Desert Pete

My sister read Sunday's post, then forwarded the story to me.

“Desert Pete”

Some years ago, a seldom used trail in the Amargosa Desert in California, there stood a rundown hut. Nearby was a well, the only source of water for miles around. Attached to the pump was a thin baking powder can with a message inside, written in pencil on a sheet of brown wrapping paper. This was the message...

This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But, the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and the cork end up. There‘s enough water in it to prime this pump, but not if you drink some water first. Pour in about 1/4, and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast, and begin to pump. You‘ll get water. The well never has run dry. Have faith. When you get watered up, fill the bottle, and put it back like you found it for the next feller. Signed, Desert Pete
Ps. don’t go drinking up all the water first! Prime the pump and you can get all the water you want.

Don’t be selfish. Deny yourself. Seek God’s kingdom first, and God will care for you.

Magdalen, Evangelist

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.  Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.  --John 20:17,18 (AKJV)

He is risen!  The Good News was vouchsafed to Mary Magdalene and Jesus at once commissioned her as the first Christian evangelist.

Easter, the celebration of Christ overcoming death and the grave, is the best day of the year!

Have you accepted the gift Christ gives?

Happy Easter!

Palm Sunday

Zech. 9:9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.







Image: Henry Martin

On Stormy Seas #T

In chapter 27 of the Acts of the Apostles we read this account.  Paul and other prisoners were being transported to Rome on a ship from Alexandria.

The wind being unfavorable allowed for but little progress for many days.  Finally they came upon a place called The Fair Havens, near the city Lasea.

There they spent much time, to the point that sailing was dangerous, the season nearing winter.

Paul told those in charge, "Don't do it.  There will be loss of goods and the ship and perhaps our very lives."  They believed their own counsel more than they heeded Paul (I mean, he was a preacher, after all) so they set sail.  Encountering a soft South wind they supposed that they were in good shape; but then they encounter Euroclydon!  Euroclydon, or in today's parlance, Gregalia, is a severe and nasty nor'easter with which the Mediterranean is often afflicted in the wintertime. 

They struck sail, cast out the tackling to lighten ship and saw neither sun nor stars in many days.  All hope was lost.

Yet after while, Paul stood up and said, "I told you so!  You should have listened to me in the first place.  But now I am telling you, Cheer up!  There will be no loss of life, but only the ship.  How do I know?  An angel of the God whom I serve stood by me and told me to have no fear, for I must stand before Caesar, and none of us will perish!  But we will be cast upon a certain island.   And I believe my God!"

So beginning with the twenty-seventh verse, we are regaled with the exciting account of the shipwreck and the preservation of all 276 people on board.


Takeaway

1.  Not all fair havens are safe havens.
2.  We are to be cheerful, for God is faithful.
3.  Hope is the anchor of the soul.  (Matthew Henry)

Fascinating Reading #T

The passage to which the title refers is the thirteenth chapter of I Kings, a historical book of the Old Testament.  In this chapter, much too much to address in its entirety in one blog post, we read the story of "a man of God" who goes up to Bethel and prophesies against the altar on which the current King Jeroboam was sacrificing to heathen gods.

In verse two we read  “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you."  (NASB)

As we continue reading we see the anger this stirs within King Jeroboam for he clearly understands that the prophecy is not against the inanimate altar to which the man of God speaks, but against him.  And the man's words predicting a reigning king of the house of David is a clear message to Jeroboam that he is through.

The next several verses tell of the king's anger and his response, the withering of his accusatory arm and the healing of the same by the prayer of the man of God, the king's misplaced gratitude and his offer of victuals to the man who asserts that God told him to neither eat nor drink while on this mission.  Read it.  It is fascinating.

Fast forward.  An old prophet, doubtless a has-been, is told by his sons about the events at the altar, which is to say that the sons were at the site to worship the golden calf in violation of God's laws in the first place and the old father received their news and rode after the man of God.  The prophet, probably out of envy inasmuch as it was clear that God spoke to the man and the prophet had probably not heard from Him in a long time, invited the man to come dine with him, blatantly lying in saying that an angel had given him a word from the Lord which superseded the direction the man of God had received from God.  (Envy leads to strife within the Church today.  How supportive are we when others are successful in their ministries?  Just asking.)

And the man of God believed him and went to eat with him.

At first glance it seems that the man's sin was disobedience, and so it was. But I think more importantly the basic sin was doubting God's word, for his instructions were clear.  When doubt entered, he was doomed.

Doubt God and disaster will follow.

And we didn't even get to the part about the lion and the donkey.  Please read the story in its entirety.  It contains much that is interesting and instructive.

 

Resurrection Sunday!

"He isn't here! HE is risen from the dead, just as He said would happen." -Matthew

"The resurrection tidings are far and away the most astonishing news to ever break across the tired, old face of this earth." -Gardner C. Taylor

" The Easter resurrection is the ultimate reason why failure and crosses need not intimidate us." -Ed Hird

"It is hard to imagine anything less hopeful than the sight of a burial. When the body of Christ was taken down from the cross, wrapped in a clean linen cloth and laid in a new tomb hewn out of the rock, how many who looked on had the faith to hope that inside three days this dead Man would be walking again among men and women, alive forevermore? But so it came to pass. Aaron's rod budded. The leafless tree on which the Savior died sprang into bloom. What had been stark death before became life at the touch of God, and the gallows became the gate to everlasting life.

"One thing the resurrection teaches us is that we must not trust appearances. The leafless tree says by its appearance that there will be no second spring. The body in Joseph's new tomb appears to signify the end of everything for Christ and His disciples. The limp form of a newly-dead believer suggests everlasting defeat. Yet how wrong are all these appearances. The tree will bloom again. Christ arose the third day according to the Scriptures, and the Christian will rise at the shout of the Lord and the voice of the archangel.

"Faith can afford to accept the appearance of defeat, knowing the true believer cannot be defeated finally. 'Because I live, you also will live.' That is the message of Easter. What a blessed message for the whole world if men would only believe it." -Aiden Wilson Tozer

He died that you might be saved. He arose that you might live with Him eternally!

Happy Easter!

Pedro, Juan y Maria Magdalen en el sepulcro vacio
Jaime Dominguez Montes

If God be for us who can be against us?

"And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

"Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there."  --Deuteronomy 1:27,28

The Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years and now the people are directed to take the land which the Lord their God had promised to their fathers.  And we hear this response.

Many times God's people are led into situations where trust in God and forging ahead is the correct response, and yet the task seems impossible.  Of course it is impossible in our human strength, but with God on our side it must be accomplished!

Oh, but the sons of the Anakim are in the land.  We've no chance against such a foe.  And again, we today face assignments that are daunting or difficulties that seem insurmountable.  And of course they are in our own strength.  But God is on our side.  He will neither leave us nor forsake us.  If it is God's will we will overcome.  Invest your trust in the Maker and Master of the Universe!

When God gives you a mission, He will equip you for the task.

Faith, Trust, and Service

Today's lesson is found in the seventeenth chapter of Luke's Gospel in which we observe the disciples coming to Jesus with a request:
    

⁵ The apostles came up and said to the Master, “Give us more faith.”

⁶ But the Master said, “You don’t need more faith. There is no ‘more’ or ‘less’ in faith. If you have a bare kernel of faith, say the size of a poppy seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it would do it.

^7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant who comes in from plowing the field or tending the sheep. Would you take his coat, set the table, and say, ‘Sit down and eat’? Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, ‘Prepare dinner; change your clothes and wait table for me until I’ve finished my coffee; then go to the kitchen and have your supper’? Does the servant get special thanks for doing what’s expected of him? It’s the same with you. When you’ve done everything expected of you, be matter-of-fact and say, ‘The work is done. What we were told to do, we did.’”  (Luke 17:5-10, The Message)

 This is a striking teaching on faith.  Faith, according to Jesus, is not quantified.  Either one has faith or he does not.  Thus to say, "I wish I had more faith," is to say, "I have no faith."  It is imperative that we rely on God and trust in His perfect will.

Jesus further teaches us our role in the service of the Kingdom by using the human master/servant relationship as a model.  The servant coming in from his daily toil does not expect to be treated as a guest in the household, but rather knows that he may well be required to provide further service to the master.  He fulfills his duties and is rewarded with his sustenance.  And the service of disciples is just the same.  We are to finish the work so that we may report to the Master, "We have done as we were told."  Our  reward is fulfillment of our needs.  True to His promise, He will provide.  We accept in gratitude, whether or not we get a pat on the head.

In the words of the old hymn, "Oh, for faith to trust Him more."

It's a Dog's Life

and a totally uninhibited lifestyle it is, too.

"Dog" or "dogs" referenced forty-nine times in the Holy Bible.  The one that I most enjoy and appreciate is found in the seventh chapter of Mark.  (Matthew also gives an account of the incident.) A gentile woman, having heard of Jesus, and having a daughter that is possessed of an evil spirit, seeks Jesus out and asks for his favor in banishing the spirit.

Now Jesus, being a Jew, and devout, tells her that it is not right that dogs should eat before the children are fed.

Truth, Master, she said.  But even the dogs eat of the crumbs the children drop under the table.

Jesus, taking note of her faith, said, For this saying, go your way, your daughter is no longer afflicted.

It was not lost on the Syrophoenician woman that she was being likened to a dog, if not being called a dog.  Which of us would not resent such treatment, and that in a public venue?  But she was on a mission, a mission which she would not allow to be thwarted by hurt feelings or resentment.  Rather, she, in clear deference and in complete agreement with Jesus's assessment, pressed her case further, and her petition was granted.

Fishy? I Think Not #T

[Somewhat over a year ago, due to failure of proper functioning of String Too Short to Tie, I transported STSTT over to Bob Warr's blog for a few weeks.  Most of the faithful followers came along, so for them this is rehash.  But I thought there might be some who missed it then and would enjoy it now.]

I wish to express my appreciation to Bob Warr for allowing  me to  use his blog as a platform for my posts for an undetermined length of time.  Thanks, Bob.

Sincerely,

vanilla

STRING TOO SHORT TO TIE 

Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only. It is not a theological treatise, nor is its intent to make fun of anyone’s practice of faith.

Fish on Friday

We protestants who lived north of the Arkansas River chided (read: made fun of) our Catholic friends who would drive south of the river on Fridays to partake of their evening meal, for there they felt free of conscience to eat red meat. It was widely believed that Catholics were to abstain from meat on Fridays as an integral part of the practice of their faith. Failure to do so made the offender a sinner in the eyes of fellow Catholics and a hypocrite in the eyes of the protestants.

The trip across the river had its roots in some medieval history. Because of their service in the Crusades, Pope Urban II granted a dispensation to Spanish counts allowing them relief from the meatless Friday rule. In 1571, Pope Pius V extended the dispensation to all lands under Spanish rule. Hence, Spain’s colonies in the New World were excepted.¹ Even though Spain had long since lost her rule in the New World and even through domination by various peoples and right on into the twentieth century American world in which I lived, the observance continued in those geographical areas originally dominated by Spain. In the West, the northern boundary of Mexico was the Arkansas River, and hence the Catholics of Texas, New Mexico, and a portion of southern Colorado considered themselves under the dispensation of Pope Pius V.

In 1951, the faithful in the area were advised that indeed they should follow the practice of abstinence from meat on Fridays, along with the rest of the Catholic world. Much confusion exists to this day, and Catholics generally believe that to eat meat on Friday is not sinful, but that Friday should be a day of penance as clarified by the Holy See in 1966.²

¹Michael P. Foley, Fish on Friday: The One that Got Away, Musings of a Pertinacious Papist, December 30, 2010.

²ibid.

Lilies of the Field

Thirteenth day after first shoot broke ground.

Jesus taught us saying, "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

Pete Wilson in his study of Christ's sermon said this: "Worry isn’t the result of your problems. Worry is the result of you thinking you can control your problems.

I know it’s easier said than done, but Jesus is in essence saying “I want you to stop obsessing about the future and trust that I hold the future.”

Politics, Poverty, and Prayer #T

1933 and 1934 were the worst of the Dust Bowl years. The  disaster lasted much longer. Politics aside and disregarding that his mother was a staunch Republican,¹ my father had no kind words for President Roosevelt. Over time, and as I began to find interest in the greater world outside the walls, I was able to determine exactly why Dad was not enthused with the Washington administration. Principally it centered around the decision of the President and his “communist”² Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace to assist the farmers who had little or no feed for their livestock due to drought and crop failures. The government bought thousands of head of cattle, thereby saving many farmers from loss of their farms and livelihoods. The price paid ranged from four to sixteen dollars a head. (So near as I can learn. I am not an historian, economist, or agronomist.)

Nevertheless, I believe the purchase of the cattle was not the thing that stuck in Dad’s craw. His problem was that while thousands of people in the Dust Bowl area were going hungry, the cattle were slaughtered and buried in deep trenches. It was forbidden by government regulation to use the meat for food. That was not right in my father’s eyes; and he was far from alone, for I have read somewhat about this era. Many people shared his disenchantment with the wonderful wizards of Washington who devised and executed such a thing.

Dad’s sole give-back was his observation that the cattle burial ground along the railroad tracks near the small town in which we lived provided the very best and most lush beds for the lambs quarter which grew wild in the area. These weeds in turn provided part of the nourishment the parents were able to provide for us.  In addition to the weeds, we had a nanny goat, who utilized weeds in her own way by turning them into milk which we consumed. It is not untrue when I tell you I was raised on goat’s milk, for until I was five years of age, I knew no other.

Disastrously, one day the goat died. I don’t know why, and I don’t remember any story relating the incident. But what I do remember hearing about was the prayer meetings we had during family devotions in the home. Mother and Dad both told me that I prayed, along with them, for a productive new goat. They said I concluded my plea, “And please, Lord, give us a white goat.”

A farmer showed up at our house with a nanny goat, claiming she needed a new home. She was white.

God is good.

¹Dad told me that he recalled that when he was a lad, his mother and father “spared the horses the trip to town” on election day, because they both knew that she would mark straight Republican, he straight Democrat, thus cancelling each others vote.
²Or so Dad believed. He was not the only one. Wallace became Vice-president in 1941 and was replaced in that office by Harry Truman in 1945.

Boy Meets Girl #T

 It was more than sixty years ago. Opal had friends. One of her friends had a friend who lived some fifteen hundred or so miles away. Opal was “eligible,” and the friend’s friend, whom we will call “Ed” because that was his name, was also single. Both were in their early twenties but neither had yet met the love of her, or his, life.

I do not know how the arrangements were made, but the mutual friend “hooked them up” by way of the US Mail. Opal and Ed started a correspondence. The letters were frequent and apparently, though I never read any of the letters, the level of sharing of intimacies increased with time. And time passed and a love-of-my-life feeling developed between the pen pals. A date was chosen and Opal began planning a wedding. Keep in mind that Ed and Opal had not yet seen each other, though I do believe that pictures were part of the mail packets.

My father, whose name was not Sam, was known among the younger set as “The Marrying Parson,” for many of the young people who had been his students asked him to officiate at their weddings when the time came. Opal and Ed asked Dad to perform their wedding ceremony. I had a small part, too, for my friend Wes and I were honored to be chosen to act as ushers.

The week of the wedding came. Tuesday afternoon the plane which brought Ed from California to Colorado arrived. That evening Opal and Ed met for the first time. This allowed them Wednesday, Thursday and a portion of Friday in which to date one another and for Ed to meet Opal’s friends and family. The rehearsal and associated festivities were scheduled for Friday evening, and the wedding was to be on Saturday afternoon.

But every story has a hitch, or a twist, or an unexpected turn of events. Or sometimes the story turns out just as one might have anticipated.

Achsah's Heritage #T

In the fifteenth chapter of the book of Joshua we are told that because Othniel went up against Debir and conquered it, Caleb gave to him Achsah, his daughter, to wife. Tradition demands a gift to the bride. Caleb gave her land.

Achsah rode out to her father on her donkey, alighted, and confronted him. “ You've given me desert land, unproductive if it have not water. Give me water.” And so Caleb gave her springs of water, both in the upper region of the land and in the lower.

We have a saying in our day, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Achsah was much smarter than that. The completion of a gift is in the acceptance of it. The girl knew enough to know that the “gift” from her father was worthless in the incomplete state. So rather than a simple “thank you” followed by abandonment of the worthless property, Achsah chose to confront the giver of the gift with an analysis of its value. This yielded the desired result, for now the additional gift of water made the land valuable and the woman secured it as a valuable inheritance for her progeny.

How often do we offer a tepid “thanks” for a present, shrug and go on our way never utilizing the offering? Why do we do this? Well, because we “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” And we are “polite” to a fault.

Are there lessons in Achsah’s actions in this story?

I think a deep spiritual lesson in the actions of this good woman in claiming her heritage is this. God offers us the gift of salvation, a good and perfect gift through the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We must appropriate the gift by accepting it. Then it behooves us to ask for the in-filling of the Holy Spirit so that we can be productive citizens in the Kingdom of God. Without water, Achsah’s land is not productive; with water it is valuable and useful land. Filled with the Spirit we may be useful in the building of the Kingdom!  On our own, we are nothing.

(Verse 18 says Achsah “lighted off her ass.” (KJV) We might more likely prosper if we, too, get off our asses. Just sayin'.)

Keep the Faith

In the forty-seventh chapter of Genesis, we see that Joseph has brought his father, Jacob, before the Pharaoh of Egypt to introduce him.

And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?

 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

Here is a man who was blessed with a dozen sons, who was endowed of God with wealth beyond his wildest imagination, who is the bearer of the promise given to his forebears, who reports, at the age of 130, that the days of his life have been "few and evil."

Yet with faith in the promise, Jacob, when dying, blessed both sons of Joseph, and worshipped God.

What hope, then do we have?  The days of our life are indeed few.  That they will be plagued with evil is a given.  In the blessings that God grants us, we have hope only in the greatest blessing of all, the gift of salvation through His grace in the redeeming blood of His only begotton Son.

Hebrews 12:1-3
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Sunday Post on Tuesday

Sylvia and Chuck's church is just one mile down their Secondary Road.  So Sunday morning we went down that road and met a number of very friendly and interesting people.  One elderly lady (meaning someone of my age) revealed that she had a sister who lived in Marion.  I told her we had a daughter and a grandson in Marion.  Turns out her sister attends the same church the grandson and his wife attend.

Interesting conversation with the Pastor as we sipped coffee before the service.  Though he had never met him, he knew who my father was.  Pastor Mark's first charge was in Pennville, Indiana, a village where I had applied for a teaching job over fifty years ago, which is to say we shared some geography, for he had lived in Eaton, I in Muncie.  Well, at different times; Mark is a generation younger than I.

The Sunday School lesson revolved around the death of King Saul, a topic I had dealt with briefly on the blog this past winter.  Fascinating discussion.

Pastor Mark's sermon was titled "Heaven: A Gated Community."  He read John's description of heaven as recorded in the Revelation.  He pointed out that we are given very little about heaven by way of description.  He posed the question, Why are we given such sketchy information?  His answer was this, which I found interesting.  We are told so little lest we make an idol of heaven and worship it instead of focusing our worship on God.

Conclusion: Wherever God is is Heaven.  We are not concerned about the architecture of Heaven when we are in the presence of God!

Following the service, we had our farewell luncheon with our hosts at the local Chinese eatery.  Very tasty comestibles, followed by an easy and uneventful drive home.

Consider the lilies of the field...

  ...how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. --Jesus of Nazareth

God has assured us that our every need will be supplied, food, raiment, and whatsoever we need.  God never promised us that every desire would be satisfied.  He said our need would be supplied.

This week I heard a televangelist say we are to tell God exactly what we want.  When we receive it we have no doubt that it was a provision from God.  This is the sort of testing which is both self-serving and God-limiting.  He knows our every need.   It is my belief that when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, he gave them a model of a sincere prayer which we should emulate.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us .  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever."

Thus to approach God in prayer, we recognize and honor His place and His holiness.  We plead for the coming of His kingdom; we submit our will to His will.  We ask only for provision for the day.  We ask for forgiveness of our sin against our fellow-man; and we commit to forgive those who have wronged us.  We ask for shielding from temptation and deliverance from evil; then we reiterate our recognition of God for who He is, the Supreme Being, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and worthy of all honor and glory.

I have lived in Indiana more than a half-century.  I am not totally unobservant.  Thus it is that I developed an algorithm for predicting the emergence of the "resurrection lilies," or "naked ladies."  These plants, about which I have written earlier, sprout long, lush, green leaves in the spring.  These leaves mature quickly and soon die down, leaving virtually no evidence of  their existence.  The bulb then lies dormant for many weeks until *ta da* overnight the naked flower stem erupts from the earth and in another day or so the bloom begins.

I predicted bloom by July 27 this year.  I missed by three days.  The picture was taken on the twenty-sixth.  Do you suppose the excessive heat of this summer had anything to do with my "miss"?

The colors are quite faithful to the reality, but the picture itself has been digitally warped to make the border for this post. Unaltered pictures may be viewed by following the link above.

Psalm 56

¹⁰ In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.

¹¹ In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

Field's Bad Boy #T

Ironically the one student at School in a Soybean Field who caused me, the teacher, the most grief during our year-long contest with each other had the same name as I.  I was determined that he would be a student well-behaved, reliable and co-operative.  He was determinedly dead-set against my ambition in that regard.

David was obstreperous in class, loud and obnoxious. He sometimes hurt people.  David's widowed mother was at the end of her very frayed rope, and hanging on by a hang-nail.  Which is to say, she was no help to me in my efforts to reform the rascal, and much as I wanted it to be otherwise, I was of little assistance to her in improving the socialization skills of her get.

Please don't conclude that I hated the child.  I truly hoped to civilize him, and I worked assiduously to that end for a long, long, nay, seemingly interminable nine months.  It was a challenge.

Excuse me while I take a breath.

My attitude toward him was no worse than that of his other teachers, the principal, and his classmates.  But it wasn't any better, either.  I even toyed with the idea of changing my name from David to Leroy, or Liam, or Huckleberry.  I left the school district at the end of the year and moved to a completely different region of the state.  I had heard nothing of David from that day...

Fast forward thirty-four years.  I had purchased a car from a dealership in a town a mere sixteen miles from School in a Soybean Field.  The car had a couple of issues, and I returned to the site of purchase to ask for assistance.  The dealer called his service manager in and introduced us.  Sure, he said, bring her into Bay Three.  Which I did.  The service manager set a mechanic to work on the vehicle, then said to me, "Do you recognize me?'  I replied truthfully, "I didn't recognize you by sight, but I remember your name.  You were a sixth grade student at Soybean Field over thirty years ago."

Long conversation, reminiscing about "the day."  I asked and he filled me in on his own journey through life's mazes.  Then he said, "Do you remember David?"  "Seriously, how could I ever forget?  What ever happened to David?"  Turtle-like, I pulled my head down on my shoulders to protect myself from the terrible account I was about to hear.

"Well," Keith said, "you won't believe this, but David got saved while he was in high school.  He went to college and seminary.  He is pastor of a church in Virginia.  He is married and has two daughters.  One of them teaches sixth grade, and the other one is a senior at Virginia Tech."

Floored?  Well, I should say.  But I shouldn't have been, for the grace of God is unlimited, and His works are beyond the ken of men.

They That are with Us

The King of Syria came down upon Israel. He counseled with his men, saying we shall camp just there. But Elisha warned the King of Israel to avoid that spot; and this happened yet again, and again. The Syrian King was so vexed that he called his cabinet together and demanded, “Which of you is for Israel? And they answered and said, “None of us. It is Elisha that tells the Israelite King even those most secret words you speak in your bedroom.”

 Then the King demanded to know where this Elisha person was, and it was told him that he was in Dothan. So he sent a great host of men with horses and chariots down to Dothan by night, and surrounded the city. When Elisha’s servant arose and went out he beheld this sight. He ran to Elisha and said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?" And Elisha answered and said, “Chill. Have no fear: for they that are with us are more than they that are with them.” and he prayed and said, “Lord, open his eyes that he may see; and the young man’s eyes were opened and he saw. The mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

When the Syrians came down to him, Elisha again prayed, “Lord, smite these people blind.” and so it was. Then the Man of God told them, “This is not the way, nor is it the city. Come, I will take you to the man you seek.” So he took them into Samaria and prayed the Lord to open their eyes. And when they saw, they beheld that they were in the midst of Samaria. And the Israelite King said to Elisha, “My father, shall I smite them?”

“Nah,” said Elisha. You wouldn’t smite those that you captured by the sword and the bow. Set food and water before them that they may eat and drink, then send them on their way. The Syrians ceased for a time from pestering Israel.  (Based on 2 Kings 6)

What are we to take away from this account?

1.  Elisha was not called "the Man of God" for nothing.

2.  Elisha kept his cool in a troubling circumstance.

3.  Elisha prayed, not once, but at each turn of events.

4.  Elisha saw clearly God's power in the event.

5.  Finally, Elisha dispensed mercy when he could have just as easily meted out death.

What key phrase should we commit to our heart's storehouse?

--They that be with us are more than they that be with them."--

  When we give control to God, there is no foe who can overcome us, for He provides a    host sufficient to overpower the evil that would swamp us.