Friday, May 23, 2008

How is your thanks level?

As Jesus was entering a village, ten men who had leprosy met Him.

They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

The thirteenth chapter of Leviticus provides regulations regarding infectious skin diseases.

You recall that the first five books of the Old Testament are called the books of Moses, or the Law of Moses.

For the Israelite, the Law of Moses was the same as the Law of God.

It is worthwhile to remember that the Israelite was faithful and obedient to the Law of Moses, even beyond the Law of God.

Verses 45 and 46 of chapter 13 have this to say about the person with leprosy.

"The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!'"

As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. This is the law that was given to the Israelites; yet, history tells us all the known nations expelled their people that had infectious skin diseases.

We get a feel for the life of a leper that is an outcast, in Second Kings 7:3 & 4:

"Now there were four men with leprosy At the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, 'Why stay here until we die? If we say, "we will go into the city", the famine is there, and we will die.

"'And if we stay here we will die. So, let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.'"

Lepers were required to live alone, yet, so many times we find reference to groups of lepers in the Bible.

Can you imagine what life would be like: Forced out of your family and home; forced out of your job, and community?

Following the law, was similar to a sentence of maximum security in the wide open.

God made us to be in fellowship; fellowship with Him, and other people. I imagine it would not take very long, being a n outcast, before a person would begin desiring human contact.

In the gospel of Luke chapter 17, we find a group of lepers banded together for companionship. I can understand how a person might take the risk of companionship with fellow outcasts, especially when they know they will die before they can get back to their family and normal life.

This group of lepers had apparently heard the stories of the people Jesus had healed; especially the lepers, and apparently believed He could heal them: that He would heal them.

It was unheard of to have a leper speak to someone other than another leper. Yet, here are ten men, that hollered out, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

They knew they could be put to death for having contact with a person who is clean. Yet, they hoped; they hoped with every fiber of their beings, that Jesus was who they had heard He was.

Because they were bold enough to ask Jesus for what they had often dreamed of; they heard the awesome words: "Go and show yourselves to the priests."

I can imagine they began running; maybe out of fear more than anything else; and as they ran, they realized that their skin was clearing up.

And as they saw their skin healing, I am sure that they ran even faster to get to the priests and be declared ceremoniously clean.

As they ran, we are told one of them stopped and returned to Jesus and fell on his face in front of Him and began praising God.

I get goose bumps, and a big lump in my throat, as I think about the emotion running through that man.

A man who had been sentenced to a lonely death; was now clean enough to again enter his community, his job, his church, his home, his family.

The realization of the miracle that had been performed in his life and the lives of the other nine, was too overwhelming, and he returned to thank God for the grace that had been bestowed upon him.

And I wonder, too, how thankful we really are over the miraculous gift of grace we have received of new life, and life eternal.

As this one is worshiping, and praising God, we hear Jesus say: "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine, where are they? Were none found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"

What a sad statement Jesus made in reference to the people of God. As people of God, we come to expect God to do what we need Him to do in our lives, and when He does it, we do not respond, because we knew He would come through.

Here we see a superb picture of one who comes to Christ, and gets all excited because of the wonderful miracle God has performed in his life.

This is a picture of a man, condemned to death, who, by the grace of God, is now a free man, rid of the death sentence.

I ask you, how else could he respond than to go back and worship and thank God?

What does God have to do in your life to get you excited? What are you expecting God to do for you, that will get you into praising Him?

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.

All my life-long I had panted for a drink form some cool spring, that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within. Hallelujah! I have found Him Whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longing, by His blood I now am saved. Amen!

Now, the truly amazing thing happens. Verse 19 tells us that Jesus told the man: "Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Do you not think it strange that Jesus did not say, "Go and visit the priests for the ceremonial cleansing?" Or "Go join the others?"

Think about what Jesus said to this man, "Go your way; you faith has made you well." Can you sense the awesomeness of this moment?

I believe Jesus is telling this man, "Because you took the time to come back and give the proper thanks and worship to God; you have been completely healed."

I cannot find any scholars that back me up; yet, I really believe that Jesus provided a supreme healing.

I believe, that this man did not have to go to the priest for purification.

I believe, that when he walked into town, people did not even realize that he had once had the dreaded disease.

In fact if he was missed at all by anyone, it was probably because he was away to another town.

I really believe that this healing Jesus laid upon this man, healed his family, and when he walked back into his home, it was as if he had never, ever, been banished.

Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people.

How is your thanks level today?

Is it full enough to keep God dwelling with you?

We do not have to be outcasts from society, or our home, for God to perform such a wonderful miracle.

Scripture is adamant that each and every one of us, at one time was under the curse of death; we were outcasts; and God in His infinite mercy, took away the curse, gave us new life, and welcomed us into His family.

Now, if that don't get your thanks level up to full, maybe you need to go see a good coroner.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mush mouth

I recently asked Katherine at http://smokymountaincafe.blogspot.com/ if she had a receipe for Mississippi mud.

When I was stationed in Biloxi, MS we used to go to a restaurant named "Bernies" explicitly for the Mississippi mud. They had it, it was goooooood, and I was wonderin if it was possible to find a recipe that would taste as good.

Well, Katherine came through with a recipe from Emeril Legasse.

I cooked up a mess of it today, and I gotta tell ya...

When I was stationed in Hawaii, I learned that when something tasted really good, you simply sed, "broke da mout!"

When I was in Japan, you generally said: "Oishi cotta!"

When I was in Ecuador, we generally sed: "muy delicioso, muy bien, or muy rico!"

Ahhhhhh, but to be honest, this recipe was beyond my wildest imagination...

I will forever be in Katherine's debt, "you did me good on this one!"

What's there not to love about a goood mouth full?

Precious thoughts from Psalm 80

Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! (vs 3)

Restore us, O God of hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! (vs 7)

Restore us, O LORD God of hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! (vs 19)

Mindlessness

If Hillary and Barrack were to get together would we have HBO?

Ranten n raven

Well, this morning's "hot" poll, in the paper is: "Should the national speed limit be reduced by 10 miles per hour?"

Sounds like another poli-tic-al plattitude to fix another non crisis; while quite possibly exacerbating a real crisis.

The argument years ago, that reduced speed limits, nationally, was so people would use less gasonline. I do imagine, that is the same premise we are dealing with here.

"Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

The common adage is: "Follow the money."

OK, let's follow the money and see where this leads us.

Lately, more and more poli-tic-ians have been calling for mandating corn liquor in all gasolines.

The farmers basically benefit from this because they not only get subsidies to grow corn, but they also are getting increased corn prices.

The rest of the world, however, is struggling with increased prices for food.

Let's set that aside and return to the speed limit issue.

Say, the national speed limit is dropped by 10 MPH. Say use of gasoline dropped by 10%.

There is now, a less usage of corn liquor, and, in my understanding, there are problems with storing ethanol for long periods.

Would this, then, not create a need for a reduction in cookin corn liquor?

Then what would happen to all that corn that is sitting around on the ground?

How long would it take before the farmers were crying to the poli-tic-ians for more subsidies, because they can't get their corn sold?

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against farmers. We need them!

However, we have not had real small family farming in years.

The small family farmers have not been able to subsist, because of all the gummint restrictions, and taxes.

On the other side of the coin, there is minimal policing of the highways, just because there is not enough money to maintain constant patrols.

Travel any major interstate in this country, and you will soon learn that the speed limit means nothing.

Speed limit through Iowa on the interstate is one of the lowest in the nation; yet every time I drive through there, the majority of traffic are blowing my doors off.

Somebody, is constantly coming up with new laws to "protect" us, yet, with no way to enforce the laws, much less the ones already on the books.

We are living in a post-modern world, where we are told there are no absolutes, there is no right and wrong; yet, we are being inundated with more laws.

Obedience to law, requires morality. If you are not a moral person, you ain't gonna abide by the law.

Unfortunately, crime does pay, and the chances of getting caught get less and less every day.

Add to this the idea that even if you are caught, you can usually get a lawyer to get you off or reduce the charges.

Kill someone? Why not, trial lawyers are waiting to find loopholes to get you off. And you can always sue the estate of the person you killed and get money.

Well, I have definitely wandered away on this one.

It ain't gonna do no good to reduce the speed limit.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Thinkin without getten paid for it

We know that Senator McCain is basically a democrat in a republican disguise.

Looking at 2009 we find that Senator McCain is now President McCain, and he is presenting his candidate to con-gress for Supreme Court judge.

Would anyone be surprised to find the candidate is Hillary Rodham Clinton, or Barrack Hussein Obama?

Talk about jumpin out of the fryin pan and into the fire!

Senator McCain has my deep respect, as a military person, for his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

However, I do not think he is the right person for the billet of Commander in Chief.

Ditto for HRC and BHO.

I sense we are about to witness the demise of the United States of America, as we have known it.

Kruschev was prescient when he stated around fifty years ago, that communism would bury us.

It has taken a while, but we are now only a step away from socialism or communism, or whatever "ism" you might choose to use.

Well, since I am on a roll, thinkin without gettin paid, let me think about something else.

Who is gonna be the first to feel the change that is comin?

The newspapers, and journalists. We continue to hear journalists saying they want to change the world; but seldom do they recognize that in socialism, communism, nazism, whatever "ism" you wish to choose, the newspapers are locked down and the journalists are gotten rid of.

Think freedom of speech... bloggers will disappear, authors will be reduced considerably, the internet will be restricted imediately.

Think ChiCom censorship of web sites.

American Disability Act? Yup, forget it...you cannot fully participate in providing for the socialist dictate, you are gone.

Elderly? Yup, think about it; how many elderly people are able to fully participate in providing for the masses?

England has already notified the masses that socialized medicine is not available to people whose life style is not conducive to better health.

Drug users? Smokers? Alcoholics? Homosexuals? Homeless? Overweights? Junk food junkies? Race car drivers? Bungee jumpers? Skydivers?

Who will make the decision as to who is eligible to utilize the social benefits?

Yeah, the gummint, and the truth is, what benefits the gummint, is what is gonna benefit socialism.

Keepin the count

Kim @ http://theothersideofkim.com/ has posted "Dept. Of Righteous Shootings".

Methinks he is giving away good secrets; however, goblins prolly don't read blogs, and actually do not have enuff common sense to realize that the presence of one gun in the home, may mean there are more guns around.

Thanks Kim for keepin a dead goblin count.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Electioneering

Am I to understand that "swiftboating" has become a part of our modern lexicon, meaning telling the truth about a presidential candidate?

How have we gotten to the point where telling the truth has become a personal attack on someone?

Oh, yeah, seems I had a moment of loss of lucidity!

I forgot that "truth" is no longer objective, but has become very subjective; and is now, whatever anyone wants it to be.

If I had a nickel for every time I have heard the comment, "There are no absolutes; there is no longer right and wrong, black and white. The world has become a vast grey!" I am certain I would be richer than Ted Kennedy.

As I go each day with my ear to the ground, I hear about how other gummints are better than the one we have. I will admit, the people we have in elected office today leave a lot to be desired; but our constitution, and the way our government was initially instituted, is still the best this ole world has ever come in contact with.

In a way, I am glad I am as old as I am. With any "luck" and by the grace of God Almighty, perhaps I will not be alive to see the downfall of this country; the greatest experiment in people living together, and governing themselves.

How sad, that America has come to the point that someone wanting to be elected president has to lie, and then condemn anyone who chooses to expose the lie(s).

Yeah, beam me up Scotty, there ain't no intellijunt life on this planet...