Happiest Surprise Ever 

     An evening church service. January 1987. When it ends, the man goes to his car, opens the door...and is flooded with joy he never knew existed. He drives to his apartment, laughing and crying and pounding his steering wheel. Monday: Office employees see the new man. Joyful emotion lasts three weeks. He replaces his faith...with FAITH! He was not done with Psalms. 

I will exalt you Lord, for you lifted me out of the depth. - Psalm 30:1 

O Lord my God; I called you for help, and you healed me. - Psalm 30:2 

     Never again could this father live with his children. Years after their experiments in life, each one and their dad all live in different states. They visit him.   

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. - Psalm 30:11-12 

I rejoice in your love, for you knew the anguish of my soul. -  Psalm 31:7

The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18. 

When I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation. - Psalm 71:18 

     He is old and gray, 40 years later.

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. - Psalm 94:19.

He turned his ear to me; I will call on him as long as I live. - Psalm 116:2 

I waited patiently. He heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. - Psalm 40:1-2 

      No need for another wife. Later on, a Christian woman called her Christian sister 60 miles south. That led to another Christian woman and the man meeting each other at a restaurant. Not a date. After 3-hours of talk, mostly about faith, each went home. No thoughts. 

     He crawled into bed. God spoke silently into his mind: 

I have reserved her for your wife. 

😉

His Life Crumbles

     To continue supporting the family, he accepts a job 60 miles from home. His kids - he loves deeply - don't want to leave their friends. His wife wants a divorce. He dives even deeper into his Bible. 

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts? - Psalm 13:2.

I acknowledged my (lifelong) sins. - Psalm 32:5

I cried out to God for help. When I was in distress I sought the Lord. My soul refused to be comforted. My spirit grew faint. - Psalm 77:1-3

Hear my prayer O Lord. Let my cry for help come to you. Don't hide your face from me when I am in distress. - Psalm 102:1-2. 

     He begins to lose weight. 

The cords of death entangled me. The anguish of the grave came upon me. I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. - Psalm 116:3-4

Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. For he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. - Psalm 91:14-18

     More than two months ending 1986, the man searched God's word. He has not heard from Father God. Christmas Day was hardest. 

😒 

What might 1987 bring? 

Our Helper 

     In this sometimes-crazy world, we need help that no human can provide. For possibly three years Jesus walked with and taught his disciples. Were they ready to go save the world? He told them to wait for one more thing... "power from on high."  

     So, they waited...and were surprised beyond human knowledge when God filled them with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. - Acts 2. Jesus had told them He would be with them "always, to the very end of the age." Not visibly. 

     While Jesus, born "the Son," said nothing that his Father in heaven hadn't taught him, He is now the commander. Our co-equal God was and is ruler of the world. As we understand it, the Spirit passes our prayers to the Son, and He to the Father. Life happens. The Trinity made the world for a reason (Genesis 1) and we are invited to join the family, now and forever. There is a forever penalty for not joining. 

The Man, the Defeat, the Victory 

     Wednesday and Thursday Views offers the story of a man raised in the church, went his own way, lost his family, and pestered God (if He is real). We tell his story through 16 verses in Psalms, written from the 10th to 5th centuries B.C. 

     This will be unlike any blog we have written in our 11 plus years. 

 America's Christian Roots 

     Is America a Christian nation? We don't have a legal religion and a state church. Is Christianity central to American history? "Certainly so," says R. Albert Mohler Jr. in WORLD magazine. 

     "The entire culture was saturated with Christianity and Christian influence. In the 1830s, Frenchman Alexis de Tocquevill described religion as the first among the America's political institutions. By 1776, over 90% of the population identified with faith. Even some deists insisted on the authority of Christian morality." 

     "Early Americans had no explanation for the universe, for their own lives, for the passing of time, or for the meaning of human liberty...apart from God's providence. They weren't all Christians, but they believed the biblical worldview was essential."

     "A law professor noted that modern secular liberalism has attempted to deny and replace the providential (favorable time) moral authority. Liberalism attempts to make all claims of value stand unrestrained, without foundation. Christianity is a triune Creator who infused all of creation with moral truth. Christianity is founded upon the Bible and God's gracious gift of scriptural revelation."  

     Mohler concludes, "If secular liberalism reigns supreme, civilizational collapse is inevitable. If Americans reclaim and reassert the affirmations held by the founding generation and treasured for generations, there is hope. Secularism offers no basis for genuine hope...no cement to hold society together. It leaves every moral good vulnerable."

     "Is America a Christian nation? At the least this would require a recovery of the Christian consensus. Can this consensus be recovered? We must pray that it can...and will." 

Also 

     In God we trust. (motto of the USA)

     Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. - Psalm 33:12 

     If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. - John 8:36 

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Summary of Differences

     We worship only on Sundays in church. Or we also worship during the week as our faith leads us. Today we have a question: Does the Prosperity Gospel please God? We searched the internet. 

     The Prosperity Gospel teaches that God desires all Christians to be financially wealthy, physically healthy and successful. They claim that believers can use faith to get whatever they desire, especially material wealth. What about Christians living in the poorest nations?

     Another view. Scripture does not teach that God guarantees health and wealth. Jesus warned, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal - Matthew 6:19. The Bible calls us to be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5) and warns against love of money. And, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil - 1 Timothy 6:10.

     Do we pursue worldly riches, or Christ himself? The Bible calls us to take up our cross and follow Jesus - Luke 9:23. Paul wrote ...godliness with contentment is great gain. Spiritual riches, not necessarily material wealth. 

     You say, most all were poor in the first century A.D. Well, there must have been some wealth, or Jesus and Paul wouldn't have warned people about loving money. There are more differences we may blog sometime. Or, you can search "Summary of Differences." 

                    Jimmy

     

God's Creation Continues

  See yesterday's blog.

     Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains. Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one. One row has an even number and the next row an odd number. 

     The waves of the sea roll on shore 26 waves to the minute in all kinds of weather. 

     All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirty-fold, sixty-fold and a hundred-fold. 

     God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain times during the day. Carl Linnaes, a Swedish botanist in the 18th century, said that if he had a conservatory with the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those closed. 

     Humans aren't identical. None of us have the same fingerprints. But we all have one heart and soul. Might our lives be ordered by the Lord who made eggs, foods, grains, flowers and animals? Could our brains and invisible hearts be guided by Him to a profitable end?  

                                               !

More Evidence of Creation

     Does God have a sense of humor? Does He speak through his creation?

     The eggs of a potato bug hatch in 7 days. Canary eggs in 14 days. Those of a barnyard hen in 21 days. 

     The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days. Those of the mallard in 35 days. Eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.

     All divisible by seven, the days of a week. 

     God's making of the elephant: It's four legs all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God planned that elephants' huge body is too large for two legs. He gave it four fulcrums so it can rise easily from the ground. (A fulcrum is the point a lever rests or is supported and on which it pivots.) 

     The horse rises from the ground first on its two front legs. A cow rises with its two hind legs first. 

     God's wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as in the number of grains. Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind. Each orange has an even number of segments.  

                               Continued tomorrow