Swine Fever

"And the Lord spoke to David's seer, saying, Go and say to David, 'Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you; choose one of them,that I may do it to you.' So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Choose what you will: either three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, pestilence on the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me." Then David said to God, 'I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of men."....So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel...

Susanna has asked me whether or not I fear Swine Fever, and I find I do not...If things began to escalate, of course, I would be concerned like any other wife/mother/grandmother...What this shows me, though, is that my fears are not centered around illness and natural disasters. Rather, it is the human heart, and the possibility of its unleashed evil that converted me, and continues to be the source of any nightmares I succumb to. Thanks for the question, Susanna. It showed me something about myself which can be helpful to me!

A Thought

I may have written this before - don't know - but will do so again as it is on my mind.

I find it interesting that so many non-Christians find the idea of God desiring and delighting in the praise of people abhorrent...as though he is an ego-maniac! Here is a homespun response:

A poor family lives on a humble city street. One day there is a knock at the door and in comes --------- --------, the greatest violinist in the world. He says, "I would love to play my violin for you. Listen."...And he plays and plays in the beauty of perfection....At the end of the concert, his small audience can't thank him enough for his graciousness and kindness, praise his playing enough, adequately express the honor of having him give this irreplaceable gift to them. A perfectly meet and proper response....Anything else would be churlish and contemptible...Of course, the gift God gives to us is not only this world and our life in it, but Himself, in Christ....But, as Paul Harvey always said, and Pastor Wayne often quotes: You know "the rest of the story"...Vicious, wicked, ungrateful human nature!...Men may be praised, and praised to the utmost. God may not!

Heard on the Street

....Well, not really. They were actually heard at Maryanne's house:

1) Mommy: Joshie, Go and wipe the toilet seat. There is pee all over it....No, Josh, no. Not with your hands!



2)Emma: Mimi, I scared of the big, bad wolf. He going to eat me up. He going to eat my potty up.

Mimi: He's just a story book wolf, Emma. He just lives in your story book, on paper, not in Emma's house. No, no! When you get frightened by him, you just open your story book and spank him. Naughty wolf!

Emma: I spank the big, bad wolf. He not going to eat my potty up.

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Billy Bray

The church library - now cleared away except for bits and pieces salvaged by individuals - had some interesting old books. One is a biography of a man called Billy Bray. Billy was a Cornish miner born in the late 1700's, who lived through to the late 1860's. He was a simple, but profound man, converted in early manhood after a drunken past. He was a Bryanite - essentially a Methodist. He was absolutely full of joy in his salvation, and had a trust in God that never deserted him. He influenced and led many, by example, who were far his superiors in education and wealth. I want to share just one perceptive observation he made - out of many which are shared in the book:

In a temperance meeting at Liskeard, the first speaker had said, "Although Alexander had conquered the world, he allowed liquor to conquer him." When Billy was called on, he said, "Our friend has been talking of Alexander the Great; I can't see what he was great for except to cut men's heads off. Alexander conquered the world, and drink conquered him. Now, we conquer drink, therefore, we conquer Alexander's conqueror..." Amazing, bottom-line wisdom...

I talked with Flora yesterday and asked her whether or not she knew of Billy Bray. Of course, she did. I commented that it is interesting that the area where he lived and worked was Celtic. Many of the Celts retreated to Cornwall when later tribes invaded. Their Methodism was very emotional in comparison with more Anglo-Saxon expressions. She agreed that the religion of Celtic strongholds is different. Apparently, a friend - pastor, professor?- felt the Celts were "more highly evolved" with their mystical, emotional bent of spirit...feels that is what influenced black churches in their religious self-expression...

I love the study of history for many reasons, but one of the most exciting is to see where God plants genius...Absolutely where he wants it to bloom, more often than not from very humble beginnings!

A few news updates: Katie should begin her flight home in the next while. We thoroughly enjoyed her and Matty, and will miss them...Dad will be going into town this afternoon to do some replacements for a former client, and to price a small job for someone else. He will stay overnight with Maryanne to accomplish both these things...I was tempted to go along, but think I will probably stay and do some writing...Andrew will fly home from NYC on Saturday. Rick and Susanna are wonderful, gracious hosts and I know he has had a stimulating, rewarding time there. He loves museums as few people do...Grace and Cora :) are visiting Maryanne and Will :) today as she had to go downtown to drop Katie at the airport.

I now sign off!

Ramblings

Easter has come and gone, so quickly...Hard to believe....Dad, Katie and Matthew and I went to Maryanne's for the day - got up early and were off by eight-thirty - arriving at their church on the stroke of ten-thirty! Aren't we clever?...It was lovely sitting with grandchildren on my knee as we worshiped - something I miss so much week by week. Anna and Josh were very much diverted by Matty, spending much of the service down on their knees beside him, trying to play with him, just generally loving him...It was so interesting to see how they connected - most definitely felt the connection of family...They loved Katie, as well - sending her home with little notes and gifts...Anyway, back to the service....Dad spent quite awhile speaking with the pastor after the service, and he commented to Maryanne later how much he loves Dad, that in his strong opinions, he reminds him of his own father, who recently died....Isn't that lovely?...We left Woodstock around five, in order to be back for Dad's work shift at nine...He finds the shift work hard, is finding it more and more difficult to sleep during the day, but truly enjoys his work...The young people employed there are inspirational in many ways, and provide meaningful fellowship...And it is a job with meaning. God is good...Dad is generally very tired, though. He has too much to do, and we must try to figure out how to handle that - what might be changed, what can't be and must just be borne...He has his thirty hours of graveyard shift work, mostly from ten until six, or so. As the students go home in May, he may be able to get hours somewhat better - from eight until two or three - more like a very late night rather than an owernighter...He would sleep better, I imagine, and have more of a regular day to work with...But, and this is the rub, that "regular" day then includes much more to do, and this is what is killing him - ten hours a week of maintenance here, trailer park responsibilities, and the odd landscaping job. He gets so worn out he becomes despondent...Should he ask Wayne to cut back his hours here? I know he would, if asked...How should I work into things? Try to get childcare locally a couple of day a week? ...In the interim, I am trying to pick up more and more of the trailer park responsibilities...Pray for God's leading and guidance...And, speaking of the trailer park - I am off!

Uh-oh

I read recently that the EU has declared that "Christ" can no longer be written with an upper case "C". Last I heard, God was trembling on His throne -with laughter! (Psalm 2)

Lies,Wicked Lies

As you guys know, my chief concern as a non-Christian became my own evil. I was so aware of my wickedness, eventually not even being able to look in a mirror and meet my own gaze I was so frightened by my eyes....Wearing a big hat, always, to shield me from the gaze of others...And the nail in the coffin was the typical response I got when voicing these convictions: You are a good person. People are good...

Then came the night I was converted, after hearing that God agreed with my self-assessment and that ----there was a solution!!! What???!!!---The first thing I thought post-conversion was, I've always known this...and on some sublimated, subterranean level I had. The second thought was, I've been lied to all my life...By others, and by myself...Others, as they tried to convince me, and themselves, people are good...That reality is horizontal...That man is the measure....Myself, as I would have died for the concept that, at the very least, you become wiser through life's experiences, that you are, in some sense, spiralling upward in your understanding as you mature...But as the merest infant in Christ, I recognized instantaneously I had just been going in circles.

And the holy anger this brought. And the determination never to be lied to again about the nature of reality...To love and enjoy my mind, but to never let it be circumscribed by anything but Scripture...To live by the reality that external truth in Scripture was the only anchor to reality - "true truth", as Schaeffer said...I had been living in, imbibing, often promoting, propagandized by "lies, all of the devils wicked lies"... "I WAS LIED TO ', but you showed the truth, for you are the truth."...Never again! With God's help, never again!

God be in my head
And in my understanding.

God be in my eyes
And in my looking.

God be in my mouth
And in my speaking.

God be in my heart
And in my thinking.

God be in my end
And in my departing.