Mission Faithwalk

                 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.  Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.   Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.   “...

                 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35)           How’s your serve? Quite a few years back, I wrote some editorials about making the world a better place. I don’t think they went over well because we tend to want our making the world a better place and our service to be impressive. We tend to want a “ministry” or a “thing” about which we can say, “That’s my thing.” The point of my editorials was that we make the world a better place by exercising so that we’re physically fit enough to help out, picking up litter as we walk the dog, taking care of our sidewalks, driveways, and lawns (or someone else’s), or caring for an ailing great-grandchild. Dare I suggest that being a servant is about doing what you can, where you are, with what you have, now?      ...

  “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)                     Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown . (Numbers 22:31)             And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha . (II Kings 6:17)             This is one of the things that makes those whose minds are dominated by science gnash their teeth. If we can’t see, hear, smell, feel, taste, or control it (they claim) it doesn’t exist. That means spirits can’t exist. Tod...

                 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)             I went to the peninsula yesterday morning, as early as I could get out the door, with the hope of finding Trumpeter Swans. Instead, I found thoughts. One was that the scenes around me are meant to speak of death or deep slumber because that’s the way the world is here in Erie at this time of year. But even beyond Erie, some would say the world is dying. They might be right. Scripture says it will happen. If it is not dying now, it is broken and has been since Adam and Eve at of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As beautiful, clean, and quiet as the snow makes the world seem, it only does so at the cost of life.           When I got to Beach 11, I f...

                 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)   So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” (Exodus 15:24)   There was an incident in my past in which I’m told that was so angry and so hurt that I swung at my rents, and it wasn’t just a toddler’s temper tantrum. It stuck with me even though I didn’t remember it. I’m not sharing this for pity or even so you understand me. I’m sharing it because it’s what we tend to do with God and others in one form or another. At some point, in our minds, it comes down to “God or me,” and it doesn’t seem as though God chose “me.” Now, God chose me and you when He created us. He chose us when Jesus came and died for us. I get that. But we’re like the Israelites three days after crossing the Red Sea (above.) If you read the chapter, it never mentions the people asking for water and being denied. They were tired...

                 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.    So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.   Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.    I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You ...

                 Then human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose.    Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.   The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.    The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ...

  This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.   Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died. When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.    After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.    Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.   When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.    After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.    Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, a...

                 “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”   To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.   It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.   By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:16-19) Today’s passage is tough. We don’t like it. It doesn’t seem fair. The serpent was cursed with extreme and abject humiliation. The ground is cursed, making farming difficult. That’s the curse on the gr...

    but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17)   The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”   but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:17)   The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock     and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly     and you will eat dust   ...

                 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2-3) Some people seem to think that spiritual warfare is only what goes on when someone is attacked by demons. I suspect spiritual warfare is more often the result of family, friends, or your flesh not liking the changes you’re making in your life. Last night was a difficult night for a number of reasons and I confess that I didn’t handle things with a shout of “Woo hoo, a trial!” In fact, what it showed me is that even a little bit of interruption of my sleep and my perseverance, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control go out the window. And, of course, the fact that my response wasn’t what it should have been, and my imaginings about reasons for some of what happened just adds to the shame. In a way, ...

                 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)           Let’s hypothesize something that happens but push it out to some silliness. Someone is walking toward you, and you remember the golden rule. How do you want them to treat you? Ignore you? Nod, wave, or give one of those meaningless greetings to which you can reply with equal banality? Gasp and give you a hug? Invite you out to coffee? OK-we’ll keep the rating at G. In the 1.274 seconds you have before you meet, you have to consider every possible option of how you’d like to be treated, choose one, come up with your own application toward them, and hope you chose wisely. Is it any wonder that most of the time, we look down, or nod, or otherwise acknowledge that there is a body there – but not a person, and above all else, not a valuable perso...

                 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”   The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,   but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.    “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”   When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they ...

                 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”   Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ f...