An Extra Hour

Thursday, August 24, 2023

On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.”  So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.  Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar?  The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day.  There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!  Joshua 10:12-14

If you have ever found yourself wishing for an extra hour in the day, because you haven't had enough time to "do it all" this is for you!

The day started with my phone losing its mind. It was supposed to awaken me at 5:30 am so I could get to my VA doctor’s appointment on time, but when I opened my eyes at 6:15 the phone was still in its own stupor!  Great....starting the day 45 minutes behind!  Getting dressed quickly, I ruminated on how my phone must be listed somewhere in the Bible’s “begets” of Hell’s spawn.

One other “proof” of how useless my mobile phone has become is the choice it makes, based on algorithms which ignore my needs, in favor of the desires of roughly 14-gazillion companies double-checking the expiration date of my car’s warranty.  One of those fascinating (but totally sinister) algorithmic choices also totally ignores the fact that I need my calendar to awaken me to the reality that my frenzy of activity to get to the VA for an 8:40 appointment, is silly, considering the appointment is an hour later at 9:40…a fact I totally missed, because the said appointment was for the eye doctor, because I am half-blind!

In frenzy-mode, I forgot that a careless placement of my coffee travel-mug on my car’s rooftop, coupled with a hasty “plop” of my overweight carcass in the driver’s seat means my mug-full-of-steaming-hot-Green Mountain Dark Magic coffee will wobble off the car roof and splatter all over my garage floor.  There’s no app or algorithm in the world that can cope with the stain on both my cement garage floor (which now must be painted, as Elizabeth always wanted), and my broken heart, having to face a 30-minute dash to the VA with zero-caffeine in my blood!

When I arrived at the VA and checked-in, the receptionist smiled, and said:  My, you’re early!  It was then I realized the calendar was right, and I had an extra hour to wait, be still, and know my hurrying had been in vain.  But all was not lost…in the VA lobby, stands a Starbucks, testament to the fact that our government leaders really do have a heart.  I reclaimed my lost Green Mountain Dark Magic, and sat in a space overlooking the parking lot to contemplate my madness in silence.  During the next hour I resisted opening my algorithm-driven demonic device, and used the time to be still, chill, pray, and sip my over-priced Folgers.  Within a few moments an elderly lady sat down at the lobby piano and played a lovely hymn.  And my blood pressure returned to normal (for me).  I managed to have enough presence of mind to thank God for that lovely, calming hour’s interlude, and soon was lost in praying for each of you, as the Lord brought you and your needs to mind.  Part of God’s answer to my prayer was when he spoke to my heart:   Russell, do you understand now, how you, getting up early, all worried and coming apart at the seams, when I wanted you to have an extra hour's rest for your weary bones and spirit, is a blight on the day’s journey?  I could only smile and nod an apology…He knows me well, without an algorithm.

For You Today 

Like Joshua, you can trust God for whatever extra hour he wants to build into your day; it will be the best hour of the day.  

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

That Perfect Moment

 

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!  

Psalm 133:1

A Perfect Moment is, by definition, only 60 seconds, or shorter, or, at least, not much longer.  In many places Scripture is fluid as to time’s length, a day can be as a thousand years, or the other way around. 

As much as time may be relative, and seem longer or shorter than you, or others see it, one consistent fact about a moment is that it has both a beginning and ending.   A hug begins at some point, and is momentary…it ends when the embrace does.  The same can be said of human harmony.  There are times when all seems right…until it isn’t.  And, when that realization happens, it may become the twelve-second lead on the nightly news.  There is a reason police consider the call to a domestic dispute as potentially one of the most dangerous events of any day.  When the harmonious hug ends, the belligerent battle may kick-in. 

And woe to the bystanders!  Bystanders in the wake of disappearing harmony are described in many ways:  victim, refugee, casualty, collateral damage, just to name a few.  Everyone knows some of these; many (maybe you) have been these.  It is a story as old as Genesis, when Adam’s family brotherhood was broken with Cain’s using a rock on the back of Abel’s head to make his point.

If you have experienced harmony at some point in life, you’re aware of its sweetness.  But you are also likely to give testimony of it’s brevity. 

Most generations long for that harmonious culture of everyone getting along.  The founders of the American dream of equality and opportunity wanted a nation to undergird the rights of all to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.  But, as one critic observed, we’re guaranteed the right to it, but pursuing it is up to you. The builder generation (which gave the world my parents) lived through a depression and two world wars.  They imagined harmony would be achieved with the establishment of the “United Nations” – an end to future wars, and happiness with peace for all.  How’s that working for us?  The boomer generation, offspring of the builders [my hand raised here] chased harmony via the sexual revolution.  It’s a little naïve to suppose peace and serenity can be achieved in the most intensely-passionate of human relations.  And the current generation is as certain as all their predecessors the key to harmony will be found in shaming others for their lack of harmony.  Or pinning another peace and love slogan on their forearm or neck.  At the risk of joining the fun in all that shaming, that’s as effective as putting a bandaid on cancer.

Harmony has no easy answers, no GPS to lead you to that perfect moment of brotherhood.  And, even in the most picturesque selfie of the happy hug moment there is the grotesque reality looming that it will be just that…a moment.  The illusion of having arrived at lasting peace is also just that, a vapor, a cloud that can be blown away by even a gentle breeze, let alone the storms of our day.

For You Today

There is a way to harmony.  It is to be found in putting aside all notions that we can achieve such by human effort or ideology alone.  That’s disillusioned arrogance at best.  Rather, the only hope for lasting harmony is what Jesus preached to the crowd that day, recorded in Matthew 5-7.  This Sermon on the Mount was no litany of rules and regulations for religious zealots, it was the attitude and actions that describe Who the Prince of Peace is, and what His followers would look like, the peacemakers, the ones who hunger and thirst after righteousness with everything they think, say, and do.  And they start with anyone who crosses their pathway.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Perfect Math

 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.  They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season.  Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.  But not the wicked!  They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.  They will be condemned at the time of judgment.  Sinners will have no place among the godly.  For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.  Psalm 1:1-6

My brother, Thom, is the math major in the family.  Before he retired he taught young people math skills for over 50 years.  When speaking the language of math Thom sometimes encounters that blank look from his brother.  My math does not enter the lofty realm of quantum physics and such.  Give me 1 + 1 = 2, and I’ll be with you to the finish; if you get much past 3 + 4, I’m (as they say) out the door! 

By contrast, the language of the Primary Psalm is math, simple enough for even me.  And it answers a question concerning “divine earthly retribution” which scholars have debated for centuries.  That question is: 

Does God really bless the good behavior of those
who honor Him, and punish the wicked?

It is tempting to read the Psalm that way and expect immediate reward and punishment.  But that would be to presume we understand all there is to know about God’s timetable.  And that would be a wrong presumption, because there are at least two Scripture passages which point-out how we must not try to put God into a box, by assigning when it is right to hand-out punishment or blessing:

1.     Time was created by God, a sufficient reason to understand why he isn’t constrained by time.  The Creator is always above and beyond the creation.

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  2 Peter 3:8

2.    We cannot possibly understand the motives of, and movements in, the purposes of God. 

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:9

We can always count on God to punish the wicked and lift-up the righteous, but we must constantly remind ourselves to not assume the position of judge over God.  And we must also constantly resist the thought that we know all about what God thinks, or does.  Remember, there are some secret things[1] which God reserves to himself. 

For You Today

For now we must trust God, and look forward to the time when He reveals all to us, which he has also promised:

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.  1 John 3:2

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] See Deuteronomy 29:29

 

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.  Only the Father knows.  And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard!  Stay alert![1]     “The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip.  When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return.  You, too, must keep watch!  For you don’t know when the master of the household will return—in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak.  Don’t let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning.  I say to you what I say to everyone:  Watch for him!”  Mark 13:32-37

That corner of the room where Elizabeth and I eat breakfast and have our morning devotion together is watched-over by my Mom and Dad’s grandfather clock. 

As I read Mark’s account of Jesus telling his disciples to be watching diligently for His return, the clock knew what we were reading.  I read the words of Jesus be on guard…stay alert!  Right on cue, the clock struck…BONG, BONG…just over my left ear.  I tell you; it was hard to concentrate on finishing the reading.  There is something just foreboding and portentous about the sound of those Winchester chimes bonging from the depths of that clock’s presence.  But when it arrives with the words of Jesus, STAY ALERT cannot be ignored.

We are in the first light of a new calendar year.  I would ask how those resolutions are going, but I wouldn’t be that unkind.  It’s always on God’s agenda to give us a fresh start.  Resolution is part of that process, and, for obvious reasons, staying alert is always the next step in the process.  The most important of those evident reasons is greasy tracks.  It’s been said our lives are like railroad tracks, and God always greases the tracks in the direction you choose.  If you start walking in God’s direction, he will be found.  If you walk away from Him, you’ll find it easier and easier to ignore that still small voice every day. 

Finding God’s will in your process is imperative; it’s like reading the owner’s manual.  Much like a manufacturer of computers sends updates to keep your machine working properly, God’s will is His ultimate human software patch. 

To carry any analogy too far is dangerous, but just to beg the elephant in the room (about God’s will and our programming) we must consider malware viruses.  The enemy is constantly looking for ways past your security system.  The apostle Peter echoes Jesus’ warning:

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

God’s will can be found in His Word – that which will seek out and dismantle any hacking attempts by the enemy. 

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.  Hebrews 4:12

One last computer comparison:  Prayer is the activation code. 

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.  Colossians 4:2

For You Today

In a world that has been lulled into dozing off by a myriad of distractions, keeping an alert mind that keeps in-focus and eyes on the goal of God’s will in your life.  What else could be more important than staying alert?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For other posts on this text see When Job Got it Right and Job's Story - From Hero to Zero (and back)

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[1] Emphasis added to each reference to stay alert

When the Heavens are Silent

 

Monday, November 29, 2021

This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.  I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.  Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.  They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?  From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”  They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.  Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood.  And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.  They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.  But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends:  A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think.  No, he is being patient for your sake.  He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.  Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.  Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.  On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames.  But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.  And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.  2 Peter 3:1-14

Peter, ever the blunt, no-nonsense communicator, stated his case right out of the opening gate…he wanted to stimulate wholesome thinking, and remind his flock of what’s coming (judgment), how mocking fools act towards the holy, and how people who would be godly must act.  Peter leaves little wiggle room for waffling.

Then he used that phrase that has stuck in a lot of minds:  a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day…with the LORD.  It’s clear the flock were constantly bleating about how long their suffering seemed, and questioning the Apostle why it was so.  And why it should be.  And why God was silent on the issue.

And the answer, both in heaven, and to earth, is the same – PATIENCE!  We on earth, whether suffering, or weary, or just plain eager for the coming of the LORD to clean up the mess…should be patient.  On the other hand, God IS patient; He’s long-suffering the sins of the earth, giving all who would be lost time to repent and be saved.  So, it’s not a flaw in God’s compassion – rather the fact that He is patiently withholding judgment is a demonstration of His compassionate grace. 

So Peter, virtually exploding with grace and the compassion of Jesus Christ, booms-forth the message…live godly lives…the judgment is coming, and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of history when that hits!  Accept Christ now and be saved.  There’s a life full of righteousness and joy awaiting; don’t miss it!

For You Today

If you’re human, there’s a tendency to whine to God about how tough things are here.  It’s advisable to bring your troubles to God…but remember Who is the judge, and who needs mercy. 

He’s not silent for no reason…our need of repentance is the reason.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this text see A Prayer From the Hourglass

Happy New Year!

 

Friday, November 26, 2021

Seventy years are given to us!  Some even live to eighty.  But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.  Who can comprehend the power of your anger?  Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.  Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.  Psalm 90:10-12

I’m rather certain wishing someone a “Happy New Year” before we’ve had Christmas is an open invitation to wondering if I belong in therapy.  But yesterday, Thanksgiving, began the new year of the Christian calendar.  And, in case you’re wondering, the sacred is much more important to me than the secular…so, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  In fact, for my two-cents’ worth, there is no such thing as secular.  God created everything we know in the universe, and everything else we can’t even imagine, so everything is sacred. 

This is the essence of what our Psalmist is saying.  As brief as our seventy or eighty years are, compared to millennia and eons, since God created time in the first place…the Psalm-writer asked for wisdom to know how to use that time.  And we humans have been asking that question about using our life wisely, with meaning, every waking moment since the dawn of Eden’s sun on Adam’s face.

It's important, no, vital to get the answer at least going in the right direction.  Rome was just a city, and it wasn’t built in a day…there was (and is) a process to rearrange the landscape and amenities.  The human soul’s life is more important than a city’s layout, and the process is that much more complex and meaningful.

So how do you answer the question about your life, meaning, and purpose?  How should you spend your days?  The Psalmist didn’t leave us wanting for the answer; he has three checkpoints (what preacher doesn’t?):

          1.    Life is short, and then you die (go to judgment), so don’t spend your time frivolously

          2.    God is immense and way above our pay grade, so listen to His voice attentively

          3.    When you feel dumb, you’re on the right track, so ask for wisdom constantly.

For You Today

If you noticed, all three of those checkpoints are starters, course corrections, and the answers on the final exam when you stand before your Creator.  What you do with those are the sum of your epitaph, no matter what they write on your tombstone.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this text see A Prayer From the Hourglass

When Time Stops and Judgment Doesn't

 

Tuesday, June 8, 2021

When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison.  He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth.  He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore.  And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city.  But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.  Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet.  There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it.  The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide.  I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne.  And the books were opened, including the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead.  And all were judged according to their deeds.  Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire.  This lake of fire is the second death.  And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:7-15

The apocalyptic prophecy of God, written in this final book of God’s Word, declares the eventual disposition of evil…forever punishment in the lake of fire, a buring torment, an image that ought to  produce jaw-dropping awe.  

For a human context I immediately recall Sadaam Hussein, a despotic madman visiting unchecked decades of evil on his own people, murder, arrogant imposition of poverty, the work of a man gone insane with absolute power.  Pursued by an army, Sadaam was ferreted out of a hole in the ground, and hanged.

Where this analogy breaks-down is the aftermath.  Sadaam is gone, his body buried in 2006 in a grave not far from where he was born in Tikrit.  In a hundred years most every work of his hand on this earth will be forgotten.  But what of his soul?  What of that part of his being, created in the image of God, which still exists.  And what is that like now?  And what will it be in 100, 1000, or 10-billion years?

The answer is fraught with some grey area, certainly, but God does not leave us without understanding that evil is punished, not simply for a brief season; it is eternal.  And the moment the word “eternal” is uttered, the game clock shatters, stopped by Divine fiat. 

In much the same way as those who live in the grace of God also mirror the image of their Creator, those who choose to reject God live in the image of the chief rejector, Lucifer.  And the fate that awaits their judgment is a shout from Heaven, pronouncing their eternal residence in the lake of fire.  Scripture calls this fate of those who separate themselves from worshipping God The Second Death. 

No human can look into the eyes of another human and declare lostness; that judgment is reserved for God alone.  But, the fact that we cannot judge each other does not negate the reality of that judgment.  Hear the word of God on this:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,  Hebrews 9:27

For You Today

Eternal judgment for sin means time stops, but we don’t.  The eternal day of those who live in the light is mirrored by the eternal night of those under judgment.  May we spend our lives pointing others to the light, the joy of Christ, Who is the only escape from the wrath to come.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©