“You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again…” Isaiah 62:6b-8a

Having the opportunity to speak to High School Freshman classes, and having spent hours preparing, I was nervous! I told them so. The presentation I had prepared was, “How NOT to HAVE to live with your mom after graduation.” Preparing and RE-PRE- preparing, Katie guessed why I was so nervous saying, “You care about this too much!” She was right!

When I was in high school, I didn’t get much help in the “whaduhyawanna do with your life,” department. Consequently, as a junior, I found myself in the ‘Guidance Office’ talking to an uncaring counselor. When I asked, “what am I going to do with my life? I have no ideas?” His response was “There’s a catalog over there… go look through it. You’ll find somethin’!”

50 years later, as I sweated the details of what to say to kids who are now where I was, I was again… VERY NERVOUS! I look around the world and I do not like what I see. Evil is not just lurking… it’s attacking… and right around the corner! Truth be told, I actually wonder how much freedom today’s kids will have. Will their voice, if they choose to have one… matter?

This verse I read this morning… jarred me! Written by a prophet of God about 3,000 years ago, it is GOD telling people what it is that HE wants! It may be the craziest piece of Scripture of all! God wants ME, to PESTER Him, until He DOES, what it IS… HE REALLY WANTS to DO! Go ahead… read it again! Apparently after 3,000 years, He hasn’t been pestered enough!

The opportunity to stand before classes of kids, starting out where life starts mattering. On a road of Apathy! From there on, their lives will be tracked and scored. Winners go on to win. Losers will go on to ‘the college of hard knocks’ to learn ‘the hard way…’ or just plain lose! But the one thing that kept me nervous was their apathetic ‘freedom of choice.’ Now God… I get it!

The apathy in the room scared me. I tried to scare that from them with numbing facts of what awaited if they didn’t start the course clearly pointed out before them. Checking the news when I got home, I saw Jews being viciously persecuted around the globe. The UN, our own Senate and Congress have become a zoo! Many people have yet to learn a thing! I give up!

I don’t mean I give up – up! I can see that doing Earthly things Earthling’s way isn’t working. This verse today feels heavier to me. So instead of poking at the world, I’m going to try poking at God to remind Him (at HIS request) that it is HIS wish to make Jerusalem (the City of Peace) the center of a loving peaceful world… where we who love Him will live FOREVER! But I have to ask myself if I really CARE enough to work up my voice! What about you? “HEY GOD!”

Here’s a challenge… I was a kid in the 60’s. Try reading the 60’s chapters in Isaiah! See what God has to say about what just MIGHT be going on… TODAY! And POKE HIM! After all, HIS heart is broken too!

Unbeleeeevable- And what year are we?

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, made a splash on Monday by wearing a Star of David on his lapel. But far from achieving the result he expected, the diplomat’s gesture provoked angry reactions at the organization and especially in Israel. Erdan and the members of Israel’s permanent delegation to the United Nations wore a yellow Star of David, a symbol of Nazi persecution of Jews, at a Security Council meeting on Monday afternoon (which, like all previous meetings, ended without results). On Tuesday, the head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel sharply criticized the country’s diplomatic delegation for wearing the symbols.

Erdan vowed not to remove the yellow stars until the UN condemns Hamas’s “atrocities.” He added that “some of you have not learned anything in the last 80 years. Some of you have forgotten why this body was created.” Erdan decried the Security Council for “remaining silent” in the face of the heinous attacks perpetrated by Hamas militants against Israel on October 7, which killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Except for a morally and politically weighty but non-binding resolution adopted by the General Assembly last Friday — which the Israeli ambassador described as an “infamy” — the Security Council has rejected four proposed resolutions and remains deadlocked on the matter.

“So, I will remind you. From today, every time you look at me, you will remember what it means to remain silent in the face of evil,” Erdan continued. “Just like my grandparents, and the grandparents of millions of Jews, my team and I will wear yellow stars from now on,” he said, standing up to pin a star on the lapel of his suit. View on Watch

The Nazis forced Jews in Germany and the other European countries they occupied during World War II to wear yellow stars on their clothing to identify themselves as Jewish. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have compared the Hamas attack that triggered the war to the Nazi persecution of Jews, the use of the symbol is tantamount to violating a national and existential taboo, while highlighting how sensitive comparisons with — and flippant references to — the Holocaust remain for many Jews. October 7 marked the highest number of Jewish deaths in a single day since the Nazi genocide.

Dani Dayan, the director of Yad Vashem, has condemned the Israeli ambassador for his decision. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dayan wrote: “We regret to see members of the Israeli delegation wearing a yellow star. Such an act is degrading to both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel. The yellow star is a symbol of the helplessness of the Jewish people and of being at the mercy of others. Today we have an independent state and a strong army, and we are masters of our destiny. Today we wear a blue and white flag on our lapel, not a yellow star,” Dayan wrote.

Do you wear or carry a yellow star on your heart or body today? The Church needs to and should stand up and out!  Why not send a note to your elected leaders?

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; Legacy Standard Bible All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Oh you have to see this!” Katie said. These days, seeing something usually means it’s on her phone. To see ‘it,’ she sends it to me by email or text. That’s just the way things are done now. Opening it up, I knew that I too had to ‘share.’ The description on the picture goes along with today’s Bible verse. Being one of the first Bible Verses I learned, it’s a favorite of mine.

I remember fond memories of my father in his ‘study’ as he worked feverishly on the sermon, almost all day Saturday, for Sunday. It was a ritual. He hadn’t known the Bible very well when he was miraculously led into the ministry. In fact, he hadn’t even graduated High School! So Saturday was a long, slow, studying, thinking, writing, pondering, practicing kind of day.

Today’s verse was one of HIS first he studied and learned. Over the years, the longer he served, the more he studied… AND the more settled he became in hard times. Knowing The Word in my heart means I carry it with me wherever I go. Having read it so much, it is always with me. And like a cell phone, it’s my direct line to Home and my resource in dark, hard days.

There is no way to explain ‘peace that passes understanding.’ Though I’ve got it! But I got it the long, hard way… through repetitive use and application. It doesn’t ALWAYS have the answers for my troubles. But the Faith it teaches has never failed, and now wobbles even less over time. Do YOU have that kind of faith or want it? Try using your Bible like a cell phone!

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Psalm 32:8

“Where’d they go?” I had just gotten to the church and was unpacking my backpack… computer, checkbook, pen, Bible, sermon… SERMON!!! Uh-Oh! I didn’t even have to look hard. Inside my Bible, where I’d left my sermon notes, I had mindlessly placed my notes to a different talk. Too late to call Katie, I just bowed my head and talked to The Great Shepherd!

Having preached and spoken THOUSANDS of messages over my life, It wasn’t the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last. Though a little concerned, I wasn’t worried. I had it all right there in the top of my head and in my heart… right where it needed to be. I felt like Noah on the ark. When it started to get dark, he suddenly remembered he had Flood Lights!

Having been a Christian a long time, and having ‘been there’ before, the reminder that the life I live is not mine easily can become a comfort. Apart from Him, I really don’t have anything to say anyway. The message that had come to me had actually been dropped in my lap, from above, in a miraculous kind of way. So I knew that The Author… HAD this!

Freaking out is a common occurrence in this life. It had taken a LOT of years to realize that, even when a sheep is lost… 2 facts ring through the seemingly dark forest. First, God is never surprised. And second, God still knows where that sheep is! There have been a LOT of times that I had gone off in my own direction, only to discover ‘I’ was the one who was lost!

The rules for walking with God do not change. First I must change focus. Then I must call to Him and ask for directions, being willing to DO what He says and GO where he sends! Then… the follow through. Reading The Word brings the Holy Spirit into my sphere of attention. His unseen eye, coupled with His wisdom, just seems to happen. All that is left is to go and DO what He says!

God has a job for me. A task. A divine appointment. Someone I ‘bump’ into might need a word from The One guiding ME. It is ALWAYS miraculous and ALWAYS fulfilling. Eye watching is NEVER boring. Are YOU paying attention to the Great Shepherd and following through? He just might be sending a lost sheep in your direction!  DO ya follow?

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1

Winner Winner! That is the ultimate conclusion the mailing SCREAMED at me when I pulled the tab to reveal ‘MY’ number! But it did EXACTLY what I figured it WOULD do BEFORE I “pull(ed) the tab to activate…” It LIT UP! WINNER WINNER! Experience has taught me that when an ad like this comes, it’s best to just trash it. No sense in getting my hopes up!

The typical ploy is to fill the recipient with the question… ‘But what if?’ By looking at the prizes, I may agree that there is SOMETHING on that mailing that I WANT. Pulling the tab simply certifies that fact. If ‘want’ goes on to form an action, it might move me to go to the dealer, where a salesman will be all too happy to show me how easily I can GET my want!

Reading today’s Bible verse was fun because I didn’t go LOOKING for it. It just happened to show up in my reading about Jesus in Matthew. A CROSS reference sent me there. Having read it hundreds of times before, I felt that ‘Spirit Nudge’ moving me to go back and read it again. Then again… till I saw it! When I did… it was even better than that winning flier.

Do YOU see it? Probably not. Because when I felt the nudge to go LOOKING for it in other translations, it isn’t there!!!! Because THIS version leads me to believe that a QUESTION is coming. Except… the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence is ‘!’ and not ‘?’! ‘HOW GREAT IS’ is a QUESTION. And it’s a question that doesn’t get a specific measurable amount!

The punctuation and statements make it clear. I AM A LAVISHLY LOVED, CHILD OF GOD! It is NOT a question… nor is it simply a remark. It is an EXCLAMATION! My Bible was sitting beside that winning flier, and I had NO question as to which of those pieces of paper was most true and important! The next sentence says that the WORLD doesn’t even know! Hmmmm!

Now, I am a FIRED UP WINNER WINNER! God LOVES me and has taken me into His Kingdom. But before I go there, it is my mission to go tell the world so that they TOO can become winner winners! And THIS is NOT a SCAM! So are YOU a winner? Does He excite you from the inside out? Are you showing it off, like a shiny new car… to the WORLD? Go show off!

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

“SERIOUSLY??” Having just opened the box containing a new computer.  I figured it wouldn’t take long to plug it in, turn it on, then write and send an email. I had NO idea ‘the box’ was going to get so personal! An hour into “this should only take a few moments,” I wasn’t even past the setup menu! Having other things more important to do, I executed MY super power… and turned it OFF!

My first sales job was selling computers around 1984. Back then, the only computers available for home use was the Apple II. IBM didn’t exist for homes, and Microsoft had just cut it’s umbilical cord! For 4 years I watched the computer world explode! Having sold hundreds of computers, starting, installing and running the operating system usually took about 20 minutes. Not now!

The questions that were asked of me were VERY personal. ‘Not being an idiot,’ I could tell that it was channeling me into a direction the computer and software companies WANTED me to go. The internet browser I use wasn’t even available, and it had already loaded a bunch of programs I didn’t want! When it asked me to agree to allow the collection of my personal data… OFF it went!

The ‘not being an idiot’ is a very important and critic-al statement. It’s important because God doesn’t CREATE idiots! In fact, unless there’s some kind of birth defect that severely affects my brain, God’s Word tells me that He MADE me to understand that I AM defective! Great Grampa Adam’s original stamp of sin made EVERYONE’S DNA that way. I need a Savior… and I KNOW it!

God’s Son, Jesus, came to die for MY sin, not His own… cuz He didn’t have any! Sin is personal and I am guilty of it. Now HIS perfect life, when received and believed, can make MY life perfect in God’s eyes as well. Now, God and I have that sin-forgiveness thing down… but I have ZERO intention of giving a computer company the intimate details of my life… or ‘YOUR ‘contact info’ for that matter.

Yea Yea… I get it. I’m going to have to turn it back on and take the time to get the new computer going. The one I’m using now is ancient, slow and broken in places… like me! If I could, I’d ask the computer if IT wanted eternal life.  Tho ‘A.I.’ is just around the corner! But so is Jesus! Do YOU believe in Him? Are YOU saved and have eternal life? Just ASK Him! He forgets your sin right after you do. 

“Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.” Haggai 1:5

“HEYYYYYY!!!!!! DUDE!!!!!!!! I’M STILL HERE!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!” I KNOW that’s what the little electronic gizmo thingy on my dashboard would be screaming… if it had a VOICE! Which it doesn’t. It just sits there in the ‘ON’ position… being annoying. ALL THE TIME! Well… at least when I start up the truck. I took it serious once and blew up the tire that was low, but it’s still on! “HEYYYY!”

I’ve been driving a long time and KNOW when I have a flat tire, so I KNEW it wasn’t flat. Kinda! I thought, ‘maybe tires are like me sometimes… a little down, depressed, deflated, overrun and under pressure.’ Blowing it up to the specific PSI, I thought it would leave me alone! It didn’t! I got frustrated, pushing every button to turn it off. It took 5 minutes to find and turn off my flashers!

All I can think is that the warning light apparently has connections! Its creator must have programmed it to acknowledge something to the master computer before the warning goes away! Finally… after looking carefully, I noticed I have a nail in 1 tire! “Hmmm!” I thought! “It makes sense now!” Then got in the truck and drove off thinking, “I’ll deal with it later! Hey.. I have skills!

I have a tire plug kit in my garage… or, my son in law could do it for me if I take it to him. The problem with the first thing is plugging takes time! The second costs time AND money. So for now, I have simply thought about it. ‘If’ I get stuck, I can call my wife or a friend to come help. I’m banking that I’ll get this thing fixed before something REALLY bad happens. I guess I’m simply a gambler!

Like my truck, I have an owners manual. And in it, five times in the Book of Haggai alone, God tells Israel to, “Give careful thought…” to “your ways” or “to the day!” The folks the warning was meant for… didn’t! Looking today at the state of Israel and the world… It appears that if ALL of us don’t start paying more careful attention to what God is trying to tell us, the world is going to get flattened!

Are YOU giving careful thought to your ways? Do you seek God every day by reading His Word and talking to Him? Do you hang out with fellow God Thinkers to learn more about what God is trying to tell you and to get help when you need it? We ALL MIGHT want to take His suggestion more seriously… at least more than I do the light on my dash!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.” Proverbs 4:23-25

“AHHHH!” It had happened THAT FAST! And it freaked me, right out! Driving home yesterday I was jammin’ to the radio! You know… feelin’ good! But the next song wasn’t nearly AS good. Now I have a VERY fancy radio in my truck! It has more presents than I have set! I ALSO have SIRIUS XM, a gift from my wife. Looking at the radio to change presets… a big truck darted across my front bumper!

I was in the far right lane of 3 lanes going about 45mph. A car in front of me was in the middle lane… and about 100 feet ahead. It took about 1 second to hit the radio button and look up. When I did, the tail end of another truck was JUST clearing my front right bumper! I hadn’t even seen him sitting there, when he just shot out in front of us! ONE SECOND! “Thank You Jesus!” was all I could say!

Now I’m not crediting Jesus with keeping me from a wreck… though He may have! But there is a danger in thinking, “It doesn’t really matter what I do, cuz Jesus has my back… Nuh-UH!” That is NOT the correct direction of responsibility God expects. Today’s verses prove it! The subject of EVERY ONE of those statements in the Bible… is ME! ‘I’ am to guard ‘my’ heart, mouth, eyes and thoughts!

There is no doubt that if there had been a wreck, and a police officer was called, that the OTHER truck driver would have gotten the ticket! But “I” STILL would have some shame to bear. Cuz I HADN’T been paying FULL attention to my driving. Had I been on a cell phone, evidence would prove that I was culpable! Had I been on my old motorcycle, I’d probably be dead saying “Hi” to Jesus!!

Proverbs 4 tells what it takes to ‘Get Wisdom!’ And it doesn’t come by osmosis! In fact, ALL 31 Chapters of Proverbs are the instructions on HOW to ‘Get Wisdom’… if I WANT it! But like pushing a button on a radio, versus paying attention to the road, it is ‘MY’ choice to do what ‘I’ want! I’m just glad I WASN’T on my cell phone… and that I sold my motorcycle! Do YOU have… and do YOU apply… God’s Wisdom to YOUR life?

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble.” 1 Corinthians 10:31-32

I was on it before I was in it, she got off it until I got through it! We were riding the ATV and my wife was all bundled up for the cold. She had insisted that, even though the weather was chilly, she wanted to go for a nice and easy ride through the mountains to see the foliage. A friend was leading the way and she made sure to tell him… NO ROUGH STUFF! It was going BEAUTIFULLY… for a while!

He was keeping to the main, mountain roads, when he veered off and hit what I might call a ‘dude trail.’ That’s one where the wife stays home while I ride alone with the crazy guys. That doesn’t make it a man only trail… because my daughter likes them too! “But dude!!!” You get the idea. Suddenly, I was on it and in it when she cried, “STOP!” And she got off it! It was hairy, but I eventually got through it!

My lovely wife was none too happy when she got back on the ATV. The rough trail got even rougher, and she had to command me to let her off a couple of times! After a while we got back to the main roads and she chided the guy who was leading the way. He said, “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t that bad when I rode it a few years ago!” All was forgiven and we continued on… having learned a thing or two.

I like to think I’m a pretty good driver. But that trail caught me by surprise! Going a little too fast to catch up, I didn’t see what was coming to form a good plan. Caught by surprise, I was in it before I really knew what to do. After that, it was mostly ‘winging it’ to get through it, while Katie waited… wanting NOTHING to do with IT! Which is kind of an example of how life simply goes sometimes.

God gives us His Word so that we can know Him better. That knowledge is a trail that, when followed, will get us closer to Him than where we were. But sometimes it takes us through situations that we don’t like, are ill prepared for, or simply just don’t want to go through. Sometimes he leads us to rough patches. Sometimes we land there because we’re following our own way.

Today’s verse reminds me that no matter WHAT I face, I can count on Him to get me through. Tough times help me learn the hard way, how to NOT make someone else stumble… AND how to help others out when they do. Are YOU Glorifying God in YOUR circumstances… no matter how difficult? Are YOU learning to lean on Him to keep out of, or get through the rough patches?