Evening service was good too. We did "Redeemer music" out of the C-Book. JB came with me and was out third bass singer. Then I dropped him off at work. He had a 9:30 PM staff meeting. Can you believe that? I read the lectionary. Today is what is called Christ the King Sunday. I love the concept. But I was not terribly excited about the scripture. JB commented that he could understand the passage well from the way I read. That is what I am going for, story telling if you will, so I felt satisfied that I am doing what I mean too. I do not want to be the message. I want the story to be the message.

Our anthem was Jesus We Crown You with Praise (lyrics) by Lanny Wolfe (vocal on Utube).

I did not feel tired when I was done. But I had a good time and felt joyful about it all.

Genesis 37

I am going to speak on minor details of this story that struck me. If you do not know the story well, go down to the bottom of this blog and read it.

Exodus 37: This is the beginning of the Joseph saga.

The story of Joseph's kidnapping and selling into slavery has lots of details thay become important later. It's like one of those fictional mysteries that DW and I like to read. The details can help the reader to understand the ending of the book if not actually figure out who did it before the revelation. (Most authors really are not fair in that way.) It's almost good to take notes.

The brothers are jealous and angry that he would tell them that they would bow down to him. He has these dreams you know. When it comes to getting their revenge remember they are not full brothers. They do not feel the same kinship to him that a full brother might. Most of them are children of the maids, not an actual wife. So they may fear that they will be passed over for the inheritance. Jacob, their dad, might decide to give him the portion of the first born. So what Jacob is saying rings with truth. Actually this is what does happen in the end, Joseph gets a double portion through his two sons.

How old is Joseph here anyway? Kids grow up quick in an agrarian society. From the description of his traveling to meet his brothers I'm picturing about 12. He is still a youth, not full size. He is just now beginning to leave his mother's society.

This is a society that looks out for one another and know each other's business, like some lower class neighborhoods today and like the neighborhood I grew up in the 1950's.

So when Joseph gets to Shechem and he cannot find his brothers it is not that he asks someone. He is too small and insignificant to do that. He cannot talk to adults as equals. No, a man notices he is lost and offers to help. Amazingly he actually knows where his brothers are. He may not know this boy but he does know the minor business of a family of shepherds who are from several valleys over. This is a people that takes care of one another.

Thinking of Joseph as a boy barely out of childhood makes sense of his naively sharing his dreams with his older brothers. He is still not old enough to understand how the dreams will effect them.

In his second dream he includes his mother and father with those who will bow to him. His father rebukes him and his brothers mutter angrily. But 37:11 "His father keeps this saying mind." Where do we hear this later? We are reminded of Mary, Jesus' mother, who takes the prophesies of the Wise Men, Anna, and Simeon in mind. She holds them in her heart. So does Jacob.

Mark 10:32-34

Jesus is now heading to Jerusalem. The disciples are astonished, it says. They are lagging behind. Have you ever been part of a group when your leader started to take you in a direction that you thought foolhardy?

But these disciples know they are heading straight into danger. Yet they go anyway. They love and respect this man very much. Their minds tell them this is crazy. Yet they do it. Is it courage? Is it faith?

Jesus tells his disciples the unvarnished truth. We see this in verse 10:32 - "Jesus takes his disciples aside." Remember they are walking. Jesus separates himself a little from the larger group, with his disciples, to tell them something private.

They are perhaps walking on one of those great Roman roads that will still have remains of today. Many highways in Europe still follow those Roman ways.

The disciples know the danger in Jerusalem. That is where the leaders of his opposition live. They are powerful. They mean to kill him.

So Jesus takes them aside openly and tells them again that they are going to Jerusalem. And he is telling them what will happen there. He will be delivered over to thes priests and scribes, condemned and turned over to the gentiles (for execution). Only the Romans can administer crucifixion. And before they do it they will mock and scourge. Jesus tells them this because, awful as it sounds, he is in control of these events. He knows what will happen and he enters into it willingly. How can anyone understand this? Can we imagine doing this for the whole world? The disciples cannot understand. It makes no sense at all.

But Jesus adds, after he is dead, in three days he will rise again. There is nothing recorded about the response of the disciples. Surely there was at least a time silence before anything else. Probably the disciples discussed this amongst themselves as they continued the journey. It gave them a lot to think about.

Here in Mark this is the third time Jesus has told them what will happen to them. So by now they have had time to work on their reaction. Their reaction has been wrung out of them by now.

Jesus leads them resolutely to his death. He knows who he is, the power of God, and what he is called to do. He is obedient to his father in heaven.

The disciples are scared, probably mostly for themselves, and hang back. They wish somehow they can stop all this. But they are not in control, Jesus is. Yet they choose to be with Jesus and take what happens.

This is a great example for us. We do not know what the future will bring. Yet we follow Jesus because this is better than anything else.

Mark 9:14-29

This is a long story of Jesus casting out a demon. We see demon possession and casting out a lot in scripture. It's not like the movies, usually, but here it sort of is. This comes right after the transfiguration. Four of them have been on a mountaintop. Physically high and spiritually high for those four that went up. They had to come back to reality. They went from faith to unbelief.

This demon possessed boy exhibits lots of symptoms. But he does not hurt anyone, like in a lot of movies. The explanation of his symptoms sound a lot of like an epileptic.

Let me backtrack and add that not all epileptics are demon possessed. But what the father describes in 9:18 sounds like a grand mal seizure. They did not have medicines to control seizures like they do now. So prayer is the only way this boy can be helped.

Also most demon possessed people do not exhibit such obvious symptoms. It is a bad idea to quickly decide someone is possessed. One must tread very carefully and cautiously, not particularly from danger but from the social stigma associated with such a diagnosis.

But in this era when more people dabble with the occult, spiritual healers, curanderos, seances, and the like more people are like to become associated with demons. A couple of weeks ago and friend and I did gingerly cast out a demon. We were not sure and did not make a big deal about it. But we advised the people to stay away from such spiritual healers. It is nothing to be scared of.

Jesus always controlled the demon and did not let it show off by acting weird or violent. Yet we read in more than one instance that the demon did manifest itself before leaving the person. I think her we are getting an extreme example.

Why did Mark write about this casting out? I think the key reason is what Jesus explains in 9:19 - "Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?" Jesus is again speaking of hard hearted unbelief.

But then Jesus takes care of the boy and his father patiently and compassionately. The one who has the unbelief problem is the father. I think the father has something to do with the possession. He has done something to bring demons around him, I think. Jesus is carefully working on this man's faith. After Jesus does heal the son it will be up to the father to keep the demons from coming back.

The father knows he needs help and he cries out for it. This is just the response that Jesus is calling for. Jesus calls it out of him. The father knows he is lacking in faith. I believe he has been seeking in all the wrong places - oracles and diviners, other religions, etc. He needs help and now he is asking the only one who can truly help him. Jesus has carefully led him to the right choice.

This is the choice that we also should make too when we know our need. We admit our need and ask for God to make up what what we lack. He wants to do it.

Mark 8:27 - 9:1 second time around

I thought this passage deserved two passes.

Jesus has been traveling in the area north of Galilee. This area is mixed, in both religious practices and in ethnic makeup. Locations mentioned are Tyre and Sidon, his home town of Nazareth, and the Decapolis region. After 9:1 Jesus is transfigured on the mountain and sees Moses and Elijah. After this he mostly stays in the area surrounding Jerusalem.

The area of the north is probably not even primarily Jewish. Jesus seems to walk to areas of Jewish settlement. Narareth was a small Jewish village. Tyre and Sidon we larger and probably had Jewish areas near non-Jewish or Gentile area. Many villages were not Jewish at all but these villages are never mentioned. They would be like Boston or Philadephia, divided int ethnic enclaves, Jews, Greeks, Asians, Africans, etc.

This present story occurs while Jesus and his disciples are walking between towns in the area of Caesarea Phillipi. There were towns in this area. Jesus seems to have been traveling to the Jewish towns and preaching in their synagogues.

In the Old Testament this region is called Dan, after the tribes that received it as an inheritance. This area is not dry like the south. It is hilly but full of streams, forests and vegetation. In Jesus' day it was famous for its magnificent temple cut out of the mountain known as Banias. Here sacrifice was made to the god Pan. But there were probably other gods sacrificed to and a cult of the emperor. This was likely a popular destination for pilgrims. The Bible never mentions this. Jesus and other God-fearing Jews probably tried to ignore it as best they could.

Mark leads off this passage by mentioning that they are walking through the area. This conversation like took a while. As they walked Jesus asked them who people say he is. They give his three answers. Jesus continues to question them. There is probably lots of discussion. There may be quite a few people on the road, loud distractions. Others might be passing them. Some are walking alongside them. Jesus then changes the question slightly. He asks them "Who do you say that I am?" I imagine this question was not directly answered right away. Taking to twelve (or more) moving people is not easy. They might get separated for a moment. I imagine there was some discussion amongst the disciples for how to answer this question. It may have taken a while, perhaps a mile or two before Peter got bold enough to say that they thought he was the Christ.

Jesus must have been excited, encouraged by this answer. They got it right. Jesus remarks that only by divine revelation could they have understood this. So I think it is with this encouragement that Jesus goes on to plainly explain what it means for him to be the Savior, the Messiah. However this goes awry. The disciples cannot handle the truth. I imagine if we knew all the things that would happen in our life beforehand we would not be able to handle it either.

Peter, again likely after some reaction and discussion amongst the disciples speaks up for the group. Remember they are walking down the road. Peter takes Jesus of to the other side of the road and rebukes him. Peter tries to correct him. Perhaps this is Peter's misconception of what it means to be Messiah that gets in the way. The Messiah is to be a victorious warrior, saving God's people from their oppressors. Peter tries to do this privately, without anyone else hearing.

But Jesus takes charge of the situation. He turns and makes sure they all hear his response. This makes me think they are all in on it. He corrects Peter. "Get behind me Satan, for you are not setting your mind on God' interests but man's."

Jesus then explains himself. This is climactic. This, with the following transfiguration, ends the first half of the book of Mark. For then on things are different.

Jesus has God's interests, not man's. He knows it will be hard. But this is what he was called for. Do we have God's interests or man's? I think I can only handle this is small bits, small time elements. I can seek to do God's will as I understand it. But in between it seems to me I seek after my own needs and pleasures. This is not to say that God is not happy with our having fun and so on. But overall we are to seek, and be ready to do God's will at all times.

This teaching, a follow up to Peter's rebuke is a call to be wholly given to God. "Take up your cross and follow me." "Whoever is ashamed of me in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory."

Our generation is do different than the one it which he lived. It sets it in stark contrast. Sometime the question is posed to make God the guilty one who has to explain why the world is bad. No it is we who are guilty and must explain our behavior. We are a part of this sinful adulterous generation. God is so good and loving and perfect. How can we not identify with him over and above the imperfect pleasures of this world?

MARK 8:27-9:1 [27] Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, "Who do people say that I am?" [28] They told Him, saying, "John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets." [29] And He continued by questioning them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter *answered and *said to Him, "You are the Christ." [30] And He warned them to tell no one about Him. [31] And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. [33] But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." [34] And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. [35] For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. [36] For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? [37] For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [38] For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." [1] And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." NASB

Mark 8:27 - 9:1

Here we are at a climax in Mark's gospel. This is the middle point.

Mark's gospel is likely a compilation of the stories that Peter went around telling people about Jesus. Think of him as a visiting evangelistic speaker. He tells great stories. The first Christians were hungry to meet people who really knew him while he was on earth.

When Peter got old or when he died these stories were very important and people did not want them to be forgotten. Mark has been helping Peter and had heard the stories many times. So he put together a book and he carefully organized it to tell the great story. So this gospel becomes not only great stories but a biography of the Messiah.

Peter does not let his pride get in the way of a good teaching point. The story is about Jesus, not about Peter after all. God gets the glory, as it should be.

Jesus response to Peter's rebuke is the climax of the first part of the book of Mark. After this comes the transfiguration and everything changes after that.

First Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the one who is predicted and hoped for throughout the Old Testament.

Jesus gets encouraged about the disciples and decides to speak very plainly about what will happen in the future. But this is just too much. The disciples just cannot handle the truth. Now Peter takes Jesus aside to rebuke him. Why? Does Peter just not want this to happen? Perhaps Peter thinks if it will happen to Jesus then it is likely to happen to them. Perhaps he is selfishly worrying about himself.

But while Peter has tried to rebuke Jesus privately, Jesus turns and rebukes Peter publicly so that all the disciples can see.

Then Jesus explains further. And this is the climax. Jesus expands on not having man's (selfish) interest but God's. Do we have God's interest as we live our life or do we just worry about ourselves? This teaching cuts me to the quick. I try to have God's interest from time to time. I think I have to take it in small bits. I then remember that God loves me and I love God.

Jesus then states "If anyone wants to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it ... Whoever is ashamed of me in this adulterous and sinful generation the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory."

Jesus gives reasons why we should take God's side and not the world's. And there is a battle. You will have to commit to a side. Not making a decision is making a decision.

Even if it gets hard from time to time we must take God's side. We are proud of God, not ashamed. It is not God's fault for the sin in the world. It is ours.

Do you not yet understand?

What is it the disciples do not understand? Is it that Jesus can take care of them all the time, not just in special occasions?

Motyer calls it "spiritual blindness". That is a good expression. It is good to look at ourselves to see how we fit on this issue? Again this "not understanding" is linked to "hardness of heart" by Jesus.

Hardness of heart to me means selfishness. It means not being concerned about others, only concerned about my own issues, not seeing beyond the length of my nose.

I think all of us struggle with this. The opposite of this is considering God's ways, not our ways. The disciples here saw God's miraculous provision only a short time past but immediately forgot about it. After seeing how God multiplied bread they now go back to worrying about what they will eat.

The disciples have gone back to "normalcy". The are practical atheists once again. They do not consider God when they decide a plan of action or think about their situation. Jesus wants them to change their behavior. He calls it hardness of heart.

I think I do sometimes consider God when I reflect on a situation or a plan of action. That is what God wants. He wants us to know God is eager to be always involved in our lives. But we often unconsciously have areas of our lives where we leave God out. In could be in our jobs, in our romantic life, in our health, in our recreation. God does not want us to leave him out. He wants us to act righteously in all those situations.

Jesus is training his disciples. He wants them to be wholly converted. He wants their hearts to change along with their behavior. It's an act of God but we are involved.

MARK 8:14-21 [14]And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. [15]And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." [16]They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. [17]And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? [18]"HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember, [19]when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." [20]"When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." [21]And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?" (NASB)

Mark 8:1-13

Steve Motyer has returned to the theme of hardened hearts in Mark. 6L52 is a key passage. Even the disciples has hardened hearts in that they could not understand the meaning of what Jesus has done.

Here in Mark 8, the second feeding, this time 4,000, the disciples are obedient but there is never any mention of their reaction.

Right after this we have the Pharisees coming and arguing with Jesus and demanding a sign. This is ironic. We have just witnessed a marvelous sign, one that cannot be missed, explained away. Yet their hard hearts caused them to miss it. One wonders what sort of sign would have satisfied them. I do not think anything would have been sufficient.

Motyer suggests that Jesus' response means "No sign CAN be given to this generation." "They are incapable of of seeing the sign because something within them resists the sight." - Motyer.

Perhaps the opposite of this is the sign of Jonah, which the Ninevites did respond to. They repented, or made a serious attempt to. God saw their intention and relented of his judgment.

I think God produces amazing signs all the time, in big ways and in personal ways. And yet most of us are like the Pharisees and even like the disciples. We are incapable of understanding the importance and we soon forget all about it.

I am afraid that describes me. I think DW is better at it than I. I once heard a teaching about setting up monuments in our mind. These monuments are the marvelous things we have seen and heard God do. When we are in need of encouragement we are to look at the monuments and remember.

The Old Testament has examples of this. The Israelites especially remember their deliverance from Egypt and their miraculous walk through the Red Sea. At the Passover dinner they remember it again. At communion we remember too what God did for us on the cross. Both of these are like monuments. We look up and are encouraged.

bad habit

God seems to be speaking to me (again) about dealing with conflict. I HATE conflict and I react by getting angry. The bank situation is the major case in point. But I was almost civil the last time on the phone.
But then the phone company sent me a bill after I had stopped that service. I called and talked civilly, even nicely, to the lady over the phone. She said it would be taken care of. I would get a new bill in a few weeks. Did being civil help? I’m not sure. But it did not hurt.
So now I checked the prescription and found that they only put 30 pills when they should have put 90. Again I called. Again I was civil. She apologized at the end and said come in for the rest. I then noticed that it did not show more refills. Good thing I kept my last doctor prescription forms. They were doing these prescriptions from older computer entries. I need to get by and show them the newer one. Again, trying to be friendly. Conflict can be handled in a friendly manner. Lord help me.
I did come by late Wednesday night to the pharmacy. It turns out it was my fault, which I heartedly admitted. But they did not want to enter the new scripts. It would sort of work they way it worked this time but my doctor would be called automatically by the computer for approval. I hoped to avoid this next time. They did it finally and this time gave me copies of my scripts, not the originals back. Last time they only entered the ones actually needing to be refilled. The other were not going to need it for a month.
Now, in contrast I have a situation where I am on the other end. A mortgagee got very angry about the situation with the mortgage they have with my company. They have been past due. They have reacted by getting mad at me. They expected the impossible and called me all sorts of names. But we did finally work things out. Their anger did probably get them some concessions. But when they finally paid off I have held off from filing the "release of lien" because they said something about our not deserving this money. So that made me afraid they would stop payment on the check. It’s been two months and I am finally about to do the release. Usually it would only take three weeks or so.
The banker that I am mad at is treating me the same way. He is treating me gingerly. He is delaying actions I guess for similar reasons. I cannot read his mind. But he is acting a lot like I am acting towards these mortgage holders.
In sum, I am trying to be nice when I have to confront conflict situations. It’s a bad habit, long cherished, to get angry in such situations and it will be hard to break.

Mark 7:6-13

Jesus reacts angrily to the Pharisees. The Pharisees accuse the disciples of ritual uncleanness. Jesus objects to their carping about superficial cleanliness when they are guilty of much larger errors.
Steve Motyer says "The problem with interpreting life through rules is that, sooner or later, mercy is forgotten." He also adds "Rules give comfort to the insecure soul." All of us have insecurities in that realm.
I think I am walking with God. I try to use rules and not be ruled by them. But I am sure, in my insecurity, legalism slips into my life.
Certainly legalism get in the way of God's mercy in my life. But I try to seek understanding and to read admonitions in the Bible to break free.
Sadly when was young my religious zeal kept me from spending time with my parents. I did not need to give them money but I could have given them time. I know my mother was upset with me at times. I cannot think of examples so this may be more the devil's accusation than God's conviction. I did not withhold money as Jesus accuses the Pharisees of doing but I did withhold time from my parents in the name of God.
Later I would join dad's company. I did that at least partially out of a feeling of obligation to my parents. And that obedience to God's call to honor my father worked out very well for me. God has blessed that immensely.
In Mark 7:9-13 Jesus likely has a specific example in mind. As is often the case we do not know all of the story. But the Pharisees, or at least some of them, probably did. Jesus is upset with how they have used God's name to do evil. God wants us to be kind to one another. We do not have to wait for permission to act with mercy.
God is also upset when we use his name to do evil, to withhold mercy. We need to be careful. This is legalism at its worst.

Mark 6 Greek comments

OK, I was trying to keep going in my understanding of Greek. I see that my Spanish is still getting better, not great, I am not fluent. But I have been dabbling with Spanish for fifty years. So I have hope with the Greek. I still cannot identify the exact conjugation but I can get the jist knowing the root meaning of the word. And Greek words, like other languages, combine roots to create new words. It helps to know the roots.

Anyway Mark 6 contrasts two very different stories on purpose. We begin with the story of the Jesus sending out the disciples to preach and heal. Its a training mission. But in the middle, between the time when they are sent out and they return Mark places a tragic/sad story of the beheading of John the Baptist. There are so many contrasts. One is set in dusty poor areas, the other in an immaculate and beautiful palace.

As I'm reading of the awful use made by the queen of her daughter to get her revenge on John I often feel a little sorry for the young girl. So seems an unwitting pawn. This is naive. But I like to be naive sometimes. I do not think that is a good thing. It means I am purposely hiding from reality. Sometimes reality scares me.

But in the Greek it is even more clear (to me anyway) that this young girl is excited, eager to do as her mom wishes. She is excited to see the power that her young body evocatively dancing, has over men. It's probably clear in any good English translation. But the Greek adds extra adjectives. She is eager. She is quick to do as her mother bids. She has no regard for the life that is being murdered because of their whim.

I think Mark wants us to see the world that the disciples are going to preach to. It is an unkind, unfriendly world. People treat each other as impersonal objects to get what they want.

This young girl has probably never been out of the palace much. She has no experience of lives different than her own. But her heart is already hardened.

In a few more verses Jesus feed the 5,000. Jesus commands the disciples to feed the people. "Do it yourselves." It is a Greek command form. They respond, "How?" It would take 200 denarius to get enough bread to feed all these people. I estimate that to be about $10,000. The reading audience would know this is an impossible sum. But Jesus does not let them off the hook. He commands them to look and see. What do they have? So they return to Jesus with what little they can find. Before they can despair Jesus commands again. Get the crowd to sit in groups. Why the groups? Then Jesus blesses God, says a prayer. Then he gives the bread and fish back to the disciples to distribute.

Often it is said that the Greek verb means continuously giving. Yes the verb is a participle and it does mean continuous action. However this happens a lot in Greek, a lot more than in English. It is not special. But yes it is true.

Why does he put them in groups? I can only guess. Perhaps to give the disciples something to do to keep them from panicking. Second, perhaps this is silly, but getting them into groups forces them to eat family style. They are not eating alone. They are sharing. And also this way people will keep track of what is eaten and what is left. It will be harder for someone to take extra food and keep it back. This way it will be clear how much is truly left over.

Why is that last part important? Maybe just to show how abundant was God's provision.

My wife was telling me of a dinner she attended where there was only a small chicken to eat. But then a at least ten more people came. They prayed and blessed the food and there was enough for all. She thought it miraculous at the time. But I imagine there was not many times more left over than what they started with.

I think God sometimes does provide miraculously for his saints. Praise God for that.

Next we have the story of Jesus walking on the water. This version does not include Peter's response. But it does end by saying the disciples are so surprised because they do not understand the meaning of the feeding of the 5,000 - their hearts are hardened. So the daughter of the queen, so the disciples, so are we so often. We do not believe because our hearts are hardened.

I pray for softened faithful hearts today.

Saturday

DW left for a day long retreat at 7 AM. She woke about 6:30. So I too walk and took a walk. It was mostly a plastic and aluminum picking walk. I passed back and forth north of our house. I then went home and dumped the stuff. Then I went east through Broadmoor. By the time I started on my second round I was getting tired. Six miles or so is all I can handle easily. I wonder about doing the half marathon this year.

Anyway I got home and worked on catching up on computer. I read part of a novel.

I had planned to grill but I was getting tired. So I did start the fire but used only some sausages that I had in the house. I did not go to the store for chicken or anything. I am just trying to burn my excess wood.

So I did get a nap in before the Rice football game. Tailgating at Rice is free if you know the right people. So I got some beer and chili and went to the game. I saw QM and talked to him for a while. I saw "Thrill" too and talked politics for a while. Rice did not win, made lots of mistakes. But they did score 20 points so there were things to cheer. I stayed for the end. I finally watched the fourth period from the second deck.

Oh yes, the bank called and this bank officer lied to me again. I got very mad again. This time I called a lawyer. We are going to have to follow this up. His delaying fixing his serious mistake has gone on long enough. I hate to even speak of this.

Titus 2

When I read Titus 2 I think of those prisoners I knew at the downtown Texas jail. These guys are new Christians, most of them. But all of them are like Cretans Titus was disciplining. They are just starting to know what it means to live righteously. A lot of old patterns have to change. It will not happen overnight. Old habits take time to break. There will be a lot of failures, small or big.

Paul gives instructions. First for older men (2) - "temperate ... sensible, faith, love, perseverance."

This may seem only right and normal to us but it was new to the Cretans, to Greeks in general.

Paul mentions next older women (3) - to the reverent, not gossips, instead teach good things. Paul has to mention not getting drunk, another old habit to break. We do not usually associate older women with excessive drinking. But it happens enough, usually done in private.

Young women then get two verses (3-4). I think it is interesting that Paul takes pains to mention that women must choose to love their husbands and children. Love is a chose after all. Paul knew that.

For these women, husbands were likely chosen for them by their parents. Paul takes a radically different view of marriage. In the old system women were required to obey their husbands. Husbands were expected to demand obedience, perhaps by beating, not by love. Paul is preaching a whole new way of thinking about marriage and family. A husband was to love his wife, as God loves his people.

I find it interesting, worthy of note (9) that Paul instructs a wife to submit to her own husband and bond slaves to submit to his own master. Wouldn't this to be understood? A wife does not have to submit to all men. A slave does not have to submit to all masters. Why does Paul think it important to use "own"? He states it the same way in Philippians.

I suppose he wants to make it clear the hierarchy is only to the proper person. Women otherwise do not have to submit to men in general. Men, no matter what their position, do not have to submit to other men, only those to whom they are bonded. Paul seems to imply an equality among people in general here.

Bond slave seems a foreign concept to us. But if you make a contract with someone you are bonded to them. If you take out a mortgage on a house or have payments for a car you should consider yourself a bond slave, required to pay it until it is done.

2 Timothy 4:17

I just love little details like this. It just hit me. Paul was probably not using imagery here when he speaks of being delivered from the lion's mouth. Paul uses imagery so often and this image of being delivered from the lion's mouth is used so often. We never think of it as literal because no one does that anymore.

The main image comes from the book of Daniel where Daniel is thrown into a den of lions and has to survive the night without being eaten. So when Paul uses this image he could be thinking of Daniel.

Yet Paul has just mentioned being before the court. He successfully defending himself. Under Emperor Nero Christians were literally thrown into the Colosseum to be eaten by wild animals for the entertainment of the Romans.

Paul was ever the brilliant defender of the faith. This time he defended himself in court.

Probably he had to convince the court to follow the law. Roman citizens, as Paul was, were executed in a more humane fashion. They could not be crucified and they could not be given to the lions. But Nero felt he was the law. He could do what he liked. He hated Christians and certainly was willing to treat them as badly as possible.

But Paul was successful in getting the Roman court to follow the law. It did not mean Paul would not be executed for being a Christian. But it would be done in a more humane, respectful way.

What spiritual truth do we get from this? I am at a loss. Yet Paul does see a great truth here shown in verse 4:18. Paul sees God's faithfulness. He believes God is still in control despite all. And he is confident that God will accept him in his own time. He will be accepted into God's heavenly kingdom. Paul is looking forward to it. He will be very present in this world as long as he remains. But he is confidently looking forward to the next world too.

Thank God for his faithfulness. Let us all be like Paul, confident in God and his promises to us.

Titus 1

I am quickly going through the pastoral epistles (the two Timothys and Titus). I have gotten behind in my reading. That is mostly why there have not been any blogs lately.

In Titus 1, Paul, like he does for Timothy, is calling Titus to appoint leaders in the new churches.

Paul starts his set of qualifications with some mostly do-nots (1:6-7). Only one wife, having believing children, not self-willed, not quick tempers, not a heavy drinker, not easily provoked, not fond of sordid gain. Paul at least partially defines sordid gain further down in 1:11. He says some are teaching things they should not in order to be paid for it (sordid gain).

We can glean that these men were teaching specials rites and rules. These things, they claimed, would assure the learner right standing with God. Paul constantly rejected legalistic rules. Paul said faith is what saves and we show the fruits of our faith by our good works. These good works are a product of our faith. But they do not save us. Jesus saves us as we believe in faith.

And those works will be different for each person. There are no set rules.

After these mostly negative attributes of the leader come the good attributes, gifts perhaps (1:8-9) = hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding firm to the Word taught by Paul, Titus, and others. Thus they are able to accurately teach the Word and also correct those who disagree.

Remember Paul is talking of believers, not unsaved people. New believers still have to be taught and have to be unlearned things they formerly believed and practiced. In a church of all new believers anything is possible. It is so easy for a whole church to get off. Great care has to be made to make sure people do not latch on to incorrect ideas.

It is so easy for people to add on stuff, perhaps bringing on stuff from their old religion and old practices. Syncretism is combining practices from one religion onto another.

To keep these new converts growing in faith Paul knows, great caution has to made to keep the old stuff out. The teaching has to be kept pure and correct.

2 Timothy 3:10-17

In the section quoted at the end Paul tells Timothy to be different. Verses 10 and 14 both start, "But you ...". He is contrasting Timothy's behavior with those of the world around him. We who attempt to be intentional disciples will do the same.

I read in the commentary an illustration. When in a special boat used to traveling near the north pole one experiences high winds. The ice floes flow with the wind. But the captain pointing out an ice floe moving in another direction. The caption said, that is not a surface floe but an iceberg. The iceberg has a deep root of ice below the surface. It is being pushed by a deeper water current running against the surface current being pushed by the wind.

The surface current is like the surrounding culture. The iceberg is being pushed by the unseen deeper current. That is like the Holy Spirit of God. We do not want to be buffeted by the wind by inspired by the Holy Spirit. That will make us different in many ways and get us ridiculed at best, persecuted at worst.

2 TIMOTHY 3:10-17 [10]Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, [11]persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! [12]Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. [13]But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14]You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, [15]and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. [16]All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; [17]so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. NASB

2 Peter 4:12-19 - Levent's call to prayful waiting

I mentioned Joel Osteen yesterday. Joel is a great man of God. He has a ministry that encourages a lot of people. I wonder how he reacts to 1 Peter 4:12-19? Peter expects suffering to come to the man who boldly proclaims the gospel. Those he is writing to assume this is a normal experience.

4:16 - If we suffer as Christian, do not be ashamed but in the name of Jesus glorify God! Peter and Paul agree that we should glorify God for the suffering that we experience.

Maybe I am twisting this but I take this to mean, rather than holding back, trying to hide our faith and trying to fit in with unbelievers, we should be proud of what we believe and not be ashamed of our beliefs.

Levent, a Turkish pastor who spoke yesterday, said that as we pray we wait on God. This is an active thing to do. To call on the living God, unbelievers will ridicule us for doing that. When unbelievers are told about a friend in crisis they speak of "sending good thoughts". How hopeless is that? Yet they honestly can do nothing else.

We call upon the living Go who loves us and all men and eagerly want to for us to ask. Unbelievers can ridicule us but we glorify God.

Sunday

Sunday DW and I went to the late service, which is the unusual 11:30 AM at our church. That seems really late. I miss the first half of the Texans game. What are you going to do? It turns out I missed the good part of the game and mostly listened to the bad part.

With all the rain the service was very small.

The good part of all this is that I got in a long morning walk, from 7 to 9. I explored some new area east of midtown. I found a few treasures. I got rained on but considering how much we need it that was no problem. I saw the dark clouds but it has been threatening the last few days with little actual rain.

I put my magazine and phone in plastic, they were safe. I also was able to protect my little earphone radio and still listen to it.

The rain was warm and there was no lightning. I was more than glad that we were getting some soaking rain. It was a gully washer, coming off and on hard for a while then soft again. Some curbs were filled up. In other places the water was quickly flowing into storm drains. The dustiness was finally getting washed away.

On Sunday mornings the normally music stations on the FM dial often program more religious hours. Some do public interest programs. I scanned the dial looking for what was available. My little radio is fickle about what stations it will pick up on FM. A couple of weeks ago I heard the tail end of Al Sharpton. It would probably raise my BP but I would like to hear that again. I did not find Sharpton.

But I heard a social affairs program about bone diseases. After that came a half hour sermon by Joel Osteen. Osteen was pretty good. He leaves out part of the gospel. But this was a pretty good sermon encouraging people that God's "no" means he has something better in store. That could almost be MP or one of my blogs. But he never mentioned suffering and his call to accepting Jesus did not mention repentance. This is an important omission. I enjoyed hearing some things I would not normally hear.

My shoe has still not dried out yet.

1 Timothy 3:1-9

"These people...honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Isa. 29:13).

This indictment of the people of the church in Timothy's time seems all too modern. I can think of people like that. But better still to look closer still at myself.

Yes I am often trying to make short cuts to righteousness. I want to put other things before God.

We are still in the last days. Paul mentions that they are in the last days. Two millennium later we are still in the last days.

When I was in my twenties I knew men who did what verse six describes, play on the insecurities of weak women to get sexual favors. These people were all Christians and I had much less respect for the men than for the women. Sadly there were times that acting as those men did seemed appealing. I never did but mostly for the wrong reasons. But that comment by Paul is so telling. We often think of Paul as innocent in the affairs of sexual love but he was not at all. I am sure as a pastor he had to pick up the pieces from such dalliances and he knew the power of those hormones.

When we come to verse seven I hope that is not me, always learning but never becoming mature. It is always a temptation for me to love the facts more than the God that I am proposing to learn them for. If I never get out there and serve then I am learning for purely selfish motives.

In verses two through four we have a vice list. Paul is talking about Christians here, those who are supposed to be living like Jesus. Timothy has a tough job. Any church probably has such people. Are we any better? I hope so. But I should look at myself first. At one time or another I have probably been all those things.

I notice it is men who are called malicious gossips, not women, chuckle. I suppose this includes all people though.

Perhaps most of all I am convicted by verse five, "holding to a form of godliness while denying the power of it." To me that describes legalism. It shows faithlessness, a form of atheism. We go through the motions without really experiencing God. We have tamed God, which means we have denied him because God can never be tamed.

Paul is talking here about the negative side. He is talking bluntly to a leader. But there is a gracious side of this. All these people are saved by grace, not by their own actions. God has determined to love these people (and us) despite their unfaithful actions.

This is a wonderful reminder of God's gracious love: "There is no pit so deep, but Christ is deeper still" (Corrie ten Boom).

We should determine to accept God's love and endeavor love God more dearly.

The fight is still on for the souls of men. Satan was defeated by Jesus on the cross. But the battle will not be totally over until he comes back again. He has delayed, I guess so that more can be saved. Lord give us opportunities to help others to choose Jesus as savior and start on the path to discipleship.

The commentator's final prayer: Lord, my own life has been stained by the darkness of these last days; cleanse my heart, and relocate all my loves and desires more closely in Your will.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-9 [1] But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. [2]For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3]unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, [4]treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5]holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. [6]For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, [7]always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. [8]Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. [9]But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. NASB

2 Timothy 1

In the letters to Timothy and Titus we are seeing an older man's sort of epitaph. That's not the right word. It's a bequeath, a written passing of the mantle. Paul is passing his mantle, his burdens, his gifts to younger men and by extension to all disciples and leaders who follow after.

Paul is not so old that he is in fear of death from poor health. No, Paul is likely in good health. But he is certain that this time in prison with Nero as Emperor, will be his last. He will be killed soon. He is not being treated as well this time. He describes a real prison, not a house, and chained to a guard. Nero was not a friend to Christians. And he was likely not very sane. You could never be sure what he would do next. But you could be certain it would not be merciful.

A great leader tries to raise up people to take his place. Timothy was probably Paul's most able assistant. But there were others, Titus being one. From reading these letters it is clear that Paul spent a lot of time teaching and encouraging his appointed leaders. He also demanded a lot of them.

Especially as I read 2 Timothy 1. Paul mentions he is in prison (8). His imprisonment has brought a new temptation for his followers. Paul mentions those who have not been scared off, (Onesiphorus and himself)by his impending death. And he mentions some who have (Phygeius and Hermogenes).

We too are tempted to think that being faithful to God means smooth sailing in life with no hardships. When hardships do come do we think God has abandoned us? Or are we tempted to think all that we have been taught is a lie All my imagination?

Paul takes the time to say a prayer of blessing for Onesiphorus for his good deeds. let's do the say thing for those who help us along in this life (or for others we love). Take time to say a prayer as you go, thanking God for what they did and praying a blessing into their life. This is the right thing to do, even if they do not yet have faith (or perhaps you do not know).

Paul encourages Timothy not to be afraid of suffering (7,8). I do tend to stoically accept the little suffering I face. (Or I yell loudly). But Paul say do differently. Our suffering is for the glory of God. His suffering is according to the power of God (8). What does that mean? I do not think I truly understand yet.

Christ Jesus suffered and it was to his glory and to the glory of God. When we suffer we are sharing in Jesus' suffering.

Paul states he is not ashamed to be in prison, suffering, perhaps being beaten, certainly living very uncomfortably (12). It must be very humiliating to be chained to a guard. Yet God is able to guard his faith until he goes on to his reward. Paul keeps the faith. Let us do the same.

1 Timothy 6:11-21

In the first part of this chapter Paul goes back to how to correct false teachers and speaks of their evil motivations. This may be a key to thwarting their plans.

He also goes back to godliness. Some consider godliness a way to make money. These teachers claim to have some special key to godliness. Paul has taken great pains to say no, you get godliness by pursuing it. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith love, steadfastness, and gentleness (11).

Paul affirms that godliness does bring great gain if it is joined by contentment (6). This is like a proverb. And I notice there are quite a few proverbial statements in 1 Timothy. What a wonderful statement to ponder! Godliness brings great gain when one is content. Paul has contrasted this with people who are avaricious after money. Godliness brings a gain that we can take with us eternally after death. We certainly cannot take our possessions with us.

But this last half of the chapter speaks to Timothy personally and if we would to us personally. Paul uses stronger verbs: flee (11), pursue (11), fight (12), and take hold (12).

Then Paul ends with a passage praising God and Christ Jesus, a doxology. Paul cannot help himself. I hope you too find many things in this world to praise God for. He is worthy.

1 Timothy 4:6-16

) I’ve been experiencing some failure in my life lately. It is true that God loves me whether I am successful or not. God just loves me. That is what I am consoling myself with. God commands that I remain in that love. Live it. Immerse myself in it. Perhaps that is what caused me to go wrong. At least part of my failure comes from not knowing my identity as a beloved child of God. I was trying to get love and approval from men instead of God.

What do you do when you think you are the only one who sees correctly? Am I like the guy driving the wrong way on a street thinking everyone else is going the wrong way? Everyone else thinks I am wrong. So I guess I am just not in touch with reality in this situation. I am trying to accept that the truth is not what I think it is, what my feelings scream that it is. I am trying to see it as the others do, looking at the same situation. Is there anything like faith in the this situation. I erred (I guess) when I tried to get what I thought was fair instead of relying on God’s love for me.

I have no doubt theoretically that I have blind spots. When it gets concrete it is hard to accept. I know that without God I would not be as together as I am. I’d be in much worse condition than I am now. Sometimes that seems like that is not saying much.

I see myself as greatly risking in many areas of my life. I think that is what God wants for me. Sometimes I do good. I try to do it to the glory of God. The problem is when it subtly or not so subtly becomes seeking after my own glory. That can happen when I stop remaining in God’s love for me.

Reading 1 Timothy 4:6-16 I am reminded that I have a burden to encourage people to become disciples, to identify themselves as disciples. That is what Paul is training Timothy to do. An important part of Timothy’s work is to model discipleship. Paul mentions bodily discipline (8). But spiritual disciple he calls “godliness”. Timothy is told to command and teach these things. Timothy is not to be timid but to be bold, bold yet gentle. He is to be bold in his walk, a disciple of godliness – love, faith and purity. Show yourself an example.

Timothy is always “on”. He must control his tongue at all times. He never can cease from his disciple. His whole life is to be a model of the mature man and leader.

All these things Paul is asking of Timothy are also for all of us who aspire to be mature. That is why this book is included in the canon. We cannot help but to be examples to those around us who also aspire to maturity. Paul sets Timothy lofty goals. The are for us also, for me also.

The Help

We went to see The Help the other day. I would like to find the book that it based on. This is a very good movie.

It sets the tenor of the times about black maids in a very prejudiced southern town. But I think this was sort of the way in any town with relation to blacks servants and perhaps could apply to servants anywhere.

I have read quite a few books about English manners in the 18th century. The house fully staffed with servants has quite a bit of the same feel. Servants were not people in the same sense as everyone else. You might feel yourself magnanimous enough to speak to them as equals but the separation was always there. In a pinch you had no real loyalty to them. They would be discarded at whim.

They also touch on the subject of separate restrooms and never eat anything touched by a black, at least in your presence.

It is long by movie standards, almost 2 1/2 hours. Yet it kept my interest.

I remember black maids and vaguely black restrooms in Houston. So it touches me personally.

I really do not like violent movies anymore nor "dark comedies". This was the only thing playing that looked at all inviting. It was a good movie. And I left thinking a little.

bad week

This has been a bad week for blogging. I apologize.

No good excuses but my CA daughter has been here this week with her fiance. We got to meet him for the first time. He is nice. We did not spend a lot of time with her since she had a wedding and banking to do plus reconnecting with old friends.

1 Timothy 2:1-8

The word all is important in this section. We pray for all men (1). God desires that all men would be saved (4). Here Paul seems to be speaking to what is the true teaching. In chapter one Paul speaks against false teachers and teaching. Now he is affirming what is true. The false teachers are likely saying only a limited number can be saved or that there is some special knowledge that only they know. And they will share with you for the right price (wink).
Paul makes it clear that God wants all to be saved. And what is required is not special.
The other word that is important here is one. There is only one God and one savior Jesus Christ (5).
These are the simple truths that Paul is affirming against what the false teachers are trying to add.
Paul concludes this section by saying we should all pray together, in agreement (8) for all men and all rulers (1).
Paul begins and ends this passage speaking of prayer. The first verse explains what we should continually pray about ,and why. The last verse tells us how we should pray:
1) in every place and for every one
2) we will be holy before God
3) we will come to God without holding grudges against one another

Unless we follow those last two conditions our prayers will be blocked. Our lives need to be consistently holy, in private and in public - God sees.
And we must not stay angry with other people in the church, holding grudges, acting divisively.
I naively want to think that if all men accepted Christ as savior my life would be easier. Everyone would love me and not take advantage of me. Alas I will never find out. But if my relationship with Christians I do know is any example it is not true. Perhaps it is my selfishness or theirs but Christians are among the most trying people I deal with. I suspect it is just it takes work to be loving and patient.
If people were all Christians my life would not be a bed of roses. People would rightfully call me to responsibility. They would expect me to serve. They would expect me to work for the good of all. Maybe more than they do now.
I suspect heaven will be like this too. Only we will our part joyfully.

1 Timothy (second)

I was described last night as a cream puff. This is a new revelation. Yeah, I'm slow too. The ladies at Alpha were encouraging me to be more forceful about getting the couples at the marriage class to listen to the tapes and not to whisper while the tape is going.
I have never thought of myself as a push over. I have some idea of why this has occurred. I have trouble being firm without getting angry. So I just keep quiet and stay frustrated inside. Sometimes not so much inside.
I do not like to be the one in authority because then I have to deal with peoples' negative reactions. Even if one leads, corrects, call people to obedience in the nicest way possible some people will still react angrily. I tend to get down with them and get angry right back. Then I have destroyed my authority.
And at the jail, as you might imagine, you have a lot of people who react this way to authority, without thinking first. It is how they were raised.
In situations like this in the past I have reacted right back. This muddies up the whole situation. And I do not think fast in stressful situations. I tend to panic. I start to doubt myself.
Anyway my tendency to avoid such situations makes me look like a cream puff - a push over.
In contrast, Paul in 1 Timothy does not give himself this luxury. He takes his role as evangelist and disciple maker very seriously. He must correct those who are disobedient, and who are teaching false doctrine, for the sake of the rest of the church. He will expel Hymanaeus and Alexander who persist in teaching false doctrine.
Paul knows he is right, for he has his word from God. He insists on proper doctrine and behavior in the churches. He has so many new converts. It is so easy for them to be led astray. Paul knows how important it is to teach, model, and admonish so that the new Christians will learn to be mature disciples.

1 Timothy

In places in the world where the gospel is being spread aggressively and many people are accepting Jesus as Lord, such as parts of Africa, it has been said that the church's faith is a mile wide and an inch deep. It is not an accident that Jesus commanded his follows to go into the world and make disciples. The word is not convert. People should not be afraid of that word.
There are many churches in places like Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. There is a great need for people to teach and model.
Paul and his fellow evangelists were having the same problems. The church was growing rapidly. In all his new churches he is fighting against ignorant people who were changing the gospel.
Paul admonishes Timothy to preach sound doctrine and not to get distracted by fruitless doctrines.
Paul is sternly warning Timothy of the danger of this. The gospel is to be explained. Some old behaviors have to be spoken against. People have to be retaught how to be a Christian. We follow Christ. We are to be like him.
Paul in 1 Timothy gives examples of fruitless discussions: working out genealogies and arguing about the (Jewish) law as things that can distract new converts from deepening their walk.
Paul suggests people are teaching strange doctrines (3). The people in Ephesus, where Timothy is, are Gentiles. And they think they are experts on the Jewish law (7)?
As new Christians they are susceptible. If someone confidently teaches a false doctrine they are liable to be confused. It is important that they, and we, find teachers who teach sound doctrine, not adding and subtracting from the true gospel. Paul tells Timothy to find people who will do that and appoint them as leaders.
We have the Bible to help us to judge true from false doctrine. They did not have that yet. The Bible was in the formative stages when Paul taught. So they did not have the Bible for help.
Paul was urgently concerned for the many new Christians that they would not be led astray.

1 TIMOTHY 1:1-11 [1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope, [2]To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [3]As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, [4]nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. [5]But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. [6]For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, [7]wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. [8]But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, [9]realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers [10]and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, [11]according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. NASB

Proverbs 24 second part

The commentator speaks of the betrayal of a trusted friend. This is how he interprets v. 26. A kiss on the lips is the greeting for trusted friends. We see this also in Judas' kiss of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He betrayed a trusted friend. A kiss like this is the formal greeting of a trusted friend.

Judas betrayed Jesus. Have we every been betrayed by a trusted friend? If it has happened to me I have blotted out the conscious memory of it.

The commentator says he showed this verse (26) to a friend. The friend said, "There are some people I would prefer to lie to me." I'm not sure what he meant by that and it is left unexplained.

Are there some people he would prefer not to trust? Or some people he would rather not be friends with at all. (Why?) Or is it that some people have a lying nature? It would be incongruous to hear them tell the truth. He would not expect it. It would catch him off guard if this man he is thinking of was honest.

Verse 28 adds that one should not lie or perjure oneself in court.

The writer finishes this section by warning us not to be lazy. Verse 27 tells us to work wisely. Prepare and plan your garden or business venture, then go out and do it. A vineyard (30) needs constant tending. Or it will not produce. I vineyard is an excellent example. Some things, seem to grow with little manual labor. But vines need pruning fertilizing watering, lots of TLC.


PROVERBS 24:23-34 [23] These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good. [24] He who says to the wicked, "You are righteous," Peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him; [25] But to those who rebuke the wicked will be delight, And a good blessing will come upon them. [26] He kisses the lips Who gives a right answer. [27] Prepare your work outside And make it ready for yourself in the field; Afterwards, then, build your house. [28] Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, And do not deceive with your lips. [29] Do not say, "Thus I shall do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work." [30] I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, [31] And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. [32] When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. [33] "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest," [34] Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man. NASB

Proverbs 24a

My commentator thinks the theme of this part of the chapter is "bad company ruins good character". Or "bad company ruins good morals" quoted by Paul.

One must avoid bad company (1) and cultivate good advisers (6). We are influenced by those we associate with. We cannot help it. So beware of your choice of friends and business associates. They will subtly lead us for good or evil. So be wise.

The gate (7) is where the town elders meet to judge disputes and generally share the news. Is there wisdom at the gate? I think the writer here is not sure. Just like today we wonder at the intelligence of those who are in government.

Do not be envious of evil men (1) who seem to have life better than yourself. If you associate with them you will get into trouble (2). Do not use them as a model for how to get ahead.

I like verses 17-18 especially "do not rejoice when your enemy falls". There is great wisdom wrapped up in that.

On a sports chat forum I frequent this is jokingly referred to as not provoking the "weauf gods". If you brag too much about your team's successes you may bring wrath upon your team in the future.

But seriously if a rival in business is embarrassed by a set back that may work in our favor, how do we react? Perhaps this a person who is competing with us for a promotion. It is wrong and dangerous to gloat over their misfortune.

Verse 18 says God is displeased with this behavior and may very well feel compassion for our rival and restore them. God loves everyone after all, even our enemy.

This could be a direct consequence of our behavior. It is like we are kicking them while they are down. Others could feel sorry for the person we are laughing at and come in to help them. Perhaps may laugh with you but they will not think well of you. It is mean.

Jesus told us to love our enemies. This proverb seems to go along with that.

PROVERBS 24:1-22 [1] Do not be envious of evil men, Nor desire to be with them; [2] For their minds devise violence, And their lips talk of trouble. [3] By wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established; [4] And by knowledge the rooms are filled With all precious and pleasant riches. [5] A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power. [6] For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in abundance of counselors there is victory. [7] Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, He does not open his mouth in the gate. [8] One who plans to do evil, Men will call a schemer. [9] The devising of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men. [10] If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. [11] Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back. [12] If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work? [13] My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste; [14] Know that wisdom is thus for your soul; If you find it, then there will be a future, And your hope will not be cut off. [15] Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not destroy his resting place; [16] For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, But the wicked stumble in time of calamity. [17] Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; [18] Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him. [19] Do not fret because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked; [20] For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out. [21] My son, fear the LORD and the king; Do not associate with those who are given to change, [22] For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that comes from both of them? (NASB)

Proverbs 22

Two kinds of behavior will bring you to the attention of the king (read that powerful, influential people). One who is gracious in speech 11) and one who is skilled at his work (29).

This chapter has some oft quoted aphorisms. A good name is to be more desired than great riches (1). Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is one he will not depart from it (6).

Of the later I have great pride. We did a great job, with the help of God and many wonderful people, of raising our four children.

In contrast listening the lives and character of the men in prison, who are really trying to change, it saddens me. Most of them did not have nurturing childhoods. Yes, children have choices. Not all children from neglecting families turn out bad. There are many reason why parents are not successful in raising their children. Sometimes circumstances make things impossible. But some kids hardly have a chance.

The rest of the chapter give lots of good advice about how one can become successful in life and come to the attention of influential people and have a good name.

We are not to oppress the poor. We are not to borrow money unnecessarily. Once you are a borrower the lender has a control over you. He can make your life hard.

My commentator made a list:
1) Think ahead, be prudent (3)
2) Fear the Lord, and know yourself (4)
3) Do not walk with evil perverse people (5)
4) Train your children well (6, 15)
5) Calm your temper (8)
6) Be generous to those in need (9)
7) Stay away from those who criticize people (10)
8) What kind of people do you model yourself after? (11)
9) Don't be lazy (see #1) (13)

Ezekiel 22:23-31

This fits in with the proverbs chapters.

God will call down condemnation on his people because the leaders are oppressing the poor. Ezekiel says they are tearing them limb from limb, devouring them. He uses a illustration coming from the wild. This is how a predator eats, a lion for example. They had lions in Israel at this time. Shedding blood and destroying lives (27).

Four groups of oppressors are named: prophets, priests, princes, and people. All these groups take advantage of the poor. The poor specifically include: widows, poor, needy, foreigners. These people are powerless to protect themselves. So some take advantage of this and treat them unjustly.

Ezekiel says there is no one to protect them or even to pray to God for them. In Proverbs God says he will protect from oppressors if they call out to him. He will judge those and punish those who do the oppressing. And as a result of this God pronounces destruction on the land (30).

It is interesting that God pronounces judgment on the land too. Are the floods, drought, and earthquakes recently here in the USA a judgment from God? Has he pronounced destruction on the land?

How are we in this country oppressing the powerless? How can we stand in the gap before God for our country? How can we help? And by we I do not not mean let the government do it. I do not mean throw more money after it. How can we help?

How can we stand in the gap against the people, princes, prophets, and priests who are acting unjustly and oppressing the powerless? I certainly do not think we can expect politicians to do it for us.

EZEKIEL 22:23-31 [23] And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, [24] "Son of man, say to her, 'You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.' [25] There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. [26] Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. [27] Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. [28] Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken. [29] The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. [30] I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. [31] Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD. NASB

Proverbs 21

Two points (among many) in this chapter are repeated. So they stand out.

At the beginning and the end of the chapter the proverbs speak of making our plans. Yet God brings the result. A foolish, lazy man does not work and plan in order to keep his family provided for. He is likely to go hungry. But it is God who brings the results, the victory (31).

So we do all we can to prepare. But after all we are right to gratefully praise God when all goes well. Recently we have seen this in natural disasters all around us. Some unfortunate people are losing homes to fires, some to storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. These things are in the news. We feel sorry for those who lose everything. It could happen to us. We are grateful for God that it does not.

But its not just natural disasters. Circumstances can contrive to foil the best plans and not always because of our mistakes. I figure the best we can do is muddle through. That is how my dad saw it. We often are forced to make decisions with very incomplete information. If we overlook something that changes everything we take our losses and move forward. If things work out as we hoped, we are right to thank God for his goodness.

If we suffer set back God is still good. We survived with our lives. We can take no possessions with us. I feel sorry for those who lose precious keepsakes, pictures, and even important records.We just can use them while we are here.

Secondly the proverbs repeat that it would be better to live in very uncomfortable conditions than to live with a contentious woman. This could just as easily mean a contentious man. I resemble that I'm afraid. I am reminded of one poignant example many years ago of being considered a contentious man.

There are many areas of my life where I cannot control my tongue very well. I can think of at least one place where I seem to be able to hold it together and am not known as contentious. It is by God's grace. It feels good.

Being contentious involves speaking hastily and foolishly. Lord help us all to speak carefully and often less.

James also speaks of the tongue (1:19-21, 3:1-12) warning us to be wise in its use, for it is powerful beyond its size.

So obviously I am not the only one. But I am the only one I can possibly control, maybe.

Lord help me to be a lot better husband. Also help me to be a better businessman and not so contentious. Help me to work in a collegial manner, building up partners and making deals that allow gain for all sides.