travel frustrations - Psalm 43

Right now I am waiting in an airport for a delayed flight. So far none of these travel links has gone exactly to form. I am frustrated. A lot of the time it was my fault. I did not look at the reservation details. I got caught in cost overruns. Time changes and the stress of travel have been tough on my wife and I.

This travel link today from Kansas City to Houston seemed to be set up to be quick and easy and then to the house. But its not turning out that way. Flights that get delayed due to repairs often get cancelled. We could be here all day and get out tomorrow. We are praying not.

Psalm 43:1-5 ^ Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! ^ For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? ^ O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling places. ^ Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God. ^ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

God says count it all joy when people revile you for His name's sake. Well is it for him or is just because I am a selfish person? God only knows where one begins and the other ends. My Kfest experience involves both, I am afraid.

I am tempted to think all the problems with travel are God saying this was all wrong. Your traveling days are over. Or maybe this three week two locations "vacation" was just too much. As I go through all the stress I am tempted to ditch it. Why bother? What have I accomplished? More importantly, how has God been glorified in all of this?

I have felt at sea spiritually in all this. Was this simply my own selfish whim or was God involved with this? As I look back at little more dispassionately I can remember that God loves me and my whims. They are usually his whims too. In most ways is up to God to get glorified and he did. Thank you God for that encouragement.

"Why are you in despair O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God. For I shall praise him again. He is the help of my countenance. He is my God!" How wonderful an ending to this psalm! This is a prayer. It is a prayer of man under stress. But he is trusting in God despite the circumstances. Yes it is my prayer too.

I am thinking in the future I have to choose in July, Kest or Hippos did. I cannot choose them both in one year. DW had a pretty tough time this time. But it was mainly her medicine change right before we left. Perhaps another year it would be better.

A woman is also waiting for the delayed plane. She has bedded down right by me over in this corner. She put down a towel, took a pillow and used a coat to completely cover herself. Now she is fast asleep. I hope she knows how to wake up when he plan is called.

Fortunately this airport, like Toronto has free internet. I am enjoying it.

feelings

These last few weeks I have felt everything but spiritual. Aren't you supposed to feel spiritual in the Holy Land? Perhaps not. But I think it is ironic. I am having trouble getting excited about reading the Bible. I am having trouble praying. Sadly I am doing it less. Not none but less. That is sad. My feeling should not affect my behavior. It does not change the truth. I am God's son. God's beloved. God's chosen.

Well anyway. I am reading Luke. After the sermon snippets we get several healings. A sermon I read recently mentioned a common element in the healings around Luke 7. They are done at the behest of someone else. They are done because of the faith of someone else.

Specifically we have Luke 7:1-10, the healing of the centurion's servant. Here we have the religious leaders in agreement with Jesus. This does not happen often. This centurion's petition for help should be granted. I'm sure it was for different reasons. The religious leaders were impressed that this man gave to the synagogue. Jesus was impressed with this man's heart, his respect for God, his faith in Jesus' ability to heal. Does it seem ironic to you? These same leaders would doubt Jesus' ability and his righteousness, but here they implore his help, for earthly, selfish reasons.

Luke is writing to a Gentile audience. So anytime he can compliment the faith of Gentiles he does. Here Jesus marvels at the amazing faith of a Roman centurion. The Roman sees the similarity between his giving orders and Jesus ordering things in the spiritual realm. Would we make this connection so easily? Romans are known for being practical. This Roman sees that a man in higher authority can take it as given that people under him will do his bidding, without question. But Jesus calls it faith. I think that would have surprised the centurion. Jesus calls it greater faith than he has even seen before.

I think that is true for all of us. Often we just take our faith for granted. After we have been following Jesus for a while we expect God to act. We pray as a matter of course. We know God can do it. He is done it in the past. We know God's faithful character. We trust him even when things don't make sense or we feel out of control. That is faith. And God enjoys seeing it in us. Praise God!

do not judge

Luke 6:37-42 ^ "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. ^ Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." ^ And He also spoke a parable to them: "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? ^ A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. ^ Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ^ Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.

I hope you reread this portion. There is so much to glean. The commentator says we will not be judged so much by God's standards as our own. It is a truism that we hold other people to a much higher standard than our own. Jesus says "don't do it!"

Do not judge. Do not condemn. This means do not hold grudges. Forgive, pardon. So in this context "give" means give good will, give forgiveness. Give love, compassion. It is not about money at all. In short be like you Father in heaven who loves you.

So if you give you will be given back abundantly. But if you judge by any standard, by that same standard you will be judged.

Be careful. What standard are you judging others? Can you live with that same standard? Perhaps you think you can in some areas. But there are other areas where you lose out. I think we forget some areas where we are blind. That seems the concept of the speck and the log. We have blind spots. All of us do. We need to remember to be humble. And we should keep self examining ourselves. Ask God to show us our blind spots and how we are haughty enough to judge others in areas where we ourselves are weak.

Let us be humble before we start to mentor others. Often I try not to give myself to leading someone unless someone else invites me. This does not happen often. So I do volunteer myself. I'm sorry I can't help it. But when I do I hope I am humble about it. If the person I volunteer to help does not want it I try to back away gracefully and not get offended.

There is so much in the passage that I have glossed over. Read it again and see for yourself what God is reminding you of.

Barbara at site

Barbara up on the mountain Sunday.

Israel at dig site

We have been here a week. Barbara fell the first day. It was determined she would not come up the mountain anymore. People have been very very kind. Me? Not so much. This puts me in an awkward situation.

She has stayed in our very nice hostel room mostly alone in the mornings while I work on the mountain. She was to help with pottery but Tuesday she fell there too. Doctors have said her hand was extensively bruised in the first fall. She did not hurt herself in the second fall. I think people are scared to be responsible for her anymore. So I tell them she can play on the internet in the morning like at home. That would work except she has mostly slept.

She interviewed with an expert, retire neurologist who is now a professor at U. of Haifa. He says the falling, dizziness, and vertigo could be the result of the change in medicine she had in Houston. She has been told she can step back on her medicine in slow stages. She is taking one less pill now to see if that helps.

She would like to go back up on the mountain but we hope she will not. The first week is over. We have rested Friday and Saturday. The second week starts on Sunday.

We have tried twice to drive 20 miles to Tiberius to go to church. There is a Scottish Presbyterian church somewhere in Tiberius. But we cannot find it. Again this morning we went on Sabbath to try to find it. On Sabbath there are few cars on the road, some people are obviously coming or going to service (walking). Most everything is closed.

The hotels must be open. The beach resort areas are open. We found a filling station/convenience store open this morning. I was glad to get out of the room and drive around. It was a little like exploring.

We then came back and had a leisurely breakfast with many of the people still here at the kibbutz. Many have gone on tours, self directed or with groups. I met Jewish people from Britain, Australian, Philadelphia, and Poland. Mostly they are young students. Oh yes, an older lady from Portugal originally. Any local Israelis on the dig have gone home for the weekend.

This is a picture of my first week group at the Basilica of Hippos/Susita. We had a pretty good time. This group includes people from France, Italy, and local students from Haifa.

Acts 10

It was a startling revelation to the apostles that God's spirit fell in power on Gentiles, those who were not circumcised just as he had fallen on them. They were astonished.

I know I am often astonished at things God does around me. Lord help us all to see with his eyes the amazing things he is still doing. Also help us to be willing to risk.

It took a very vivid dream with prophesy, then having that prophecy immediately come true to get Peter and his friends to go to Joppa to see a God fearing Gentile named Cornelius. His first comments could have been offensive: "You know Jews and not even to be in the same house as the like of you." But Peter then admitted God told him to be here and that he would be obedient to tell them the good news just as he had been telling other Jews.

God did not wait until Peter was finished to send down his gift (free gift) of the Holy Spirit. They prayed and glorified God in other languages just as Peter and his friends had in the upper room. So again, being obedient, the Jewish believers baptized Cornelius' household. By baptizing they allowed them to enter into God's family. They were now related in the faith to each other.

I'm not sure Peter and the others liked what they had done. It would take a while for these two groups of people to get comfortable with each other. When Peter got back to Jerusalem he had a lot of explaining to do. I think the others would have liked to have covered this up. "No more Peter, please!" It would take Paul to make them actually agree that the gospel was for all men everywhere.

Lord help us to be comfortable with God's amazing grace that brought us into the kingdom, sinners as we were and that before our eyes brings in others that we would rather not relate to. Help us to relate to all God's chosen, just as He does.

God's grace is truly offensive to us often enough. He loves and reaches out to all sinners, even as he did to us.